Alaska on the Wonder - August 7th, 2017 **Updated thru Last Day at Sea**

Day 8 – Juneau

Is that really the alarm going off? Yes, it was an early day here in Juneau. My oldest son and I were up early for a 7:00 am whale watch with Harv & Marv’s on a smaller boat (Outback Special #1) that holds a maximum of 14 people. Originally, I was looking at Rum Runner but they had a max. capacity of 6 and others in our group expressed interest in going so that wouldn’t work. In the end, we were very happy with our choice even though the rest of our group decided to do other things.

We had another spectacular day of a few clouds and plenty of sunshine. Harv and Marv’s had a very nice representative waiting for us after we got off the ship to have us wait in a small group for the bus as we were off early. We were picked up promptly by a nice bus and then we were on our way to Auke Bay. On the way, we stopped at a scenic overlook at Brotherhood Bridge for a view of Mendenhall Glacier and were given the chance to take a quick picture. Here is the view from this area.

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We then re-loaded the bus and continued on the short drive to Auke Bay. Once we arrived, we were greeted by Captain Gabe. While he was greeting us, we all noticed a bald eagle sitting really close to us on the end of the pier. He gave us a minute or 2 to take shots as it was doing a nice job posing for us.

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Captain Gabe quickly gathered us back up and we were off to the boat. As we were boarding, he introduced us to Anton, our Naturalist for the day. We easily stepped on board the boat and in a minute, we were off. There was a lot of boat traffic that morning due to the salmon tournament that was going on. After talking to the other H & M boat captains (they were in constant contact finding us the best viewing options), we headed off into the channel we would explore first.

On the way, Anton gave us some great information on the area. Anton was born and raised in Juneau so it was interesting hearing what it was like growing up in a city that doesn’t connect to any roads out. He explained in HS, they usually took ferries to events or occasionally would fly. Those are the only two ways to travel to/from Juneau. The views were incredible looking back at Mendenhall and other glaciers.
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We weren’t out too long and Gabe spotted some Dall Porpoises so we headed in their direction. These guys were quick and enjoyed playing in the surf of the boat as well as off the front. **Quick note: the boat had nice covered area that was out of the wind that would seat everyone and also a front and back deck where you could stand out in the open. The boat in the picture above is very similar. Perfect setup!** I quickly went out to the front to snap some pictures and video of these guys. As I said before they were quick and didn’t come out of the water very much. Their coloring also confuses some people into thinking they are orcas.
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After playing with them for a few minutes, Gabe announced is was time to find some whales. Soon enough we spotted some spouts off in the distance. We got near one of the spouts and stopped to try and find where it would go next. In the meantime, Gabe talked to the other captains and found another group that was surfacing every 3 minutes. Off we went. Within a minute we were near a group of humpbacks that were amazing to watch. To see and hear the exhale in the peacefulness of this area was awesome.
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I love this shot of the fluke with another whale blowing in the background.
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We watched this group for quite a while. Gabe then told us we would go look for some others. On the way, we saw a couple of sea lions being harassed by sea gulls, sorry no good pictures of that. Soon we spotted more humpbacks. For these whales, I concentrated on getting shots of the whales with the scenery behind them. I’m really happy with what the shots that I got.

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Fluke going through the mist of the blow.
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We knew our time was getting short but Gabe said he had one more spot to take us. One of the boats radioed that they spotted an orca so we were off. Anton mentioned they maybe spot orcas once every 5 days so if we could find it we would be lucky. An orca was on my list of things to see so I was hopeful.

Soon we felt the boat slow down and we spotted the huge dorsal fin off the port side. We all quickly rushed outside for our first glimpse.
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When he went under, Anton explained that this orca was a transient. He said transient orcas are true killer whales-they will eat anything. If they are around you, will not see any seals or sea lions anywhere near. Resident orcas travel in bigger pods and prefer a diet of fish, especially late summer with all the salmon running to spawn.

We only were able to get a couple of glimpses of this orca. Anton also told the local legend that when one of the elders from a tribe near Juneau passed away, he said he would come back to the area as an orca. You will know he is around because his dorsal fin would bend at the top to the left. You decide if it is legend.

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Our time was up so we headed back in. On our way Gabe took us past where the harbor seals hung out. It was fun seeing them just hanging out. This ended up being a great tour and would highly recommend Harv & Marv’s. It was everything they advertised and the boat, Captain Gabe, and Naturalist Anton were great!

