We started our journey from West Palm Beach – we were picked up by our car service at 10:30 AM and we stopped by Adam’s hotel in Miami to pick him up on our way to the ship. Embarkation was fast and easy and we boarded the beautiful Vista (just inaugurated in May 2023). We were greeted by carolers in the atrium and a very beautiful display of a gingerbread village. Very talented pastry chefs!
We had a quick lunch, unpacked our bags and set out to explore the ship and she is just beautiful. When we returned to our room, in addition to the orchid plant that is in our room and is pretty traditional for Oceania, we found this stunning centerpiece. We had dinner in Polo and it was great to have the family together. But we were so busy catching up that we didn’t have a family picture taken! We will do that in the next couple of days.
Here are some pictures of our sail away out of Miami. We all went to the show after dinner and I spent some time in the casino. For the very first time I saw a player at our table get a royal straight flush – and he didn’t have a bet placed on the “6” (three of your own cards and the best two of the dealer’s cards). It would have paid $5000 on that $5 bet. Everyone in the casino erupted. He was sitting next to me and I felt very bad for him. He placed that bet always after that but that luck didn’t come again. Tomorrow is a sea day so I will post about the activities then.
Just over 2 weeks to go before we leave for a 12 day Caribbean cruise from Miami. We are so excited to have our sons, Adam and Mark and our daughter in law, Ramsay, with us for this adventure!
Here is the map of our voyage. I will be posting from each port and probably in between too. We have been to all of the locations except Dominica and are looking forward to all of them and to a relaxing time on the newest Oceania ship, the Vista.
We made it all the way around the world in 180 days!
We had to leave the ship at 3 AM to make a 6 AM flight in San Francisco. We thought we would be the only ones leaving that early but there were others. Our two cruise directors-Ray and Dottie-for the voyage were also awake and hugged us goodbye at the gangway. That was unexpected at that hour, but lovely to see them, say “see you again” and thank them. Our flights were on time and uneventful and we arrived home about 6:30 PM. We have some luggage being shipped here to Florida and some to NJ where we will spend the rest of the summer. So far, they look like they are on their way.
I promised to post pictures of the paintings that I did in the artist’s loft during the last segment of the cruise. We had the artist to give us lessons and several mediums to try. Some of the people did an amazing job. It was fun, but no natural talent here!
We. had a day at sea yesterday between Astoria Oregon, and San Francisco.
We has a nice lunch with Erin, Mui and Ray. It is so hard to believe that we will be home in just 2 days after this amazing journey.
All of the usual sea day activities were held, but the highlight was the final Sing Out Loud concert. Our friend Charlie and of course, Norm, are part of this group and the concert was just wonderful. The group has had practice sessions and they truly appreciate the time and insight they got from Paul and Carolyn.
We had our last dinner in Toscana and there was a birthday celebration for Dottie and a farewell to the cast in Horizons at night.
Today we had our final day in port in San Francisco. Many of the passengers were on deck for the sail in under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was misty as is typical of San Francisco mornings.
Looks like we can’t fit under…But we made it!
My pelican friends greeted us and this tugboat welcomed us with my name!
Some of the ATW guests are going home today but most of us will leave tomorrow. About 56 of the 380 ATW guests are staying on for more days, either to Miami, Port Canaveral or to New York.
We decided to go out and explore in San Francisco. Although we have been here many times, we always enjoy it and when we were here to start the voyage in January it was a very stormy and rainy day and we only got out of the hotel for lunch before boarding the ship.
San Francisco is the second most densely populated large US City and fifth most densely populated US county, behind only four of the five NY boroughs. Three quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire and it was quickly rebuilt and hosted the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. It became the birthplace of the United Nations in 1945. The city is a center of liberal activism in the US. It is known for its cool summers, fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of architecture including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, Fisherman’s Wharf and its Chinatown district. Many colleges and universities as well as cultural institutions are located here.
We walked to the Salesforce Park, which our son Adam had told us about. It is a really beautiful place with many varieties of plants and lots of activities taking place here. It is three stories above the street. Here are some of the sights in the park.
When we saw this CVS vending machine in the Salesforce complex, we were reminded of Japan! I have never seen one of these from CVS before but I guess Salesforce thinks of everything.
