For my 50th Birthday, the other half wanted to a bucket list gift for me, a vacation to Alaska. I got to pick the dates, ship, excursions, etc. It was stress free from the beginning to the end. The stateroom was clean, the dining was excellent, especially Cagney's (steak is delicious), and O' Sheehan's (my other half loved the shepherds pie) enjoyed the entertainment and the fitness center had all the equipment equivalent to hometown local gym. One thing I really enjoyed was the animals created out of bath towels. The steward was very polite and attentive to our stateroom.

The weather was perfect for our Alaskan vacation

The first stop was Juneau. We visited the salmon hatchery, Mendenhall Gardens and then the Mendenhall Glacier. There was a harbor seal that was quite the character trying to capture himself a fine fish. Unbelievable on how fast they can swim. Seen bald eagles and a porcupine at the Mendenhall Glacier and hiked to Nugget Falls. It was a great evening for a walk. The second stop was Skagway and did the White Pass Railway excursion. Learned a lot about how people lived during the gold rush and how difficult life was for them. Then off the the suspension bridge which was awesome. If your afraid of heights, then the bridge is not for you. Skagway is a small town, but it also had a lot of charm. My favorite stop was Ketchikan. I just fell in love with this town. People were friendly and had many cute stores. Got a lot of deals since it was getting towards the end of the cruising season. We went on a floatplane excursion and had an opportunity to see mountain goats, harbor seals and the pilot even landed the plane is a lake in the middle of the fjord. It was an amazing excursion and one that I highly recommend. The other half and I enjoyed our breakfast "outdoors" while going through the Tongass National park / Glacier Bay. They had a ranger on board telling us about how these mountains were named and the wild life. We even seen part of the glacier fall into the bay.. It was a cool thunder sound.. It's hard to explain so you have to experience it yourself. Our last stop was Victoria which I thought was kind of "meh". We arrived at 6 pm and we were only off the ship for a couple of hours. We thought it was a bit pricey.. Nice place to pass through, but not go back.. Read more