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We were dropped back off in the marina where we started. We boarded the bus and after the short drive back to Juneau we were given the option to be dropped off near the shopping or back at the ship. We chose the shopping area as we were meeting up with DW and DS2.

To be continued…trip to Mendenhall Glacier-coming soon!
 
Thanks, I am really enjoying your trip report, simply stunning photos. We can't wait to cruise Alaska within the next 5 years, so I am soaking it all up and living through everyone's trip reports. Looking forward to your next installment.
 
Day 8 – Juneau Part II


We pick up our day about 11:30 am as we were let off near the shopping area In Juneau. As luck would have it, as we were getting off the bus, DW and DS2 came walking up. Perfect!

We then spent the next hour walking around the shopping area. DW and DS2 had covered most of everything but I knew I wanted to hit the Alaskan Brewing Co. gear store. We wanted to make it to the brewery but knew we wouldn’t have enough time with everything else we wanted to do. I had been consuming my share of Alaskan Amber (only to make sure the mug paid for itself) so I picked up a hat, t-shirt, and cool rubber pint glass! For those interested in the brewery, they do run free shuttles from the store to the brewery.

While some of us finished up at the gear store, DW went down the street a little to find her yarn store. As I mentioned before, she tries to find a yarn store everywhere we visit and but some local yarns. She was in luck again, and found a nice store (Seaside Yarns) with a good selection of Alaskan yarns. So far, we are 2-for-2 with ports and yarn stores (I forgot to mention that in the Skagway report).

We then stopped at the Alaskan Fudge Co. store for a few snacks and some bottled water. Everything was so good! They had a great selection and it was all very fresh.

Now it was time for our afternoon activity-walking around the Mendenhall Glacier area. Our friends that we met up with in Skagway told us most operators were charging $45/pp roundtrip for transportation out there. I thought I had read here on the Disboards that taking a cab was cheaper…and they were right, with one slight caveat. Our driver told us he could only take us as far as the National Park sign and then we would have about a 20-minute walk to the Visitors Center. Being adventurous (and cheap), we said we’re in.

We had a nice drive out and he told us some more about the area. We set up a time for him to meet us but he also gave me his cell # just in case. He pulled over once we reached the sign…and with 4 of us and tip…it was $40, ½ what we would have paid for a shuttle.

Sign where he dropped us off at.
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It was a nice walk along a sidewalk. We did see a sign saying bear crossing so we all looked at each other and laughed (nervously).
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As our driver said, we arrived at the Visitors Center about 20 minutes later. We knew we wanted to walk to the waterfall so we picked up a map and headed down the trail. The walk was very easy and had plenty of traffic going both ways. The trail is all gravel and is about 1 mile long. The scenery was pretty and it was a nice walk.

As we got closer to the falls you could start to hear the roar of the water. There were several spots that looked out at Mendenhall Glacier and the waterfall.
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There were several places people had stacked rocks overlooking the glacier.
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After a couple of more turns and we were walking up to the waterfall.
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The view was spectacular! It was neat seeing the waterfall, the glacier, and huge chunks of ice in the lake.
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While we were down by the waterfall, we saw something white moving up on the side of the hill. Looking closer it was a mountain goat!

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We took a few more pictures and headed back to the Visitors Center.

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The Visitors Center was really nice. It had a small gift shop, restrooms, spotting scopes to look for wildlife, and other information on the glacier. They also had brought in a couple of pieces of the glacier that you could touch.
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Once we finished up there we decided we still had time to check out Steep Creek Trail and see if we could see the salmon running and maybe another bear. A few days before, our friends had seen a bear catching and eating salmon. The trail was very short as most of it was closed off due to bear activity. We did see salmon running but we didn’t see any bears. We also saw that the answer as to where bears go to the bathroom is definitely yes, in the woods!

Salmon in the creek.
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We started on our way back along the same path we came in on. Right before we got to the main parking lot I noticed a gentleman staring into the woods and walking kind of strange. I told my family to watch what was happening on the right side of the road. A few seconds later, out comes a black bear!

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We were maybe twice the distance the bear was to the gentleman but nobody panicked. The man walked to the other side of the road and the bear followed. There was a small pond on the left side and the bear walked down the road, following the man, until it could go on the back side. Here’s a picture of it on the backside of the pond.

