To Alaska on the Disney Wonder with Four Adults - August 2016

[Aby]

Although I’ve been on two previous cruises to Alaska with DCL, this will be my first trip report for this itinerary. If you would like to read my previous trip report on our 2015 Eastern Caribbean cruise aboard the Fantasy, you can find it here.

THE 5 W’s

WHO - We are husband and wife, no kids, in our late 30’s/early 40’s from northern BC, Canada, and for the first time, we were also accompanied by my parents, who are both in their 60’s, from PEI, Canada.

WHAT & WHERE - A seven night cruise to Alaska onboard the Disney Wonder plus a pre-cruise one night stay in Vancouver at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

WHY - We love cruising with Disney, and we love their Alaskan itinerary! This was also our chance to introduce my parents to the joys of cruising as this would be their first time.

WHEN - August 14th to 22nd, 2016


Trip Planning

We booked this cruise while onboard the Fantasy in August 2015 - at the time we had no idea if we could convince my parents to cruise with us, but we went ahead and booked two rooms just in case. We dropped some hints when we returned from the cruise about how much they would enjoy a trip to Alaska, but we didn’t let them know they were already booked until just before Christmas, when we sent them a letter inviting them to join us. We were so happy that they agreed! Since they were going to be new to cruising, we sent them a little cruise care package, which included a fleece jacket for each of them, and a hand-made information package containing all they would need to know.

We booked our rooms at the Pan Pacific in early December, snagging a pretty good BC resident rate (although it was still 300+ per night!). On our past two cruises out of Vancouver, we booked through DCL across the street at the Fairmont Waterfront, which was gorgeous, but this year with this low Canadian dollar, it just wasn’t as good of a deal. I signed up for the hotel loyalty program, which was free, and would entitle us to free Wifi & bottled water when we checked in.

In February, we booked our flights, and were able to get most of them using Air Miles. My parents would fly out and visit us for a few weeks before the cruise, then we would all travel together to Vancouver (only a short 1 hour flight!), and after the cruise we would split up to fly back to our respective home towns.

Time passed by slowly at first, but once spring came, it just flew! Before we knew it, it was time to do our online check in! Once we knew my parents were joining us, I moved my mom onto my reservation, and moved my husband onto my dad’s reservation. Since we were silver, and they were new cruisers, this would ensure that we could book all of our activities at the same booking window - 90 days in advance. Being on the west coast, I was able to log in at 9pm, and I had no trouble accessing both reservations one after another to book our activities.

I was able to book an 11am port arrival time, a Palo dinner on night 5 (Juneau), a Palo brunch on day 7, and all of our first choice excursions with no trouble. I was actually hoping to get Palo brunch on the first sea day, as I really didn’t want to wait that long to enjoy the scrumptious buffet, but it turned out very well as brunch was a great way to end the cruise. We didn’t book any time for the spa in advance, as we knew there would be lots of space once onboard, and we weren’t interested in any of the character meets or the character breakfast. The one thing I wish they would allow us to book in advance is the beverage tasting seminars - it’s the only thing that we need to do when we board now, and it would be nice if we could take care of it with the rest of the booking options.

My parents arrived at our place in late July, and we enjoyed spending time discussing our trip, figuring out some of the details, and watching our DCL app count down the days! In just a few short weeks - it was time to go!

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A little taste of things to come...​

 

[Aby]

Vancouver

We were up at about 4am in preparation for our 6:30am flight to Vancouver. Thankfully, we live only about 9 hours drive north, so the flight was only about 1 hour. We all travelled with carryons only, which makes it so much easier not having to wait for luggage. We grabbed a bite to eat at a Tim Hortons in the airport, then hopped on the Sky Train to get to our hotel. The Sky Train was very easy to find, the ride took about 30 minutes and the Waterfront terminal was only a few blocks easy walk from the cruise terminal and our hotel. The Pan Pacific actually sits on top of the terminal, so it can’t get more convenient than that. We checked in right away, but of course our rooms were not ready yet that early in the morning. Bell services kindly kept our luggage for us, and we headed off to explore Vancouver.

Our first stop was the Capilano Suspension Bridge. We waited only about 5-10 minutes for a shuttle bus to pick us up at the stop in front of our hotel, and the ride only took about 15 minutes. We were able to use our BCAA card for a discount at the gate, which saved us 10% in addition to the seniors pricing for my parents. Even though it was only about 9:30am, it was already pretty busy. We did the cliff walk first, which is a long path up and down staircases and around the jutting cliff edges right over the ravine. We then walked across the famous suspension bridge to the other side, where we did the treetop adventure, a series of mini bridges up between the trees, and the nature trail through the park. It’s hard to believe that a beautiful rain forest like this exists just outside a sprawling city like Vancouver. Around lunchtime, we decided to head back to the hotel as we were all pretty hot and tired already.


