My Alaska Trip 04 Aug - 18 Aug 2005

Day 3 (06 Aug 2005)

We woke up about 9am this morning. After washing up, we proceed to the breakfast buffet located on the 10th level. This is also where we will have our lunch for the rest of our cruise. Another alternative is to have our breakfast at the Cosmopolitan Restaurant. But the restaurant only serve breakfast from 7am to 9am. And their breakfast comes in sets. We prefer the breakfast counters as we can have lots of variety.

Usually, I will have scrambled egg, sausages, mashed potatoes and orange juice. Agnes will have cereal, waffles and omlette. We like the omlette because you can choose your own ingredients to be put into the omlette. Ham, bacon, spinach and mushroom are our staple when it comes to customizing our omlette. We also like the pizza as it is thin crust with lots of ingredients. You can also make your own pizza and the attendents will bake it for you. So here we are sitting by the windows watching the scenaries and having our breakfast while the ship is cruising. Everything is very relax. If you are on Concierge class, physically challenged or senior citizens, there will be a butler assigned to take care of you when u step into the dining area. We are one of the only five asian families there. Most of the guest on board the cruise are senior citizens. Some can be as old as 70 years old but they are still fit and strong to move around without assistant. Really make one wonder how they can do that with all the oily and high calories american food they are taking for the whole of their life probably.

While we were having breakfast, the captain announced that we will be reaching the Hubbard Glacier at 2:30pm. After the announcement, there was a lot of commotion as the glacier is one of the major attraction of Alaska cruise. After breakfast, we went to the deck to take some pictures and wait for the ship to be near Hubbard Glacier. At about 11:45am, we can see mountain ranges with snow capped peak on both side of the ship. We also have visual contact with the Hubbard Glacier in front of us. We went back to our room to exchange our windbreaker with thicker clothing as the temperature is falling as we approach nearer to the glacier.

By 12:20pm, lots of people are gathering at the front deck of the ship (where u do the titanic thingy) armed with still or video cameras. For us, I chose to go for lunch at the pool side counter since there are less people there. Everyone is on the deck waiting eagerly for the glacier. We had clam chowder, a cheese burger each with fries and fruit punch. The patty of the cheese burger is as thick as all the patties in our big mac added together. So it is very tasty.

At 12:50pm, we finished our lunch and went to deck for the glacier. We are almost reaching the glacier. at 1:15pm, our ship is right in front of the glacier - 200 metres away. All of us started snapping pictures of the glacier. As we look at the glacier, we heard lots of thunder. The narrator said that this thunder-like sound is caused by blocks of glacier ice melted and falls into the sea. The narrator also said that global warming is causing the glaciers to melt rapidly. The Hubbard Glacier used to be much taller but lots of it melted. Now it is about 3 storeys tall. Glaciers are formed when water cascades down from the mountain and the cold temperature causes it to freeze into ice blocks. And one thing to note is that glacier ice is blue not white like the ice cubes we see in our fridge. This is due to the molecular structure difference between the two. The narrator also says that the weather allowed the ship to be only 200 metres close to the glacier which is the nearest for the past 18 years. So we are considered very lucky.

The ship left the glacier at about 4:30pm and cruise south towards our first port of call - Juneau. Juneau is also the capital of Alaska. We went back to our room to take a nap and woke up in time to dress for dinner. We did not go to the Cosmopolitan restaurant as we woke up at 8pm which is not in time for it. We went to have pasta and pizza at the buffet area at level 10. After our dinner, we did not went for the performance as we were already late. So we went to walk around and went to the deck to experience the cold winds at night. After that, we went back to our room and started packing our haversacks for our excursions tomorrow when we reach Juneau.

Approaching Hubbard Glacier










THE HUBBARD GLACIER




Best way to see a glacier is by Helicopter but it cost US$ 650 per pax. Cannot afford.

Glacier ice blocks falling into the water.

My Alaska Trip 04 Aug - 18 Aug 2005

Day 2 (05 Aug 2005)

We woke up early in the morning so as not to waste any more time as we only have 1 morning left in Anchorage. We left the hotel for breakfast. We walked around the whole downtown for 30 mins and we still couldn't find a decent place to have breakfast except Starbucks. We were both very hungry as the temperature is about 17 degrees. We decided to go to the place where we got our camera charger to try our luck. We manage to find a restaurant that served breakfast. After we had our breakfast, we went back to our hotel and took their transfer from the hotel to the Williams A. Egan centre.

William A. Egan Convention Centre


When we arrived at William A. Egan centre, it was buzzing with activities. We immediately go ahead with our registration and checked in our lugguages. Apparently, there were three cruises departing Anchorage today. So lots of people running around. We board a coach at the cruise centre which will take us to the Ted Stevens airport to board another coach to take us to the port of Seward to board the cruise ship. The whole journey is 3.5 hours and the coach driver doubled up as the tour guide introducing the places of interest and history along the way.