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The bear could not have cared less that we were all there. As you see in the picture, there was plenty of food that was easy pickings for it. We continued walking, now remembering the bear crossing sign, back to our pick-up spot. A park ranger caught up to us as she had seen the bear and was very glad everyone handled themselves properly. She went to the far entrance to the Trail of Time to let people know there was a bear in the area.

As we walked we saw another family from the Wonder doing the same thing we were, walking to catch their cab. We were a bit early so I called our driver and he said he was on our way. We had a leisurely walk back to the sign and only had to wait 5 minutes for our cab to show up.

We had him drive us all the way back to the ship because we were all tired and hungry. We never had lunch so we were ready to head up to Deck 9 for some food. With tip, again $40. Two things worked out in taking the cab: we saved $100 for the 4 of us and we saw our 2nd bear. Had we taken the transfers I doubt we would have seen it.

One other note about where the ship docked and where the shopping area was. My DW told me that when she got off the ship she asked the very nice castmember if they could walk to downtown. He said yes, but there was a free shuttle 5 steps away. She said yes, but maybe she would walk. He once again told her there was a free shuttle. She decided to take his advice and it was nice, easy and quick. Looking at the walk on our cab ride back, she was glad she took the shuttle. By no means is it an unsafe walk, it just isn’t pretty as you walk along an industrial park and construction equipment. Thanks again to the crew for their help!

Once back on the ship we dropped our stuff off in the room and headed up to deck 9 for pizza, hamburgers and ice cream! We really did enjoy the food up there as a quick snack to hold us over until dinner. I call it a snack because both of our boys are swimmers and they can put away the food without gaining any weight!

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We hung around the room until it was time to get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was a lot of fun as we all talked about our day. Five of our friends took the helicopter up to a glacier and hiked on it for an hour or so. They admitted it was expensive, but with the beautiful, sunny day, one of the best things they have ever done in their life. The pictures were spectacular and it looked awesome. Again, I’m not sure what I had for dinner but it was great. Our serving team was really in a groove and had drinks ready and everything was perfect.

After dinner, we hurried down to the Crown & Fin for 80’s music trivia. We were pretty confident as we were all in HS and college during the 80’s but it wasn’t our night. It generally took missing only 1 or 2 points to win (out of 25 songs), with one game the team having a perfect score including bonus points. Either way, we had a great time. After the pub cleared out, we moved to one of our favorite spots and settled in for the evening.

The Frozen show was tonight so a bunch, including my whole family, went to the show. Martin found us on our way in so we had a beverage to enjoy during the show. The show was fantastic! They did such a great job with all of it and we all really enjoyed it. This is a show that is not to be missed.

Later we went and enjoyed the Magic & Comedy of Shawn Farquhar in Azure. He was really good and it was a nice change of pace for us. When that was over we headed back to the pub for a nightcap. With arriving in Ketchikan tomorrow, we knew we could sleep in.

Thanks again for sticking with me and I hope you are enjoying the report, I’ll be back soon with Ketchikan.
 
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Day 9 – Ketchikan

Today was our final stop in Alaska…and the day our weather luck ran out. We woke up leisurely as we knew we wouldn’t dock in Ketchikan until very late morning. I did the usual get up first and go get breakfast while the rest of the crew slept in. It was a much different weather day than we had all trip as it was overcast and misting/raining. Today, all 10 of us in the 3 families were scheduled for a kayak tour to Orcas Cove with Southeast Sea Kayaks.

After another great made-to-order omelet, I wandered around the ship a little. Once I made it back to the room, I grabbed my binoculars and camera and went out on the verandah and just watched the beautiful scenery go by. On our side of the ship we were close to land so I was in awe following the occasional bald eagle with the binoculars. A nice relaxing morning.

Float plane dock on our way in
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Soon we were pulling into Ketchikan. The nice thing about Ketchikan is that you literally dock right in town. You step off the ship and you are right at the shopping!

Here we are getting ready to dock.
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Our tour was to meet at 1:00 pm and I knew I wanted to take some pictures so I got off the ship first and would meet the family later. I quickly and easily got off the ship, walked down the gangway, and headed over to the statue and the Welcome to Ketchikan sign.

