We finally go to go on our long-awaited vacation on a Disney Cruise to Alaska!
I think we first scheduled this vacation back in 2019. We were supposed to go in August 2020...but then the world fell apart with the COVID pandemic and cruise ships were no longer sailing. We rescheduled it for 2021, then a different week in 2021, but it ships were still not sailing then. We rescheduled it again for 2022 and almost didn't get to go again this year! I got COVID in the end of July, then Steve went down 10 days later. I was SO worried that the kids would get it after us and then we would be too close to the cruise to have time to recover and be cleared to sail. Happily, the kids did not end up getting COVID again and tested negative the day before we flew out, 2 days before getting on the ship.
Instead of getting ready for our trip, this was my situation! COVID sucks!
We had tickets to "Wicked" at the Orpheum that we ended up having to move when Steve got COVID, but we were excited we still go to go. (Pics without masks, but we were definitely masked so the kids wouldn't pick up COVID before our trip!)
We celebrated Trevor's birthday early with Nanny and Grandpa that night because Trevor's birthday was while we were on the ship!
Nanny helped Sarah make a card for Trevor while we were staying at their house when our hardwood floors were being refinished. So cute!
Pokemon cake
We also celebrated a wedding shower for Amy leading up to Christopher and Amy's wedding.
The following weekend, we were off to Vancouver to board the ship!
We awoke early Sunday morning to head to the airport. Everything went smoothly until we arrived in Vancouver.
The scenery changed from Minneapolis....to the mountains!
We had to go through customs, baggage claim, etc. then wait in a line to get out of the airport. While we were in that line, I got an email that Sarah was chosen by the Canadian government for random mandatory COVID testing. I called to ask if the PCR test she had just done the previous day would count and they said it had to be a test done at a government approved testing site, of which there are NONE at the airport! They said, "Don't worry! You have until the end of the day tomorrow to get tested." Um....we're supposed to get on a ship in the morning! We had to figure out how to get to our hotel and where to find a testing site. There was a list of approved sites, but we are unfamiliar with Vancouver, so we had no idea where they were. I used the last of my phone battery putting each address into Google maps and trying to orient us to where we should go. Once we picked out a site to go to, the website the e-mail directed me to let me register her information, but then would not let me actually click on a site to book an appointment. We finally decided to just go to our hotel and our room wasn't ready, but we were able to stow our luggage and the front desk employees really tried hard to help us. They were looking up testing sites on their computers and calling them. The answer they got was that everything was closed. We finally decided to just try to find one of the sites and hope for the best. We walked through Vancouver and found one of the pharmacy sites was open and able to test her. We filled out more paperwork, waited for her turn, and got her tested. They then tell me that the test will take 1-2 days to come back! We will not even be in Canada by then! Ugh! Way to welcome us to Canada!
When we were walking around trying to find our hotel and a test, we did stumble on a fun street fair with live music every couple blocks, yard games, etc.
After we got some food in us (it had been 13 hours since breakfast with no lunch while traveling and figuring out testing), we walked down to the pier.
We had a bit of time to relax in the shade.
Trevor was representing Metro Peds in Vancouver, with his cool new tshirt.
Then we went down the pier to go on the "Fly Over Canada" rides.
There are 2 rides that are about 25 minutes long and consist of riding in a seat with a huge screen showing the terrain to make it feel like you are flying over cities, mountains, oceans, rivers, etc. to see the wonders of Canada. It was very fun and a better end to the day after all the stress of our arrival!
After that, we went back to our hotel, had some dinner, then went to bed, excited to board the ship the next morning!
Monday, August 22nd - Embarkation Day
Here's the Disney Wonder arriving in port to get ready for our embarkation!
Almost there. That is our ship out the window behind us...
Right to lunch at Tiana's Place.
On deck for the "Sail-a-Wave" party and of course, the first of many unlimited soft serve ice cream cones.
And we're off!
Video of the ship passing just under Lions Gate Bridge.
Initial view from our room!
Our first dinner was at Tiana's Place.
On Disney Cruises, you rotate through 3 main restaurants and your wait staff goes with you each night through your dinner rotation. They get to know you and what you like. They'll even cut up your child's food, bring the kids games or special treats (like origami animals from Lito this time), and are examples of Disney's amazing service. We had Lito and Eka Putra this time and they did an excellent job!
