Again, she was for it before she was against and the fight over it occurred before she was elected Governor.
If you kept up with the news, then you were aware of Governor Palin.
Some of the people of the Weekly Standard met with the Governor when they were in Juneau, and they wrote articles on her in the following years, but your phrasing about the cruise was odd, and misleading.
I kept up with the news and became aware of her in 2007 from Bill Kristol (and Fred Barnes) and his mention of the cruise and his impression of her on FOX News, as did many others. He was an early strong supporter of hers.
The cruise had nothing to do with anything, they met with the Governor whether they came on a boat, or a plane, it is the emphasis on cruise that is so weird, the way you use it makes it sound like the Governor was on a cruise rather than in her office at the Alaskan Governor’s office.
Palin did support the bridge in the campaign, but as Governor she is credited with killing the project.
Palin killed the bridge to nowhere, just as the Alaskan Democrat party used to acknowledge, until they removed it from their website when she was chosen as veep.