Our WONDERful first trip "home" to Alaska- A Trip Report -Finished 1/8!!!

[Señor DonDuck]

Did a double-take on the Coors tour and then read that this was a separate trip in Colorado Wow, that looks like an extensive tour.

Food porn... awesome! And now I'm hungry.

[Tehanna]

Originally Posted by happenin2you

During the scavenger hunt, one of the things that we had to "find" was a man, wearing a woman's bra, shoes, purse, and lipstick.

Gee, I need to rethink what I'm packing for DH!

[Chilly]

The blokes that night who dressed up were all so funny.

[happenin2you]

Originally Posted by jedijill

We hit Duffyrolls this morning and D Bar Desserts last night. We got to see Keegan! You gotta love a handsome man that can bake.

A friend told me about Lucille's. It's downtown and apparently a great place to eat breakfast...its a Cajun/Southern place.

I love Snooze! Fantastic breakfast and who doesn't love a cocktail in the morning.

Jill in CO

PS...If you go to The Bagel Deli wave at me...I live 1 exit away.

I'm taking note of all of these and will be waving to you as we head towards the Bagel Deli. I'm so hungry right now!! Thanks for the great tips

Originally Posted by Señor DonDuck

Did a double-take on the Coors tour and then read that this was a separate trip in Colorado Wow, that looks like an extensive tour.

Food porn... awesome! And now I'm hungry.

It was a really long, really nice, free, self-guided tour. I highly reccommend it to anyone who would be visiting the Denver area.

I feel like the pictures don't do the presentation of the food any justice. It was soo good!

Originally Posted by Tehanna

Gee, I need to rethink what I'm packing for DH!

Haha! Just make sure to bring your purse and lipstick to the hunt. It'd be really funny if you came prepared with his "own" bra from the Goodwill or something.

Originally Posted by Chilly

The blokes that night who dressed up were all so funny.

I agree. My poor husband never does anything like that that puts him outside of his comfort zone. I think he needed to have had a couple more drinks to have actually danced a bit more. He was pretty embarrassed to be running up there and I'm sure if he thought he would have had to stand up there for that long and face everyone in the room, he probably wouldn't have done it. He had fun though, surprisingly

[happenin2you]

If you haven't noticed, I've posted a link to a trip report of someone who was on the same cruise who has scanned images of all the navigators. It is located on the first page of my TR. Hopefully this person doesn't mind, but I no longer have a scanner at home and the one my husband has at work is only black and white. I also kept other things from the ship including the Vista Spa menu with prices, the duty free liquor price list, the onboard shopping promotions, the stateroom tv guide, featured films, buena vista theatre schedule (although I'm sure those would be most likely to change more frequently), a map of the ship, and our voyage navigator which describes each day's basic events in a glance on one sheet with basic rules, services, and descriptions of food venues. If you have any questions pertaining to any of these things, I'd be happy to share what I can find out for you, but at this time, I do not plan to scan them in. That being said, let's get on with the report!

We had placed our placard for room service breakfast outside our door the night before for delivery around 7 am, I believe. We just had a simple toast, fruit, juice, and milk snack delivered so that we would have something in our stomachs before we went to the gym. Our food arrived on time, we ate, changed into our gym clothes, and watched tv in our stateroom for a short while to let our food digest before heading out to the gym. My husband and I run, but he prefers the treadmill and I prefer the elliptical. There were two right next to each other at the front, center of the gym facing the water. Score! Until we got on them and realized the ceiling is lower in that part of the room and my husband barely fit on the treadmill without hitting his head on the awkwardly placed smoke detector on the ceiling. I offered to move to another spot, but he said he could make this work. He did, and we had a very refreshing morning workout. I love the water infused with orange and lemon pieces and the fresh fruit in the gym area. It was much better than bringing a water bottle or using a drinking fountain. After this, we went back to our room and got ready so that we could squeeze in the Art of Entertaining cooking demonstration before our brunch reservation at Palo. We got there early and wanted to get seats right in the front, but I don't reccommend this, and we didn't do it for the rest of the cooking shows we went to. They have cameras that display the cooking surface so you can see what the chef is doing, but if you are in the front, you are basically under the monitor so you have to look straight up to see. It was awkward.

Chef Alex, who is the head chef at Animator's Palate, made Herb Seared Alaskan Halibut with Fennel Confit, Olives, Sweet Peppers and Yukon Gold Potatoes.

