A first-timer’s bucket list adventure in Alaska! June 12-19 2023 Sailing [COMPLETE]

[sadiecatie]

Chapters

Day 0 - Intro and Planning
Day 1 - Travel
Day 2 - Vancouver
Day 3 - Embarkation Day
Day 4 - Day at Sea
Day 5 - Glacier Day
Day 6 - Skagway
Day 7 - Juneau
Day 8 - Ketchikan
Day 9 - Day at Sea
Day 10 - Debarkation Day and More Vancouver
Day 11 - Travel home and Final Thoughts



Intro and Planning

Welcome! I have always found trip reports to be so helpful in my Disney vacation planning, so I’m going to attempt to pay it forward here - I hope this is helpful, or at least entertaining, to those who choose to read

The cast of characters:

• Sarah - me - college instructor and Disney princess aficionado
• Christian - my spouse - engineer and Star Wars/Marvel nerd
• Audrey - my 8-year-old daughter - soon-to-be 3rd-grader and world’s biggest Stitch fan

While we’re a Disney-loving family, this trip was not only our first DCL cruise, but our first cruise period! After our last WDW trip in July 2022, we were discussing our ideas for our next family vacation and Christian brought up an idea he’d mentioned in passing over the years - Alaska. I’d never given a lot of thought to visiting Alaska, but it was a bucket list trip for him. I said that if we were going to do it, it seemed like a cruise was a good way to go (I am not someone who likes to “rough it” in any sense), and once I looked into it just a bit and realized that Disney sails to Alaska, the choice was all but made.

We kept the idea of Alaska in mind but were just waiting to see if/when things would fall into place (it started as “that would be a fun trip at some point in the future”). Then, I ended up taking on a last-minute course overload in the fall (meaning extra income I could put into the vacation fund), and in early January DCL released the military rate for the week we had in mind in June. I jumped on it and the trip-planning officially began! The next couple months were spent researching and booking excursions, watching countless DCL/Alaska Youtube videos, and just generally impatiently waiting for our trip to finally arrive.

My research in planning for the trip started with figuring out how to actually get to the port. We live in Ohio, so we would obviously need a flight, but we were trying to decide between flying directly into Vancouver, or flying into Seattle and taking the Amtrak train up. Initially, Seattle sounded like a good option - the flights were generally cheaper, we love Seattle (Christian spent a summer there during grad school and we would love to return and visit again), and the Cascade line sounded like a beautiful ride up. However, in actually breaking all of the plans and costs down, the Seattle option ended up not being any less expensive and adding more moving parts (ie more travel legs where we could run into delays or other snags). To make the train times work, we would have to arrive earlier and leave later, meaning extra hotel nights, and I believe the return trip would have actually been by bus (not that there’s anything wrong with taking a bus, but part of the appeal was the train ride itself). In the end, we decided that flying directly into Vancouver would be more convenient and less stressful to bookend our vacation.

I’ll break down our travel plans and accommodations in my next post, but I did want to mention how much the DIS community helped in my planning! It was so nice to be able to hear others’ experiences and post random questions that came to mind as I worked through things. I’m a major planner type person, and you guys really helped me figure things out for our first cruise and feel like I had a solid handle on what the experience would be, so thank you!

 

[sadiecatie]

Day 1 - Travel

Our trip began on Friday, June 9 as we had an early flight Saturday morning and chose to stay at a hotel next to the airport the night before. We ate dinner, said a final goodbye to our cats, and hit the road to head to the Residence Inn at the Columbus Airport. We decided to take advantage of the Park & Fly option at the Residence Inn, so this was our final destination until we were fully in “travel mode” (I always consider myself fully on vacation when I don’t have to drive myself anywhere anymore!).

We checked in and called it an early night - we would be up at 3:30 the next morning to get ready and head to the terminal for our 6am flight to Toronto. The hotel was perfectly adequate - clean, modern, beds could be more comfortable, but I notoriously sleep poorly before big trips, so it may not be entirely the mattress’s fault. I ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep that night when all was said and done Christian and Audrey seemed to sleep fine.

