WONDERful Alaska for Gold! 8/11/25-8/18/25

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/16/25: Ketchikan, part 1:
11:15AM-6:45PM

The kids finished off the beignets and brioche for breakfast along with some croissants from Cove Café. Beignets actually tasted better cold the next day after we had them in our beverage cooler. DH and I went to Triton’s for breakfast at 9:20AM.

DH had oatmeal, an apple pastry, and French toast

I had the fruit plate, hashbrowns, bacon, a maple/pecan pastry,

and the pineapple/mango/papaya yogurt parfait.

It was rainy today. I guess we were due. We had amazing weather up to this point, so much better than our first rainy/misty/overcast 2016 Alaska cruise. Pic of Ketchikan from our porthole.

We met at 11:15AM in D Lounge for our tour, ‘Ketchikan Hike and Totem Bight State Park’ (KE80) for $164/adult. It was just the 4 of us, and a family of 3 (mom and 2 girls.) Our tour guide was Austin and he was fantastic. We went for a hike on the Lunch Creek Trail in the northern part of Ketchikan. Austin pointed out the various plants/trees including the Western Red Cedar and various berry bushes—showing us which ones were edible vs. poisonous. I tried a bog blueberry, and 21 and I both tried a red huckleberry.



We walked along the beach for a bit as well and saw a harbor seal in the water diving for abalone.

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/16/25: Ketchikan, part 2:

After the hike we drove to Potlatch Totem Park. Austin gave us ‘hardy cookies’. They were locally made macadamia nut, coconut, chocolate chip—really tasty cookies!

We shopped for a bit (a magnet and ornament) and used the facilities, then he walked us through the Potlatch Totem Park.

We started in the carving center.

Then the clan house, then went outside.


Our guide explained various elements, and talked about 'why' there were antique cars there. (I honestly can't remember...DH and Austin chatted about the cars for a long time while everyone else wandered around taking pics in that area of Potlatch Park.)

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/16/25: Ketchikan, part 3:
He dropped all of us off at Creek Street in downtown, so we could explore that area before walking back to the ship. It was really raining again, but we still took pics of the harbor seals catching salmon in the creek before going into some shops.


It was ‘stinky’ again near the creek with dead salmon in spots. 21 and I went off on our own and found a nice smelling shop. We bought some Alaskan mustards, jams, chocolates, dip mix, and Alaskan soap (I had 21 carry the huckleberry soap out of the store so they could have a nice scent to cover up the fishy scent while walking).

DH and 25 walked to the other end of Creek St and took a pic of Dolly's House:

Then we stopped at the Diamond International shop for the free charms (and more free tanzanite studs) and 25 bought tanzanite earrings at the discounted Disney price.

Pics of downtown on the way back to the ship.




We got mugs of hot cocoa as we boarded the ship (and warm/moist towelettes if you wanted.) We got out of our wet clothes upon our return. The kids were both starving by now, so I said I’d bring food to the French Quarter Lounge for them (just up 1 deck from our stateroom.) I went up to deck 9 and got Chicken tenders/fries from Pete’s Boiler bites and some Chicken Caesar wraps, and Greek Salad wraps. I noted that the special soft serve flavors were banana and strawberry. In the French Quarter lounge, I got a Hurricane and the free salty snacks.

At 4:15PM, 25 and I did the 18+ ‘Create a Bag’ craft in Crown & Fin.

25 and DH met ‘Alaskan’ Minnie at 5PM

21 and I hung out in the After Hours porthole seats on deck 3, with Ketchikan Harbor as our view:

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/16/25: Ketchikan, part 4:
Dinner was in Triton’s with the Captain’s Gala Menu.

I had the Tuxedo to drink

I had the Roast Carrot and Parsnip Salad

25 had the Braised Oxtail Soup

DH had the Aged Prosciutto

DH had the White Onion Soup

25 had the Pan Seared Venison Medallions (and ordered it well done...and it was overcooked. Unfortunately, first time she had this dish it was closer to rare/undercooked and chewy. This was the opposite issue...her own fault.)

