Planes, Trains & Antitussives, Alaksan Wonder Cruise - All done! Complete 11/21

[Disneykidsdad]

Did they have the bread bowls with pea soup and were you able to put a little something extra in the hot chocolate? I'm on the August 15th cruise!!

 

[franandaj]

The scenery is just so, so pretty! I love how the waterfalls (cascades) are very shallow and come right down to the water. Lovely!

We definitely saw our share of beautiful waterfalls!

We enjoy the Marvel movies too. But for me, a Pixar or Classic Disney trumps those every single time.

I've seen most of those so many times, that I am enjoying seeing new movies.

After being early wakers it is nice to have those movies on demand. I am a big fan of Marvel movies also. My wheelchair has Captain America wheels!

I'm not a fan of the on Demand movies, too many choices. I like it when they just play and I can choose which one to watch.

I think the dining/breakfast options need a serious revamp on DCL. Basically as you point out they don't have enough staff. That is why Jo says there is no buffet option in Cabanas in the evening like other cruise lines. The servers are doing the MDRs. Well RC and NCL some ships have 7 or more restaurants fully staffed. I love the rotary dining but some nights we just want a buffet option.

I'm not sure that I've ever skipped a dinner in the MDR! I'm not a huge fan of buffets, unless they are like Palo or have cooked to order options.

The coffee is beyond terrible! I could not tell the difference between tea and coffee. I opted for soda in the end. Or bringing my own tea bag.

I guess I've figured out to get decent coffee you need to go to the Cove Cafe.

I am sorry to hear about your credit card. What a pain!

Yeah, it was at the beginning of the WDW trip that we had the problem and it was still biting us in the butt!

I was blown away by the lovely photos! A whale wow. Plus you saw dolphins.

Well, I didn't really see the whale.

Yeah icebergs look at that blue hue. Beautiful. When my parents did an Alaska cruise they said it was boring. See one iceberg you see them all. Jo and I were speechless.

I thought that the icebergs were totally cool!

Interesting about the waterfall and cascade distinction thank you for that.

You're welcome.

I love the photo you added in the mini update. Your necklace sure is pretty and I just adore that white jacket on Fran.,

Thank you, I think she looks pretty spiffy in it too!

Nice update!

Don't worry about too many pics, I will look at as many as you want to pose, I Love all the pictures of the scenery, I have heard lots of great things about Tracy Arm and seen lot of pictures. So much that when I do finally get to book and go on an Alaska cruise, I am going to make sure it goes there. Love all the little icebergs.

Looking forward to the Glacier!!

We actually did not get to Tracy Arm, it was too iced in for any ships to get in there. We went to Endicott Arm instead. I was not disappointed. I'm not sure if any ships will be able to see Tracy Arm this year.

 

[Pinkocto]

Loved all the scenery pictures. I can't wait to see this in person.

Those steak fries your dad had at lunch are my favorite!

What a pain about the credit card.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Holy crap, you're on day 6 already?? Where have I been?

So, I have read every chapter and caught up. Thanks for both the mini-sightseeing tour around Vancouver, as well as the definition of anti-tussives! So educational and informative!

Seems like everyone was having bouts of feeling under the weather. Hope that doesn't continue through the rest of the trip!

I'm sure we've only scratched the surface of Alaska scenery so far, but I'm already loving it! The cascades photos don't get old! And if I'd had time to go through them I'm sure I would have made some Titanic jokes with the mini-icebergs.

The food, as always, looks really good when I can identify it.

I also probably would have bought one of everything in the gift shop as far as the Alaska stuff was concerned. My wallet is breathing a sigh of relief.

 

[jedijill]

The scenery is absolutely stunning. Your food looks really tasty too. Sorry that Fran was so tired.

jill in CO

 

[pkondz]

Dang! That's pretty big for you to set it up and put it away every year!

No, no, no.
We have our winter cover and our pool blanket.
The blanket keeps the water warm on cool nights and keeps the dehydration at bay. It takes less than a minute to put on or take off. The winter cover is more work, but not that hard, really. In a pinch I can put it on or take it off by myself, but it's easier with two people.