After spending over an hour walking around the whole park, we went to the Tadich Grill for lunch. And what a lunch it waas! This restaurant was recommended by a friend. It has been in business since 1849 – now in their 174th year. The inside has the original bar and light fixtures and the waiters wear a sort of formal white jacket. Our food was wonderful but we had no idea the portions would be so large. We sat at the bar and the place was completely full most of the time we were there. There were two types of chowder on the menu, Boston and Coney Island. I took that to mean New England and Manhattan and I ordered the Coney Island. When it came, it looked like New England, but I thought maybe Coney Island was also a creamy chowder. We got two spoons and really enjoyed it. If I had known how large the avocado and dungeness crab salad was, I would have skipped the soup or ordered something smaller! It was delicious but enough for three lunches. Norm had the swordfish oscar (with crab and asparagus) on risotto and said it was just delicious too. The sourdough bread was amazing.
They gave me a container to take the rest of the salad with me and I then asked about the chowder. It turns out, they made a mistake and did give me the Boston chowder, so the waiter gave me a container of the Coney Island one to go! Will have our own dinner on the ship tonight.
After lunch, we wanted to walk off the food, so we walked the embarcadero up to and around Fisherman’s Wharf.
Alcatraz
We went back to the ship to finish our packing. We have a 6 AM flight tomorrow (we didn’t plan on that – the airline changed our flight time), so we are leaving the ship at 3 AM in the transport they are providing for us. I think I will take an early nap then stay up until we get dressed to leave. it’s been an amazing journey filled with wonderful experiences, new and familiar friends and crew and as always, we are so grateful for the opportunity to travel and learn. It is always hard to leave the “family” we have spent the last 6 months with but we have made lasting friendships and know we will meet many of them again.
We arrived in Astoria at 10 AM and had to go through a face to face immigration since we were coming from Canada back into the US. It took quite a long time and our tour to Mount St. Helens left 1 hour late.
Here are some pictures of our arrival. It was drizzling slightly when we arrived but soon cleared up and was a beautiful day.
This lovely Golden was there to greet us!
Our tour to Mount St. Helens was a long one – a 2 hour + bus ride. Our guide was Bob and he was very knowledgeable and humorous.
On our way, he gave us information about Astoria as well as some facts about Mount St. Helens. We also watched a movie called “The Fire Below Us” about the eruption that took place on May 18, 1980.
Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies. It was established in 1811 on the Columbia River. It is known as the “little San Francisco of the Pacific Northwest” because of the colorful Victorian homes clinging to its steep hills. Settlers used wooden pilings to build foundations for the buildings to raise them above the marshy ground. Unfortunately the wood buildings on the wood pilings left the buildings vulnerable to fires which almost completely destroyed the city in both 1883 and 1922. In spite of these fires, Bob said there are more historic houses here than anywhere in the US.
The Astoria-Megler bridge which was formally dedicated in 1966 stretches 4.1 miles from Astoria to Point Ellice. It iw 1232 feet in length making it the longest “continuous truss” in the US.
Bob said that Astoria has a number of memorable “firsts” including the first customs house and the first cable TV. The Columbia River bar – a narrow channel where the river flows into the Pacific – area is a dangerous stretch for boaters and is known as “the Graveyard of the Pacific”. More than 2000 shipwrecks have happened here.
Many movies have been made in Astoria, including Free Willy, The Goonies, Short Circuit and Kindergarten Cop. We passed the school where Kindergarten Cop was filmed.
We traveled on Route 30 (yes, it runs from NJ all the way out here to Oregon) until we reached Route 5 and then the road to Mount St. Helens. The Johnson Ridge observatory is closed through 2023 due to a mudslide that is still being cleared but the Coldwater Lake science and learning center remains open.
The scenery along the way was really beautiful with lots of Douglas Fir and Red Alder trees covering the hills and mountains. And the day kept getting sunnier as we ascended to the volcano.
