Trip Overview

Before we detail each specific day of the trip, we thought we'd give a general overview of our vacation, with a couple of pictures sprinkled in. Later, we will detail each day and post the bulk of the pictures.

Vancouver-

Spending a few days in Vancouver before our cruise was a great way to start the vacation. The city is great. The food was perfect, the views spectacular and the people friendly. There wasn't anything about Vancouver we didn't like and we would highly recommend visiting it. We'll definitely go back.

The Cruise-

This was our first cruise with Princess. Our previous two cruises (to Bermuda and the Mexican Riviera) were through Royal Caribbean. We sailed aboard the Island Princess which is a gorgeous ship.The service on Island Princess was top notch. From the waiters to our room steward, everyone was friendly and helpful. The one disappointment we had was the food. The meals in the traditional evening dining were good but not exceptional. We would definitely rank Royal Caribbean's meals as better. That being said, the ship's specialty restaurants were phenomenal.

Alaska-

Our time in Alaska, from the cruise ports to the fishing towns we explored on our own, was both relaxing and adventurous. We hiked, biked, drank, ate, scoured glaciers, and observed all that was wild. Everything we'd heard about the grand adventure that is Alaska was true. They make damn good beer, serve the freshest and heartiest seafood, and do not have an acre in their state that is not breathtaking. Hopefully, someday, we'll get to see it again.

Meet Patron, the Brown Bear. His name really is Patron. And, no, Lance did not name him.