The food was amazing and comes with a wine paring, which I have no idea what we were given. I only remember it was a white wine. I think it may have been a reisling.

After this, it was about time to head to Palo for brunch. Chris noticed the elevators had Mickey's hand.

We were a few minutes early, but they sat us right away next to a window, where within moments, people with much better cameras than ours were zooming in and looking at whales that were so far out we could not see. First of many missed whale sightings for me.

A short video Chris shot of the inside of Palo

Mmm... mimosa

Chris experimenting with pictures of objects



Chris' plate, which included from the top left of center, salmon paste, assorted cheeses, non-alcoholic bloody mary shrimp shooter, cinnamon roll, caprese salad, breads, crackers, mushrooms, poached scallop, ahi tuna, caviar with all the accompaniments, and lox in the middle.

And Chris trying the caviar to see if it's as good as people seem to think it is. I was not interested in trying it. Wimp, I know.

My plate contained pretty much the same things as his, minus most of the adventure. I had cinnamon roll, a small chicken salad sandwich, more bread, the shrimp shooter, tuna, proscuitto wrapped melon, caprese salad, eggplant wrapped (goat?) cheese, a strong blue cheese, a wine soaked cheese, brie, and a cheese that went with the walnut (the blue veiny one)

From the a la carte section we ordered the grape gorgonzola pizza

OMG!!! Strawberry soup was the best thing ever!!!

Chris ordered some kind of Eggs Benedict. It was either salmon, crab, or lobster... kinda looks like salmon to me.

I also ordered Eggs Florentine and Chicken Parmesan that I apparently did not get pictures of. They were amazing. I wasn't sure that I'd like the eggs, so I ordered the chicken as a back up, and man they were both amazing. The fee to dine at Palo is completely worth it.

After Palo, we took some time to explore the ship a bit more.

Always gotta get a picture of the wake, I love it!















We had talked about trying to do a bunch of the various tastings they had on board, so we went to the Onboard Services desk to see if they had room at the wine tasting, which is something we love doing, and the bloody mary tasting, which we were also interested in. We were in luck, they were able to get us in to both tastings.

Next up: Tastings and Animator's Palate

[happenin2you]

The wine tasting is something we always do on Carnival cruises and we always have a great time. On this cruise, the tasting seemed like there was something missing in the planning. We still enjoyed ourselves, just not as much as we have in the past with carnival. We tasted five wines. The picture only shows four because the last one was a dessert wine that they brought out last.

After the tasting they gave us a pin for having been there. I thought it was a nice touch. There was a truffle for each of us to enjoy with our last glass of wine.

Just for comparison purposes, this is from a Carnival wine tasting. They include food and have you taste each wine, then instruct you to taste it with a specific food so that you can understand how they influence each others flavors. At this one there was salmon, filet mignon, crackers to clear the palate, blueberries, strawberry, sugar, brie, salt, limes, and lemons. The other difference is that the Carnival tasting is done by the Sommelier on board, whereas the Disney tasting was done by three wine "experts" from the ship who kept passing the mike around and didn't seem to have solid answers for questions that were asked. I guess I'm kind of a wine snob, but if you're offering tastings, they should be informative.


We had a short break and then it was time for our bloody mary tasting. I had no idea what this would include, but I was excited. After having done so many wine tastings where you get a small sample of the wine, I was pleasantly suprised and scared at the same time to see five full drinks for us to sample. I felt like I was really getting my money's worth for the value on this one, but if you've ever had a bloody mary, they're like meal. I can usually only drink one.

Check out the difference in color between these.

Like I said, I didn't really know what was going to be different about each of these, but once it got set in motion, I feel like Disney really dropped the ball big time on this one. The first one (if you notice in the picture they are numbered, you can't see the 1, but it was the one at the bottom of the photo) was a regular bloody mary, the second was a bloody caesar. The guy leading the tasting, Jesus, was trying to have people guess the differences between the drinks. Well, if you know what a bloody caesar is, then you know it's made with clamato instead of tomato, which is a blend of tomato and clam juice. Big problem for people who are allergic to shellfish. There was one guy in the room who was allergic and super pissed that instead of being warned, we were playing a guessing game to see what was in the drink. It just seems obvious to me that with a food allergy as major as shellfish, that it would occur to someone to warn people they may encounter it. The guy was very angry (understandably), but I feel like it kinda put a damper on it for the rest of us. It went from a good time to a very tense time. All could have been avoided if they would have warned for allergies. The next drink was a bloody maria, which is a regular bloody mary but with tequila instead of vodka. Next was a michelada, which are super common in our area and my husband loves them, but it is beer with clamato and spices. The last one was a regular bloody mary made with salmon flavored vodka that is specific to Alaska. The flavor was very good and smokey. Afterwards, Jesus offered us samples, basically shots =), of the salmon vodka. It was soo good! I enjoyed tasting all the variations, but I probably wouldn't do it again. It was just too much since these are such heavy drinks. Although, talking, or typing haha, about it makes me want a bloody mary right now. Just hold on while I go make one =) Ah, the perfect spicy blend of Svedka Citron vodka, Dr. Swami & Bone Daddy's Cajun bloody mary mix, Tabasco, celery salt, and fresh ground black pepper. It's a spicy one, so I think I'll be sipping on this for a while.

