a WONDERful first cruise - Alaska August 26 - September 2, 2024

PoppyJ

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Welcome to my trip report! It will likely be more informational than entertaining, but I hope to provide information that I was looking for as a first time cruiser.

That's right it was my (and my husband's) FIRST CRUISE EVER!

We sailed on the Wonder on the 7-night cruise to Alaska on Monday, August 26, 2024 to Monday, September 2, 2024. (Just got back yesterday!)

We splurged on a verandah room and booked Cabin 7544.


BOOKING THE CRUISE

I have no idea when bookings opened for our cruise but we booked on July 22, 2023.

We were lucky to still be able to book early dining. Although I heard some people prefer the late dining so they are not rushing back to the ship on port days, I did not want to eat that late since I tend to go to bed early.

In March 2024, when cruises were released for summer 2025, I checked the price for the same room type / date, and it was a bit cheaper.

TIP 1: Book your cruise as early as possible for the best pricing!


BOOKING FLIGHTS

When I booked the cruise, flights had not been released yet for our dates but I started watching pricing trends.

I wanted to make sure we had a direct flight to Vancouver to minimize the risk of a delayed or canceled flight before our cruise. The only airline that had direct flights was United/Air Canada. However, I also had a Delta credit I needed to use.

In September 2023, I booked a direct United flight to Vancouver. We decided to leave on Friday, August 23. Our flights were actually changed a couple times but we ended up arriving in Vancouver at 10:14 pm, which was later than I originally planned.

In October 2023, I booked a flight with one layover back on Delta. I booked our flight for Monday, September 2, the day the Wonder returned to Vancouver. Our flight originally was supposed to leave Vancouver at 1:30 pm. However, it was changed to 12:15 pm, which concerned me, but then it was changed again to 12:49 pm.


BOOKING HOTEL

In October 2023, I also booked our hotel for Vancouver. I booked 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency because I had Hyatt points to use and the location looked good. This was an easy choice because it was essentially “free.”


BOOKING EXCURSIONS

I figured this was going to be a once in a lifetime trip, so excursions were important to me. I wanted to make sure we were able to do everything we wanted.

Since we were first time cruisers, I knew we would be last to book Disney excursions, and all the Alaska Cruise groups I was in recommend booking third party excursions anyway to save money. So I booked almost all of our excursions outside of Disney, although it is my understanding that Disney uses some of the same companies for their excursions.

I started looking at excursions right away, but most, if not all, of the companies did not open reservations for summer 2024 until January 2024.

Since I would need to pay for the excursions upfront, my plan was to budget to book one excursion per month beginning in January 2024.

At the beginning of January 2024, I booked whale watching in Juneau through Harv & Marv. We booked the 6-person boat from 8:00 am to 12:15 pm. I booked this first because I wanted the 6-person tour and thought it might sell out quickly.

There wasn't anything in Ketchikan that stood out to me. I was going to book kayaking but it wasn't high on my priority list. But then I heard about a black bear tour. I was really excited about this! I booked it as soon as I heard about it. So at the end of January 2024, I booked the Express Black Bear Tour through Kawanti Adventures. It was scheduled for 2:15 pm to 4:15 pm.

Then I dropped the ball… We had a Disney World trip planned for May 2024, and I focused on that.

By April, I realized that I had not booked our Skagway excursion. I wanted to do the Yukon Rail and Bus Excursion through Chilkoot Charters. But when I checked in the beginning of April 2024, it was sold out! I couldn't believe it… My husband and I looked at the other tours through Chilkoot and signed up for the Bennett Scenic Journey. The train ride was a lot longer but it did not go to the Wild Adventure Yukon where they have the puppies. We signed up for the later 9:30 am departure, which had the bus ride first and the train second because I read that the train can be foggy in the morning. This was a really long excursion and ran from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.

I also still had not been able to find a tour that would work with our schedule to see the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. There are plenty of tours that combine whale watching and the Glacier but I specifically wanted to do Harv & Marv whale watching so I needed to find a Mendenhall Glacier tour that started around 1:00 pm. I never did… so we decided to rent a car.

One thing to note about the Juneau port is that there are multiple docks and Disney docks at the AJ Dock, which is the furthest from town. There is a shuttle that will take you into town. However, Avis has a location to pick up rental cars that is about a ten minute walk from the AJ Dock. We were able to reserve an electric car from this location for about $200 for the day.

