Cass, Rob & Kira - July 2022 Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise - Worth the covid!

[Timon]

July 13th, Part 4

Let's start this chapter off with a cute photo that Kira took earlier in the day.

And then more beautiful ice as we leave the Arm...

I wanted to stay longer, I don't think we were quite out of the Arm just yet but it was now dinner time at Triton's...

This was the one menu I was really looking forward to since it was brand new to all of us. This dark rye bread/cracker was quite delicious with butter on it!

This was our view from our table.

And this my view of my awesome family!

I love me some pea soup so I got that as an appetizer. It was okay.

Rob got this and only liked the stuff in the little bowls.

He also got the carrot soup which he did not love but I ended up loving it and finishing it for him! It's funny because he LOVES carrots and I hate them, so the fact that he didn't care for the carrot soup and I wanted to lick the bowl, was downright weird.

Kira ordered the lobster ravioli and didn't really eat it. She said it was gross.

Same with Rob's salmon.

He did like his chicken though.

My beef was terrible! A little overcooked and it kind of tasted bad. Like the meat was bad.

Even the potatoes were barely edible and if you know anything about me it's my love for just about any potato. I used to say "I never met a potato that I didn't like" but this cruise definitely has changed that.

I think I took a few bites and that was it for me. At this point, I started feeling really off. My face went bright red, which is the first indication of my Lupus flaring up. Sometimes I will go from 60 to 0 in less than a minute and this was one of those times. It's kind of hard to explain, my face feels like it's on fire and then I lose all of my energy at once, my heart beats really fast, I often get an instant headache, feels like I will pass out if I don't cool down. Rob noticed my face, took a photo and then I headed back to the room.

I went out on the verandah. Boy, it sure was nice to be able to cool down just by stepping out there. It took about an hour to feel better and I enjoyed the scenery while I was doing so.

Rob and Kira finished their dinners and then ordered and ate dessert.

Zaldy and Luis were concerned for me, Rob explained to them that it happens often, nothing to worry about, I just needed to get out of there ASAP. Rob managed to get a mask-free photo of them with Kira that night. So nice of them to do that!

Then they spotted a Princess ship as they were leaving the restaurant.

And then Kira showed Rob something she had been stalking for awhile. She knows not to ask her mum about stuffies. If you know, you know.

By this time, the Freezing the Night Away show had started. I was able to get a half-decent spot up on deck 10, and I messaged Rob to come meet me when he was done. Kira headed to Vibe and Rob came to find me.

I would say, unless you've got a big Frozen fan in your party, you can skip it. Many people were really cold, it was pretty windy.

We walked past my pool to see how busy it was.

Back to the room we went, where we found the cutest bear towel animal!

And beautiful scenery from our verandah. I stayed out there a bit until I felt a bit better. It was kind of a catch-22 thing, I didn't want to go to the pool until I felt better but I knew going to the pool would help me feel better.

With only about 45 minutes of pool time left, I managed to get my butt up there. This night was the coldest the pool had been so far. It doesn't bother me as long as there's room in a hot tub for me to warm up a little and there was plenty of room that night. Sadly, 40 minutes later, Suka shut it down for the night. The water that night was as cold, if not colder, than any other pool night I've ever had on the Wonder. I spoke to Suka about it, he said sometimes they have problems with the heater. I asked him who was in charge of the temperature of the pool and he pointed to another guy in a yellow jumpsuit. I told him that he needed to crank that sucker up, I was the only one brave enough to go in the pool that night. People tried...and failed. I mean, if it's too cold for me, you know there's a problem.

I showered and then spent a little time on the verandah and then we went to sleep. Kira was back around 12:30am. As much as we missed seeing her, it was really nice knowing that she was having a great cruise.

Tomorrow is our first port, Skagway!

 

[Timon]

Claire loves those chicken wings. She gets them every single day!

I actually asked for them dry, I like wings but not saucy ones. I also asked for chicken tenders but those never came. Guess they figured we had enough food already!

Yay! I love reading your reports Cass! Alaska is on my bucket list. I am not a big fan of cold, but watching the cold and ice and beautiful scenery is very pleasant today as I look at our thermometer and it says 111 degrees! This is day 5 of over a hundred, and it is supposed to last until next week! I like heat, but not this heat! At 54 degrees though I would be like Rob and all bundled up while my husband would be in shorts and tee shirts!
Alaska is also appealing because I would not have to fly there, we can drive up to Vancouver. Yay!
Can't wait to read more!