Travel tip - bake in extra time if you have to have a layover. We had a 3 hour layover in Toronto planned, so we were fine when our flight was delayed in taking off by almost an hour (everyone had a surprisingly good attitude about it - a lot of joking about how they still had the flight listed as “on time” when we weren’t even boarding yet 10 minutes after our scheduled departure). Others had much shorter connections planned, and it seemed like a very stressful way to start vacation.

Customs was quick and easy once we arrived in Toronto - complete your customs declaration through the ArriveCAN app before you leave to expedite the process. We were able to go through the express line and complete everything in maybe 5 minutes total. However, if you’re a type-A planner (It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me!) don’t do it TOO early - you have a certain time period before it expires (2 or 3 days exactly?). In case of delays make sure you give yourself a cushion (we were just under the wire here - we had maybe 40 minutes once we landed until our completed declaration would expire and we would have had to start over because of our delay. In the future, I would just do it the day before leaving, rather than as soon as I’m able to do it).

Arrival in Vancouver - once we got our bags, we took the SkyTrain into the city. We were considering an Uber, but wanted to try the train (Christian is always curious about a new city’s public transportation system) and it turned out to be very easy and convenient. Tip: you do not need to buy a CompassPass (Vancouver’s fare card for public transit) - if you’re not sure how much you will end up using it, you can use your tap-enabled credit card or ApplePay/GoogleWallet at the turnstiles instead. For the SkyTrain, you tap in and tap out, and it will charge you the appropriate fare once you tap out. We used the bus the next day, and you can also just tap to pay when you get on the bus. It was very easy. If you are going to use it more, there are more economical options (I’ll talk about my mistake with this later!), but for a one-and-done trip, tap-to-pay at the turnstiles is easy and about the same cost.

We were staying at the Delta Downtown Suites by Marriott for two nights prior to embarkation. The hotel was only a couple blocks from Waterfront Station, so we walked over and settled into our room before going out to explore. The hotel was very nice - we got a single king suite with a partial harbor view - it’s a proper suite with a separate bedroom, unlike some “suites” that just kind of separate the bedroom and sitting area without any doors. The pullout sofa was your standard pullout - I would have slept horribly on it, but my daughter seemed to like it fine (just a note if you have extra adults planning to stay in your room - you’ll be fighting over the proper bed The double queen might be a better option in that case).

We were starving because we landed at 12:00pm Vancouver time and hadn’t eaten since breakfast in Toronto 6-7 hours earlier, so we decided to walk down to the port area to eat then look around. We ate at Tap and Barrel - it was quite good! We got burgers and fries, chips and guac/salsa, and enjoyed some BC beers. It was a great way to kick off “vacation mode”.



After getting food, we walked around and enjoyed the views of the harbor, checked out things like the Olympic Cauldron, the digital whale, and the Droplet (the last two being cool sculptures near the port), and watched the HAL Koningsdam leave the port (I got a cool time-lapse video of that, much to my daughter’s chagrin).







Our goal for the first afternoon in Vancouver was to start adjusting to the time difference (we’re from Ohio, so we were making a 3-hour shift). I wanted us to adapt as much as possible before getting on the ship. Our strategy was to try to stay up as late as we could on arrival day so that we would hopefully sleep until a reasonable time and not wake up at 3am thinking it’s time to start the day. It worked decently well for us! It was about 5pm when we left the port - we went back to the hotel to drop things off and use the restroom, then we went back out to walk down into the Gastown neighborhood. We looked around, checked out the steam clock (hot take - it’s a clock ), and decided at about 6:30 that we’d walked enough and could go back and turn in for the night. After showers, we were all in bed by about 7:30 and slept until about 6 the next morning! We were all pretty punchy by the time we turned in for the night, but we slept a long time and woke up ready to explore Vancouver more the next morning.

 

[Flossbolna]

Great start to the trip report! I am excited that there is another one about Alaska!

Your afternoon stroll looks lovely. We will arrive later and with a 9 hour time difference, but we always follow the same plan: try to stay up as late as possible. For us that’s later than 7:30 pm though.

 

[sadiecatie]

Great start to the trip report! I am excited that there is another one about Alaska!

