You’ll never get me on a cruise. Unless it’s to ALASKA! Recap and New PTR Link! 2/1

[eandesmom]

Great Update !!!You hit the souvenir Jackpot I love those Tees that are cheap !!!!

I love tees that are cheap IF people actually wear them. Cheap isn't much good if they don't like them but since they picked out their own things...it's all been worn quite a bit.

Well, it looks like you had a good day in Ketchikan, weather be darned! Love the picture of Evan in the hat!! Ummmm, I'm glad you got the jacket back! I would have been a bit annoyed if I were you!

I was annoyed. Would have been far more annoyed had the spot he'd left it in been farther away and had it not been there! Lucky for him it added at most 10 minutes to our re-boarding so in the big picture, pretty painless.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Looks like it was a fun, albeit at times, soggy day in Ketchikan. You were able to score some great photos, and thank goodness you were able to retrieve the jacket. That's something that would have happened with one of my two. They lose everything!

 

[Chilly]

the town looks really cute, better add rain gear to the packing list though

 

[rentayenta]

I'm almost caught up. Looks like a great day despite the weather.

 

[eandesmom]

Looks like it was a fun, albeit at times, soggy day in Ketchikan. You were able to score some great photos, and thank goodness you were able to retrieve the jacket. That's something that would have happened with one of my two. They lose everything!

It was a fun day. Thank goodness for the jacket, it would not have gone well for him!

the town looks really cute, better add rain gear to the packing list though

Rain gear but you can go light, just rain pants, shoes that can get wet and a rain jacket or waterproof shell will work. Make sure they have a hood though!

I'm almost caught up. Looks like a great day despite the weather.

Hi! I went a while between updates so hopefully it isn't too bad! Almost have another one ready to post. It really was a good day!

 

[eandesmom]

Back on the ship we all had agendas. The boys wanted a movie, Gnomeo and Juliet to be specific. That surprised me but hey, whatever. We wanted…the hot tub! Sure it was drizzly but it wasn’t all that cold. We poured ourselves a beer and headed up to the adult pool area. Surprisingly, there were people in both hot tubs and a few more than we felt comfortable joining. The pool was theoretically only a few degrees cooler so we figured we’d check it out. And…it was warm and lovely! It was fun and very Seattle ish actually, to be out in the drizzle, in a warm pool in upper 40ish weather. Right about when we finished our beer, one of the larger groups left one of the hot tubs so we moved over. While Jeff went for a refill from Signals, I got cozy in the tub. We were alone for maybe..10 minutes.

Soon we were joined by a couple of women, a mom and her college aged daughter.

“Jeff?”

“Is that you?”

The mom asked. She recognized Jeff from a trip he’d made to Australia, about 9 years prior with a work friend. She was a friend of his friend and the families had all met up while there. He felt horrible for not recognizing her! We did joke quite a bit about the weather. They were from Vancouver BC and we joked that the only folks out in the pool and the hot tub were “local”. We all wanted to hit the ventriloquist show but they left quite a bit earlier than we did, only staying in the hot tub for a little bit, and Jeff felt bad, he wanted to catch up. Back in the stateroom we all got ready for dinner, thanks to the boys seeing a movie instead of hitting the pool we didn’t have to fight for the shower. The boys did have a little bit of extra getting ready to to…it was pirate night! Our room had been a bit pirated before we’d gotten back, the dogs had dubloons! And had been joined by an Elephant.

Prior to the cruise, I’d read a number of reports that not very many people dressed up for pirate night. It was our first one and I didn’t really know what to expect, especially in Alaska. I’d made the boys shirts and they’d packed a few accessories and more had arrived in our FE. They had fun getting ready.

After getting our Arrgh on, we headed to the Walt Disney theater before dinner for the show and we sat down, Jeff and I with a rum and coke in hand brought from the room, it seemed appropriate for the evening. The comedian/ventriloquist was hysterical! It was a wonderful start to the night. We popped back to the room for a refill and somehow, that inspired Eric to do a pirate dance.

It wore him out

This is what Evan had to say about the whole thing

Pre-dinner dance done, we headed to dinner. I was pleasantly surprised to see the vast majority of people…dressed up! Lots and lots of pirates, big and small and a plethora of wenches. Dinner was in Parrot Cay, perfect for pirate night!

The boys had fun…being boys

Personally, I liked the big pirate. You can tell he had another rum and coke with dinner.

After dinner we went to check out the pirate party. They’d moved it inside and while I tried to get the kids interested…they weren’t. It was crowded, you couldn’t see, and it was characters dancing in the lobby. Or at least that’s what they got out of it. If there was a special buffet, we missed it. Still, they had a fun dressing up and dinner was a blast. As for Jeff and I…we got a blinking pirate light up cup filled with the DOTD on some kind of buy one get one deal at far less than the normal price. Like 6 bucks for two. So…why not! It was actually on the watered down side but at 3 bucks each who cares.