Lisa

OMD, 111! We are getting a heat wave where we live and it's unbearable and it's NOT 111!

It's funny how people handle the weather differently.

Ohh, driving to a port would be very appealing!

Those pictures are gorgeous! And that room service food looks so good!



Also anyone else slightly freaked out to see so much winter clothing at this time of year lol

Hahaha, it was so nice to get away from the heat, We had a heat wave in Calgary while we were gone, over 30ºC every single day! If I could spend the whole Summer on an Alaskan cruise, I would be happy!

The blue glaciers.....OMD!!!! Just beautiful! They almost look fake.

"The Other Mouse"... you slay me.

Loved the pics of you in the pool and Rob in his winter garb. Too funny!!!

Blue glaciers everywhere we looked!


It was a funny contrast that we laughed about on many occasions.

Here I am Cass, your biggest fan!! and I'm about to start your newest fabulous, ALASKA what! story. Holy cow, are you even kidding me. Okay, I've read the very first post and I am beyond excited to start!!!!!

Yay, you made it Jill!!!

Glad you're here, it wouldn't be the same without you!

Okay 1st day done, and as always, so so enjoyable! Thank you for sharing that about Kira, how amazing that she could open up to the two people she loves the most in life and enjoy her teen years, open. Beautiful. And you guys are just amazing. Loving Canada so far, the only place I've ever been is Niagara Falls many years ago, so this is terrific. Cannot wait to get on that ship with you!!

Can't imagine kids who can't be themselves

Can't wait for you to read all about our journey, it was a blast!

Great photos! That is much closer than the Wonder got on our visit to Tracy Arm in early June.

Oh really? Interesting!

Loving this! That lunch looks great. We are going to be down the hall so nice to know the view is going to be just as awesome from the veranda. Curious how did you hang the towel above the bed? Such a cute touch in the room!

We loved our midship location, it was perfect! We always bring magnets with clips, usually for our lights on our xmas cruises but they ended up working perfectly for that towel. It added to the decor.

Was there advance notice on which character would appear where (and when) or did you just have to circle the deck and spot them?

They were all listed in the app with times and locations, except for Koda, I don't remember seeing him in the app and he was mostly wandering around. All of the Alaska characters were available twice that day and then again on a Sea Day but I think they were inside on that second day, not outside, like Glacier day.

Those glaciers are gorgeous!




Now I am worried about the ship! Just because you are off of it doesn't mean anything right now with the suspense lol!

Let's just say it did alter our cruise. Stay tuned.

Love all the pictures and it looks so beautiful but wow sooooo cold!! I'm interested to hear how it all went down with the propeller issue. I won't put anything here in comments to cause a spoiler alert. You can really see the vibration in your video.

For Rob, yes cold. For me? Perfection!

I don't think there's much you don't already know

I'm caught up yay!! Fantastic Cass, just terrific. I laughed with all those blankets on Rob. You are identical to me, I'd always be in the pool at night, and my hubby would not, but he'd stay by my side. I love that about you guys so much. The glaciers! oh my. This reminds me of my trip to New Zealand, these skinny waterfalls everywhere over the mountains, just gorgeous. I am peeled now to see what happened to the ship, and what happens to your cruise (does it become a 5 day or something?). Staying tuned for more!

Awww, it sounds like we have the best guys! Lucky us!

Guess you gotta stay tuned!

In the navigator app you will be able to see the times and locations for character meet and greets. There will also be characters just wandering around randomly that you might run into.

Did you see anyone else wandering that wasn't listed in the app? We only saw Koda.

 

[juniorbugman]

This was the one menu I was really looking forward to since it was brand new to all of us. This dark rye bread/cracker was quite delicious with butter on it!

Extra extra butter??

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

Your little girl has grown up to be a beautiful young lady. I am glad you support her in finding herself.

Okay, Vancouver is now, by far, my favourite port to sail out of.

Also, my favorite port, followed by San Juan, and the San Diego.

Let me start by saying this was my 16th Disney cruise, 6th time on the Wonder and I have to be honest, this was my least favourite food on any Disney ship.

We were on the West Bound Panama Cruise in March 2022 and the food SUCKED. And we are not picky eaters. It was bad. Our servers were bad, slow and stressing "excellent" for reviews (they did not get it). Guest services was bad. Our stateroom host was not good. Our stateroom had major, dangerous issues. And more. It was so "not Disney" that Disney gave us a 25% discount on a future cruise.