I had the Marinated Bulgur Wheat

DH had the Roasted Bering Sea Halibut Filet

21 had the Thai Red Pumpkin and Coconut Curry

 

[Geomom]

Saturday 8/16/25: Ketchikan, part 5:

21 and I had the Apricot Trio

I had the Alaskan Strawberry Romanoff Bread Pudding

25 had the Chocolate Lava Cake

DH had the Captain’s Table Sundae

We split the Raspberry Vanilla Crème Brulee

DH, 25, and 21 went to 2010’s Music Trivia in Azure at 7:30PM

I met ‘Alaskan’ Daisy at 7:45PM

The 8:30PM show in Walt Disney Theater was Marcus Monroe, juggler. He was a lot fun. The show was enjoyable. He did an 18+ show on Juneau night, but we didn’t make it.

We all met ‘Alaskan’ Goofy at 10:30PM.

Clocks went forward 1 hour at bedtime.

Towel Animal: Bunny!

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/17/25: At Sea, part 1:
As per usual, we got the kids some pastries from Cove Café, then DH and I headed to Triton’s for breakfast at 9AM

I had the fruit plate, Strawberry yogurt parfait, and the Southern Hash with scrambled eggs

DH had the fruit plate, oatmeal, and Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon

We did the 18+ ‘Art of the Theme Show’ tour at 9:30AM, meeting outside Palo on deck 10. We try to do this tour on every cruise. The guides talk about design elements on the ships, and each tour is slightly different. Our guide showed us the chandelier at the top of the stairs leading up to deck 10/Palo area, noting that the points on it are meant to deter children from coming up to the adult only Palo area, making them want to go back down the stairs. (The chandelier points look like spikes at first glance.)
DH laid down on the rug for this pic...


We ended the tour in Crown & Fin at 10:15AM,




18+ Crafts was happening in Crown & Fin until 10:30AM. They had drink koozies, mandalas, and wooden daisies to color. I grabbed a drink koozie and quickly decorated it. I went up to deck 9 to fill my water bottle with iced tea and immediately spilled some tea on my new koozie, unintentionally ‘antiquing’ it. I discovered the soft serve flavors of the day were mint and strawberry…why are they together…who is going to do a twist of mint and strawberry?

Washcloth animals by Adult Pool:

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/17/25: At Sea, part 2:

I had a drink tasting in Cadillac Lounge from 11-Noon, ‘Stem to Stern Wine Tasting’, $50. I sat by a window with 3 empty seats (and 18 extra filled wine glasses) near me as 3 people didn’t show up. (Maybe the time change messed them up?) It was a blind tasting with 3 whites and 3 reds run by Htin Lin, the Palo Sommelier.



You get a free pin at the tasting and a bottle of Evian water to clear your palate between tastings. (I love this pin! So much nicer than the one I got in 2023.)

Glass 1 was a 2023 Kung Fu Girl Riesling (Charles Smith Wines) from Columbia Valley, WA.

Glass 2 was a 2024 Poemetto Pinot Grigio from Friuli, Italy

Glass 3 was a 2018 Three Sticks Durell Vineyard Chardonnay from Sonoma Coast, CA

Glass 4 was a 2022 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin Red Burgundy from France

Glass 5 was a 2021 Concha Y Toro, Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile

Glass 6 was a 2020 Cune Crianza from Rioja, Spain

After the tasting was finished there were 17 of us and 17 unused glasses of wine from the 3 people who didn’t show up. (1 glass went to someone with a fleck in his original glass.) Htin offered up a glass to anyone who wanted one, they just needed to pour it into a different wine glass vs. the tasting glass. I took a glass of the Kung Fu Riesling and brought it to lunch with me! (I was feeling quite ‘happy’ by this point.)

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/17/25: At Sea, part 3:

While I was in the tasting, 21 walked on deck 4, past the atrium, just as a winner was announced for Jack Jack’s Diaper Dash. 21 was hanging out in the giant porthole outside Cadillac Lounge listening to their music on headphones, so we headed to Tiana’s Place to meet up with DH and 25 for lunch.

25, 21, and I had the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

21 and I had the Bruschetta with Caponata

DH had the Crispy Salmon Fish Cake

25 had the Mulligatawny Soup

DH had the Nurnburger

25 had the Red Velvet Cake

21 had the Apple Pie

I had the Mint Cookie Crunch Sundae

At some point today, DH did the placeholder booking, so we’ll get 10% off a future cruise.

