For our second day in Alaska, we started the morning by grabbing breakfast at the hotel. The Crow’s Nest restaurant is on one of the highest floors, so we had a great view of downtown Anchorage from where we were seated. The sky was pretty clear that morning, so you could see quite a few snow-capped mountains off to the distance.

Afterwards we finished packing our stuff, then waited around with our group in the lobby. We would first be taking a transfer to the train station, then we’d be taking the train all the way to Whittier where our ship would be docking. The bus ride was pretty uneventful because it lasted all of five minutes, but the train ride would take a couple hours. There was a bit of a delay with the train, but once we got going, the view out the window was quite spectacular.

There was commentary throughout the ride, so it was nice to get a description of everything we were seeing. (Which I had promptly forgotten by the time I’m writing this.) We didn’t see many animals throughout the ride. The only thing I managed to see were a couple sheep at the top of the mountain, but even with my zoom lens they were a bunch of blurry dots. The mountains and the lakes on the other hand were absolutely stunning.

By the time we actually made it to Whittier, it was past lunch and I was starving. Our ship had already docked and since we were one of the first groups to arrive, we barely had to wait to get checked in. Once we got lead to our rooms, we promptly dropped off our stuff and headed upstairs to the Horizon Court to grab lunch at the buffet. Even though it was my first cruise experience, I must say I got really well acquainted with the buffet. =P

Since we had lots of time left, we decided to go explore the rest of the ship. The Coral Princess is on the smaller side, so there weren’t too many places to see. I made note of where the gym was, then pretty much walked through all the floors to get a better feel of the ship. For dinner we shared a table with a couple from Australia, a pair of newlyweds, and a group of friends from the States. I should mention that it was my first time eating with complete strangers, so it was a little surreal. Oh and it was my birthday too, so imagine having an entire table full of strangers singing Happy Birthday to you. Haha. Anyway, awkward conversations aside, it was really a great way to spend my birthday.