Capilano Cliff Walk

We grabbed lunch at a little food court across from the Pan Pacific, and then ventured over to see what the lines were like for the Fly Over Canada ride. For anyone familiar with the Soarin’ and Soarin’ over California rides at the Disney parks, this is the Canadian version. You can buy regular tickets, or fast pass type tickets, where you pick a window of time to return and then skip the line. The staff at the information booth let us know that there was virtually no wait, so we bought regular tickets and walked up to the ride. We only waited about 5 minutes or so before the next “show”, and then it was our turn to ride. Just like the ones at the Disney parks, it was a beautiful ride with amazing scenery. It always amazes me how they can get the smells of the wheat fields and the ocean just right!

When we finished our ride, we headed back over to the hotel and our rooms were ready (it was about 2pm), so we took the opportunity to take about an hour and a half rest. Our rooms (2121 and 1927) were overlooking the city and a bit of the water, and if you really stretched, you could see one of the docked cruise ships. We had no trouble accessing the free Wifi we had with the loyalty program, and we had one large and one small water bottle waiting for us in each room (free). The rooms were very spacious and clean, and we quite enjoyed our nice break from the hot weather outside.

Vancouver Skyline​

​

After our break, we walked just a bit down from the hotel to see the Olympic cauldron and then back along the sea wall to the hotel, before heading a few blocks in the other direction to Gastown for some dinner. We popped into the Steamworks store to buy some wine to take on the ship, then headed into the restaurant to eat. We all had the pulled pork sandwich with fries, which was excellent - but they had a lot of other great looking dishes on the menu as well. We popped into the dollar store across the street to grab a few snacks for the cruise, then headed back to our hotel and grabbed some hot chocolate before tucking in for the night.

 

[kid-at-heart]

I fully agree about the wishing a person could book the beverage tastings ahead of time. I like to have as many things pre-booked as possible so once I am onboard I can simply relax and not stress about signing up for events.

Kate

 

[bcwife76]

Joining in! We live in the Lower Mainland and will be sailing to Alaska at the end of August Can't wait to read more!

 

[Aby]

Embarkation Day

At approximately 6:30am, I got up to hopefully get some snapshots of the Wonder pulling into port. I was in luck - by the time I got dressed and made it downstairs, she was just starting to maneuver into position to dock. I got some amazing shots, along with many other early risers, and once I’d had my fill, I joined hubby for the breakfast buffet at the hotel, Oceans 999. The food was pretty good, but we didn’t feel it was quite as amazing as the buffet across the street at the Fairmont Waterfront where we’d eaten before our last two cruises out of Vancouver. Mom & Dad chose to have a small breakfast elsewhere, and afterwards we met up to have another look at the ship and take some more photos. We then went back to the rooms to pack up, and around 10am, we checked out and took the elevator from the hotel directly to the cruise terminal.





The check in procedure for this trip was different than in past years. On our first two cruises, we went through security and customs first on the ground floor, and then headed to the waiting area to check in with DCL. This time, after we dropped our luggage off with the porters, we were directed upstairs where they had us check in first. We all checked in together even though we were in separate rooms, going through the usual steps of presenting our online check in paperwork, filling out a health questionnaire, and having our photo taken, then we were given our silver lanyards (just for the 2 actual silver members), a copy of the Navigator, and a laminated green card to present to the customs agent at the next step. Security and customs were downstairs - we filled out our declarations at an electronic kiosk, presented the paperwork and our card to the customs agent, and were directed to the waiting area. We were comfortably seated by about 10:45am, so the total check in process only took about 45 minutes. We felt the changes this year were for the better. In previous years with the check in desks being in the same area as the waiting room, it felt much more crowded - by rearranging things it just separated people out better so that it never felt that busy.



We were told boarding would start around 11:45am, so we just relaxed in our seats, perused the navigator and did some people watching. We were fortunate enough to get to see a bomb sniffing dog at work with his handler who was happy to talk to the guests and tell us a bit about the 11 year old black lab dubbed “Jack”. He also gave us a little demonstration of Jack’s skills, planting a trigger next to someones bag and giving him the opportunity to find it, and rewarding him with a tennis ball when he did. True to their word, boarding started right at 11:45am with the family of the day, and we followed within about 10 minutes with our boarding group #7. We skipped the photo at embarkation, and had a seat in the promenade lounge while we waited for Tritons to open for dining changes and beverage seminar reservations. Once they opened, there was quite a line, but we were able to get our Palo dinner switched to night 4 (Skagway) as we didn’t want to miss the Captain’s Gala menu, and reservations for the men for a wine tasting seminar on the first day at sea. We then headed over to Parrot Cay for a nice buffet lunch while we waited for our rooms to be ready.

