Another summer, another opportunity to view the exquisite beauty that is everywhere one looks in Alaska. This cruise began with the whim of a twelve-year-old girl who thinks like I do. I refer to her as Miss C, and she’s the beautiful and intelligent daughter of my precious daughter-in-law, Leslie. Miss C has been in my younger son’s life since she was about four years old, and I’m fortunate to be able to visit with her several times each year. I have loved watching this now-almost-15-year-old young woman as she’s developing into the dynamo she’ll be as an adult.
On several visits during the summer of 2023, following our previous Alaska cruise, I talked rather incessantly about the vistas that I saw in Alaska, and how I wanted to go back again. Toward the end of that summer, Leslie and Tyler mentioned they were going to Las Vegas in October to hear the band, U2, perform. (U2 has been a favorite of Tyler’s since he was in high school. He first introduced me to their music during one of our many road trips from Interlochen Arts Academy to and from our home in the Washington DC area.) Leslie said Caroline had asked if I’d come up and stay with her during the time they were away rather than having her stay with family friends in the Interlochen area. I was kind of surprised. Like most young women [that I know] in her age range, Miss C spends much time secluded in her room, listening to favorite music or doing whatever teenagers do on their phones. She knows her maternal grandmother far better than she knows me, her Extra Grandma.
Here’s where the great compliment happened: according to my memory of Leslie’s words, when asked why she was asking for me to come up and “teen-sit” her, Miss C responded something like: “I’d like to go on a cruise with Jan sometime and this would be an opportunity to see how compatible we are before spending a week together on a ship.” Would you have thought that logically when you were twelve? I certainly didn’t. I rarely think that logically at my advanced age! It was brilliant!!!
So I said I’d be happy to come up and try to keep her nourished and get her to school and other activities at the correct time. And I started thinking about another cruise to Alaska.
Apparently I passed my suitable-travel-partner test with Miss C, because after I got back home from the teen-sitting gig, and Leslie and Tyler got back home from Vegas, we started talking about Jas and Miss C and I taking a cruise together.
I envisioned activities and excursions one would do with a young woman who would be 14, almost 15, in the early summer of 2025, which is the soonest I would want to go again. The more I thought, the louder the voices in my head called out, “You’re a Boy Mom. You’re not a Girl Mom! You don’t have a clue what to do with Girl Teenagers.” And another voice, a snarkier voice, growled, “Remember the various random stepdaughters you’ve had throughout your many marriages?” And I collapsed into a fetal position and sobbed, loudly.
So during one of the talks with Tyler about potential cruises and the timing aspect, he signed off one call with the memorable and plan-changing words: “We could all go.” And he sort of “heh, heh” laughed. Like he’d be interested, but he couldn’t imagine spending that kind of money. The time frame I was considering was late May and early June of 2025, just a couple of weeks after his 50th birthday. And we already knew that Leslie wanted to take a [pricey] big and memorable trip to Germany for the celebration of his 50th. So the very thought of a trip to Germany and a cruise to Alaska seemed to cripple his ability to imagine so much travel.
But when I sat with the Holland America website open on one device, the calendar open on the desk nearby, and my budget spreadsheet open on another device, I said to Jas, “I think I can do this.” It was late October of 2023, and I had sixteen months to scrimp, save, and say “yes” to every gig that came my way.
I called Tyler back, and had him float the idea to Leslie, and then have her look at her regular Interlochen Arts Camp summer calendar, and throw a dart at the calendar. We came up with the first or second week of June. It would be cheaper and easier to fly into Seattle than Vancouver. He and Leslie were liking the idea. And then I asked, “Should we ask your brother to join us?” And then the final question that made both Tyler and Jas think “she’s lost her mind” came: I’ll pay for the cruise and for your airfare.
And here we are.
Countdown – Wednesday, 6/4/2025
Countdown – Thursday, 6/5/2025
Countdown – Friday, 6/6/2025
Embarkation, Day 1 – Saturday, 6/7/2025
Day 2 – Sunday, 6/8/2025
Sea Day
Day 3 – Monday, 6/9/2025
Scenic cruising Stephens Passage,
Juneau, Alaska – arriving 12:30 p.m.
Day 4 – Tuesday, 6/10/2025
Glacier Bay Cruising
Icy Strait Point, Alaska – arriving 5:30 p.m.
Day 5 – Wednesday, 6/11/2025
Sitka, Alaska – 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Day 6 – Thursday, 6/12/2025
Ketchikan, Alaska – 6:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Day 7, Friday, 6/13/2025
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada – 8:00 p.m. – 11:59 p.m.
Day 8, Saturday, 6/14/2025
Disembarkation, Fly Home
