A Golden-Grand-Slam-Outta-the-Park Alaskan Cruise! COMPLETE 7/18!!!!!!

[NJMermaid]

I am loving your report, members cruise on May 25, 2015 is right around the corner.

 

[podsnel]

So, Creek Street is a very cool place. It's a creek, and there's a street! LOL- no, that's not really right. It's more like, there's a creek, and a bunch of cute little colorful buildings right on the boardwalk of the creek. Which, for a very long time, were cute little brothels. There is even a trail through the woods leading to it- from where the houses are above- to kind of sneak in when a guy might need to...you know. It's called the Married Man's Trail. very educational for my sons here. Anyway....now the ladies of ill repute are only in one of the buildings- a museum called Dolly's House. Pods really prefers shopping over hookers, so we went in the stores instead of paying our respects to Miss Dolly. (OK- that's a lie. Pods hates to shop. Hoping he feels similarly about hookers. He puts up a heck of a good front, at any rate!) They had a GREAT selection of Ray Troll Tshirts in one of the shops-



I think they are so cool! But Pods was in a JUST SAY NO place, so no tshirts or anything else for him. Which was probably a good thing in the long run.... Of course, we were hungry again, so picked the place on the corner for lunch (which I would not recommend).





Reindeer hotdog-



It was an odd establishment. The restaurant said they could serve food, but it was really some kind of a lodge, and they had to send another server out to take drink orders. Which took a while. It was really strange!



There were also bones in the salmon. And I am just NOT a big fan of that. After we paid both of the checks, we went to check out Ketchikan Creek-



I would have liked to hike up this, but there was no time really since we had another excursion coming up in an hour or so...at the end of the trail is the salmon ladder though, if you have the time-




There were salmon running in the creek-





and there was a sealion who was chasing them-



The ship was only this far away-



Just in case you are wondering if you can walk over. Ketchikan is a very walkable little town. I left them to go do a little shopping- some little pewter cheese knives, a piece of pottery I think- there were some nice things if you really looked.





The day was so clear, you could easily see Deer Mountain-



That was something Kat kept remarking about- how much it rains here, how it makes everyone who lives here a little nuts, how lucky we were to have such a sunny day!

Deer Mountain has a good hiking trail, in case you are interested-

http://www.panamintcity.com/alaska/deermountain.html

But we were not, today. Because we had 2 things to do right now- find a bathroom inside a store where this amazing Geode was on display-



and locate a driver who would pick us up to take us flight seeing in a float plane. Coming up next....

 

[Flossbolna]

I am so happy to see you back posting! And such glorious sunny pictures of Alaska!

Try to type the whole update without adjusting colour and size first. Once you are done, mark everything (ctrl+A does that the easiest way) and then adjust size and color. Works for me all the time without problem.

 

[podsnel]

Loving the updates Ellen! Wow! what a spectacular day with a fabulous evening dinner.

I got crazy with sunset pictures too. They are just so amazing.

Your whale viewings...both times are just amazing.

Thanks Jen! It is very easy to get carried away with sunset pics, I agree! Happens at the beach a lot, too! And it all was just amazing, you are right. Ireally hope you will cruise to Alaska someday soon. It is not to be missed.

Love the whale watching pics! That dog is too cute! Looks like my Brother's dog

Labs are so sweet.....

Beautiful sunset pictures!! I had just said to myself that it looked like the sky was on fire when I scrolled to the next set of comments and you said the same thing, LOL

Great minds.......

Looked like a great dinner, too, that lobster pasta looked really yummy!

Yes- Palo is always so good, but I thought THIS one was really spectacular- and that was not just because of the whales!

Started reading a while ago and almost caught up! The Sawyer blue ice is unbelievable, so beautiful. My gf and her family did the cruise in Alaska last Aug as well, they loved it. I can't believe how light it is so late at night! I had some spa services and shut her down right away by telling her my job and that I can get everything at cost, plus there is an Elemis 10 mins from me. My 15 yo loved Vibe too, glad your boys had fun! The helicopter and glacier walk pics are so amazing! I'd be scared too! The flowers in the field are so pretty, kinda surprises me to see them there! Will catch up later!