We headed down to deck 2 to drop our bags in our staterooms when they opened at 1:30pm. We were in rooms 2090 and 2092, category 9B oceanview rooms, port side, just underneath the passageway through the promenade lounge on deck 3. This was our first time on deck 2, and I tried to pick rooms with nothing loud above - these were good rooms - nice big porthole windows, close to both the aft and midship elevators, and there was very little noise overall except some squeakiness at night. Since mom & dad were new to DCL, we decided to take the walking ship tour that was offered at 1:45pm. The tour touched the general highlights of the ship only, like where the restaurants, theatres and pools were located - definitely perfect for first time cruisers. After the tour, mom & I stopped at guest services to see if we could get our names on the staterooms rearranged, and it was no problem - they moved mom to dad’s stateroom and hubby to mine, and confirmed that the billing was all set up correctly. I had read that since they don’t really care who sleeps where, you could just get an extra room key for each person not assigned to the correct stateroom, but this was much easier than two of us having to carry around two key cards.



Next, we headed over to the spa, took a quick tour, and entered the raffle. You do have to be there to win, and for the first time - my other half won a 50$ gift certificate! The certificates are a bit restricted - they have to be used on a port day for a signature treatment - but a win is a win! He and my father both booked the embarkation day special, which was any signature massage with 15 minutes of extra treatment time for free, for later that evening - they both chose the hot stone massage. We also purchased the rainforest room length of cruise pass, which is a tradition for us on every cruise.

At 4pm, we headed outside for the muster drill. Our station was “N”, which was on deck 4, port side. It took about 15-20 minutes total, but it was crowded on deck. I much prefer when your station is in one of the restaurants where you can sit down comfortably at a table. After it was over, mom & I headed up to deck 9 for the sail away party, while the men headed back to the spa for their massages. We grabbed a small table at the back away from the stage, and enjoyed a drink of the day in a colourful souvenir cup. It was quite crowded and loud up there, so we headed aft to the secret deck 7 area, and there were only a few people there. We were able to watch as we passed under the Lionsgate bridge and we said goodbye to Vancouver.

Mom and I went to the All Aboard show in the Walt Disney Theatre - the preview for the magician Steve Farquhar was amazing (dancing handkerchief in a bottle), and the comedic juggler was pretty good, and the general excitement about the cruise was palpable. The men joined us near the end of the show, and we tried to take a look in the gift shops, but it was just too busy, so we took a walk on deck 4 before heading to dinner. Our dining rotation was TAPTAPT, so we were in Triton’s first, for the first rotational menu (casual). We met our server, Hernan from Chile, and Olena from Ukraine, who were both very nice, and later on in the evening our head server, Rakesh from Trinidad and Tobago came by to say hello. Dad started with escargot & french onion soup; mom also had the soup along with the cucumber salad; hubby had escargot and we both also had the pirogies. For the main course, we all had the chateaubriand steak except for mom who had the lobster conchiglie pasta, and for dessert dad and I enjoyed the amazing grand mariner soufflé, while the others had the vanilla creme brûlée. Overall the food was very good and we left very happy.

After dinner we played 80’s music trivia in Wavebands and watched the Wonder Quest scavenger hunt. Jamzey was the adult club host this cruise, and he was so entertaining. His outfits were always impeccable, and he was hilarious - such a great sense of humour and the crowd really loved him. After this very long day, we were happy to retire to our cabins for the night in preparation for our first full sea day.

 

[Geomom]

We got off the ship the day you got on! We were on the 8/8 sailing, in room 2116, and had Hernan/Olena/Rakesh as our serving team. I guess your rotation makes sense as we had PTAPTAP--so they had just finished their Parrot Cay night.

We had an overnight flight, so we did an all day excursion in North Vancouver/Squamish...on our drive back to Vancouver we saw the Wonder sailing away (after it had passed the bridge.)

I'm enjoying reading your trip report to relive mine...and to see what your weather was like...maybe we should have done your week instead. ;-) (Although it was good to have 2 weeks to adjust back to our time zone before the kids started school...)

 

[MargaretJ]

Really enjoying your trip report; we are going August of 2017!

 

[Aby]

Sea Day 1

Overnight the clocks went back an hour, so we got to enjoy a little bit of extra sleep, but we still made it to the rainforest room by 8am, and like it would be for most of the cruise, it was completely empty. After some relaxation, we had breakfast at Parrot Cay (cinnamon french toast - yum!) and then mom and I headed off to our first session of Bingo!.

