Cruising to Alaska with Waves

Dramatic sunset from the bow with clouds gathering above

Yesterday we embarked on a cruise to Alaska and it's been quite the trip so far. We had a glorious departure, sailing out of Burrard Inlet, passing under Lions Gate Bridge and into the Pacific Ocean with blue skies.

Towards evening despite gathering clouds I caught a fantastic sunset at the bow of the Ruby Princess as I got my 10,000 steps in. It was quite windy, but lovely to be out in the open sea.

Seeing Vancouver from the ship before departure

Or I might have spoken too soon. Later in the evening I could feel the rolling waves and went to bed hoping the next day would be fine.

The choppy waves continued pretty much all day and I had to lie down most of the time to keep my dizziness at bay! As a result I didn't have much of an appetite. 

Heard later from my relatives who are traveling with us that at breakfast the waves were so rough early in the morning that people dropped food from their plates, causing quite the mess for staff to clean up. I later saw many people holding white paper sickness bags in case they didn't feel well...!!!

Then around 5.30pm the captain made an announcement that a passenger had a medical emergency and needed surgery -- a helicopter would be arriving in about 1.5 hours to evacuate the person and that no one should go outside at that time. I've been on a few cruises before but have never heard of an instance where a helicopter actually flew to a ship to pick up a patient.

About half an hour later the ship began to slow down and then as if by magic my dizziness dissipated and it was a relief!

About to pass under Lions Gate Bridge

By 7.30pm the captain made another announcement the helicopter was coming soon and requested all hands on deck in terms of the staff to make sure no one was outside, and people in their rooms were advised to keep their balcony doors closed too.

We were told later that the evacuation was successful and the ship began gathering speed again, but this did not cause me to be dizzy again.

It was still bright out at 9pm and caught the last of the sunset. Hopefully the rest of the way to our first port of call, Juneau will be uneventful!