The kids decided they’d prefer to do a little more pin trading and go to bed (i.e. watch TV in the stateroom) and Jeff and I decided to…go watch Pirates! We hadn’t seen it yet, though both boys had. So we tucked them in and headed to our late night show. It was a ton of fun, and perfect with our pirate drinks. I will say though, I am looking forward to checking out the theater on the Dream. The Buena Vista theater on the Wonder is so tall and narrow that no matter where we sat in it, I felt like I got jostled by people behind me and it was hard to get comfy. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it would be if you were really tall! Though we both barely made it to the end without nodding off, we said good night to Jack and tucked ourselves in knowing that the next day, would be our last full day.

 

[Charleston Princess]

How funny that Jeff ran into someone he knew on the cruise! What are the odds?

Cute pictures from the Pirate Night -- the boys look like they had a lot of fun! Too bad you missed the dessert buffet. Oh well, there is always the next cruise!

 

[tinacaplan]

Pirate night definitely looks like it was a good time. And I would have probably been out there in the pool, too!

 

[Chilly]

We didn't do Pirate on our 4 night cruise because we went to Palo that night. I've now got a full on pirate outfit but I don't think i'll have room in my suitcase sadly.

 

[eandesmom]

How funny that Jeff ran into someone he knew on the cruise! What are the odds?

It was funny! It is a small world and I swear, the older I get, the smaller. I mean the other family with boys on our ziplining were from our area and our table mates were from Jeff's old stomping grounds, stuff like that happened the entire cruise.

Cute pictures from the Pirate Night -- the boys look like they had a lot of fun! Too bad you missed the dessert buffet. Oh well, there is always the next cruise!

I'm not sure if there was a dessert buffet, or a food buffet for that matter. Because it was in the atrium it was pretty darn crowded and I'm not sure where they'd have put the buffet. We just finished dinner anyway so it's not like we could have eaten a darn thing. The boys had fun getting dressed up, I was glad they weren't "too old" for that.

Pirate night definitely looks like it was a good time. And I would have probably been out there in the pool, too!

It was fun and the pool and hot tub felt lovely! On the Alaska cruise they kept the pools in the 80's.

We didn't do Pirate on our 4 night cruise because we went to Palo that night. I've now got a full on pirate outfit but I don't think i'll have room in my suitcase sadly.

Oh you should make room! Tons of adults were dressed up.

 

[Happydog]

What great fun! One of these days I will get my act together enough to have pirate costumes ready for the adults.... I always run out of time!!! This last cruise I went so far as to buy the patterns and fabric, so hopefully I will make it in time for the next one! I have this fab Hook jacket from when we did Peter Pan at the HS it fits my DH, but needs the lace replaced. Anyhow, your pirates look fab, and it is all in the attitude anyhow, right??!! And yep, some rum certainly helps!!! You guys got great pics! Did you scan yours or did you get the cd from shutters?
You know we missed the pirate night buffet on the other cruises, too.... This one was the first one we went to!!

 

[manntra]

Looks like a great time in Ketchikan I think it must really help that you are used to the climate there.....that's all I keep thinking about when I see your pictures or tales of going for a dip when it's 40 degrees out. I am just becoming a wimp in my old age that's all

Cute picture of Evan and of the boys in their pirate gear

Mmmm Dungeness crab...years ago I visited my friend in Seattle...she recently got married and still lives there... and had my first Dungeness crab. Delicious.

The picture of one of the excursions....could you have gone on a crab boat a la Deadliest Catch?

Tracy

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

What a wonderful day in Ketchikan. Love your pictures. I have never been to a salmon run. That would be neat to see!

So glad you found the jacket!

Loved the picture of Donald and his nephews. I had to idea they were on the ship.

The boys looked cute for Pirate Night.

I am really enjoying your report and hate to see that there is only one day left. You have me really wanting to do an Alaskan cruise.

 

[Native NYer]

Love the pirate photos!

 

[eandesmom]

What great fun! One of these days I will get my act together enough to have pirate costumes ready for the adults.... I always run out of time!!! This last cruise I went so far as to buy the patterns and fabric, so hopefully I will make it in time for the next one! I have this fab Hook jacket from when we did Peter Pan at the HS it fits my DH, but needs the lace replaced. Anyhow, your pirates look fab, and it is all in the attitude anyhow, right??!! And yep, some rum certainly helps!!! You guys got great pics! Did you scan yours or did you get the cd from shutters?
You know we missed the pirate night buffet on the other cruises, too.... This one was the first one we went to!!

I scanned the pics, I did the 20 credit package. I hadn't planned on spending that much but everything came only in the 8x10 so you really don't have a lot of options. I think there were 8 we wanted which was more than I'd expected to want so the package made sense. I got extra 5x7's on two of them. The CD package is way too much for me! A hook jacket would be great!!! It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out on the next one, it's hard to figure out what night to do Palo and that assumes we can even get a ressie! I'm thinking night 2 is probably my goal. I don't know what will happen this year for pirate night, not sure K will want to dress up but I want her to have the option if she does.

