cruising. through alaska. part 3.

the second excursion was set up for a stop in skagway, alaska.

here, my dad and sister booked a popular train ride and the rest of us booked a river rafting trip in an area called eagle preserve.

the river rafting portion of this trip was quite fun, but it took a lot of effort to get there: a ferry and then a bus ride at both the beginning and end of our trip. so our 6 hour excursion was really just a 90 minute rafting trip with four hours of transportation.

so, overall, it was a bit of a bummer, and this is the one excursion i wouldn't recommend booking again to other cruise goers.

but, during the cruise we did see lots of eagles, which was amazing. i had only seen one other eagle in the wild previously and this was quite exciting to see so many in their native habitat.

here are some of the pictures from our day!

we hopped on the boats on the edge of the bank and literally
bounced our way into the water, which was super shallow

our raft guide, evan

someone was cold.

I spy...

not bad, alaska, not bad.

terrible rafting selfie.

cruising. through alaska. part 2.

after a day at sea cruising past the hubbard glacier, we headed towards our first port of call- juneau.

we prebooked excursions at every port. i know that many cruise veterans will tell you to save money by booking once your off the ship, but, for me, i couldn't risk missing out on what was important to me.

in juneau i booked a full day photography safari of mendenhall glacier, tongass forest and a whale watching cruise.

one of the reasons i chose this trip was the small group size. several years back, in iceland, i took a large group whale watching cruise and was unable to see the one whale sighting we had because i was on the wrong side of the boat and blocked by a hundred other people.

we started in the forest. i was using my dslr and my ollo clip lenses for my iphone.

here are some of my favorite shots from the largest national forest in the us.

a quick stop to check out mendenhall glacier. the area was beautiful, but after the hubbard glacier, the portion of this glacier we were able to see seemed quite small. perhaps next time i can trek on one of the glaciers.

the last couple hours of the day were spent whale watching.

this had been my ultimate dream: to see whales in person.

i've been a lifetime whale lover, but had never seen more than what's to be found on tv and in movies.

we headed out in search of humpbacks, but first we found orcas- and i was thrilled. i don't even think i realized this was a species we might see in alaska. but we came upon this pod and they swam around the couple of boats that were lingering nearby.

there are restrictions on how close the boats can get to the whales, but if the whales come to you there's not much you can do.

except enjoy it!

i didn't get too many great pics of the orcas, but i loved seeing them!

after the orcas, we went searching for humpbacks in the area and found a female that's been known to be in the area on a regular basis. we could identify her by the details of her tail as the whale 'barnacles'.

we followed her around a bit and were keeping our distance.

until she emerged on the right side of the boat and surprised us and breaching practically on top of the boat. the captain and the guide had never experienced anything like it, so it was amazing to witness it!

of course we were all too stunned to get pictures of that!

have you had any great whale watching experiences? more to come in another alaska post soon since we went whale watching as a family later in the week!

cruising. through alaska. part 1.

post anchorage, the fam and i hopped on a bus to seward, alaska, a port large enough for these monstrous cruise ships.

having never "cruised" before, i had no idea what to expect for the boarding process. if you are a first time cruiser, i would tell you to expect lines. and waiting. it wasn't too bad, but it was annoying.

anyways, it all led to the good part...getting on the actual cruise!

my parents and i shared a small interior state room, with basically three twin beds. and for an alaskan cruise, you certainly don't need a balcony-- it's too cold for that! cruising was an upfront expense, and i'm glad that this is where we chose to save some of our pennies.

on our first full day cruising we headed to hubbard glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in north america.

it was quite sizable, and despite the large size of the boat, we were still able to get close to the glacier. you could see and hear the glacier calving at a couple different points, where huge chunks of ice were falling into the sea.

#glacierselfie

this was a seven day cruise with royal caribbean, that started in seward and ended in vancouver. there were four port stops where we had excursions booked and i'll document those in an upcoming post.

we took this trip in july and i found this amazing packing list that was super helpful in planning for the trip. i think she overpacks, but it was a great starting point.

have you cruised before? what are your cruise tips?

halong bay, vietnam

While planning our trip to Asia I came across a blog post talking about the beautiful scenery of Halong Bay, Vietnam.

I happily added it to my travel wish list.

Which we very conveniently crossed off this summer!

We flew to Hanoi and traveled by mini bus to Halong Bay.

It's quite a drive.

4 plus hours with a stop at a tacky place selling all sorts of goods.

Thankfully the landscape of Halong Bay made up for it.

We booked our two night, three day cruise with Paradise Cruises. It was more expensive than some boats, but we decided it wasn't something to skimp on.

And, for that, we were thankful.

view from the top

While cruising, we were treated to meals of several courses, learned how pearls are cultivated, passed through a floating village, kayaked, hiked through a cave, climbed to the top of one of the mountainous islands, and toasted with some not-so-delicious rice wine.

women in their boats would pass alongside the larger cruise boat
to try and sell you wine, snacks, and other trinkets

lovely sunsets

floating village

it was annoying how strictly they upheld the regulation
of wearing a life vest...it was just too hot for that!

a squid boat. they're attracted to the light.

We really enjoyed the cruise in Halong Bay. There were some positives and negatives as you'll find with any travel scenario. One being the local area's pollution. It's disappointing how much trash and debris is in the water of the area, so swimming in the water may not be your first choice. While there is some evidence that Vietnam is working to change this, they have a long way to go. We did get in the water once, but another cruise guest was almost immediately stung by a jellyfish when she entered the water, so we promptly left the water.

Traveler's Tips:

Deciding between the 1 night and 2 night cruise...I'm glad we did the two night. Those doing just one night must have felt like they were just hustled on and off the boat. And to have to make that van ride two days in a row? Ugh. No thanks. The two night cruise was slow paced overall and relaxing. It did feel like we did a lot of sitting, as there's not too much moving about to be done. Not everyone was thrilled that on the day in the middle you must leave the larger boat for the day's excursions while they pick up the new passengers. But this is well detailed on the site and reviews, so I was prepared for it. 

Visas for Vietnam are required for US citizens and take a little more pre-planning than some other Asian countries. You can not just show up and apply for a Visa on Arrival. Visas must be done in advance at a consulate near you or can be done on arrival with a letter from an agency within Vietnam that provides you clearance for this. Paradise Cruises wrote our letter for around $10 USD per person. This is the best explanation I found about the process.