We figured it would be really tight on time, but our plan for Juneau was whale watching, pick up car, lunch at Tracy’s Crab Shack (which I read was a must do), then Mendenhall Glacier. Even if we only got an hour at the glacier, I thought it would be worth it.

TIP 2: Even if you are not booking excursions through Disney, book as early as possible for the best availability!


LUGGAGE

Normally, we travel with carry on only. But I did not want to stuff a carry on for this trip. We needed warm clothes and jackets, which are bigger to pack, and multiple pairs of shoes… And I wanted to dress up for the formal nights (I never have any reason to dress up at home). This was another reason I definitely wanted a direct flight on the way to Vancouver.

We each packed a checked suitcase. I bought tracking tags to add to each of our suitcases.


BEST THINGS I PACKED

Binoculars
Bonine (I get extremely motion sick, I took about 4 Bonine a day and felt fine)
Rain jacket (wore this everyday, never used my umbrella)
Intmissi Wool & Cotton Long Sleeve Crewneck Top
Bombas Merino Wool Crew Neck Long Sleeve Shirt
Patagonia fleece sweatshirt
Athleta Polartec pants
Athleta Solstice jogger
Winter hat / gloves
Hiking Boots

I wore four layers everyday - Intimissi wool shirt, Bombas merino wool shirt, sweatshirt, rain jacket. Then my fleece pants.

TIP 3: Pack layers, a good rain jacket and some sort of fleece pants.


BOOKING EXCURSIONS THROUGH DCL

On June 12, 2024, at midnight EST, I was able to book excursions through DCL.

I was shocked to see that almost everything was available! There were only a few excursions that sold out. I can remember that the dog sledding and private Jeep tour in Juneau were sold out, as well as the train/puppy camp combo in Skagway.

I was really excited that I was able to book the glacier viewing excursion for the glacier viewing day!!! (Spoiler - this was absolutely worth it)

I also booked the morning Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan just because we didn't have anything planned.

All other excursions, I kept my third party bookings.

TIP 4: If you are a first time cruiser, don't worry, there will be lots of available excursions!


ONLINE CHECK IN

On July 27, 2024, right at midnight EST, I did my online check in.

Prior to doing online check in, you need to have a photo of your passport and a photo of you with a white or solid background.

I sped through online check in by selecting “cash” for payment, “not flying”, “going back home”, and “parked at the terminal” for my arrival and debarkation information. It will make sense when you see it, and it will avoid having to add any additional information, which would slow down your check in process.

Anyway, all this rushing is to get to the last step to pick your Port Arrival Time (PAT). As a first time cruiser, I got 12:00 pm to 12:15 pm, Boarding Group 12. Again, I was surprised. I thought it would be much later, so I was happy we would have time for lunch once we got onboard.

After I completed the check in process and reserved my PAT, I immediately went back in and put in my credit card for payment and my flight details.

On July 28, I received an email from DCL, that there was an issue with some information I provided at check in. I went back in to correct it. (I think I had made a mistake on my passport number) When I was correcting the mistake, I took another look at the available PAT. Just like everything with Disney, keep checking and new times open up! I was able to snag a PAT for 11:15 am to 11:30 am, Boarding Group 8.

On July 31, I received an email from DCL, that my check in information was reviewed and verified!

TIP 5: If you want an early PAT time, try to do your online check in as fast as possible, or keep checking back for am earlier time!


ARRIVING IN VANCOUVER

The day finally arrived, and our flight was on time! We arrived in Vancouver around 10:30 pm. We collected our checked luggage without issue and followed the signs to the train. We bought a ticket at the machine for about $7 CA for the both of us.

We took the Waterfront train and got off at the City Centre stop (second to last stop). When we got off the train, we did notice a few drug addicts at the stop. Also, someone asked to follow my husband out when he scanned his ticket. He said no, and the guy moved on. We walked about two blocks to the Hyatt. I felt safe because there were a lot of people walking around.

We checked in and discovered we were upgraded to a room with a balcony! We had a sliver of a view of the water and could see a ship in dock the next morning.

I highly recommend the Hyatt. There was a gym, an outdoor pool and hot tub and a nice play/game room for kids. The location was also very convenient.

TIP 6: The train from the airport to the city was fast and cheap!


VANCOUVER - DAY 1

We slept in and had breakfast at the Tim Hortons right next door. I had the Nutella donut, and my husband has the maple bacon egg croissant. They were both very good. The coffee wasn't great.

