Seven nights on the Alaska Cruise
Sept 2 to Sept 9, 2013
Day one: We stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, so all we had to do was call Bell Services, they came for our luggage and we did not have to deal with it until it arrived in our cabin on the ship. That was a nice perk to staying at the hotel that was right next to the dock where the ship came in. We went down early, which there really is not a reason to go so early, but our friends wanted to. They pretty much have you wait in line until they are ready to let you on board. When we were let on board, we went to Beach Blanket Buffet for our lunch. We ate outside, as it was a beautiful day. After lunch we went to check and our cabin was ready. Two pieces of our luggage had arrived, and the others might not arrive until 5:50 pm. Hummm, not good when we had first dinner seating. We had our mandatory life boat drill at 4:00 pm. Everyone made it so we did not have to wait around too long. We went to the sail away party, and then went to get ready for dinner at Triton’s. When we got back to our cabin, the other two pieces of luggage came, so we got ready in time. For dinner I had the French Onion Soup, a salad and a steak for dinner. It was a bit funny. My husband ordered a Guinness to drink and Juan; our beverage server came back saying they did not have it. Then he showed Jeff the list and Guinness was right there. I think he just did not connect the word with the spelling. So, he remembered for each further evening. We went to the show, All Aboard! Let the Magic Begin! and then retired for the night.
Day two: Got up around 7:00 am. This was a Day at Sea, so we did not have to rush, but we got ready and then went to meet our friends for breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet. One special thing that happened, I had asked if they had V8 or tomato juice and one of the servers went off to find some. He said to find my table and then he brought me a glass of each, very considerate. After that we went to the DVC meeting they have onboard. The last time our friends were at the meeting they won a weeklong vacation anywhere in the USA. Not so lucky this time around. We then stopped in the shops to see what they had. They had some 2013 jackets and sweatshirts that were 40% off. Jeff bought a jacket and I got a hooded sweatshirt. We bought a couple of things for our granddaughters then took everything back to our cabin. Later we went up and had lunch at one of the sandwich places, Jeff got a cheeseburger, and I got a fish sandwich. We came back and sat on the verandah, couldn’t let the nice view go to waste. At 1:30 pm we went to the shopping show they were having about the ports. I have to say at the time I was not really too interested, but I did not realize that they had so much jewelry to shop for. If I had known and planned for it, I think I would have been interested.
It was Formal night, so we went back to our cabin to get ready. We were in Animators Palete .It was a bit of a disappointment as they do not do the color change on Formal night, they move it to the second night you are in Animators Palette, but we were going to be in Palo’s that night. Oh well, I will see it next time. While getting ready we had Brother Bear on TV. This was the first time I had seen this movie. It was better than I thought it would be. For dinner I had the Fried Ravioli, Broccoli and Maytag Blue Cheese Soup and Turkey Breast came with mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberries. A bit early for Thanksgiving, but it all was delicious. We went to see the Golden Mickey’s afterward. We loved the show. We then retired for the night.
Day three: Woke up early. Jeff went out on the Verandah and quite a ways away, we got our first glimpse of a whale. I had a hard time seeing it, but when he put on the extended lens, I could see it. Jeff ran up to Deck 9 and got coffee, hot chocolate and some pastries. We were meeting one of our friends at 9:00 am, but this was to tide us over. We ate at Beach Blanket Buffet again. We were very disappointed, as it was raining out. Not a downpour, but a heavy drizzle. Right behind us they were setting up the BBQ for when we got to Tracy Arm, but with the weather not co-operating, we were wondering if they would have a change of plans. It turned out they cancelled it. We were talking about where we wanted to watch for the Glacier and decided to go up to The Cove Cafe. We sat there and played cards. When it got close to lunch we were seeing people with soup bowls. Turns out at the Aft of the ship, they set up a place to get the bread bowl with split pea soup, cookies and hot chocolate. It was a perfect lunch for such a drizzly day. We finished lunch and it was not long afterwards we came up to the Sawyer Glacier. The water was beautiful; they call it glacial blue, which has to do with sediment called glacial flour. After a while we went to our cabin. Because of the way the Captain turned the ship, we had a perfect view from our Verandah. We actually got to see a large portion of the caving, which is when part of the glacier breaks off and falls into the water. It was quite loud. I wish Jeff would have been able to video record it, but it went so fast. We saw many seals lying on the chunks of glacier that had broken loose. Some of them looked so blue. And the water falls that we saw were so beautiful, I was in total awe.
