Cruise Journal

Day 1 — San Francisco, California Day 2 — At Sea Day 3 — At Sea Day 4 — Ketchikan, Alaska Day 5 — Haines, Alaska Day 6 — Juneau, Alaska Day 7 — Glacier Bay National Park Day 8 — At Sea Day 9 — Victoria, Canada Day 10 — At Sea Day 11 — At Sea Day 12 — San Francisco, California

Day 2 — At Sea

Our 11-day journey includes stops in Alaska (Ketchikan, Haines, and Juneau), a thrilling cruise into Glacier Bay National Park, and finally Victoria, British Columbia.

Why the stop in Canada?

It's due to the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, a U.S. law that prohibits foreign-flagged cruise ships from transporting passengers solely between U.S. ports. To comply, most Alaska cruises include a stop in Canada — in our case, Victoria — making the voyage legally international.

07/21/2025 02:08 AM

07/21/2025 03:09 AM

07/21/2025 03:10 AM

These big touch screens were supposed to be helpful, but the blue screen of death was a fairly common sight. Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 06:31 AM

07/21/2025 10:04 AM

We bought a pair of binoculars on the ship. Amazon had them for the same price. Copyright © 2025 Tammy L. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 10:13 AM

Finding good coffee on the ship was kind of a pain. I drank a lot less coffee than I normally do. Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 11:15 AM

07/21/2025 11:16 AM

Spaghetti with meat sauce. Not included with our "plus" plan, so was an additional $12 charge. Meh. Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 11:19 AM

07/21/2025 12:17 PM

This guy gave a presentation in the theater about Glacier Bay, glaciers, icebergs, and wildlife. Very enjoyable and almost standing room only. We learned the difference between icebergs, growlers, bergy bits, and ice cubes. 🤣 Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 01:03 PM

This is part of my ongoing photo journalism series called "So that's where that goes." There weren't a lot of places to bus your dishes, so this was a fairly common sight. Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 01:14 PM

07/21/2025 02:31 PM

07/21/2025 03:37 PM

Probably my favorite selfie of all-time. Our table in the room had two mirrors. We had also purchased new binoculars at this point. Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 04:23 PM

It was fun to check our position from time to time. This was approx. 24 hours at sea. Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 05:32 PM

Formal night on the ship in the Michelangelo dining room. I think this first course had crab or fish in it. Copyright © 2025 Timothy B. Burleson under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

07/21/2025 05:40 PM

07/21/2025 05:52 PM

07/21/2025 06:14 PM

07/21/2025 06:44 PM

07/21/2025 07:41 PM