Your afternoon stroll looks lovely. We will arrive later and with a 9 hour time difference, but we always follow the same plan: try to stay up as late as possible. For us that’s later than 7:30 pm though.

Ha, yeah, we definitely weren’t up “late”, but since we’d been awake and on the go since basically 12:30am Vancouver time, that was an accomplishment!

 

[ukintheus]

I'm along for the ride, we are doing our first Alaska in September and so I'm soaking up others experiences.

 

[sadiecatie]

I'm along for the ride, we are doing our first Alaska in September and so I'm soaking up others experiences.

Welcome! You’re going to love it!

 

[sadiecatie]

Vancouver
Sunday June 11 was our full day in Vancouver. We started with breakfast at the hotel restaurant (Stock & Supply), which was plentiful and quite tasty. Then we headed off for the walk over to Stanley Park. It was nice to see the city as we walked through, but our 8-year-old was getting pretty impatient with the walk by the time we got there (it’s almost a mile and a half - totally doable for us, but know your abilities/kids’ personalities and decide on transport accordingly). We rented bikes at Spokes Bicycle Rental and biked the sea wall path around the circumference of the park - this was a wonderful way to spend the morning! We lucked out with beautiful weather. The morning was cool but the sun came out to burn off the cloud cover and it warmed as the day went on (up to the low 70s in the afternoon).



The ride was so pleasant with lots of beautiful views. The path is separated into walking and biking sides, and the bike path is one-way, so be aware that you are committing to the full ride (I think there are some places where you can turn off and take a shortcut back through the park if you need to bail, but you might have to walk your bike up some larger hills). The full ride is about 6 miles - it took us about 2 hours at an easy pace and taking lots of stops for photos and enjoying the views.



We decided after the walk and biking all morning that we would take the bus back to the port area and give our legs a rest. This was super easy, as you can just use tap-to-pay when you board - this may be no big deal for people in cities, but this suburbanite really appreciated the efficient and easy to ride public transit in Vancouver!

We stopped at Cartem’s Donuts for a treat when we got back - just wow. I highly recommend anyone stop in here! Everything was delicious. I had a maple donut with lots of walnut pieces on top that may be the best donut I’ve ever had. They also had some interesting flavors - we tried lavender lemonade and strawberry rhubarb that were tasty, and their classic glazed donut is so pillowy soft.

We grabbed a couple sandwiches to split at Breka Bakery & Cafe so we’d have something other than sugar in our stomachs (we stopped here several times in our days in Vancouver for coffee and snacks), then walked back down to the port. Audrey really wanted to do Flyover Canada, so we walked around the dock to see what ships were there that day on our way around to where you buy tickets. Tip: if you want to try doing this, try to buy tickets online in advance. You’ll save a couple dollars per ticket and be able to reserve your time in advance. We didn’t do this and found ourselves waiting around for a while. We were able to people watch, but Audrey was getting impatient and we were all tired from the morning. The experience itself was pretty good, but tickets are pricey (it was $112CAD for the three of us). It is Soarin, but all Canadian scenes - I love Soarin, and it was cool, but I don’t know if it was $112 cool I did enjoy hanging at the port again and seeing the view of the harbor and surrounding mountains with the cloud cover gone!


I decided after Soarin - I mean, Flyover Canada - that we were all tired and needed a little rest. Everyone was denying that they were tired but getting grumpy, so I made the mom call to return to the hotel for rest. We went back to our room and watched about half of The Princess and The Frog, my husband laid down for a bit, and then we decided we needed to get something for dinner, despite all of us being tired. We went back down toward the harbor and went to Steamworks Brewpub - nothing extraordinary, but we got some tasty food and drinks and were able to fill our bellies before bed. Tonight we were able to stay up until our normal bedtimes, but we were excited to get up and board the Wonder the next day!

 

[shosh1530]

Looks like you had a great first day. We spent so much time at Stanley Park but somehow I missed those totem poles! We also thought about doing Fly Over Canada, but never made it over there.

