I was joined by my great friends Charles and Adele from Nebraska for this adventure. We chose to travel with UnCruise Adventures, which specializes in small ships and personalized travels. UnCruise started their company traveling the Inside Passage of the Alaskan coastline and have since branched out into other adventures in several parts of the world. The key with UnCruise, beyond their small ships with friendly crews and small numbers of fellow passengers, is that they know these waters from many, many years of experience. The crew consisted of the normal ship staff but also well-versed guides who loved sharing their interests both during the off-ship adventures and every night with different lectures about the area.

Additionally, on this trip, the chef planned our meals around local foods, which enriched the experience further. UnCruise made sure to accommodate different dietary requests and needs, while sticking to the meal themes and, remarkably, avoiding as much food waste as possible.

As with any trip to Alaska when traveling from the eastern half of the continent, just getting to the start of the official tour is an adventure in itself requiring a full-day and multi-section effort. Luckily, things went well, and my friends and I all made it the day before our ship departed from the dock. After landing at the Juneau International Airport, we took a taxi along the waterfront to our hotel (Four Points by Sheraton) in the older part of town near our departure dock.

I would like to share a personal note about this particular adventure. I had almost decided to cancel my travels as one of my elder cats, Miss Molly, had been fighting cancer for some time. She seemed to be recovering with her weekly treatments, so I felt that, with her being taken care of by some very good friends, it would be safe to go for a week. Unfortunately, about mid-point in the trip, at one of the rare occasions that we could get a cell phone signal, I got word that her health took a turn for the worse. My friends had taken her to the emergency pet hospital which had been treating her. Even worse, at that point, we would no longer have cell service until we reached Ketchikan. Therefore, I was in the dark about her status. As you can imagine, it was a tough time for me and, clearly, my little girl back home.

The UnCruise crew were totally understanding and supportive. I spent over a day in my cabin trying to get a grip on my emotions. My travel friends and the crew made sure to send me food and to check in periodically to see how I was doing, which was very, very much appreciated. You will notice that I have no pictures from Day 5, which is when I could not get myself to come out and be around people.

As soon as I landed back in Toronto, I immediately drove to the pet hospital where I was able to pick Miss Molly up. She had recovered somewhat by the time I got there under their additional care.

Even with ongoing cancer treatments, the cancer suddenly spread into her spine which is pretty much incurable. At least we were able to spend some more quality time together before it was time to help her enter her final sleep on Dec 25th of that year.

Miss Molly was a great companion to myself and Hazel, my other cat. We had many good years together.