 

[dcassetta]

Oh really? Interesting!

The ship did not get past that last bend, so if you stayed on the ship you could only see the very top of the glacier. We did the glacier explorer so did get much closer. However, at the end of the excursion it took almost an hour to get back onboard as the ice was an issue. The ship had gotten into an area with too many small bergs and had to maneuver further out for us to be able to get back on board safely. To be honest, I thought that due to the ice the ship had gotten too close to the glacier.

Hope you flare was not too bad. I can relate...

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Oh i do not like where this is headed in regards to altering the cruise-wonder if there is a connection to the food too

I am still not over how cool those glaciers look!

 

[Timon]

July 14th, Part 1

When we woke up at 7am, we were already docked at the Ore dock in Skagway. There were three big ships at the other docks.

You could see where the landslide was that happened in June.

We booked this cruise pretty last minute and we hadn't planned on any excursions. They are super pricey and many of them are all-day long kind of treks, something that none of us are interested in. We like the ship, We cruise for the ship. I know many people cruise for the ports but we don't. We like to see the ports but we are mostly happy just to walk around see stuff on our own.

So, when I booked this, I had only planned for us to get off in each port and look around. I had entertained the thought of doing the White Pass Rail but this year, due to Covid, they are not going all the way into Canada and honestly, that is a major part of the draw for us. None of us have been to Yukon or any other Canadian Territory, for that matter.

A couple of weeks after I booked the cruise, I found out that while the train does not go into Canada, you can still rent a car and drive there. I found a place called DIY Jeep, that many cruisers book with and did some research. This place was a little steep, about $475 USD with a gas tank refill BUT this means Kira would get to be in a Jeep Wrangler! That's been her dream vehicle for years now.

The Jeep rental included a packed lunch with a turkey wrap, chips and bottle of water each and they pack it up for you in a cooler. It's also comes with an ipad that includes a narrated guided tour.

Once we decided to book this, we got really excited! Back in March, Kira was supposed to go on a school trip to Whitehorse for a week but it was cancelled due to travel restrictions in Yukon.

Now most people who book these Jeeps will drive to Emerald Lake and back. Once I did a little more digging, I found out that Whitehorse is only a little over an hour past Emerald Lake. We wouldn't have a lot of time there, but the thought of Kira getting to go to Whitehorse, even just for a quick stop, was pretty exciting.

We could pick up the Jeep any time and it had to be back by 6pm when they closed for the day. We would be in Skagway until 8pm so that gave us plenty of time to stop everywhere we wanted to stop!

A couple of days before the Skagway stop, while we were on the cruise, I got an email from DIY Jeep saying that they are running low on Jeeps and that they would be upgrading us to a "large SUV" free of charge. Seriously?

One of the main reasons I chose this place was because we get to drive a Jeep Wrangler!

Well, at least it wasn't cancelled, we still get to go, just not in the Jeep we were hoping for,

Rob had a light breakfast at Cabanas on his own, Kira doesn't eat breakfast and since we were going to be in a car all day, I didn't eat until dinner that night. I get car sick sometimes so I fasted from dinner the night before to dinner this evening at 5:45pm.

We got off the ship by 8am...

When we got off the ship, there were two boys, dressed in newsies-type garb, handing these newspapers out. There's historical articles and coupons inside.

Skagway is super small and easy to get around.

I'm still feeling my flare a little. And boy, those pants were the WRONG choice for me today! I was hot the entire way! I wish that I had worn shorts and then brought pants just in case.

Looking back at our lovely ship! Could only see the mountains that were close up, it was very foggy that morning.

Kira wore her school house shirt for the Whitehorse pics.

They Alaska!

There's the town! Very foggy!

You can see the DIY Jeep from way back. It was very busy!

It's also the Avis rental counter.

You know Kira is excited when she's taking pics!

Looking back towards the ships, super close and easy to get to!

We waited about 20 minutes and then it was our turn.

So, we had a good experience but there were a lot of changes that I wasn't overly fond of. The first one obviously being the change of vehicle. Secondly, they were no longer providing lunch in your car, instead, they gave you lunch coupons for a place in Carcross. This didn't work for us for a few reasons. First, this meant that we had no water in the car with us, which I was not expecting. This also meant that we could only eat while at Carcross, which we knew the timing probably wouldn't work out for us and I would have preferred having the lunch handy, so we could eat what we wanted, when we wanted. I wish they would have emailed this change as well, we would have been more prepared, rather than springing it on us as we are picking up the car.

