• Cruise Notes
• San Francisco
• Alaska
  • Tracy Arm
  • Haines
  • Juneau
  • Ketchikan
• Victoria
• At Sea
• Home

Diane and I were invited to accompany our friends David Carmichael and Sue Mirabelli on a cruise to Alaska from San Francisco. The trip was a special one that included a friend of David's, Captain Phil, a Maritime Pilot. Phil joined the cruise in Alaska and guided our ship through Alaska waters. It was exciting, as Phil arrived from Frederick Sound Pilot Station and departed to Twin Island Pilot station, both while we were underway. Phil spends summers in Ketchican and vacations in California, where he knows David from local golf courses.

This is a ten day cruise round trip from San Francisco to Alaska on the Golden Princess, a 2,600 passenger Princess Cruise Lines ship. There are five stops, Haines, Tracy Arm, Juneau, Ketchican and Victoria, Canada. We travel through the Tracy Arm fjord of the Alaska Inside Passage and "stop" to spend part of the day cruising the Sawyer Glacier.

Phil gave us a tour of the ship's bridge while docked in Juneau and later gave us a tour of his home and then, Ketchican, in his Humvee. We saw more Bald Eagles than we thought possible. Quite an experience!