The restaurants are filled with fun details that reflect the movies and characters on which they are based.
This is exactly what the menu looks like in the Tiana's Place restaurant in the movie!
Table number has the princess and the frog on it.
Cute details on shelves around the restaurant
"The Bees Knees Cup for Culinary Excellence"
"Golden Ladle Award" for Tiana's Place
Restaurant decor and a jazz band playing Disney songs!
Plates have cute frog designs on the edges.
Yummy pork medallions
Dessert!
If you can't decide what to get, get multiple. You can have as many appetizers, entrees, and desserts as you want! We frequently (almost every night!) ordered 2 desserts!
Trevor had his Mickey Bar every night!
And we had to try the "Baked Alaska" dessert on our Alaska cruise!
Then we return to our room to find the room host has prepared all the beds and left us a towel animal. This one Sarah decided to name Swanhilda and took to bed with her.
View of the sunset from our verandah. I don't think I could get tired of views like this!
And walking around deck...
Beautiful lobby of the ship.
Tuesday, August 23rd - Trevor's Birthday and a day at sea
A foggy morning doesn't get this birthday boy down!
Breakfast buffet at Cabanas restaurant was a hit. The kids could eat whatever they wanted on this trip. There was 1 rule: Eat what you want, but don't throw up!
(Only 1 kid accomplished that, but it was motion sickness for 1 vomiter and too much junk food for the other.)
On the way down the stairs, we found Goofy sleeping on the steps. He got up and started wandering around the ship. He was spotted sleepwalking or passed out in various areas of the ship!
We met Stitch and he tried to do the pose on Steve's t-shirt. Stitch's cast member helper was from Hawaii and greeted Trevor by saying "Happy Birthday" in Hawaiian!
I wore my Minnie shirt to meet Captain Minnie.
The Toy Soldiers from Toy Story were marching to their event in the kids' club.
Ariel was walk around the halls saying hello as well.
One of Sarah's favorite events of the trip was the "Anyone Can Cook" series with Chef Jon Ashton!
He demonstrated a recipe at each session and gave us the recipe. He answered questions and chatted with the audience and was incredibly kind and personable. In one of his sessions, he recommended a certain kind of knives that were good quality and not expensive, but I didn't catch the name, so afterward, I asked him to tell me the name again. We mentioned that Sarah loves to cook for us, but that we need some better knives for her and he wanted to meet her! She was being shy and hiding around the corner, but she came out and met him and they chatted for a few minutes about what she likes to cook and how she became interested in cooking. He remembered her at the end of the week and mentioned her twice in his last session. After we got home, Sarah made us the 3 recipes she learned on the ship and they were all amazing!
The kids had a blast in their kids' clubs. Trevor and Sarah were both the age that could go in the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab, but Sarah was also old enough to go in the tween club, Edge. Austin was in the teen club, Vibe.
Here is a peek at the Oceaneer Club.
Oaken's Trading Post
Andy's Room
The Avenger Training Academy
The Oceaneer Lab had some great features that Trevor LOVED!
What he remembered most from the last cruise was getting to drive the ship on the ship simulation game they have in the lab. You can drive any of the Disney Cruise Line ships in and out of many ports the cruise line visits.
They also had many art materials and Trevor enjoyed being creative, as usual!
Sarah got in on the ship driving too (when she wasn't in Edge with the tweens).
More beautiful scenery from our verandah.
Trevor was excited that formal night on the cruise was on his birthday! He loves to dress up in his suit, even just wearing it around the house, so he he was excited to have a great excuse to dress up!
Pics on the grand staircase in the ship lobby.
And with the Ariel statue.
Each ship has a different statue in the lobby and the Wonder has Ariel.
(A proof of Mom photo)
Mickey and Minnie got dressed up for formal night too!
I love when there are professional photographers to capture photos of my family!
(These were all to humor me. I got plenty of complaints from the kids about taking photos!)
The cutie birthday boy!
We had dinner at Triton's that night.
There is a beautiful mosaic on the far wall...
