DCL Alaska Cruise--June 2023 Trip Report

[dcrunnergirl52]

In June, we did a 7-night Alaska cruise on Disney. It was amazing and we a had a fantastic time.*

Day 1—Saturday: I had trouble finding flights to Vancouver that didn’t cost a ton. We ended up flying Air Canda from DCA to Toronto on Saturday evening. I haven’t flown out of DCA terminal 1 in years, and it’s so awful. In addition, the Air Canada messed up DS3’s passport (handed it to DS2 to sign, which he did, even though it wasn’t his passport) and the flight was delayed. It was an entire mess.

We got to Toronto around 11pm, and our next flight wasn’t until 7am Sunday. I booked a room at the Sheraton inside the airport, which was perfect. We slept for a few hours and then flew to Vancouver.

Day 2—Sunday: We arrived in Vancouver around 9am and took a taxi to our hotel—Delta Marriott Suites. Our room wasn’t ready, so we walked around Vancouver a bit. We ate outside at a restaurant called Local Public Eatery in the outdoor seating. It was early and the restaurant was empty, and the staff was the NICEST. It was perfect and delicious. After lunch, we took a taxi to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. It was nice and we had a good time for about 2 hours.

By the time we were done, our room was ready, so we took a taxi to the hotel. We just hung out in the room the rest of night. DH went out to get us some pizza to eat in the room for dinner.

Day 3—Monday, Embarkation Day: We couldn’t get on the ship until 12pm, so we all slept in until about 9am, and then DH and I walked out to get Tim Horton’s for breakfast. DD and I also walked out to get a few last minute things at a pharmacy, for her to get Timbits at Tim Horton’s, and do some shopping.

Around 11:30am, we walked to the cruise terminal, about 8-minutes away. We handed over our luggage and went through the whole embarkation process, which was easy. We were on the ship and eating lunch at Cabanas by 12:30pm. We did our normal first cruise day thing—lunch, kids club open house, muster drill, watched us leave port, relaxed, and dinner. It was beautiful sailing out of Vancouver and the weather was really nice. After dinner, kids went to the kids and tween clubs for a bit, and we all crashed.

Day 4—Tuesday, Day at Sea: This was a relatively easy day, alternating between the kids going to the pool and the kids/tween club, meals, seeing The Little Mermaid movie, and other activities.

Day 5—Wednesday, Glacier Explorer Day: On this day, the ship sails near the glaciers, and it was also one of my favorite days ever. You can either stay on the ship or pay extra to get on a smaller boat to get close to the glaciers.

The ship’s ability to get close to the glaciers depends on the weather, seal pupping season, icebergs, etc. Sometimes they can get close, other times they have to stay far away. That’s why they have the option of the smaller boat. However, it’s hard to get tickets if don’t book when they first open up, and it’s very expensive. We booked our cruise late, so didn’t get tickets originally, but miraculously, one day, 6 tickets became available. It cost a small fortune but was totally worth it for us.

The ship didn’t get to the glaciers until noon, so we ate breakfast, got pics with Alaska Mickey, and the kids went kids/tween clubs. DH and I hung out in the adult area with cozy blankets and hot chocolate.

We ate an early lunch together and then at 12pm, we boarded the smaller ship. We got a large table on the second level of the inside cabin to park our stuff. The trip was about 3 hours, and so gorgeous. So many beautiful mountains, waterfalls, blue skies, snowy peaks, etc. We got very close to two glaciers and even saw (and heard) them calving. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. The other amazing thing were the seals swimming in the water and relaxing on the icebergs. It was just perfect.

Most of us loved it. DS3 (5 years old) got bored pretty quickly. We just let him play on his tablet inside and eat snacks so the rest of us could enjoy it until we saw the seals and got closer to the glaciers.

We got back to the ship around 3pm. I went to get pics with Alaska Minnie, and then we all hung out at the pool, with the kids swimming for about 2 hours. It was one of my most favorite things—passing by these huge glaciers and mountains while watching the kids in the pool. Just so very awesome. Rest of the night was just dinner/kids club/bedtime.

Day 6—Thursday, Icy Strait Point: ISP is a manmade port, with shops and restaurants, an old cannery museum, etc. We ate breakfast and then headed off the ship. We walked around the port and then down to the beach, where we saw the coolest starfish. Hundreds of them in so many colors.

From there, we met up with our whale watching excursion, booked using Viator. It was a small boat with about 15 guests. It took off from the town of Hoonah, about 10 minutes from ISP. The whale watching was terrific. The ship captain gave a great tour with so much information and was able to communicate with other captains to find the best spots. We saw so many whales, some of them swimming so close that even the captains were a little nervous. We also saw adorable sea otters, sea lions, and orcas from a distance. We all loved it.

We got back to port, walked around the shops, took pictures, and got back on the boat. Rest of the day was just kids/tween club, swimming, staring the beautiful scenery, character meets, dinner, etc.

