Alaska Cruise- an event to cherish and remember for ever!

I was excited beyond imagination and like a school going boy to assimilate the feeling that I was going on a cruise to Alaska to see, feel and enjoy the beauty of mother nature in having given us some of the most wonderful Ice-Glaciers that are still existing!  The cruise ship MV westerdam left the port of Seattle on the 21st May, 2011 to give us a memorable voyage of our life time to Alaska and to enjoy the magnanimity of nature that is keeping our planet alive till date balancing the ecological factors that  are invisible to human eyes or minds!

The huge ship has a passenger capacity of over 2000 passengers and a crew strength of over 800 to serve the guests.

The State Room where I and my wife were booked looked pretty decent enough to be compared with any star hotel room with basic amenities. Room service facilities made us feel important and royal too!!  One can not but appreciate the way the rooms are designed to give enough space for the travellers to sit and talk over a cup of tea while watching the T V programs.  The beds are quite comfortable and sometimes when the sea becomes rough, it gives you a kind of rocking cradle effect to quickly fall asleep and dream the future!!

The top deck of the ship was open and vast enough to go for a regular walk and also provided sufficient chairs to relax and ocean watch!  The other facilities that were available on the ship was a heated and non heated swimming pool, a modern gymnasium besides Library and lounges. One good thing about the ship was food & Beverages were available 24 hours and there was enough and enough for everyone. The temperature dropped considerably once we set out on sail and the sight of pacific ocean was quite breath taking and awesome!  The ship provided good entertainment for the guests throughout the day and most of them conducted at well designed theatres that could accommodate huge numbers.

The best entertainer that we had on board the ship was Minu, the cute little daughter of our friends Rekha and Gean who sometimes behaved more maturely than many of us standing all around her to catch her attention, always?  She seems to be exclaiming"whats there in a glass"?

The ship anchored at the first port of call named Juneau which is the capital of Alaska.  The sight was adorable and serene.  The ship was right in the midst of the small tiny town of Juneau which comes alive only for 4 months in a year with the incoming tourists and it was quite cold even during the end of May when it is like 42 deg Celsius in most parts of India!! The best part of sea port in these places is that right besides, you  can spot a sea plane taking of and landing carrying tourists to various destinations of interest for a charge! we had the fortune of being in there and seeing Mendenhall glacier, one of those few glaciers left to fight the global warming all alone?  The feeling was unique and tranquilising as I had never seen such huge glaciers of ice reflecting blue color through the ice!!  Upon enquiry, we were told that from the spectrum of colors ice absorbs all the colors except the blue which is reflected and the reason for us to see Blue ice!  I could see small bergs falling off into the water and floating all around us reminding us the grave need to conserve and preserve nature?  The climate was so nice and bearable that we could muster courage to walk miles without getting tired.  The Captain announced  that the ship would sail without a break to the next Glacier wonder named Hubbard which was mightier and bigger than Mendenhall glacier and that would be approximately a 24 hour voyage!!  As we neared Hubbard Glacier in yet another part of Alaska, there was enthusiasm amongst the tourists who tried to take the best possible advantageous position in front of the ship as the doors to the front of the ship deck was thrown open.  Not wishing to miss out revenues, the shipping company put up counters right on the deck to serve hot chocolate with Vodka, Brandy and other liquors of choice.  The ship was inching its way towards the glacier not willing the disturb the nature and surroundings that were fragile.  The captain took us very near to the mighty glacier to enable us to have a feel of its size and  volumes of water that it holds within itself!  What a sight!!  God has been so kind !!

The next stop of our voyage was Sitka in Alaska.  Sitka used to be the old capital of Alaska when it was under the sovereign control of the erstwhile U S S R or the Soviet Republic who sold the entire Alaska to the U S A evaluating the price @17cents an acre without realising that they were parting with unaccounted huge wealth of natural resources like oil and other minerals and gold which are yet to be explored or tapped?? Sitka is thought to be the most scenic and beautiful South east cities of Alaska! It is majestically flanked on the east by mountains covered in Snow and mighty pacific ocean on the west. For wild life lovers the place offers plenty of interests and for those who are lovers of sea food, there is plenty to look for.  The Solmon fish is very popularly hunted and available in plenty but there are restrictions on fishing by the local administration which is followed meticulously with discipline by the people of Sitka! However, the most popular sport followed by the tourists coming to Sitka is Hiking and Biking  and one can find many people back-packing on bicycles pursuing their own interests.  I wanted to try out some local brew and visited a local pub where I tasted some local ale beer.  Most certainly, it was a delight to sip beer from the window of the pub overlooking the snow covered Sitka mountains and our own ship anchored at a distance!  It was a great sight and experience!!