It is hard to believe that in only 43 years since the largest historical landslide on earth and a powerful explosive eruption causing more than 150 square miles to be flattened – the area is so tree covered and green. As the literature from the learning states “The lesson is that life is resilient and ongoing.” The movie showed the story of some of the survivors as well as showing dramatic footage of trees and logs blocking the river and the volcanic mudflows that choked the rivers. The landslide deposit – its surface strewn with huge blocks of shattered rock called hummocks – buried the river valley as much as 600 feet deep for a distance of 13 miles. The violent eruption killed 57 people and destroyed every building except one in its path. The surviving building still stands but we went by too fast to get a photo of it.
The volcano was nicely visible with only a small amount of cloud cover. We had outside seating at the center to eat the bag lunches that were provided and about 1 3/4 hours to explore the area and the exhibits. Since the eruption, the volcano is no longer cone shaped. Beneath the volcano, magma is accumulating again and building for another eruption. Scientists believe it could take place within our lifetimes. Hot dome rocks are still steaming and rock falls send plumes of dust skyward.
The Coldwater lake is below the center and is a hiking and picnicing area.
The small thing that looks like an island is called a hummock from the volcanic eruption. The lake’s rising water concealed all but the tallest hummocks. The river beds also have basalt and debris on the shores.
On the way back to the ship, we passed many areas that are being harvested and areas where lumber is being loaded on ships to send to China and other areas of the world. The replanted forests are mostly owned by the Weyerhaeuser company which owns nearly 12,400,000 acres of timberland in the US. There are signs that say when certain sections have been replanted.
This area was a logging community right along the river. It looks quite charming.
This is just the top part of a building that was buried by the volcanic eruption. Big foot is part of the local legend
Because we got a late start and it is such a long trip, we were late returning to port. Because it is a ship tour, they don’t leave without you, but we missed “the End of the World Sail Away Party and crew mix and mingle.” We heard that almost every crew member attended and it was quite a sight on the open deck. It’s a tradition to jump into the pool with your clothes on (I did this on a previous trip) and we missed that too, but my friend Erin Erkun provided me with some pictures of the festivities.
The entertainment team jumpAnd the plunge!
We had dinner with Paul and Carolyn as well as three other guests. Jennifer and I thought we coordinated our outfits and shoes! Just cooincidence though!
It is hard to believe that we have now finished day 177 of our 180 day world cruise. We have a sea day tomorrow, we arrive in San Francisco on Wednesday and we fly home on Thursday. Bittersweet for sure. We will never forget the places, the people and all of the experiences we were fortunate enough to have on this trip.
Victoria is Western Canada’s oldest city. In many ways it still has an English image. The tourist economy is the second largest industry here and it employs thousands of people and generates billions in economic impact.
Here are some pictures from our sail in.
We have visited several times before and enjoyed Butchart Gardens, the Fairmont Empress and the outstanding museum. This time, we had an even more enjoyable experience because my sister and brother in law came aboard for a visit on the ship. We haven’t seen each other in person since before covid, in February 2020.
They came from Washington on the ferry in the morning, stayed for lunch and we celebrated her 70th and Mike’s 72nd birthday (which was just 2 days ago) together. We have been so excited for the visit and while it was short and went by way too fast, it was truly a great day.
Lunch outside at the Terrace CafeThe weather was perfect!
Tomorrow we arrive in Astoria, Oregon, a new city for us. We have an all day excursion to Mount St. Helens. We will probably miss the deck party that always happens at the end of the world cruise and it will be our last port day until we reach San Francisco and the end of the trip. A comment on my last blog post seems appropriate to add here – “Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world”. Gustave Flaubert
Prince Rupert is a port city in British Columbia, Canada. It is on an island that is linked by a short bridge to the mainland. It sits on the very edge of the wilderness and the main attractions revolve around the outdoors. It is a central point in the Inside Passage, a route of relatively sheltered waters running along the Pacific coast from Vancouver, BC to Skagway, Alaska. It was very foggy when we arrived but the fog lifted and it was a perfect day.
The tide rises about 15 feet in a day and here are the exposed pilings when we left for our excursion. at low tide.