 

[sadiecatie]

**As a quick note, I now understand why I've read so many incomplete trip reports! Life gets back into full swing and finishing up writing about your vacation can easily shift down the list of all the stuff that needs to get done. I do want to continue sharing our experiences, though, so on with the show!**

Embarkation Day

I found myself still waking up early - Audrey and I were up at about 5:30, and we let Christian sleep until 7 - but part of that I think was the excitement! Once I woke up, I couldn’t go back to sleep knowing it was embarkation day!



We had a fairly chill morning ahead of us - we had a PAT of 12:30, so we had another leisurely breakfast at Stock & Supply to start the day. Tip: if staying at the Delta, get the deal that includes breakfast. I think we ended up paying something like $15 per adult to include breakfast, but got an $80 credit per day to spend at breakfast. Well worth it! Then we went back to the room to watch Frozen while we refactored suitcases and put our luggage tags on everything.

We decided to start the process of checking out and heading to the port around 11 because I just couldn’t wait any longer, and I’m glad we did. Once we got the port, we were able to proceed directly to check-in and security. Any time someone asked for our PAT, I said, “Oh, we got here a little early, our time is 12:30” and they just said “Oh that’s fine” and waved us onward. (I know this may not be everyone’s experience - maybe it was more relaxed since we were there a little while after they had already started embarkation?). We were onboard by noon ready to begin our cruise!




We headed directly to the French Quarter Lounge to wait for dining requests - I was hoping to get a Palo brunch, since we weren’t able to book it in advance, and Christian wanted to check to see if our request for a private table at dinner had been accommodated. The dining teams were just getting set up and we only had a few people in line ahead of us. Palo was quick and easy - it was clear they had held back quite a few reservations for filling onboard, because we basically had our pick of days and times. We made a brunch reservation for the following morning, got confirmation of our private table, and Christian ordered his first Old Fashioned of the trip at the lounge .

After sorting out dining requests, we had lunch in Tiana’s, which was great! We were seated by a window where we got a lovely view of the harbor and could watch the sea planes taking off and landing, and the food was great. (I know we both got empanadas, and I think soup - no main, as we weren’t super hungry, but Audrey said her mac and cheese was magical ).



After seeing Cabanas busy later, I was happy with the decision to avoid the commotion and have a nice relaxed lunch after boarding. The food was enjoyable, we didn’t have to stress over finding a table, and were able to just relax.

Once we were done with lunch, it was time to start exploring! We just walked around a bit to get our bearings, and visited the kids club with Audrey so she could check things out with us for the first time.



We went by our room, which was open and ready. We dropped off our backpacks and got Audrey changed into her swimsuit - this was a great choice, because it was actually quite warm in Vancouver that day (high around 80), and the rest of the week in Alaska was pretty cool. She enjoyed the pools while we relaxed on the loungers until it was time for the muster drill. This was an annoying interlude (just because people were not on time and we all ended up waiting around for a while to get started - I really wish people would just be where they are supposed to be on time), but we headed right back up afterward for the Sail-a-Wave party and watching the sail away out of Vancouver. The views here were beautiful, if just a taste of what we would see throughout the week!





Dinner our first night was in Animator’s Palette, and we enjoyed it quite a bit! Audrey was transfixed by the animations on the screens throughout the night, and Sorcerer Mickey coming out was a delight. We also got to meet our serving team, Dan from Bulgaria and Kellis from St. Thomas, who were wonderful throughout our trip.

We made it a priority to meet Mickey after dinner - Audrey had made a book of character sketches and wanted to meet each character and have them sign on their page - then she went to try out the kids club while we did a trivia. Audrey was a little slow to warm up to the kids clubs, but ended up making friends and having a lot of fun in there throughout the week.



We called it a night relatively early, as we were still making the adjustment to the time change, and we wanted to be rested for our first full day on board!

 

[ukintheus]

Trip reports are very time consuming so I totally get it, but it's so nice to look back on your vacation by doing them. I'm hoping our embarkation day goes as nicely as yours did. It sounds like a great start to the cruise.

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

Great TR so far. I’ve just booked Alaska for next year and am currently binging on previous reports .