A little bit about Bingo - I love it. I’ve grown up playing with my Mom, and I’ve tried to go to every session on each of my cruises, but I am not very lucky. In all of those sessions, the most I’ve ever won was a goodie bag. But I still love going none the less - I love the energy, the jokes, and the general atmosphere - and this time I was very excited to be able to take Mom with me to enjoy it. Well - she had the most amazing luck on this cruise! At the very beginning of each session, the caller (Chris for this cruise) draws a random name to be the Bingo verifier - this person has to go up on stage and verify that Bingo Betty looks good and that there are no balls missing. Mom was the lucky winner and she got a tote bag for her troubles. Later during that session she also won one of the games and got $200 - and now she would be semi-famous in the Bingo circle for the rest of the cruise!



The men had a different kind of fun this morning - they did the wine tasting seminar. They got to try 5 different types of wine during the session, which probably worked out to about 2 glasses of wine each. After lunch at Tritons (meatloaf for mom, turkey/cheese panini for me), mom & I ended up at the port shopping seminar, and they joined us about 1/2 way through and dad even won a door prize - a nice blue bamboo scarf. Afterwards we stopped by the Promenade lounge and enjoyed a quick round of trivia and enjoyed some delicious pretzels from Pinnochio’s. During trivia we had our first whale sightings of the cruise out of the large portholes on that deck - some were quite close, and there were many others in the distance. We rounded out the afternoon with another round of Bingo (Mom won again!), and a bit of relaxation in our cabin before starting to get ready for formal night.





Tonight was the Golden Mickey’s show, with a formal captain’s reception in the atrium right before. We don’t tend to get super dressed up for the formal nights since we travel very light, but the men wore nice pants and a shirt and tie, and mom & I both wore black pants with a nice blouse. We were able to snag a couple of free drinks while wandering around the reception - everyone except me had a glass of wine, but I enjoyed a lovely Blue Hawaiian. The show was a lot of fun, and afterwards they had a short family show in Wavebands with Shawn Farquhar. It was really cute and funny but it was quite crowded - there just really wasn’t enough room in there for such a popular show. Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate (formal, rotational menu), and we realized that we were seated right next to the entertainer’s table, so we were able to personally say hi to Mr. Farquhar. The AP rotational menu is one of my favourites - the black truffle pursiettes, and the asian tenderloin are phenomenal - all of us ordered both of these items and they did not disappoint. I enjoyed my first mickey bar of the cruise for desert, while mom had the white raspberry cheesecake and the men both had the cookies & cream sundae. We stayed for the full show, then took a break in our cabin for a little while before heading to Wavebands for the adult entertainment. The show tonight was Michael Holly, a comedic juggler who was absolutely hilarious (the tight rope gig was really funny). After a quick walk on deck to get some hot chocolate, we retired to our cabins to peruse the navigator to plan our next day of fun.

 

[Aby]

Endicott Arm Day

The third day of DCL’s Alaskan itinerary is always dedicated to a day of scenic cruising up to an active glacier. Normally the ship would go up the Tracy Arm Fjord to the Sawyer glacier, but due to large amount of ice, that direction was closed for the entire season. Instead, the Wonder would be sailing up the Endicott Arm to the Dawes glacier. We started the day at the breakfast buffet in Parrot Cay, and then headed to the secret aft deck to do some whale watching. The weather was foggy at first, but it slowly started to clear up and we did get to see some whales in the distance and get some beautiful photos. Mom & I left to go to Bingo (no luck this time!) but the men stayed behind and later told us that they saw over 20 more whales after we left!



For the first year, Disney was offering a small boat tour excursion through the fjord to the glacier, and we jumped on the opportunity when our booking window opened. There were two excursions offered - one at noon and one at 3pm - we chose the noon excursion, and after meeting in Wavebands, we were led to disembark the ship directly onto our catamaran. The catamaran travelled up the fjord faster than the Wonder, so we were able to get some great shots of the ship with the gorgeous scenery in the background as we travelled to the glacier. The boat was very well equipped and comfortable. There was plenty of indoor seating on 2 levels to enjoy, there was lots of room outside on deck, and when we were stopped, they opened up the gate to the 3rd level for even better views. On the way to the glacier, we took a side trip down Ford’s terror to see a beautiful cascading waterfall, which we could almost reach out and touch. While in there, the Wonder passed us by but we quickly caught up and beat her to the glacier face. As we approached it got much windier and colder, but the view was second to none. Our small ship managed to get within 1/4 mile of the glacier’s face, and we witnessed multiple calvings - the sound of the ice breaking was eerie. We had another great photo op as the Wonder joined us at the glacier, and we probably spent about 30-45 minutes just drifting at the face and enjoying the view before the catamaran brought us back to reboard the ship. This excursion was one of the best we’ve ever done.