My next missed whale spotting opportunity came here, where Chris was seated across from me with his newly purchased "binocs" from our favorite South African Lee from Shutters. We saw her everywhere and she remembered us each time. Anyway, Chris saw a whale, but they are so quick, I missed it again.

Some obligatory porthole pictures.



Minnie was out, but she had a huge line...

We went back to our cabin to get ready for formal night, which was kinda hard without my blow dryer and the sad imitation for one they have in the room... oh well.

The progression of Mickey as you walk in.








After all those tastings from the day, I was a little buzzed, so I failed on the food pics a little. I still got them, they were just partially eaten sometimes before I figured out I should be taking pictures. Sorry... Menu descriptions are from allears. Chris started with the Crispy Cheese Ravioli - Breaded envelopes served with Tomato Concasse and Lemon Zest.

I had Caramelized Bay Scallops - served on a Leek and Sun-dried Tomato Risotto

And after the amazing strawberry soup earlier, how could I pass on Sangria Bisque - chilled Fruit Puree lightly flavored with Red Wine?

Although what I really wanted was Chris' Broccoli and Maytag Blue Cheese Soup - topped with crushed Walnuts, but I didn't want to duplicate orders when we could try something new and share.

I wasn't that excited about most of the entree options, so I went "safe" with Jumbo Shrimp and Porcini Mushroom Tagliatelle - with a Garlic-Porcini Mushroom Cream Sauce topped with Parmesan Shavings.

Chris also had a "safe" night Oven-roasted Tom Turkey Breast - Green beans, Sweet Mashed Potatoes, Rosemary Stuffing, Giblet Gravy, and Cranberry Relish.

What's left of my Golden Mickey's Sweet Temptations - A trio of Creme Brulee, The Golden Chocolate Award, and Raspberry Cheesecake.

And Chris' (I'm totally guessing here based on the lack of food in the photo ahaha!) Baked Apple and Blueberry Pithiviers - Almond Cream, Puff Pastry, and Cider Cream.

After dinner we went to the Golden Mickey's, which was amazing! We found this towel creation in our room after the show. We had gone back to grab jackets so we could take some pictures outside.


Up next: Some outside shots, Cove Cafe, and Wavebands

[happenin2you]

We had some time to burn before the comedian ventriloquist Michael Harrison was supposed to be performing in Wavebands, so we went up to the top deck to take some pictures of the sunsetting. And the wake.

This is about 9:45 pm.



Never get enough of this!

I knew this wouldn't come out well, but it was the only way I knew to be in the picture with the sun.

We snagged the table in the corner of the cafe facing the sunset.

Chris had the Coffee Toledo and I had the Mint Mocha Latte

Three suns

The server warned me that this drink is very minty and people often complain and send it back. I thought it was fine.

Short video of outside at 10:30 pm, still light out

We never did get to see the sun set because the clouds came in and covered the sun. It was still quite light out at that time, so we're not sure when the sun actually set.
Carpet detail.

Computer chip design detail in Wavebands

We watched the comedy show, which was funny, and then stayed for the One Hit Wonders trivia. They would play a song until someone ran up to the stage with the name and artist, then that person would get a free shot. We watched for a while and then went back to our room to go to bed because we were planning to wake up early and hit the gym again.

Up next: Breakfast at Triton's, the Art of Entertaining, and Tracy Arm day

[jenf22]

I'm so glad you're back! I've been in trip report withdrawal! Love the pictures!

[happenin2you]

Originally Posted by jenf22

I'm so glad you're back! I've been in trip report withdrawal! Love the pictures!

