We just returned home from a fantastic cruise to Alaska!

Rosemarie McBride and I left Phoenix by air on July 13 for Vancouver, BC.  We then boarded the Coral Princess cruise ship for a 7 day trip up the Inland Passage, stopping at Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.  The ship then took us to Glacier bay and College Fjord without docking for observation from the ship.  Our final port was in Whittier where we departed the ship and took a train to Denali for two days, and then continued by train to Fairbanks for another two days.  We flew back to Phoenix from Fairbanks on July 24.  
 
 I will break the trip down pretty much chronologically with sections for each major location or activity, and will include many photographs.  I am writing this after returning home, as I had no computer along with us, but I have many shipboard papers and notes to help refresh my memory and will try to be as accurate as possible.

The Coral Princess

Our ship for this cruise is beautiful, as I'm sure all the Princess ships are.  The Coral Princess is somewhat smaller than the Diamond Princess on which we sailed to Hawaii, but is still very large.  The main difference I noted in the amenities between the two ships was that we had one large dining room for anytime seating (our choice) and one for fixed seatings.  The Diamond Princess had three smaller ones for anytime dining and one for fixed seatings.  The passenger capacity is about 20% less on this ship.

We are aboard the Q400 twin turboprop plane from Seattle to Vancouver.

The bus which took us from the airport to the cruise terminal gave us a detailed, narrated toure through downtown Vancouver.

Vancouver is building high-rise condos just about anywhere they can find the land.  These condos are very expensive!  The prices are driving many residents out of the area.

We got a kick seeing this concrete truck disguising itself as a bunch of asparagus.

Many areas of downtown Vancouver were really pretty.

As we approach the cruise terminal, we get our first view of the Coral Princess.

We are finally on board.  The view from our balcony is great!

Moored just across from us at the dock is a ship named "The World".  This is a "condo" type ship, where people own their own residences aboard the ship.  I understand the prices start at about 2 million!  There are some rental residences available for about $2000 a night for the 1 bedroom to about $5000 a night for the 6 bedroom units. The ship sails continuously to ports all around the world.

This float plane which is just taking off from the Vancouver Harbor is the first of very many we saw on this trip.

Passengers are gathering on the Lido Deck awaiting our departure from port.
We set sail about 4 PM and sailed all night and all the next day enroute to Ketchikan, a distance of 517 nautical miiles (595 statute miles).  There were many activities on board during this transit.  This also gave us an opportunity to explore the ship.

The Atrium is the show place of the ship, occupying 3 decks in the center of the ship.  There are two glass elevators and much glitter and fine finishes in this area.

A look up at the Atrium shows the fancy ceiling and the many accent lights.

The day after the ship left port, there was a fruit carving demonstration in the Atrium.  These three carvers are hired to do fruit and ice carving.  They have no other duties aboard ship.

After only a few minutes of work, these are some of the creations.  The man seen on the left above seems to be the most skilled.  He produced the squirell on the left and the watermelon carving of the man's face.

The second evening out, there was a stage production called "Dance".  This was an extravaganza involving the full singing and dancing staff.  It was very enjoyable.   On this cruise, each show seemed to be repeated at least once.  This show played again several days after we saw it.