My idea of ironing is throwing it in the dryer on high for 10 minutes.

Well it took forever to arrive, it was in a cruddy glass (not a Martini glass) and it had the dreaded OLIVES!!!!!!

Oh, that's right. I remember now.

I think it has more to do with controlling guest portions or keeping it out of the hands of little ones who might have grabby hands.

Ah. Okay, I can see that.

Wow! I thought I was a spice wuss, but I have no problem with a little wasabi.

I can eat a bit with other stuff... but not by itself. Or at least not willingly.

Sure but it might not have been very good by the time I shipped it to you.

Dang.

Well the Thigh is my favorite piece, cause it's nice and juicy and lots of flavor. Then I like the wings next best. After that is the breast since when it's cooked right, it can be pretty good. So that leaves the drumstick at the bottom of the list.

Okay... but... I find the drumstick to be juicy too. More so than the thigh or a wing.

I woke up on the first morning of the cruise at 4AM, I was coughing up a storm.

Crap.

I was saving all the coughing pearls for Fran so I just took another cough drop and put on Cars 2 after it had already started.

Cars 2 is good for coughs?
I never knew.

Fran took it as an affront to her abilities and got a little bit defensive, she started saying we might as well cancel since she wasn't really feeling good anyways, and blah, blah, blah. However, it turned out to be one of those policy sort of things. A) You're in an accessible stateroom B) you booked an excursion C) they have to call and check in with you.

Sounds pretty reasonable from both perspectives.

The marshmallows were for the hot chocolate the day we went to the glacier, as well as the handwarmers.

Nice touch.

I'm not a fan of hunting for sport.

Ditto.

When I got back to the room Fran informed me that she was going to stay in bed and skip Palo and Mixology.

Skip Palo? She really wasn't feeling all that great, was she.

While I was at the Naturalist talk she had coughed so hard that she ended up tossing her cookies.

Poor Fran.

My Dad ordered the Eggs Julia which substitutes salmon for the Canadian bacon.

I've seen eggs that way... and many other ways... but I always pick the classic. I just love it too much.

Because the Strawberry Soup came so highly recommended from Fran, Mom decided to try it.

I'm assuming since she ordered it again, that she liked it.

Plus... Wow! Palo dining looks frickin' amazing!

I really like the shots that show the wake.
It always makes me feel.... I dunno.... like travel?

They didn’t want to serve us the other two drinks as they had ice in them and they would get watery sitting on the table with us waiting to drink them.

Makes sense.

This is the Premise: Base liquor 2 parts (Rum, Gin, Vodka, Tequila, etc), triple sec 1 part, sweet & sour 1 part, agave syrup a dash. Then you add whatever "flavoring" you want, ie Cranberry Juice, Orange Juice, or whatever you like.

Noted.

I didn’t show my mom how to use the zoom on my point and shoot before I ran up there!

I was wondering who was taking the photos.

He used dark and Malibu rum so it had a coconut taste to it. I didn't like it.

Yuck.

I gathered my evening clothes and started off to the spa, but halfway down the hallway I ran into the guy delivering the pressed laundry. Since we had the Do Not Disturb sign out I took the laundry back to the room, otherwise he would not have been able to enter the room and would have had to take it back to the laundry place.

Good timing.

First was a soak in the jacuzzi tub. This was by far my best view during an Alone Time treatment. We sailed past rich forests and snow capped mountain peaks.

I bet that was nice! What a great way to have a soak!

Fran was feeling better enough to go for dinner and pictures

Good!

Our drink server couldn’t wait to see us. She had checked with the Head Server and received a special dispensation that the wine could be placed directly on our table. She was very excited to share this news.

"OMG! OMG! I can leave the bottle on the table!!!!! oh and you won a free cruise, but OMG! THE BOTTLE! ON THE TABLE!!!!"

And the French Onion Soup.

Man I love that soup.
I get angry when it's not done at least passably well.

