Well guys it's time to let you in on our little secret...... For the last few months we've been planning to surprise Ben's family on their cruise through Alaska!

Anyway, here's what we got up to.

On our last day in Vancouver we walked around Stanley Park. It was a really hot sunny day and the park was beautiful with views of the sea and mountains. We saw Totem Poles and lots of monuments in the Park. The funny bit was trying to hide from Ben's family the whole day as they were also visiting the park that day!

The next day we left for the cruise and spent the whole morning trying to phone Ben's cousin who was helping us plan the surprise to find out where to meet up. The worst bit was going through customs when they took us through to the same room that Ben's family were in. We asked to be hidden behind a pillar so we were surprised we didn't get arrested for acting suspicious! We finally boarded the cruise ship which was huge, found Ben's cousin who took us up to the buffett lunch where the rest of the family were. The look on Ben's parents faces was so funny, it made all the planning worth while!

As for the cruise it was absolutely amazing. There was everything you could wish for onboard, a gym, 2 swimming pools, hot tubs, casinos, restaurants. We ate so much food during the week as it was all included in the price so each evening we would order at least 5 courses! We stopped at 3 ports in Alaska, Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. In Skagway we took a train ride up through the mountains and saw some amazing scenery. We also cruised up the Tracey Arm which is a Fjord up to the Sawyer Glacier which was beautiful. As we cruised up the Fjord we were swimming in the pool surrounded by beautiful Alpine mountain scenery which was quite an experience. We also saw whales while we were in the gym one day, also another great Alaskan experience!

Every night there was a great show as there was a singing and dance group on board as well as a magician, a comedian and lots of entertainers. After the shows we would head up to the casino and then to the late night buffett for chicken wings! The best part of the cruise was the bingo though! We went nearly every day and one day I won the jackpot of $100. On the last day there was a raffle draw of all the tickets we had got at Bingo all week and I won the top prize which was a free cruise to the Carribean so guess where we are going next year on holiday! Lucky us!

We had an awesome time with Ben's family and got known around the ship by all the staff as there were 18 of us!

We are now in Edmonton which is where most of Ben's family live. It's really nice to be able to relax and let other people show us around! It's also nice to stay in a house where we really feel like we are at home. We are being looked after so well and have been taken out for so many nice meals! Anyway, we'll update you again soon.