Our trip today was the North Coast Waterfall Hike. We were met by 4 very youong tour guides and taken by bus for a short ride to the beginning of the trail. We had to go down a long metal staircase to reach the first part of the trail, the Omenica Trailhead connector. The guides gave us walking sticks and said we would need them. An understatement for sure. The trail through the forest was moss covered and slippery with many tree roots and fallen logs. There were some boards over areas but they were often rotted or off kilter. It was a challenge. Then we came to a dirt road that led us most of the rest of the way up the mountain. It was steep and also a strenuous climb. About half of the group opted out at that point, including Norm.
Our guides were not quite the caliber we were expecting and while they did explain things, they weren’t consistent and not everyone could hear what they were saying. There was lots of skunk cabbage along the way, which we also had in NJ where I grew up, but this was much bigger. We saw Queen Anne’s Lace – this is the flower we used to cut and put the roots in food colored water to watch the flower change color. Memories!
Our guides
We did see small waterfalls along the way, but I guess when it rains they get bigger. Not quite what we were expecting on a “waterfall hike”.
I did go on the entire hike and we were rewarded with a lovely view from the top. We had a trail bar snack given to us at the start and sandwiches from a local store at the top. Plenty of water too. I loved the sandwich with no meat – it was on home baked whole wheat bread with tahini sauce, a type of green grown here (yaga) and sliced beets and apples. Not a combination I ever would have thought of but will certainly try at home.
After the hike, I was pretty sweaty and hot, and smelled of insect repellant, so I met Norm back at the ship and took a shower, then we went out to explore the town. The first stop was at a local artists cooperative where we could have spent the rest of the day. We bought a gift for a friend and two very unique items for our homes. They are wrapped for travel so I can’t take pictures. I will add them (if I remember) when we get home. It was a picture perfect day and we enjoyed the scenery and the walk.
On our way back to the ship we saw this deer right next to the non functioning railroad tracks. We were on the wrong side of the fence, so doubled back and lucky us, that was where the Wheelhouse Brewing Company was, overlooking the water. Norm had a dark beer and I had a hard cider, both were delicious. We enjoyed our conversation with a fellow passenger from Switzerland and decided to have dinner with him and his girlfriend tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow we will be in Victoria, BC, Canada and we are so excited that we got permission to have my sister Deb and her husband Mike come on the ship for the day. We will do a long catch up since we haven’t been together in person since early 2020, like much of the rest of the people in the world experienced during that time.
We had a 12:30 arrival into Ketchikan and there was time for a traditional end of the world cruise white elephant sale in which Ray serves as the auctioneer. You cannot believe the amount of “stuff” that passengers either bought and regretted, don’e want any more or just contribute for fun. There are books, a lot of clothing, paintings by passengers and almost anything else you can imagine. Many of the gifts we got at the cave event in Vietnam are so heavy that passengers donated them (we gave ours) and Ray called them “kissing chickens” and added them to every successful bidder until he ran out. I don’t know what those winners will do with them! Ray even modeled some of the items. This is a hilarous event even if you don’t buy anything. The money again goes to the crew welfare fund.
He dared the winner to wear this off the ship when they disembark in San Francisco
We arrived at our last port in Alaska, Ketchikan. It is at the southern tip of Alaska and is often the first or the last port for cruises visiting here. And they do visit – on average there are 6-8 ships in port every day. and they bring between 5000-9000 passengers. There are two different docking places and the docks can hold 4 ships each. The town is 31 miles long but never more than 3 blocks wide. On one side of the avenue, businesses and homes are built on stilts out over the water, while on the other side they cling to the steep slopes and often have winding wooden staircases leading to their doors. In fact, the staircases have street names.
Ketchikan boasts the largest number of totem poles in Alaska, some more than 100 years old. They can take a year to carve and are made from just one tree which rots from the inside out so that is why they last so long.
They get 14 feet, yes, feet, of rain each year but only 2 feet of snow. The low temperature is 32 degrees.The daily tides cause the water to rise 19 feet. The second largest national forest in the US is on this island.
Here are some pictures of our sail in.
Our tour today is the George Inlet Lodge crab feast. Our bus driver entertained us with facts about Ketchikan and stories handed down by the three tribes that live here. She told us that there are only three ways to get to Ketchikan – boat, plane or the birth canal! 40% of the population here are natives. In the tribes, when people marry, the husband takes the woman’s last name and they move in with her family. It is strictly followed that the husband has no role at all in raising the children. If the wife dies, a female relative of the wife must take on that duty.
