Quite spontaneously, we decided to join my mom Audrey and her husband Bill on an Alaskan cruise in June. What a wonderful adventure! Our ship was the Sapphire Princess leaving and departing out of Seattle. Our route took us to Ketchikan, Tracy Arm glacier viewing, Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria.

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We arrived in Seattle a few days early to visit friends and stayed a week after to visit with Mailea and Greg. I’ll write several more posts incorporating more great photos Neil took of our trip. Let’s start with our life on board the ship.

The Sapphire Princess has capacity for nearly 2700 passengers and over 1100 crew so you get an idea of the size of the ship. As we boarded, they gave us a pocket size fold out map of the ship and we needed it the first couple of days.  Several decks are all for entertainment and of course lots of dining rooms and food areas. Yes, the food was fantastic most every meal. We had the evening seating with same waiter and assistant every night and they got to know our preferences. There is food service nearly 24 hrs a day in one location. One dining room was opened daily for afternoon tea. The waiters even wore white gloves! Yep, I did go a few times to that.

We had an inside stateroom right next to mom and Bill. We didn’t spend much time in the room as there is plenty to do, see, and explore. We realized the only photo we took in the room was on departure day with all our luggage slung on our backs (and fronts) for walking off the ship. The photo is blurry because the camera started acting up the last few days of the cruise.

It wasn’t nearly as cold in Alaskan waters as I remember from 12 years ago cruising with Mom and Madison in May. People would actually be out sunbathing on the deck at times. It was still quite cool to me after living in Hawaii so I was bundled most of the time in long sleeves. We would often walk the deck in laps when we had a day at sea for our exercise and that would warm me up. Of course the hot tubs were a pleasant diversion to the cold as well.

The captain is on the bridge whenever the ship comes into port. Neil was able to get a good shot of the captain bringing us up to moor in Victoria.

The scenery in the inside passage is of course a highlight of the cruise and we have added a few shots to give you a feel for this wonderful trip.