Alaska-Back to Back to Back cruises on the Norwegian Jade

 

The Alaska Eight!

It would be an understatement to say we're fond of Alaska.  We've enjoyed seeing it on cruises and by land more times than we can recall.  We even enjoyed spending time there during the winter (actually it was March) a few years back. 

Earlier this summer we were talking and agreed that it didn't look like we would be going to Alaska this year.  Well.........things can change quickly, especially when the deals get just too good to turn down.  That's exactly what happened!  One day when Beth was scouring the Vacations to Go (her website of choice for cruise deals), she discovered that Norwegian was offering 7-day Alaska cruises at deals that were just too good to turn down.  What made them even more appealing was that we were already going to be on the west coast.  The next thing we knew we were booked on not one, not two but three back-to-back Alaskan cruises on the Norwegian Jade.  It was exciting to know we would actually be going to Alaska in 2025, and then it got even better!

We began spreading the word to some of Beth's family.  Debbie (Beth's sister) was the first to join us.  Shortly thereafter Cindy (Beth's other sister) decided to join us.  In January we had enjoyed cruising the Panama Canal with Beth's cousin Brian and his wife M'liss.  They were now on board.  Finally, Beth's cousin Shelly (Brian's sister) and her husband Kenny committed.  We now had a group of eight for an Alaskan adventure.  

Debbie was with us for all three cruises, Cindy, Shelly and Kenny were with us for the first two cruises.  Brian and M'liss spent some time on land, as well as checking off a few "bucket list" fishing adventures for Halibut and Salmon before joining us for the middle cruise.  Don't worry, there is no quiz at the end on who went, how they were related or for how many cruises they were with us.

Normally our travels are by ourselves.  It was a real treat to be joined by family, some of who were visiting Alaska for the first time.  We were excited for them to see and experience the Alaska that we have fallen in love with over the years. The cruise itineraries for the three cruises were somewhat similar, but each cruise had some unique things that made all three extra special.

I've blogged about most of the places we've visited previously, so for this blog I'm going to focus more on a few of the family adventures......and what great adventures they were!

Cruise Itineraries:

August 25-September 1      Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Hubbard                                                         Glacier

September 1-8                    Whittier, Hubbard Glacier, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan,                                                Inside Passage, Vancouver

September 8-16                   Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Victoria British Columbia, Seattle

Ketchikan-August 27. 

Me, Beth, Debbie, Cindy, Shelly and Kenny on bear patrol!

A mom and two cubs were looking for salmon in the stream.

Debbie and Shelly at the beach after the bear hunt.

Skagway-August 29

Debbie, Shelly and Kenny did some exploring on their own.  Beth, Cindy and I opted for an adventure that took us out of Skagway for a float (not white water) trip down the glacial river.

Designer boots were included in the price

One of the many days of our three-week adventure where it was "shorts weather"

Whittier-September 1

The first week cruise ended in Whittier.  Shelly was so excited about seeing her brother (Brian) and sister-in-law M'liss that she put on her best set of antlers!

The Whittier Marina

We did a great boat tour from Whittier that got us up close to 26 glaciers.

Phillips Cruises 26 Glacier Tour (Highly Recommend)

Raise your hand if you see a glacier!

Cindy with a chunk of Glacier Ice.  It (the ice, not Cindy) is estimated to be around 400 years old

A sneak peek at Shelly and Kenny's 2025 Christmas Card Photo???

Icy Strait Point-September 3

We arrived at sunrise....................

didn't depart until sunset..........

and had a whale of a good day!

Juneau-September 4

While visiting Juneau we booked a tour that took us to Mendenhall Glacier and then whale watching.  

The Alaska Eight at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor's Center

Searching for Humpback Whales.....

We found sea lions that kept us entertained jockeying for a place to rest on the channel marker.

We were also fortunate enough to be close to a Humpback Whale who decided to put on a little show for us.

Skagway-September 5

We booked a full day private excursion that took us from Skagway to Canada's Yukon Territory.  

Our guide knew where there was a blueberry patch along the drive.  Most of the blueberries had been picked by a combination of other tourists and bears, but we did manage to find a few, while we also kept a watchful eye out for bears.

We traveled near the gold rush trail that brought thousands of prospectors to Alaska from 1894-1906.  They didn't have the good fortune of having the Yukon Swinging Bridge to help them across.  That's Debbie making her way across the bridge.

The early version of the Canadian Mounties tried to maintain law, order and safety during the gold rush.  Can you spot the real Mounties and the wanna be's?  I think Brian (back row, far right) wins the prize for looking most like a real Mountie.  

We traveled as far north as Carcross.  This is Emerald Lake which is located near Carcross.

We made a brief stop at a "beach" on the way back to Skagway.

The Alaska Eight in a formal picture as cruise #2 came to an end.

The second cruise ended in Vancouver.  We said good bye to Cindy, Brian, M'liss, Kenny and Shelly.  Beth and I did a little walking around with Kenny and Shelly before we rejoined Debbie on the Norwegian Jade for cruise #3.

Cruise 3

Our third cruise was a little more laid back, although we had another great week.  We all enjoyed the Great Alaska Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan........ 

and sharing a Klondike Doughboy in Skagway.  We're very grateful that we were able to make it to Alaska in 2025. It's a magical place, especially when you can share the adventure with family!