The crab feast was wonderful! It was at a lodge on the water and our group had its own dining room. They kept bringing us as much of the Dungeness crab as we wanted and…who could finish the cheesecake we had for dessert!
After we ate, we were taken back to the ship which was docked in the Ward Cove docks (we wanted the driver to drop us in town, but for legal reasons here, they aren’t able to do that). So we took the shuttle bus back to town and explored.
Creek Street was interesting. It is a historic area with a boardwalk path built over Ketchikan Creek on stilts. It was Ketchikan’s famed red-light district until 1954. Today the street is home to art galleries, gift shops, bookstores and restaurants. Unfortunately, the huge cruise ships that were docked on this side of town were in the process of leaving, so most of the shops were closed and we certainly weren’t hungry for a restaurant after all those crabs! The most popular house in the district was Dolly’s House, the parlor of the city’s most famous madam, Dolly Arthur. It is now a museum dedicated to this famous era. Also unfortunately closed. We heard that in the bar was placed over a trap door to the creek for quick disposal of bootleg whisky.
The statue is a tribute to the early settlers. And a HUGE cruise ship in the background
When you need to rest, there are whale tail benches to stop and take in the scenery.
A pretty bed and breakfastYou can see that the weather got warmer
Ketchikan is the “Salmon Capital of the World” and our chef is buying it to serve on the ship.
Yesterday was a great July 4 on the ship. It started out with a special breakfast for the members of the President’s Circle in the Oceania Club. We were joined by our cruise directors for the voyage, our general manager and our around the world host and hostess. We ordered from the menu and after having our mimosas, we also had special muffins for the occasion. There were three tables and only a few of the members didn’t attend.
Here’s the whole President’s Circle group at the breakfast
In mid afternoon, there was a guest “Rising Stars” comedy show hosted by Tom Drake. Five passengers did their routines. Some funnier than others but I do admire them for doing it.
We were at sea and scheduled to cruise the Hubbard Glacier, but the weather got quite foggy and there was a lot of ice in the sea, so the captain couldn’t get any closer than 7 miles from the glacier. There was a lot of other nice scenery though. As I did my deck walk, I stopped to take the occasional picture.
We had a great July 4 lunch with all of the typical foods – great job by the culinary team.
All of the 374 world cruise guests were asked to wear our jackets and pose on deck for a group picture. You can imagine trying to get THAT set up! Well here it is. Can you spot us? Like looking for Waldo.
After the last show by the entertainment team, Showdown, (Robbie won) Ray and Dottie gave flowers to the whole group since this is the last show they will perform together. Robbie leaves in a few days for a wedding in his home town in Scotland – he will be back – and most of the rest of the team will leave in San Francisco. There were many tears shed on the stage.
Later, in Horizons late night, we had our July 4 celebration with cake, music and of course, the national anthem sung by Laura.
Now on to Sitka. I took these shots as we sailed in. It is a beautiful place! It is the only Inside Passage community that fronts the Pacific Ocean. It is a city of about 8500 people but the land mass makes it the biggest city area wise in the United States. Much of the land is inaccessible and there are many islands. Russia sold Alaska to the United States on October 18, 1867 with a transfer ceremony held here in Sitka on the Baranof Castle State Historic Site.
We arrived at 11:30 and were anchored. There is a cruise dock at the other end of town but other ships were already docked there. The Viking Orion was also anchored near us. Once the tenders got ready, we went to shore and browsed around the town before our tour. It is a very charming main street and we enjoyed the shops. We also visited St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral which seemed more like a museum. There are no pews in the church. People who attend the mass stand through the whole thing unless they are disabled in which case a chair is brought in for them.
Our tour today was Fin Island Lodge and Zodiac Adventure. We got our life jackets and had a brief safety talk, then we split into two groups with two guides for each zodiac.
Our captain and guide, George.
Our other guide was a recent graduate in marine biology and she gave us lots of information about the sea otters, sea lions and bald eagles. The largest population of bald eagles is here in Alaska and we saw many of them. The sea otters eat this kelp and they also use it to wrap their babies to secure them when they are away as well as to secure groups when the seas are rough. Their fur has one million strands per inch! A typical house cat has that many on their whole body! They live in the water and never come on land. They are pretty quick so I didn’t get very good pictures. But here is a patch of their fur.
