Ride a Harley in Ketchikan

By Carol Watts, Alaska Expert

Ketchikan is Alaska’s 4th largest city, and depending on whether your cruise is going north or south, it may be either your last or first Alaskan port of call. Hence, one of its many names is “The Gateway City” or “The First City”. Its less dubious claim to fame is the country’s second wettest city, with over 13 feet of precipitation yearly. (The wettest spot in the US is on the island of Kauai.) Ketchikan is located on the southwest coast of Revillagigedo Island, west of British Columbia, in the middle of our largest national forest, the Tongass National Forest. At 17 million acres, the Tongass encompasses most of the Inside Passage. Naturally lumber was a major industry until recent logging restrictions, and now Ketchikan’s main industries are commercial fishing and tourism, which includes sport fishing, whether from shore, wilderness lodges, or charter boats.

Also known as the Salmon capital of the world, Ketchikan is known for huge trophy salmon that flood the streams every summer to spawn. The first salmon cannery opened in 1886, and the canning industry reached its peak in 1936 with seven canneries putting out over 1.5 million cases of salmon for worldwide distribution. But like the logging industry’s mills, the salmon canneries have grown silent over the years.

Just because it lies in the middle of a rain forest doesn’t mean that it always rains in Ketchikan. Although it probably rains a little every day, there are some glorious sunny summer afternoons to be enjoyed. The last time we visited, the morning started out sunny but progressed to a steady rain by afternoon. So throw on your rain poncho, and enjoy all that Ketchikan has to offer.

For the adventurous at heart, you can enjoy a 3 ½ hour tour on Harley XL883 Sportsers or Softails on the 55 miles of paved roads surrounding Ketchikan. Like most towns in Southeast Alaska, Ketchikan can be reached only by air or water. But there are many local roads that offer views of eagles and bears, totems and wilderness rain forests.

Since Ketchikan is built on a Tlingit native village site, many totems are still preserved, mainly in Saxman Native Village and Totem bight State Historical Park. At Saxman you can see native singers and dancers perform in the Beaver Clan House and watch a native carver pass his skill on to appretice carvers at the Village Carving Center.

Creek Street is the historical and former red light district. You can tour an actual house of ill repute at Dolly’s House Museum. Of course you can see salmon swimming upstream in unbelievable numbers. The Lumberjack Show offers pole climbing, sawing, axe throwing, and chopping competitions. The show goes on rain or shine, but spectators are protected in covered and heated grandstands. There are duck tours of the small ship harbor and horse carriage tours of town.

Ketchikan is the starting point for Misty Fjords National Monument tours whether by boat or plane. Misty Fjords is 2.3 million acres of coastal rainforests and glacial fjords, 3,000 ft tall cliffs and 1,000 ft tall waterfalls. Of course Ketchikan also has sea kayak adventures, sport fishing tours, a zip line, float plane trips, snorkeling, jet boat adventures, backcountry hummer and jeep excursions, a Bering Sea crab fisherman’s tour reminiscent of Deadliest Catch, and tours of the fish hatchery and cannery. You can even take a float plane excursion in a classic De Havilland Beaver or Otter.

Wildlife viewing opportunities exist for black bear, mountain goats, timber wolves, seals, sea lions, humpback and killer whales eagles, shore birds, and of course salmon. Shopping opportunities abound. Native crafted drums, masks, totems, hand carved ivory and whalebone figures are available as well as jewelry stores, art galleries, and of course a very nice quilt shop.

Sailing Celebrity's Solstice

By Kelly Watts A.C.C.

I don't often write much myself on this BLOG, I just for some reason got out of the habit, but recenly I had the pleasure of sailing on Celebrity Cruise Lines Solstice. I have been a fan of Celebrity's Millennium Class ships since my first cruise on The Summit in 2006. My last Celebrity cruise was on The Constellation (High Conde' Nast Ratings) in 2007, so the Solstice had a LOT to live up to. The Solstice, the first of this class, is a great ship, well designed sort of like the Millennium Class on steroids!

Before I talk about the cruise let me throw a few barbs at US Airways, one of my favorite targets. As usual US Air managed to jamb even a red eye flight to the brim, the Airbus 321 is not the most comfortable of aircraft, the flight crew was however nice, but not overly so. Being packed in to US Air's incredible shrinking seats is NEVER a good experience but when one hope to grab a few winks it is even worse. My route through Charlotte, was not my first choice as it adds about 1-1/2 hours to the trip. After this trip, if I NEVER go through Charlotte it will be too soon. The distance between gates was quite extensive and the moving walkway was OUT OF SERVICE! Had I known I would have asked for assistance as I have knee problems.