The third cruise ended in Seattle.  Beth, Debbie and I flew back to Florida for a very special occasion.  On September 24 Beth's mom (NaNa) turned 97!  About ten years ago I started telling her that when she turned 100 I was going to take her skydiving................I'm starting to get a little nervous about making that commitment!

The Birthday Girl with her children!

There was plenty of cake, ice cream and a whole lot of singing!

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

 

The Butchart Gardens in full summer bloom!

From our place in Sequim we could see Vancouver Island across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Getting across the 22 mile strait was fairly simple thanks to the Black Ball Ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria.  The ferry runs up to three times a day and the crossing time is approximately 90 minutes.  There is plenty of parking near the ferry terminal in Port Angeles and the terminal in Victoria is in the small marina just across from the iconic Fairmont Hotel.  It was an easy, affordable ($46 roundtrip when we went) and fun way to cross the 22-mile wide strait and spend the day in Canada.  

Black Ball Ferry Line

Our plans for our day in Victoria were to roam around a bit and visit the world-famous Butchart Gardens.  We hadn't made arrangements for transportation from the city to the gardens,  We figured a taxi or Uber would be convenient.  As it turned out, it was even easier.  We were able to purchase transportation and admission to the gardens on the ferry.  Even better, at the time we visited the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Canadian dollar was favorable to us.  Everything we bought and did was at about a 25% discount on the Canadian dollar.

When we arrived in Victoria, we quickly cleared customs/passport control and were soon enjoying the city center.  We had been to Victoria before and found it to be really enjoyable.  This visit was no exception.  We had some "roaming around" time before our bus to the gardens.  

Victoria Government Building

Rob and Pam with their new best friends, the Totem family.

The 55-acre Butchart Gardens hosts over a million visitors annually.  Our very informative bus driver shared a lot of great information on the garden as well as the city of Victoria on the 20-minute drive.  Of course I've forgotten most of it by now, but I do remember him saying there are five seasons at the gardens; winter, spring, summer, fall and Christmas.  We were visiting in August, so it was "summer".  The gardens were lush green and in full bloom!  He said every season is great, but that his personal favorite was the Christmas season.  

Butchart Gardens

Just a few of the pictures Beth took during our visit to Butchart Gardens.  Everywhere you looked was a "Kodak Moment"!

Thankfully not all the one million plus annual visitors decided to show up on the day we were there. However, it was quite crowded on a nice summer day.  Everyone moves at a different pace, so we decided to enjoy the gardens at our leisure.  We went one way, Rob and Pam headed another direction and we had a designated meeting time and place.  which gave us time to catch the bus back to the city center, enjoy a bit more roaming around and get a bite to eat before heading back to the ferry for the late afternoon/early evening crossing back to Port Angeles. We were quickly learning not only to appreciate our rental home in Sequim, but to also appreciate how central of a location it was to explore the Olympic Peninsula and beyond. 

After eight really nice days together we headed out from Sequim and back to the Seattle airport.  Rob and Pam headed back to Texas while we headed back north of the border to Vancouver.  Another adventure and a rendovous with some family members awaited!

Olympic National Park

Ready to explore.  The first stop is always the sign, followed usually by checking out the visitor's center.  The visitors center for Olympic National Park is in Port Angeles.  There was a second visitors center at the top of Hurricane Ridge, unfortunately it was destroyed in a fire on May 7, 2023.

 Washington's Olympic Peninsula is approximately 2.3 million acres in size.  Over 900,000 of those acres are within Olympic National Park.  The park, which was established in 1938, typically receives close to 3.8 million visitors annually.  The parks visitor center is in Port Angeles, which was just a short twenty-five-minute drive from where we were staying in Sequim. 

Unless you're into extreme back country hiking (we're not), there are basically two ways to experience Olympic National Park.  There is the "perimeter road" which is Highway 101, or by going up the seventeen-mile Hurricane Ridge Road to the Hurricane Ridge Overlook.   From the overlook you can get great views of the Olympic Mountains as well as the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  It would be possible to do the majority of the "perimeter road" and Hurricane Ridge Road in one day, but it would be a very full day.  Since we were so close to the park, we decided to break it up into two separate visits.

On our first visit we took the "perimeter road" from the gateway in Port Angeles to Rialto Beach (approximately 68 miles).  There were numerous stops for short hikes, sightseeing, a picnic and even visiting the small town of Forks, where some scenes from the movie Twilight were filmed.  We started the day fairly early and took our time in the park.  On the way back to Sequim, and based on a recommendation from a nice couple from Kentucky, we enjoyed a pizza and frosty beverage at Barhop Brewing and Artisan Pizza.  We didn't arrive back at our rental home until after sunset.  Those McNeely's are party animals!

Near Lake Crescent

The Tuckers doing what the Tuckers do best.  Enjoying the scenery along the shores of Lake Crescent.

A "Driftwood Window" view of Rialto Beach

Barhop Brewing and Artisan Pizza-Port Angeles

Our second visit to Olympic National Park took us up the seventeen-mile Hurricane Ridge Road to the Hurricane Ridge Overlook.  The views were great and there were several trail options from the overlook.  It was an unusually hot day, so we opted for the shorter, flat hike, which in reality is probably what we would have opted for even if the weather conditions had been ideal.  We even took our camp chairs with us on the hike and set up under some shade trees, enjoying the views and greeting other hikers as they passed by.

Hurricane Ridge........

and our new friend.

Olympic National Park is a little off the beaten path to get to, but as we learned from our two visits, it was well worth the effort to visit.........twice!