We walked down to Canada Place. I wanted to figure out where we would need to go to board the cruise. We walked around, watched the planes land in the water, then headed to the cruise area. From there, we walked to the Waterfront Station, so we would be familiar with the route when we returned.

Then we walked to the Granville Island Public Market. It took about 40 minutes to walk there. We wandered around, ate lunch, ate donuts, watched some of the performers (street performers). Then we took a Lyft back to the hotel. This cost about $17 CA. We went to the gym at the hotel, then sat in the hot tub. Dinner was at Cardero's. I had made a reservation in advance. It was very good and we had a nice water view.

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VANCOUVER - DAY 2

We woke up early and took a Lyft to Grouse Mountain because I had a reservation for Breakfast with the Bears. The Lyft was about $25 CA.

Breakfast with the Bears was OK. Basically, you get in early so you get to see the bears but it is what everyone else sees, just earlier. The breakfast was pretty good though. I'm glad we did it, but I would probably not do it again for the price. We walked around, saw the lumberjack show, saw the bird show, went on a short hike, and then left. We took the free shuttle back to Canada Place, then walked to our hotel.

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We had dinner at the Cactus Club. We did not have a reservation so we waited around half an hour for a table but it was worth it!! This was one of my favorite meals! Highly recommend!

TIP 6: Go to Cactus Club!!!


EMBARKTION DAY

We had the breakfast buffet at the hotel. I enjoyed it and it was convenient.

We packed up and decided to take a taxi to Canada Place. There is a line of taxis waiting outside the hotel. It was $7 CA. I asked the driver if he would take USD, and he said yes so I gave him $10 USD.

We arrived at 11:07 am for our 11:15 PAT. We took our luggage over to the porters. We had our luggage tags with us but had not put them on. The porter put our tags on and took our bags.

We walked inside and were directed where to go. I think it was less confusing because we were the only ship leaving that day.

They had signs up for where to line up for PAT times at 10:45, 11:00, 11:15, etc. We were trying to figure out where to go when a cast member told us to just get in line to check in. So we got right in line and waited less than 10 minutes. At check in, I believe we had to show our passports. We also had to give them our magic bands to program. We were given a papaer wristband to wear to show that we had checked in.

Once we were done with check in, we followed the route back downstairs. We went through security. Then we went through immigration.

Then we entered the waiting room. Based on my photo, this was at 11:35 am. There were a lot of people, and I'm not sure how long they had been waiting. We had perfect timing because as soon as we walked in, they started boarding Group 1.

We were Group 8. So while we waited, I connected to the DCL wifi, so I could see the Navigator on the app to check out our dining rotation and the activities.

We boarded the ship right around noon. We wandered around for a bit and stumbled upon Mickey, then headed to the waterslide! I wanted to go on it at least once and thought this might be my only chance! (It was) No one else was using it so I went down and then jumped in the hot tub. Afterwards, we ate lunch from Cabanas.

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(No one at the pool!!! It was also raining a little...)

By then, it was around 2:00 pm, so we went to see if our room was ready and it was! Our room was very spacious and we loved the verandah. I also really loved the split bathroom. The location was great. I wanted mid-ship for less swaying. I'm not sure it made that much of a difference. We were right by the elevators and stairs, which was really nice. Not too much noise. Also, this side of the ship (I still don't understand port or starboard sides) faces the mainland as you sail up to Alaska, which we wanted. But there were great views on both sides, so I'm also not sure this made that much of a difference.

We opened our door to leave and our luggage was there!

We attended the muster drill and then I think we just explored the ship until dinner.

We had the 5:45 pm dinner seating. Our first dinner was at Animator's Palate. I had requested a quiet area of the dining room. We were sat with another couple on their honeymoon! We had very nice servers, and we enjoyed all of our dinners.

The sail away party was delayed until 7:45 pm because of the rain, so we went there straight after dinner. It was so fun!!

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We got hot cocoa and headed to bed!

As a first time cruiser, I was very nervous about this day and the process, but I don't think it could have gone any smoother. Everything worked out well, and I was so excited to start the cruise!!

TIP 7: Go on the waterslide when you get on the ship! The other days may be too cold or (if not too cold) too busy!
 
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Great start , we went Alaska in May on the Princess.

Can’t wait to see how you like Alaska.
 