Once back on board, we grabbed a snack from the pool deck (burgers/hot dogs/fries), and I was able to get some photos of the 2nd excursion catamaran from the top deck. The Wonder stayed about 1-2 hours at the glacier, and then slowly turned around and started sailing back out the fjord the way we came. While we were sailing out, I grabbed a hot chocolate from the drink station and sat out on deck 4 to enjoy the scenery - it was completely empty! Hubby did some laundry, and Mom & I went to the family juggling show - it was okay, but not nearly as good as the adult show, so we skipped out a few minutes early to head to Bingo, where mom won one more time. We all met in Parrot Cay tonight for dinner (cruise casual, rotational menu) - this is my favourite dining room for the bread service - the warm banana bread is so yummy! Hubby and I had the jerk chicken tenderloins while mom & dad had a salad for the appetizer course; for the mains, dad and I enjoyed the cordon blue, mom had the mixed grill, and hubby had the sea bass, which he was lucky to get as there weren’t enough to go around the entire dining room. Mom & I both indulged in a Mickey bar for dessert, hubby had the pineapple cake, and dad had the sticky toffee pudding. Everything was delicious as usual!





The adult entertainment tonight in Wavebands started with a game of Majority Rules. In this game, the host asks questions and you have to write down what you think the majority of the audience is going to say. Mom and dad played as Team PEI, and hubby and I played as Team Stitch, and we won the game and received 2 DCL blue journals as our prize. Afterwards we were treated to another magic show with Shawn Farquhar who did an mind-boggling floating table illusion and an amazing sword & card trick - he is a very funny and talented guy who I’d love to see again. After this, we retired to bed, as we had an early morning arrival at our first port of call the next day.

 

[megsablue]

I'm excited to tag along for your trip report! We cruised Alaska on the Wonder in 2013 in May and we have the end of August of next year booked, so I'm curious to see if there's many differences from what I remember (due to the time of year). We're from just outside of Vancouver ourselves (a big plus for us is not having to haul our kids on a plane ) so hi from another British Columbian!

 

[bcwife76]

Wow, you are really churning this report out - I love it!!!

Thrilled to hear you went on the catamaran excursion AND that you thought it was worth it! I'd really like to book this for our cruise next year. Beautiful photos!

@megsablue *waves hi from Surrey BC * We are on the August 28th 2017 sailing, is that the one you are going to be on, too?

 

[megsablue]

@bcwife76 We are! I just joined the cruise meet thread the other day. We're in Port Coquitlam, so just over the river from you.

Now I'm thinking I might to want to do the catamaran - but I'll have to balance that out with our other excursions (this lousy Canadian dollar is NOT helping my plans )... those photos are great!

 

[saxmangeoff]

Love that whale photo!

 

[Aby]

Skagway

The Wonder arrived in port very early, around 7:15am, but we didn’t have an excursion planned until late morning, so we enjoyed some time in the rainforest room and had breakfast at Parrot Cay. We walked on the upper decks for a bit for some photos, but it was quite foggy and rainy. We met in the Walt Disney Theatre for our excursion at 11:20am - today we were taking the All Aboard Steam Train up the mountain to the Fraser loop and back. My husband and I have taken this trip before, and we really enjoyed it, so we decided to go again as it was my dads number one pick for this port. There was a really big group gathered in the theatre, and we were led out together and walked to the train that was waiting right next to the docks. We got on the 2nd to last train, and were able to snag seats on the left hand side of the train, which offer better views when travelling up the mountain. Unfortunately, the valley was filled almost entirely with fog, so the scenery was not as nice as it could have been. Dad & I were still able to get some nice pictures and video as we travelled up the mountain, and at the summit it did clear up a bit more. At the top they came around with cider/champagne and had a toast, and while we were travelling back down the mountain, they presented us with small ornaments to commemorate our trip. Despite the gloomy weather, it was still a great ride - travelling on an authentic steam train is something right out of history. Once we were dropped off back at the docks, we headed into the small town to look in the various shops. It was quite windy and we got tired of fighting the weather, so after about an hour we headed back to the ship.