Sebastian holding up the shell lights
I like the pretty swirly ceiling accents behind me. The swirls are made to look like octopus tentacles. Every detail is on point on a Disney ship!
Of course, Trevor had his Mickey ice cream bar for dessert.
But then the servers brought him a birthday cake with Mickey Mouse sprinkles and sang "Happy Birthday" for him!
Sarah decided to have a Mickey bar too, but even though she eats her food with her fingers half the time when we are at home, she ate her Mickey bar with a spoon!
Two desserts? Why not?
Trevor chose a Captain Mickey hat for his souvenir from the trip...and wore it constantly the rest of the trip!
We saw the live show "The Golden Mickeys" in the Walt Disney Theater.
Found our room ready for us with a cute blanket elephant
And another gorgeous sunset view from our verandah.
Wednesday, August 24th - Glacier day!
The itinerary says Dawes Glacier, but there are two routes the ship choose between, and the entrance to the two arms are about 100 yards from each other, so the ship captain can decide which to go down. Endicott Arm leads to Dawes Glacier. Tracy Arm leads to South Sawyer Glacier. They have been going down Tracy Arm most of the summer, and that is route they decided to take this time. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
We awoke to have a yummy buffet breakfast and see the more rugged scenery.
We met Captain Hook and he had issues with Trevor wearing a Captain Mickey hat instead of a Captain Hook hat, until we reassured him that Trevor has an entire Captain Hook costume at home.
We headed out on a "Glacier Explorer" excursion, in which we got on a smaller boat that pulled up alongside the ship and let us get on there, then travelled up Tracy Arm with the ship following behind us.
We attended the 2nd "Anyone Can Cook" class.
Lunch out on the deck in the sunshine with mountains all around!
Mickey and Minnie and friends were in their Alaska attire for the occasion!
Trevor on deck of the smaller boat.
It was VERY windy outside when going full speed!
The water color behind us in this picture does not do justice to how beautiful the water truly was!
Up on the top floor of the 3 level boat to scoot by a pretty waterfall.
Absolutely stunning views the whole way!
It is not often you see your cruise ship sailing - from the outside!
The ship followed behind us as we went down Tracy Arm to get to the glacier.
The ship alongside us briefly.
Approaching the glacier (see a little triangle in the V of the mountains in the bottom middle?)
To give you an idea of how massive this landscape is, look at the tiny speck on the water about 1/3 of the way from the right of the photo. That is another 3 story boat the size of the one we are on! Look at how incredibly huge the mountains around it are in comparison!
Approaching the glacier. We got much closer than this in the end!
See the seals? There is a momma and baby. The harbor seals come in here to have their babies because the ice protects them from larger predators that can't navigate the ice fields. When they are grown, they swim back out to the coast.
Someone with a more powerful camera lens captured this one of more seals we saw...
The chunks of ice are different colors depending on their density and content.
The ship did approach enough to see the glacier in the distance, but wasn't able to get past the ice fields to get up close like we did in the smaller boat. This excursion was worth every penny!
We were able to get up close to the glacier and see it calving! It was the most awe inspiring experience. The "white thunder" is impressive and truly sounds like thunder. The size of these pieces of ice coming off the glacier are deceivingly massive.
Another picture for scale.
Here we are still a ways off, but you can see the size of the people on this 3 story boat in front of us.
We saw SO many big calvings! I caught some of them on video...
We headed back to the ship for a scenic trip back down Tracy Arm.
Each ship has a cute character scene on the back. Here is the one for the Disney Wonder with Donald Duck and Huey!
The gorgeous view from our verandah back on the ship!
Back on deck with the glacier in the background (but much father now that we're back on the big ship!)
There was photographer on deck taking photos for us, but the background is so beautiful, it looks like it is a fake backdrop! This really is the view behind us!
Some fun pics for Frozen Night!
They're so cold! hahah
Is it snowing in the ship?
Our Frozen shirts are on point! Samantha?
Captain Trevor got to hold Tinkerbell!
Wandering Oaken in the lobby leading the Maypole dance!
Trevor was a willing participant.
She liked this porthole better because it has a nice cushion to lounge on.
The absolute BEST thing I ate the entire cruise was this...
It doesn't look like much, but it was SO GOOD!
