Birthday Week Cruise Disembarkation

That seemed quick!   We got onboard the Celebrity Solstice a whole week ago, but it didn't feel like we had enough time there.  It was successful a birthday cruise even though today it was raining pretty heavily at our home port.

We ate breakfast right at 7:40 am up in Deck 14 in the busy buffet.  It seemed so sad to say goodbye to breakfast with such a vast variety.  I was sure we have no smoked salmon and cream cheese back at the apartment and that the generous selection would have to be drastically scaled back.  It only took about three days aboard to get spoilt for the spectacular food choices.  After seven, I thought it would never have to end.

It is not only the food, but the fact nobody's going to come and make up the bed whenever we mess it up.  No more shows in the theatre or new ports to experience.  The prospect for today was simply taking the SkyTrain back home and doing everything that needs to be done by ourselves.  As you can see as we were heading down the gangway, Jay put on a brave smile for the camera nevertheless.

Down the Inside Passage

Our final day on board was spent entirely at sea, cruising southbound through the Inside Passage. A soft mist hung over the water for stretches, but it was certainly not without views, giving us plenty of intermittent glimpses of the coast throughout the day. Thanks to modern satellite navigation systems, the ship glided quietly along without needing a single blast from a foghorn. I kept track of our exact progress down the channel using the blue GPS dot on Google Maps, watching our steady course home.

Having a full sea day at the tail end of a voyage is a wonderful way to close out the trip before we pull into the cruise terminal in downtown Vancouver tomorrow. It creates a comfortable buffer, letting the entire week settle in before stepping off the ship. We enjoyed a relaxed final lunch on board and packed up our stateroom at our leisure, enjoying these last peaceful hours on the water.

I often think about how very lucky I am. With Jay, we can plan and execute just about any travel itinerary we can envision. This cruise popped up as a last minute chance, and I feel so deeply appreciative that we were able to take up the unexpected voyage.

My Favourite Port of the Alaskan Panhandle

We spent the morning at sea, making a calm southbound approach through the Revillagigedo Channel toward Ketchikan. After the birthday festivities last night, a quiet morning spent watching the misty islands slide past from the upper deck was just what was needed.

We tied up in Ketchikan right on schedule at 1:30 in the afternoon. Sitting just fifty miles from the British Columbia border, it remains one of my most favourite port stops along the entire coast, even though we have never actually booked a formal excursion here. The place simply feels like it could be a home. Sometimes one travels to a location that extends an aura of a personal fit, and Ketchikan does that for me. We spent the afternoon strolling along Creek Street, walking the elevated wooden boardwalks built on pilings directly over the rushing water, taking in the steep hillside backdrop and the timber-town charm.

We headed back to the Solstice well before our 8:00 evening departure. As the ship pulled away from the berth and turned south into the Inside Passage, it marked the end of our final Alaskan port call for the trip, leaving only the long sea day back to Vancouver ahead of us.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Waking up early on my birthday was made easy by the scenery outside. The Solstice spent the morning from 5:30 to 10:00 navigating the narrow waters of Endicott Arm, slowly working its way toward the face of Dawes Glacier. And we were up! As one of the main marine outlets of the Stikine Icefield, Dawes has undergone a rapid retreat, pulling back nearly 4 kilometers since 1985 at an average pace of over 100 meters a year, while thinning fast enough to fragment its terminal face. Witnessing such a grand show of changing nature on the anniversary of my birth felt like a genuine privilege. Standing at the rail as the ship turned in front of the ice face beat any standard birthday routine.

We cleared the fjord by late morning and made the run down to Juneau, docking right on schedule at 1:30 in the afternoon. Rain settled in for most of our stay, keeping the town thoroughly damp throughout the afternoon. Since Juneau is a familiar stop for us, there was no urge to force organized excursions. We discovered that the gondola up Mount Roberts, which we first took to overlook the city twenty-five years ago, was closed due to an accident earlier this spring. Instead, we spent a few unhurried hours exploring the streets on foot under our umbrellas, taking in the usual mix of state capital bustle and waterfront traffic.

We headed back aboard well before our 8:30 evening departure and had dinner in the formal restaurant, where the waiters, as expected, came over to sing Happy Birthday. However, we were in for a major surprise when we returned to the room that evening. They had decorated the place with wild abandon and set a complimentary bottle of white wine right in the middle of all the decorations. Spending a birthday surrounded by cold water, glacial ice, and birthday extravagance made for a memorable entry in the log.

Skagway or Bust! (Again)

We tied up in Skagway early this morning, docked and secured right at 7:00. Having a full thirteen hours in port until 8:00 in the evening meant there was no need to rush off the ship, which always makes for a far better day ashore.