Really useful to hear about public transportation around Vancouver. We will likely spend several days there pre cruise. Do you know how the tap in/out system works with kids? Can you tap multiple times with your Apple Pay for each family member?

 

[greensombrero]

Great TR so far!

 

[sadiecatie]

Trip reports are very time consuming so I totally get it, but it's so nice to look back on your vacation by doing them. I'm hoping our embarkation day goes as nicely as yours did. It sounds like a great start to the cruise.

It really was a great start! I hope yours goes just as smoothly!

Great TR so far. I’ve just booked Alaska for next year and am currently binging on previous reports .

Really useful to hear about public transportation around Vancouver. We will likely spend several days there pre cruise. Do you know how the tap in/out system works with kids? Can you tap multiple times with your Apple Pay for each family member?

You’re going to have an amazing time! I’m already pining to go back, but we have a lot of other locations on our travel bucket list I want to check off

Kids actually ride free on Vancouver public transit (I believe it’s under 12) - if your kids are older, I’m sure you could just tap however many times you need, but we didn’t need to do this as our daughter is only 8 (my husband and I just each tapped in to pay for ourselves).

*Edited to add: in terms of the logistics for younger kids, on the buses you don’t have to worry about tapping for them, but on the SkyTrain you just have them walk through the turnstile with you (like when riding the subway in other large metro areas). There are wide turnstiles for wheelchairs/strollers, and it’s easier to go through those together with young kiddos.

 

[shosh1530]

Sounds like you had a great start! I wish I had tried to get on a bit earlier than our 12:30 PAT that day.

And I think we must have been in the same dining rotation (assuming you had early dining).

I totally get what you are saying about trip reports that never get finished. I would get so disappointed reading those before our trip and having them suddenly stop. But now I also get how easy it could be to get distracted by life – especially when writing up a 7 day cruise!

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[sadiecatie]

Sounds like you had a gstoreat start! I wish I had tried to get on a bit earlier than our 12:30 PAT that day.

And I think we must have been in the same dining rotation (assuming you had early dining).

I totally get what you are saying about trip reports that never get finished. I would get so disappointed reading those before our trip and having them suddenly stop. But now I also get how easy it could be to get distracted by life – especially when writing up a 7 day cruise!

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

I was reading your report earlier today (I'm woefully behind!) and also noticed that we were in the same rotation! (we were early dining - I just finished your post about the second day, when we were also in Tiana's). I feel like we crossed paths a lot, obviously without realizing (there's a picture in your post from the sail away under Lion's Gate Bridge when I'm pretty sure my family was directly behind you )

 

[sadiecatie]

Day at Sea

Audrey and I were up bright and early on our sea day (although I think we were finally getting adjusted! We woke up at about 6 or 6:30) - we let Christian sleep a bit more and headed out to get breakfast as soon as Cabanas opened. I realized as the trip went on that it pays to be an early riser. I do not like Cabanas when it’s busy - I get stressed out and do not enjoy it at all when I’m battling crowds to try to find a table - but when it’s not busy it can be quite nice! We had a nice breakfast before heading out to enjoy the ship. We're fairly basic in terms of our breakfast foods - eggs, bacon, fruit, and Mickey Waffles are always a hit!



After breakfast, we headed to the D-lounge for a coloring session. A lot of our time on the ship was focused on character meet and greets and crafts when together as a family, and hanging out in the adult lounges or doing trivia sessions when Audrey was in the kids club. The highlight of the day was probably Audrey getting to meet Stitch (her favorite character) - we queued up early to make sure she would be one of the first in line, and she had an amazing interaction with him (he ran around and showed her drawing of him to the whole queue - she was so proud!). Her excitement on her face was priceless!







We also did the Royal Gathering this morning before Audrey hit up the kids clubs, and she got to meet Cinderella, Ariel, Tiana, and Belle. She continued to collect autographs in her sketch book, and all the characters and handlers made a suitably big deal about how good her drawings were





The plan was for us to go enjoy Palo brunch late morning, but unfortunately the seas were quite rough this day and Christian was not feeling well (cast members told us that it was unusual, and that it was the worst sea conditions they’d seen so far in the Alaska season). He tried to pull it together for brunch, but it was quite apparent he was feeling unwell as soon as we were seated. The team at Palo was wonderful - the manager, Sacha, helped get him a ginger ale and rescheduled us for the next day so that we could come back when he could actually appreciate it. We bowed out and he went back to the stateroom to try to nap and see if he’d feel better later.