Also, when you book it, it says to make sure you provide your car insurance papers, showing that you had coverage for a rental car. I took the time and the effort to make sure we had this and no one even asked us for it.

They reminded us to bring the car back with a full tank and look at that, right across the street is a gas station.

Here's our vehicle. Still technically a jeep, just not the one they advertised.

We got in, got comfy and off we went! They also did not have an ipad with guided tour but they gave us a binder with Murray's Guide to driving the Klondike Highway (Which I had recently printed off and read) and there was an audio tour playing on the radio.

Getting the audio tour at the right spot was a challenge and we missed the first few things they had told us to look for. We played part of it, skipped part of it, were a little confused at a part of it.

This was the first stop. We pulled over and took some pics. It was super foggy, didn't see much but we could see where the White Pass Railway goes...

Kira took this photo of me and said " Here, this is what I see during our trips" She's not wrong LOL!

Not sure if you can tell but I've got the GoPro in the front window. We took a time-lapse video from Skagway to Caribou Crossing. I will post it when we get there in the trip report.

Close up of where the train goes.

Here's the binder we got...between the driving, the audio track going, the stopping and starting for photos and videos, it was kind of hard to read. I gave it to Kira so she could refer to it and I read parts of it later. I had already done my research thankfully and I knew where I wanted to stop and what I wanted to see. If I hadn't, I think we would have all been feeling overwhelmed.

Our second stop. Supposedly all of these stops had spectacular views, according to the audio guide.

As we went higher up, the fog got worse.

 

[Kanga2Roo]

I would be so ticked off with all those changes. That's a huge difference from what you actually booked.
However, the scenery is gorgeous and I am sure you all had a great time.

 

[dcassetta]

Did you see anyone else wandering that wasn't listed in the app? We only saw Koda.

Stitch was wandering around in the late afternoon and then some in the evening although he wasn’t on the schedule. He does not have a special Alaska outfit, or if he does he wasn’t wearing it that day

As we went higher up, the fog got worse.

There is a Stephen King story called The Mist and they made it into a movie. There’s a scene in the movie that looks like your last picture! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your Jeep day.

 

[JulieODC]

Loving your report! We depart a week from Monday for our Alaskan cruise.

I’d originally booked DIY Jeep, but caught wind of the changes in the vehicle and switched to a much less expensive rental. All the other changes - lunch, the audio tour - etc are making me extra glad with my decision! Frustrating to experience a bait and switch like that!

 

[Jeepdisney]

Oh my goodness those pictures are so stunning! I cannot believe how blue that ice was! Also loved your time lapsed was great!

so sorry you guys werent able to get a Jeep Wrangler for the tour! I have one and they are the best!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Yikes to the changes with the excursion- the change in vehicle wouldn't bother me as long as there was 4 wheel or all wheel drive, but the no food is a no.


This whole trip report is just suspenseful and the fog does not help lol! Beautiful area though for a highway tour!

 

[JohnDoenut]

I love the suspense left by leaving the last update on that foggy photo.

 

[cntkg1]

How close was that mudslide to any of the cruise ships? It looks pretty close.

 

[Darkrobe]

I love the suspense left by leaving the last update on that foggy photo.

Lol I’d say you ain’t seen anything yet for fog, but we literally didn’t see anything but fog heading out. We did run into people who turned around though who let the fog ruin their trip unfortunately.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I heard that Avis bought the business and immediately started selling all the jeeps for profit. A bummer because we loved that excursion especially with two very small kids, being able to go at our own pace was great. They didn’t give us lunch back then either but I think we did have an audio recording of some kind for the tour.

 

[Skywatcher1206]

Your glacier pics are gorgeous! I’m so enjoying the rest of your report. Skagway was our favorite port. It was so cute!

 

[greensombrero]

As usual your trip reports are a great read! Alaska sure looks beautiful!

Sad to hear the food overall wasn’t up to par. I have to wonder if it is a supplier issue, inflation or just a bad batch of supplies? Did you get any explanation?

 

[Timon]

Extra extra butter??

Luis had two full butter dishes waiting for us every night when we sat down, along with a large basket filled with rolls.

Your little girl has grown up to be a beautiful young lady. I am glad you support her in finding herself.


Also, my favorite port, followed by San Juan, and the San Diego.