I have a better version of this but this is the one I could find right now
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Yes, it rains a lot in Ketchikan
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Next, I was off the Creek Street. I wanted some shots here before too many people arrived. On my way, I found these totem poles.
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As I was walking to Creek Street I received a call from one of the other families we were traveling with. Due to expected high winds and rain, all water tours were cancelled by Southeast Sea Kayaks due to safety issues. Two seconds later, I received a call from them telling me the same information. I was disappointed that we couldn’t go but could not be happier with Southeast Sea Kayaks. We were given a full refund and they also offered to recommend other things we might like to do with our time in Ketchikan. I am also happy they were looking out for the safety of us and their employees and not the money they were out. I definitely recommend them for their customer service and have no doubt they run a great tour.

Through many text messages, my family and one of the other families decided to go to the lumberjack show in the early afternoon. This gave us time to walk around town and do some shopping before the show. While we were disappointed, we were going to make the most of it.

I continued on to Creek Street. It is a neat little area with little shops. As luck would have it, right near one of the entrances was the yarn store my wife wanted to visit. Here are some of my shots from Creek Street and the salmon ladder in that area.
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As you can see, it was dark enough the street lights back here were on and it was 11:45 am

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The Wonder from Creek Street
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I pretty much got all the pictures I wanted as I knew rain and wind were on their way. Once I was done here I met up with the family. We had a good time walking around the town and stopping in the occasional store. We ran into some of our friends as they were walking around too. We met up with our other friends as they sat down for lunch and picked up our tickets for the show as they had purchased all of them because they were closer to the ticket office when we all decided to go. They told us to go ahead because they thought they might get there late with lunch being a little slow.

As we headed toward the show my wife reminded me to take pictures of the back of the Wonder as I didn’t have any yet. I snapped a couple quick as it was raining and windy.

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We hit one more shop on our way over and bought a Christmas ornament made in Alaska. We try to pick one up on every trip so that come Christmas we remember all the great trips we’ve been lucky enough to go on.

We then made our way to the lumberjack show. The seating is like half of the Lion King show at WDW. We made our way to the far side and found a bench (with a back) that would fit all of us. Our friends darted in right as the show was starting and grabbed a spot on the other side.

I fully admit I didn’t have high expectations for the show. I thought it would be hokey but we had nothing better to do so when in Alaska, see a lumberjack. I’m very happy to say, I could not have been more wrong. We all greatly enjoyed the show! They split the crowd in 2 teams, US vs Canada and we were on the Canadian side. They teach you how to cheer for your team and boo the other team.

Having watched the Great Outdoor Games on ESPN I knew some of the things they would be doing but watching it in person was cool. Here are some shots from the competition.

A little wood chopping while standing on the log
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A little axe throwing
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Some two-person sawing
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Some more wood chopping
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Some serious chainsawing
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Some standing on a wood plank wood chopping
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Some log climbing
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Some log running
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After all that, the 2 teams were tied. It would all come down to the best 2-out-of-3 log rolling.
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In the end, our team Canada won! We would now be able to tell our friends that we beat them! In true Disney fashion, you leave through the gift store. After a quick walk through, it was time to look for lunch.

We hadn’t eaten lunch yet and decided to support the local economy vs. going back on the ship. At the show, they give you a coupon for Fat Stan’s Lounge & Liquor Store so we decided to try it. We had walked past it earlier and it looked like a good spot so off we went. It isn’t very big but we placed our order for a large, fresh made pizza. My older son and I ordered Alaskan Brewing Summer Ale on tap, which was ok. The best part was that with the coupon from the Lumberjack show, for $1, you got to keep the pint glass.

Thankfully a table opened up and we sat down just as our pizza came. It was really good. Had a very light sauce and a very unique flavor. Sorry, no pictures but I highly recommend!

After lunch, we headed back to the ship to relax. Even though it wasn’t what we planned to do it still turned out to be a fun day. Once we got back to the room I went out on the verandah to relax some more and take a few more port pictures.

A bad picture, but the boat lower right corner has been on “Deadliest Catch”
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Ominous clouds
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Standing out there I noticed the Lumberjack Show arena-guys are climbing the poles in this picture
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Soon it was time to go to dinner. Tonight was Mardi Gras at Tiana’s Place. We were looking forward to the beignets! We were in full cruise mode now for meals. We would order multiple appetizers and sample a little of everything. This was the first time during the whole cruise that one of the 10 people in our party did not like something. My friend ordered the Ahi Tuna Tartare appetizer, had one little bite, and never touched the rest of it.

The rest of the meal was fantastic. Between all of us we had at least one of every entrée and loved it all. The Prime-Rib was out of this world! Finally it was time for dessert. We of course had several orders of beignets along with various other desserts with Mama Odie’s White Chocolate Bread Pudding being another favorite. We cleaned all our plates and were stuffed.

