Alaska Cruise part IV - Whales & Butchart Gardens

It seemed that Float plane will bang into the snow mountains.

 It had been an exhilarating morning on the float plane over the Fjords. Before I had left for the excursion I had tried following the Champions trophy cricket match final on internet but that had seemed to have rained off. It was on coming back when I switched on my Ipad, it was thrilling to see the screaming
 headlines  : ‘India beats England to lift the Champions trophy.’  A 20 over match had finally happened and while I was immersed in nature, India had managed to defeat England in a thriller. I read back the commentary of the match from the first ball bowled to the last !

 I had been thinking that Devicka would be biting her nails waiting for me lest I get late from my misty fjord plane ride. She had confessed to me that she had no itinerary or the addresses or phone numbers of any of our relatives in USA. It was all with me. If I had got late or gone missing what would she have done ? Well, I did have all details not only in my Ipad but also a hard copy in my suitcase - she would have found it ! But coming back to the point - Devicka was not to be seen anywhere when I got back and only got back to the room almost 40 minutes after the ship had left Ketchikan. She was learning to chill as well !

The Whales !
This is a lovely click but unfortunately not clicked by me
In the evening all of us decided to go on upper deck. Kids and I went right up to play putt putt Golf while Devicka sat on the open deck below reading her book. Suddenly out of nowhere I saw a huge humpback come out of the water on the starboard side.  As the humpback went back into the water, another one came out and then we could see them blowing strongly as the fountains of water went up the air. These whales continued to play as we left them behind and I tried calling out to Devicka who was on port (left) side but she could not hear me. As if by magic a couple of Whales appeared right in front of where Devicka was sitting. This time I screamed and she heard me just as all others nearby. They could all catch a glimpse of the huge whales. Seeing these whales in water is as thrilling as seeing wild animals in a jungle. So far we had seen many sea lions and Dolphins on this trip but had not managed to catch a glimpse of humpbacks. This was real exciting.

The Crew


Chris was the programme Director of the ship. He was a pleasant guy and had a lot of fat on him. He blamed it all on the buffet dinners on cruise liners which he had been having for last 18 years. He had been a good speaker and had given some very interesting talks on programmes on ship and cruise excursions etc.He was involved with all the programmes being held on the ship so was always there to introduce the audience with the artists and troupes before the beginning of a show. I realized how talented he was when he and his band gave a terrific musical performance that evening. We would often see his cute boy (around 3 years old) on the ship with him. I did go up to Chris and told him that I was pretty impressed with his talent.
On the very first day during a show, Chris announced that we should all either shake hands or hug the person on your left or in front as we will be spending a week together. To my dismay I had a very fat lady on my left and a dull looking Chinese in front. There was no one on my right as I was in corner. I politely shook hands with the lady. For all future programmes I chose my neighbors carefully but unfortunately Chris never made that announcement again. 

We were served in the room by an African American called Lindon and his petite Philipino assistant. Lindon was always unhappy that someone or the other was always in our room not giving him a chance to clean room properly. I did advise him to shoo off the kids to upper deck whenever he wanted to clean the room. He just grinned. 

This was the 6th day and once again we had an elegant evening  and they served us some good sea food. The dining hall always had a choice of starters, main course and desserts. I did manage to convince the kids to accompany us to the dining room.  The kids only wanted to go up for the buffet dinners. Convincing them to come to the dining hall was one hell of a job.This was probably the last evening we were having dinner there as the next evening the ship was halting at Victoria (Canada) for a few hours and we knew we would be eating out. You do see a lot of staff on the ship from India. Though the dining hall crew didn't have many Indians, I believe many of the cooks are Indians. Some supervisors, security personnel etc were also from India. The crew on the ship consists of people from so many nationalities that it would be difficult to keep count. There were around 30 Indian guests on board so in the main menu they always had some Indian food (though we never ordered any). A friend had told me that as the cooks were Indians,  if you talk to the chef in advance he could get Indian food of your choice prepared.  It was fascinating that the Chinese guys upstairs in the Chinese buffet counters spoke in hindi to each other. They were probably not Chinese but Indians from North East or maybe the Chinese from Kolkata.
 The elegant evening was nice as the cartoon characters would come and get photographs clicked with you while the staff sang some songs for the guests.

I wanted to make the best of the evening so spent an hour in the Casino after dinner losing some more money and then went to the nightclub where a very impressive band was belting out the Beatles songs.
At this time of the year the night hardly comes in Alaska as for most part of the night the sky is blue in color. The mountains look even more beautiful though it does become difficult to photograph them in low light with the ship constantly moving.  I did manage some grainy pictures with high ISO. At night also it was great sitting on the balcony as the air seemed fresh and crisp while the mountains looked exotic. 

This was at 12.30 AM


The Last day on Ship


The voyage had gone well and we were now heading back. The snow could no longer be seen on the mountains. We had a 4 hour stop at Victoria that evening. Foreign Passport holders had been asked to collect at the smaller auditorium at 7 PM so immigration for Canada could be done.  For most of the morning I was at upper deck and then realised that I had a couple of beer coupons which I had to exhaust before 3 PM. I went down to the bar at 2nd deck and sat at the window with my beer. A Japanese old man came with his grandson and started showing him something outside the window. I looked out and couldn't see a thing. Then I saw the unmistakable blow of the whale. Soon there were a few whales somersaulting and blowing away. As the ship kept pulling away the entire area in front of our eyes was full of fountains created by whales. All around there were these black and white humpbacks playing in the water. I hoped that Devicka and kids had managed to catch a glimpse of this amazing sight.