DAY 2: At Sea

We had a reservation for brunch at Palo at 10:30 a.m. We slept in and then headed to brunch at Palo. It was AMAZING. For $50/person, it is all you can eat. We stuck mostly with our server’s recommendations, and it did not disappoint.

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After brunch, we headed to a DVC member event. They played a trivia game and we got a free drink. It was fun, but probably not something I would do again.

I’m not too sure what we did after that. I think we just relaxed on the balcony. There were already some amazing views.

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In the afternoon, we did the origami class. We enjoyed this too.

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Then it was time to get ready for dinner because it was formal night! I was excited to get dressed up. I loved the backgrounds they had for photos too. We had dinner in Tiana’s, but it was not the themed dinner.

The show this night was the Golden Mickeys. It started at 8:30 p.m. We arrived around 8:00 p.m., and bought the popcorn bucket before heading in. We were able to get good seats because we wanted to be in the back. This was a great show! We got hot cocoa, then headed to bed.
 
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DAY 3: Glacier Day

We got up around 7:30 a.m. for glacier day. I wanted to get the happy hour beignets and coffee at the French Quarter Lounge. From 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., you can get two beignets, chocolate dipping sauce and any coffee for a special price (I can’t remember the price).

After the beignets, we headed up to Deck 10 to see what the lines looked like for characters. Mickey was scheduled to be out in his Alaska outfit at 9:00 a.m., and Minnie was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. I believe I got in line for Mickey around 8:40 a.m. While I waited in line, my husband went to Cabanas to get fruit. However, he came back with the best thing ever - MICKEY CHURRO WAFFLES!!!! These were so good. I thought they tasted better/fresher than the ones at Crystal Palace.

Right before 9:00, it started to rain, so they moved Mickey down to Deck 9. We got our picture with Mickey at 9:40 a.m. In hindsight, I should have bailed on this one because I really wanted my picture with the Glacier in the background.

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After this, we wandered around with our binoculars, got fruit at Daisy’s Delites, went to the front of the ship where they were serving hot chocolate and cookies. They were also selling the travel mugs here.

I told my husband he could wander around while I checked the lines for Mickey and Minnie again. Mickey was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Minnie was scheduled for 11:30 a.m.

Right around 10:30 a.m., I saw a cast member where Minnie was scheduled to be. She told me that they were lining people up for Minnie on Deck 9 because they were unsure of the weather, but Mickey’s line was on Deck 10 and they expected him to be out before the rain started again. She also told me that if I got in line now for Mickey, I could probably have enough time to get photos with both Mickey and Minnie.

So I hopped in line for Mickey around 10:40 a.m. Luckily the rain held off, and I got my photo at 11:36 a.m.

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We then rushed over to Minnie’s line. They stopped letting people line up for her right after we got in line, so we were lucky. We got our Minnie photo at 12:13 p.m.

We headed to Cabanas for lunch. Given that it was right after noon, it was extremely busy and difficult to find a table inside (no one wanted to eat outside).

Then we headed to our room to rest and put on more layers for our glacier excursion at 3:15 p.m. As you can see, it was VERY foggy.

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We headed to the meeting point for our excursion around 3:00 p.m. with our magic bands and passports. We were told we needed to bring our passports and they checked to make sure we had them but no one ever looked at them.

The glacier excursion was 100% worth the price. I say this because, remember how foggy it was? Well, when we got back, I heard that the ship never got a view of the glacier. This was due to a combination of ice and fog (there were also rumors another ship was blocking the area, but I don’t know if this was true).

The view of the glacier on the excursion was fantastic. The color with the clouds/fog was so bright blue. We saw baby seals on the floating ice. We also saw the glacier calving. There is a loud cracking sound when the ice chunks break off of the glacier.

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We stayed inside until we got to the glacier, but then we stayed outside on the deck for the remaining time. It was raining but the views were just so amazing, it was worth being freezing and wet.

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We got back to the ship around 6:00 p.m. We were late to dinner, so we rushed straight there. Dinner was at Tianas again. It was the Frozen themed dinner. The Frozen Deck Party was also this evening. We heard it was great, but sadly, we did not make it. We were still pretty wet and cold from the glacier excursion and we just wanted to warm up and head to bed.
 
DAY 4: SKAGWAY

Our first port!

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We had the Bennett Scenic Journey excursion booked through Chilkoot Charters from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

We got up and headed to Cabanas for breakfast around 7:30 a.m.