After a bit of time relaxing in our cabins, we got changed and headed up to Palo for dinner. Our server, Ashlie from India was amazingly attentive, and we had a nice quiet table near the entrance. Although the menu was new since our last cruise, there were still lots of amazing choices! We all we shared a few plates of antipasti and baskets of bread to start - it’s so hard not to fill up on just these! For our appetizers, it was calamari for the husband, gnocchi for mom, and white bean soup for dad and I - they were all amazing! For the main course, dad and I again stuck together and both ordered the beef tenderloin with cheese and wine sauce, mom had the lobster pappardelle, and hubby had the osso bucco. Of course for desert, we all had the chocolate soufflé, plus Ashlie brought us an extra apple crostini and limoncello tart to share. We had a great meal overall, and our server was more than happy to take some pictures of us all together.

After dinner, we headed to Wavebands early to get a seat for another adult magic show with Shawn Farquhar. Again his illusions and tricks were very entertaining and slick - tonight he did the routine he used on Penn & Teller’s Fool Us, where he read a persons mind and recited passages from the pages of a book. We could have watched him perform every single night! After the show we enjoyed a hot chocolate from the drink station and then headed off for bed in preparation for a very early port day the following morning.

 

[cruisehopeful]

This excursion was one of the best we’ve ever done.

Glad you enjoyed it so much. I went back and forth about booking it and we ended up not doing it. When we saw the little boat leave towards the glacier, I was really feeling left out. If I do another Alaska cruise, I'll probably book it.

I'm enjoying all of your pictures, especially the whale tail.

 

[saxmangeoff]

Skagway

The All Aboard Steam Train up the mountain to the Fraser loop and back ... was my dads number one pick for this port.

Your dad has good taste.

It was my number one pick for the whole cruise, and I was not disappointed.

 

[Aby]

Thanks all for the comments so far! Glad everyone is enjoying the pictures. I really love reading trip reports so I always try to pay it forward with one of my own when I finally go on a trip of my own!

Will post the last few instalments shortly!

Aby

 

[Aby]

Juneau

We arrived in Juneau today very early in the morning. We ate at the buffet, while mom & dad ordered a continental breakfast from room service, and we met for our tour in wavebands at 7:30am. It was a big foggy up in the mountains, but otherwise is looked like it was going to be a great day. While we were waiting for our tour to gather, one of the other tours was cancelled (likely a helicopter tour due to the fog) but the only family that looked like they were there for that tour was able to reschedule to something else in time.

Our tour was the Alaska Rainforest Trails and Glacier Photo Safari, with the Gastineau Guiding Company through DCL - there were only 10 people in our group, and once off the ship we only had a very short walk to a small mini-bus that waiting to pick us up. Our guide was Brian, who was a photojournalist (mostly in politics) in the winter, and a photography tour guide in the summer. We took a short 15 minute ride to our boat, during which Brian went through some of the basics of photography that we would find useful during the whale watching part of the tour. Unfortunately, the batteries for mom’s camera got left in her stateroom, so she didn’t take any pictures, but she wasn’t worried and knew she would still have a good time (hubby isn’t into photography either so he also enjoyed the tour without. We arrived at the pier, and were given a short restroom break before boarding our vessel.



One of the great things about this tour and the company is that they use small, intimate whale watching vessels with 360 degree windows that fully open for a great view. They also limit the number of participants on each tour so that it’s never crowded, so you aren’t jostling with others for the best views and you get more one on one time with the tour guides. Today, we were the first boat out on the water looking for whales. This can be a good thing because you can be the first to snag a good spot next to a group of whales, but it can also be a bad thing because it can take you awhile to actually find them! On this particular day, the whales were seemingly shy and quite difficult to find. We saw the mist of a few blowholes, but they weren’t sticking around more than that. We did see some bald eagles, and some sea lions while we were looking, and as more boats came out onto the water more reports of whales started coming through. We did manage to see one full whale tail but most of the whales weren’t showing them off today. After our time on the water (a few hours) was over, we headed back to the pier.





The second part of the tour was a rainforest hike at the Mendenhall glacier park grounds. We took a quick bus ride to the park, while Brian discussed some photography tips for the forest, and then started our walk together along the marine ecology trail, which was actually closed to the public due to frequent bear sightings this year. We were allowed to use the trail through because we had our trained guide (and his bear spray) with us, and we didn’t run into any trouble. The rainforest was lush and gorgeous, and so very peaceful. At the end of the trail we came upon a small beach, which opened up onto the lake with the glacier and waterfall in the distance. After our brief stop at the beach, we continued along the trail and ended up near the parking lot where our bus was waiting, but before we left we also went out to the salmon stream viewing area. There were a few sockeye salmon around, and although we could see evidence of them being there, we weren’t lucky enough to see ay bears. We had great photo opportunities during this part of the tour, the glacier of course, but also various trees, plants and cool-looking fungi. At the end of our tour, we hopped back on the bus and Brian showed us some of his amazing photographs and was happy to answer some questions about Juneau. He gave us the choice of being dropped back off at the ship, or in town for some shopping. We chose the latter, and wandered around the town a bit before taking the shuttle back to the ship. We debated about doing the Mt. Roberts tramway, but it was quite pricy and the weather up the mountain was looking foggy, so we decided against it.