This was again superior to first which was a little crispy and overdone.

You can see that from the photos, too.

We went back to the room, and found our towel animal.

Cute.

She has probably watched some of the other movies when I'm not around, but that's where I'm at or was at, since this trip we have also watched Guardians of the Galaxy and Iron Man 2. But back to that morning, so when she puts on this movie that I've never seen, I'm not as inclined to dose off to sleep

I can see that.

I got my eggs over easy, they wouldn’t make me just one, it had to be two,

Stupid. Following rules for rules sake.
Just make one egg for crying out loud.

You’ll see coffee in the picture there, it was FOUL! Awful I tell you! I couldn’t drink it.

That's odd. Did you tell your server?

We were missing something so I went to the room and found a note that our credit card on file had been declined, more fallout from the hacked credit card on our WDW trip!

Did I know this? Seems to ring a bell, but....

My Dad told me that a whale had been next to the boat and pretty much breached right in front of our stateroom.

Cool!

My first iceberg!

We called those "bergie bits". When we lived in Churchill, my fave time of year was spring. When the tide would go out, the "bergie bits" would be left stranded on shore. You could walk around them and go from 70F to 50F just by walking up to one. Plus it was absolutely wonderful to walk around and be surrounded by the sound of running water falling off the "bits" onto the rocks. It was like a rainshower on a clear day. Just magic.

They were making the food for the Barbeque (which is really just grilling for all you Texans and Midwesterners reading along) and I could smell it since it was only two decks up.

Did you drool a bit? I would've.

There were so many waterfalls, however, later that day I learned that most of them are cascades. That means they are not running all year long, only part of the year when the glaciers are melting.

Interesting.

I hope you like seeing pictures of these, because I took A LOT.

And I appreciate all of them.

Glacier up in the mountaintops.

Cool shot!!

I thought this iceberg was really cool!

I never got tired at looking at all the different shapes.

By this time it became clear that Fran had decided not to go on the excursion. She was hungry though, so that was a good sign.

Well.... sucks that she missed the excursion, but glad that she's got her appetite back.


Holy crap! I'm caught up!!!

This will, of course, only last for a few minutes...

 

[franandaj]

I hear they are a real pain to make. Otherwise I would have had a go by now.

I looked up a recipe and it actually didn't look that bad. The hardest part was deep frying them.

That would explain it. I had a serious catch up session over the weekend.

It seems everyone has been busy and MIA.

That is new. Whenever I have done the character breakfast, it was at Parrot Cay. I think this was a lot less disruptive as you still had the option of a buffet.

I would have liked to see them do it that way.

Unless the coffee has gone down a lot since 2014, compared with what they call Royal Caribbean Blend, this is gourmet stuff. Royal Caribbean has hands down the worst coffee I have ever tasted.

It was fine in Triton's and Parrot Cay, not sure what was up with BBB.

What a pain.

I couldn't believe how long that CC issue kept biting us in the butt.

That is something else new. I knew that other cruise lines offer excursions on the glacier viewing day, but I did not know that DCL does as well now. What a great idea. That was not something that was offered in 2013 or else I would have jumped on it.

They just started it this year and added it only about two months before out sailing.

It is good to see that they were still around in early July. When we did this cruise in late May, we were told that they dry up pretty swiftly.

Interesting. Most of them seemed to be going quite strong.

I saw in the Navigator that you were sailing at Tracy Arm. Is this correct? I had read some discussions not long before your cruise suggesting that due to the conditions there this year, it was unlikely that DCL would make it to Tracy Arm.

No, we didn't go there, evidently it is so iced in, not even smaller ships can get in there. I was following along the Tracy Arm thread on the DCL board, I doubt any ship will get there this year. Only one sailing left until the repositioning cruise. And in just over two weeks the EBPC happens.

The inside passage shots look so serene and lovely, I could have just sat out and watched it all day.
Hard to believe that people were acting shy in the mixology class. Of course we are the loud ones anywhere we go. I guess that is why we are "Ugly Americans".

Actually I got desensitized to the beautiful scenery after seeing it all day.

