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| our ship, the Disney Wonder, in port |
Last month, we got to take our cruise to Alaska on Disney Cruise Line (DCL). This was a much-anticipated trip for us--we'd been to Alaska for a land and sea trip on Princess with my family back in 2015, and we'd planned to go back (just the two of us) for a cruise on Celebrity in 2020. Obviously, that didn't happen, and we finally decided to book again for 2024, which happens to be the summer of our 20th wedding anniversary, so we splurged with a verandah room on DCL. After hearing about our plans, some of the Cook family decided to travel with us, too: Mom & Dad, Heidi & Jeremy, and Katie & Kaden.
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| selfie with Mark and the ship in the background |
After looking forward to this trip for so long, it was really exciting to finally go back to Alaska, which was just as beautiful as we remembered. This time, we didn't get into the interior of the state at all, but we got to spend some more time in Vancouver, and we did different things in each of the 3 cruise ports. A cruise is also a really nice way to travel with a group: it's easy to meet up for dinner (or anything else folks want to do together), but also possible to have time in smaller groups, with no complicated logistics or decisions to worry about.
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| me with the Wonder far in the background |
Here's an overview of the trip:
Sunday: Travel Day
We had an early start and a direct flight from Detroit to Vancouver, along with a quick and easy trip through Canadian customs in the airport. From there, we took a train to downtown and walked about 20 minutes to our hotel, checking in around 1pm. Our room was ready, so we took a few minutes to get situated, then we got lunch at a Tim Horton's nearby (we were starving by then!). Next, we made our way to the Vancouver Aquarium, which is inside of Stanley Park, so we got to see a bit of that area, too. We walked back to our hotel and got takeout for dinner. After all that, we were pretty tired, so we just hung out in our room and tried to get a good night's sleep!
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| selfie with Mark in Stanley Park |
Monday: Embarkation
We had a relaxed morning at the hotel before walking down to the port (about 20 minutes) and going through the various steps to get on board the ship. We were able to sit down for lunch at Tiana's restaurant around 12:30. At some point after lunch, we ran into the others, and we had a great time watching the sail away from Vancouver from the top deck with Katie and Kaden. Dinner was at Tiana's with the whole family.
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| Kaden, Mark, and Katie as we left Vancouver |
Tuesday: At Sea
We started with breakfast at the buffet, followed by two talks from the naturalist on board (which were interesting, with lots of great photos, but the delivery wasn't great). We met up with everyone for lunch at Tiana's, then spent time on our verandah and walking around the ship a bit. We had dinner at Triton's, then saw our first show: The Golden Mickeys.
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| our feet and the water from the verandah |
Wednesday: Glacier Viewing
We had some light breakfast/snack items delivered by room service and hung out on the verandah until meeting up with the adults for brunch at Palo. This is one of the things people really get excited about on DCL, and we hadn't been able to get a reservation in advance. Happily, they were able to accommodate our group when we checked on embarkation day. I'm so thankful it worked out because it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!
Throughout the afternoon, the ship sailed into the Tracy Arm toward a glacier, which we got to see with Kaden. One down side for us was that we had really vivid memories of our glacier sailing day in 2015, and this one just didn't come close to matching our previous experience. It was a different place (and a month earlier in the season), so if we go on another cruise, I think we'll pay more attention to where the ship sails for glacier viewing to help us pick the itinerary. Still: everywhere you look, there is beautiful scenery, and we enjoyed having the verandah to take it all in.
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| selfie with Mark and the glacier (way in the back) |
Dinner this evening was back at Triton's, and we went to the ventriloquist/comedian show after that with Mom & Dad.
Thursday: Skagway
Skagway is probably the port I was most looking forward to seeing again. It's a historic gold rush town, and I had a clear mental picture of the main street with lots of old, interesting buildings and interesting shops--many with art and jewelry from local artists. We also had a list of things we heard about last time, but hadn't had time to explore, so it was easy to plan a day of sightseeing on our own.
We started with an early breakfast at the buffet, then got off the ship around 8am and checked out the shops that were open (we had to circle back to some that opened later :-). The National Historic Park Visitor Center opened at 10am, and we went for their first ranger talk, followed by a video.
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| Mark at the National Park Visitor Center |
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| me at Smuggler's Cove |
We all met up for dinner at Animator's Palate, then Mark and I watched Big Hero 6 in our room.
