To Alaska & Beyond!

[saintstickets]

(Continued from previous post 2)

More videos (the difference is some are on Photobucket and the longer ones are on You Tube)

The area where we landed actually has a navigable waterway all the way to the sea. A group of tour operators brought in a floating platform so that these planes and boats could have a place to dock, get out and stretch their legs. The original platform was lower but the otters kept getting up on it and there would be poop everywhere. Yuck! This new one is much higher out of the water and for the most part keeps the critters from getting on top of it.

These are from that platform














As I said, this area can be reached by boat from the sea. There has been a shortage of rain this year so sea otters were all the way up here looking for salmon




Videos of our flight back

(Continued in next post 3)

 

[saintstickets]

(Continued from previous post 3)

The pilot was super friendly and let us take our time on the platform. He was originally from Oklahoma and both he and his wife were pilots. For the flight up, the husband of the other couple was the copilot and for the trip back, I got to play copilot.

Pic of home again as we approach the dock




We landed without any problems and another group was waiting at the dock for their excursion. We caught our ride back to the city. The driver saw my Saints cap and said his brother was a running back for Nebraska in college and played briefly for the Saints in the late 1970’s. Another small world experience!

More walking and shopping around town






As cold as it has been in various places, I just couldn’t bring myself to purchase these


Not a bad price though, right?

One of the many docks for small boats just across the way from the big boats




(Continued in next post 4)

 

[hill6]

great review. The photos are spectacular. Excellent shore tours.

 

[saintstickets]

(Continued from previous post 4)

Back onboard, we get cleaned up in time to see a show before dinner




You can’t take pictures during the show in this theater but we did meet up with Kyle and Mistie after the show


I met Mistie online when I found out they were part of the entertainment onboard again this year and discovered she was a Mississippi girl that moved to Las Vegas, met Kyle and got married. We both knew a little bit about the area of the State we each were from and had a nice meet up. They were extremely nice and their show was very good and very family friendly. They do shows in the larger theater as well as the smaller venues aboard ship too.

Tonight we eat at Animator’s Palate again. We both start off with Alaskan king crab legs followed by pea soup




DW had elk for her entrée and I had lobster and halibut. I guess we were hungry because this is the only pic I have of our entrees


For dessert we had some kind of cake with ice cream and the trio sampler




Back to our room and Lorenzo really outdid himself tonight


Another day….another great time!

 

[saintstickets]

great review. The photos are spectacular. Excellent shore tours.

Thanks Debbie! Stay tuned more to come!

 

[saintstickets]

August 30, 2015 Sunday

Today is a sea day as we head back to Vancouver. We ate breakfast and lunch both at the Beach Blanket Buffet. Make a point of getting there early because there are not enough seats for everyone trying for something quick after so many TS meals all week! I am constantly amazed at the eating habits of people. I’ll never win a prize at Miss Manners School of Etiquette but to see people gnaw on food like a dog, use their hands on food that is obviously not finger food and not close their mouth when they chew, well, their mama didn’t whop them upside the head enough at the dinner table when they were growing up…bless their heart (as we say in the South that allows you to disparage anyone as long as you say that afterwards…don’t try to understand if you’re not from around here!)

We attended an animation class like those no longer held at Hollywood Studios. Today we drew this guy


The CM guiding us was our pairrr-fect South African I mentioned earlier. I could listen to her talk all day!

We were scheduled to have a Frozen party on deck today but the weather didn’t cooperate








Clayton our excellent Cruise Director


Back inside, we found another class that showed you how to make towel animals. We did okay










Tonight we are eating dinner at Palo’s. There has been much discussion on various forums about which is better, Palo brunch or dinner, so we decided to do both this trip! The same CM Alexandra (from Lithuania) that waited on us for Palo brunch also served us for this dinner! She was fantastic again! I can’t remember exactly what we had and I didn’t write it all down but here are the pictures. This one was an Antipasto Freddo that had various meats, cheese, olives and sun dried tomatoes


I think this was a fish and seafood soup


And this was grilled shrimp of some kind


For the next course, I’m pretty sure this is gnocchi with a shrimp and grappa sauce


Mine was maybe grilled sea scallops with borlotti beans and pancetta?