When folks are being "ugly Americans" I try to pass myself off as Canadian or German.

So glad you caught the guy with the pressed laundry and that they did not get sent back.

I would have had a panic attack if her clothes weren't there when I came back from the spa.

The alone time and the massage sounds lovely. I am pretty sure I could enjoy that alot, just watching the world float by.

It is lovely. I'm not sure what I'll do on the Fantasy as they don't have a treatment for just one person.

oh! That is great news, so glad she was feeling better, and hungry, always a good sign.

Beautiful pictures of the family all together. My Dad grumbles also if I want to do more than one, he says they are all the same, so why stand there.

Her appetite was coming back, the antibiotics were starting to take their course.

All the food looks really good. And dessert, yummy.
Glad you were feeling better by the end, and hope you Dad was not coming down with something.

No my Dad ended up feeling fine.

Extra sleep always a plus, but at some point they take it away from you

And on the last night, to boot! On an EBPC, you keep losing sleep all along.

I have never liked cruise ship coffee, no matter which line we take, I have found that in the speciality restaurants it is better, but I just stick with tea while on the ship.

I didn't mind the coffee in the two dining rooms, but the buffet was just bad.

Hackers, they ruin everything... Glad you are getting it worked out.

There were just so many things that billed to that card. Hence why we fly for free! But a pain, as we figured them all out.

I so agree with this, I would much rather eat in the restaurant then hunt for a table, it always seems like there are a ton of people sleeping in them, playing games, or just watching stuff, then eating and leaving. Makes it so difficult to do anything.

Yeah, I'm going to take a guaranteed table over hunting for one almost every time.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Your shots of the glaciers are very nice. Lunch looks good for small portions.

 

[Leshaface]

As we were being helped by the gate agent, he asked us, "Where is your van? Don't you two normally show up in a van?" Great. Now we're notorious!

Ha that's awesome!

For whatever reason we got cleared for TSA Precheck

Does this happen randomly? Was it printed on your tickets?

Michael Weatherly

Not familiar with him, but cool that you spotted him!

First we stopped at Dunkin Donuts

Priorities

We boarded the bus to the remote terminal and the bus driver made a comment about "Nice to see you ladies again!" We were both a little stunned, "You don't remember me?" He asked, "I drove you two ladies on your way to Florida."

Definitely notorious.

WOAH!

Once she seemed settled I said, "Can I now take your Overflannel out from under my butt?" So I stood up in my seat and pulled the Overflannel off the seat, and that's when I found the bag with our donuts.
Our flat donuts.

Well, at least they're still edible.

ur stewardess was a complete and total idiot. When she asked me what I wanted to drink, I asked if they had any V8.

She looked at me as if I had three heads and said, "What's that?"

I asked what was in the salad and she told me there was chicken, cheesecake.....and I'm like "huh?" Again I asked, "What is in the SALAD?" She told me tomatoes, cheese, not once did she say lettuce so I still had no idea if it was chicken salad like tuna salad or a bowl of lettuce with chicken on top.

Take it away quick!!! Actually, i'm surprised you even tried it.

We said that we would need to go to the car dealer with four large suitcases,

That is seriously brilliant. Brilliant!

Fran hated the place and said, "Future reference, never stay at this hotel again." Oops!

Really, how come?! The room looks pretty awesome.

Our waiter wasn't on board with this.

Why?

Wow that looks delicious!

My family are heathens and don’t know to wait for the picture before digging in, so there are only three

Ugh, don't they know we need to see all four!?

We have these pills that we call “coughing pills”, they are little pearls that are supposed to suppress your cough

Very cool, i'll need to find these for Dan. He gets those really bad coughs that just don't give up.

Very cool shots!

Wow!

I had my share of run ins with Poison Oak

Yuck, i've heard how irritating/painful/itchy that can be.

Since I rarely wear jeans at home, I hadn’t put them on since I was in Louisiana, and they were practically falling off me.

