Day before the cruise – Seattle, WA
Day #1 onboard the Norwegian Pearl
Day #2 “At Sea” day
Day #3 – Juneau, Alaska
Day #4 – Skagyway, Alaska
Day #5 – Glacier Bay
Day #6 – Ketchikan, Alaska
Day #7 – Victoria, BC
Day #8 - Back in Seattle
Saturday morning, we woke up to a very special day….my 29th birthday!!!!
I kept the Birthday decorations up all week because I wanted to celebrate on my actual birthday!
We slept in that morning because we had until 7 p.m. before we docked in Victora, BC!
We ate breakfast outside and this little old man was playing his guitar. I like little old men…they are too cute!
I got to pick our restaurant for lunch because it was my birthday. I chose the beautiful Summer Palace, the restaurant my mom said reminds her of the Titanic!
Let me also add that NCL has many other “out of pocket” restaurants to eat lunch/dinner. We chose not to visit any of these restaurants – I’m sure the menus and food were awesome, but we decided we already paid for our food in the price of the cruise, so we ate at only the main dining rooms/buffet. I was satisfied with going between all three! We felt like there were plenty of options and the food was great! :0)
Dessert!
After lunch, we walked around the ship and took pictures. We stopped by the Spinaker Lounge because my dad wanted to watch a Q&A seminar by some of the cruise ship entertainment. This Q&A session was given by 2 guys who were with Barnum & Bailey at one point – they are called Sharkbait. Hilarious guys – they put on an awesome show!
I know this is random, but I noticed that NCL loves velvet bed/couch/seat looking things. They had a few in the Spinaker Lounge – but oh my gosh the Bliss Lounge was insane! I felt kind of dirty in the Bliss Lounge!! Haha!
Right after the Q&A, we went straight for the Stardust theater to watch a final performance by Sharkbait and the 4 Seasons tribute group! As expected, they put on a great show!
After all our morning/afternoon fun, we ate dinner at the buffet and watched the ship dock into Victoria!
I just HAD to try this “Gumbo Sauce”. Not my kind of “Gumbo”, for sure. FYI Norwegian, it’s not “Gumbo Sauce”, it’s GUMBO and you eat it over RICE, not fish. Thanks.
We made it!
When it was time to disembark, we went straight for the elevator. My purse and dress matched – not on purpose!!
Our excursion for Victoria included a tour of the town and a visit to a castle! My parents were on a completely separate excursion that included a visit to the Butchart Gardens.
A view of the Pearl from our bus!
Victoria was such a CUTE little town!! I loved all of the homes and flowers everywhere!
Reminded me of a Hollywood movie set!
We made it to Craigdarroch Castle!
We had to laugh because they said if you were wearing a booksack, you had to turn it to the front of your body! My poor husband!
This is the view once you pass through the parlor….looking up through the staircase! Pretty neat!
Living room
Outside view from one of the turrets
Piano room
I could totally live in this house and sit right here and stare out of these windows all day!
Beautiful view!
Dining Room
We signed our names in the guestbook, then we shopped around for a little while in the gift shop!
I just HAD to buy some REAL Cadbury chocolate!! In the States, we only get Cadbury for Easter in the form of Cadbury Eggs! The Caramilk was probably my favorite but the Wunderbar was pretty good, too!
After the Castle, we got back on the bus and our driver took us downtown. He gave the option of staying on the bus and going back to port OR getting off the bus and staying downtown with a ticket to return to port later.
We chose the option of staying downtown!
Even though it was dark, we had a really good time! The weather was perfect…not too cold but cool and breezy! I loved it!
Parliament!
Another shot of the Parliament building
Seriously, this little town was (is) awesome! There were (are) flower beds and flower baskets EVERYWHERE!! It was beautiful!
We stopped by the Empress hotel and walked around inside for a long time! REALLY nice hotel! The tea room was all abuzz with activity!
We also walked by the Empress Room……….
……………..where “Princess Elizabeth” received a gift in 1951! :0)
After leaving The Empress Hotel, we found a statue of Captain Cook! I can’t exactly tell you why he has an orange cone on his head, but I found it amusing!
Disney fans will know where to associate Captain Cook with! :0)
The Tulip Peace garden :0)
Totem poles were abundant in Vitoria, too!
The thing that struck me about this little Marina is the shops/entertainment/people around at night! It was awesome and reminded me of the downtown development that they are attempting to do in my town here at home! I loved it!
We also watched these guys for a little while before going back to the ship!
That’s it for our last night onboard! Stay tuned---just one more day to go! :0)
Aw yay for keeping the decorations up! That's why iI ahd them put up the first day so you cocould enjoy them the wwhole time! It looks sosompretty tthere, the castle'looks fun! And love the capt. Cook referance!
ReplyDeleteThat castle looks gorgeous! I've never really wanted to go to Canada until reading all about your trip! Seems like y'all had a great time.
ReplyDeleteyour travels make me so jealous! I cannot wait to go to Alaska and Canada and hope to see 1/2 the things as you have!
ReplyDeletemy hubby and i are looking into doing the rnr seattle half/full and taking an alaskan cruise that has the same stops as yours for next june! i went back and reread all your blog entries about the cruise so see what excursions you went one. i might have some questions in a few months before we decide on things! :)
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