Better Late Than Never: 6/11 DCL Alaskan Cruise Trip Report

I meant to write this report over the summer, but life got in the way and I have not found the time until now. Better late than never! I’m going to stick to highlights. The pics are mostly of scenery because my husband prefers not to have his or our kids pics online, and since I am usually the one behind the camera there are very few pics of me. Enjoy! This was a trip of a lifetime, but definitely not once in a lifetime….we can’t wait to do it again!

Sunday 6/5: Travel Day
We flew in two days before the cruise so we would have a full day in Vancouver since we had never been there before. We stayed at The Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.

We were very tired from a long travel day, so we ordered room service and spent the evening enjoying the amazing view and cool temps on our balcony (we had left 100+ degree weather at home, so we were in Heaven with the cooler Vancouver temps!). View from our balcony:

Monday 6/6: Vancouver

We went down to explore the waterfront of the harbor. The Olympic Cauldron was located across the street from our hotel, and we were lucky to actually see it lit. They had it lit in honor of the Canucks hockey team being in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was only the 4th time since the 2010 Winter Olympics that it had been lit.

We walked along the sea wall to Stanley Park, which took about an hour since we often stopped to enjoy the views and take pictures. We were very fortunate to have a gorgeous rain free day.…our cab driver from the airport the day before told us it had been raining constantly for the last week.

We got hungry along the way, but chose NOT to eat at this restaurant.

 

[happymom52003]

At Stanley Park we took a horse drawn carriage ride.

Totem Poles in the park:

The city was going CRAZY over the Canucks hockey team....someone even put a jersey on this famous statue.

After our tour of the park we went to the Vancouver Aquarium.

I got faint and thought I was going to pass out when I looked at these little guys. Seriously.

I see Nemo. Lots of Nemos!

By the time we arrived back at our hotel it was just about dinnertime. We had planned on going out for a nice dinner because it was actually our wedding anniversary, however we were tired and honestly wanted to spend more time on our gorgeous balcony, so we ordered room service and had it outside. We put the kids to bed and spent the evening enjoying the view and people watching from the balcony, and even saw some drunk hockey fans fighting.

 

[happymom52003]

Tuesday 6/7: Embarkation Day

It was much colder today and overcast. It made us very thankful for the gorgeous day we had yesterday. Since we had only one suitcase and one backpack per person, we were able to easily walk to the port, although we did get rained on! After we boarded, we had lunch out on deck.

After lunch our stateroom was ready for us.

We were very happy to find these Wave Phones waiting for us.

These were a new addition since our last DCL cruise. They were awesome!! My husband and I each carried one while we were on the ship and we could call each other, as well as call our stateroom. In addition, the kids club could text us when we were needed.

After the safety drill we headed up to get a good spot for the Sail Away Party, which was a blast! And of course I started crying after the countdown from 10 when the horn played When You Wish Upon a Star.

 

[happymom52003]

After the party, we stayed on deck for awhile to enjoy the scenery sailing out of the harbor.

Sailing under the Lions Gate Bridge was quite an experience.

We had early seating for dinner, so we went back to our cabin to change. We were in Animator’s Palate the first night.

I had big plans to take pictures of every meal on this cruise, but I failed miserably! These are the only two food pics I took the whole week. I apologize!

 

[happymom52003]

Wednesday: Day at Sea

We spent the day doing typical day at sea activities....exploring the ship, enjoying the views, eating, drinking coffee, greeting characters, relaxing, and visiting the gift shops while the kids were in and out of the kids club.

Tonight was formal night and we had our pics taken with Mickey and Minnie before dinner. On our way to the dining room, we ran into Cinderella, and surprisingly no one else was around. My daughter was wearing her Cinderella dress for formal night, so this was an extra special treat and we were able to get some amazing pictures. Very magical! After dinner, we attended The Golden Mickeys. The shows on DCL are the best!

Every evening the kids were excited to find a towel animal waiting for us. Here are some of the towel creations we had this week:

 

[happymom52003]

Thursday: Tracy Arm Fjord

This morning we saw some whales in the distance while sitting on our balcony. Very cool! I highly suggest getting a verandah room on an Alaskan cruise….it is so worth the extra money. Later in the morning we saw another whale very close to the ship while we were walking on deck 4, but I did not have my camera with me. Another tip for an Alaskan cruise…always have your camera with you!

