Ketchikan - Our First (ever) Cruise Port Stop

Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE excitedly anticipated our very first cruise port stop. Brand new to cruising, we really weren't sure what to expect. I can say that while it was a pretty cool experience, it wasn't completely what we imagined. In 2010, I would say Alaska - more that many other cruise destinations - still maintained some of its essential character in most of the port areas. We were to learn from our subsequent couple cruises that most of the highly visited ports in the Caribbean were a complete carnival of tourist shops and chain restaurants clustered right in the cruise terminal area. Cheap Souvenirs and jewelry (very rarely locally made) is omnipresent around the world.

Brand new to cruising, we really weren't sure what to expect

WHILE THERE was certainly some of the same stuff - particularly in the more populous ports like Ketchikan and Juneau, the stores at least seemed (at that time - we haven't been back since then) to be integrated into the main streets that lined the ports, rather than the "shopping mall" arrangements that you exit the cruise terminals through in most of the Caribbean ports. But the tourist attractions were most certainly prevalent. Somebody figured out a way to separate cruise ship passengers from their money long ago and the business is still thriving today. We have actually found this to be the unfortunate circumstance all over the world. Some of the same corporate businesses (like EFFY, Kay Jewelers, etc.) are in many ports in many parts of the world. And much (if not most) of the "authentic" merchanise has been manufactured somewhere in Asia. Perhaps a cynical note on cruising (cruising has its share of negatives, as we will see going forward).

Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

FORTUNATELY, THERE are many other things that are more authentic and do allow us to (however briefly) immerse ourselves in a foreign culture and learn a bit about how the local population lives. We would learn some tricks of the trade in our later cruises that allow us to get away from the "tourist" circumstances - at least a little bit.

Somebody figured out a way to separate cruise ship passengers from their money long ago and the business is still thriving. We have actually found this to be the unfortunate circumstance all over the world

FOR OUR Ketchikan stop, we had booked an off-the-ship excursion, another first for us. My wife had done her own homework and found a "fishing" excursion. Not like you might think, though. We were not going to do any fishing. For the past 5 years, The Discovery Channel had very successfully produced a made-for-television reality series called "The Deadliest Catch," about fishing (primarily for the immensely popular King Crab) in the turbulent and freezing Bering Sea. For our excursion, the provider had rebuilt a once capsized fishing boat identical to the ones used in the series, re-purposing it into a kind of floating theater. It had been renamed "The Aleutian Ballad."

The Aleutian Ballad - "Deadliest Catch" Fishing Boat
Ketchikan, Alaska 
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE DID not, of course, go out into the Bering Sea (Ketchikan is well over 1,000 miles as the proverbial crow flies, and by boat, up through the rest of the inside passage and then down around the Katmai Peninsula - perhaps doubling that distance). We sailed out onto the inside passage and they demonstrated some of the fishing techniques involving trailing lines nets and traps; along with the equipment used in the industry.

The Aleutian Ballad - "Deadliest Catch" Fishing Boat
Ketchikan, Alaska 
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

ENTERTAINING. FUN. Interesting. But still kind of hokey tourism. Fortunately, that presentation was not by any stretch of the imagination the actual highlight of this excursion for me. That came as a huge surprise. That morning, as we walked off our cruise ship and toward The Aleutian Ballad, one of the presenters saw me carrying my gear. I had my Nikon DSLR and a decent sized zoom lens attached. He remarked on it and said "we are going to get you some fantastic pictures today!" I took the comment with a grain of salt. I was a "serious" photographer, after all (not to mention maybe a little arrogant? 😐) Different people have different ideas of what is a fantastic image. I didn't have overly high expectations. As we cruised out, I saw some eagles perched in the distance. Way too much distance for any decent shots.