Indeed they had. They had been on the upper deck and the naturalist had announced on the public address system about the presence of humpbacks. According to the naturalist there were around 30-35 whales which we had been fortunate to see in those 5 minutes. Though I could not photograph this sight, it is all in front of me even today.

Victoria, Canada

Butchart Gardens


The beautiful Butchart Gardens

Victoria is supposed to be a very pretty place with a waterfront, forests, lakes, mountains, hiking trails and a lot of Gardens. I was told that Butchart Gardens were a must visit destinations. We had disembarked at 8 PM and I wondered if it was worth going to the gardens. We took a chance and got a taxi for $ 55 one way. We hadn’t realized that these gardens would be so far as it took almost 45 minutes to get there. Reaching there I realized it would be difficult to get back as I couldn't see many cabs etc. The taxi driver said he would wait for us. He waited for more than an hour and charges us the $ 55.00 for going back as well. Not a penny extra  ! It was also expensive getting into the gardens but it was really worth it. The gardens were beautiful. The flowers had bloomed beautifully and it was a garden where you could have spent most of the day. There was color blooming everywhere. Unfortunately we just had a little over an hour. They had what they called sunken garden, Japanese garden, Italian Garden and many other gardens. They had hiking trails from there and a jetty for boating. I am glad we went there even if for a short time.

Every nook and corner of Butchard Garden is beautiful

By the time we reached the downtown, it had become dark. The Parliament house was beautifully decorated and looked very nice as it was near the waterfront.  The shops had shutdown and the pubs were open but their kitchen’s had shut. I certainly didn't want to eat a burger at burger-king as the Pizzas back on the ship would have been a better choice. I wished that we had had more time in Victoria as the place really looked nice and pretty. We managed to locate an Indian restaurant which was still open. I think it was called ‘The sizzling tandoor.’  I went for a drink to the pub next door and when I came back I realized that Devicka had gone overboard ordering the food. I needn't have  worried as the kids were getting good Indian food after a long time. The food was actually very tasty. We polished off the entire food in no time and it was time to head back to the ship.  The cab driver was a tough looking character who kept chatting throughout the way. He kept telling us about history of Alaska and joked about Sarah Palin and Obama telling us stories about them.  Being accustomed to the Delhi cab drivers I was worried that he may decide to over charge us as he had not put on the fare meter. At the end of the journey he asked us for a very fair $10 !

Victoria at night.

 Disembarkation

Disembarking 2500 passengers is not an easy task. The systems have to be in place for such an exercise.
A night before the disembarkation we were asked to put the provided tags on the luggage and put them outside the room. We kept the essential night clothes and a change for next morning with us. At night itself the luggage was removed. We were given a zone number and only on the announcement of that zone number were we to proceed to disembark. This suited us as we got ready in the morning and had a full breakfast. Our number was announced at 8.45 AM and we crossed the gangway into the terminal building. Our luggage was neatly line up and all we had to do was to pick it up and proceed towards the immigration and customs. We had already filled the forms so it took just 5 minutes before we were out of the building. 

I looked back at Carnival Miracle very fondly for the last time. It had been our home for an unforgettable 7 days. These days will forever be etched in our memories as would the beauty of Alaska. I had loved this cruise.

Tips to make cruise enjoyable

-          Don’t pack heavy. Carry few clothes and use the laundry room in the ship at a nominal price after 4 days or so.
-          Carry at least 1 set of formal clothes for elegant evening.
       Always take a wind cheater for upper deck. For Alaska some warm clothes are required.
       Jackets and wind cheaters are pretty cheap in Alaskan towns so you can buy there.
-          Carry regular medicines, anti biotics and some patches for sea sickness.
-          Plan the liquor like I did. Remember each person can carry a wine bottle. Order hard liquor in advance.
-          The cruise company charges you $10 per person per day as gratuity (tips). This will come in your sign and sail card and then get transferred to your credit card so don't be shocked. We paid $320 as gratuities.
-          Capture all you can on camera. Learn to operate DSLR if possible. Keep a camera handy at all times.
       I missed out on whales as at the crucial time I didn't even have my iphone for clicking.
- Read about the places where the ship is scheduled to stop. It will help you a lot in navigating the place and shortlisting the things which one can do in  a short time.
-          Plan shore excursions. Don’t be lazy as these excursions (arranged or on your own) show you the character of the place. You will probably not visit that place again ever in your life.
-          Participate in activities on cruise ships. There is a lot happening all the time and the more you participate, the more you will enjoy. This time I did not participate in hairy chest competition but being the winner at the last cruise, thoroughly enjoyed being a spectator here.
-          Enjoy food but be careful. One tends to over eat at cruise ships-especially the desserts.
-     Learn to eat different cuisines. Indian travelers can be very fixed about their food and that deprives
       them of enjoying cuisines of other countries. The cruise ship offers steaks, chinese, French, Spanish,               Italian , Caribbean , American and Sea food. Why not enjoy it all !
-          Use the gym. You will feel less guilty about gorging so much food. Some time spent in Jacuzzi, steam and Sauna will relax you.
-          Hear what Naturalist has to say. They keep informing you about spots where wildlife and whales can be spotted. They also tell you about the behaviour of these species. One channel on TV is dedicated to this.
-          Carry reading material.
-          Carry a data card so that you can access internet at shores.
-          Don’t be a kanjoos (miser). Eat  outside the ship as well during shore stops !
      Try to make the most of each moment. 

 This is finally an end to a long description - spread over 4 parts- of our Alaska Cruise. Hope everyone who read it enjoyed the description. I re-lived my entire cruise experience while writing this. I would appreciate a feedback at my email ID
rohinarora@gmail.com

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