Summer 2024 and the Celebrity Edge – Alaska x 2
This summer has flown by. We had a week of camping at Air Force Beach in June, followed by another great MusicFest, where we were also camping. Then at the end of July we were camping again at AFB, followed by more great music at the Filberg Festival. Joel came out for a week mid-August, and really enjoyed the calm and serenity of yet another camping trip to AFB. It was a bit busier for me as, besides the usual gardening and baking up all the zucchini, I now had to pack for a trip to Alaska that Dale had requested ages ago, but that came up rather suddenly. So, we cleaned up the RV, drove Joel home with all the extra groceries, and spent the night at his place in Vancouver, as our cruise was out of Seattle and was only a three-hour drive from his place.
Having been on the Edge before, we got our bearings quite easily although initially we were unsure of our cabin #, but were then directed to the crew area where it was located. Far from being in the bowels of the ship, we were on the 7th floor with a huge window facing forward – a very pleasant surprise.
After unpacking, we headed up to the 14th floor for a late lunch, had a refresher tour of the ship, then Dale headed to the cabin to do his homework, whilst I had a leisurely hot tub before getting ready for dinner. The line-ups for dinner were huge at all the dining rooms, so we headed upstairs to the buffet instead, which turned out to be a good idea as we got a very good view of Puget Sound as we sailed up the coast. We were very lucky to have great weather as we sailed up the west coast of Vancouver Island – not that we were close enough to see anything, but at least it was smooth sailing. The evening’s entertainment was a Las Vegas singer – Savannah Smith. Such energy and enthusiasm – she put on a very good show. https://www.thebash.com/pop-singer/savannah-smith-sings Afterwards I watched the True or False game show and Dale went back to do more homework.
The next day was filled with three lectures – Dale did his on Alaska, and the naturalist – Barb Lake talked about whales and her second talk was on more wildlife. Another relaxing hot tub for me while Dale worked on his lectures, then we got all dressed up for Chic Night (not quite formal – just a bit fancier and sparkly). We took our time at dinner then popped into the game show Yes or No, but moved on to Eden and listened to some great music before the show. The best part of Chic Nights is that they usually do a Production Show and they did not disappoint. This was a musical called – Colors of Life – beautiful (great singing, dancing and acrobatics).
Ketchikan - we caught a shuttle bus up to the Totem Heritage Centre. It was well worth the time, very interesting history. https://www.experienceketchikan.com/totem-heritage-center.html We walked back to the ship via the stream which was full of salmon swimming upstream to spawn (the pictures don't do it justice). On our way back to the ship we strolled down Creek Street which was famous for it's brothels.https://creekstreetketchikan.com/ After lunch we sat outside in the hot tub as it was a gorgeous day - Dale finally took some time off - but then, back to work as he has to do another (new) lecture in two days. After dinner, showtime featured Jessica Jane (magician and stunt performer) https://www.jessicajane.com/ Unbelievable, and a bit scary, but she pulled it off yet again!
A scenic cruise through Endicott Arm, with a view of Dawes Glacier - we were very lucky with the weather and had some beautiful views. Dale did his talk on Skagway once we were through the channel, and it went very well. After lunch we arrived in Juneau and followed the advice of our resident naturalist Barb, and headed out of town. It was a bit wet, but we dressed for it and walked out to the whale sculpture https://www.alaskawhalesculpture.com/history.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7fSZPbTjJE
On our way back to the ship we stopped at the State Museum, which was really worth the visit. They had so many artifacts and stories to read about the culture and history of Alaska. https://museums.alaska.gov/asm/ After dinner the singers and dancers did an amazing performance called Feel the Funk. It was not our choice of music, but they did a great job - very energetic!
Next day we arrived in Skagway and again were very lucky with the weather. It was cool, but did not rain, so we walked around and visited the museum near the train station. So much history and stories of the Gold Rush and the people who gave up so much to get there. Showtime was a family friendly comedian - Mark Simmons https://www.marksimmonscomic.com/about-mark/
and afterwards we watched the Guests vs Officers in a relay with ping-pong balls etc.
Another Chic Night as we were at sea. Dale did his Top Gun talk (his introduction was "Top Gun: Was it Real? Your Top Gun Instructor, Dale is.") and we got to watch all about marine mammals with Barb. The evening performance was Kaleidoscope which we thoroughly enjoyed followed by a jeopardy type gameshow called the Challenge.
We were scheduled to arrive in Victoria (BC) at 5:30 in the evening, so had a busy day. Barb did a great talk on the Aurora followed by a fun and informative talk from Captain Costas. After lunch, Dale did a talk on Victoria with a few airplane stories thrown in for good measure. We had dinner before we went ashore and had a lovely visit with Linda and Rod, as their place was only a 10 minute walk from the ship.
We arrived in Seattle and the passengers were disembarking starting at 7am. We were able to stay onboard, but had to meet at 9:15 am to renew our passage. It was a very smooth operation, as we were given new room key cards, went out on the deck and gave up our old cruise cards to disembark at one machine, then get reinstated with the new key cards at another machine - very efficient. This next week will be a repeat of our first week, so unless there are some major changes, or we take some better pictures, I will just say ditto!
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