Alaska on the Wonder - August 7th, 2017 **Updated thru Last Day at Sea**

[woody64]

Because I have benefited from other trip reports I thought I would add my own. This will be a picture intensive thread but will NOT include any picture of food. I'm a serious amateur photographer but food is not my thing. I also tend to write shorter vs. longer so if you want details I may have left out (because it makes sense in my head but not on paper) please ask or any other questions.

Here are my plans for this report and the schedule of our trip:

Cast: Me, DW, DS1 (22), DS2(19) - our 4th DCL trip, 1st on the Wonder, first 3 on the Magic

• Day 1 (8/4)- Fly from Chicago to Vancouver
• Day 2 (8/5)- Vancouver
• Day 3 (8/6)- Vancouver
• Day 4 (8/7)- Sailaway (finally!)
• Day 5 (8/8)- Day at Sea
• Day 6 (8/9)- Endicott Arm
• Day 7 (8/10)- Skagway
• Day 8 (8/11)- Juneau
• Day 9 (8/12)- Ketchikan
• Day 10 (8/13)- Day at Sea
• Day 11 (8/14)- Back to Chicago

Day 1 (8/4)- Fly from Chicago to Vancouver
We were up before dawn for our 7:50 am flight from Chicago ORD (O'Hare) to Vancouver on United with a connection in Phoenix. Despite the storms the night before creating havoc at ORD, our flight showed on schedule. Sweet! Once we arrived at ORD, not so sweet. Our flight was delayed (weather/equipment scattered everywhere) but we would still have time to make our very tight connection. Unfortunately, by the time we (and United!) boarded we knew we would miss our connection in Phoenix. Our travel curse for our last 2 cruises continues!

Once we arrive in Phoenix, United has tickets for our next flight waiting for us...in 4.5 hours...to San Francisco then to Vancouver! I asked for food vouchers and was given $40. I'll spare everyone the very boring details butafter sampling a few beers in Phoenix and SF we finally made it to Vancouver...at 10:30 pm, 8.5 hours later than scheduled. I hate United!

Unexpected view leaving SFO

Customs was quick that time of night as we didn't have to wait for a kiosk. Boom we were through and walked to the Avis Car Rental area because we rented a car. The nice young lady types all my info in and...yep, all the computers go blank and reset. We remain calm and laugh because we are delayed again. We are getting too used to this! Once they reboot, we finally get our very nice car (Range Rover) and we're off.

We were staying in an AirBnB in Burnaby, which was about 20-25 minutes from downtown. Hotel pricing was brutal ($300-$500/night for what we needed) so we gave this a shot. We had great luck with AirBnB in London last summer and this worked out great again. We had a nice 3-BR flat for about $150/night. Score one for the good guys! Once we arrived (after some issues with the GPS directions) we pulled into our parking spot, used the code to get in, unloaded the car, and crashed. From the time we woke up to the time we arrived, we had been traveling for about 21 hours.

Let this be a lesson for those traveling for a cruise. We ALWAYS travel at least the day before our cruise leaves in case things like this happen. You've now been advised : )

Quick note on the weekend before our cruise. It was a crazy busy weekend in Vancouver. There was an Anime convention going on at the convention center (wow, the outfits!), Celebration of Light fireworks by team Canada on Saturday night, and the Vancouver Pride Parade on Sunday. In addition, Monday was a holiday, BC Day I think. A lot of people in town but we had a good time anyway.

Next - Our first day in Vancouver

 

[Shanti]

Because I have benefited from other trip reports I thought I would add my own. This will be a picture intensive thread but will NOT include any picture of food. I'm a serious amateur photographer but food is not my thing. I also tend to write shorter vs. longer so if you want details I may have left out (because it makes sense in my head but not on paper) please ask or any other questions.

Here are my plans for this report and the schedule of our trip:

Cast: Me, DW, DS1 (22), DS2(19) - our 4th DCL trip, 1st on the Wonder, first 3 on the Magic

• Day 1 (8/4)- Fly from Chicago to Vancouver
• Day 2 (8/5)- Vancouver
• Day 3 (8/6)- Vancouver
• Day 4 (8/7)- Sailaway (finally!)
• Day 5 (8/8)- Day at Sea
• Day 6 (8/9)- Endicott Arm
• Day 7 (8/10)- Skagway
• Day 8 (8/11)- Juneau
• Day 9 (8/12)- Ketchikan
• Day 10 (8/13)- Day at Sea
• Day 11 (8/14)- Back to Chicago

Day 1 (8/4)- Fly from Chicago to Vancouver
We were up before dawn for our 7:50 am flight from Chicago ORD (O'Hare) to Vancouver on United with a connection in Phoenix. Despite the storms the night before creating havoc at ORD, our flight showed on schedule. Sweet! Once we arrived at ORD, not so sweet. Our flight was delayed (weather/equipment scattered everywhere) but we would still have time to make our very tight connection. Unfortunately, by the time we (and United!) boarded we knew we would miss our connection in Phoenix. Our travel curse for our last 2 cruises continues!

