A WONDERful Alaskan cruise in all carry on luggage! May 2016

[tnshsms]

After we left this area, we saw a large pod of Orcas which he said it unusual for this time of year and some more whales. We were told to remain seated but the kids had a hard time with this and for that reason, I really think that this excursion should be for 5 and up. Little ones didn't get anything out of the discussion from our guide and its hard for a kiddo that young to understand that they need to stay on a trail or sit in their seat for their own safety.

But moving on, we ended up seeing quite the pod of orcas which was awesome. We stayed with them for a while and then we left that area to find more whales which we did. We never got a breaching whale or a whale tail so that's a shame. It was hard for me to capture the whales with my camera and I shot a lot of video so I only have a few pictures!






After that it was time to get back but we stopped to see some seals bathing on a buoy in the ocean.





When we got back to the ship, the hubby and kid got ready for dinner and I took a couple of more pictures from the ship.

We were all pretty tired at this point but tonight was Toy Story the musical so we had the Pixar Dance party and meet and greets before dinner. We also wanted to see the show so we relaxed a bit before the evenings festivities. My pictures from the dance party are pretty rough but we saw: Woody, Jesse, Sulley, Boo, Russell, Dug, Remie and Emile, Mrs Incredible and Joy from Inside Out. The kid had fun and it was a cute little dance party. If you stood in one spot, the characters just rotated around the lobby so you ended up dancing with all of them. The show was super cute as well. After that we went to bed to get ready for Ketchikan!

Up Next...Ketchikan-will the rainforest be as good as our first two excursions?

 

[linetbo]

Orcas!!! We only saw the humpback. We were really happy because it was like they know how much we paid for it and thone whales did a great job I am waiting for your Rainforest report because that was the only excursion we didn't like that much. It was just ok. But we walked Ketchikan after the tour and love it, it was my favorite port to walk.

 

[tnshsms]

Orcas!!! We only saw the humpback. We were really happy because it was like they know how much we paid for it and thone whales did a great job I am waiting for your Rainforest report because that was the only excursion we didn't like that much. It was just ok. But we walked Ketchikan after the tour and love it, it was my favorite port to walk.

You know...we didn't like it all the much either. I wanted a low key day but I think we would have been better off doing the Bering Sea or lumberjack show. The kid seemed to like it but it was kind of a let down after the first two days.

 

[linetbo]

You know...we didn't like it all the much either. I wanted a low key day but I think we would have been better off doing the Bering Sea or lumberjack show. The kid seemed to like it but it was kind of a let down after the first two days.

Exactly!

 

[bcwife76]

Really enjoying your TR, you got some fantastic shots of the orcas! Looks like some great weather that day. Such gorgeous scenery all around.

 

[tnshsms]

Really enjoying your TR, you got some fantastic shots of the orcas! Looks like some great weather that day. Such gorgeous scenery all around.

Thank you! Yes, I didn't get a ton of pictures of them but the few I did turned out great! It was so fun to a mama, daddy and baby too. We were super lucky on weather and all the locals told us that we must have brought the pixie dust with us on the Mickey Boat because the weather has been great.

 

[dinglehopper79]

Our first sighting!

What time did you go whale watching as this looks very much like the boat we were on....and we saw an Orca pod.....

 

[tnshsms]

Let's see...we were on the whale boat around 11:30-noon so maybe this was around 12:30ish?

 

[tnshsms]

Ketchikan!!!

Since we port late into K we slept in a bit and I went to the DVC talk they have....cause you know, I'm a sucker and love Disney apparently. But they didn't pull me in quite yet. I prefer cruises over parks so they haven't convinced me yet.

Anyway, we met for our excursion at 12:15 so we had quick service lunch again. We realized at this point that we haven't had a lot of experience with Beach Blanket which is unusual for us as we seem to eat at the buffet a lot. Just never worked out for us this time. We met our group and realized quickly that we only had 8 people on our excursion. Since the zipliners went to the same location, we were all on the bus together. The bus ride was about 20 min to the rainforest and our driver talked a little about K. He asked about what we had done so far and we told him about seeing a moose and he was shocked since there aren't a lot of places in SE Alaska to see a moose. It seemed when we told any local about our moose experience they were all very surprised.