Both good and a bad thing!

njoy checking out Costcos in various towns

Same! In fact, we'll be checking out the Costco in Oahu. Glad we're not the only ones who like exploring Costcos!

were Gucci, Prada, Dior, Hermes,

Uh, what?? You too good for a $2,000 belt?!

What a spectacular view!

We have the family of the day here.”

Okay, rude.

Aw such a sweet DIS'er, whoever they are!

I put Fran to bed. One of the things that I have neglected to explain here, is that she takes a very powerful drug for her RA. The drug works by suppressing her immune system, as the gist of RA is that the body’s immune system is attacking the joints, thus causing the pain. At the first sign of sickness, she stopped taking the RA drugs. It takes about 2 days for this particular drug to leave the system, so by this day (Monday), not only was she having symptoms of the cough, but her RA drugs had worn off and she was very stiff and having trouble moving.

Ugh poor Fran.

I think that works out to around $1.75 per shirt. It’s so much easier than Fran standing over an ironing board in the laundry room. Me? I don’t iron.

Same! Hate ironing. Neither does my SIL, so it bugs the crap out of my mom. Dan and my brother take their shirts to her

She told him that it was the policy that we couldn’t have the wine bottles on the table.

What is up with this?! It's your wine!

I woke up on the first morning of the cruise at 4AM, I was coughing up a storm.

as well as the handwarmers

PERFECT GIFT! Oh my gosh, my hands are ALWAYS freezing!

My Dad ordered the Eggs Julia which substitutes salmon for the Canadian bacon.

Yum!

but I was starting to reach my limit.

You have a limit?

a B52, it had Kahlua, Bailey's, and Grand Mariner.

Never considered mixing all three!

My Dad complained a little more when we got in line for the second picture, so that was as far as we pushed it.

I put on innocuous things that we have seen before and we can easily drowse to them.

Yes! I do this at night before bed too. Right now i'm in a King of Queens phase

My first iceberg!

Cool and creepy!

There were so many waterfalls, however, later that day I learned that most of them are cascades. That means they are not running all year long, only part of the year when the glaciers are melting.

Ah cool tidbit!

 

[franandaj]

Look at all that yummy delocious food!!!!! I was three pages behind and just finished Palo brunch. Will be back later to completely catch up.

Ahhhh yes, Palo Brunch...

So sad Fran was feeling that bad she missed brunch

I know. She really was still feeling icky.

Goofy was too cute in that outfit

I would have loved to get more of their seasonal outfits but there was so much else to do.

Weird about the wine not allowed on the table.

It was.

I will be doing a TR for the PC cruise, 17 days to go

Great rest of the day

Glad Fran was feeling better to get pictures and have dinner.

Me too!

Your spa time sounds blissful!

I can't tell if you enjoyed the mixology or not?

It wasn't one of the funnest Mixology Classes, but it was still good. I don't know if everyone was tired, or just introverted.

Did they have the bread bowls with pea soup and were you able to put a little something extra in the hot chocolate? I'm on the August 15th cruise!!

Someone on our FB group mentioned something about Yellow Pea Soup that they were serving on deck. I despise anything related to peas, so I didn't pay attention. I did see them selling souvenir mugs on Deck 10, but when I saw the price tag, I didn't look any further but I suspect it was hot chocolate and you got to choose your "kick" from a number of bottles they had at the table.

 

[franandaj]

Loved all the scenery pictures. I can't wait to see this in person.

Those steak fries your dad had at lunch are my favorite!

What a pain about the credit card.

Are you booked on one next year? Those fries are good, I don't remember now if I had any? I hope we are finally done with the fallout from that credit card.

Holy crap, you're on day 6 already?? Where have I been?

Well days 1-3 went by quickly since Fran was down for the count. However, we have just hit the part where the trip is going to take forever. Every update for a while here will have lot of beautiful scenery and I'm having a hard time writing the updates because I have so many pictures to weed through.

So, I have read every chapter and caught up. Thanks for both the mini-sightseeing tour around Vancouver, as well as the definition of anti-tussives! So educational and informative!

You're welcome.