Once we arrive in Phoenix, United has tickets for our next flight waiting for us...in 4.5 hours...to San Francisco then to Vancouver! I asked for food vouchers and was given $40. I'll spare everyone the very boring details butafter sampling a few beers in Phoenix and SF we finally made it to Vancouver...at 10:30 pm, 8.5 hours later than scheduled. I hate United!

Unexpected view leaving SFO

Customs was quick that time of night as we didn't have to wait for a kiosk. Boom we were through and walked to the Avis Car Rental area because we rented a car. The nice young lady types all my info in and...yep, all the computers go blank and reset. We remain calm and laugh because we are delayed again. We are getting too used to this! Once they reboot, we finally get our very nice car (Range Rover) and we're off.

We were staying in an AirBnB in Burnaby, which was about 20-25 minutes from downtown. Hotel pricing was brutal ($300-$500/night for what we needed) so we gave this a shot. We had great luck with AirBnB in London last summer and this worked out great again. We had a nice 3-BR flat for about $150/night. Score one for the good guys! Once we arrived (after some issues with the GPS directions) we pulled into our parking spot, used the code to get in, unloaded the car, and crashed. From the time we woke up to the time we arrived, we had been traveling for about 21 hours.

Let this be a lesson for those traveling for a cruise. We ALWAYS travel at least the day before our cruise leaves in case things like this happen. You've now been advised : )

Quick note on the weekend before our cruise. It was a crazy busy weekend in Vancouver. There was an Anime convention going on at the convention center (wow, the outfits!), Celebration of Light fireworks by team Canada on Saturday night, and the Vancouver Pride Parade on Sunday. In addition, Monday was a holiday, BC Day I think. A lot of people in town but we had a good time anyway.

Next - Our first day in Vancouver

Following.

 

[woody64]

Day 2 (8/5)- Vancouver
We were traveling with 2 other families for a total of 10 people between us. We learned throughout the previous day that one family also flew out of ORD yesterday, with a little delay, direct to Vancouver. Why United didn't put us on that flight I'll never know. Oh well!

We were meeting the other 2 families downtown to ride bikes around Stanley Park. We had a nice easy drive but boy did we go through an interesting area not far, but far enough, from where our friends were staying near Gastown. We could not believe the amount of people living/sleeping on the street. We felt safe as they stayed in their groups but it was eye opening.

Once we met up with our friends we had a quick Tim Horton's breakfast (love that place!) and we were off. We walked down to Gastown and happened to see the steam clock do it's thing for 1/4 'til the hour. I must admit, it was underwhelming. It was a long walk but we did see some of the sights.

Olympic Flame outside Canada Place (you can see some ladies in their outfits lower left)

We rented bikes from Spokes. Great bike choices, including tandem bikes, nice helmets, locks, etc. Very happy with renting from them. One note, they take a credit card # and charge it once you return the equipment. Once everyone was fitted, we were off.

It was a nice easy ride with lots of stops as it was much warmer than expected. The temps were in the mid-80's so it was hot riding around. Unfortunately, as you will see, Vancouver had a lot of smoke from forest fires in BC. The scenery was nice but would have been stunning without all the smoke. Here are some shots from the ride.

It was a great ride. We chose to not go into the interior of the park as the last part of our party was arriving after travel delays and we were meeting for lunch.

For lunch we walked to Lions Pub (on Cordova Street West) and had a great lunch some liquid refreshments to re-hydrate. They had a very nice selection of pub food that was very good, the service great, and it felt like you were in a British Pub with the decor inside. The last of the party met us at lunch and we had a great time really getting into vacation mode.

While the other families went back to their places downtown where they were staying, we went shopping down Robson St. We went to the Roots store and a few other places and picked up little things here and there. We were meeting the other 2 groups at Granville Brewing so we caught a taxi and headed over early to walk around. There was not too much on Granville Island so it did not take us long to see what there was. We tried getting a table at Granville Brewing but it is first come/first served and not a very big tasting room so we had to wait. Once the rest of the group arrived we decided to find somehwere else near where we would watch tonights fireworks for the Handa Celebration of Light.

After another long walk, we had an ok dinner and headed down to Kitsalano Beach Park to watch the fireworks. The Celebration of Light is an international fireworks show competition put on in English Bay every year. We were there for the final night (of 3) watching the home Canadian team shoot their display. We decided to watch from Kitsalano Beach Park to try and avoid the huge crowds...but that didn't happen. Finally at 10:00 pm the show started. We couldn't hear the music but the show was really cool. It was about 25 minutes straight of fireworks with a big finale. I didn't have a tripod so no pictures.

