MsCarolsuesBloggies: PICTURES FROM OUR ALASKAN CRUISE

The first few pictures are pictures taken on the deck before sailing out of San Francisco. The next set of pictures are some taken from our cabin. And the third set of pictures are of the buffet and some of the ice sculptures and vegetable sculptures that were always on display.

Some statistics: The Dawn Princess carries 1950 passengers (975 cabins) -- one of the smaller Princess ships. The crew-to-passenger ratio is 1:2.2.
It has 14 decks (actually 13, but there is no number 13). We were on the Aloha Deck, which is Deck 11.

The Golden Gate Sailaway

The Riviera Bar and Grill where you can get hotdogs and hamburgers

The Riviera Deck showing the pool area

Here is a picture of our room steward, Jose

This is a picture of our room, showing the deck (We were on the Aloha Deck, Starboard side, Forward)

Here is a picture of the bed

Here is a picture of the bath area (we were in the process of checking out, so it's kind of messy)

Horizon Buffet (Open 24-hours a day for your non-stop eating pleasure)

We attended the fruit and vegetable carving demonstration and the ice carving demonstration. It was amazing how quickly they produced these carvings!

This was from the Dessert Extravaganza, a special event put on by the chef. The desserts were not always quite this plentiful or extravagent every day, but almost!

KETCHIKAN "Alaska's First City" (Day 4)
Weather: High 42, Low 46. Overcast and rainy.

The dock and ship

The "Liquid Sunshine" rainfall gauge at the dock (Check out the crossing guards!)

Ketchikan as viewed from the ship

Dolly's House on Creek Street in Ketchikan (This was an old brothel which was closed down in 1951 in the Old Red Light District of Creek Street)

Creek Street (The old historic district, now shopping mall)

View from Cape Fox Lodge (We rode a little tram up to this place for the view)

Totem Pole in Ketchikan

JUNEAU (Day 5)
Weather: High 50, Low 46. Overcast and rainy)

Juneau, taken from the ship

Mt. Robert's Tram in Juneau

Downtown Juneau

The following pictures were taken on our tour to the Rainforest Garden and Mendenall Glacier.
We first went to the Rainforest, in which we rode through the garden on a covered golf cart. The first picture is what they call the "Upside Down Trees".

Mendenhall Glacier

SKAGWAY (Day 6)
Weather: High 54, Low 47. Overcast, windy.

These were taken on the White Pass Railroad Train Ride in Skagway.

Downtown Skagway

TRACY ARM (Day 7)
Weather: High 50, Low 44. Partly cloudy. Seemed A LOT colder while we were in the area of the glacier. We did most of our glacier viewing from inside our room looking out the balcony window! The TV broadcast the ship's Naturalist did a running commentary of everything, and there was always a "view from the bridge" that you could watch to see where you were!
The ship sailed into Tracy Arm, the highlight of the trip, at 5AM. The scenery was spectacular, but we were not able to go all the way to the Glacier because of all the chunks of ice in the water. You were able to get a good view of the Glacier, but not as close up as the view you will get if you go to Mendenhall Glacier.

Sailing out of Tracy Arm

VICTORIA B.C. (Day 8)
Weather: High 75, Low 65. Clear and Sunny!

We only had a few hours to spend in Victoria, so it was nice that we had been there a few years ago because it is such a beautiful city and there is so much to see!

The Parliament Building is in the background

Carol and John

Flower pots were everywhere!

Sailing out of Victoria

FORMAL NIGHT (Day 9)
At 11:15PM, the Champagne Waterfall Party began! The Maitre d'Hotel (shown in picture with John and me) presented a cascading Champagne Waterfall by setting up a tier of 750 champagne glasses. Then, it was all the free champagne you could drink with lots of dancing and partying afterwards.

MENUS (Each menu is two pages) (Click on the menu to see a clearer picture of it)
These were the menus in the dining rooms. If you didn't want to eat in the dining room, you could eat in the Horizon Court (24-hour Buffet), Pizza Parlor, Riviera Grill or the Sterling Steak House. Everything revolved around eating! Day in and day out....

I wasn't able to get all the Dessert Menus, but here is a dessert menu for one day.

PRINCESS PATTERS FOR EACH DAY (each Patter is three pages)
(Click on the make larger)
The "Patters" are the little newspaper that comes out each day listing the events and activities that take place only on the ship. The shore excursions and tours in the various ports are not listed in the Patters. There are dozens of different shore excursions available that you arrange yourself -- you can do everything from a bus tour of the city to a sea plane ride that lands on the glaciers or a zip line tour through the rainforests.

July 16