Much of the rest of the day was spent with Audrey and me checking out characters and doing crafts, until she also started feeling bad! We tried to see a showing of The Little Mermaid in the Walt Disney Theater, but we had to bail part-way through despite her efforts to stick it out (she really wanted to see it!). I don’t know exactly what the issue was, but my suspicion is that it was some version of seasickness - I know it can present differently in kids, and her main complaints were a sore neck (maybe from stiffness trying to hold herself steady?) and a headache. She took a nap and we did manage to make her appointment at Bippity Boppity Boutique to get all fancy for formal night. God bless the “Fairy Godmothers In Training” there - we had Amy from the U.K., who was an absolute gem. She could tell that Audrey was feeling off on top of being a generally shy kid, and she still managed to draw her out of her shell, get her to crack some smiles, and we were all glad that we ended up going (I was ready to bail with both of them feeling so off).





We had a quick dinner in Tiana’s Place and then got both of them off to bed early - I was thankfully unaffected by the motion, but Christian and Audrey were both struggling. This was just the first example of our serving team being absolute gems - Christian took Audrey back to the stateroom early while I finished dinner (he insisted I stay and enjoy my dinner because I’d been taking care of both of them all day), and they brought his dinner out with a cover so that I could take it back to him in the room, along with a bowl of green apples for Audrey to fight nausea (and they were very attentive and making sure both of them felt better the next couple days). I was so sad they missed seeing Tiana and Louis though - our table was *directly* on the middle aisle where they came out, and when Tiana came by the table and I explained that my family wasn't feeling well, she told me to wish them well and she'd see them back the next night



After checking in on my family, I went to The Golden Mickeys on my own (very cute - nobody tell Audrey I went, she would never forgive me ). As a note, I was undecided about whether or not to go until basically showtime - I showed up with a few minutes to spare, and there were a couple seats right up front. It was a wonderful way to view the show, and I enjoyed myself immensely! Not that this is a strategy, but if you aren't particular about your seats, don't shy way from just showing up and seeing what you can find.

Afterwards, I went to enjoy the big window seats in the After Hours hallway with a book and a glass of wine from the Welcome Reception until I was ready to head to bed. Despite my family feeling like garbage, I had a very relaxing and enjoyable evening!



Thankfully, that was the last of the yucks for the trip - everyone was feeling hale and hearty and ready to tackle new adventures the next day!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Your trip report is great! I am interested to see what you did in each port. We are going to Alaska next May but on Princess.

 

[PlutoDisney]

**As a quick note, I now understand why I've read so many incomplete trip reports! Life gets back into full swing and finishing up writing about your vacation can easily shift down the list of all the stuff that needs to get done. I do want to continue sharing our experiences, though, so on with the show!**

Totally agree with you on this. Between getting all the post vacation laundry done, then returning to work, and doing all the day to day stuff, time really does get away from you. I also get a little frustrated when I'm left in suspense when reading a trip report and I have no patience lol. It is for this reason that I have been frantically typing up our entire trip report before I even attempt to start posting.

It's great to read your report and see the same cruise from a different perspective.

 

[PlutoDisney]

We stopped at Cartem’s Donuts for a treat when we got back - just wow. I highly recommend anyone stop in here! Everything was delicious. I had a maple donut with lots of walnut pieces on top that may be the best donut I’ve ever had. They also had some interesting flavors - we tried lavender lemonade and strawberry rhubarb that were tasty, and their classic glazed donut is so pillowy soft.

My cousin got us donuts from here and I have to agree they were pretty tasty and pretty big too!

We grabbed a couple sandwiches to split at Breka Bakery & Cafe so we’d have something other than sugar in our stomachs (we stopped here several times in our days in Vancouver for coffee and snacks)

We were very lucky to have one of these just a few steps down the street from our hotel. Their food is pretty good and their cakes/sweets are to die for.