Once the show ended we started walking trying to find a cab. No such luck so we walked, and walked, and walked some more. We swear the Burrard Street Bridge is 100 miles long! We walked all the way to the Burrard Street train station, about 2 miles. The police did a great job at the station keeping people orderly and move things safely. Hats off to them! One side note, at the end of the bridge we looked down and saw 6 police motorcycles in fron of a black SUV followed by 6 more police motorcycles. We think it was PM Trudeau as we heard he was there. Ok, back on topic. We rode the train to our stop, hopped in the car, and we were back in our flat around midnight. We were on the go since about 8:45 am and covered over 24,000 steps! We were beat, especially after the long travel day the day before. Off to bed we went.

Let me know if you have questions. Also let me know if you think the pictures are too big. I really don't want to resize but will if they are annoying.

Up next - Day 3 Vancouver _capilano Suspension Bridge Park and the Pride Parade

 

[Zarina]

Following! The pictures are great. Thanks for starting this report. How did you like your AirBnB? Is that a good location? We stayed in Vancouver before and I was thinking to stay outside the city next time.
Look forward to reading more.

 

[woody64]

Day 3 (8/6) - Vancouver

I was the first one up today and the first order of duty was to find Tim Horton's and some Diet coke as we are headed to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and would need the energy. Thanks to Google, both were close by and off I went. As a quick side note, we really enjoyed Tim Horton's this trip as the food was quick and really fresh, much better than Dunkin' Donuts here in the US.

After showers and breakfast, we were off. It was only about a 20 minute drive and we got there just before 10 am and found a place to park. I had purchased tickets online before we left so we were able to skip the line and we were in! When you read everyone say be there before 10 am if possible, believe them. It was still busy but we were able to easily find a parking spot. It got more crowded as the day went and parking was a mess when we left. They do offer a free shuttle from downtown (which our freinds took and they said was very easy) which helps bring people out from downtown.

When you enter you first go past some cool totems. We stopped and looked at them and took some pictures. They were really cool.

We then continued on to the main attraction - The Suspension Bridge! After a short wait in line it was our time to cross. The bridge has a nice wooden walkway to walk on and is about 2 people wide. One thing that surprised us...it really moved! It wsn't scary movement like it was going to flip over but you did have to hold on as you went across. It was a lot of fun and the views were spectacular.

View as you get on the bridge

View from the middle looking towards the Cliff Walk portion (right side)

Me and the crew with a GoPro selfie!

You basically walk across at the pace of the people in front of you. If they stop a lot, you stop a lot because the traffic is two way on the bridge. Again, it was really cool walking across this bridge. My DW and DS1 got their maps stamped on the other side in the hopes of completing them all and getting an "I Survived..." certificate at the end.

Once we were on the other side, our friends had arrived so we took pictures of them coming across the bridge. We all then headed to the Tree Tops Adventures. Here you climp up 20' - 60' in the air and walk on bridges between trees. This was also really cool and we had a great time exploring the tree tops. These hardly moved at all, especially compared to the main bridge.

Once we finished here and more stamps were collected, we hiked down the Nature's Edge Boardwalk over where they were taking care of some injured birds. They were beautiful things and allowed for some great pictures.

Next we wanted to go walk the Cliffwalk. The good (or bad depending on how you liked it the first time) part is that to reach the Cliffwalk and the Exit, you had to walk back over the main suspension bridge! We again enjoyed this little trek and the spectacular views we had.

Cliffwalk was a really neat trail where you walk on platforms attached to the side of the cliff. The highlight is a big arc you make away from the cliff. It is all very sturdy but you are still suspended hundreds of feet above the floor so it is really cool.

Once we completed the Cliffwalk we grabbed a quick lunch at the little food area they had. The menu was very limited but was very good. We ended up with a giant pretzel, fat foot long hot dogs, and venison sausage. They also had their own branded soada, some local beers, and water for purchase as well.

After getting the food we headed to the General Store and I spotted this salmon with perfect lighting and had to take a shot.

After purchasing a couple of small things from the very nice and well stocked Trading Post, we headed for the car. DW and DS1 showed the nice people at the exit their completed stamps and each received their certificates. We really enjoyed our stop at Capilano and it was the highlight of Vancouver for us. We spent about 3 hours there and went on every trail.