You must really be in withdrawal now! I'm working on an update right now, though, so no worries

[happenin2you]

I was just working on an update and when I submit it, my internet crashed... and since I didn't copy it, it's gone. Guess you guys will have to wait until tomorrow for me to get an update in. Sorry

[happenin2you]

Ok, let's try this again...

This day started much like the previous. We had a bit of breakfast delivered to our room bright and early to have food on our stomachs for the gym, went to the gym, returned to our room to get ready for the day, then had breakfast at Triton's. Chris couldn't decided between Eggs Bendict and Lox and Bagels, so he got both.



I had a standard meat, potatoes, and eggs breakfast.

We both had bread, me a muffin, and him some toast.

Everything was good, standard breakfast fare. Next we peeked outside to check on the day



A short video of outside
Next we went to the cooking demonstration.

And I tried on this hat, but it wasn't as cute as one I'd tried in Canada, so I passed on it. Shoud have gotten the one in Canada...

Next we wanted to stake out our spot because I had read on here that you need to get out there early or all the good spots are taken. So I followed the directions of those before me, found a spot at about 11 am, and sat there freezing my buns off for about 4 hours. To those of you going on this cruise, I say do what ever you want during the day and when you start getting close to the glacier, go up on deck and check it out. There's no good reason to be sitting outside in the cold for all that time. The ship hangs around the glacier for about an hour as it approaches, turns, and leaves, so there will be plenty of time to see it. I promise. By the time we got close to the glacier, we abandoned our spot to see it from the front of the ship, and we had no trouble getting a great view of it. There were naturalist talks going on in the theatre and a salmon bake that we missed out on because we didn't want to miss anything from our spot. I also did not see any whales during the 4 hours I spent staring off the ship at nature. Also, something was going on at Tracy Arm and the ships were not able to get very close to the glacier, I think a chunk had just broken off, so our captain decided to take us to Endicott Arm instead. It was lovely. That being said, brace yourself for tons of pictures.



Short video
Short video from front of ship























Notice as we get closer to the glacier the water changes in color from a dark almost black to this awesome bluish-green color.

Next: More glacier

[happenin2you]

In this video Chris mentions Tracy Arm kind of, it's because we don't know the name of this other Fjord we are in at the time. Also, it is still the same Sawyer Glacier and Tracy Arm, just from a different side

Nice video of mountains

Clearly freezing our buns off.










Next up: Endicott Arm cont...

[happenin2you]

Cold, but happy





















Sealions!












Next up: More glacier and Animator's Palate

[happenin2you]

I told him he wasn't smiling big enough, so...

Upclose video of the glacier

After this, we went to the sandwich places near the pools and had half sandwiches to hold us over until dinner since we had missed lunch. Then we went back to the room and I took a hot shower to try to get the chill out of my bones. A couple shots of the outside before dinner.



The menu had different animations on everyone's.

Chris had the Sesame-flavored Rock Shrimp and Caramelized Onion Cheesecake - with Asian barbecue sauce and topped with micro greens which was really good.

And I had Roma Tomato and Portobello Mushrooms on Polenta Cake
With Monterey Jack Cheese and Red Curry-Coconut Marinara

Some pictures of the dining room between courses.



One of us (must have been Chris if I don't remember) got this Baked Potato and Chedder Cheese Soup with bacon bits and chives. Apparently I didn't have anything during this course because there's no picture...









For dinner I had Lemon-Thyme Marinated Chicken Breast On top of Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Root Vegetables, and Grain Mustard Jus with the Black Bean Chipotle Cakes on the side because I couldn't decide. Our waiter advised against the cakes as an entree, but I love black beans and chipotle so I asked for them on the side. They were good, but dry, so I'm glad I still had the chicken to eat.

Chris had the Phyllo-Wrapped Salmon Fillet With Sun-dried Tomato, Garlic Cream Cheese on Fava Beans, and Green Pea Ragoût






Next up: Dessert at Animator's and more

[happenin2you]

For dessert Chris had the Buckled Warm Apple Crumble

And I had the Animator's Sweet Temptations A Trio of Strawberry Sable, Cranberry and Orange Cheesecake, and Double-Fudge Chocolate Cake

The main show this evening was going to be the ventriloquist, which I was not overly interested in. Chimpanzee was playing in the Buena Vista Theatre, which I was wanting to see, so that's what we did instead.
Some photo's after dinner.







The theatre



And some more outdoor shots before calling it a night.

Video of outside at 10:20 pm

Our little friend


Next up: Skagway!