When we departed the port of Sitka, the captain announced that we could spot many whales in the ocean.  I was ready to spot and shoot some of them and could spot many of them diving into depths lifting their tails up which was something we have seen only on geographic channels!

I felt so happy to have seen so many whales/otters in their natural habitat!  It was a trip worth the time and money and probably of a life time?

The next port of call was Ketchikan, Alaska.  The small township was a treat for visuals!  The beauty of the port was that our ship docked right into the town and you have to just walk across to shop for gifts and souvenirs!  This place is famous and known for Diamonds which are mined in the state.  You are in for a surprise when you find yourself greeted in Hindi and Tamil by the shopkeepers and their employees.  Indians are everywhere!! One of the main business in this peace loving town is diamonds which are guaranteed and mined from the state of Alaska.  They say that its a lot cheaper to buy diamonds from here which are certified original! This announcement both on board the ship and by the shopkeepers in Ketchikan created interest in a portion of the tourists to invest in the glittering commodity!  Those who ventured into these shops were a few! Most of the shops are owned by Indians from Gujarat  and you are in for a pleasant surprise when you are greeted in your lingo by the shopkeepers and their staff!  The winter garments are attractively priced and lure you to try and eventually buy!  These places are exotic for those indulging in adventure tourism/fishing sport/trekking and hiking etc.  The vegetarians have to be satisfied with some delicious coffee and selected eatables.  As the ship provides food 24 hours, the tourists hardly spend any time for eating or drinking beverages and utilise the entire time sightseeing places.   The next port of call was Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. This is a cute little port of Canada, so neat and clean with a mighty Canadian flag welcoming the tourists fluttering atop the immigration building.  One thing that I realised during this trip is that Patriotism develops and gets deeply embedded in a national if there is only one national flag which is allowed to be unfurled everywhere unlike numerous flags of political parties that are allowed to be hoisted on top of everything right from the bonnet of a car as in India!  The ship docked in the Canadian waters at 4.30 pm and gave us time till midnight to get back to sail back to the destination in Seattle.  we engaged a van that could transport all the 14 members of our family.  The place had some mystic effect in the hearts and minds of most of us.  It was so clean and tidy and the temperature was 12deg Celsius which was perfect for outing.  There are gardens everywhere and most places have peacocks and peahens roaming freely with humans.  You can find ducks, flamingos and swans wherever there is a water body! Everyone stops to admire this nature's beauty.  Probably, Asoka Vanam in Ramayana would have been something equivalent to what I saw in British Columbia as I have never seen such a natural beauty in abundance anywhere?

 One has to give credit to Chinese as they have planted themselves everywhere in the world that is beautiful and have gone ahead to fort themselves naming them China-Town!  These people have worked hard wherever they went and have made a niche for themselves in the demographic chart of the country that they live in.  One such China town captured here!

 One of the landmarks of Victoria is the 5 star hotel named Empress which forms a part of tourist attraction and visit.

 One famous Pub that we visited was Bard & Banker in downtown area of Victoria.  It is said that this pub used to cater exclusively to Bankers in the area!  In other words, elite bankers after a days hard work came here to chill? The Pub was filled with people and it was hard to find a place to seat 4 persons!  Ofcourse, the youngsters do not want to sit and spoil their evening fun and were seen standing everywhere with a drink in their hands!!  The Pub was doing brisk business, I guess?

 our family in front of the sailing vessel M V Westerdam @Victoria port

We departed Victoria at midnight to reach our final destination to disembark from the ship.  The management of the ship checked with everyone about their preferred time to disembark and facilitated their safe exit without any commotions!  Our ship contained nearly 2000 plus passengers and there was one more ship named Golden Princess which came along with us and got back at the same time which also had 2000 plus passengers!  All the 4000 plus passengers disembarked from these two ships without any tension or a problem and quietly got into their respective pick up vehicles to head home!  The management of the ship had also vans and buses to transport passengers directly to the Airport for their onward journey for which they charged a fee.  The entire trip was a memorable one and could be easily termed as Holiday with Pleasure!  The seven days of voyage left lasting impressions in our minds.  I was so happy and relaxed after this amazing trip.  There were also lessons learnt about the importance of preserving nature for the welfare of our future generations! I was very happy to realise that India and Indians are far away from these amazing glaciers and mountains as  otherwise, We Indians would have built some kind of temple on top of each mountain and glacier naming it after some god or goddess, polluting the water flowing from the glaciers and beating nature mercilessly!!   Congratulations to Holland America liners for organising such a lovely, pleasant and memorable cruise to Alaska!!