I packed the backpack we brought with us on every excursion. We always brought an umbrella, which we never used, and snacks. I purchased the snacks at home and brought them on our carry on luggage. I had Kind bars, fruit snacks and apple chips. I think we ate our snacks every day so I’m glad we had them. We also brought our water bottles every day.

For this excursion, we were crossing into Canada, so we also brought our passports.
We headed off the ship around 9:00 a.m. We were supposed to be 15 minutes early and I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get off the ship. It turned out to be an easy process with no line. They just scan your magic band or key to the world card.

As soon as we walked off the ship and down the port, we saw the Chilkoot people standing with signs. They checked us in and showed us our van. I can’t remember how many people were in our van, maybe 15-20? There was only one family with two children, I think because this was a longer excursion.

We left a little before 9:30 a.m. Our first stop for photos was a waterfall. Then we crossed into Canada, and someone did come on and check our passports. Unfortunately, it was too foggy to stop at the “Welcome to Alaska” sign. We did stop at the “Yukon” sign. And then it was just a really long drive… We stopped at Emerald Lake and got to Carcross around 1:00 p.m. We had about 45 minutes to walk around before getting on the train. We got coffee and ice cream and looked around. Then we got on the train around 1:45 p.m.

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The train ride was beautiful. But it was long. And the lunch was not great. A turkey sandwich, chips and an undercooked cookie square. There was one stop at Bennett. We got back to Skagway right around 5:30 p.m.

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I wanted to go to the Klondike Doughboy to get their special pastry. This was really good. They close at 6:00 p.m., so we rushed over. Then we walked around and looked at the stores. It was starting to rain pretty hard at this point, so we headed back to the ship.

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We had the 5:45 p.m. dinner, but I didn’t want to have to rush back to the ship, so we booked Palo for 7:00 p.m.

Again, Palo was delicious. I had the burrata and chicken. My husband had the seafood platter and steak. He said it was one of the best steaks he’s had. Same with my chicken.

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After dinner, we went around to get the photos with the backdrops they had that evening because one of the backdrops had the train and I wanted that one.

I think the show this night was a magician, which we were not interested in, so we just got hot cocoa and went to bed.

This was our least favorite excursion. I was really on the fence about this one. I asked about it in an Alaska cruise Facebook group, and there were multiple people who said this was their favorite excursion. For us, it was a long day, and we felt like we didn’t really do anything except stop to take pictures.

I originally wanted to do the Chilkoot Charters Yukon Rail & Bus Excursion, which included a 1.75 hour train ride and a stop at the Wild Adventure Yukon, where there are puppies. This was sold out through Chilkoot when I went to book. However, there was a very similar excursion that was available through DCL that I wanted to change to. But my husband wanted to do the longer train ride. (There was a different excursion through DCL that was the train and then a different dog sledding camp that I would have definitely changed to but it was sold out).

Anyway, we would not do this excursion again. Our tablemates did the ziplining and really enjoyed it. We also met a family who did the short train ride in the morning and the ziplining in the afternoon. That is probably what I would do if I could do it over again.
 
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Thanks for reading! How did you like your Princess cruise?
It was our first cruise other than Disney. So different.

The specialty fish restaurant was really good main dining was not got. We ate at the little cafe a lot that had sandwiches and desserts. This is where we had breakfast every morning found food cold at the buffet. Here they heat your breakfast sandwich after you pick one.

We did the train and bus tour to the Yukon . We are Canadian so we slipped back for a few hours. Husband has been to the Yukon but I had not,

Did you stamp your passport at Carcross. You do it yourself just outside one of the stores. We were on the train in the morning windows do fog up but we went out side to take pictures and wiped the windows a lot.
 
It was our first cruise other than Disney. So different.
Would you do another Princess cruise or did this make you want to only cruise Disney?

We are thinking about doing another cruise in the next few years. Unfortunately, we forgot to buy the placeholder, so every time I look at a cruise I think I could have gotten 10% off! That makes me want to push our next cruise out to after 24 months or try a different cruise line. Is there another Disney cruise that you really enjoyed or would recommend?

The specialty fish restaurant was really good main dining was not got. We ate at the little cafe a lot that had sandwiches and desserts. This is where we had breakfast every morning found food cold at the buffet. Here they heat your breakfast sandwich after you pick one.
Did you have to pay extra for the specialty fish restaurant or the cafe?