Skagway sits at the northern tip of the Lynn Canal, famously serving as the primary springboard for the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. This was our sixth time in town, as it features on almost every Alaska itinerary. Our return here in July 2024 proved memorable for all the wrong reasons when the train up the pass could not bring us, my sister, and her friend back to the ship, and a major landslide blocked the return bus, turning my birthday into a full logistical exercise.

Today was vastly simpler. We revisited streets we already know intimately, keeping the pace deliberate, and popped into the local public library to catch up on a bit of internet.

With the Solstice staying docked until 20:00, we had the luxury of heading back on board for lunch, relaxing during the afternoon, and taking another stroll through town before dinner. Leaving the pier as dusk began to settle over the fjord made for a fine end to a calm, comfortable day.

Our First Views of Hoonah, AK

The morning was spent at sea, cruising through the northern channels as we made our approach toward Chichagof Island. Ocean mornings on a ship this size have a comfortable rhythm, leaving plenty of time to sit by a window with a coffee and watch the coastal landscape gradually narrow.

We docked at the Wilderness Dock near Hoonah right on schedule at 1:30 in the afternoon. From there, we walked the coastal trail over to the old cannery to stretch our legs along the shore, holding off on the free gondola until our return later in the day. Originally built in 1912 by the Hoonah Packing Company, the facility processed salmon for four decades before shuttering in 1953, famously housing much of the local population after a disastrous fire leveled the town in 1944. The Huna Totem Corporation has done a splendid job restoring the site, keeping the original 1930s butchering machinery, steam retorts, and mechanized canning lines intact inside the museum buildings.

Hoonah itself was one of the main reasons we jumped at this itinerary in the first place, as neither of us had ever been to the town. We bought a ride on an old converted school bus into the city proper to see what the actual community looks like beyond the restored cannery precinct. It was a great way to get a grounded sense of the area.

The Solstice remained tied up late into the evening, finally pushing off from the pier around 10:00. Watching the wilderness slide past under the lingering northern dusk made for a quiet, satisfying conclusion to our first official Alaskan port call.

A Day Up the Inside Passage

We managed to board the Celebrity Solstice yesterday at 12:50, clearing customs in a surprisingly easy forty minutes. Sunday turns out to be a solid day to start a trip, as the usual port chaos is absent and the transition off the mainland feels far more relaxed. Getting a spot on this ship at the last minute was sheer luck, and we both know it.

The Solstice recently went through an update, and it shows. The ship has a feel of understated luxury without being flashy, and everything feels fresh. Even with more than 3,000 passengers on board, the layout keeps the atmosphere remarkably relaxed, even if the summer season means there are plenty of young families with children running around. Our inside cabin is surprisingly spacious, offering distinctly more room than equivalent cabins on competing lines.

By 19:16 yesterday evening, we were already making good time toward the Inside Passage. Before turning in last night, we set the clocks back an hour to shift into Alaska time.

Today gave us clear weather with a copious amount of blue sky. I was up at 7:30 to watch the shoreline slide past, then took advantage of the afternoon with a proper nap between 2:30 and 4:00. We passed Prince Rupert at 4:30, leaving the last Canadian port behind us. By 18:18, we were well up the coast and crossing Dixon Entrance into Alaskan territory. The air turned cool and windy out on deck by the evening, but watching the northern coast open up under full daylight made for a fine day on the water.

Surrey's 2026 Fusion Fest

Our neighbors just south of the Fraser River in the city of Surrey are expanding rapidly. Regional growth models show that Surrey is on track to eclipse the City of Vancouver in population within the next decade, potentially as early as the late 2020s, depending on immigration shifts. This demographic surge from a suburban bedroom community to the province’s most populous city is directly reflected in the scale of their civic events, especially the Surrey Fusion Festival at Holland Park.

When we first attended the inaugural weekend in 2008, the event was a relaxed, community-focused affair. It featured just twenty-five cultural pavilions and four modest stages. Notably, even as global conversations around borders grow fractious, the broad diversity on display here serves as a reminder that Canadian immigration remains a source of national pride, standing in sharp contrast to the rising populism seen in other countries.

By 2023, the festival hit its peak historical benchmark, drawing 110,000 visitors over two days. The sheer volume of people shifted the experience from a quiet park stroll to a high-density bottleneck, where navigating to a food stall required serious patience.

For the 2026 iteration, we took a quick ten minute ride on the SkyTrain last evening and stayed an hour and a half. (It runs today as well.)  We spent our time walking around all the pavilions, checking out what each culture was offering. Many were selling traditional food from their respective countries, or selling merchandise. The city framed the event under the theme "One World, One Game." It was fun to see the humanity and people from the globe who are now in Canada and making it a home, creating a space where every culture feels explicitly seen, welcomed, and woven into the neighborhood.