Tonight was the last night with our dining staff as we were all going to Palo tomorrow night. We took a few pictures with all of them and said our goodbyes. They did a fantastic job and quickly learned exactly what each person wanted and would have it waiting when we arrived each night. In fact, tonight one of the kids left dessert early to catch the start of ‘90’s Music Trivia in the Crown & Fin and our staff gave us an order of beignets to take to her in the pub.

After saying our goodbyes, as mentioned above, we headed down to ‘90’s Music Trivia. We had fun again but didn’t win. We were stumped by a couple and that cost us. The rest of the evening we hung out in the Crown & Fin with Sandra taking care of us. Some of our group went to the Magic Show while others just chilled.

As always, thanks for following and hope you’re enjoying.
 


Day 10 – Day at Sea and dinner at Palo (bummer, last full day onboard)


Sorry for the delay, I thought I had posted this but I didn’t. Now on with the report.


Today was our last full day on the Wonder and last non-travel day of our vacation. It was a downer (and still is writing this) because we have had such a great trip so far and didn’t want it to end. Breakfast was the usual up at Cabana’s. Boy I’m going to miss this when I get home! Made to order omelet, fresh fruit, orange juice and a view.


After breakfast, I went back to the room to read and relax. I very quickly received a text (if I haven’t told you, we LOVED using the DCL app for texting) from my DW to come to the Crown & Fin for tile coaster making. She had a vision, but the vision was for a Mickey & Minnie coaster and she could only make one. I went down and we had a fun time making our coasters. They give you 2 pieces of balsa wood with one having a square cutout to place the tiles. There are several bins of tiles to choose from with maybe 10-12 different tile colors. Once you decide on your pattern you simply glue the tiles and top piece of wood down with the bottom and take it back to the room to dry. It turned out to be a fun activity with my DW and we now use the coasters at home with great memories.


I stayed out wandering around taking pictures around the ship while my DW went to Anyone Can Cook: Apple Strudel. She loved this and was amazed while also disappointed she didn’t try to go to more of these during the trip. She said the way he rolled it up was amazing!


**Side note** I take a lot of pictures. Photography is a hobby for me and I’m proud of some of my pictures that I have taken and have hanging in my office. My family has always put up with my hobby on trips although I’m sure it annoys them sometimes. The best thing I heard recently is my 22-year-old son telling his college teammates to take pictures to document their lives and he is thankful of all the visual memories he has because of the pictures I have taken and the work his mom has done with them. My DW has done a fabulous job of creating scrapbooks of our vacations as well as yearly scrapbooks for the family and for each of our boys. She started doing this 22 years ago and provides great memories for all of us. Some nights we will pull out old scrapbooks and go through them laughing and reminiscing. The point of this side note is take lots of pictures but more importantly, do something with them. You and your kids will appreciate it!


We all met back up with our friends at 11:30 for Movie Tunes Trivia. Once again, we thought we would rock but we didn’t. Some of the tunes were really hard but we had fun anyway. We then all split up for lunch but for the life of me I don’t know what I had.


Another note about today was that this was really the first time we could really feel the ship rocking. Morning until mid-afternoon we were out in open water so we all looked like drunken sailors trying to walk. By mid-afternoon we were back in the Inner Passage and it was smooth as glass.


At 1:15 we met back up for TV Tunes Trivia in the Crown & Fin. We came away with nothing but the knowledge that we didn’t/don’t watch enough tv or some people have watched way too much. The tunes were from the 1950’s-today so some were very difficult. It was funny though as some in our group would say “That is one of my favorite shows” but we incorrectly answered what the song was. This was the last of the trivia contests and we all had a great time with them. Great job by the hostess (insert name here) from England. She was a lot of fun and kept the games moving.

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After trivia, we decided to stop and book a placeholder cruise. The deal is too good and only took a few minutes. Now to decide how to use it. We then headed back to the room for a little bit to start the worst part of our trip…packing. We had been contemplating debarkation and decided to do the walk-off with all of our bags because we wanted to get on the road early to catch our flight home from Seattle.