Once we were back on board, hubby and I enjoyed a bit of time in the rainforest room, then he headed off for another massage and mom & I went up on deck to take some pictures. The show tonight was Toy Story the Musical - the men weren’t interested so mom & I went by ourselves. We ducked out a bit early to make sure we made it to Bingo on time - no major wins today unfortunately but we did get close, and mom did win a raffle draw for the bingo ball lip balm, which she kindly gave to me (I’ve been after one since my first cruise!).

Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate (semi-formal, Captain’s Gala menu). Everyone got the prosciutto appetizer except for mom, who had the onion soup, mom & dad had the venison, and we had the herb crusted chicken. For desert, hubby and I enjoyed a creme brûlée, mom had the dessert trio, and dad had the chocolate lava cake, one of his favourites. Our servers seemed to be less busy tonight, so we had the opportunity to spend some time talking with our main server, Hernan from Chile. He told us that he had been with Disney for 12 years, mostly on the Wonder, and he had been on 7 different Panama Canal crossings, which is the next cruise we were planning on taking. It was really nice hearing some of his backstory, and based on our short time with him so far, we were already planning on requesting him on our next Wonder cruise if possible! After dinner mom and dad went back to their cabin, but we headed to the theatre to see Pete’s Dragon with a bag of fresh popped popcorn (a bargain for Disney at only $1.50/bag!), then headed off to bed.

 

[Aby]

Ketchikan

This was a later port arrival day, so the ship was still sailing when we woke up in the morning. After a quick trip to the rainforest room, we met mom & dad at Parrot Cay for breakfast and then dad and I went up on deck 4 to watch us dock. We split up today for excursions - mom & dad left first for the Adventure Kart Expedition, and we left about an hour laster for ours, the Bering Sea Crab Fishermans Tour. We had to walk about 5-10 minutes through town with our Disney guide to our vessel, the Aleutian Ballad.



For those of you unfamiliar, this was the first fishing boat featured on the TV show The Deadliest Catch. It was hit by a rogue wave and severely damaged, and the owners decided to transform it into a tour vessel instead of returning to crab fishing with it. There is stadium style seating throughout the boat, with overhead heaters, a small gift shop/snack bar, and a few tanks used to house various sea creatures. Our tour was about 80% full, and we were able to get a great seat on the lower level, to the left by the railing where we could see the demonstration deck clearly. We were allowed to walk around the boat at our leisure, changing viewing spots, levels, etc, and there were multiple opportunities where we could actually go up front and interact with the crew and the sea life from the tanks. We started by sailing away from the dock - the wind was a bit breezy at first but overall it was a clear and warm day. The first demonstration they did was pulling up a crab pot from the ocean full of box crabs; we were able to go up front and hold the crabs for picture opportunities. Next they showed off the king crabs from the tanks (we weren’t allowed to touch these!), and by the time that was over, we had reached a set of islands where eagles like to roost. The crew tossed bait over the sides of the ship and lured the eagles in for an amazing photo opportunity - normally this would be illegal but this was native land with no federal jurisdiction. Next we headed over and pulled up a barrel trap with an octopus inside - it was cool seeing him sucker himself to the crews arm - and then we pulled up a traditional square trap that was filled with mock 3D printed king crabs and memorial buoy tags commemorating fishermen lost at sea. On the sail back to the harbour, the captain told some stories about his time working in the industry, and then we were able to take pictures with the entire crew and the ships life preserver.





After our tour, we did some shopping - by far this is my favourite town on this itinerary to shop in. I spent quite a bit of time in the Christmas store, and in the Tongass Trading Company stores (there are 3), but the stores around creek street were closed by the time we were back from our excursion. We returned to the ship and grabbed some ice cream and drinks from on deck, and met up with mom & dad who told us about their excursion. There were 16 people total on their adventure - there were only supposed to be 8 at first, but there were some people that joined at the last minute because another tour was cancelled. They were able to ride in the first buggy behind the leader, and dad drove all the way as mom was worried that she would be too slow for the people behind her. The full trail took about 2 hours, and it was very muddy but also very fun! They were provided protective pants & visors, and there were also jackets as well, but they felt it would have been too hot. Overall they had a very good time and got some very bouncy video and some great pictures.