To cleanse our palettes for the next course, there was some type of lemon sherbet or sorbet


The main course was a pan fried tuna and a garlic roasted rack of lamb




Dessert was a chocolate soufflé and panna cotta with gelato




Somehow the word got around that our anniversary was a couple of days ago so they sent out this




An excellent meal, not rushed and superb service! I really don’t think I could choose between the brunch and the dinner. Other than being served in the same place, they are completely different. The brunch is great on a sea day if you want something more than the buffet and Palo dinner is a great way to end our cruise instead of eating a third time at one of the rotational restaurants. I think I’ll continue to do both on any 7 day cruise!

(Continued in next post)

 

[saintstickets]

(Continued from previous post)

Tonight there is a character and crew going away party in the main atrium.














After the party, we head to the Wavebands lounge to see the magic show again.








Another fine show and they got audience members involved too.

When we returned to our stateroom, Lorenzo decided to use more than towels tonight


Nice touch using chocolate for the snake’s eyes!

 

[saintstickets]

August 31, 2015 – Monday

We are approaching Vancouver early this morning


Before breakfast, I went to Shutter’s to get our pictures and then to Guest Services. They had not given us a credit for a wine tasting seminar we cancelled. It was taken care of without a problem.

We had the second breakfast dining time at 8:15am since we weren’t trying to catch a flight out today. When we finished breakfast, we found our servers Henry and Rhally to say our goodbyes and proceeded to the Promenade Lounge to wait for our luggage tag icon to be called. It was raining so we were in no hurry but it didn’t look good for our day to explore Vancouver.

Our luggage icon was called and we made our way off the ship to the terminal. We found our luggage without too much problem and made our way down the long walk to leave the terminal and get to the Pan Pacific Hotel. It was only mid-morning so naturally our room was not ready. We anticipated this and packed accordingly. We booked a trolley tour through Viator so I kept those documents and camera equipment in a carryon bag and left the rest of the luggage with bell services at the Pan Pacific. One thing we did not plan for was the rain but fortunately we both had kept our rain jackets out and not packed them. We hopped on the next tour trolley and spent a couple of hours riding around Vancouver. The driver/guide was very nice and not boring. The tour had a little bit for everyone including facts about architecture, historical sites, new sports arenas being built and he showed us where Hugh Grant was filming in Vancouver. We didn’t see him but he did point out some younger stars from a Nickelodeon show that I had never heard of. It was still raining after this leg of the tour was over and our room wasn’t ready so we walked to a restaurant someone had recommended.




It reminded me of some of the small family owned places we go to in New Orleans. There was seating for about 20 in the entire restaurant but we had a decent meal at a reasonable price. They had an excellent gnocchi with a veal Bolognese sauce that was really good. Walking back to the Pan Pacific we passed one of Vancouver’s iconic tourist sites…the Gastown steam clock


There’s a story behind it where Raymond Saunders built the clock to solve a steam vent problem on a popular sidewalk. The steam runs an engine that along with electric motors, keeps time and rings out on the quarter hour.

Back at the hotel


Our room is ready






(Continued in next post)

 

[saintstickets]

(Continued from previous post)

We were trying to decide if we wanted to take the other trolley tour. It was still raining and while we were deciding, someone took a nap! I was able to get this corner, harbor view room at a discounted price and the view was exactly what I wanted to see




Before long, it was time for another group of cruisers to set sail aboard the DCL Wonder






















Later that evening we walked to a brew house we passed earlier in the day and had dinner. I tried to order my burger medium and was told that in Canada, all beef had to be cooked well done. I don’t know if that was true or not but it wasn’t dried out and the beer was good so it didn’t really matter!

We made our way back to the hotel and crashed!

 

[saintstickets]

September 1, 2015 – Tuesday

Today we are headed back home. Fortunately we had a set of scales in our hotel room so I was able to pack our bags accordingly and avoid getting over the 50lb weight limit on any of them. We left the hotel for the airport about 7:30am for our 10:45am flight. It was a LONG walk through both Canadian and US customs at the airport. While in line, the couple behind us were also from Mississippi and were on the same flight as we were. Another small world occasion! And those customs agents never crack a smile as I learned when we were re-entering the US after our last cruise. Don’t try to joke with them! Once in the terminal, we found a place to eat breakfast and a kiosk that converted our Canadian money back to US. Our flights home were uneventful other than the wifi not working on American Airlines. Once we arrived in New Orleans and had gathered ALL our luggage at the baggage claim area, a man behind us commented that we must have been gone for a month with all our luggage! We were tired and I didn’t have the strength to comment on DW’s packing skills so I just said it had been a long trip and we headed to our car for the 2 hour drive home!