 

[sadiecatie]

Glacier Day

We were up early again - by this time I think our body clocks were fully adjusted, but Audrey is an early riser at home as well, and when you’re all in a small room together, there is no sleeping in once your kid is awake (this was also after setting our clocks back another hour to be on Alaska time). We opened Cabanas again to get Audrey breakfast and get a little something in our stomachs to start the day. This morning we were soaking in the views as we sailed toward the inside passage and got our first taste of Alaska. After our rough seas the day before, the glasslike waters of the inside passage were a welcome sight!





After Cabanas, we did coloring time in D-Lounge - Audrey worked on a picture, but I was glued to the windows, as the scenery going by was just astoundingly beautiful.

After family coloring time, Audrey went to the kids club and we had a take-two on our planned sea day morning. Christian was feeling much better as we had entered the inside passage and the waters were calm. We went to a cycling class in the fitness center before brunch - the class itself was fine (I do cycling classes regularly and the instructor’s style wasn’t really my cup of tea - I just kind of ignored him and did my own pacing and intensity throughout), but the views were phenomenal. Then we got cleaned up and headed to Palo!

The manager, Sacha, remembered us right away and was asking how Christian was feeling today (in fact, he spotted us out for a walk on deck 10 later in the week and popped out to say hello and see how he was doing again - such care and thoughtfulness for guests really impressed us!), and seated us with the same server we had met the day before. The food was delicious, and we were glad we went, but our hot take is that it’s probably a one-and-done for us, or at least not an every sailing must - we don’t need to make Palo a priority on future sailings. I think the biggest reason for us was that there’s just SO MUCH FOOD on the ship, much of it quite good, that we don’t really feel the need to pay extra for more food. Maybe we’re just not very fancy people but we didn’t have a meal on the ship we didn’t enjoy. The experience was lovely, though - we enjoyed the beautiful views throughout our meal and the wonderful service.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the views and meeting characters. We ended up sailing down Tracy Arm - we were able to get far enough to get a view of the glacier in the distance (Sawyer Glacier), but we were not able to sail very close because of the ice and seal pups (there were a lot of harbor seals, and the ship will not sail close enough to disturb the mothers and pups at this time of the season). This would have been a sailing where it was well worth it do to the Glacier Discovery excursion! We weren’t sad we didn’t do it (it was sold out anyways by the time we could book) - but I’m sure those who did were very happy with their choice given how far out the Wonder had to stop!





The weather was actually pretty mild (temps in the 50s, but sunny with minimal wind), so we actually spent most of the afternoon enjoying the views from the pool deck while Audrey swam. We took lots of pictures, enjoyed the warmth of the sun, and Audrey was living her best life with pool time and soft serve. This was a really pleasant way to spend the afternoon! Christian and I swapped out going off to take photos and get different views while the other one lounged by the pool and just enjoyed the passing scenery. As a tip, everyone crowds deck 10 all day on glacier day, but you also get amazing views from deck 4, and great photo opportunities there closer to the water! I frequently popped down there, and it was usually wide open with only a few other people hanging out on the loungers there.







After a while in the pool, we tore her away to go get cleaned up and ready for evening activities. We went to the atrium to check out Oaken’s Maypole Swirl and Twirl, which was super cute! Audrey was really into it, so we were glad we made it a point to be there. She joined in the dances and had a great time. Then we met a few more characters before dinner.







We had dinner in Tiana’s Place again, this time with the Frozen menu. I know others have said they didn't enjoy this menu, but once again we were pleased with our choices! If you're ever unsure, ask your servers. This was my go-to - I'd often narrow down my choices to a couple and ask what Dan recommended, and he never steered me wrong! After dinner, we headed up to the pool deck for the Freezing the Night Away deck party. This is definitely something that’s cute for the kids but I would otherwise be OK missing . Audrey really enjoyed it though. Afterward, Audrey did a little more kids club time while we did a happy hour/trivia, then we all headed to bed to be ready for our first day off the ship in Skagway!