Seems like everyone was having bouts of feeling under the weather. Hope that doesn't continue through the rest of the trip!

I'm a day ahead in writing, but we're about to get to the fun part. Well in a couple weeks, I'll probably get to posting what I'm writing now.

I'm sure we've only scratched the surface of Alaska scenery so far, but I'm already loving it! The cascades photos don't get old! And if I'd had time to go through them I'm sure I would have made some Titanic jokes with the mini-icebergs.

I kept wondering about those icebergs. They say that for all the iceberg that you can see, 2/3 is under the water.

The food, as always, looks really good when I can identify it.

I also probably would have bought one of everything in the gift shop as far as the Alaska stuff was concerned. My wallet is breathing a sigh of relief.

I'm surprised at how reserved we were, but we haven't got to any ports yet. Eventually that changes. I wish I'd taken pictures from the last port day.

The scenery is absolutely stunning. Your food looks really tasty too. Sorry that Fran was so tired.

jill in CO

It was absolutely breathtaking and I'm saddened that by the end of the trip, we were just on overload, and as impressive as it was I was kind of like, "Yeah, more mountains covered in trees." I had to slap myself a few times, and remind me that pretty soon I was going to be back to freeways, oceans and palm trees.

 

[franandaj]

No, no, no.
We have our winter cover and our pool blanket.
The blanket keeps the water warm on cool nights and keeps the dehydration at bay. It takes less than a minute to put on or take off. The winter cover is more work, but not that hard, really. In a pinch I can put it on or take it off by myself, but it's easier with two people.

Ah, the way that you said "putting the pool away" last fall, led me to believe it was something smaller and less permanent.

I can eat a bit with other stuff... but not by itself. Or at least not willingly.

I usually have it on my sushi or in the soy sauce that I dip it in.

Okay... but... I find the drumstick to be juicy too. More so than the thigh or a wing.

I don't like all the little tendons in there either.

Cars 2 is good for coughs?
I never knew.

Sounds pretty reasonable from both perspectives.

She tends to be somewhat reactionary when it comes to things she can take personally.

Skip Palo? She really wasn't feeling all that great, was she.

No she wasn't.

I've seen eggs that way... and many other ways... but I always pick the classic. I just love it too much.

And now I'm wanting some. I need to figure out who has the best ones in town. On another note, I found a place in SoCal that serves poutine.

I'm assuming since she ordered it again, that she liked it.

Plus... Wow! Palo dining looks frickin' amazing!

It is!

I really like the shots that show the wake.
It always makes me feel.... I dunno.... like travel?

It also makes you think you're going somewhere. The side shots look almost immobile in photos.

I was wondering who was taking the photos.

I convinced my parents to go. I'm not sure they enjoyed it that much.

I bet that was nice! What a great way to have a soak!

I'm doing something similar today, but certainly not as good of scenery.

"OMG! OMG! I can leave the bottle on the table!!!!! oh and you won a free cruise, but OMG! THE BOTTLE! ON THE TABLE!!!!"

Man I love that soup.
I get angry when it's not done at least passably well.

You can see that from the photos, too.

You look very closely at these!

Stupid. Following rules for rules sake.
Just make one egg for crying out loud.

I know. Strange.

That's odd. Did you tell your server?

It was a buffet so not really anyone to tell.

Did I know this? Seems to ring a bell, but....

Well on our way to the airport on the trip with Jim and Alberto we got the call asking if we made purchases at Walmart, which we had not made. They shipped us new cards to the Wilderness Lodge.

We called those "bergie bits". When we lived in Churchill, my fave time of year was spring. When the tide would go out, the "bergie bits" would be left stranded on shore. You could walk around them and go from 70F to 50F just by walking up to one. Plus it was absolutely wonderful to walk around and be surrounded by the sound of running water falling off the "bits" onto the rocks. It was like a rainshower on a clear day. Just magic.

That sounds so surreal. If it gets cold enough around here for ice to form on a car's winshield, people FREAK out. I can't imagine large chunks of ice just sitting around melting.