It is "Elsa's Coronation Scallops" - Princess Scallops baked in a shrimp cognac tarragon cream sauce, topped with flaky pastry!
I loved it so much they brought me another one and then gave me the recipe to take home the last day of the cruise! YUMMY!
Cute Frozen themed menus.
Our servers just brought us one of every dessert, I think!
You will not be surprised to learn we gained some weight on this cruise!
"Frozen" Deck Party!
Beautiful sunset visible while on deck for the party
They brought a small chunk of ice from the ice fields on board for people to see and touch. It was fun to see, but it is crazy that this big chunk is actually tiny in comparison to the ones we saw in the water and the massive chunks falling off the glacier!
We had fun each night playing Disney Tunes Trivia in the D Lounge, where characters walk by regularly going to and from their photo spots. They would often stop in and the cast member running the trivia was extremely excited about it!
Chip and Dale stopped by that night.
The show that night was a comedian/magician who kept us impressed and laughing!
He did a little seminar later in which Trevor learned a fun trick. Ask Trevor to show you his rubber band trick next time you see him!
Thursday, August 25 - Skagway
It wasn't rainy, but it very foggy and cloudy.
We took a scenic railway ride up to the White Pass.
The "scenic" part was limited by the fog and clouds, but still fun.
The "Ghost Bridge" looked particularly ghostly in the fog!
We crossed into Canada and back into Alaska.
Bridal Veil Falls partly visible in the cloud.
The harbor with our ship in port seen our train up in the mountain. The Disney Wonder is the ship on the right in this photo.
Then we went gold panning.
Trevor found the most gold (almost $20 worth) and we put the gold flakes Steven and I found into a Christmas ornament.
Trevor turned into a moose apparently.
He found the gold rush town sheriff's office.
And ended up in jail!
We learned about dog sled racing from an Iditarod racer!
Look how big their boots are!
We got to meet the sled dogs
Trevor got some kisses.
Then we saw them do a training lap.
We snuggled 7 week old sled dog puppies!
Back on the ship, we had dinner at Animator's Palate.
The restaurant starts out mostly white, with some colored accent lighting on the palate's on the ceiling.
The table numbers are palates with paintbrushes.
The menu has a Mickey that moves as you tilt the menu.
The plates have a film strip border and a Mickey shape being painted in by a paint brush and the butter knives are shaped like paint brushes.
Later in the meal, the sketches start to get colored in.
Once they were all colored in, they had a show!
Gotta have multiple desserts, of course.
Steve and I met Chip and Dale (notice Steve's shirt!) while the kids were all off to the kids' clubs.
Sarah was excited that our room host put the sunglasses she won in Edge on the towel animal
Friday, August 26th - Juneau
Another cloudy day, but we saw some beautiful sights!
Breakfast buffet overlooking the harbor.
We took a charter bus to the Mendenhall Glacier in Tongass National Forest.
My babies with Mendenhall Glacier on the left of this photo and Nugget Falls on the right. For relative size, there are people along the bottom of the falls and they are pinpoint size in this photo.
Mendenhall Glacier
We hiked down another path to see salmon running upstream.
Our dancer, dancing everywhere she goes!
Next up...whale watching!
Here our guide was showing us the humpback whales we would be looking for.
Sarah spotted orcas for us!
(My kids were quick to point out that orcas are not whales, they are dolphins. Their other name "killer whales" is a misnomer. They were still fun to see though!)
A photo from another person on our cruise...
My video of the orcas we saw...
Pretty scenery despite being overcast.
Now on to finding humpback whales!
Whale tails!
2 dorsal fins visible here.
This other whale watching boat kept getting in our way!
A couple photos taken by another passenger who brought a better camera!
Even better on video! Check it out:
Then we had a delicious salmon bake.
Roasted s'mores.
Saw an old mine.
And a pretty waterfall.
Then back to the ship at the port.
Back to Tiana's Place for dinner, Mardi Gras style!
Louis the Alligator and Tiana were there and led a Mardi Gras parade throughout the restaurant.
The kids' menus were instruments to use in the parade.
Lito (our server) made Trevor a whale origami for tonight, which was perfect for whale watching day!
Gotta have Tiana's Buttermilk Beignets when you are at Tiana's!