Once in the car, we stopped at a yarn store on the way back to the flat. DW is a knitter and tries to find local yarns during our travels. She was successful again and now has some nice Canadian yarn! We were all tired and decided to hit a grocery store in Burnaby and get snacks and wine to bring onboard the ship. We also decided to pick up some fresh pizza to bake as we were all tired and didn't want to go back out for dinner. This is where we really enjoy getting a flat vs. staying in a hotel. With 3 of us at 6' or a little over, having plenty of room helps. It really helped this trip with each of the boys having their own rooms and beds. We also like being able to make our own food, especially breakfast, to help cut costs. So far we are 2 for 2 and have only tried it in Vancouver and London.

That's all for now, thanks for following, and next up is time to board the Wonder!

 

[woody64]

Following! The pictures are great. Thanks for starting this report. How did you like your AirBnB? Is that a good location? We stayed in Vancouver before and I was thinking to stay outside the city next time.
Look forward to reading more.

We really enjoyed our flat and we've had good luck the 2 times we've used it (London & Vancouver). I did plenty of research on places and had a price point and # of beds etc. that I wanted. Having tall boys means seperate beds for both if we can. I also looked at the pictures and read the most recent reviews I could. I also had some email conversation with the owners and they were quick to respond which was nice as well.

We were a bit worried it would be warm because they were having record heat and almost none of the homes there have air conditioning. The fans they provided were plenty as we kept the windows open and it cooled down at night. It could have been how tired we were but we slept great!

The area was ok for what we did. You could not walk to anywhere to eat and really didn't find much else around our particular flat. It had a Tim Horton's near by and that's all we needed! The drive into the city was easy and relatively quick and we couldn't beat the price, especially for what we got in return.

I hope this helps. As my family jokes with my and the pre-travel work I do, "You have to do your research!"

 

[woody64]

Day 4 - Finally we get to board the Wonder!

We got up leisurely today because today was the day we were to finally get onboard the Wonder. I ran and got our last Tim Horton's until we returned and it made for a good start. We packed up all of our stuff, trying to consolidate and put all the dirty clothes in one suitcase. We could not wait until we could all unpack once we were onboard. We believe in spreading clothes out amongst the bags in case one gets lost so it has been a pain up to this point. I finished up some work, the boys enjoyed their last bit of wifi, we packed the car and we were off.

Having a rental car, the plan was for me to drop off the family and the luggage and then go return the car. Avis has a car rental agency downtown where I was dropping the car. Directions were easy and everything at the port was well marked and plenty of workers pointing where to go. In no time we were backing in to unload. The porters took our checkin bags and the family our carryons, including our super heavy 6 bottles of wine (2 per person for those over 21) and off I went to drop off the car.

Car drop off was easy but took a little longer with downtown traffic. Once the car was dropped off I started walking back to Canada Place. I had to make a slight detour as one street was closed off for filming (pretty sure it was Deadpool 2).

Props for filming with workers in vests stopping people

While walking back, I started getting texts from the other 2 families that they were onboard. I walked a little faster so we could join the fun! It took about 15 ins. to get back to my family and then we were off to check in. Everything was very well marked and staffed and we had no problem getting to the right spots. First was checking in and getting our cards and Silver lanyards. We maybe waited 3 minutes for a spot to open up. It was quick and then we were off to the next station.

We were asked if we were bringing alcohol onboard and we said yes so we were pointed to a little table with 2 castmembers checking in the alcohol. I had to unpack all 6 bottles of wine and the 3 of us over 21 had to show our ID's. He made note on his form and we were off. It did not appear as if he marked our bag or anything else to note we had wine so I'm not sure if you could just walk on by with whatever you wanted. We didn't take a chance and it was no big deal.

Next we went through customs, have our picture taken, and then we made our way onboard. We love being announced onto the ship, it's a nice touch we missed last year when we sailed Princess in the British Isles. We quickly made our way up to Deck 9 for lunch and soon joined our friends that had 2 tables so we could sit down to eat.

It is at this point me and DS1 purchased our DCL beer mugs and had our first (of many) Alaskan Ambers. We knew what the math was and easily got our money worth throughout the week. With the mug it is also to get a token (more like a small playing card) when we were finished to carry with us until our next beer on the cruise rather than carrying around a dirty mug.

While sitting having lunch, we all logged into the DCL Navigator App and set up group chats with all 10 of us. This turned out to be a great way to communicate and was very reliable. Our 3 families have know each other a long time and we all agreed we did not have to do everything together all the time. The app was great for saying, "Hey, I'm going here at this time if anyone wanted to join". I would highly recommend getting this set up as quickly as possible once you board.

It wasn't time to go to the room yet so we went to the adult pool. This turned out to be one of our favorite places on the ship. Now that all the kids are adults, it was nice to hang out in a quiet place. This was also where we first met one of our favorite servers, Martin from Jamaica ("more rum, more fun!"). We had another drink and then it was time to go to the room and unpack.

