On their recent visit to my part of the world, my wonderful parents and I jumped aboard a cruise liner and sailed north into Alaska. After an epic 4 hour check in experience we finally made our way to our cabin to begin our adventure. 
After many Skype calls and emails, I let Mum loose to book the cruise she wanted to have. After all, they had cruised twice before so I was sure she'd find a good deal. Confirmation came through and everything looked set. Once we had boarded the ship and got to our stateroom we were excited to find our one day drink cards compliments of our booking agent among other included extras. We found the cards and hit the poolside deck for the bon voyage party. Cocktails were on the agenda and upon getting the receipt I noticed our free drink cards had a value of $745 each... (and were valid for 7days with a limit of 15 drinks per day!) Not only did Meg think she got a good deal with a 1 day drink card when she booked, we just worked out we could drink 15 drinks each for free per day for the whole trip. Can anyone say Mimosa?Anyone who hasn't cruised before would be surprised what there is to do aboard a cruise ship while at sea. I, for one, was a little dubious about how I was going to spend my time. Considering the average age of the passengers was approx 65, I had some reservations. But as soon as we were settled and had consumed our first of many pool side cocktails, we found the daily schedule. What started as a relaxing holiday with the folks, turned into scheduled days playing (and sometimes winning at) bingo, loosing at trivia, watching dance shows & live bands and testing my vocal cords at karaoke. I particularly enjoyed our daily bingo sessions. Where else can you go to have some fun, throw back a couple of G&Ts and sit next to a nun while gambling your money away?! Yep you read that right - she was our gambling neighbor the whole trip.
Anyone who knows my father knows he can have a way with words at times. For years we've been hearing what fil-ems he's watched. On the ship we were at dinner and my wonderful, funny and lovable dad asks the waiter for a beef cappuccino! He ended up getting what he wanted - beef carpaccio. We enjoyed a seafood dinner later on the cruise and after I had ordered the lobster bisque, Dad proceeded to order the lobster bi-sque. We still love ya Dad!
Our ports of call included Juneau, Skagway (or as Dad referred to it ask Shagway) & Ketchikan. Not to take anything away from these towns, my highlight was Glacier Bay. To see a glacier up close and personal and then to see and hear it come apart was nothing short of magical. Waking up to see floating icebergs from our balcony wasn't too shabby either. There were a few Titantic jokes thrown around for fun but the eeriness of the place made it that much more surreal.Cruising was such a great way to travel. People ask me what the best part of the trip was. I believe most adventures are about the journey and not the destination. The cruise itself was a whole lot of fun and something I would do again. We had an absolute ball in Alaska too. Dad got his fill of Alaskan Salmon, Mum took WAY too many photos of snow capped mountains and this country girl got to discover another corner of this amazing world.