Tonight was our night at Palo. I had a Bloody Mary before dinner. Then they brought us some Antipasto. Then I had a Tomato Bruschetta, followed by a salad. They brought us Lemon Sorbet to cleanse our palettes. For dinner I had the most delicious Beef Tenderloin. It was a tad undercooked for me, but Jeff helped with that part. It was served over garlic mashed potatoes. For dessert we had the chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce. It was delicious. The manager sent us a cordial to make up for an issue we had with our reservation. Our server, Miss Judy was very atentative. We are having her again when we do brunch on Sunday. Jeff and I decided to skip the show tonight as we were a bit tired, so we just went to our cabin.
Day four: We had set the alarm for 6:00 as we had our first excursion today, but I woke up at 5:20. We had room service sent to our room so we could get ready and eat at the same time. I loved being able to order room service and just give a tip. It is pretty much just a continental breakfast. When it was time we went and checked in for our excursion. Our friends did not show up, so Jeff went and called. Turns out they thought we were leaving at 11:30 instead of 7:30, so they changed their time, without even verifying it with us. So we just went on our own. We went on the White Pass bus and train tour. First we took a Trolley car ride around the town, so we would have an idea of what to see when we got back. She dropped us off at the place where we would get our bus, which we took up to the Yukon Territory and we came back on the White Pass train. Our bus driver was Bill. He and his wife Peggy live in Monterey, CA. They come up in their RV every April and stay until the end of September. Then they go back to Monterey for the winter. This is something they have done for 16 years. But they have to bring their RV because there are not many places to live. The town pretty much shuts down after the last cruise ship leaves as tourism is their livelihood. When we got up to the border we stopped and had our pictures by the Welcome to Alaska sign. Jeff had bought a new camera before we went on vacation and he really was taking advantage of the sport setting where it took numerous pictures, one after the other. But there was so much to take pictures of. We will have to weed them out when we get home. When we got to the Yukon Territory, we got on the train. They were offering a DVD of the train ride and a baseball cap. We decided to buy it, so we could relive this beautiful scenery.
When we got back to Skagway, we did some shopping. We found some great T-shirts. When Jeff wore his (it was Mickey with Moose ears and it said Mickey Moose), on the ship everyone was asking where we bought it. This is a good time to go as things were on sale. We went to a little outdoor place for lunch. We were going to have crab legs, but they were pricey and we were having them on the ship tomorrow. So we had a Fish Taco. After doing some more shopping, we headed back on board. We got a piece of pizza and some fruit, coffee and hot chocolate. We got to our room and because we had so much in our hands, we dropped the pizza. But we had the fruit and beverages.
We rested for a while, watched a show on TV, and then got ready for dinner. Because of the late lunch, I was not very hungry, which was good since we were in Parrot Cay and the only thing I really liked was the Mango Papaya Soup. I liked it so much I asked for the recipe. Our server Quasey said he would get me one tomorrow night. I had ordered the Pork Chop for my entree. It was quite pink in the middle and I returned it. Quasey offered to bring me anything else I might like. I told him no thanks as I was not really hungry. Then Englebert came and offered to bring me anything. I said thanks, but really I was not hungry. So at least they were concerned about the situation. I did not even have dessert, so it was true that I was not hungry, but I can’t wait to make that soup when I get home.
We went to see the movie Planes after dinner. I was not overly impressed; I thought the plot was too similar to Cars. But the theatre was packed. Glad I got to see it on the ship though.
Day five: I woke up 30 minutes before the alarm again this morning. We had placed a room service order for breakfast again since it had worked out so well yesterday. We met in the Walt Disney theatre. This time our friends were there. We did the Best of Juneau today for our excursion. This one was awesome also. We got on a bus and were taken to where we would take a boat out to see the Whales. They promise to show you whales or your movie is refunded. We were so lucky, we saw so many whales. First we saw two that were a ways away. Then we found an area where there were 6 or 7 whales, two of which were a mother and baby. We watched them for 30 to 40 minutes. At one point, there was one right in front of us. One also went under the boat. We were told the Humpbacks were about 50 feet long and their tail is 15 feet wide. They are massive. It was raining out, so that put a little damper on it. Not a hard rain, a light drizzle, but it did put drops on the pictures that were taken. But I could have stayed and watched them for a long time, but we were also going to the Orca Lodge for a Salmon lunch. The Salmon was so wonderful. They also served Chicken Skewers, coleslaw, rolls, mac and cheese, vegetable medley, drinks and a brownie for dessert. Afterwards we went out and collected some shells. The tide had come in quite a bit just since we were in eating. We left shortly after that to head back. Our bus was waiting for us and we went to the Mendenhall Glacier. We were really rushed here. I would have liked another hour or so. Since it was so drizzly we went inside and watched a video, than we went into the book store. A gentleman was there who was signing the book he had written. I bought one just because it was a neat souvenir as it was a true story.