There was plenty of storage for all of our stuff and the bags under the bed. We put stuff away, went and explored the ship a little more, then went to the muster drill. We were on Deck 4 so we were able to watch the sea planes take off as we had the drill. It is nice now that you do not have to take your life preserver with you to the drill. Once it finished we were off to the Sailaway Party!

We always go up to Deck 10 and watch. The show was great as always as we danced along to the songs and watched the characters dacing too. It was at this point DS2 pointed out we had a celebrity sailing with us. It took several minutes for all of us to confirm that Richard Kind (his Disney work is Molt in A Bugs Life, Cars, Cars 2, Toy Story 3, Inside Out) was on our cruise with his family. It was great seeing him as just a dad out there dancing during the party. Side note-we saw him throughout the cruise just being another guest. I never did say hello as the time was never right or he was with his family. Everybody seemed to leave him be a family man which I thought was great. I did take a picture of him but will not post so he can have his privacy. Before you knew it we were under way. Here are some shots from Sailaway.

Once we were done with that we were off to dinner. We had main dining starting in Triton's at table 47 for our group of 10 with the team of Ronald (Head waiter), Savio (Server), and Tita (Asst. Server). They were fantastic! Ronald stopped by every night to make sure everything was good. Our serving team was efficient and by the 2nd night Tita knew what everyone wanted to drink to strat off. She even got me the recipe for the Mardi Gras! I had requested this rotation because we were going to Palo the last night and did not want to miss the shows in Tiana's or AP. All I know is that everyone loved every part of their meal.

After dinner we went down to the Crown and Fin and took a big spot by one of the windows. Some of our group went to the Welcome Aboard show but most of us sat their for the rest of the night. We came to love this pub and spent a lot of time here. We pretty much closed the bar with a day at sea tomorrow and made friends with our server Sandra (from Peru) who was great and really became our friend during the cruise. Here's a shot of our favorite spot.

Next Up...Day at Sea

 

[woody64]

Day 5 - Day at Sea

Today was our first full day at sea and it must have been relaxing because I can't remember doing anything! Actually, as usually happens, I was the first one up. I threw on my hat, changed into some sweats, and went upstairs and had some breakfast. I always enjoy the buffet and filled my plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, a mickey waffle (just because), and grabbed some orange juice. It was another sunny day so I grabbed a spot outside and enjoyed a peaceful meal. The map of where we were going looked like we would have some great scenery later in the day.

Sometime after breakfast I made my way to the Doug Jones talk, which was fabulous. His information, stories, and pictures were fantastic and made me excited for what we would see even more. As everyone else has said in previous trip reports, try to attend his sessions. I asked him questions when I saw him on deck the rest of the cruise and he could not have been more helpful and nice. I also think he enjoys talking about Alaska so don't be shy, he's there to talk to everyone.

The rest of the day is kind of a blur. I'm pretty sure we shopped a little, and walked around the ship taking pictures. The princesses were also out and snapped a couple with no kids.

Most of the time was spent outside just watching the incredible scenery. Some of us did go to the hot tub in Quiet Cove and enjoyed some of the wine we brought on board. We used plastic cups and had the bottles in a backpack (the Silver Sling bags works great!). The servers knew what we were doing but made no effort to stop us. We felt a little bad, but trust me, we spent plenty on drinks.

Waterfall from an unseen lake

It was amazing through this stretch how close the land was on both sides. I saw Doug Jones during this stretch and he said the water was still a couple of hundred feet deep where we were at.

As happy as I am with my pictures, it still doesn't do the scenery justice. We also could not have asked for better weather where we could easily be outside with a light jacket/pullover on. Once we reached the inner passage, we constantly were seeing whales. It was breathtaking watching all these natural wonders.

Soon it was time for dinner. Tonight we were in Animator's Palate and had another wonderful meal. Everyone loved everything we had and between the 10 of us we covered a lot of the menu. Tonight we were done in time to hurry down to Crown and Fin for another music trivia (50's & 60's). Almost every night they had music trivia from 7:30-8:00 and worked from the 50's to the 2000's. The place would get really crowded but as soon as trivia was over it would really empty out. We thought that was a shame because it is such a warm, comfortable space.

We all went to the Golden Mickey's and enjoyed the show. It's the 4th time we've seen it but it was still good. Afterwards we went to Azure to see Ron Lucas' adults show. He's a really good ventriloquist and his show was really funny. Once that was finished we ended the night back in the Crown and Fin for a couple of nightcaps...or making sure we got our money's worth with the beer mugs! Rodrigo came in and played guitar and we enjoyed playing name that tune amongst our group. He was really good and a really nice guy as we saw him about every day and would chat with him when he wasn't playing. We stayed out late again knowing tomorrow was Endicott Arm (they made an announcement earlier in the day) and we could sleep in again.