DH, 25, and I went to the 2:15PM 18+ Origami Favorites in Crown & Fin. We made a water lily, butterfly, swan (mine looks like the Loch Ness monster), and a bookmark.

Then we went to Azure for the 3PM Broadway Guest Artist Presentation with Zach Kononov. He portrays Olaf in the Frozen show. He gave a really interesting talk about auditioning in NYC for Broadway shows. He performed 1 of his audition songs for us, “Together Again” from the “Young Frankenstein” Musical. Apparently some of the DCL theater show roles go to Broadway guest artists—Gaston and Le Fou in “Beauty and the Beast”, Olaf in “Frozen”, and Mother Gothel in “Tangled”. He originated the Le Fou role for DCL, so some of the moves Le Fou does in the play were created by him during rehearsal. It took a long time for him to actually be ‘acting’ Olaf, since he had to learn all the puppeteering and lines. He likes to put himself in the part, so he is not Zach Kononov pretending to be Josh Gad, being Olaf; he is Zach being Olaf.

Next, we packed up bags so we could still them outside the room before 10PM to be taken off the ship for us. While we were packing 25 realized that she’d lost a Stitch earring and tried to retrace her steps. She spoke with a nice cast member outside of the French Quarter Lounge who went looking for her and actually found it!

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/17/25: At Sea, part 4:

Our final dinner was Animation Magic night in Animator’s Palate.
Our drawings:


21 had the Donald Delight (non-alcoholic drink of the day) and I had Motion

DH and 21 had the Tomato Caprese

25 and 21 had the Malaysian Chicken Satay

I had the Crisp Romaine Wedge Salad

I had the White Cheddar and Broccolini Soup

25 and I had the Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington

21 had the Chicken Schnitzel

DH had the Roasted Alaskan Salmon Steak

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/17/25: At Sea, part 5:

Animation Magic!


25 had the Chocolate Decadence

21 and I had the Orchard Peach Tart

I had the Strawberry ‘n’ Cream Cake

DH had the Celebration Cake

DH had the Very Cherry Chocolate Sundae

We did a quick stop in the room to pack up our animation artwork and the kids’ ears. We went out on deck 4 and enjoyed the view.

The final show in the Walt Disney Theater was “Disney Dreams. We hadn’t seen this show since we were on the Magic in 2018. I love this one so much more than ‘Believe’ which is on the Dream and Fantasy. The base storyline is more enjoyable. Amazingly, 25 remembered that Peter Pan was featured in this production...it's been 7 years since we saw it!

 

[Geomom]

Sunday 8/17/25: At Sea, part 6:

We put the bags out after the show, and ordered room service. Ordering room service on the last night is a tradition for us. We also got 3 Mickey Ice Cream Bars--not pictured.

All Hands on Deck:

Fries/Sweet Potato Fries

Spinach and Feta Pide

Carafe of coffee (with 2 mugs) for the morning. Only took 5 cruises to “finally” order coffee to have the next morning! It was, indeed, still warm at 6AM, and very needed to get us up to breakfast before 7AM.

Our cruise route:

Final towel animal: Monkey!

 

[Geomom]

Monday 8/18/25: Vancouver, part 1:

Vancouver from our porthole:

DH had set an alarm for 6AM to try to get to our 6:45AM breakfast and get the last packing thrown into a duffel bag to carry off the ship. To put it mildly…the kids did NOT want to get up that early. We finally said, fine, we have to be out of the room by 8AM. We’re going to breakfast. We expect you to be dressed and ready to go by 7:45AM. So…we made it to breakfast at Animator’s Palate around 7AM.

DH and I had the Nature’s Muesli and some pastry.

DH had the ‘Eggs for the Road’ with all the meat and I had the Belgian Waffle. (Because of the early hour, there is no pic of DH’s, and a pic of only part of my waffle with blueberry compote.)

Eka was kind enough to give us 3 croissants to bring down to the room for the kids. (I had said they’d love some croissants.)

The kids actually ‘were’ ready when we came down to the room at 7:30AM. We packed up their dirty pjs and toiletry bags, and left the room before 8AM. It was crowded everywhere, so we went out onto the deck 4 starboard (port was closed due to refueling?) promenade to wait for our luggage tag character to be called so we could leave the ship. So…yeah, that took forever, I think we were the 6th one called, after 9AM. Luckily it was quick through border control, and we found all our bags quickly and were outside Canada Place before our post cruise tour meet time of 9:30AM.

