Sambrano Family Adventures

We all surprisingly got up pretty early, and relaxed in the room for a bit before heading over to the main building for breakfast. It was a normal hotel breakfast, but they did have a nice selection of syrups for the waffles. After breakfast, we had some time before we needed to check out, so Aunt Pamela and I walked across the street and strolled around Lake Spenard for a bit. We were looking for birds and saw some harlequin ducks, scoters, magpies, and an American wigeon. It was also neat to see the sea planes super close!

We checked out of the hotel around 10:30 and got back on the airport shuttle. It was so nice having the shuttle included so we didn’t have to worry about arranging transportation to and from the airport since we arrived a day early.

We got to the airport around and checked in with the cruise line representatives. They took our luggage so they could transport it in a semi-truck to the ship, and then they deliver it to your room. They assigned us to the 1PM shuttle to Whittier, so we had about 2 hours to wait. We just chatted and relaxed in some seats. Anthony napped for a bit and then we got on the bus. Mama and Pamela got to sit up front in a reserved row since mama has the walker.

The drive from Anchorage to Whittier was gorgeous! I’m finding that most of Alaska is very scenic.

 The driver pointed out some neat things, including the tidal mud flats. He explained that it is very dangerous to walk on the. When the tide goes out, it looks like solid ground, but it is actually hundreds of feet of silt that can essentially behave like quicksand. There are special volunteer rescuers that are trained to rescue people from these situations because people have gotten stuck enough times. Sadly, a guy had gotten stuck and died just the week before.

We also had to go through a one-way tunnel to get into Whittier. We had to wait about 20 minutes for our turn in the tunnel, so the driver taught us about the tunnel while we waited. The tunnel is used by both vehicles and trains, and is very narrow. The first half of every hour is for traffic leaving Whittier, and the second half for traffic going into Whittier. It closes at 8PM every day. There are safe houses built into the tunnel just in case people get stuck in it (which isn’t likely because it was engineered very carefully). As we went through, we got a closer look. The tunnel walls were very close to the side of the bus and were exposed rock (not cement like a lot of tunnels are)

As we came out of the tunnel, we could see our ship! Whittier was literally right on the other side of the tunnel. Whittier is solely a port town and literally has the port and one large apartment complex/building where everyone in the town lives.

We arrived at the port about 2:30. Our scheduled check in time was 3:30, but they let us just get right on the boat. The port was similar to an airport–we had to go through security, then show our boarding passes and IDs before we could go out to the ship. They also took our picture to use for facial ID for getting on/off of the ship at the ports during the cruise.

We went and checked out our rooms and got ready to explore the ship.

Our luggage wasn’t there yet, so we decided to go grab some lunch in the Lido buffet. There was a lot of variety, such as a salad bar, Asian cuisine, and lots of typical food.

I even found sushi! The views from the dining area were breathtaking! We spent a lot of time just sitting in here because it was floor to ceiling windows on both sides.

Two things we had to do were find our muster stations and watch an informational video. Our muster stations, which is where we would go to get on a lifeboat in case of emergency. So, after we ate, we found our muster stations while exploring our ships. Anthony and I were not at the same station as Mama and Aunt Pamela, but the stations were right next to each other.

We found the onboard art gallery and did a scavenger hunt trying to match clues to the various art pieces. They had some really beautiful paintings! The staff for the gallery were really fun and friendly, and they told us about the two art auctions they had scheduled. Anthony was really interested in that, and we ended up going to both (and buying one painting).

We explored the ship some more and walked around outside a bit. It was so peaceful being outside in scenery. I think we grabbed a bit for dinner (none of us were very hungry), and then we went back to our rooms later in the evening, probably around 8 or 9, and got unpacked, and then Aunt Pamela and I walked around on the promenade a bit more. It was strange how light it was even at 10PM–I think we were out there until 11 or so, but it wasn’t dark at all.

After I got back to the room, I could really feel the ship moving. It was weirdly funny, I could feel the movement more in the bathroom. I surprisingly wasn’t too tired, but went to bed shortly after that to rest up for the fun ahead!