Did you drool a bit? I would've.

It did smell good, but the vision of walking around with my tray though a sea of full tables and my food getting cold as I walked around was not appealing.

And I appreciate all of them.

Good!

I never got tired at looking at all the different shapes.

My favorite was the striped one.

Well.... sucks that she missed the excursion, but glad that she's got her appetite back.

And everyone would have been miserable if she came along, so it was better.

Holy crap! I'm caught up!!!

This will, of course, only last for a few minutes...

I'm going to guess you probably have until Saturday to worry about more updates. Got a couple days coming up where the DIS will have to take a back burner. Either that or quick replies from the phone

 

[Disneykidsdad]

I'm flying to Vancouver on Saturday for my Disney Alaska cruise on Monday so I guess I'll have to read the rest when I get back.

 

[Pinkocto]

Are you booked on one next year? Those fries are good, I don't remember now if I had any? I hope we are finally done with the fallout from that credit card.

I am, booked on the last Alaska cruise of the 2017 season, September 4-11 with a B2B on the repositioning cruise until the 15th. Very excited about that! Hoping to squeeze in a day or two at DL after.

 

[ACDSNY]

Loving the scenery, I remember staying out on deck in awe of the jagged mountains and the blues in the glaciers.

 

[franandaj]

Your shots of the glaciers are very nice. Lunch looks good for small portions.

Thanks! For me the portions were huge!

Does this happen randomly? Was it printed on your tickets?

It was printed on our tickets, I'm not sure if all handicapped travelers get it, but I think there have been times when we didn't get it. From now on though, we will get it, we did the screening about a month ago and paid the $85. Now we have a KTN (Known Traveler Number) which is good for 5 years.

Not familiar with him, but cool that you spotted him!

He was Tony on NCIS. He left after the last season, 10 years on the show and he wanted to do something new.

Well, at least they're still edible.

They were OK, at least since we were starving.

Take it away quick!!! Actually, i'm surprised you even tried it.

Like I said before, I was hungry and the flat donuts did not fill that void.

That is seriously brilliant. Brilliant!

Well we can hardly get to the airport in our Expedition. If we get a new car, we need to be able to get all our luggage in there, otherwise what good is the car? However trips are not the only time that we pack it full to the gills!

Really, how come?! The room looks pretty awesome.

I detailed the reasons a few pages back, I think they were:

No air circulation in the bedroom.
Can't see/operate the TV from the bedroom
Not enough room on her side of the bed to get in and out easily.

Why?

Wow that looks delicious!

It was! I could have used more scallops, but it was very yummy!

Ugh, don't they know we need to see all four!?

I know! Right!

Very cool, i'll need to find these for Dan. He gets those really bad coughs that just don't give up.

They're called Benzonatate. Insurance doesn't cover them, but an Rx for 90 costs us $40 OOP.

Very cool shots!

Thanks!

Wow!

Yuck, i've heard how irritating/painful/itchy that can be.

I'm glad the last time I had it was in 5th Grade.

Both good and a bad thing!

Yup!

Same! In fact, we'll be checking out the Costco in Oahu. Glad we're not the only ones who like exploring Costcos!

I've heard there is lots of good stuff at that one. @Captain_Oblivious reccomends the Maui Onion Chips.

Uh, what?? You too good for a $2,000 belt?!

Remove two of the zeros. That's more like it!

What a spectacular view!

It sure was!

Okay, rude.

That's kind of what I was thinking.

Aw such a sweet DIS'er, whoever they are!

You'll be seeing them in about 10 days or so.

Ugh poor Fran.

I know she was miserable.

Same! Hate ironing. Neither does my SIL, so it bugs the crap out of my mom. Dan and my brother take their shirts to her

What is up with this?! It's your wine!

I have no idea.

PERFECT GIFT! Oh my gosh, my hands are ALWAYS freezing!

I have some left after the trip, want them?

You have a limit?

Never considered mixing all three!

