Wine and Spirits Travel

Our cruise on the Royal Princess was coming near the end, but we still had one stop left and it was one of my favorite cities—Victoria, Canada. I had been three times prior and looked forward to this trip. When I first found out we were doing this cruise I immediately thought about Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress hotel. It was something I had never gotten around to doing in Victoria. Unfortunately, the ship wasn’t getting into the British Columbia city until nighttime so that wasn’t going to work. I was intrigued when the public relations rep for The Empress told me, since there were so many cruise ships coming in later, the hotel had added a Sunset Sips program for those who had wanted Afternoon Tea. I agreed that we would come try it. We had many hours to go before our scheduled 9:00 pm arrival in Victoria. I wanted to take it easy, so I didn’t overdo it during the day. The International Café became the standard for our breakfast, and we didn’t change that on this last sea

It was another early day as we arrived in Ketchikan. Brittany and I had a quick breakfast and coffees from the International Café before we got off the ship in this Alaska city. We were once again going on separate excursions. I was doing the Historical Ketchikan & Creek Street Walking Tour, with my scooter. Brittany was doing Ketchikan Safari with a Local Photographer. We both learned a lot about this unique city and its history.   My guide was of Tlingit descent. They are one of the Indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest, mostly in Alaska and Canada. They are one of 229 recognized tribes in Alaska. He had lived in Ketchikan all his life. As we walked, he told us all about the colorful life of the city built on water. The streets are all built on trestles and stairs, with a 274-foot-long tunnel in the middle of town.   During the Gold Rush, this town was Alaska’s center of fun, with bars on every corner and legal prostitution. Many of the bars are still there and 18

  The main reason I chose this Inside Passage cruise with Princess was the full day exploring Glacier Bay National Park by ship. Glacier Bay is one of the least accessible national parks in the United States. With this itinerary, I would be able to see a lot of it from the Royal Princess. Only a few cruise lines are able to spend a day going through Glacier Bay. It starts in the early morning when a boat arrives with park rangers. They stay on board until late in the afternoon, telling us about the park and everything we are seeing. Brittany and I got up at 5:00 am. We had decided to start out with as much as we could see from our balcony. We pre-ordered breakfast and coffee delivered to our cabin, so we didn’t need to get out of our pajamas, but we did need to bundle up. We put on our sweatshirts and the warm blankets Princess Cruises supplies to take outside. After enjoying 70+ degree temperatures in Alaska the previous days, we were starting this day in the 40s. It was also a

Our first day in Alaska was special, but I thought about the one we were going to have as the Royal Princess pulled into the waters of Skagway early in the morning. We had coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries at the International Café. Brittany was heading out early for her Animal Planet Exclusive Kroschel Wildlife Refuge excursion. I had a few hours and was anxiously waiting to see if my scooter could be repaired in time for me to go. The one the ship had let me borrow was too big to go on the tender. I did use the loaner to take a ride in the scooter to the upper deck pool area.  It gave me a stunning view of  Skagway despite the cloudy day. I was told the scooter was ready and I took the tender to town. I knew it would be close and I did just miss my bus tour, however, a contingency plan was worked out. I would drive the scooter into town and spend the time looking around—and shopping for souvenirs—while I waited to catch up with my tour group. Skagway is picturesque, wit