We chose to take the NCL Sun for our Alaska cruise. It is a smaller ship, which is nice because it is easier to get around. There were only 900 guests on board. There were also 900 crew members. We chose a room with a balcony, so we always had a view. This was one of our best decisions. We saw plenty of whales, seals, and sea otters from our room. We left Seattle on a beautiful sunny day.

Our first day was a sea day. It was pretty rough. I went for a walk around the 6th floor walking/jogging track and could see (and feel) the ship rising and falling. The captain told us later that the seas were at 15 feet. There were not a lot of people out and about for this reason. I kept busy by attending trivia games and exploring the ship. My husband hung out in the hot tub and sauna. Our favorite game show was at night, The Newlywed, Not So Newlywed show. We did not volunteer even though we were the most newlywed in the audience (six months). We have seen the show before and they air it on the tvs in the room on a continual loop. I don’t need my personal life aired to all 1800 people on board! We laughed a lot though. We also attempted to enjoy the musical show, but the music was not our style, so we returned to our cabin and relaxed.

There was an announcement in the morning that we would arrive at Icy Point Strait late due to the high seas from the day/night before. Luckily they provided us with a place to call ashore on the ship to check in with our tour company. We were supposed to take a van to some areas that were highly populated with bears. Sadly, they did not have any more tours available that day. We consoled ourselves by guessing that there would have been no bears out at that time anyway. I really would have loved to see some bears though.

Icy Point Strait is really just a stop to do an excursion. If you are not going up the gondola there is not a lot going on there. They have a few places to eat and a shopping area. You can also walk on the beach. I found the cannery museum interesting and I loved exploring the sea life on the beach. There were a million starfish washed up on the shore.

We didn’t spend more than an hour walking around. The stores were more expensive than other places and it was drizzling most of the time we were there. I would high suggest booking an excursion if you stop in Icy Point Strait. You will have plenty of time before or after that to check out the area.