Did you stamp your passport at Carcross. You do it yourself just outside one of the stores. We were on the train in the morning windows do fog up but we went out side to take pictures and wiped the windows a lot.
We saw that but we did not! We were eating our snack on the bench right next to it and were about to get up to do it when a very large group walked up. Then the train started boarding and we wanted to make sure we got a seat on the right side!
 
DAY 5: Juneau

We had an early start this morning. Our Harv & Marv whale watching started at 8:00 a.m.

We took our backpack with us to breakfast around 7:00 a.m., and we were off the boat by about 7:40 a.m.

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Harv & Marv met us right at the dock. We got in a bus for a ride to the boat dock. It was about a 20 minute ride. We stopped on the way to the dock for a view of the Mendenhall Glacier. Our driver told us that they normally do this on the way back, but we were running early and also there were no clouds or fog blocking the view now. This was a nice surprise. We were quite far away but it was still a beautiful view.

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We got to the dock and we were on the water by 8:38 a.m. I booked the six-person tour, so it was me, my husband and one other family of four.

I HIGHLY recommend doing the six-person tour. No crowds, great views, felt very personal.

We immediately saw a few bald eagles.

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After being on the water for maybe 20ish minutes, we started seeing humpback whales. So many whales… so close to our boat… It was so awesome. My husband’s favorite excursion. We also had a school of porpoises swim with our boat for probably five minutes or more. Then we went to see a beach on one of the islands that had tons of seals!

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We headed back and were at the boat dock a little after 11:00 a.m. We waited around 10 minutes for the bus to take us back. The bus stopped at downtown Juneau for anyone who wanted to get off there. It then continued to the AJ dock where the Wonder was.

I believe we got to the Wonder at almost exactly noon. We walked as fast as possible to the Avis. It was about a 12 minute walk. We checked in and discovered that there was a $35 fee to re-charge the car. That was fine with us, at least we would not have to worry about refueling or re-charging. We got a Chevy Bolt that was very nice.

We decided to go straight to Mendenhall Glacier. We had scarfed down our snacks while waiting for the bus, so we could wait to eat.

We made it to the Mendenhall Glacier right around 12:45 p.m. We were really lucky to find a parking spot. There are two very small parking lots. We noticed a lot of people parking on the side of the road. You do not have to pay for parking, but there is a machine to buy a day pass for the glacier area. It was $10/person.

The views of the glacier were beautiful from here. I am really glad we went. We walked along a few of the trails but we did not actually go inside the visitor center.

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After about 45 minutes, we decided we had seen enough and really wanted to eat. So we headed out.

Now, some poor planning on my part. I had read that Tracy’s Crab Shack had a second location that was a lot less busy. So we headed there. However, I did not know that this second location had already closed for the season. So then we headed towards the original location, which was right in the middle of the downtown area. We tried to park in a parking structure, but it was full. There were not that many spots for visitors, it was mainly permit parking. The parking attendant recommended a different parking structure, so we headed there, but on the way, spotted street parking. And it was free! We parked and walked a couple blocks to Tracy’s Crab Shack.

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There was a VERY long line outside. We waited about 30-40 minutes. When we got to the front, there was a sign saying that they had run out of Alaskan King crab, so instead they were serving Norwegian King crab… for the same price… My husband wasn’t interested in that and decided to get the local snow crab instead. He tried to get a combo meal that had crab cakes, but their fryer was not working. This was really unfortunate for me because I don’t like crab. I was planning to get their beer battered shrimp, but no luck… So I had his garlic rolls and butter. These were delicious. And my husband said the crab was amazing, second best he has ever had (the first best was somewhere in South America).

It was a short drive back to Avis. There was no one working when we got back. I want to say this was around 4:00 p.m. I am extremely glad we were early because when we were in the parking lot about to leave, my husband got a text from Avis. They wanted him to do a self check-out. This involved taking photos of the car and uploading it to Avis. Well, we did not have great cell service here. We tried for a good 15-20 minutes to complete it and couldn’t. But all onboard time was 4:45 p.m., and we needed to GO! We finally gave up and I took photos and video of the car to prove we had returned it, should anything happen. It turned out to be fine, and we were not charged any additional fees.

We rushed back to the boat and made it on. That’s when I realized I was starving! I could not wait for dinner, so we got pizza and ice cream for pre-dinner.

We wanted to get to dinner right on time because tonight was the themed night at Animator’s Palate. We drew our characters as quickly as possible because our server wanted to make sure ours made it to the show. The show was really cool! You draw a character and then they animate it in a show that plays during dessert.