We headed back to Juneau and Jeff and I went and did some shopping. I really thought it was an awesome little town. We headed back to the ship and made it by about 10 minutes. We rested a bit and then got ready for dinner. We were at Tritons again tonight. One of our friends did not come to dinner; she was not feeling well. One of my friends and I had the Mai Tai’s. For dinner I had a flatbread with pears and caramelized onion. It was good but a bit too much bread, so I only ate half. I cannot remember what kind of soup I had (must not have been very good, lol). For dinner I had the rib eye, with a baked potato and mixed veggies. I had a feeling I would not like the rib eye, as I always find them too fatty. I did eat about half. Had the apple cobbler for dessert, which was good, but only ate half.
We went to the Walt Disney Theatre for the Toy Story show. We left about half way through, not my favorite show, but others must have enjoyed it as it was packed. We watched a movie on our laptop. We turned in later as we did not have to get up early for our excursion tomorrow.
Day six: Woke up around 7:00 am. We did a little packing as we did not want to have to do it tonight. We went to breakfast around 10:00 to the Beach Blanket Buffet. Our friends were there so we sat with them. Our friend who was not feeling well decided to not go on the excursion. This excursion in Ketichan I could have passed on. It was a two hour boat ride around the water, seeing the same trees and water for the whole time. We then went to a cannery that is now a museum. Saw a film about the cannery when it started, was a bit gory. Then we walked through the rain forest, took about 20 minutes. We waited about 15 minutes for our bus, which took us to the Totem Pole Park. We had to rush here also, only had about 20 minutes, and then we went back to Ketchican. It was another cute little town. We had an hour for shopping and then we headed back to the ship.
We went back to the ship, cleaned up and went to dinner at Animators Palette. We were having crab legs for dinner, which are my favorite. I was kind of disappointed as they were not for the main entree. You could have them for dinner, but they were not the big King Crab legs I was expecting. Well Quasey had brought me two servings for an appetizer. I had the yellow split pea soup, very good. For my entree I had more crab legs, about 2 or 3 servings. I guess I got my fill of them. I had a mint chocolate chip sundae for dessert.
We went and looked at the few photos we had taken and decided to buy a couple of them. Then we headed to our room to do a bit more packing. Watched some TV and went to bed.
Day seven: We did not set an alarm as our breakfast tomorrow was at Palo @ 11:00 am. I was a bit confused with the time. I had not been setting my watch ahead and back every time we needed to, and usually I rely on my phone as backup, but since we did not turn on our phones, I could not check the time there either. But we did manage to make it to brunch on time and it was spectacular. When we got seated, Miss Judy brought us Mimosas. There was no charge for the first one. Miss Judy took us around and showed us where everything was, they had cold crab legs (lol), shrimp cocktail, caviar, cheeses, fresh fruit, pastry’s, and at least 10 items the chef would make up fresh for you, plus the desserts. There were many other things that were available, I just don’t recall everything. I special ordered Eggs Benedict and one of my friends and I split the Chicken Parmesan. What I liked was that the Eggs Benedict was one egg and one English muffin with a thin slice of Canadian bacon. So with everything else they had, you did not fill up on the entree. There is an additional $20.00 charge for Palo, but it is well worth it. After eating we went to our room and changed. We were meeting up with the friends at Diversions to play cards and watch football.
About 4:30 we went and got ready for dinner. It was our last night at Parrot Cay. I had a warm goat cheese appetizer, it was delicious. I had a cranberry salad, which was good also. My entree was a sirloin. Guess I was steaked out as I did not enjoy it. But there was nothing else I really wanted. Before they took our dessert order, all of the servers came out carrying it, a Baked Alaska. It was quite nice, and very good dessert. After dinner we went to the store and walked around a bit. Felt sad as we were leaving tomorrow. We went and settled our bill and then headed back to our cabin.
Day eight: We had kept our luggage as we were going to walk off this morning as soon as we were ready, which we got pretty much everything done then went to breakfast at the Parrot Cay. They had a limited menu you could order off of. I just had scrambled eggs and bacon. We finished up, gave everyone hugs goodbye and went back to the cabin to get our luggage. This is the fourth Disney cruise I had been on, and it is the first time I had felt so sad to leave. I really recommend this cruise to anyone even thinking of going. You will not regret it.
Thanks for reading,
Cindy Langewisch
