No Orcas, No Bears, No Fly! But Why?? Disney Wonder Alaska VIDEO/PICS/NAVS/MENUS/MORE

[rogattdm]

What? We did not see you guys that day? Still cannot get over your hiking experience; I told you should have gone with us on all our excursions!

[AAshleySEG]

Originally Posted by rogattdm

What? We did not see you guys that day? Still cannot get over your hiking experience; I told you should have gone with us on all our excursions!

If I could turn back time, I most definitely would have!

[barbbarnes]

You are quite the trooper hiking until your heel bleeds! I'm very impressed I can't get over the size of that bug. Did you bring any kind of repellent and did you notice the bugs while on the ship?

Btw...I love your pic with Mickey and Minnie too cute!

[AAshleySEG]

Originally Posted by barbbarnes

You are quite the trooper hiking until your heel bleeds! I'm very impressed I can't get over the size of that bug. Did you bring any kind of repellent and did you notice the bugs while on the ship?

Btw...I love your pic with Mickey and Minnie too cute!

LOL, you make me sound more adventurous than I am...haha! Yeah the bugs were only in the wooded areas, so none in the towns or anything like that. We did bring bug repellent but did not use it because we were long sleeves and pants and didn't really need it. I never even got bit by anything. I love Mickey and Minnie together, it is hard to get a pic like that so I was happy about it!!

[Linda67]

Another great update

I must admit, I would have been disappointed with that view after such a long hike

I hope you at least sat on the bench for a while

[midwestpat]

Okay, I'll try this (wish uploading photos was as easy here as Facebook). The bear we saw from the train:



... and the pictures of the tent city, that charges people $300 a month to pitch their tent there so they can work in town for summer:




At this point, you can count me among those addicted to following your updates

[AAshleySEG]

Originally Posted by Linda67

Another great update
I must admit, I would have been disappointed with that view after such a long hike
I hope you at least sat on the bench for a while

You know, I don't even think I sat on it at all...HAHA I think I was just ready to get out of there and get back down to town! It is all good now because it makes for a good story

MidwestPat:
Aww, I am glad you like it! You guys were so lucky to get to see a bear! I was so sad that I never got to see any the whole time we were there What is so funny too, when I think about you, one of the specific things I remember about you guys is how you couldn't get any fresh carrots. I am not sure why that sticks in my mind, the crazy things I remember...LOL.

[AAshleySEG]

We woke up at 7:00am this morning even though we were docked in Juneau by 6:30. Our plan for today is to go Whale Watching with Weather Permitting Alaska! We are supposed to meet them at 8:30 on the cruise ship dock! For the moment, I am waiting on Jeremy to get out of the shower so we can go! Today we have to get off the ship from Deck 1 Aft. I never knew there were so many different ways to get off! When Jeremy was finally ready we headed up to Beach Blanket to get a little breakfast. We got our tray and decided to sit outside to eat. While we were sitting there we had a lovely view of Juneau, the Mt Roberts Tramway, and some eagles sitting on top of a radio tower! We made it out to the dock by 8:15am and met up with Captain Greg, his wife Tina, and the other two families going with us! One was plwilliams whom we met in the DisBoards Meet Up Thread, her and her grandson, and then another very friendly family which was a mom, dad, and daughter. So that was 7 passengers total! It was a nice small group! We drove out of Juneau on "The Road" to Auke Bay where the boat was. On our way out he told us a little about the city of Juneau, we saw a field full of Bald Eagles, and caught a glimpse of the Mendenhall Glacier! Once we got to the dock we got right on the boat!



He designed it and had it specifically built for whale watching. This place was just gorgeous, snow covered mountains all around and smelled so clean and untouched! Before we even made it out of the harbor, we saw some more eagles!



I remember when I was growing up, I thought that there were not very many Bald Eagles anymore, but apparently they have come back with a vengeance because every time you turn around you see them somewhere up here!



So we made our way out to the first sighting location, and the 1st whale was supposedly just seen lunge fishing. We only barely saw it happen for a split second (we think), and didn't see that whale again after that. We waited and waited some more, and after a long while with nothing, we headed toward our second area where whales were being spotted. When we got there we managed to see a few spouts and whale backs, but no humpback tails. We had yet to even see an Orca at all. All we had seen so far were humpbacks! We did however, get to see two glaciers, the Eagle and the Herbert Glaciers.



After coming up pretty empty again, we moved on to our third location and finally saw a whale tail! We also saw some spouts but the whales never came up out of the water. As soon as the boat would get anywhere in their vicinity they would disappear into thin air



We did have fun watching the harbor seals just playing in the water and having a great time with each other, one even came really close to the boat! It shocked me, so my photo wasn't that great, but i did manage to get it!



They tried so hard to find us some whales to see! But they did have one thing, world famous brownies that were fantastic! We never did end up seeing any Orcas, or even very many humpbacks for that matter, which Captain Greg said was highly unusual. They usually see tons of them, maybe we were just bad luck? We were driving around and Captain Greg said we would have the chance to get the stereotypical Alaskan photo, which was Eagles and Seals on a Buoy! Well of course i had to have that!