This night’s show was the Frozen Musical. You really need to get there early for this show. The show started at 8:30 p.m. and people were lining up at 7:30 p.m. It was a great show. Afterwards, we got our hot cocoa and headed to bed.
 
DAY 6: Ketchikan

My favorite day!!

We had a late start today because the ship did not dock until 11:15 a.m.

However, I woke up early, so we decided to go to the gym before breakfast. We actually thought there wasn’t a gym on the ship because we couldn’t find it. We finally asked our stateroom attendant the night before, and he told us that it was in the spa! It was very nice! Too bad it took us so long to find it. We ate breakfast, packed our backpack and headed off the ship right at 11:15 a.m.

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We went straight to the Lumberjack show. This show did not have the Disney characters in it, I believe the afternoon show did but we had another excursion booked. I enjoyed the show, it was a little silly but fun and interactive.

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The show finished at 12:45 p.m. Our black bear excursion did not start until 2:15 p.m., so we decided to walk around town. We stopped at a coffee shop and got coffee and ice cream, then headed over to Creek Street. There is a creek there that salmon are swimming up. This was really cool because the salmon jump out of the water to try to get upstream. We watched them for a while. While we were there, I got a text saying our black bear excursion was now leaving at 2:05 p.m. So we headed back to the dock, where the pick up location was.

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We immediately got on a bus. We stopped at the company’s main location where some people got on and some people got off. Then we drove just up the road to the rainforest. To be honest, I’m not actually sure what this place was. I know they said it was a rainforest, but I’m not sure if it was some sort of protected sanctuary?? There was a raised boardwalk that we walked on. The boardwalks made kind of a large U shape over the creek. My husband’s complaint about this excursion was that the rainforest was smaller than he thought it would be. It was small. As in, you could stand at the bottom of the U and see everything. We were expecting more of a hike.

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Regardless, this was my FAVORITE excursion!!! We saw so many bears. So close up. I saw a bear in the creek catch a salmon and eat it. We saw two or three different mamma bears with a cub. This really was the highlight of the trip for me.

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We stayed in the rainforest for an hour and then headed back.

We took some pictures around town and then headed back on the ship around 5:15 p.m. Again, I was ravenous and we had pre-dinner of pizza and ice cream.

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This night we had dinner in Tianas, and it was finally the themed night! Tiana and Louis were there, there was music and dancing and beignets for dessert! I think this was my favorite dinner outside of Palo.

It was also the night for the Disney Dreams show, which was my favorite show! All my favorites in one day!!
 
DAY 7: At Sea

I was sad because it was our last day of the cruise.

I can’t remember exactly what order we did these, but here’s how we filled our day: Cove Cafe, towel folding class, Bingo, Jack Jack’s Incredible Diaper Dash, sitting on our verandah reading, husband went to the gym, photos with backdrop before dinner, dinner at Triton’s for the first time (we were at Palo for the first rotation here).
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Our big goal for the day was to stay up late! So far on the cruise, we had not been able to stay up past 10:00 p.m., so we missed out on the late night activities. We had heard rave reviews for the dueling pianos and we needed to see them!

After dinner, we went to the show at 8:30 p.m. It was a ventriloquist / magician. It was funny, but we heard the adults only show the previous night was funnier.

Right after the show we went to play Majority Rules because it was in the same room that the dueling pianos would be. This was a fun game. They ask questions and you have to think of the most common answer that everyone would give.

Then, it was time for the dueling pianos! This was AMAZING. SO GOOD! We loved it! I’m not sure if they are on every cruise or if there is different entertainment on all the cruises, but if you get a chance to see them, go!

The night didn’t end there! We then went to Deck 4 to watch the See Ya Real Soon show. I had no idea what this was. The cruise director was on the stage, then the characters all came down the staircase. They went to different locations for meet and greets I think. We were confused because I thought it was a show. So we left. But now, looking online, I’m seeing that they would have eventually gone back onstage and performed… so we missed that.

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By then we were exhausted but we hadn’t even started packing. So we packed up quickly and then passed out sometime after midnight.
 
DAY 8: Debarkation

We were up bright and early because we had the early breakfast seating at 6:45 a.m.

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Our flight left at 12:49 p.m., and I didn’t want to have to worry too much about finding our luggage so we walked off with our luggage.

