Ketchikan (Ward Cove) Alaska

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!

We arrived in Ketchikan around 7. Had breakfast in the observatory which we will most definitely eat at again because it was so calm and quiet. We headed out around 9:30 since everyone and their brother was trying to get from Ward Cove to downtown via shuttle buses. Another NCL ship Encore was docked beside us. There were four more ships at the real Ketchikan dock.

The weather was stunning…Sunny in the low 60s which is strange because Ketchikan is the rainiest city in the US.

We zigged and zagged through their customs station as we waited in the queue. The building had been a lumber mill. It was now full of tourist goodies…

We didn’t have a tour scheduled but found a trolley tour for a good price…basically it was less for three of us than what NCL would have charged for one. We scooted onto the trolley with 11 others. Our guide Scott was very good but made horrible puns all through the tour. We stopped at the Married Man Trail, a beautiful over look, past the totem pole center, and Creek Street (where the ladies of the night did their thing and bootleggers would smuggle in liquor during prohibition. We saw many eagles but not a lot of other species. But Kyrie did get to hold a tiny crab.

Ketchikan is named after the Ketchikan stream, not vice versa. Also Totem poles were not worshipped but used for telling a clans‘ history. The three indigenous tribes had no writing system.

We returned to the boat around 2:30 and ate at the ‘American Diner’ and sat in a faux Mustang booth. We played destination trivia for the first time and WON! Kyrie went to the room for some quiet time while Carol and I watched the family battle game…we have some very good sports on this cruise.

The evening show was ‘Expect the Unexpected with Alicia Hill.’ The singing was beautiful but Kyrie didn’t know many of the songs so I think she got a little bored. We braved the buffet only to find it next to empty and very calm. We also saw our first whale from the windows.

Long day…everyone asleep by 11.Read more