I hope I haven’t put too many pictures in this TR. There are a few over 500 in this report but I took about 3,150 so less than 16% posted is pretty good, right? The scenery did not disappoint so it was very difficult to pick which pictures to post.

This was a trip of a lifetime for us. It was something we have talked about for years and to say it was worth it would be an understatement. We all have friends and family that have been on trips or cruises that when they returned, they were less than pleased. One thing that convinced us to go on this trip was that of all the people we have talked to that have been on an Alaska trip, nobody, not one, ever came back and said don’t go. I have to say we are in that same group that had a fantastic time. We have numerous other places that are still on our bucket list to go but if time and money allowed, I would not hesitate to go on this trip again.

My next TR will be a WDW trip we took in December, 2015. Hopefully I will have it posted before our trip in April, 2016 to WDW F&G followed by a 7 night DCL Magic western Caribbean cruise but I doubt it!

 

[cindianne320]

Thanks for the thorough report! I enjoyed reading it, and am so excited for our 10 year anniversary cruise in June!

I think I read on another report that the "man in hat" that came onto your ship before Tracy Arm is a specialized captain that comes to guide the Wonder into the Fjord on every cruise.

Can't wait to read your next report!

 

[EllinK]

I enjoyed reading your report (and the fab photos!). We are heading out on our second Alaskan cruise with DCL in August.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

When are you going in April? We will be there April 19-24 prior to our next Disney cruise!

We're just going to miss you! We will be there April 2nd-7th.

I still have to catch up on the last few updates, but it is excellent trip report so far!

 

[disneybarbie]

Fantastic trip report - what an amazing cruise! I always associate cruises with warm weather but seeing your beautiful photos makes me want to see Alaska too.
Great photos of the ship, the food ones made me so hungry and really miss DCL.. definitely plan to do another in the future, but our Disney trip plans are going to be very different from now on... as we welcomed a little princess into the world 8 weeks ago

Happy new year and look forward to reading your next TR!

Emma

 

[saintstickets]

Thanks for the thorough report! I enjoyed reading it, and am so excited for our 10 year anniversary cruise in June!

I think I read on another report that the "man in hat" that came onto your ship before Tracy Arm is a specialized captain that comes to guide the Wonder into the Fjord on every cruise.

Can't wait to read your next report!

Thank you! It was our 33rd anniversary! I know you'll enjoy this cruise. That would make sense about the passenger coming aboard. It could very well be something the State of Alaska requires.

I enjoyed reading your report (and the fab photos!). We are heading out on our second Alaskan cruise with DCL in August.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm jealous! I would go back in a heart beat!

We're just going to miss you! We will be there April 2nd-7th.

I still have to catch up on the last few updates, but it is excellent trip report so far!

Too bad we will miss each other in April. I posted A LOT at one time but hopefully the TR flows okay.

Fantastic trip report - what an amazing cruise! I always associate cruises with warm weather but seeing your beautiful photos makes me want to see Alaska too.
Great photos of the ship, the food ones made me so hungry and really miss DCL.. definitely plan to do another in the future, but our Disney trip plans are going to be very different from now on... as we welcomed a little princess into the world 8 weeks ago

Happy new year and look forward to reading your next TR!

Emma

Thanks Emma and congratulations on the new princess! In a few years, the trips to WDW and DCL will be so much better taking a little one!

 

[podsnel]

Hey Bill! Can't wait to read!

 

[saintstickets]

Hope you enjoy it Ellen! Now to start the TR for the visit we took in December!

 

[rdkeim]

Really enjoyed reading your TR and looking at all the wonderful pictures. We also went to Alaska in Aug. 2015! The first 5 nights were on land and then a 7 night cruise. Our dates were Aug. 17-29. It was probably our best trip ever and, like you, wouldn't hesitate to do it again. If you do go again in the future, I highly recommend the land portion. Thanks for sharing!

 

[saintstickets]

Really enjoyed reading your TR and looking at all the wonderful pictures. We also went to Alaska in Aug. 2015! The first 5 nights were on land and then a 7 night cruise. Our dates were Aug. 17-29. It was probably our best trip ever and, like you, wouldn't hesitate to do it again. If you do go again in the future, I highly recommend the land portion. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the kind words. I wish we would've had more time to spend in Alaska. Now if I can just win the lottery I'll go back!!

 

[rdkeim]

We were also celebrating an anniversary - our 35th. My husband walked by while I was reading your TR and thought I was looking at our trip pictures We would love to go back too but I have so many trips on my bucket list.