We had our toilet break at a Nature Preservation Centre. This is a place where injured animals are brought to be nursed back to health and being re-introduced back to their wild habitat. The following are the pictures of the animals currently in the nature reserve. We bought some post cards and souvenirs from the shop and continued our journey to the port.

Nature Preservation Centre

A Moose & a Bison

Bald Eagle & a group of Moose


A BlackBear lazing on the tree and Agnes close encounter with a moose.


We reached Seward at 5pm and proceed with the immigration clearance and registration to board the ship.



Seward Cruise Port






We were informed that it is casual attire for the dinner tonight at the Cosmopolitan Restaurant. So after we went to our room and put down our stuff, we were introduced to our room attend, Mahmood and his assistant. We were told that our luggages will be delivered to our rooms shortly. We proceed to have our dinner at the restaurant. After our dinner, we went to the deck to take some pictures and started running around the cruise to familiarise ourselves with the environment. We missed the performance tonight which I regretted after I saw it for the first time on day 3.

Agnes having lobster tail for main course which I regretted for not ordering.


Our stateroom


Views from the Deck


When we went back to our room, our luggages were all delivered and placed outside our room. The largest luggage (the one with the broken handle) has a hole ripped open on one side. I was quite pissed and worried as I still need to use this luggage for the rest of the trip at Vancouver. So I called the customer relations and they agreed to repair the luggage for me. So I emptied the luggage and place it outside for the room attendents to sent for repair.

We slept early that night at 12am, dreaming about what we gonna do tomorrow.

My Alaska Trip 04 Aug - 18 Aug 2005

Day 1 (04 Aug 2005)

Our flight was at 8.10am so we had to be at the airport at 6am. We finish our packing at 1.30am and woke up at 4.30 am to prepare to go to the airport. My elder brother - Lip Wee and my sister-in-law - Pei San who came over and stayed overnight help us with the luggages and drove us to the airport.

We arrived at the airport at 6am sharp. We checked in our luggages and one of the officer of China Airline asked me whether I brought along my Singapore IC. I did not as I thought my passport would be sufficient to prove my identity. But the officer cautioned me that it is more advisable to bring my IC as the rules and regulations had changed at the US custom after 9/11. So Agnes, Pei San and Lip Wee quickly drove back to get my IC and at the same time my birth cert, marriage cert and PR certificate while I waited at the airport for them. I met one of my colleagues who was going to Bangkok at the same day as well. Agnes and Lip Wee came back with the documents and we had coffee at the airport before we board our plane.

The plane was ok. No individual screens for entertainment but the stewardess were courteous and pleasant. Service was great and they speak with a tone that will make man simply melt. If u have listen to how Lin Zhi Ling speaks u will understand what I mean. We stopped over at Taiwan Chiang Kai Shek airport for 4 hours before we took another flight to Anchorage. That four hours were absolutely boring as there was nothing to do or see in the airport. So we ended up clutching our haversacks and slept on the chairs while waiting for our next flight.

Taiwan CKS Airport

Anchorage Airport




We arrived in Anchorage - a town in Alaska at 11pm. After taking some pictures at the airport, we proceed to our hotel. We arrive at the Howard Johnson Hotel via taxi. And the bellboy broke the handle of my biggest luggage while he was trying to carry it onto a trolley. Surprisingly I was not pissed at all. Think I am in the holiday mood so I am cool about it. After we checked into our hotel room, we walked to the downtown for souvenir shopping. Anchorage is a souvenir shopping paradise with lots of souvenir shop lining along the streets and best part of it is that Anchorage is Tax Free. No GST. No State tax or whatsoever. We bought the majority of our souvenirs in Anchorage. We went back to our hotel about 5pm to take a rest. While we were resting in our room, we realised that we have forgotten to bring the battery charger for our new panasonic camera. So we decided to visit the camera shop in Anchorage to see if we can buy a new charger. We finally found 1 shop and bought it at US$ 80. Kind of heartache to pay for it but I think this amount is nothing compared to the incovenicence of not being able to charge my camera.

Howard Johnson Hotel - The hotel that we stayed in Anchorage.




After we had purchased the camera charger, we went to this restaurant operated by a Japanese couple and had our Alaskan King Crab legs as our dinner. I mean how can we come to Alaska and miss eating the King Crab rite? The crab legs were steamed and the meat was juicy and tender. Cost us about US$ 30 for the meal. Two things of Anchorage that you will notice besides souvenir shops are the bear statues and colour building. We shopped till 11pm at night before we retire in our rooms for more action tomorrow. As it is summer now, sun set is at 11:30pm. So it is great for tourist like us who likes to shop.

Anchorage Post Office