Up next...Endicott Arm. Thanks for reading along.

 

[Skywatcher1206]

I am loving your report! I am really hoping to go on the Alaska cruise in 2019.

Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[woody64]

I am loving your report! I am really hoping to go on the Alaska cruise in 2019.

Can't wait for the next installment!

Glad you are enjoying and thanks for reading a long. To help convince you to try Alaska, here are some additional pictures of our day at sea.

One of my favorites, my oldest taking the time to enjoy the magnificent scenery from our verandah (6058)

Some of the other views-hot tub at capacity!

Golden Mickey's

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Loving your TR so far! Hoping to do an Alaskan Cruise in 2019.

BTW we are also from Chicago

 

[woody64]

Day 6 - Endicott Arm

I'm currently drinking a nice Alaskan Amber as I write this trip report to help me relive this great trip, so here goes the next day.

I again was the first one up today. There was no rush to get up with the excitement being in the afternoon at Endicott Arm. I headed up to breakfast while the rrest of the crew slept but this time I brought my camera and boy am I glad I did. I went through the line at Cabana's but this time remembered the made-to-order omlets at the back of the line. I placed my order, grabbed some juice and went outside. Another glorious day greeted me and found a nice table in the sun. For those that don't know, you can order an omlet or eggs to order and they will bring them out to your table. They give you a number , you tell them where you're sitting, and a few minutes later your food is delivered! Eating outside I was greeted with this view (pano stitched together from 8 shots so there might be a little distortion).

Dorothy, we're not in IL anymore! The weather was cool but with a 1/4 zip I was fine. With the water so smooth, everyone eating out on deck easily spotted numerous whales. It doesn't get much better than this.

Once I was finished with breakfast, I took more pictures and just wandered around up on deck. At 9:30 I went to the WD Theatre to hear Doug Jones talk abourt glaciers. Once again, it was really informative and pictures and video stunning. At some point during the morning the captain came on the intercom and informed us we would be going to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier.

After the glacier talk, I went and found the family, showered, and headed up to deck 10 to watch the scenery. The pictures don't do it justice. I love this shot showing the multiple layers of mountains.

As we sailed along we started seeing more hanging glaciers that we were sailing past. These were really cool to see.

Little did I know but the turn into Endicott Arm was right before this hanging glacier. As we were getting closer, we saw another ship coming out of Endicott Arm. I don't know which one it was but I knew we were in the right place.

Everyone on board was starting to get excited and more people were coming upstairs. We were getting close to our turn now! This was as we started to turn.

As if it by design, a whale appeared and did a nice tail wag for us as we headed into Endicott Arm.

Shortly after making the turn, the crew started setting up a drink station behind the glass on deck 10. They offered Mimosa and our buddy Martin ("more rum, more fun") had the drink of the day (2 for the price of 1) Mai Tai's so DS1 and I each had one. They also had a castmember walking around offering hot chocolate. I tried standing along the rail but it was pretty chilly and I didn't have a stocking hat so I would go behind the glass, go out along the rail, go behind the glass and warm up, etc. as we made our way into the fjord.

We started slowing dow as we saw more ice but soon realized we slowed down for the excursion boat to pull up alongside to board. Soon they were on their way and we picked up speed. We had friends on the first excursion and here they are taking off.

As we continued on our way, the view just got better and better.

I try to get pictures with the front of the ship for perspective of how small we really are in this area. As we continued, we saw more and more ice. The colors were unbelievable and with the water so smooth, the reflections were neat as well. The water, despite turning a really unique color, was very clear and you could see some of the ice below the surface.

It was interesting also to see ice with a bunch of dirt and rocks in it like this huge chunk.

We also saw some incredible waterfalls along the way.

It was now very crowded up front so we stood along the left hand (port) side of the ship with some of our friends. We had a great time marveling at the scenery. A little while later we made a final turn and there it was, Dawes Glacier!

As you can see, the water was a really cool color...and what a spectacular weather we had! We were going slower now and getting closer to the ice. Some of it was clear, in contrast to most of the other ice.

We just kept getting closer and closer to the glacier. Soon we were spotting seals on the floating ice. We had fun making up stories as to why some were alone (sent to Exile Island) and others were in big groups.

Just when we thought the ship wouldn't get any closer, we'd ease our way further in. Here you can see the excursion boat (lower left). That boat is about 20' tall for perspective. We heard the face of the glacier is 200' - 250' tall!

At Doug Jones' talk I learned what made the lines in Dawes Glacier. Doug explained that dirt/rocks collect along the edge of glaciers as they move down the valleys, carving away more earth. When 2 glaciers come together, this earth collects and makes these "tire tracks". Doug explained that this glacier is actually formed by 8 glaciers coming together at some point. Here's another view of the excursion boat.