Frozen the Musical for the show.
Saturday, August 27th - Ketchikan
We bussed up to a remote lake in the mountain to canoe and hike in the rainforest.
Here is a look at where we went on Google maps.
Geared up in raincoats and life jackets.
Cook camp stop for hot chocolate, s'mores, and chowder.
Rainforest hike
Back to Ketchikan
Ketchikan is the home of our college friend Jim Moran (otherwise known as "Klondike" while at Notre Dame). This was Klondike's signature pose in photos, so we took a photo of our crew in front of the Ketchikan sign in his honor.
We learned that Ketchikan has rain 300 days a year (so no wonder it was raining that day!) and gets an average of 12.5 feet of rain a year! The average temperature in the summer is about 58 degrees and in the summer is about 38 degrees. No wonder Klondike didn't own shorts when he came to Notre Dame!
Back to Triton's for dinner.
Lobster tail and sea halibut entrees for Austin
Our blanket animal was holding our scenic railway booklet this time and hanging out with Trevor's dragon stuffed animal, Raspberry.
Steve and I got to meet Joy from Inside Out
Mickey was back in his rain boots and waders.
Sunday, August 28th - Day at Sea
The princesses were out for meet and greets in the lobby.
We enjoyed attending the last of the "Anyone Can Cook" series with Chef Jon Ashton.
He remembered meeting Sarah earlier in the week and mentioned her twice.
The Jack Jack's Diaper Dash was definitely entertaining!
Trevor found a duck!
Apparently, people put rubber duckies with a tag on them around the ship for other passengers to find. You can re-hide them or keep them. This was the last day of the trip, so Trevor brought it home.
We had semi-formal night for our last night on the ship.
Dinner our last night was at Animator's Palate.
We each drew a character on a placemat and handed it in at the beginning of dinner, then they took them and scanned them all in to animate them for the show later on in our dinner. See the video below.
The last day in the kids' club, Trevor made a replica of the ship out of construction paper.
Last towel animal.
Monday, August 29th - Debarkation Day
Heading back into Vancouver at sunrise.
We were scheduled to be in port before we awoke on Monday, but we learned that the day before, there had been a tugboat strike delaying ships from leaving the port. One ship from another cruise line loaded all the passengers, and then couldn't leave the port for over 24 hours after it supposed to because a tugboat was blocking its exit. We got into port a little bit late, presumably due to this. We had planned on not trying to fly out the same day due to tight scheduling to get off the ship and make it to the airport. I'm glad we did! We were delayed getting off the ship, so it would have been even tighter! We stayed at a hotel in Vancouver overnight and flew home on Tuesday.
We have now sailed on the Fantasy (2018) and the Wonder (this one!). I liked being on the smaller ship.
Disney's fleet of ships include the Magic, Wonder, Dream, Fantasy, and now the Wish. There are 2 more ships being built to be added to the fleet. Before the name of the Wish was announced, I correctly guessed the name! I will go on record here to say that I predict the next 2 ships will be "Imagine" and "Believe". We'll see! Steve thinks "Adventure", but they already have a travel division named "Adventures by Disney" so that probably isn't it. We'll see, I guess!
After debarking, we walked to our hotel (probably should have taken an Uber), lugging our big suitcases uphill (everything is uphill from the port!). Once we dropped our luggage there, we walked down by the beach to get to the Vancouver Aquarium.
On our walk, we could see the Disney Wonder across the water in the port, boarding passengers for the next cruise (which happened to be a Disney Vacation Club Member exclusive cruise).
Vancouver Aquarium
Sarah found a two-toed sloth!
We found Nemo and Dory!
Anemones - try saying that 10 times fast!
Trevor found Pumbaa!
Playful sea otters
Sea lion sunning himself on the deck
and another swimming in the tank.
We walked back to hotel along the beach.
Thanks Disney Cruise Line for a fantastic vacation!
We hope to "See ya real soon!" as Mickey says!
Austin started school the very next day and I headed back to work. I did not succeed in catching a photo of his first day of school, but got a photo of him with Sarah the following week on Wednesday when Sarah started school and Austin had his 4th day.
Trevor started school on Thursday of that following week.
Now we start planning what our next itinerary will be...maybe Europe?
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