American "Bald" Eagle
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THEY DID their show and I make a good handful of images. As we headed back, we slid in between two islands; one of them completely uninhabited by humans. I saw lots of dead trees and a couple of perched eagles. Thinking I might have a chance at a shot here, we stopped moving and I heard a couple of odd "plops" in the water. All of a sudden, the air was filled with eagles in flight (perhaps hundreds in all), diving for bait which had been tossed on the water. The source of the "plop" sound. For what was probably only about 10 minutes but seemed like a lot longer, I had some amazing apportunities to shoot eagles: in flight, in the wild, and displaying feeding behavior. The guy had been right (he knew, but kept it a surprise of course) - and I was caught nearly entirely unprepared. I am not sure how many shots I made (likely over 100). Even not being totally ready, I had about 8 -10 that I would deem "keepers." You can see all of them (as well as my other raptor images) on my LightCentricPhotography website galleries. This was the first, and perhaps only chance I will ever have to shoot non-captive eagles at this close a vantage point. It was a rush!

American "Bald" Eagle
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

YOUR FIRST thought might be that "baiting" eagles is illegal. It is. In the U.S. The island we were "parked" in front of was leased out by the State of Alaska to one of the native tribes, along with the surrounding waters, which they had exclusive fishing rights and jurisdiction over. Their tribal laws governed. Our tour purveyor had an exclusive contract with the tribe to do their stop and photo-op there. Whatever your thoughts, it was a thrilling sight for me (as a kid, I saw the movie: "Tora, Tora, Tora," and all I could think of was that movie as I saw the swarming eagles, competing for the bait, having mid-air near collisions, and basic pandemonium. Several times I hear the clicks as they actually banged talons in mid-air. This was, for me, worth price of admission for any other part of the excursion. It was most certainly one of the primary highlights of a very memorable cruise.

American "Bald" Eagle
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OF ALL the stops on this cruise, I had done some research on Ketchikan and had identified some photo ops. Once we arrived back in Ketchikan on the Aleutian Ballad, we had just a short time left before the all-aboard time on our cruise ship. I used that time to seek out my primary shore objective in Ketchikan: Creek Street. Unfortunately, the northeast (and in particular Alaska) is know for its abundant rainfall and its corresponding overcast skies. We were unusually blessed by the weather gods for most of our trip (enough so to prompt a photographer acquaintance of mine from Alaska to lament that we had "used up" 70% of their annual alloted sunshine 😀). But for the day in Ketchikan, the sun was not to be found. I was really looking forward to photographing Creek Street and hoped for some nice blue skies for background. Experienced photographers know, when you have dull or boring skies, to compose images to exclude those skies as much as possible. Happily, the dark and relatively still waters of Ketchikan Creek provided decent reflections, even without a bright blue skies.

Creek Street - Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

CREEK STREET has a sketchy history. There were other things of interest in Ketchikan, but as I viewed things from my photographer's perspective, Creek Street was the main draw for me in Ketchikan, so I was happy to have time to shoot it before our shore time ended. The buildings of Creek Street were built out over the waters of Ketchikan Creek. As you can see from the opening images as we sailed into our Ketchikan berth, there is little land between the waters of the inside passage and the steep mountain faces to the east. What land there is, is mostly rock, and difficult to excavate for building, so they simply built out over the water (I have read that much of Ketchikan was built in this manner).

Creek Street - Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THE HISTORY. Back in the late 1800's much of this part of the country was undeveloped. What was there was mainly hunting, fishing and trapping. Just before the turn of the century, the Alaskan Gold Rush happened (I will cover that in more detail in an upcoming blog about Skagway). Beginning in about 1903, Creek Street was the center for the city's numerous brothels (at one time as many as 40 of them lining the creek), "serving" the growing population of loggers, gold miners, fishermen, until the mid-1950's when the city shut them down. Today, the old buildings have all survived and been maintained as small shops and eating establishments. The scene is picturesque in spite of its "colorful" history. I didn't get those pretty blue skies with marshmallow clouds. But I could certainly imagine it, and with the help of Photoshop, I made my own beautiful skies for the picture below. 😎

Creek Street - Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD started our Alaska port stops with a bang. We would continue to have some amazing experiences. Our next stop would be Alaska's capital city: Juneau.

How Cruise Lines Handle Adversity - Another Princess Tale

I MAKE frequent reference here to our experience with serious adversity on a Princess Cruise 12 years ago. I keep thinking I am going to link back to the story, only to find that I have never really told the entire story; just made references to it. I am posting this as much as anything, to make a reference I can link to, rather than retelling the story every time it becomes relevant to another post.