Well they're layered, I've made this drink in other Mixology classes. It's actually fairly difficult to do, you use the back of a spoon to the dilute the flow of the liquor so that it doesn't mix.

Yes! I do this at night before bed too. Right now i'm in a King of Queens phase

I usually put on the news. Usually I go to bed after 11PM and I'm asleep before Jimmy Kimmel!

Cool and creepy!

I liked the eerie mist we had today.

I'm flying to Vancouver on Saturday for my Disney Alaska cruise on Monday so I guess I'll have to read the rest when I get back.

Have a great trip! You might catch one more update before you leave.

I am, booked on the last Alaska cruise of the 2017 season, September 4-11 with a B2B on the repositioning cruise until the 15th. Very excited about that! Hoping to squeeze in a day or two at DL after.

I'll put you in my calendar for next year! I should be around. I will also be paying very close attention to your EBPC TR!

Loving the scenery, I remember staying out on deck in awe of the jagged mountains and the blues in the glaciers.

It was really stunning.

 

[franandaj]

After my first sight of the glacier from the verandah, the ship started to make a 360 degree turn. I could tell that I wasn't going to get a good look at the glacier from the verandah before I had to leave for the 3PM excursion. So I headed up to deck 10 where to mobs were located. Looking back from where we came.



When I went up to get her burger, I noticed the textbook glacial peaks. So once I got to the upper deck with my camera, I took some pictures.





There was another cruise ship there, I looked up the information on this ship. Maximum occupancy on this ship is 258 people. There are only 132 staterooms and prices per person start at 150% of the price that Fran and I paid for BOTH of us on the Disney Cruise!





I pushed through and got a quick shot of the glacier from deck 10, just for comparison.to what it would look like from the small boat.







The crowds were insane.









Then I went down to wavebands to wait for the excursion. My parents joined me a few minutes later. We took the stairs down to deck 1 and boarded the small boat. It was immediately colder! The views of the ship were spectacular.







There was a seal swimming in the water.



The boat started to go towards the glacier.





Looking back at the Wonder.



Another “textbook” glacial valley.



It was cold!



We also saw these seals resting on the icebergs.



The people from the other ship were going out in zodiac boats. I can’t even imagine how cold that must have been! They were getting up close and personal with this waterfall.







I had my Mom take this shot of me.





We got pretty darned close, they said 1/4 mile.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[bcwife76]

I'm flying to Vancouver on Saturday for my Disney Alaska cruise on Monday so I guess I'll have to read the rest when I get back.

Pack lots of shorts and tshirts, at least for Vancouver - we are now having a bit of a heatwave which is forecast to continue well into next week. Your sail away party will be sunny and hot

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Once we were up at the glacier they opened up the 3rd deck. I didn't go up there as the view from the second was just fine. I could barely get the whole glacier in my photo frame we were so close. Excuse the excess of pictures, but they are just so cool, I couldn’t choose which ones to omit.



























When we got closer, it got even colder and I put on another layer that I carried in my backpack. I still had another layer in there, a coat that was purchased specifically for this trip, and sadly never was put to use on the entire trip.



And my parents



The Wonder left us in the dust pretty quickly.



After what I think might have been half an hour we started to head back out of the arm.



They had to get everyone down from the top deck since we were going to be getting underway. The boat was not at all crowded.







Another look at that waterfall the zodiac boats were looking at.



One last look at the Glacier.



Another small glacier.



Icebergs were everywhere.



OK so I lied before, but this is really the last look at the glacier.



Platypus Iceberg.



OK, just one more.



We were going at a pretty good clip and couldn't see the Wonder practically the entire trip out. We looked for bears the whole way out but never saw any. We got some great views of waterfalls that we saw on the way in.















The boat was going pretty fast, and the air was cold. I had taken off a layer or two and decided to go inside and sit down.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[bcwife76]

And people complain about DCL's prices lol

Stunning shots.....love the one of the Wonder as you are looking back at her. So glad you got to that excursion, we are hoping to book it for next August. Guess we better bring lots of patience when we go on the upper decks! Can't wait to see more gorgeous photos!