Between Ketchikan and Vancouver, a Day at Sea
One of the great things about cruising Alaska is that compared to other cruises, there are more port days and fewer at-sea days. For me personally, I’d rather be off the ship doing something than spending the majority of my time at sea. However, an at-sea day on calm water did provide time to stop, look, think, feel, and listen. Oh, yeah, and there was time to take some photos too.
FYI, clicking/tapping any photo will enlarge it to full-screen.
Sunset leaving Ketchikan
Having a balcony on a cruise is a real blessing if you enjoy photography. I won’t say it is a “must have” because only a few things in life are a “must have,” everything else is just convenience. A balcony makes photography easier, i.e., it requires less discipline. I took photos from our balcony most every morning and evening, and never saw another person, except on the evening I took the photos above. As I was photographing the sunset, the lady in the next cabin came out on her balcony, walked to the railing, turned her head, and was face-to-face with my lens. She shrieked, and I’m sure she thought the worst. Thankfully, my wife, who was out on the balcony enjoying the sunset with me, made a quick apology, and a trustworthy explanation. So, be careful out there, expect misunderstanding, have a ready explanation, and be ready to show others the photos on the back of your camera to back up your words. Unfortunately, there are those out there whose actions make honest photography harder for everyone else.
Morning Fog & the Ship’s Wake
As morning dawned, I was back on the balcony again. Having sailed into the fog, it would have been easy to say, “Oh, well, nothing to photograph,” and go back inside. However, when there is “nothing to photography,” that’s when you have to slow down and really see the world around you.
Onboard Entertainment
There are a myriad of entertainment options on a cruise ship, especially on at-sea days. One such event was a presentation on decorating a German Chocolate Cake. The Entertainment Director did a great job of making it fun and entertaining for everyone, and I was able to take a couple of quick photos of his creative ending to the presentation. Since the cakes are prepared in an environment that does not comply with food health and safety regulations, they turned the cake-decorating competition into a cake-tossing competition so no one could ask for a slice. How did it turn out? Let’s just say, one person caught the cake, and the other didn’t.
Dining
Just like the entertainment options, there are lots of dining options too. Most cruise ships have moved away from formal, assigned dining times and tables, to open dining, and NCL is no different. While there was a buffet that was practically open 24x7, there were several complementary dining options that provided significantly better food, and dining experience. Why the buffet was almost always packed and the large, old formal dining hall was mostly empty, is a mystery to me. By the way, the open-faced smoked salmon bagel is heavenly; I have never had a better breakfast.
Wandering the Decks
We’re not Alone
There were a few times on this trip when I was caught unprepared, and this was one of them. I came out on the deck with only my 85mm lens. As it happened, there were more humpback whales to be seen from the deck than at any point on the cruise (at least that I am aware of). The only zooms I brought with me on the cruise were a 24-70mm that I own, and a 200-500mm telephoto I rented. I’ll write more about that in my cruise photography post, but with an 85mm, I had to do some serious cropping to make the whale large enough in the frame to even see it.
A loaded cargo ship sailing off into the foggy distance
If you would like to see my other posts related to our Alaskan cruise, see Cruising Alaska with Norwegian Cruise Line.