How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it?- magnificently

IN THE telling, I will also reference to a post I did spend some time and detail on last year, recounting the story of another group of passengers who experienced a nightmare - partly of their own doing. But it isn't their conduct that is the point I will be trying to make. Rather, it is the reponse of the Cruise line to an adverse situation.

FOR BOOKENDS, in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way. There are, of course, going to be plenty of situations where the parties could take a meet in the middle approach. So here is the story of the "right way" (in my ever so humble opinion 😇) to address adversity.

IN SEPTEMBER 2013, we boarded the newest Princess "flagship," the newest and greatest: "Royal Princess." Truly a marvel in design with modern propulsion sytems, a 3,500 passenger capacity, and beautiful, state-of-the-art (for the time) amenities. It was our first Mediterranean cruise and our first time in Europe. We had high anticipation. And for the first 1/2 of the cruise, they were met - and then some. We spend several days in Venice before boarding. That is a pretty auspicous start and a hard act to follow. But with stops in Kudasisi (for Ancient Ephesus), Istanbul (the cradle of western civilization, Athens (The Acropolis - among other amazing sights), and the picture-perfect island of Mykonos, they really lived up to the hype.

in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way

THEN THINGS went south. Our first inkling (and it really didn't seem like a big deal at the time - maybe it was or maybe it wasn't related to the later catastrophic failure) was when we learned that we would not depart Mykonos at our sheduled sailing because the motor to lift the anchor had died. It took them some 4 1/2 hours to fix it and we finally sailed away late that evening. We were assured that we had plenty of time to arrive at our next scheduled port on time. As a photographer, I was keying on this stop. Naples and more importantly to me: The Amalfi Coast. From Mykonos, we had a scheduled sea day. Things were going swimmingly. Then suddenly around noon, everything went silent and all power went off. It restared a couple times, but they couldn't fix it. We had visions of a Carnival ship floating adrift with sewer water in the halls and days before rescue. Actually, those visions were only fleeting - but they did ocurr.

HERE IS where we get to the point of the post. How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it? The answer is: magnificently. If I were writing a text on how to address a similar catastrophe, the Princess response would serve as my model. When this first ocurred, the ship Captain was on the P.A. system very shortly after things began to happen. First he informed us that the ship (I did some later research and these systems are now mandated by international maritime rules) was equipped with an emergency power system which would not only run essentials (lights, refrigeration and cooking equipment, bathroom amenities, air conditioning and the like), but would also provide propulsion power - albeit at a reduced thrust (the ship had a rated speed of 22 knots and we only were able to go around 8 knots under emergency power - but we could move). At this point, he indicated that it seemed obvious that we would be late arriving in the port of Naples. They were trying to fix it but wouldn't know. He promised to get back to us with a report the first thing in the morning. In the meantime, they offered free drinks to all aboard (just one - not unlimited, mind you 😏).

And that is how you deal with an adverse crisis

TRUE TO his word, the Captain reported to us at about 10:00 the next morning. They had been working all night on the problem and had been in touch with Princess management and engineers and it was clear that they were not going to be able to fix the problem. They had collectively made the decision to cancel the second half of the cruise. They realized they couldn't safely continue. It was - at first reaction - a pretty crushing disappointment. But it was what it was and they were making the right decision. Now the compelling question was: how were they going to handle things. Here is the "clinic" on how to address adversity. First, a complete (not just 1/2) refund of 100% of cruise fare. Second, a 25% discount on any future booked Princess Cruise within the next 24 months. Third, and this is where things get interesting, but at Princess' expense they would make arrangements to fly everyone home. In our case, that meant we paid the airfare over and (back - we had round trip), and our out of pocket for our stay in Venice, and a 6 day cruise at no cost. It got better (if that is possible). The ship would not arrive in Naples until late that evening, but until we were able to get accomodations to fly home, the ship would remain in port and we would remain entitled to use all of its facilities. Stay in our stateroom. Dine in the resaurants. Drink in the bars. Come and go on and off the ship as we pleased.

