Our Day in Seward: SeaLife, Waterfalls & Our First Taste of Alaska

Because Seward was our first US port, everyone onboard needed to go through US immigration.

On our cruise, US Customs and Border Protection officers had set themselves up at desks in the ship's theatre, and passengers were called through by deck.

After being the very last deck called for immigration in Japan, they'd flipped the order this time.

We were first. 😂

Passengers with Carnival shore excursions were given priority where necessary, but we weren't in any hurry. We made our way through the theatre, had our passports processed and stamped, and were soon ready to head ashore.

It's worth noting that this isn't necessarily how immigration will work on every cruise arriving in Alaska. Procedures can vary depending on the cruise line, itinerary and first US port, so I'd always follow the instructions provided onboard rather than assuming your experience will be the same as ours.

The Alaska SeaLife Center was probably the main thing I'd planned for our day, and it was well worth the visit.

Sitting right on the shores of Resurrection Bay, the SeaLife Center isn't simply an aquarium. It's a non-profit organisation combining a public aquarium with marine research, education and wildlife response. It's also Alaska's only permanent marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation facility.

Visitors can see Alaskan marine life including puffins, seals, sea lions, octopus and plenty of other species while also learning about the research and rehabilitation work happening behind the scenes.

For us, it was a fantastic introduction to the wildlife we'd hopefully be seeing more of as we travelled through Alaska.

I'd definitely allow a decent amount of time here, particularly with kids. There was plenty to see without it feeling overwhelmingly large.

Being there in late April had advantages and disadvantages.

We were among the first cruise ships of the season, so Seward wasn't particularly busy. After a long transpacific cruise and some much busier Japanese ports, I certainly wasn't upset about that.

The trade-off was that quite a few shops hadn't opened for the season yet.

Completely understandable. Alaska's main cruise season was only just getting underway.

Fortunately, we did find one shop that was very much worth stopping for.

We stopped at Sweet Darlings and bought some fudge.

This may have been a mistake.

Because it was ridiculously good.

The sort of fudge where you tell yourself you'll just have a little bit and save the rest for later.

Sure.

😂

Suitably fuelled by sugar, we continued towards the foreshore.

The kids found a playground where they could burn off some of the aforementioned fudge, and we spent some time wandering along the waterfront and taking in the views.

By then we'd had a pretty full day.

SeaLife Center. Waterfall. Fudge. Playground. Waterfront.

Time to head back to the ship.

Or so we thought.

We found the nearest shuttle stop and waited for the next bus.

Along came a shuttle.

Full.

No problem. We'd catch the next one.

We waited.

Another shuttle arrived.

Also full.

Hmm.

Next one?

Full.

And then another one...

Yep. Full. 😂

By this stage we'd been waiting for quite some time.

Thankfully, if you're going to spend around an hour waiting for a bus, being beside Seward's waterfront park and playground isn't a particularly terrible place to do it.

The kids were perfectly happy entertaining themselves while I kept one eye on the road for approaching shuttles.

Eventually, salvation appeared in the form of a bus with some actual empty seats.

We climbed aboard and finally made our way back towards the ship.

Lesson learned: if you're using the local shuttle on a cruise day, allow plenty of time for the trip back. Just because a shuttle arrives doesn't necessarily mean there'll be room for you on it.