I imagine I will end up with the same photo package on the next cruise but we will see.

Looks like a great time in Ketchikan I think it must really help that you are used to the climate there.....that's all I keep thinking about when I see your pictures or tales of going for a dip when it's 40 degrees out. I am just becoming a wimp in my old age that's all

Well you pretty much live in the hot tub and RUN inside after, but it's not any different than apres ski tubbing The boys lived in the pool and hot tub much of the cruise. We do get warm here in the summer, really!

Cute picture of Evan and of the boys in their pirate gear

I really like how those turned out, they make me smile when I look at them

Mmmm Dungeness crab...years ago I visited my friend in Seattle...she recently got married and still lives there... and had my first Dungeness crab. Delicious.

The picture of one of the excursions....could you have gone on a crab boat a la Deadliest Catch?

Tracy

Yep, you could!

What a wonderful day in Ketchikan. Love your pictures. I have never been to a salmon run. That would be neat to see!

Salmon runs are very neat to see

So glad you found the jacket!

Me too!!!

Loved the picture of Donald and his nephews. I had to idea they were on the ship.

It's fun to see all the different characters on the different ships.

The boys looked cute for Pirate Night.

I am really enjoying your report and hate to see that there is only one day left. You have me really wanting to do an Alaskan cruise.

They had fun dressing up and at dinner, really two days left. At sea and then back in Vancouver but yes it is coming to a close. We had an amazing time.

 

[eandesmom]

Love the pirate photos!

Thanks! I'll have to figure out something else (or will let them) as those shirts were obviously very Alaska themed!

 

[Moira222]

Hi Cynthia! Saw your TR link on Tim's report & popped over. Geez can't believe you started it in July and I only found it now. Subbing now, reading later. can't wait because the title is exactly what my DH has said, too!

 

[eandesmom]

Hi Cynthia! Saw your TR link on Tim's report & popped over. Geez can't believe you started it in July and I only found it now. Subbing now, reading later. can't wait because is exactly what my DH has said, too!

Ah that's the challenge on the Cruise TR's I think, it can be easy to miss, the section just doesn't' seem to get the same kind of traffic. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't realize you'd started a new one either!




So...

 

[Moira222]

Wow I have read through your first day.

First I have to say that between your pre-trip photos, and Lessa's (Lifelongdreamer) I think we have to add a separate trip to the Pacific North West to our list. The mountains and scenery are just beautiful -- THAT is God's country surely!

Sounds like you all had a fun mini vacation, despite your having to put in work hours. The cheeserolling sounds funny to watch!

I don't notice a cast in the day pics, so assuming the cast came off between the Canada trip & the cruise? I didn't read all the in between, where you probably wrote it -- I am supposed to be working

I am curious as to why the cruise ship seemed so empty on day one ....maybe I"ll find out as I read on.
BTW Your bag that you purchased for your door (FW??) is so cute!!

I have a question though, and am wondering if its hidden meaning or typo that the pillow cases say "Wondering" and not "Wandering" to Alaska? or is the ship's name the Disney Wonder. hmm that would make sense now.

ok gotta finish SOMETHING at work today besides your TR

 

[eandesmom]

Wow I have read through your first day.

First I have to say that between your pre-trip photos, and Lessa's (Lifelongdreamer) I think we have to add a separate trip to the Pacific North West to our list. The mountains and scenery are just beautiful -- THAT is God's country surely!

That's what my husband calls it!

Sounds like you all had a fun mini vacation, despite your having to put in work hours. The cheeserolling sounds funny to watch!

I don't notice a cast in the day pics, so assuming the cast came off between the Canada trip & the cruise? I didn't read all the in between, where you probably wrote it -- I am supposed to be working

He did get it off in between, thank goodness! Whistler was a ton of fun, it always is.

I am curious as to why the cruise ship seemed so empty on day one ....maybe I"ll find out as I read on.
BTW Your bag that you purchased for your door (FW??) is so cute!!

I have a question though, and am wondering if its hidden meaning or typo that the pillow cases say "Wondering" and not "Wandering" to Alaska? or is the ship's name the Disney Wonder. hmm that would make sense now.

ok gotta finish SOMETHING at work today besides your TR

I don't really have a good reason why it was so empty before and after the sail away, it is still odd to me! Yep, the ships name is the Disney Wonder. The E's have lots of fun making up names for the next FE as they plot and dream about what we might do. They don't know yet that we are booked for this summer. The crafter who made it does a great job, I will have her do the next one assuming we do it again. Right now there isn't really a signup going for it so we will wait and see but the boys would love to do it again and we'll need a new one. At a minimum though I will get pillowcases.