 

[Geomom]

Monday 8/18/25: Vancouver, part 2:
We had used "Landsea Tours" on our first Alaskan cruise. It was so convenient as they’ll pick you and your luggage up at port, do a tour, then drop you and your luggage off at a downtown hotel, airport hotel, or the airport. This time we did the Post Cruise Vancouver Highlights + Lookout Tower + Capilano Suspension Bridge. They had a 10% off code on the website when I booked in advance, so we paid $132/adult. There were a couple other cruise groups on the bus, then we picked up more people from hotels. 3 people accidentally took the free Capilano bus from downtown to Capilano, so we ended up meeting them there…luckily it was the first stop. Unfortunately, it took a while to discover that, we sat outside their hotel for a long time before the company finally made contact with that group. We ended up with 28 people total on the tour. We went to Capilano Suspension Bridge first in the hopes that we’d beat some of the crowds and traffic in that area. We had 1.5 hrs of free time there.

Capilano Suspension Bridge (450 ft long, 230 ft above the Capilano River)


After crossing the long swaying bridge, DH and 25 went to ‘Raptor’s Ridge’ to see raptors and talk with the handlers.
Harris Hawk:

Kestrel:

Then they got “Otter Balls: All Canadian Style” (Pancake balls with maple syrup and powdered sugar.)

21 and I did the ‘Treetops Adventure’. (25 doesn’t like heights, survived the suspension bridge, but wasn’t doing anything else with heights!)


After that, I found DH, and said we’d just meet you at the bus as we’re going back over the bridge to do the ‘Cliffwalk’.


After the Cliffwalk, 21 and I split a black bean burger and fries.

As we left, everyone got this certificate:

 

[Geomom]

Monday 8/18/25: Vancouver, part 3:

Our tour made a couple of 20 minute stops in Stanley Park:

Prospect Point (where we split Matcha ice cream and Earl Gray Tea and Honey ice cream)


Totem Poles




Our Ship!

I had a little catnap on the way to Granville Island. I think we had about an hour there? We walked to the market. 25 had a spinach and feta quiche, 21 had a Nutella and banana crepe. We bought 3 bags of flavored nuts to bring home.


Next, we drove around downtown while our tour guide narrated the sights and made a quick photo stop in Gastown of the Steam Powered Clock. The time is off by about an hour. Right after I got back on the bus, we got to hear it play the 'hour' chimes.

 

[Geomom]

Monday 8/18/25: Vancouver, part 4:

For the last part of the tour, we went to ‘Vancouver Lookout’. We had 20 minutes at the top. You take a glass elevator up and have 360 views at the top.




Zoomed in pic of B.C. Place




We actually managed to be at the top as the Disney Wonder sailed away on its next cruise. 25 and DH figured out that "Brave" was playing on Funnel Vision.

 

[Geomom]

Monday 8/18/25: Vancouver, part 5:

The tour guide dropped people off at their hotels. We got dropped off at our airport hotel around 5:30PM. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Vancouver Airport on Cambie Rd, in Richmond. It ended up costing us $259 for the night. We booked the free airport shuttle for 8:15AM (it ran every ½ hr.), vs. 8:45AM because I needed to speak to an agent about our luggage. (When I originally booked with WestJet, I booked a fare that included 1 checked bag, and free seat selection/person. When WestJet cancelled the non-stop flight for 8/19 (and moved us to the 8/18 one which didn’t work for us), I picked a code-shared connecting flight with Delta. When I did online check-in with Delta, it wanted to charge me for bags…so I had to talk to a person in the morning.)

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, “Fogg n’ Suds”…and ordered way too much food…that’s what a cruise does to you…lol

I got the Lychee Mule

We split the gyoza

The vegetable samosas

And the truffle fries.

21 had the Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

25 had the Butter Chicken

I had the Mediterranean Power Bowl

DH had the Chicken Fajitas

We spent the rest of the evening repacking bags for the flight home.