As we were watching, the most incredible thing happened. We had noticed small pieces calving from the glacier but nothing big. Then all of the sudden, the far left side collapsed. Ice fell for 10-20 seconds followed by a second calving. It was awesome! Everyone on deck cheered when it was done. I don't have video but I do have many shots of this event. Here is one I liked.

We just stood in wonder looking at this cool scenery.

Soon the ship started turning, first one way, then the other. Here's a shot that shows all the ice that calved from the left side. Compare the ice in the water to the size of the boat!

On the starboard side was another hanging glacier that fed this really cool waterfall.

Soon it was time to grab the wine and hit the hot tub. It was really neat relaxing in the hot tub with this as your view.

On my way back down to the room I ran into a couple of familiar characters!

Here's the view from our cabin

One last pano

We sat in the hot tub for a long time watching the scenery go by. It was a great way to relax and just sit back and take it all in.

We finally had to get out of the hot tub, shower, and head off to Tiana's for dinner. Dinner was great, as usual, and we were done in time to make it to '70's music trivia in the Crown & Fin. At dinner, DS1 always tried the drink of the day and tonight he had the Mardi Gras (Mello Yellow, Grape Powerade and Bayou Spiced Rum). Others tried it and soon ordered one of their own. It is really good and Tita was nice enough to get me the recipe so now we make them at home! We didn't win at trivia but had a great time. We didn't go see the ventriloquist in the WD Theatre so we hung out in the Crown & Fin playing cards and playing backgammon. Another thing we liked in the pub was the fact they brought out some combination of wings, mini corn dogs, chips and salsa, cheese & crackers, desserts, veggies around 10:30 every night. Because we never had enough food, we would usually snack on this stuff too.

It was off to bed a little earlier as tomorrow was our first stop, Skagway! Thanks for reading along and ask any questions you may have.

 

[Shanti]

Wow!

 

[Michelle064]

Loving your report. We are doing the cruise the same week in 2018. Can't wait.

 

[Aby]

Your pictures are absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing!

Aby

 

[lorimay]

The views in Alaska are second to none.....amazing!

 

[GrumpySue]

Wow, great pictures !! More please !!!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Your pictures are awesome. Cruising same week in 2018. Praying my pictures are half as good as yours!

 

[woody64]

Thank you all for the nice comments. Hopefully Skagway will be up later tonight...

 

[woody64]

Day 7 – Skagway

Today we finally marked Alaska off the list of states visited as we had our first port stop in Skagway. I was the first one up today (are you seeing a pattern?), showered, and went up to eat and bring the family breakfast before our tour today. I filled a couple of plates with waffles, baked goods, bacon, and fruit and headed back to the room as the rest of the gang got ready.

Once everyone was showered and fed we were off the ship and in Alaska. As we were getting off, Doug Jones (Naturalist for those that haven’t been following) was in line also so we chatted briefly and he remarked at how we were once again blessed with a beautiful day. It was sunny and warm, with temps expected in the upper 70’s. We packed for cooler temps but we were not complaining!


Once off the ship we waited at the end of the dock for our tour to show up. We booked Yukon Dogs and Gold with Klondike tours. We waited for a little longer than expected and finally called to make sure we were in the right place. They assured us we were and that the bus (30 seater?) would be there shortly.


**Side note-another thing we love about DCL-the DCL Castmember directing people where to go noticed we had been waiting awhile. He asked what tour we were on and if we wanted him to make a call to the company. We thanked him and told him we had been in contact. He did not have to do this as we were clearly not on a DCL tour but he still was looking out for us. It was greatly appreciated.**


Once they arrived, we loaded up and took off towards Yukon Territory. We packed our passports as we knew we would need them going into Canada. Our driver/guide was Brandi and she was a lived in Skagway all year. As we drove she gave some facts about Skagway. Being from a large suburb of Chicago where the kids HS had 2,800 students, we were amazed at the fact the Skagway school we drove past had 77 students…grades Pre-K through HS. The wintertime population is under 1,000 in Skagway but swells to several thousand during the summer tourism season.


As we continued driving she gave great info on the area and all of its history. The views were fantastic as we climbed the mountains as she pointed out the 3 different climatological regions. She pointed out how at the bottom, trees were very tall. Just as we were rounding a corner, someone on the left side (we were on the right) shouted “bear”. Sure enough, alongside the road was a sow and her 2 cubs (one of the cubs is above her on the rocks).

Brandi pulled a u-turn and parked a distance away trying not to disturb them. The momma went about eating grass while the cubs hid in the higher grass.

We stayed about 5 minutes watching them before they started away from the road and on their way. It was so cool seeing them in their natural habitat. Check bears off the list of things to see!