Well, it's a lot to catch up on! It's a great cruise, so glad we went with our kids. This was their favorite family vacation. Even better than Hawaii. Glad your 15yo loved Vibe, too- I think that is a common sentiment. It was surprising to see the flowers- but really, everything grows SO well in Alaska because of all that daylight. Which there is even MORE of earlier in the summer- it really barely gets dark then.

Such amazing, gorgeous views! Really awesome.

Thank you!

I have just booked us for a cruise on the Norwegian Getaway for the kids spring break in April 2016. I know absolutely nothing about Norwegian, so I'm looking forward to the investigation/planning phase!

You will have lots of fun on the watersides and ropes course! It looked really fun when we were on Breakaway-

AAAHHMMMAAAZZZIINNGG! Those photos in these last updates are truly spectacular. I love the whales, the dog, and your sunset pics - how fabulous!

It was all so beautiful to experience...thanks!

I am definitely booking onboard next year for Alaska!

Good decision!

Ellen - we stay at Sheraton Vistana in Orlando - it's 5 minutes away from DTD entrance. My folks have a timeshare. A dozen pools, hot tubs, bike rentals, tennis & basketball courts, activities, arcades, plus a full kitchen and washer & dryer - right in the condo! We relax and swim, and this year we're doing 2 days at Universal...

Sounds fun! I have heard it is very nice there-

Love love love this trip report. Taking notes for July!

Thank you!!! I hope it helps you, and have a blast!

Your whale tale was beautiful. Can you please say on Facebook when you have updates. I barely get on the DIS anymore-I know shameful, but life is just so busy.

I know- me too! It is a lot harder with working. I will notify you on FB in a few after I do these replies, lol.

I ran across this TR because I'm hoping to talk hubby into taking an Alaska cruise (hoping DCL will still do Alaska in 2016). We are from Seattle and live in Phoenix now so we have fears of taking a vacation to a cold, rainy place. After reading your TR I am convinced we would love it! You have an amazing way of writing and I love the way you approach traveling!

WOW!!! Thanks for such a wonderful string of compliments! But I hope you are still reading- it did not rain the whole time we were on the cruise. Does it rain as much in Seattle as I have heard?

Shhhhhhh, don't tell anyone but I read your Alaska TR, California TR AND your Fantasy NYE trip report. Yep, did it all today (working from home has it's perks!) Gotta run - I think I have more reading to do.

LMAO!!! You are just like me!! So happy you liked them-

 

[podsnel]

Nice update. You had such a beautiful day in Ketchikan.

We were VERY VERY lucky. My advice is forget everything you see here, and just be pleasantly surprised if it happens to you too!

Thanks for the update and pictures. Your report is helping me get excited about our cruise to Alaska coming up this summer.

Oh YAY! That is definitely what it is supposed to do! I hope you have a magical cruise!

 

[podsnel]

I am loving your report, members cruise on May 25, 2015 is right around the corner.

Oh- THAT will be SPECTACULAR. I can only begin to imagine what amazing things will be added to a DVC members cruise in Alaska- I hope you'll write a TR!

I am so happy to see you back posting! And such glorious sunny pictures of Alaska!

Try to type the whole update without adjusting colour and size first. Once you are done, mark everything (ctrl+A does that the easiest way) and then adjust size and color. Works for me all the time without problem.

Thank you, Magdalene- and I am so happy to see you back and giving me advice! Thank you!!!! Can you also tell me why my links are good or bad on the first page? I don't recall what I may have done differently to have them say the title of the TR instead of the actual web address.

And you are right- sunny pics of Alska are REALLY just so nice!

 

[Flossbolna]

Thank you, Magdalene- and I am so happy to see you back and giving me advice! Thank you!!!! Can you also tell me why my links are good or bad on the first page? I don't recall what I may have done differently to have them say the title of the TR instead of the actual web address.

And you are right- sunny pics of Alska are REALLY just so nice!

Links are tricky currently. It appears that they kind of break if you change the title of the trip report. I have therefore gone over to only say which page number the updates are on on the table of content and will add links once the TR is done and I am no longer changing the title.

There are two way to make "pretty" links. The general way is to write the text that you want to appear as the link, then highlight that text. Then click on the "link" symbol at the top of the editor window. It does look like one link of a chain, it is the first one in the third grouping of symbols. Then you get a pop up window and there you can enter the URL.

The more specific way to link to a certain post is to click on the post number on the bottom right of the post, next to the Like button. This will bring up a window with the two options. The first one is just the plain URL, the second one gives you something called BB code. If you select that and copy paste it in your post, you will get a link to that specific post, however the name for it will be the thread title. But when you copy it in your post you will see that there is the URL and then also the text for the thread title. Just keep the URL, but switch out the text to what you want.

Hope this helps. You might also find this post helpful: Cynthia's great linking explanation

 

[jetskigrl]

After this, we headed back to Creek Street, thanked Kat for the tour of town, and were dropped off to have some lunch.

Too funny - I completely forgot that we were cruising around Ketchican with Kat's DH as our guide (at the same time, I think) We really enjoyed seeing Ketchikan that way. The salmon and eagles were amazing. But no bears for us. Dave (Kat's Dh) said he thought it was probably too warm for them that day. I'm glad that you were able to see one.

It was an amazingly warm day after the three previous days of overcast and rain

 

[podsnel]

We walked through the charming town...



See that? Diamonds International. Just like the Bahamas. And just really out of place in Ketchikan, Alaska and everywhere else in Alaska. But there they all are anyway.



As I said, this is the rain capital- I mean, REALLY, that's a LOT of rain they get here!!



We were to meet our car down by the pier. We checked out The Rock-



The Rock' was designed to honor in life-size 7-figures from Ketchikan's past: Chief Johnson, The Logger; The Fisher, The Miner, The Aviator, A Native Elder Woman, and an Elegant Lady. The principle artists were David Rubin, Terry Pyles and Judy Rubin.

Also in port that day with us was Norwegian Sun-



Today we were flying with Carlin Air. I had friends who would be flying with them later in the week (they were going out to Anan- to see LOTS of bears. For what it's worth, this was the highlight of their vacation! They told me it was a spectacular way to spend the day, watching 7 bears do what they do. Here is a link- http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r10/specialplaces/?cid=fsbdev2_038752 ), and when i booked them, the company told me I should fly with them to see Misty Fjords- and that they would give me a great TA rate. Well, who can resist that? Here is a link to their site and brief film of what we saw- http://www.carlinair.com/kectchikan-flight-video



There was a young family with us in the plane- they were from Israel and had combined an Alaskan cruise with a pre-trip to California and Yosemite! Now THAT'S a TRIP!! I was very lucky on the flight- they told me to sit up front with the pilot. Who am I to complain?





SO, we were supposed to be flying through Misty Fjords. But the other family really wanted to see bears. They asked us if we wanted to see bears, and although we had seen them that morning (well- we saw 1- very far away), we thought, yea, sure- we want to see bears, too! So the pilot split the time between Misty Fjords and an area he knew of that was known to attract bears, a salmon hatchery. Works for us! First...off to the Fjords...from Carlin's website- " The Misty Fjords (Misty Fiords) National Monument is a 2.2 million acre park which was carved by glaciers some 10,000 years ago. During our 1 hour, 30 minute tour, you will see a myriad of crystal clear alpine lakes gouged out by those very glaciers. Saltwater fjords surrounded by sheer granite walls are alive with waterfalls cascading down thousands of feet." Sounds pretty nice, huh? It WAS...



I have to say, it was extremely beautiful. There was so much untouched wilderness out there. Mountain (or I guess fjord) after fjord of it.





I saw a Mountain Goat somewhere around here, but just missed him with my camera-





How pretty (and pure) is that water?



This is waaaaaaaay up there in the mountain...



This too-



Waterfall!



It truly seems to go on forever....







Look Pods! It's a golf course! Well, maybe not.



It is really incredible flying up and over these mountains. Sometimes it almost felt like you could touch them. Really.



But soon our time ended in the fjord, and we were headed to hunt some Bear!



We landed next to the hatchery. Can I just tell you, this whole flight was a thrill, but landing? In WATER???? It was CRAZEEEEEE!!!! Once we landed, we were all encouraged to exit the plane and hang outside on the plane's pontoons.

Good thing we didn't have any Elderbubbles pre-floatplane! Would have gone swimming at the hatchery, too!

As soon as we got there though, we saw our first bear!



He was a little one, but it was exciting to see him none the less. But would we see more? To be cont'd.....

 

[bcwife76]

Can I just say how in love I am with your TR??? Seriously, I have never had any desire to go to Alaska (cruise or otherwise) but since I've been reading your TR (and a couple of others, but honestly yours is the best!!) I am seriously, SERIOUSLY considering a cruise to Alaska for 2016 or 2017. Until then I am patiently (somewhat!) waiting for your next installment....

 

[Mrs Green]

I am convinced that I must book rum runner for whale watching now! My son is in love with dogs, so even if he tires of looking at whales, he will keep occupied by the sweet pup! Thank you so much for putting together this most awesome trip report...so many gorgeous photos and all the good details!

 

[MEK]

Oh Wow - that flight looks amazing! How lucky were you to have a perfect day for flying, because - well - that is a HECK of a lot of rain. OMG! I forget what fjord is. I have to look it up. It must be a synonym for out of this world gorgeous.

And the baby bear - so cute. The landing in water - ummmmm - I don't know 'bout that. Good thing you did leave the elderbubbles behind.

I still have some catching up to do but you have reeled me right back in with the amazing scenery.

 

[podsnel]

As we were hangin out there on the plane pontoons....







This is how far away that 1st bear was-



By the way, those pics were taken by Pods, I believe- which is always interesting, because anything that motivates Pods to use a camera, I ALWAYS think, must be pretty gosh darn amazing!

Well, the little bear left, and a few minutes later, this BIG guy came out!!



He stepped beyond the fence, and came so much closer...











If you look carefully in all the pics, you can see fish remains all over the rocks. The pilot was very smart to land here, I am so glad we did. We hung around until this bear finally made his exit after he ate a fish.







This is my favorite one- just love the bear paws!



We all piled back in the DeHavilland Beaver and in minutes we were back in the sky-







And then we were back to Ketchikan-



The hour and a half had flown by. What an amazing final excursion on our Alaskan adventure. Talk about going out with a bang! I want to compliment our very abled pilot, Jim, and thank Laura in the office who was so very nice to talk to pre-trip (and meet that day!). I will be forever thankful we added in this last experience to our incredibly memorable vacation.



Up next- back to the ship, time for some last minute shopping... REALLY last minute!

 

[tinkmom2]

Love your TR! We just got back from Cozumel. We booked the Ruins so we didn't stay at Nochi but maybe next time! We are considering Jamaica, Alaska, or Hawaii for our next cruise. Can't wait to read more!

 

[KristiMc]

Great excursion to end your Wonderful trip! Only 60 days to go for us!

 

[podsnel]

Laura dropped us back at the ship, I believe we had about an hour left in port. Pods took his book and headed out to find a quiet place to read and grab a beer on deck. I went out on the verandah for a look-



The port was really clearing out. When the ships leave, it must be like a ghost town here!



Ya know, I STILL had 45 minutes- and that Christmas store was just begging me to visit. Ahhh...what the heck? I scrambled down to the gangway. I was informed all aboard was in 45 minutes...Tick Tock, Ellen.... I ran across the street, first to the corner shop on the left. I specifically was looking for a handblown glass globe. I semi-collect them- meaning, I have four (they are from Epcot Flower and Garden, Niagara Falls, Bermuda and the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite). I know there was a glass blower up in Skagway (along with a beautiful garden, I hear) but that will have to wait for the next trip. I did not find any globes in any of the gift stores I ran through on this vacation though. So next I ran over to the Christmas Store on the right corner, and in 10 minutes I had purchased about 7 bars of soap for gifts and several adorable Christmas ornaments. With half an hour to spare, I reboarded the Wonder. What can I say? I shop well under pressure, I guess- since, being married to Pods, that is pretty much the only kind of vacation shopping there is.

Back up to the cabin, I watched and waited for our sail away from Ketchikan.









Tyler and Tim's future employment opportunity, the salmon cannery-



Up next- dinner in Parrot Cay- it's an Alaskan feast!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Hey Ellen!

I'm still here, getting caught up!

I just have to say--this is one stunning vacation. The sights you got to witness are just incredible! I'm really, really jealous you got to see a bear as well. I've only seen one in the wild in my entire life, and it was a really brief blink-and-you-miss-it sighting when he stuck his head out of the woods one day. What an experience!

 

[podsnel]

Links are tricky currently. It appears that they kind of break if you change the title of the trip report. I have therefore gone over to only say which page number the updates are on on the table of content and will add links once the TR is done and I am no longer changing the title.

There are two way to make "pretty" links. The general way is to write the text that you want to appear as the link, then highlight that text. Then click on the "link" symbol at the top of the editor window. It does look like one link of a chain, it is the first one in the third grouping of symbols. Then you get a pop up window and there you can enter the URL.

The more specific way to link to a certain post is to click on the post number on the bottom right of the post, next to the Like button. This will bring up a window with the two options. The first one is just the plain URL, the second one gives you something called BB code. If you select that and copy paste it in your post, you will get a link to that specific post, however the name for it will be the thread title. But when you copy it in your post you will see that there is the URL and then also the text for the thread title. Just keep the URL, but switch out the text to what you want.

Hope this helps. You might also find this post helpful: Cynthia's great linking explanation

Thank you again for taking the time to explain it to me! I will do that in the future- I must have done it before with the BB code I guess- who knows? I do see that it goes to the actual post only as long as the title matches, but it's ok- the link breaks, but at least it brings you to the correct page. I think the links just make it very convenient for the readers. Thanks, Magdalene!

Too funny - I completely forgot that we were cruising around Ketchican with Kat's DH as our guide (at the same time, I think) We really enjoyed seeing Ketchikan that way. The salmon and eagles were amazing. But no bears for us. Dave (Kat's Dh) said he thought it was probably too warm for them that day. I'm glad that you were able to see one.

It was an amazingly warm day after the three previous days of overcast and rain

I forgot you were the same day too!! Kat said the same thing about the bears- probably too warm. It was a beautiful day, we were all so lucky!!

Can I just say how in love I am with your TR??? Seriously, I have never had any desire to go to Alaska (cruise or otherwise) but since I've been reading your TR (and a couple of others, but honestly yours is the best!!) I am seriously, SERIOUSLY considering a cruise to Alaska for 2016 or 2017. Until then I am patiently (somewhat!) waiting for your next installment....

Of course you can say how in love you are with my TR!! LOVE hearing that!! I hope you do consider this cruise- you may be worried how it is going to be, not having 85 degree temps and sand between your toes, but trust me- you will not miss it, you will be to inspired and busy to.

I am convinced that I must book rum runner for whale watching now! My son is in love with dogs, so even if he tires of looking at whales, he will keep occupied by the sweet pup! Thank you so much for putting together this most awesome trip report...so many gorgeous photos and all the good details!

Oh good! I am glad to hear it- it was a great tour, and I really did like the people on the boat so much- and Brandi the dog, too!

Oh Wow - that flight looks amazing! How lucky were you to have a perfect day for flying, because - well - that is a HECK of a lot of rain. OMG! I forget what fjord is. I have to look it up. It must be a synonym for out of this world gorgeous.

Exactly! It also means

1. a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, as in Norway and Iceland, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley.

And the baby bear - so cute. The landing in water - ummmmm - I don't know 'bout that. Good thing you did leave the elderbubbles behind.

I still have some catching up to do but you have reeled me right back in with the amazing scenery.

Very glad to hear it. Nice chatting with you MEK-

 

[JKSWonder]

Bear paw picture is epic!

 

[podsnel]

Hey Ellen!

I'm still here, getting caught up!

I just have to say--this is one stunning vacation. The sights you got to witness are just incredible! I'm really, really jealous you got to see a bear as well. I've only seen one in the wild in my entire life, and it was a really brief blink-and-you-miss-it sighting when he stuck his head out of the woods one day. What an experience!

Thanks, Mark!! We thought it was stunning, too. It was the boys' favorite vacation- Timmy especially enjoyed all the animals and the scenery- he says walking on a glacier was just a really cool thing to do. He rates it equal almost to hopping around on the edge of a cliff on Kauai. I rate both as terrifying in the department of observing him do each.

The bear was SUPER cool!!! I was so glad that other family wanted to see one so badly!