The cruise was a 7 night Eastern Caribbean, well it is not exactly my favorite itinerary, even though I had only done a part of it before, but as they say “a bad day at sea is better than a good day at work.” Departure from Ft Lauderdale was quick being on the ship within 20 minutes of arrival at the pier. The one fluke in boarding is that cabin's would not be ready until about 1:30 PM meaning that I had to slug my luggage around with me at the buffet area. I have been spoiled by Princess who will let you take your luggage to your cabin even if it isn't ready. Well anyway, there was an attendant in the buffet are that did help me by carrying my plate. Oh yes, did I mention that Celebrity no longer has trays in the buffet? As a replacement they have various size square plates meaning that if you want more than a main entrée, such as a salad you need to make multiple trips. I did meet some very nice people in the buffet and we took turns watching luggage and holding the table as we each in turn went for additional items. I would hope that Celebrity might figure out how to accommodate passengers with carry ons either letting them drop them off at the room OR having a secure area.

After lunch the cabins still were not available so I went to my deck and hung out in the Internet Cafe until the announcement was made that the cabins were ready. The cabin was as nice as the Millennium Class ships, but with a bigger bathroom, however the extra bathroom space comes with a price. Celebrity has shrunken the closet space and moved it to the stateroom end of the bathroom with the closet doors facing the room. Since I was traveling along this trip, I had plenty of space using the closet and the extra drawer space. I learned that there is also some additional storage space over the bed, but I did not use it and I really don't think it was all that handy. The layout of the bathroom has given a much larger shower with sliding doors, very nice, my one fault is that it had a fixed shower head, I like the hand showers much better. The commode was wedged in between the shower and the vanity area, not all that roomy. The sink is a raised design with a long faucet, I did hear a couple of people complaining that it got in the road. The bathroom has a decent amount of shelf space and a couple of drawers as well. My cabin on deck 6 was directly above the Solstice Theater, and there were times I could hear music but it was not a major problem.

On to the cruise: The first two days out of Ft Lauderdale were rough, not as bad as some days I have spent, but with all the tropical storms and hurricanes around it made things a bit choppy.

The ports of call for this cruise were San Juan, Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, and Philipsburg, St Maarten, I can't tell you anything about these ports as I stayed on the ship in all port days. For me it was just too hot and humid to consider a shore excursion. I went out on my balcony to take some pictures and had to wait several minutes for my camera lens to unfog.

To me, the ship is always the HIGH point of the trip, the cabin stewards were exceptional and the food in both the dining room and the Oceanview Cafe was very good. I did note that there are certain times when the Oceanview does completely close unlike a lot of other lines that have 24 hour buffet's.

All my evening meals, except one, were eaten in the Grand Epernay Restaurant, there I had a fantastic Waiter and Asst. Waiter and an Asst Maitre' De who were friendly and very efficient. Celebrity 's menu is pretty diverse however if the main menu doesn't suit you, the left side of the menu has a good variety of items available at every meal.

On board there are three specialty restaurants available at an extra cost, the Tuscan Grille, Silk Harvest, & Murano. I did dine at Tuscan one night and had the Veal Parmiggiana, it was fabulous! A large portion served over Linguine actually more than I could eat, especially after consuming some of the fantastic breads before dinner.

Entertainment on board was good with the Solstice Orchestra one of the best and the Great Ideas Party band, the West Side Strings, Kelly Broadway Quartet, and individual artists all very good. The activities staff, headed by Maria, (who was finishing her contract) all seemed very capable and a good sense of humor. One of the most fun times I have had on a cruise ship was the 60's night held in the Grand Foyer! This venue, right next to the Passport Lounge is a great place and Maria and crew had the ship rockin' with lots of great music, I was tired and hoarse after the party! Celebrity is putting the Grand Foyer to good use with musicians appearing especially during the cocktail hours and after dinner a definite thumbs up for this!

The Solstice is easy to navigate, good signage and an adequate number of elevators most going to every deck unlike some other ships. Other high points on the Solstice are the Adults Only Solarium with Pool Butlers, the Lawn Club, and of course the Hot Glass Show from Corning Glass. I also attended the Cooking Challenge hosted by Chef Panagiotis, who has a great sense of humor and was very accessible on the ship as I saw him most every day.

Other nice things on the Solstice were “On Demand” free movies on your stateroom TV, the Movie Theater at Celebrity Central on Deck 4, The Solstice Theater, (beautiful with a great sound system) and Captain Dimitrios daily announcements with a great touch of humor!

In all this was a great cruise, Celebrity has done a good job with the Solstice class ships.

Departure was smooth and seamless, one glitch I could not locate may bag, but I received instant help and was soon on my way. My return was on Southwest Airlines through Tampa WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Great planes and exceptional crews and not a killer walking distance between gates! Well done Southwest!