We just got back from sailing Royal Caribbean's Alaskan Inside Passage (southbound) cruise. We embarked June 3 and arrived in Vancouver on June 10. My husband and I decided to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary with the cruise, and it was worth every penny that it cost us! My husband and I are in our early 30s and this was our very first cruise.

We flew from O'Hare airport to Salt Lake City, and then from there to Anchorage. Once arriving in Anchorage, we were put on a bus for a three hour ride to Seward where we could finally get on the ship. At first we weren't looking forward to the drive since we had been sitting on a plane all day and the last thing we wanted to do was sit some more, but the bus ride ended up being a real delight. The first amazing thing was that we were on the bus for only a few minutes when we spotted our first bald eagle flying right above us, and boy was he a beauty! Now, I have seen many bald eagles here at home when they nest in the Northern Mississippi Valley bluffs of my home in the winter, but nothing beats seeing them soar in the crisp clear air of Alaska, with blue skies and majestic mountains behind them. It was beautiful! Our bus driver was very informative about telling us all about the areas we were driving through and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and he drove us through the Kenai Peninsula, which was an added bonus for us since we weren't expecting to get to see that area.

Finally, we arrived around 7 p.m. in Seward and went through the embarkation process which went rather smoothly. I was nervous about what we needed to do, but the people there guided you well and made sure you were in the right place. We finally made it on the ship and that's when the real fun began! Read more