Alaska Inland Passage                                                     Sept. 21-25, 2016

Not A Princess Cruise!

A long ferry ride on the Alaska Inland Passage can be very expensive.  I paid my fare. Then I paid for my car.  Neither includes a sleeping berth.  As a single I’d have to pay the full cost of a double room.  On a four night cruise the total was a lot more than I wanted to pay.  Of course, I couldn’t because it was the end of hunting season in southeastern Alaska and all the double rooms were taken.

One common solution is to pitch my tent on the upper deck.  I even brought along duct tape to use instead of stakes.

This is the deck for tents – often there are many.  But a sixty-something couple who pitched their tent on the way to Alaska warned me not to.  Strong winds and heavy rains were predicted and came as predicted.  A disaster in a tent.  So on to option 2.

This is the solarium – all the twenty-somethings without cabins slept here.  It’s sheltered from the wind and rain and heated by overhead heat fixtures.  But NO power outlets!  So that was out.

This is the seventh deck lounge – the hub of passenger activity during the day.  But no lights so when the sun went down, the old guys took over.  I had five fellow travelers. (The seventh old guy slept in the movie theater after the last show.)

There were three couches.  Torture devices for me because I’m too tall to fit.  All three were immediately claimed.

Two guys slept in their chairs.  Ugh!

Perhaps you can see on the far side a light blue cabinet barely visible beyond the last row of seats.

This was my space!

Here’s my air mattress, sleeping bag, and pillow.  Space to store my stuff.  And an electrical outlet to charge my laptop, iPad, iPhone, iWatch, and camera batteries!  Perfect!  My space for four nights.

On the boat, the rule is nobody touches someone else’s stuff.  I left cameras, my iPad, chargers, and so on there and no one took anything.

So the routine was simple.  Get up at first light and get 5,000 steps done on the sixth deck circuit.

Head to the men’s showers and then change.  Usually there would be a car deck call shortly afterwards.  People could not stay in their cars, ALL dogs had to stay in their cars.  So about every 6 – 7 hours they would let people go to their cars to feed and walk (and clean up after) the dogs.  PEOPLE – DON’T TAKE A DOG ON A FOUR DAY CAR FERRY!)  I could get to my car and get a fresh change of clothes for the next day during car deck call.

Then it was watch dolphins, work on my laptop, eat in the very nice dining room, and

join many others for a late night sing along.

I doubt many of you would do it, but I did it when I was a kid and I’m playing kid again!!