We turned back around and continued on our way. Soon we were passing over Captain William Moore Bridge (built 1976). This bridge is one of only 3 in the world that are suspension bridges anchored on only 1 side. This bridge is on a fault line so they anchored it on one side, pretty cool to go across. They are currently replacing it as mining trucks have made it deteriorate much faster than anticipated. We pulled up to customs, the agent came onboard and checked our passports as we had to hold them up to our face. Once he was done, we were off higher into Yukon Territory.

The scenery was changing as now we were up high with less vegetation and the trees were very short. There were beautiful mountain lakes with the unique bluish/green water. We then arrived at Tutshi Sleddog camp. This is where Michelle Phillips trains her dogs. Michelle finishes 13th in last year’s Iditarod.

After walking through the little office/gift shop, we were in a large play area for the 12 week old puppies. So cute and fun to play with!

They also had a separate area with 2-week-old pups that you could go in and hold a puppy if you wanted. Mom was in their so it was breakfast time too.

We were then called to take our sled ride. We then loaded in with me and my 2 boys standing in the back. Michelle and her dog handler (sorry, never got her name), hooked the dogs up to a motorized 4-wheeler.

This got all the teams excited and boy did the barking start! Once they were all hooked up, off we went! It was fun bouncing around the back through the trail. At one spot, we stopped by a little lake for the dogs to get a drink and cool off. Michelle then took a picture of all of us on the vehicle.

Soon we were back at the start. One thing during the trip was that…well…watching dogs try and go to the bathroom while running looks funny. We felt bad for them because you don’t slow down for anything.

With the ride finished we headed over to a little area that had Michelle’s sled, outerwear, and supply bags. The handler described all the items and how the race works. The white bags are used to put their supplies in and have the name of the stop on them. Very interesting explanation of the race and how the teams work. She also explained that they used the motorized 4-wheeler because right now it is way too warm for the dogs. They prefer temps around 0 F. In fact, they turned the mist hoses on to cool them off.

We had some more time to play with the dogs and hit the tiny gift shop. We bought some water and snacks. One other thing we crossed off (after we quickly added it to the list) was using an outhouse in Canada. The facilities are just that, but a nicer outhouse. The people were all very friendly and it was very informative. We will now root for Michelle and her team in the next Iditarod.

We finally boarded the bus and headed to Liarsville where we would pan for gold. It took longer to get back into the US so once we made it to Liarsville we were rushed through the panning. It was hokey, but we all found a few flecks that we put in the supplied baggies and brought home. The full experience looks interesting as they have a little camp and people walking around in period clothing and in character. We were ok with the short visit because the biting flies were bad!

Brandi then gave us the choice of being dropped off at the far end of town or back at the ship. We chose the far end of town so we could work our way through the shops back to the ship. It is not a long walk as seen here.

My thoughts on this excursion are mixed. We enjoyed everything we did but felt we spent too much time with the dogs. We don’t know if some of our group was delayed in their ride or why we were there so long. Brandi teased us on the way up that a waterfall we passed we might stop at to drink out of because it was straight from a glacier. We ended up not having time for this or stopping at the Welcome to Alaska sign. Panning for Gold was also very rushed. We did like that it was a bit shorter tour (4.5 hrs) and gave us plenty of time to walk around town and still make it back for dinner.

We stopped at Skagway Brewing to hopefully meet up with some friends from our neighborhood that were in port on the Princess ship.

We had a really nice lunch there and as we were eating our friends stopped in. It was great to see them so far from home! I also enjoyed the Spruce Tip Ale where they substitute handpicked native Sitka Spruce tip buds instead of one of the hops additions. The rest of the beers were ok (IMO). We did a little shopping in their gift store then hit the street.

We shopped our way down with DW collecting her free charms she heard about at the Shopping talk onboard (she highly recommends ladies attending these). I walked around taking pictures.

Once everyone was done shopping, we started back towards the ship. We found a little stream with salmon running so we watched them for a little bit. We then noticed a nice area to get pics of the Wonder so we walked over to snap a few more.

Finally, we had worked our way back to the ship. My boys and I were relaxing in the room when my wife came and got us because Mickey and Minnie were together in their Alaska outfits and there were no lines. We quickly got moving and got a nice family photo.

At dinner that night we were the only 4 from our group. The other two families did different excursions that were later so they were in town during dinner time. Once we were finished we headed up to deck 10 for the Frozen Party. It was fun to see and it “snowed” on deck!

Back we went to the Crown & Fin for some evening drinks and to meet up with our friends. We all talked about our different excursions and showed each other pictures from phones. It was nice hearing/seeing what others did in the same port. It was another relatively early evening because my oldest son and I have a 7:00 am whale watch tomorrow in Juneau.

Thanks again for following along.