By 12:00 we had started heading back to Auke Bay, we were still on the lookout just in case we did happen to see anything on the way back



I think they felt bad for us, because at the beginning of the trip he told us that he had books for sale that had photos taken by an Alaskan Photographer on that very boat over the last 6 years. On our way back he was going to give each family one for free since we didn't really see very much. I thought that was very kind, considering they didn't have to do that at all! When we were almost back at the dock, I got a little chuckle because of the Alaskan Gas Station on the water!



We made it back and got off the boat and walked up to the pier to wait on the cab that was supposed to take us back to the Cruise Ship Dock, where we had been picked up. I stood around for a bit taking photos and got this cute little guy!



While we were waiting, Captain Greg asked us all what we were planning to do with the rest of our time in Juneau. As soon as I said we were planning on eating some King Crab, he said right away that we should go to Tracy's King Crab Shack! I read another recent TR that said that it was "touristy", when someone who lives there, that only goes into town for Tracy's King Crab, says we should go there. I am thinking we might have picked the right place!

[Skylarr29]

I wonder how 'bad' it is that I'm sitting here reading your TR and planning my next trip when I haven't even left for this one lol.

[AAshleySEG]

Originally Posted by Skylarr29

I wonder how 'bad' it is that I'm sitting here reading your TR and planning my next trip when I haven't even left for this one lol.

Thats so funny! So I am guessing everything is already planned out for the trip you are going on soon?? I hope you have a great time and not nearly as many mishaps as we did...LOL

[Chilly]

We only saw 3 whales but we did see one come right out of the water.

[gotomu212]

I love your comment about thinking bald eagles were few and far between. I was thinking the same thing reading your and other reports- look at all these friggin eagles.

I remember bringing pennies into 2nd grade for a save the eagle campaign (and I'm in my early 30s so it wasn't THAT long ago). Looks like by 11 cents paid off.

I am so excited for my trip at the end of August! Thank you so much for getting me ready!

[Momma2Jax]

Originally Posted by gotomu212

I remember bringing pennies into 2nd grade for a save the eagle campaign (and I'm in my early 30s so it wasn't THAT long ago). Looks like by 11 cents paid off.

and on behalf of us who live in the northwest and can see Eagles a lot, we thank you for your 11 cents!

[Skylarr29]

Originally Posted by AAshleySEG

Thats so funny! So I am guessing everything is already planned out for the trip you are going on soon?? I hope you have a great time and not nearly as many mishaps as we did...LOL

Yes, everything is pretty much planned out for this upcoming trip... I've pretty much been obsessing about it since we booked it 'last minute' in Feb I too hope we don't have many mishaps. DH and I haven't had a date in about 3 years, we need this, ha ha ha. I think it will be the first time I will get to sleep through the night in 3 years as well (thanks to our little monsters who are 2,1, and 3 months).

We are doing a bus tour with Chilkoot in Skagway, Glacier Trek in Juneau, and then Misty Fjords in Ketchikan. I can't wait to bring the kids back.

Your trip report has made me do a mad dash of research for things to do in Seattle because we were just treating it as a stop over before but now have realized there are tons of things to do there.

[Travelbee]

Thanks for such a great trip report! All the photos are wonderful, especially those from Tracy Arm (and the bench for laugh factor)!

Originally Posted by AAshleySEG

When we arrived at Palo we were seated immediately with no waiting time at all! We met our server Toni from Croatia, hmm I wonder if he knows Mario? Anyway, he brought us our complimentary Mimosas and then took us on a tour so we could get the lay of the land! You have an antipasto table, bread and cheese, seafood, one of my favorites the pastries...

We LOVE Toni from Croatia. Glad to know he's still on the ship. We've requested him for all our Palo dining for our cruise next week. What were your impressions of his service?

Originally Posted by AAshleySEG

I was so excited! I went inside and thought to myself...I didn't know they still has outhouses in 2012? Apparently they did, because all that was inside here was a big open hole with a toilet bucket sat on top which had a seat, some TP, and seat covers, and some Purell...luckily, Thank GOODNESS for the Purell!! It looks so unassuming from the outside though right? Back to the pretty things now! It was a very short easy hike from the Cemetery to Lower Reid Falls, and they were beautiful!

This is the first I've heard of someone getting excited about an outhouse!!

Originally Posted by AAshleySEG

We did have one more geocache to do, which was on the way, to drop off some Travel Bugs. We got back on the boat by 4:15 and went up to the room. Now...should we go see Avengers or go to the hot tub? As it turns out, neither. Well we tried to go to the hot tubs, but they were both full when we got there, so we decided to go swimming in the pool instead. It was nice for a little while, then...we had to get out! In 40 something degree windy weather, that is a whole different kind of challenge in and of itself!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let this be a typo? I will never hear the end of it from my sister who has finally agreed to go on a cruise for the first time. She thinks 70s degree weather is cold. I noticed you are wearing your beanie in all the photos... was it REALLY that cold? I may have to restrategize on how to pack.