Honeymoon cruise!
April 2024 Rueben and I got married (yay!) and for our honeymoon we decided to go on a cruise to Alaska! I have always wanted to go to Alaska mainly for the wildlife, but also for the amazing scenery. Luckily Rueben felt the same way, and we figured the easiest way to see a good amount of the state was on a cruise.
So many things could go wrong while traveling and we like to be cautious, so we flew into Seattle the day before our cruise’s departure. That was the day most airlines were affected by a computer glitch, so the airports were a mess. Our flight on Southwest was super delayed, but the ticketing agent was awesome and was able to put us on two different flights to get us to Seattle in time! Sadly about 200 people missed the cruise because of the computer mishap.
We picked July to go to Alaska for a two main reasons – most animals would be out/visible and the weather wouldn’t be as bad as later on in the year (so much rain). Our seven day itinerary included Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, Ketchikan, and Victoria, B.C.. I highly, highly recommend choosing a cruise that goes to Glacier Bay because it is AMAZING. It was our absolute favorite day of the trip and now we really want to go back.
Princess Cruises
We’d only ever been on Disney cruises before, but were pleasantly surprised with Royal Princess. Our room was on the interior so no windows, but sleeping in complete darkness was amazing. During the day we actually spent the most time in the huge dining hall of the ship so we could relax in the quiet and look out the windows. We saw an ocean sunfish (mola mola) – twice! It was pretty amazing to see the huge fish cruising next to us.
I surprisingly love cruising. We’ve done so much traveling in the RV and to Mexico and it can be a lot of work, so cruises are easy in comparison. However, I hate the negative impact cruising has on the environment. Princess has done more to become environmentally sustainable, which is amazing and I’m glad this was the cruise line we chose.
We could see Mount Rainier while waiting to depart!
Main lobby of Royal Princess
Juneau
Our first stop was Juneau, which was beautiful. The main thing we wanted to do while there was visit Mendenhall Glacier; one of the few glaciers in Alaska accessible by road. There were many many excursions where you could take a shuttle to the glacier, but being the adventurous and frugal travelers we are, we hoofed it to the public bus station instead. We weren’t the only ones, so it was nice being on the bus with a bunch of other cruisers.
Walking around on the way to the bus station was great because we got to see more of the city. Favorites were the totem poles and seaplanes landing and taking off in a public square.
While on the bus to the glacier we got off way too early and ended up getting car share ride which turned out great. The driver taught us about the city and how it is living there, and dropped us off right at the perfect spot.
Look how tiny the people are in front of the waterfall!
So many helicopter tours
We also decided to walk as far back into town as we could, and just take a city bus when we got tired. A little way outside of the glacier area was the most amazing rainforest! We had no idea there were rainforests in Alaska, so we were thrilled.
The area was so lush, quiet, and beautiful. We couldn’t get over it.
The drive back to the cruise ship was stunning, as well. No matter where you go the scenery is amazing.
Also, the sunsets on cruises are always gorgeous! It’s one of my favorite parts of the day.
Next up: Skagway and a fun train ride