Shortly after lunch we entered Tracy Arm Fjord. We decided it would be more enjoyable for us to go back to our room and enjoy the views from our verandah. The naturalist that was narrating our voyage through the fjord was being broadcast through the tv in our cabin, so we turned it up loud so we could hear it from outside. We saw some seals, and a lot of ice burgs. The further down the fjord we got, the more ice there was floating in the water.

When we were getting closer to the Sawyer glacier, we went back on deck. It was so cold, and even rained a bit. We found Mickey in his rain gear, but sadly we missed Minnie in her fur coat.

The Sawyer Glacier was breathtaking.

On the way back down the fjord we saw a Carnival ship.

 

[happymom52003]

Some more Tracy Arm Fjord pics:

The guys went to play shuffleboard while my daughter and I went to the Princess Tea Party (I think it was actually called the Disney Friends Tea Party). It is free, but you have to request tickets for it the day you board the ship because the tickets go quickly. Honestly, I would have rather spent the time out on deck, but my daughter had her heart set on going. It was cute, however I would not consider this a “must do” and we will skip it next time. Tiana and Ariel were the characters in attendance.

We went back to our verandah to enjoy the final views of the fjord before heading to dinner. After dinner we found some characters.

 

[happymom52003]

Friday: Skagway

The Wonder docked in Skagway:

It was much colder today, which made sense because this was the furthest north we'd be on this cruise. We did the White Pass Yukon Route Railroad which was AMAZING. I had booked the one way train ride (which was about 1 ½ hours) with a bus ride back down. If I could do it over, I would definitely do the round trip train ride. I was not sure how my kids would do on a three hour train ride, and since I am VERY scared of heights and get motion sick easily, I honestly was not sure how I would do, which is why I was reluctant to book the three hour ride. But it ended up being a wonderful experience, and the time flew by. I could have spent all day on that train!

This was taken from the train....if you look closely you can just make out the Wonder at the dock:

Each train car had platforms on the front and back that you could go out on to take pictures.

This beautiful lake was at the top where we got off the train and transferred to a bus.

 

[happymom52003]

We got off the train and boarded a bus to head back down the mountain. The driver stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks for picture taking. The excursion we booked included a stop at the Klondike Gold Dredge. They did a little presentation and tour, then we were all able to pan for gold.

We all found gold, of course. I gave mine to my daughter and she combined it with hers and had it put into this necklace.

This was fun to do once, but I think our time would have been better spent doing something else. We had wanted to wander around the town a bit, but we ended up not having enouch time. In hindsight we should have gone into town early before our excursion started.

The view as we sailed away from Skagway.

Later that evening, I went out onto the verandah because the captain had announced we would be passing a spot where seals had made their home along some rocks. I had perfect timing, and was able to see them and saw a whale as well. Look closely and you can see the seals on the rocks.

 

[tiaragirl]

STUNNING pictures, my goodness! I'm really enjoying this =)

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yay! I'm so glad you decided to do a trip report! Your pictures are really taking me back.

I totally agree, a verandah is a must do in Alaska.

That last picture of all the seals is awesome!

 

[happymom52003]

Saturday: Juneau

View from our cabin after docking in Juneau:

This was the day I was looking forward to the most because we chose a whale and wildlife watching excursion, something I've always wanted to do. Our bus driver was kind of quirky, but very entertaining. While we were waiting to leave, he played a ukelele and harmonica and sang a song he had written about Alaska.

I'm sure glad they warned me not to gamble on the bus.

It took about 20 minutes to get to the marina. I snapped this picture of the Wonder during our bus trip:

The boat was very nice….much better than what I was expecting. The lower level had comfortable seating and large, clean windows, and they had binoculars in each place so no one had to share. PERFECT for families with kids…lol. It was climate controlled, had a nice bathroom, and a snack /souvenir bar. The upper level had a large uncovered area for standing as well as a smaller covered area with seating.

 

[happymom52003]

STUNNING pictures, my goodness! I'm really enjoying this =)

Thank you!

Yay! I'm so glad you decided to do a trip report! Your pictures are really taking me back.

I totally agree, a verandah is a must do in Alaska.

That last picture of all the seals is awesome!