We got to breakfast right at 6:45 a.m. We brought all of our luggage down with us. We had breakfast at Triton’s, which is right where the door to get off the ship is. Even though they had asked people not to line up there, there was already a line to get off.

There was a spot at the front of the restaurant where people were leaving their luggage. We left our luggage there too while we ate.

Around 7:15 a.m., as we were finishing up breakfast, they announced that the debarkation had started.

I think we walked off around 7:30 a.m. There was no line and we walked right off.

The rest of this is a blur. I can’t remember if we had to go through security or immigration at the port. I’m guessing we did? I know we had to turn in the declaration form that had been left in our stateroom.

We walked to the Waterfront Train Station, and we were on the train around 8:00 a.m.

At 8:30 a.m., we were at the stop for the airport.

By 9:00 a.m., we were checked in and through security. FYI - we did not know that they have TSA pre-check here, but they do.

By 9:10 a.m., we were through immigration. There was no line, we walked right up.

And we now had three hours to wait for our flight! Better to be on the safe side though. We had Tim Horton’s one last time and then looked through all of our amazing photos while we waited.

This was an absolutely amazing trip and first cruise experience. Really a trip of a lifetime.

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Thank you for sharing your trip report. We are planning on an Alaskan cruise in 2026 and you had lots of helpful information here.
 
Would you do another Princess cruise or did this make you want to only cruise Disney?

We are thinking about doing another cruise in the next few years. Unfortunately, we forgot to buy the placeholder, so every time I look at a cruise I think I could have gotten 10% off! That makes me want to push our next cruise out to after 24 months or try a different cruise line. Is there another Disney cruise that you really enjoyed or would recommend?


Did you have to pay extra for the specialty fish restaurant or the cafe?


We saw that but we did not! We were eating our snack on the bench right next to it and were about to get up to do it when a very large group walked up. Then the train started boarding and we wanted to make sure we got a seat on the right side!
We are doing our 20 th cruise next month with Disney.

It started when our kids were 3 and 5 . Now we are empty nesters but still go on them. We mostly go to the Caribbean because it is the warm in our cold winters…lol. We took our 2 adult kids on a Christmas cruise . My daughter is coming next month she choose what she wanted to do on her week off. We did do the Hawaiian one last October for our 29th anniversary .

My husband watches all the cruise news and stuff on You tube and a travel agent close to us was doing a group cruise to Alaska on the Princess. It was a good deal and wanted to try something new to see if we were missing something. Probably wouldn’t do another one but got a $600 credit to use up because of a problem that didn’t get resolved. We didn’t get his water for his CPap . Everyday they said it will be delivered but never did.

I did like there lively Atruim. They called it their Pizzia . They do everything there, yoga, line dancing , games and music at night.

The cafe is just next to the coffee bar with glass cases with stuff in them. It is included with your cruise. Not a room just off to the side of the Pizzia again. They do have a good pizza restaurant too that is included.

They have 3 tier packages . We had the plus so got so many drinks, coffee , specialty dessert( got a big piece of cake from cafe or specialty ice cream ) and one specialty dining . The place we picked was The Catch. It was so good. Only thing it was right next to the pizzia so it was noisy.

I’m sure we will give other lines a try because of cost, try a Europe one or even try the River cruises people rave about.
 
Thanks for a great report! I appreciate everyone who shares their experiences and helps out us planner for the future! Wishing I could book the bear express but I checked and their tours start in July after our cruise is over. BOO.
 
Thank you for the great report! We leave next Monday for Alaska and are doing the same itinerary (even staying at the Hyatt a couple of days prior to the cruise). I really appreciate your disembarkation notes, our flight time was changed to 12:00 and I've been a little nervous about if we'll make it to our plane in time, you've helped with some of the anxiety!
 
Great report! I did an Alaska cruise on Norwegian and have been trying to figure out if Disney is worth the upcharge. The 8 night itinerary next year looks great.
 
Hi! My family and I were actually on the exact same cruise as you! We even had the same dining rotation - and my husband and I were also in Azure for Majority Rules and the dueling pianos on the last night! I'm sure we crossed paths at some point. Looking at your picture from the See Ya Real Soon show on the last night - we were standing less than 5 feet away from you and your husband haha.

I'm guessing you're from a warmer climate? I was laughing at your comments about all the layers you wore each day - we're Canadian and I guess used to the cold - it was a fight just to get my 4 year old to put on a sweater (she hates long-sleeves). I was outside in t-shirts a few days as well...

Your excursions looked great!
 

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