Friday: Juneau
We ate breakfast at the buffet again, then debarked around 8am and walked into town (here, DCL has the port furthest away, so you can either walk about 25 minutes or take a free shuttle). We poked around the boardwalk a bit, then met everyone for our excursion to a musher's camp to see sled dogs. After a short bus ride to the camp, we got to ride on modified sleds (with wheels), each pulled by 14 dogs. Our musher is an actual dog sled racer, so it was really cool to hear his stories and see how much he loves the dogs (he told us each one's back story and took an individual photo of each dog, as well as some group pics). After a loop around a dirt/mud track, we regrouped for a short presentation, then had a chance to meet a few puppies. We'd done something similar in the Denali area in 2015, so we expected to enjoy this one--and we really did. I was surprised how much fun the sled ride was (this wasn't part of our previous excursion), but a bit disappointed that there were only 3 puppies for all of us to meet (so not everyone got to hold one...though Mark and I made sure we did!).
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| our view in the dog sled |
The bus driver dropped people off downtown, then took us back to the ship so we could get a quick lunch on the pool deck.
In the afternoon, we took a ride up the Mount Roberts Tramway, where we'd planned to do some hiking. We didn't think about the season, though, and were surprised to find the trails weren't totally open yet. Still, working around a bit of snow, we were able to see most of the Alpine Loop Trail, which had totally stunning views. There was also a short talk and movie about local native history which we learned a lot from, and a shop.
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| overlook on the Mount Roberts trail |
Again, we met up with everyone for dinner on board (back at Tiana's). Then, we all saw the most popular show on the ship: Frozen (one Mark and I hadn't seen yet on DCL, but we did just see the Broadway version in Toledo a month earlier! :-).
Saturday: Ketchikan
This day, we met up with everyone for a sit-down breakfast at Triton's, then had some down time before an early lunch on deck. Around noon, we walked through town to the Totem Heritage Center, then to the Ketchikan Museum (these places had a discounted admission price if you got both). Mark went back on board for a nap while I explored a bit more around town: I walked the waterfront, then took Married Men's Trail to Creek Street. I got back on the ship for a snack and some downtime, then Mark and I went out for a bit more exploring along the waterfront and a few shops. It was drizzling and raining all day, but that's normal in Ketchikan.
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| selfie with Mark and the Ketchikan sign |
That evening, we had our anniversary dinner for just the two of us at Palo, with the same great server from brunch the other day. We met up with Mom, Dad, Heidi, and Jeremy to see the magician after that.
Sunday: At Sea
After 3 busy port days in a row, we were glad to have another sea day! We started at the buffet for breakfast, then saw Wish in the movie theater. We hung out on the verandah and walked around the ship a bit, then had lunch in the buffet. A different naturalist had gotten on board in Juneau, so we went to her talk in the early afternoon, and it was great. We were tired, though, so we both a nap and spent more time on the verandah, where we spotted some eagles and porpoises! We met up with everyone for dinner at Animator's Palate, then saw the last Broadway-style show: Disney Dreams, which was my favorite of the evening entertainment selections.
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| me on the verandah |
Monday: Travel Day
We met everyone for one last meal together at Animator's Palate, then did the express walk-off option with Heidi and Jeremy, so we were off the ship really quickly in the morning. We'd booked a shuttle to the airport, which was also quick and easy, and we ended up getting there so early that the airline wouldn't let us check our bags yet! We sat around, then eventually checked our bags and went through security and customs pretty quickly. We walked around the terminal, got some lunch, sat around a bit, and eventually got on our flight. Unfortunately, this one wasn't direct, and our tight connection in Chicago got even tighter because of a thunderstorm that delayed our landing. We were able to get of the plane first, along with about 20 other passengers with connections, and made it to our gate on time (barely!). In the end, that flight was also delayed to wait for other passengers trying to catch it (which we didn't mind--we would have wanted them to wait for us!). But it did mean we had skipped our chance to pick up some dinner, and when we landed in Detroit around midnight, everything was closed. On our drive home, we finally found something open (a 24-hour Subway--our 3rd try..), and we got to BG a little after 2am. We were totally exhausted, but mostly thankful to be home (not stuck in Chicago!).
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| selfie with Mark going under the big bridge on the way into Vancouver |
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