WHEN WE got our "itinerary" from the cruise line, we didn't like it. It did not get us back to our originating airport, and it had us getting up a 2:00 a.m. to board a bus to Rome, at least 2 hours away. Here is where (and why) I recommend that you book cruises through a Travel Agent. We calledour travel agent. She told us to sit tight. A couple hours later, she called us back with the "new" itinerary she had negotiated for us. An extra day in Naples. And, it turns out, Business/First Class tickets on Alitalia which got us back to our originating airport. And Princess told us to keep track of our out-of-pocket expenses and turn them in to be reimbursed. They would reimburse all reasonable expenses. We did. Everything. Cab fare to Rome. Overnight airport hotel. Meals when not aboard the ship.Any and every out of pocket expense we had. We turned them in and Princess paid us. No. Questions. Asked.

AND THAT is how you deal with an adverse crisis. There is little doubt that Princess experienced heavy losses in this instance. They essentially lost the revenue for a 3500 passenger cruise for 12 days, in addition to the costs of airfare and other things (like reimbursing us for out-of-pockets). What they gained though from their swift and aggressive response to the crisis was so much goodwill. And there was very little (if any) bad publicity. While we tend to cruise another line more, we would have zero hesitancy to book a Princess cruise if the itinerary and circumstances served.

And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis

I ALLUDED to the opposite approach that could be taken by a cruise line. Hardly an "apples to apples" comparison, but still instructive, was the incident that ocurred on a Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise in South Africa last year. I am linking to to my blog post "Somebody Missed The Boat," here rather than recount it. I had plenty to say in my dedicated blog to this situation. The short story is that a small group of friends and family were late getting back to port. It was not a cruise-sponsored excursion and the rules are very clear. They were at fault. The ship need not feel compelled to wait for them. But from there, the circumstances suggested that there was a reasonable line and an unreasonable line to take. The cruise line chose the latter. There is a point where you are there to serve the customers. There are some extentuating and unclear factors on both sides, but the overall takeaway I got was that the cruise line took an absolutely unreasonable stance. And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis. I'll let you read the story on my earlier post and draw your own conclusions.

Cruising Alaska's Inside Passage - Astounding Views from Shipboard

Diamond Princess - Inside Passage - Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

TRADITIONAL ALASKA cruises take several forms. Some do round trips from one end or the other. Some add on a land-based component (mostly Denali National Park, and because of Princess' dominance in the region, usually on their Princess Train). These are designated "Cruise/Tours." For a shorter experience, you can also take a one-way trip through the passage (with or without the land component). Princess ships now terminate in Whittier, about 50 miles southeast of Anchorage (at one time the primary cruise port for Princess until the Whittier Cruise Terminal was built).

Vancouver Harbor - Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE CHOSE the one-way, cruise only portion. Between the Princess and HAL ships, those cruises generally started or terminated in either Seattle, Washington, or Vancouver, B.C. Our chosen itinerary was northbound out of Vancouver. We flew into Vancouver the night before we were to board the ship and with time changes, had a few hours to "burn" in Vancouver and but lots of daylight. Our hotel was in the downtown area and we walked around a bit and had dinner in a, local restaurant with outside seating (something we rarely saw in our Michigan home. I could see that it was a charming city and was taken with the trams and their overhead electrical connections. The next day we were notified by Princess that our boarding time had been moved back about 4 hours. With nothing else to do, we had a leisurely morning, breakfast, and then made our way down to the cruise terminal where we checked our primary baggage and kept small carry-around stuff so we could walk around the harbor area.

Vancouver, British Columbia
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

I MENTIONED that I like photography. I had, of course, brought my full gear (Nikon DSLR at that time, a couple different lenses, and a large tripod. Two cruises later and I would have finally learned my lesson about schepping that heavy, bulky gear around). But I did find Vancouver to be a pretty photogenic city. Lots of flowers. Later research told me that there are many more photographic possibilities - particularly around Vancouver Harbor, including totem poles and a lighthouse. Since that day 24 four years ago I have wanted to return to Vancouver. I hope I will someday.

Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

AS WE departed the Vancouver Harbor, I was, of course, ensconced on our balcony to watch this process. I have alway been fascinated with marine scenes and expecially harbors, marinas, and the vast variety of boats.The always provide a mix of shapes and colors and other interest. This is especially true when the light it right. Our departure was during the late afternoon - early evening hours, so we did get some good light as we cruised out.

You see all kinds of characters aboard cruise ships
Diamond Princess - Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

I WAS not the only one who was enjoying the view of Vancouver Harbor as we sailed away. Not sure how this guy paid for his room. I just know I couldn't help snapping his portrait in the fleeting moment he gave me.