Once we got to the rainforest, our two groups separated and we gathered under a pavilion of sorts. Our guide tells us that we will do a easy 45-1 hr hike/walk thru the rainforest and there are no bathrooms along the route so we might want to use the porta potties before we leave. The kid decides this is a good idea. We start our walk and I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but I guess this wasn't it. It was pretty much a hike looking at trees and plantlife and learning how they interact in the Alaskan Rainforest. It was fine but not all that exciting. The kid seemed to enjoy herself and was entertained when we'd see a banana slug or an old bear den and some bear scat but all in all the 45 min hike was a little underwhelming after our first two excursions. Don't get me wrong, the rainforest was pretty with the very tall trees and odd moss and pretty flowers. But we were wanting more wildlife and didn't get it.



After the rainforest portion, we walked on a boardwalk where the salmon hatchery was. There was a little river in front of it when you can sometimes see salmon swimming. We saw nothing. And sometimes bears are in this area too to observe. Nothing....

Then we went to an old saw mill which was really just a big open shed with some large tools. Maybe because I'm from a midwestern farming type of town, this wasn't that big of deal to me, but it was just ok. Then she says we get to go see Vulta, one of our bald eagles. I was pretty excited about being able to see some bald eagles up close in a natural habitat. These were eagles that were hurt in someway and needed rehabilitation. Vulta ran into a power line and hurt her wing so she can't go back into the wild. She says they have 4 bald eagles...cool!

We walk in and here is Vulta. She's pretty and they say she was super active while we were in there. But she can't fly so she pretty much just stood there and looked around. Apparently that's active. At one time she did flap her wings like she wanted to fly but she can't because she's hurt. We spent about 10 min looking at her look around. I expected to see all 4 bald eagles but apparently the other 3 aren't for viewing.



So another kind of let down. It was neat to be that close to a bald eagle....this is not a zoomed in picture at all. She was really that close but I wanted more. We had just been spoiled the days before I think.

Then we go off to see the totem pole maker. It was cool to see him hand carve a totem pole and hear the story of how totem poles work. We were there about 10 min. Then it was off to see the reindeer. At this point, the kid was ready to be done and so we saw them for about a min and headed to the gift shop for some water and a restroom. The group waited a little longer around the reindeer but the saw mill, the eagle viewing, the totem pole and the reindeer are all about a 1 min walk from each other and the gift shop.


We got a couple of kid friendly books in the gift shop and were on the bus just in time for it to rain. The tour was right at 3 hours long. We took the 20 min back to town and did a little shopping. The ship is so close to town that its an easy walk. Not even a couple of minutes.

 

[tnshsms]

Here are a couple of pictures from the ship in Ketchikan.




Once back to the ship we got some pictures with the pixar characters and went to dinner. Tonight was another magic comedy show but we again watched a movie in the room. The kid was excited to see our stateroom host had made us a seal out of towels and that she had frozen sheets! She wrote him a thank you note for those.



Up Next...our last sea day.

 

[Aby]

We walked past luggage drop off and went upstairs to check in. They didn't start the checkin process until 10:30. We were 20th or so in line with the silver and gold members. The first timer line was shorter than ours and the concierge/platinum was about our length. We finally got to check in and were boarding group 5. We checked in for the kids club since there were only 2 people in line and then headed down to security. This was pretty quick as well. We were questioned about our food (snacks) and moved on our way. Next was customs. This took the longest. Then it was on to the terminal to wait.

In 2011 and 2013, we had to go through security first, then customs, and then were able to check in with Disney and get our boarding number. It appears your experience was reversed - I wonder why it changed? I dont even remember an "upstairs" - was it really easy to find your way around?

Thanks, and really enjoying your trip report so far!

Aby

 

[tnshsms]

In 2011 and 2013, we had to go through security first, then customs, and then were able to check in with Disney and get our boarding number. It appears your experience was reversed - I wonder why it changed? I dont even remember an "upstairs" - was it really easy to find your way around?

Thanks, and really enjoying your trip report so far!

Aby

I'm not sure about why it was reversed but no, it was not hard at all. There were many people directing you with the mickey hands in the direction you needed to go. I thought it was strange to go up and then down as well but when we went upstairs to check in, NCL was also checking in...maybe it was easier since 2(technically 3 ships) were in port. The 3rd ship was there as a port day.