Day 7—Friday, Juneau: The ship docked around 7am, and we got off around 9am. I rented a minivan on Turo. The owner met us at the ship, and she was easy to work with, and the van was in perfect condition.

We drove to Mendenhall Glacier/Nugget Falls about 20 minutes away. At the glacier, we walked the short lookout trail, and then did the 1.5 mile trail to Nugget Falls. It was easy although DS3 complained that his “LEGS WERE ON FIRE” the whole time. However, the falls were worth it and next to a beach with big rocks to climb. The kids loved it. We were there for 90 minutes and then headed back to the car.

From there, we stopped at McDonald’s for lunch (DS3’s incentive to walk with his obviously burning legs) and then went to the salmon hatchery. This was great, with touch tanks, tanks full of neat cold-water sea creatures, and you could see salmon hatchlings. We then drove back to Juneau and did some souvenir shopping and then drove back to the ship. We literally returned the van right in front of the ship, which was so easy. Back on the ship, we just did our normal swimming/kids club/dinner evening thing.

Day 8—Saturday, Ketchikan: We were all pretty tired, so we were glad that the ship didn’t arrive in Ketchikan until 11am. We had a lazy morning, watching the beautiful mountains go by. We ate lunch and got off around 12:30pm. We walked around Ketchikan with its shops and restaurants.

At 2pm, we went to our excursion: the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour. Basically, some crab fisherman have repurposed a Bering Sea crab boat from the Deadliest Catch and made it into an awesome tour. I booked this through Viator, but everyone else on the ship was through Disney. I felt great b/c it meant I saved hundreds of dollars and didn’t have to worry about the ship leaving without us.

This excursion was awesome. It was about 3 hours sailing through beautiful scenery, while the guides (former Deadliest Catch fishermen) talked about the boat, the area history, their life stories, and the wildlife. They pulled up a giant Pacific octopus for everyone to see and caught some fish and skates/rays to bring on board (and release). They also brought up a big crab trap with a variety of crabs that everyone could hold. It was incredibly well done. They even had heavy coats and blankets and snacks for the kids. In addition, the boat had a series of touch tanks to interact with the sea creatures.

The trip highlight was when they chummed the water to attract bald eagles. The birds were incredible—probably 15 eagles flying down at once, swooping and diving over our heads. We were mesmerized.

We got back to the ship and were all exhausted and just did the normal nighttime routine.

Day 9—Sunday, Day at Sea: This was just a relaxing day at sea—normal cruise activities, swimming, meals, etc. We all needed it b/c it had been an intense few days before.

Day 10—Monday, Debarkation Day: We ate breakfast and then walked off the ship with our bags by 8:30am but our fight wasn’t until 10:30pm. We booked a day room at the Hilton Regency, and dropped our bags there. Then we walked about 30 minutes to Granville Island, which has shops, restaurants, etc. It was really nice. They had an adorable kids market with shops just for kids. We walked around for a long time, ate delicious fish at Tony’s Fish and Oyster Café, etc. Later, we got two taxis back to the Hyatt and then to the airport.

Getting back to DC was a bit of a nightmare b/c it was during that entire East Coast weather/airport meltdown. Our red eye to Boston was delayed, so we missed our connection. We ended up hanging at my mom’s for a few hours in Boston and then renting a very expensive van to drive to DC overnight . The cost, thankfully, was offset by Jet Blue giving us a refund on our tickets.

*Note this trip included a million meltdowns by DS3 (5 years old) and I left that part out but didn’t want everyone to think traveling was all puppy dogs and rainbows, LOL.

[krystee]

Did you see a lot of sea life from the actual cruise ship? I am obsessed and feel like I may never leave my balcony because I just want to watch for whales!

If we were to skip excursions at one port, which do you think is the best to just walk around and see the town and maybe eat something? We are thinking of skipping an excursion once to be able to budget for a pricier one at another port.

[dcrunnergirl52]

Aug 3, 2023 12:34:23 GMT -5 krystee said:

Did you see a lot of sea life from the actual cruise ship? I am obsessed and feel like I may never leave my balcony because I just want to watch for whales!

If we were to skip excursions at one port, which do you think is the best to just walk around and see the town and maybe eat something? We are thinking of skipping an excursion once to be able to budget for a pricier one at another port.

We saw wildlife a few times from the ship. At dinner, we were seated at a window table and saw a pod of whales, which was very cool. And, we would often see whale spouts in the distance when we were coming into ports. DH saw two seals one morning. And, on glacier day, you could see the seals on the icebergs from the ship.  I didn't spot anything on the shore--no bears, mountain goats, etc.

What ports are you stopping at?

You could probably skip Icy Strait Point and do whale watching in Juneau instead. I've heard it's great there too. Icy Strait Point has a few stores, a museum, and a lot of areas to walk along the beach and play. Depending on how long you are in Juneau, you could do whale watching in the AM and the glacier in the afternoon (but check on bus tickets to the glacier b/c I heard they are running out/limiting the available spaces). 

[abs]

How was the food?