North Vancouver Skyline - From The Diamond Princess - Vancouver Harbor, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

DIRECTLY ACROSS the harbor from the cruise terminal on the shore of North Vancouver, there were huge mountains of some kind of mineral. The bright yellow immediately attracted my attention. At the time I had no idea what it was and couldn't think of any normally mined substance that was that bright yellow color. I briefly thought maybe it was corn, but not only would that be out of place in the plainly industrial setting, but would also be too exposed to the elements. Much later, as I was doing my blog research, I learned that these colorful yellow piles of some kind of mineral were actually sulphur piles. The sulphur is primarily a bi-product of the petro-chemical refining process. Vancouver is one of the largest exporters of sulphur, which is used - among other things - in the manufacture of fertilizer. It is brought and piled here temporarily before being loaded on ships to be stored in silos at another location.

Sulphur Piles - Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

TO THE east of the sulphur piles is the vast Vancouver shipyards. My eye was drawn to the vermillion colored cranes, contrasted against the blue ferry boat crossing the harbor. There is often photographic subjects everywhere I look in a major port and I was not disappointed here. Unfortunately the skies and lighting were not optimal.

Shipyards in North Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD booked a starboard room, knowing the best views would be on that side of the ship while in the Inside Passage. With the far northeast orientation of the cruise, we got many more hours of daylight than we were used to and I found myself waking up, at all hours, stepping onto the balcony to make a few shots, then climbing back into bed. As I have worked through my archived Alaska images, I have realized that this resulted in waaaaayy too many shots! Better to have them than to have missed them, I guess. Fortunately for the reader, I picked just a couple of my favorites of the 100's of shots of the passage I made.

Sunrise - Inside Passage - Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE WOULDN'T really get to the true "Inside Passage" until the next morning, sailing during the night first between continental Canada (north of Vancouver) and Vancouver Island, and then turning north entering the passage some 300 miles south of Ketchikan, Alaska. Not that the land on both sides wasn't beautiful, but it soon got dark and nothing to see until the next day. As we moved northward though, the days got longer, meaning sunrise was early (maybe around 4:00 a.m.) and sunset much later. I made a handheld shot from the front deck of the ship out on th Gulf of Alaska at midnight. It isn't very sharp, but it tells the story of the proximity to the poles.

Sunrise - Gastineau Channel - Juneau, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THE MAP tells the story though. Once you leave Vancouver harbor, things become very rural very quickly. There are a handful of small "settlements" or villages along the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland, but they seem very small and few and far between. The few images I was able to make from the ship in the dwindling light confirmed that there was very little out there. But there was something. Once we left the body of water at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, that small human footprint turned into none. Essentially unihabited by humans and clearly the western face of a huge mountain range all the way to Ketchikan from there.

Sunrise - Alaska Inside Passage
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OUR SHIP stayed in the Inside Passage the entire way up to Skagway, as we did not stop in Sitka. Ships that stop in Sitka go back out into the Pacific Ocean (Gulf of Alaska) through the Dixon Strait, and follow the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. Eventually after visiting Skagway (or Juneau if Skagway is not on the itinerary), all ships must go back out into the Gulf of Alaska. Most Princess ships and HAL ships make a day stop at Glacier Bay National Park - but not a port stop. Rather is just cruising to the end of the bay for a close up view of the mammoth Margerie Glacier, before proceeding into the Gulf through Icy Strait. We heard stories of 20 foot waves from the crew on the downward leg just before ours. We had nearly flat seas when we navigated the Gulf of Alaska to Whittier.

Early Morning Light on the Inside Passage - Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OUR ITINERARY included Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Glacier Bay National Park. After Glacier Bay, we headed out into the Gulf of Alaska, and north the Whittier, arriving overnight. The next day - our last day in Alaska, we boarded a Princess Bus to Anchorage, with a couple photo stops along the way, have our last evening to "explore" Anchorage if we wanted.

Our Balcony on the Diamond Princess - Alaska Inside Passage
Copyright Andy Richards 2010

TO KEEP my (already too long) post lengths manageable, I will cover the ports separately. Next up: Ketchikan