Tonight dinner was in Parrot Cay for the Prince & Princess menu (cruise casual) - this would be the last time we would eat dinner in this restaurant before it would be refurbished during dry dock & honestly I will miss it as I love the decor and the atmosphere. Everyone but hubby had the cheese/bacon/mushroom tart for an appetizer, he had the salmon. For the main course, I was the odd man out with the steak; everyone else had the halibut. We all had different desserts, a Mickey bar for me, a sundae for Dad, the lemon cheesecake for hubby, and the trio plate for mom. Mom & I left quickly for Bingo in the Promenade Lounge, but unfortunately mom’s winning streak was over. Afterwards, we met the men in Wavebands for the Match Your Mate show, which as always, was hilarious, and then headed back to our cabins and ordered Mickey bars all around before calling it a night.

 

[Aby]

Last Sea Day

Our last day on the cruise came quickly, but we were really looking forward to today as it was our Palo Brunch! After a very small bite to eat at Parrot Cay and another session of Bingo for mom & I, we headed to Palo and were greeted once again by Ashlie from India. We even had the same quiet table near the front of the restaurant that we had during dinner. Ashlie gave us a copy of the a-la-carte menu as they no longer have the dishes up on display; there were quite a few changes from the last time we cruised - no more strawberry soup or grape & gorgonzola pizza, but of course there were still many wonderful choices. We enjoyed mimosa’s while perusing the menu, then we took a tour of the buffet with Ashlie and afterwards loaded up our plates. From the menu, mom had the tomato soup and lasagna, dad the celery soup and chicken parmesan, hubby had the lasagne and I had the chicken parmesan. Ashlie also brought us an eggplant rolatini to share. From the buffet, we each indulged in various selections, some of the favourites being the warm sticky buns and the raspberry vanilla panna cotta. As usual the service, food and atmosphere was amazing, and we left with very full bellies and a bunch of DCL pens from Ashlie. He was also kind enough to take pictures of all of us together inside and by the Palo sign, and after we said goodbye, we went out on deck to take some pictures in the beautiful sunshine.



In the afternoon, mom & I went to the last session of Bingo, the final jackpot game - unfortunately someone else won the $5000 jackpot (and they didn’t really seem that excited about it). After that, we went to enjoy the rainforest room for the last time, then took mom & dad for a picture with Minnie in the atrium. We did a last bit of shopping in the ship stores before heading to the theatre for the final show, Dreams. Between the show and dinner, we did some packing so that we didn’t have to do it all right before bed.



Dinner tonight was the ‘Till We Meet Again menu in Tritons (casual), and we were surprised that the dining room seemed quite empty. Our servers commented that a lot of people like to do Palo on the final night, and because they weren’t as busy we were able to spend quite a bit of time talking to them on a personal level. We found out that Olena, our assistant server was from a city in South Ukraine on the black sea where they have very little winter & snow. For dinner, everyone had the cranberry salad except for dad, who had the goulash soup for an appetizer. For the main course, mom and I had the chicken schnitzel, hubby had the beef wellington, and dad had a plain steak with a baked potato. For dessert, it was baked Alaska all around! At the end of dinner the entire serving team and the chefs and cooks put on the parade of countries through the dining room - the entire room gave them a standing ovation and lots of cheers & applause - overall the dining room experiences were amazing and we couldn’t have asked for better service. We will definitely try to request them again in the future. As we weren’t planning on going to the dining room for breakfast in the morning, we handed out our tips and said our goodbyes after the show was over.

Before heading to bed we booked our next cruise on board (EBPC 2017) and mom & dad booked a placeholder. We then returned to our cabins to finish packing and fill out our DCL surveys. Overall today was a great way to end our cruise.


Debarkation Morning

This morning we headed up to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast around 7am as we wanted to get off the ship as early as possible. The servers from Palo were working the buffet this morning so we got to say hello one more time to Ashlie while we were getting our meal. We returned to our room to get our luggage, said goodbye to Doneta our stateroom host (who was very friendly and did a great job), and went to wait in line in the atrium. Around 7:45am the ship was cleared by customs, and we were free to leave the ship. Since we didn’t have to wait for luggage, we were able to proceed directly to customs - basically all we did at this point was hand in our declaration card and walk right through. We made our way to the DCL bus area and managed to get on the first bus back to the airport; we had decided to take DCL transportation just for the simplicity and ease it provided (it was $25/person) and we were very happy we did. The ride back to the airport took about 40 minutes, so we arrived around 9am. mom & dad had a flight out at noon, but ours didn’t leave until 1:30pm, so we had tea/coffee together and just chatted about our trip before we headed through security. It was very clear that all of us had an amazing time and that mom and dad’s first cruise was definitely a success! We said our goodbyes and headed through security to each catch our flights back home.