After check in of both the cruise and the kids club, they told us to go back downstairs and many mickey hands directed us the whole time. NCL passengers were doing the same thing but they got to enjoy the mickey hands along the way. But after customs it was mickey hand one direction and a sign to tell NCL where to go. They didn't get to have a person welcome them.

 

[dinglehopper79]

Let's see...we were on the whale boat around 11:30-noon so maybe this was around 12:30ish?

Ok that wasn't us but that is the type of boat that we were on for our whale watching adventure. I'm glad you were able to still see the orcas....it was one of the highlights of the trip for us We had been on another whale watching tour a few years ago out of Seattle and we saw like one or two way out in the distance so we were hoping for a better tour this time around and it didn't disappoint!

 

[tnshsms]

Ok that wasn't us but that is the type of boat that we were on for our whale watching adventure. I'm glad you were able to still see the orcas....it was one of the highlights of the trip for us We had been on another whale watching tour a few years ago out of Seattle and we saw like one or two way out in the distance so we were hoping for a better tour this time around and it didn't disappoint!

From what I could tell based on our guides discussion, there are several whale watching boats out all day long. So it might have been the same boat with a different tour! We loved seeing the orcas...we knew it was rare so it was awesome!

 

[linetbo]

Yep, same tour in Ketchikan, but we saw an eagle, an owl and 2 more that I don't remember right now. Because we did the cruise late July we saw the salmons but that is.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I'm loving your trip report! We are going next summer.

 

[tnshsms]

Our sad last day.....

We didn't do much of anything on our last sea day. We packed and met a bunch of characters. Keep in mind that the Alaskan characters were only out on the Tracy Arm day and port days. By the last sea day, we got Daisy and Donald in their Alaskan gear that morning (9ish) and then they were back to cruise outfits after that. So if you want to get the characters in their Alaskan outfits, be sure to do it on the Tracy Arm or port days. I took a few pictures of the ship, we ate lunch in Parrot Cay, watched Zootopia, went to the character dance party and got ready for dinner. We saw the new Golden Mickey's that final night and it was really cute as well.

The hubby and I love celebration cake. Its our favorite. Its part cake and part cheesecake. Best dessert on DCL.



Baked Alaska on the final night.




All in all a pretty laid back day. After the show, we went to bed to get ready for our early morning. The next day we had breakfast in our room (we took cereal from Beach Blanket the day before and put them in our room then ordered milk from room service after the show that evening). We got the all clear to leave the ship at 7:45 so we did the express walk off and was off the ship by 8:05. We walked past all the empty holding spots of where the luggage would be eventually and got in line for the DCL transfers.

Yes, the DCL transfers is expensive. I'm not going to say they aren't. BUT for us, it was about convenience. I knew I wasn't going to be up for messing with the train on our way to the airport. We did it coming to the port but we were still excited for our trip and it was part of the experience. At this point, we are just ready to be home. I wanted ease and no thought process and this was it. We loaded the bus by 8:15 and was one of the last ones on. We were at the airport around 8:50 and was able to get thru customs and security and to the airport lounge by 9:30. Our flight took off at 12:50 so we had plenty of time but we were unsure of how long security and customs would take. Its not like we could have done anything fun on the ship so it was the best choice for us.

Our 12:50 flight was delayed about 45 min for a medical emergency so we had a quick turn around in Dallas to get our connecting flight. We didn't get any real food since it was such a quick turnaround so when we landed at our home airport and was to the gate, the kid looked at me and said mommy, I don't feel so good. I grabbed a vomit bag just in time to catch the vomit. As passengers deplaned, she threw up. WELCOME HOME!! Luckily she seemed fine after that and once we all got dinner at 10pm at night our time, she felt better.

I hope you liked the report! I'll be happy to answer questions!

 

[bcwife76]

Thanks for such a great report! Poor DD, not the homecoming you all envisioned! Sounds like she recovered quickly!

 

[tnshsms]

Thanks for such a great report! Poor DD, not the homecoming you all envisioned! Sounds like she recovered quickly!

Thanks!

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

Loved your report and brava for travelling with carryons only! I don't think that will happen for us! It looks like you had some nice sunny weather and blue skies. What were the temps like? I see on the Tracey Arm day that your kiddo is decked out in fleece. Was it that cold on the other days? Should we even bother with shorts?

Laurie