Alaskan Cruise: Last Day at Sea & Victoria!

Here's Part I (Embarkation Day, First Day @ Sea, and Juneau)!
Here's Part II (Skagway & Endicott Arm Fjord/Dawes Glacier)!

Day 6 of the cruise was our final day at sea. We spent the day relaxing in our favorite area of the ship (the indoor pool area with the comfy lounge chairs, big windows, and Panera-style food). We read books and played a lot of double solitaire.

Day 6 was also the ship's second formal night, so we got all dressed up again! I'm in Royal Caribbean's "Crown & Anchor Society" because I've been on multiple cruises before, so we got invited to a Crown & Anchor Society Party where there was a band, lots of drinks, delicious hors d'oeuvres, and a Q&A session with the Captain. So fun!

Oh, and there was another towel animal. :) 

Day 7 was our last port - Victoria, British Columbia! We arrived early in the morning, on a drizzly day in Victoria.

We grabbed coffee and a quick breakfast, strolled through the mall, and browsed all the shops on "Antique Row."

I loved this bookstore! So many books!

Thursday was a Holy Day of Obligation (celebrating the Assumption of Mary), so we went to Mass at St. Andrew's Cathedral (such a pretty church!).

We didn't plan any tours or excursions for Victoria, except for a reservation for afternoon tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel! We both spent a few years of our childhood living in London, so the tradition of afternoon tea has a special spot in our hearts.

The Empress!

We really enjoyed tea at the Empress. There was a selection of tea sandwiches, scones, and desserts that was just lovely. We had a table facing a window, and we got to look out at all the boats coming and going as we sipped tea. I kind of felt like I was dragging Jeff to tea (not really a guy thing), but he ended up really liking it too (and there were plenty of guys there!).

After tea, we got back on the ship for the last time. We spent our last night aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas, and when we woke up the next morning, we were back in Seattle! It was a great trip, and we really enjoyed every second of it! 

Alaskan Cruise: Skagway & Endicott Arm Fjord

Here's Part I (Embarkation Day, First Day @ Sea, and Juneau)!

Day 4 of the cruise was another port day -- Skagway!

The big thing to do in Skagway is riding the historic White Pass Railroad train up to White Pass. But it costs $200ish per person for just a few hours on the train, and we kept reading on the Internet about how it was such a disappointment if you end up not getting a window seat, so we searched for other options.

We ended up renting a Jeep from Alaska Green Jeep Tours. Best decision ever!

There's a highway that parallels the railway, so we travelled past all the same beautiful sights as the train, just the two of us, and we went way further than the railway goes to some even prettier sights. Plus we saved a ton of money. We had the Jeep all day, along with a bunch of maps and information about all the sights and interesting accompanying stories, and we got to stop and get out and enjoy the pretty views whenever we wanted. It was a perfect day.

I'll let the photos do the talking...

This bridge is built over a fault line, so it's only structurally anchored on one side!

We didn't encounter any avalanches. :)

We crossed the border into Canada (British Columbia) after a little while, and pretty soon after that we left British Columbia and entered the Yukon!

"International Border Falls"

One of my favorite views!

Former home of the owner of a nearby silver mine! 

Eventually we reached White Pass Summit!

We stopped for lunch in the old gold rush town of Carcross. We bought sandwiches at a little bakery and ate lunch by the water at a little picnic table, then grabbed some ice cream at the historic Matthew Watson's General Store.

Outside of Carcross is Carcross Desert, aka the "smallest desert in the world!" It's really strange... there's just a big random sandy area in the middle of the Yukon!

Just past Carcross was the prettiest view of the day - Emerald Lake. Truly beautiful. The photos could never do it justice.

I hope y'all like these photos. We pretty much climbed up the sheer face of a cliff to get them. Haha!

These tall, thin, Christmas-style trees were everywhere. We don't have trees like that in Texas, so I loved them, especially the teensy tiny cute ones. :)

We turned around at Emerald Lake and started the trip back to Skagway. We stopped at a few more pretty sights on the way back.

We saw SO MANY waterfalls, which I was totally not expecting! So beautiful.

These next few photos are from Summit Creek, where people build "inukshuks," piles of rock with a spiritual significance for the Eskimos. There were so many rock piles!

Jeff built one of his own! 

Eventually we made it back into the United States! 

He's so cute. :) 

One of our stops on the way back had a great view of the cruise ship terminal!

After we got back to Skagway and dropped off the car, we still had about an hour before we had to be back on the ship, so (since we seem to enjoy cutting it close with the ship boarding times) we stopped at the Skagway Brewing Company so Jeff could try their "spruce tip" beer and I could get a Diet Coke! 

After a perfect day in Skagway, we hurried to get back on the ship, and enjoyed another delicious dinner! Day 4 was technically a "sea day," but the ship travelled up Endicott Arm Fjord to see the gigantic Dawes Glacier. We entered the fjord around 5:00am, so Jeff and I got up at 4:45, bundled up in coats and scarves (it was cold!), and went to our favorite spot by the windows in the Solarium (an indoor pool area on the ship with a Panera-like restaurant) to watch the icebergs pass by.

More beautiful scenery, more waterfalls, this time with icebergs! 

When we got our first glimpse of the glacier around 7:00 am, I think the entire ship gasped. It was so big and beautiful! My photography skills are nowhere near advanced enough to do the glacier justice, but here are some photos anyway:  

The Captain spun the ship in a circle a couple times, and then we went back down the fjord. Jeff and I watched as a giant iceberg hit the ship!

 

Some of the ship's crew went down in the fast rescue boat to retrieve a chunk of ice, which they later used for an ice carving demonstration!

We sat in our favorite spot and watched the ice pass by as the ship maneuvered out of the fjord.

And at the end of the day, we got to come back to our cozy little stateroom, complete with a new towel animal. :)

Up next, our last day at sea and Victoria, B.C.!

See Part III here!