Cruising to Alaska on Celebrity Mercury!

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Since Matt and I didnt really get a honeymoon just the two of us, we decided to take advantage of a last minute cruise deal up to Alaska. It was easy to do, since we could just drive downtown and hop on, so we decided to go for it!

We had beautiful sunny weather on our departure day of Sunday August 30th. We were able to bask in the sun on the top deck and wave goodbye as we sailed under the Lions Gate Bridge and out into the open ocean. The water just sparkled and it looked so beautiful as the sun began to set! Within no time we were out where their was no land on the horizon and all we could see was the open ocean. The ship itself was magnificent, with numerous restaurants, bars, clubs, entertainment rooms, a casino, a theatre and a shopping gallery. Our stateroom was comfortable and cozy; and despite its location on the bottom floor, pretty much perfect in my opinion.

Our first day was one at Sea and it didnt agree with my stomach too much im afraid. Within a couple hours I was feeling very sea sick and spent quite a while in our stateroom hunched over the toilet. We also discovered that by sitting outside in the fresh air and staring out into the ocean, my stomach would settle a bit. We even saw some dolphins while laying there! Thankfully we found some pills to cure the sea sickness and I felt much better after taking one of those and having a nice long nap. We spent the evening enjoying a show in the thatre by the Celebrity cast following by a formal dinner in the Manhatten dining room!

Day 2 was Sitka! We had to tender in, so we werent able to get off for a couple hours. But since we had no excursions booked we really were in no rush. We spent the afternoon doing some shopping and walking down to the marina taking pictures. We also went inside the old Russian Bishops House (which has been there since the mid 1800s!) aswell as the Russian Orthodox Church of Sitka. Sitka is a town with alot of Russian history, so everywhere their were little Russian dolls, clothes and painted eggs for purchase. The weather was also very nice day and it felt great to just walk around and explore a new town.

The following day we headed towards Hubbard Glacier. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Because the skies were clear and sunny, and the water was so peacefully still that day we managed to get closer than any ship had gotten all year! The scenery was stunning. A massive icey blue glacier right in front of us, hundreds of feet high... accompanied by massive majestic mountains towering behind it. We just stared at it for hours in awe! Oh, and took tons and TONS of pictures.

From there it was off to Juneau. When we woke up Thursday morning we were already docked and free to get off the boat. Juneau is a small town considering its the capital city of Alaska. A weird fact we learned about Juneau is that you can only get there by boat or plane - how strange is that for a capital city!? No main highway will take you there! Once again the weather was warm and sunny, so we did some shopping and explored the town. A personal highlight for me was the Alaska Fudge Shop. Matt and I each chose a flavour and shared half a pound of the delictable chocolate! Matts half didnt even make it back onto the ship!

Last day off the boat was Ketchikan - which I had been really looking forward to. Id heard all about Creek street which use to be notorious for its red light district goings on and was fascinated by it. Once again the town was designed to look like it still belonged in the 1800's. The old buildings and streets were so interesting just to walk around and look it! We headed straight for Creek Street and enjoyed looking at the HUNDREDS upon hundreds of Salmon that filled the creek. It made me want to just reach in and grab one and throw it on the BBQ (I did have salmon for dinner that night may I just add.) Its the most photographed street in all of Alaska and I can totally see why. Matt and I were trying to figure out how much a house on that street would go for, it was just so pretty! Further down we came across Dollys, which is the infamous old whore house of the 18 hundreds. We opted out of taking the tour, and instead headed towards the towns museum where we saw lots of old photographs and artifacts from the towns past; really interesting stuff!

Our last day was at sea and we decided to just take it easy. We walked around, did a little shopping and just tried to enjoy the time left that we had together. We knew that come Tuesday, Matt would be back to work from 800-500 again and wed only have our evenings together. We had so enjoyed spending 10 straight days together! So we put our thoughts forward to our next little break from work - Christmas!!

All in all, a wonderful trip. Beautiful sights, beautiful scenery and adorable little Alaskan towns! We had a GREAT time!

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