By The theme for this trip – Wake up and be awesome!
I was feeling a great deal of wanderlust and perhaps went a little crazy and booked an Alaskan cruise! I’ll save my review of the cruise (and how to pack for it) for my last post. For now, you’ll get a port by port account of the journey that hopefully you’ll enjoy! I want to write as much as I can while it is still somewhat fresh in my memory.
I flew delightful Delta One direct from Atlanta to Anchorage. The flight duration is a little over 7 hours. Yes I could have flown in a lesser class…but I didn’t. Delta did not disappoint (totally worth it). But first, the DRAMA. Because traveling with me for whatever reason usually includes some drama (I swear I’m not creating the drama, it comes naturally). As I’m reviewing my paperwork Monday morning (the day of my flight), I notice a discrepancy. The travel insurance contract showed a start date of 7/1. I thought that was weird and maybe the flight somehow wasn’t included. So I sent over an email to the travel agent who arranged the trip. Please note I normally don’t use a travel agent…but I thought you engaged them to make your life/travels easier. Long story short (leaving out more drama), she had the insurance starting 7/1 because she thought that was my departure date. She also had my hotel room in Anchorage only for 7/1. Well Houston, this is a problem as I’m flying out 6/30. I’m sure she had to make a few frantic phone calls but she did get me a room at the hotel for 6/30 and was able to adjust the insurance too. Phew! Can you imagine if I had shown up to the hotel and they didn’t have a room? Egad!
Lesson learned: double and triple check reservations as you receive them…and not the day of travel. Never make an assumption that they are correct. For the record, I did confirm that my emails to her with flight information all noted a 6/30 departure. And no, I was good and didn’t forward those emails to prove I was right. Disaster averted. I arrived to Alaska at 7pm (ish) which is 11 pm ish Eastern time) on Monday. Second drama, my bag took forever to arrive in baggage claim. Lucky for me, I know how to submit a claim to Delta, so I received some miles for my trouble (and lucky for me, because my airtag was in the checked bag I could see where it was…and it wasn’t in Atlanta or in Zimbabwe). There were mixed reviews on using Uber from the airport. I chose to take a taxi. Next time I will take an Uber. Uber was less expensive (I did check)…and I have to presume the vehicle would be in better condition than my cab. I arrived at Captain Cook Hotel for my third drama. I checked into my room without issue. However. The air-conditioning was NOT working. It was probably 76/78°F which is a little too warm for me. The maintenance guy came up to try to fix. He wasn’t able to resolve (and he got shocked in the process), so I had to change rooms. Suffice it to say this was a rough start to my trip. I ate in the hotel bar (met a pilot who was flying Fed Ex cargo out of Anchorage) and zonked out.
Captain Cook is a slightly older hotel, but the rooms are spacious and the bed was comfy. My room rate included breakfast, which was quite good.
I was here two days early because my friend Ana lives in Anchorage (or a burb of Anchorage). I met Ana last year on the Uniworld Netherlands cruise and we hit it off. She was game to be my hostess, so we spent Tuesday together. After a brief tour of downtown Anchorage (not a whole lot to see), we started our adventure. First stop was snacks from Fromagio’s for a picnic at Hatcher Pass. These deli is adorable. Amazing cheese and crepes to die for. One more stop for more coffee and then off to Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine. The weather was PHENOMENAL (I was worried I was getting sunburnt) and the company was great. I loved being outdoors and just enjoying life. We ended the day with a quick stop to see her pets and then celebrated our friendship with a delightful dinner at South. We had fried polenta to start, which was delish. I had scallops and risotto for my main course which was good, but I was stuffed.
The next day I packed my things; did some tourist shopping and then got on the shuttle to Whittier. The drive, once we got going, was lovely. But the number of pick ups was RIDICULOUS. It took about an hour to stop at the various hotels to grab the cruisers.
Once at Whittier there was a minor snafu with my check-in and then I was in my room wondering what I had done! The boat was substantially bigger than the boats used for river cruises. The positive (again I’m saving my full debrief for my last post) is the room was big and view from the balcony was beautiful. First day on the cruise is a full day of sailing. So I kick the trip off with champagne and cocktails and wine…oof. Luckily I drank a lot of water!
There was a singles/solo gathering event hosted by Rachel that evening. I got to meet the other daredevils traveling by themselves. I had reservations that night at Chartreuse (the French restaurant), so I bid them adieu and proceeded to enjoy a glorious meal. There was a welcome show after dinner that introduced the band and the staff who would be our entertainers for the week. After the show I said screw it all (or Towanda for my Fried Green Tomato fans) and leapt onto the dance floor to work off some of the food and alcohol consumed. I finally was worn out, so I went back to my room to take a shower and sleep.
Here are some pictures (not all) to entertain you. Next stop isn’t a stop – it is a day on the open sea.