Thanks! I really lucked out seeing those seals! The captain had mentioned we would be passing them later, but did not give a time, and did not announce it as we were passing them. I just happened to go out on our balcony exactly as we were passing them.

 

[happymom52003]

We saw Orcas, Humpback whales, sea lions, and seals. And during one of our humpback sightings, a bald Eagle was circling right over us for several minutes. Words cannot describe this experience…..the entire boat got so quiet! Everyone was in awe, and I have to admit it made me a bit teary eyed. In addition to the wonderful wildlife, the views of the landscape were spectacular, and we had a great view of the Mendenhall glacier.

 

[happymom52003]

Sunday: Ketchikan

View from the ship after docking in Ketchikan. Very charming little city.

We were very late docking in Ketchikan because when we arrived, there was no place for our ship to dock. We had to wait for another cruise ship to leave. This would really end up interfering with our shore excursion. Hopefully they worked out this issue on future cruises. Our shore excursion included a trip to the Saxon Native Village, followed by the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show.

I don't have very many pictures because we were so rushed. Our bus driver served as our tour guide at the Saxon Village. She had to rush us through everything because she wanted to get us to the Lumberjack show on time. Honestly, they should have just canceled that part of the excursion. It was ridiculous. We were still running very late for the show, but she told us she got a message that they were going to hold the show for us. Well, this ended up not being true, and we missed the first 20 minutes of the show. We were frustrated because our experience in the other two ports had been amazing and I guess we were expecting the same from Ketchikan, but we made the best of it. Hopefully we will get to go back there someday because it really is a beautiful place.

We passed this amusing sign on the bus ride:

 

[happymom52003]

When we got back to the ship, they were too far into our dinner to seat us. We were not happy campers since this was semi formal night and lobster night. They were able to find a table for two for us at the late seating, so it ended up working out. We got the kids some hotdogs up on deck and sent them off to the kids club, then we went down to the late seating and enjoyed a quiet dinner. It was quite nice, actually!

I don't remember when I took this, but I think it was sometime after leaving Ketchikan. I thought it was a very cozy scene:

Monday: Day at Sea

Sadly, this morning my son woke up early complaining of a stomach ache, and then he threw up. At first we thought it was seasickness because we were back in open sea and it was kind of rough. Then, he said his throat and ears hurt and I felt his head, and he was burning up with fever. My husband and I took turns all day staying with him in the cabin. He stayed in bed all day, bless his heart. At least this did not happen in the middle of our trip.

I took my daughter to Disney Dreams in the evening. My son and husband were very sad to miss it since it is our favorite DCL show.

Enjoying one last evening on our balcony:

Monday: Disembarkation day

Before the trip, we had struggled with the decision to either fly back home the day we got off the ship, or stay in Vancouver one more night. We chose to stay in Vancovuer, and since my son was not feeling well we were so glad we did. We were booked at the Pan Pacific hotel, which is connected to the port. We were pleasantly surprised and very thankful that our room was ready considering how early in the morning it was. We checked in and let my son rest for a while. He was feeling a lot better, so when it was time for the Wonder to leave that afternoon with it’s new set of passengers, we walked down to the port to say goodbye.

Here is a cool picture of the Wonder backing out of the dock with a sea plane coming in for a landing:

I love this picture:

There she goes, leaving without us!

I just have to say that this was my favorite vacation of all time! We went into it thinking it would be a once in a lifetime trip, but I am sure we will do it again in the future. If you are considering taking this cruise, DO IT!

Thanks for reading!:wave:

 

[happymom52003]

oops, double post

 

[tiaragirl]

This was such a great little TR - makes me really want to do it! The thought of a "cold" vacation when you're from Canada is a little mediocre to me, though, since I grew up going south religiously. Plus it's forever to fly from East (NS) to west (BC).

"Maybe when I'm older..."

Thanks for the TR =)

 

[bradandsarabr]

How old are your children? What did they think?

 

[happymom52003]

How old are your children? What did they think?

6 and 9. They LOVED it. Their favorite parts were the train ride in Skagway and the whale watching trip in Juneau. We had always wanted to do an Alaskan cruise, but thought we'd wait until the kids were much older so we could do the more adventurous shore excursions. However, when Disney announced they were going to do Alaska, we decided to go for it.