{"id":8039,"date":"2023-11-28T01:34:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T01:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/humpback-whales-glaciers-and-northern-lights-the-most-magical-experience-aboard-celebrity-cruises-solstice-to-alaska\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T08:56:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T08:56:48","slug":"humpback-whales-glaciers-and-northern-lights-the-most-magical-experience-aboard-celebrity-cruises-solstice-to-alaska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justpaste.in\/blogs\/humpback-whales-glaciers-and-northern-lights-the-most-magical-experience-aboard-celebrity-cruises-solstice-to-alaska\/","title":{"rendered":"Humpback Whales, Glaciers And Northern Lights In Alaska"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh, I\u2019ve wanted to tell you about this bit for ages!<\/p>\n

Like, as soon as it happened, all I wanted to do was share it but somehow I\u2019ve not managed to get the time to do this until now. (*It probably doesn\u2019t help that I ended up taking like 1 million photos from this afternoon alone \ud83d\ude04).<\/p>\n

So, there\u2019s one thing we\u2019ve always wanted to do for a while now and that thing was to find ourselves some whales on a whale watching trip.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019ve tried multiple times \u2013 in Norway, in Iceland, in South Africa, in Canada… all of which proved to futile.<\/p>\n

Like we’d be on some for hours and end up seeing no whales (we would, however, end up seeing dolphins, which was also pretty cool too but no whales). We\u2019d pretty much given up, by this point and jokingly referred to whales as being mythical creatures \u2013 kinda like unicorns.<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

On this trip through Alaska (stopping in Juneau) with Celebrity Cruises<\/a>, however, we\u2019d booked ourselves on the Ben Fogle excursion which had a whale watching element as part of it, and we thought nothing of it.<\/p>\n

The day has started off pretty fantastic with this amazing experience<\/a> to wake up (see blog post here<\/a>) however ased on my past experiences of whale watching, I guess I just kinda went in with low expectations. \u201cWhy disappoint yourself with unrealistic expectations?<\/em>\u201d I thought.<\/p>\n

Hopping aboard our shuttle from the Celebrity Cruises docking port in Juneau, I distinctly remember the lady saying how it was pretty much guaranteed to see whales today and again, I dismissed it. \u201cNot getting my hopes high!<\/em>\u201d I kept reminding myself.<\/p>\n

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She wasn\u2019t wrong!<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

Within about 30 minutes of leaving the shore, we\u2019d found our very first humpback whale. And I kid you not \u2013 it lived up to the hype!<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

The first one was a bit further away from the boat but as we moved, it did too and did that thing where they feed by scooping all the water in their mouths, coming up to the surface in an almost vertical motion – It. Was. Incredible!<\/p>\n

My scepticism meant that I didn\u2019t even bother setting up my camera (i.e. switching lenses) so it wasn\u2019t till after this I decided to try to get some photos.<\/p>\n

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And so off we went along the coastline of Juneau and thing just got even better as more and more whales showed up at every angle, announcing their presence with loud bursts of noise before you even saw them as they came up for air!<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

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After having waited so long to see whales, it was everything I\u2019d hoped for and more. (Don\u2019t worry, I put my camera asides for a bit to actually just properly take in what was happening right in front of me).<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

I kid you not, this moment, despite already loving our cruise through Alaska with Celebrity Cruises<\/a> already, made this trip to Alaska so much more special. Like one of the defining moments of our time in this gorgeous northern wilderness.<\/p>\n

Or so I thought until later that night…<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

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Back on shore, we found ourselves some cheeky bald eagles (which at this point, were as common as seeing chickens on a poultry farm \u2013 a thing I\u2019d never thought I\u2019d say until we arrived in Alaska), before heading off on a little trek in search of glaciers.<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

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Getting to the Mendenhall Glacier, you kinda have to go through a rainforest – which is fascinating in and of itself.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve been through rainforests so it was nice enough to see how the ones in Alaska different from more tropical forests but the glaciers for me were what truly held some next level appeal. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

The idea that this ginormous piece of ice has been there for centuries is just something I\u2019ve always found so fascinating and can never seem to get my head around (especially when you stop to think of how transient ice really is \u2013 there are very few places in the world that can hold on to ice all year round).<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

The glacier was absolutely brilliant to finally see!<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

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I spent longer than I should probably admit to, just staring at it, occasionally stopping to watch the bald eagles fly overhead, just taking it all in.<\/p>\n

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\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

And just like that, it was time to head back to the ship. Intent on making the most of our time in  Juneau, we decided to skip the lift back to the ship and instead make our way back slowly through Juneau to the ship on foot.<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

Now here’s the other ‘defining moment<\/em>‘ I allude to early, see before we even arrived in Juneau, I had a look at the Northern Lights forecast and it seemed promising that we might be able to see it at some point in Alaska.<\/p>\n

That evening, in particular, had a pretty strong forecast and so, after dinner, we decided to head over to the bar and stay awake with a few cocktails (espresso martinis to the rescue), in the hopes of potentially catching the Northern Lights.<\/p>\n

For a while, nothing seemed to be happening. Like I’d already given up and gotten into my pyjamas when, almost out of the blue, there it was \u2013 the Northern Lights!<\/p>\n

\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t think I even bothered to get changed, I just chucked on regular clothes on top of my pyjamas and hot-footed it to one of the decks above to make the most of the night sky.<\/p>\n

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I can\u2019t remember the exact time (it was definitely past midnight) – all I do remember was just the beautiful display of lights across the sky!<\/p>\n

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\"Humpback<\/a><\/p>\n

It was just so amazing and was perhaps the very time that I actually saw them moving fast enough that it looked like it was dancing across the night sky (I feel like I need to apologise for the photos as it was tricky trying to take a long exposure of photos on a moving ship). I did get that view below though. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

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Serenaded early this morning with this stunning display aboard @celebritycruisesuk in Alaska. Didn\u2019t even think this would happen and still pinching myself that we saw this just a few hours ago! \ud83d\ude0d\ud83d\ude0d\ud83d\ude0d Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? If so, what did you think? \ud83d\ude01 I just can\u2019t seem to get my head around how amazing they are… \ud83d\ude0d #MyCelebrityCruise #CelebritySolstice #NorthernLights. . . . . . . . #AuroraBorealis #Alaska Ad #CelebrityCruises #Juneau<\/a><\/p>\n

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