A young bald eagle. They learn to fly at about 2 months old
The scenery is really hard to show in pictures – simply spectacular.
This is the kelp with herring eggs on it – the eggs are supposedly a rare specialty to eat
After about a 90 minute cruise around the area, we went to Fin Island for our dinner. This small island has a wooden building made from the local wood. It is open 6 months a year during the tourist/cruise ship season. In the winter, they actually take the whole pier down. The lodge is totallu run by a generator and the solar panels. We had a delicious meal of snow crab, coho salmon, salmon chowder and all of the fixings. And s’mores made over the open fire outside.
We learned that the main health system for the area is here in Sitka and it is the largest employer. It is the biggest system between Anchorage and Seattle. They have lots of housing for the staff.
We raced the other zodiac back to the pier and headed back to the ship by tender to depart at 7:30. A great day.
We are in Ketchikan tomorrow, our last port in Alaska.
July 1 was Canada Day and there was a celebration in Horizons. They made this cake and many Canadian passengers wore their colors and flag regalia.
We also got the word from the Captain that we were going to miss the stop in Kodiak, Alaska due to bad weather. The waves were 15 feet and the ship was the rockiest it has been the whole cruise. So the ship has to go slower and we wouldn’t get to the port in time. We have never been to Kodiak so it will have to wait until next time. The rocking was not bad for us but many passengers felt the effects. We had an Oceania Club cocktail party which was attended by fewer than usual, followed by dinner in Polo. Two of our singers, Laura and Robbie, performed at the cocktail party but our main show by Sonia Selbie, was postponed until July 2 and there was a movie instead. In Polo, Norm had this amazing veal oscar.
We had a sea day on July 2 and the Insignia Country Fair was held inside since the weather was cool and drizzly. It was really good inside. It consists of crew from each of the main departments doing some type of competitive activity (guess the spices from culinary, competition to identify flags from different countries from destinations, guess high or low in casino, etc). My favorite was the entertainment team doing a human slot machine! Laura lifted and then put her arm down and the other 3 moved their heads and bodies and each pulled out an object. If the objects matched you got 2 tickets, if not, you got one. Very fun.
You got a ticket just for participating at the different stands, and if you won, you got two. There was a drawing for prizes at the end. We had lots of tickets but didn’t win anything.
On July 3, we finally touched the first land since Dutch Harbor, in Seward, Alaska. Our sail in was just stunning, even with the clouds. Very green with snow covered mountains.
Seward is located on Resurrection Bay on Alaska’s southern coast about 120 miles from Anchorage. The town has only 2717 people according to the 2020 census. It is named for former United States Secretary of State William Seward who orchestrated the US purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867. The cost to the US was less than 2 cents/acre. At the time, the purchase was seen as foolish – Seward’s Folly.
Our tour was the Resurrection Bay cruise. We took a short bus ride around the very small town before getting to the pier (which would have normally taken only about 5 minutes). They were getting ready for the Mount Marathon on July 4 which isn’t like a normal running of marathon of 26.2 miles, but a grueling 3.1 mile steep run up the mountain to 2974 feet above sea level and back down. The leading racers typically reach the highest point in 33-40 minutes and reach the finish line from the turn in 10 – 15 minutes. It is apparently not for the faint of heart! There are so many RVs here, many more than even the homes and businesses in the town. Some are tourists and others are people who relocate to work during the short tourist season. I mentioned before that it stays light here until about midnight and at about 3:30 AM it starts to get light again.
Once out on the boat, we had a cloudy, overcast day so it was sometimes hard to get pictures. We did see sea otters, Dall’s porpoises, many bald eagles and puffins. These pictures are really the best I could get. The scehery in this Kenai Fjords area was just stunning, though. We actually got back after the ship was scheduled to leave port but because it was a ship tour, they waited for us.
Bet this sailor was cold!Sailed past this glacier!
We cruise the Hubbard Glacier on July 4 (along with the usual July 4 feasting). Our next port will be Sitka, Alaska on July 5.
Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures 