4 Cheapskates Cruise Alaska - A Trip Report for the Budget Conscious ( Completed 6/9)

[scottishclover]

SKAGWAY - CRUISE DAY 4 CONTD.
Then we stopped again at the Tormented Valley and did some hiking over the rocky landscape. The water was the most amazing glacial blue colour.




Our last stop before hitting Skagway was the Alaska Sign. A bus tour guide very kindly took one of all 4 of us.


We arrived back in Skagway, filled up with petrol (sorry gas!) and dropped off the car. We had gone 150 miles and only needed to add $7 dollars worth of fuel . Crazy! I would really encourage everyone to make this trip into the Yukon. It was amazing and we loved every single minute of it. The MTs raved about it and we could tell they appreciated how lucky they were to be party to such scenery. We headed back to the ship for a quick bite and then came straight back off to explore Skagway a bit. It was pretty busy by now as there were a few ships in, but the Disney Wonder had the best spot. We picked up a few souvenirs. There were a lot of jewellery shops in all the ports. I don't know how they make a living as they were all standing empty. MT1 thought it was odd that there was a fur shop on the main street. I explained the Russian connection and fur trade. Plenty of popcorn shops around too and the MTs bought some taffy, something we don't have in the UK.


Dinner tonight was in Triton's. That could only mean one thing: Chateaubriand x4 ( yes, you can get it GF!) and it just melted in the mouth. The mural in the restaurant makes for a really pretty backdrop. Our after dinner entertainment tonight consisted of Movie Tunes Trivia (Aargh! So frustrating when Jo reveals the answers) and then the Lion King Movie. Now DH thinks this is a bit of a cop- out showing a movie as the show in Walt Disney Theatre but nevertheless he and MT's enjoyed it. Unfortunately, my enjoyment was ruined by the man sitting next to me, who insisted on explaining every single scene of the film to his whining 3 year old daughter. She was clearly too young to understand what was going on. Later we listened to some New York Swing by the Deep Sea Jivers (aka Crawfish Crooners). There were very few people listening which was a pity, but quite a few CMs who were obviously fans turned up . It was getting late so we headed to bed. We had another early start tomorrow.

 

[scottishclover]

CRUISE DAY 5 - JUNEAU

I think you might say the weather today was typically Alaskan. Kind of what we had been expecting. So we geared up and caught the shuttle from the dock to downtown Juneau for our combo whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier tour at 8.30am with Juneau Whale Watching.

These signs come in handy for photos.


Waiting for the tour
We boarded the tour bus to head to Auke Bay and the driver gave us a nice insight into what we were seeing in Juneau. Along the way there were lots of bald eagles sitting on top of the telegraph poles. They were everywhere, a bit like pigeons in major towns. We soon arrived at the harbour, met the whale watching crew and headed on what looked like a brand new boat out onto the water. The guide, Danielle was great, really enthusiastic and full of information. We had decided beforehand we would just enjoy the experience of the whales today, rather than try to capture them on our phones.

By now the rain had stopped and it was really very calm during our whale watching session. Danielle assured us this was a good viewing day. We saw: humpbacks, orcas, steller sea lions, harbour seals and Dall's porpoises. She said the orcas are transient so it's quite unusual to see them. They actually swam right up to our boat - it was definitely a highlight. I had hoped to see some bubble net feeding but Danielle said that is very rare. We saw a lot of humpback tails, no full breaching but maybe what I would call half breaching. All in all a success, as this excursion had been picked over a hike onto Mendenhall Glacier, so I had wanted it to be memorable.

This is what a humpback has in its throat to filter feed.

Steller Sea Lions
Then we got dropped off at Mendenhall. First we walked to Nugget Falls. Unfortunately, it started tipping it down so we didn't stay long and headed back to the visitor centre to watch a film about the glacier. It really emphasises how much the glacier has receded due to climate change. We did a few of the shorter trails but ultimately decided against the longer East Glacier Trail due to the awful weather. We had hoped to see more bears here, but due to the drought they had been having in Alaska, the streams were lower, meaning no salmon yet, so fewer bears. We did see a porcupine up a tree as a consolation prize. The weather reiterated the good decision to do the whale watching - I don't think the glacier hike would have been much fun in the pouring rain.



Mendenhall Glacier when the rain stopped!

At around 2pm we decided to go back to Juneau and grab something to eat. I had some delicious salmon cakes at a food truck called the Salmon Spot. MT2 wanted a crepe so we searched out Crepe Escape. Other people might have better luck but we waited over half an hour for a crepe. We hadn't realised and were not told there were so many orders in front of ours so I was not best pleased. MT1 and DH went off in search of ice cream.


Rush hour in Juneau

DH was getting hungry and wanted to get back on board for something to eat. Grabbing a quick bite in port when you are GF can be quite tricky and he does get quite ill if glutened. We decided to go forego the shuttle and just walk back to the ship but actually it goes through an industrial area so is probably not worth it for anything other than the exercise. Once onboard, the girls went off to watch the Pixar Pals Party and we just relaxed in the comfy seating near Cove Café until it was time for dinner.


Disney Wonder docks a little out of town

Dinner tonight was Animation Magic. I thought we outdid ourselves with our drawings. Most people just use one colour but Melvin encouraged us to use a mix of colours. Well DH took his advice and his animation was much easier to spot on screen. I like that there is now a choice of appetizers, rather than just the sampler from the last time we cruised.

After dinner, DH and I went to 80s trivia and it was standing room only. Then we went to see the show Frozen in the Walt Disney Theatre. We all enjoyed it although DH did comment that you really need to have seen the film to have understood what was going on in parts. I remarked there would be very few people on the ship who haven't actually seen the film, so this wouldn't be an issue. The special effects were great and I thought the girl who played Anna had a fantastic voice. She really could belt it out. Our two early starts were catching up with us and our plan of making the most of every moment were fading fast. We called it a night and prayed the weather would improve for our last port, Ketchikan.

 

[Hubie]

We also did DCL's Norway cruise in 2016, and in 2017 and 2018 we did their Northern European cruise.

Your report on Vancouver will be very useful to us when we finally decide to do a DCL - Alaska cruise. We haven't been to Vancouver and we haven't done the Alaska cruise yet, because we've been to all of the DCL ports before when we flew into Juneau and Skagway. We then took a ferry from Skagway to Haines before flying back to Juneau in a 4-seater. We took 24 passenger boat from Juneau to the Sawyer Glaciers also. But, I've always wanted to spend time in Vancouver.

You and your DH's take on giving your daughter's as much travel experiences as possible is the same way we felt when our kids were young. We also use to do much on the cheap (lots of mountain hiking out west) with the kids in tow. But now being retired we can splurge more.

 

[scottishclover]

We also did DCL's Norway cruise in 2016, and in 2017 and 2018 we did their Northern European cruise.

Your report on Vancouver will be very useful to us when we finally decide to do a DCL - Alaska cruise. We haven't been to Vancouver and we haven't done the Alaska cruise yet, because we've been to all of the DCL ports before when we flew into Juneau and Skagway. We then took a ferry from Skagway to Haines before flying back to Juneau in a 4-seater. We took 24 passenger boat from Juneau to the Sawyer Glaciers also. But, I've always wanted to spend time in Vancouver.

You and your DH's take on giving your daughter's as much travel experiences as possible is the same way we felt when our kids were young. We also use to do much on the cheap (lots of mountain hiking out west) with the kids in tow. But now being retired we can splurge more.

I am looking forward to the day we can splurge too. I'm sure everything will seem cheaper when we are only paying for two. I would totally recommend spending time in Vancouver. It added an extra dimension to our holiday.

 

[scottishclover]

CRUISE DAY 6 - KETCHIKAN
Spoiler: Weather didn't improve today and threw us off whack a bit, until we decided just to get on with it. As all ashore wasn't until 11.15 today, we had a bit of a leisurely morning not doing too much. I wish DCL would put on a few more activities on the Ketchikan morning - not everyone wants a lie in! In the end DH and MT1 went to see about booking another cruise and me and MT2 headed out to deck 4 to watch the docking process at Ketchikan. It was pretty interesting.

Our initial plan was to hike up Deer Mountain, but the mist was right down and we weren't sure it was worth it. We decided to have a wander round the town first and then we would see about the hike later. Ketchikan reminded me a little of some of the Norwegian villages from our cruse in 2016. It had a different feel to Skagway and Juneau somehow. Our first stop was Creek Street and the salmon ladder, then we went into a few stores and back to the ship for lunch.

They are in fits of giggles as they kept being photobombed by a min who couldn't take a hint!

The famous rain guage. Scotland could give Ketchikan a run for its money this week.


The final of our hat trick of signs.

Soon the rain was off so we thought we would just go for it and see how far we could make it up the mountain. It normally takes 5 hours up and down but we knew we didn't have time for that. I had read you can pick up a locator beacon at the tourist Information so we did that first , and were told about the free bus which goes to the Totem Heritage Centre. It would take us nearer the trailhead. As luck would have it, it drew up so we jumped on for the short ride. It actually didn't really shorten the hike by much and we still had to trudge up the practically vertical road to the beginning of the trail. In fact, the trail seemed pretty easy in comparison and not nearly as hard as I had expected. If I was ever in any doubt that we were hiking through a rainforest, all I had to do was to look down at the river of water I was walking through. This was definitely a hike for the boots!

Even although it was raining, it felt warm and sticky so it wasn't long before we got rid of the waterproofs. We pushed on through all the ferns and got to the first overlook . Due to the rain, the view wasn't great but we could see something of the neighbouring islands and a few seaplanes too. We picked up the pace to the second overlook but ultimately we knew we would not have time to go right to the top before dinner ( we had early seating) so made our way back down. Coming down was treacherous. It would be easy to slip and break something so I was pleased we had the GPS. We reckon we probably could have been up and down in around 4 hours.





First Overlook


The trail is well defined through the forest.

I actually would have liked to have done some kayaking in Ketchikan. The rain wouldn't have affected this activity as much, but I thought all the tours I looked at were pretty pricey. Save seeing whales as we paddled, we could probably do something quite similar off the Scottish coastline and get a similar experience for much less money.

On our walk back to the Wonder we walked through a very "local" area and it was interesting to see this side of the town. We saw a woman gutting and cleaning buckets of salmon on a table on the pavement . DH remarked on how all the cars people had in their driveways were wrecks, but really with limited roads, why would you need much more? Everyone seemed to have heaps of junk in their front garden. MT2 was still on the hunt for a pair of non tacky forget-me-not earrings (national flower of Alaska if you are doing Alaska Trivia!) and so we stopped in a really nice gift shop near Creek Street before going aboard. The gift shops around Creek Street seemed to be a bit different to the usual and both the MTs bought a pair of earrings. Ketchikan is probably the best port for shopping IMO. We passed the Lumberjack Show venue with smug looks on our faces. Remember we watched it for free on Grouse Mountain? Well here it would have cost $45 each. It looks to be exactly the same set up.



We were pretty excited for dinner as were back in Tiana's place for Mardi Gras night. While heading to TP we listened to the violinist , Irine Gamdzhashvili, in the lobby atrium. She was great and played some Disney classics along with more contemporary music from bands such as Coldplay. I really enjoyed my meal tonight. I tried shrimp and grits for the first time and thought the sea bass was really beautifully cooked. We had a variety of desserts tonight as they all appealed to us and asked for some beignets for the table. Yum!

After dinner, DH and I made a run for the 90s Music trivia, again standing room only. I recognised the playlists from one of our previous cruises but we still couldn't win!!! Then DH and I went to see Aladdin, which we thought was great, while the girls went to see Michael Holly in the Walt Disney Theatre and then Do you think you know your family? You may have noticed there has been no mention of the Vibe, which we visited for open house on Day 1. The MTs I think, were a little intimidated by the large groups of teens who roamed the ship and so avoided it like the plague. They are both pretty reserved and preferred just to stick together, which was fine by us. They both enjoyed all the family game shows and loved the entertainment team - I think Brandon and Mitchy MooMoo???? were particular favourites.

It was hard to believe we only had one day left on our adventure.....

 

[scottishclover]

CRUISE DAY 7 - SEA DAY

Horror of all horrors - we all slept in and didn't wake until well after 9 o'clock! The hour time change the previous evening must have affected us. By the time we had breakfast , the morning was practically over. I actually didn't take notes on today so am doing this from looking at the Personal Navigators from the cruise, which can be found on the Disney Cruise Line Blog, as well as all the week's menus. Also I apologise limited photos, we must have had photo fatigue by now.

DH and me went to book another cruise and while I was sitting, Goofy crept up behind me and scared the living daylights out of me. Sarah at the Future Cruise Desk thought it was really funny. We went to Cabanas for lunch today. It was Alaskan specials which I really enjoyed due to all the seafood.

Eating al fresco is such a novelty for us. There's few opportunities to do it at home.

Some of the activities we went to today were: Jack's Diaper Dash, (get there early as it gets really crowded) origami, memory pages, trivia, and I also went to the Art of the Theme Show Tour. This points out and explains some of the features that are unique to each ship. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would do it again as it would vary on each of the different ships. DH and I spent a lot of time relaxing on deck with our books as it was a lovely out. You never get bored looking out at the scenery.


The ship sails very close to land at some points.

Our final dinner was in Triton's. It was Captain's Gala dinner. MT1 surprised me by having venison. Both the girls tried a lot of food they wouldn't eat normally, which was great. We said our farewells and thank yous to our serving team and handed out the tip envelopes, as we knew it would be a rush at breakfast the next day. Our servers did a fantastic job the entire week. I noticed that we were the only table of 4 they had, as there were a lot of big multi-generation families on this cruise. We got into a routine of being really punctual. This led to us being served first most nights by Melwin.

After dinner we very hastily packed our cases to get them out for 10pm. I wish the time was later, say around 11pm as it is hard to have dinner, pack and go to the show. It's always really sad taking down the door decorations. We all went along to watch Dreams. Of course we have seen it before but we especially enjoy the Lion King segment. Our final hurrah was reflecting on our cruise while listening to the violinist in the Promenade Lounge. She took requests which I thought was brilliant and showed how talented she was. We wanted to prolong our cruise enjoyment as much as possible, but ultimately retired to bed as we had an early start and very long day ahead.


CRUISE DAY 8 - DEBARKATION AND HEADING HOME

Lots of sad faces at breakfast this morning. We were off the ship and through immigration pretty quickly this morning. We jumped on the train to get to the airport. I think this is the best option all round, especially if you have an early flight as you can never get stuck in traffic and the trains are every 15 minutes. Our flight was at 1pm so we actually didn't have too much waiting around to do before boarding our flight to London. Just time to browse in a few shops.


If there is an oversized soft toy to be found, MT2 will find it.


Our journey home was pretty uneventful other than a lot of hanging around at Gatwick as our flight back to Edinburgh was delayed for a few hours. We arrived back in Edinburgh around 6pm on the Tuesday and tried to adjust to the time change. I always think it is worse when you fly east across the Atlantic.

CRUISE COSTINGS

Skagway - Car Rental and incidentals $200

Juneau - Tour, lunch and incidentals $550

Ketchikan - Souvenirs $100

Again these are rough estimates. Well, I found our cruise bill in a rucksack the other day so I can tell you exactly what we spent while on the cruise. Our total, very thrifty spend was $492.74 (including tips) and we had $200 on board credit so our final bill came to $292.74. Pretty good going if you ask me. How did we do it? Well we are not big drinkers so only bought a few alcoholic drinks during the week. I drank less coffee from Cove Café than normal, as I was enjoying the tea selection they have onboard instead. We also didn't buy a lot onboard, just a few Alaska specific things. Any DCL souvenirs we like e.g. Christmas tree ornaments, we have already been bought on our previous cruises.

So as you can see, you can still have a great cruise and not spend a fortune.

REFLECTION

This was a holiday of a lifetime for us and it lived up to all expectations and more. We enjoyed, and made the most of, every single minute. I know many people consider the price of a DCL Alaska cruise to be out of reach, but I think I proved it can be done on a budget. I hope you all enjoyed reading about our experiences and can use some of the information in your own cruise planning. For our family, Alaska really is the perfect cruise destination.

 

[happy wanderer]

Great report!! Where are you headed with DCL next?

 

[EllieBride]

Great report. Thanks so much for writing it.

Having just taken the same cruise in May 2019, I loved hearing how our experiences were similar in some ways, but yet so uniquely different, too. And as I'm currently working on putting together a photo album from our trip, you reminded me of our walk through Creek Street, something I had completely forgotten about, but really enjoyed. It was so peaceful, but apparently I forgot to take any pictures of it.

 

[scottishclover]

Great report!! Where are you headed with DCL next?

That’s a million dollar question. We did OBB for a 5 night to Bermuda in Oct 2020 and thought we could tag on a few days beforehand in New York. We actually wanted to do the 10 night Northern European but weren’t willing to pay the price we were quoted ( the terrible exchange rate just now does not help). I noticed this year that there were some fantastic restricted rates on the European cruises but of course we already had our cruise and flights to Alaska booked. So as it stands, we are going to hang on and see if we can get a good price on either the 10 or 8 night Northern European and if not, we will head to Bermuda. The thing about the Baltic cruise is that other than St Petersburg, we could probably spend a long weekend in each port for much less than the cruise. There’s pretty good connections to Scandinavia from Scotland. That’s the plan just now. Thanks so much for reading the trip report. It was my first, so I’m glad you enjoyed it.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[scottishclover]

Great report. Thanks so much for writing it.

Having just taken the same cruise in May 2019, I loved hearing how our experiences were similar in some ways, but yet so uniquely different, too. And as I'm currently working on putting together a photo album from our trip, you reminded me of our walk through Creek Street, something I had completely forgotten about, but really enjoyed. It was so peaceful, but apparently I forgot to take any pictures of it.

Thanks so much for reading it. Creek Street was really pretty and we were there early enough that we had the place to ourselves. We had such a laugh at Dolly’s House. I asked MT2 if she knew what a brothel was and she said “is it a shop that sells soup?”

 

[scottishclover]

Thanks for sharing!

You’re welcome. Not quite up to the standard of your trip reports ( I’ve read a few!) but I think it’s nice to have different perspectives on the same ports. We would have really liked to have gone on the 9 night you were on and at one point there was a discounted rate on it that wasn’t much more than what we had paid for our 7 night. As it turned out we had a fab time in Vancouver and loved our cruise so it’s all good.

 

[greensombrero]

Thanks for sharing a great trip report! I’m trying to educate myself on Disney cruises before our first in Jan. The info on Vancouver I found especially interesting. I grew up in Seattle just a few hours south and visited as a young child a couple times but that was years ago. I didn’t realize how much there would be to do and what a cool city it is. I may have to plan a family trip up there after reading your report.

 

[scottishclover]

Thanks for sharing a great trip report! I’m trying to educate myself on Disney cruises before our first in Jan. The info on Vancouver I found especially interesting. I grew up in Seattle just a few hours south and visited as a young child a couple times but that was years ago. I didn’t realize how much there would be to do and what a cool city it is. I may have to plan a family trip up there after reading your report.

Thanks for reading. I read lots of trip reports before our first cruise too. It helps you to get the most out of your cruise. Lots of people include great pictures of food and the ship interior but I wanted to focus more on the ports. I’m glad you enjoyed the Vancouver section. I don’t think it will be too long until we are back as I’d really like to take a holiday on Vancouver island. Enjoy your cruise!

 

[EllieBride]

Re: Creek Street... I’m pretty sure we were the only ones who ventured over there, too. I really enjoyed the scenic walk, though it was too early in the season to see any salmon. We did eventually find the famous salmon ladder.

We’re booked on the 8-night Northern Europe next summer, so if you end up switching from Bermuda, perhaps we will see you!

 

[Hubie]

If you get a chance to even do the 7 night - Northern European you won't regret it. It's expensive, but we saved by just exploring each city on our own except for when in St. Petersburg. Living in Scotland you probably would be better off going to each city for a couple of days on your own. For us, St. Petersburg of course was the highlight, but if you read my trip reports you'll also see that we and others truly loved Tallinn and you can catch ferries from there to Helsinki or Stockholm.

 

[scottishclover]

If you get a chance to even do the 7 night - Northern European you won't regret it. It's expensive, but we saved by just exploring each city on our own except for when in St. Petersburg. Living in Scotland you probably would be better off going to each city for a couple of days on your own. For us, St. Petersburg of course was the highlight, but if you read my trip reports you'll also see that we and others truly loved Tallinn and you can catch ferries from there to Helsinki or Stockholm.

I’m sure we would love the cruise but you are right - we can get cheap direct flights to every city on the cruise apart from St Petersburg and I’ve looked into the Helsinki to Tallinn ferry already. However there is nothing nicer than coming back on the ship for a nice meal and a show. It’s quite the dilemma. In considering this cruise, I’ve read and enjoyed your trip reports. Great information on each of them. If we do go, other than in Russia we would just explore on our own as you did.

 

[AussieDisneyfans]

Sad that your report has ended, it was really good and thanks once again for sharing. I would love to have done a placeholder for our last couple of cruises, but travelling from Australia is expensive (like you, we have a poor exchange rate with the US$ at present) and I can't guarantee getting back within the two year period. Our last B2B was just over the two year period. Enjoy your Bermuda cruise next year!

 

[scottishclover]

I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Yes the exchange rate is making any trips abroad we do now really expensive. I don’t think think it will be better anytime soon for us with this Brexit mess. However it does push you to seeing some parts of your own country and that’s not a bad thing, especially when you live where I do!

 

[daisylee]

What a fabulous trip report! We'll be sailing next Sept with 3 teens and a 12 yo, so I appreciated all the reviews of shows/places to go. We love to hike when we can, and are hoping to do a few "excursions' on our own as well, so I'll be referring to your TR again as we get closer!