After packing for a little while, DW went to Disney Tunes trivia with some of our friends. I on the other hand, received a text saying the guys were going to the hot tub to finish the wine we brought on board. Our plans for tastings never materialized with everything else we were doing so we had a few bottles to finish. It was a great afternoon of relaxing, drinking wine, talking about all we had seen/done on the trip, and watching the beautiful scenery pass us by. By this point we were in the Inner Passage and the scenery was again breathtaking. We even had pizza delivery courtesy of my youngest son. He had lost a bet to one of the other dads at the White Sox game we were at weeks ago and had to pay up with pizza delivery upon request. To my son’s credit, after Dave texted him down in the room, he was fast and delivered several plates of pizza without complaint. A good laugh was had by all.


Several hours later (I told you we had a lot of wine to finish), it was time to get ready for dinner at Palo. As I was getting ready to hop in the shower, one of the boys said they just spotted orcas while on the balcony. We all piled out and soon we saw a really big pod of orcas. Even though we saw one on our whale watch, seeing a pod was spectacular. This was a huge pod as we found out later at dinner that our friends on the other side of the ship saw them at the same time as well.

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We all met back up at Palo. For the 10 of us, we had pre-booked 3 different dinner reservations at different times figuring once we were onboard we could talk to them and group our reservations. When we boarded the first day, Palo was great and moved all of our reservations to one big table.


We ordered many different things and our wonderful server brought even more things he thought we would like. Sorry, I don’t remember what all we had but it was all out of this world. Having eaten in some of Chicago’s finest steak houses, the steaks were on par with any of them. The seafood lovers in our group said the seafood was some of the best they have ever eaten. And of course, the desserts were out of this world!


We finished dinner as the sun was setting so we went outside to take some pictures. After we finished we were walking on deck when we felt the ship starting to slow down. Just then an announcement came over the loud speaker that the ship had received a distress call from another boat. Because we were close, we were going to turn around and go assist. A short time later there was another message that another ship was taking care of the boat in distress so we could feel us accelerating again and we were back on our way. It’s nice to know that all the boats and ships are in communication and will all help one another.

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After dinner, we went back to the room, changed, and headed back to the Crown & Fin. Some of our group went to Disney Dreams while the rest of us relaxed with our server Sandra taking care of us again. We were all going to miss our nightly pub sessions. We took some group pictures and even got one with Sandra. I also walked around taking a few more pictures of the details of the ship. Finally, it was time for our last night’s sleep on the Wonder.

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Loving your trip report! We have booked Alaska on the Wonder for May 2019. Virtually the same trip but hoping to book American non stop from Chicago to Vancouver to avoid the delays you experienced. Looking forward to 2 days in Vancouver pre-cruise.
 


Loving your trip report! We have booked Alaska on the Wonder for May 2019. Virtually the same trip but hoping to book American non stop from Chicago to Vancouver to avoid the delays you experienced. Looking forward to 2 days in Vancouver pre-cruise.

You will love it. It was nice going back and looking at the pictures and recalling all the great memories from the trip. Have a great time!
 
I loved reading your trip report and your pictures were amazing. We are booked on an august 2018 cruise - I am so excited for our trip! I’m just curious - what kind of camera did you use?
 
I loved reading your trip report and your pictures were amazing. We are booked on an august 2018 cruise - I am so excited for our trip! I’m just curious - what kind of camera did you use?
Thanks and have a great time, you'll love it! Make sure the first day at sea and glacier day you are outside or by a window. Pictures don't do the scenery justice. I shoot a Canon 7D Mark II with either a Canon 24-105 f4 or Canon 70-200 f.8 lens.
 
I really love seeing and reading your amazing trip report---

the pics are breathtaking--thanks for the report

we will be on this cruise in just a few months--cant wait
 
:thanks: - luved your TR


Now I know where I will be in 24 more months via my place holder I will b receiving in October -


What can I say? U had me at all those wonderful pictures!:goodvibes



T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL:wave2:
 
Just read your entire trip report. Amazing pictures!
We are on going on the Wonder to Alaska July 22nd also with college age kids, suggested other lines, they wanted to stick with DCL

I realize your report is from 2yrs ago, Did you use your placeholder?
 
Thank you for the nice comments. We almost used our placeholder...but decided to go to Scotland for 10 days instead. We did receive the full refund so it is still a great thing to do. Have a great trip and please post a report/pictures. This is one cruise we would do again!
 
What a fabulous trip report. Excellent photography. I feel exactly the same about using photos to document your life, and I'm sure I'll shoot up a storm when we take our first Alaska cruise later this year. Thanks for taking the time to write this report!
 

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