 

[Geomom]

Tuesday 8/19/25: Vancouver to Minneapolis to Boston on 8/20/25

We managed to pack up the last of everything and get down to the shuttle right at 8:15AM. We were the only group picked up at that hotel, but we did stop for another couple at the Holiday Inn Express down the street. We were at the airport within 15 minutes. Very short wait to speak to an agent. He checked our passports and finished our check-in stuff. I got my free checked bags with no issues! He printed our boarding passes for both flights. I had DH check with weight of the bags with our travel scale right before we officially weighed them and moved a couple things out of the bag that showed overweight for us. Luckily it was enough and rang in just under the max weight! The rest of the bags were fine. US Customs in Vancouver was quick, just the facial scan, and an agent only asked me if we had any food. I said ‘no.’ (Okay, we actually had food, but all factory sealed, and I know they’re asking about fresh produce, meats, etc, which we did not have…and at 9AM I was not thinking that clearly…and the weird thing is you’re still in Canada and could buy fruit inside security and take it into the US on a plane?) I got a Strawberry/granola/yogurt parfait, 21 had an apple and cheese tray and a Tim Hortons chocolate croissant, 25 had a breakfast sandwich from Tim Hortons, and DH bought some Timbits and Apple fritters.
Vancouver airport (YVR) with trees/plants on the upper level

First Nation artwork in the Vancouver airport near our gate.

It was a good travel day. Flights were on time (actually early), for both legs. When I chose seats to Minneapolis, the plane was very full, but I was able to get 4 window seats in rows 30 and 31, so 21 and I had the A seats and DH and 25 had the F seats—so if the kids needed anything, we were right behind them. Delta came by with drink and a choice of Cheezits, Mini Garden Salsa Sunchips, or Biscoff Cookies.

Our flight path into Minneapolis...we actually went another 20 miles past Minneapolis before turning around for final approach.

Both flights were around 3 hrs or so, and we had a 2.5 hr layover in Minneapolis to get lunch/dinner. We ended up in the food court. I went to Moe’s and got a chicken bowl. DH, 25, and 21 went to the Shake Shack and had the various Chicken sandwiches, fries, and shakes. Flight to Boston, I had us in the usual 2x2 position with the kids in window seats. Got in 25 minutes early…but our bags didn’t come out until 45 minutes later! Our friend got to the airport before we’d even walked to baggage claim, so he spent a while waiting for us. (Thank you!) We picked up our car from our friends’ house and got home around 2AM local time (11PM to us.)

 

[Geomom]

Post Cruise Notes:

Laundry:
There is self-service laundry on deck 2, across from 2096. There are more located on decks 6 and 7. It was $3.50/load, all digital credits that go onto your account. They do sell detergent, but we brought our own. I also had my formal dress dry cleaned for $10 and had it back within 24 hrs. It came out great! It was so convenient, and now that dress is ready for the next cruise!

Alaska Merchandise we bought: Oversized Minnie hooded zipper sweatshirts (front and back pictured) for both kids, Alaska pin and Alaska ornament are on top of the bottom sweatshirt, Alaska striped shirt for DH, Alaska Minnie shirt for myself, and the Alaska magnet is on top of my shirt on the left.

DVC Goodies: As a Disney Vacation Club member, there is a magnet on your door (the large one on the bottom), and you can pick up freebies every day from the DVC desk on deck 4. We got 1 DVC magnet, 2 hats, 2 lanyards, 2 reusable straws, 2 Magicband sliders, 2 luggage tags, 4 lip balm (you get the #/room so you don’t have to share.), and the Mickey Pin from the Welcome Home Update on the first sea day.

Upcoming Cruise:
We just used our Onboard Booking/Placeholder on Gold Castaway Member booking day for DH and I. We're going on the Westbound Panama Canal cruise in April 2027. It’s a bucket list trip for me, and finally both kids will be out of school, so we’re not set to their schedules.

 

[Geomom]

Disney Wonder Ship Photos:

Just a photo dump of some pics we took of the ship that I haven't put in any posts.
Deck 3:
Atrium:

French Quarter Lounge;

After Hours: adult areas (see 8/17 sea day posts for Crown & FIn pics.)

Azure:

Cadillac Lounge:


Deck 4: outside Walt Disney Theatre

Bench on Promenade:
'
Deck 10:

Funnel Vision by family pool