We were on the West Bound Panama Cruise in March 2022 and the food SUCKED. And we are not picky eaters. It was bad. Our servers were bad, slow and stressing "excellent" for reviews (they did not get it). Guest services was bad. Our stateroom host was not good. Our stateroom had major, dangerous issues. And more. It was so "not Disney" that Disney gave us a 25% discount on a future cruise.

I am SO sorry to hear that!

My goodness, none of that is good and it doesn't sound like 25% really makes up for it.

I've never been to the port at San Diego or San Juan but I will see San Juan soon.

The ship did not get past that last bend, so if you stayed on the ship you could only see the very top of the glacier. We did the glacier explorer so did get much closer. However, at the end of the excursion it took almost an hour to get back onboard as the ice was an issue. The ship had gotten into an area with too many small bergs and had to maneuver further out for us to be able to get back on board safely. To be honest, I thought that due to the ice the ship had gotten too close to the glacier.

Hope you flare was not too bad. I can relate...

Sorry that you can relate.

Wow, you could only see the top??? That sucks!

Oh i do not like where this is headed in regards to altering the cruise-wonder if there is a connection to the food too

I am still not over how cool those glaciers look!

No connection with the food but we definitely had to alter course.

I would be so ticked off with all those changes. That's a huge difference from what you actually booked.
However, the scenery is gorgeous and I am sure you all had a great time.

Scenery was amazing coming back, we couldn't get over it since we were just there and didn't see anything!

Stitch was wandering around in the late afternoon and then some in the evening although he wasn’t on the schedule. He does not have a special Alaska outfit, or if he does he wasn’t wearing it that day


There is a Stephen King story called The Mist and they made it into a movie. There’s a scene in the movie that looks like your last picture! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your Jeep day.

OMD! Stitch!!! I'm bummed we didn't see him!

I've read the book and watched the movie, and it did remind me of it as we were going through it!

Loving your report! We depart a week from Monday for our Alaskan cruise.

I’d originally booked DIY Jeep, but caught wind of the changes in the vehicle and switched to a much less expensive rental. All the other changes - lunch, the audio tour - etc are making me extra glad with my decision! Frustrating to experience a bait and switch like that!

Ooh, have fun!!!

Yes, I wasn't thrilled, especially since we could have rented a regular vehicle for much cheaper! You've made a wise choice!

Oh my goodness those pictures are so stunning! I cannot believe how blue that ice was! Also loved your time lapsed was great!

so sorry you guys werent able to get a Jeep Wrangler for the tour! I have one and they are the best!

Hahahah, I had expected that you would own one of those.

Yikes to the changes with the excursion- the change in vehicle wouldn't bother me as long as there was 4 wheel or all wheel drive, but the no food is a no.


This whole trip report is just suspenseful and the fog does not help lol! Beautiful area though for a highway tour!

Yeah, it wasn't great but we still managed to have fun!

Hahaha, it was weird and neat and crazy driving in that fog! Coming back was much better.

I love the suspense left by leaving the last update on that foggy photo.

Hahahah, I like to leave y'all hanging.

How close was that mudslide to any of the cruise ships? It looks pretty close.

It was close enough that it prevented some ships from docking there and it damaged the pier.

Lol I’d say you ain’t seen anything yet for fog, but we literally didn’t see anything but fog heading out. We did run into people who turned around though who let the fog ruin their trip unfortunately.

I don't think it ruined their trip, I'm sure they made their way back up and got to see some nice scenery when the fog finally cleared.

I heard that Avis bought the business and immediately started selling all the jeeps for profit. A bummer because we loved that excursion especially with two very small kids, being able to go at our own pace was great. They didn’t give us lunch back then either but I think we did have an audio recording of some kind for the tour.

Oh, makes sense!

It was still fun and we didn't let it bother us too much.

Your glacier pics are gorgeous! I’m so enjoying the rest of your report. Skagway was our favorite port. It was so cute!

Spoiler alert, we didn't even really get to see Skagway. But there WILL be a next time. Maybe a few.

As usual your trip reports are a great read! Alaska sure looks beautiful!

Sad to hear the food overall wasn’t up to par. I have to wonder if it is a supplier issue, inflation or just a bad batch of supplies? Did you get any explanation?

Ahh, how kind of you. You always say the sweetest things.

Hmmm, no idea honestly? They never really said and we never asked.

 

[Timon]

July 14th, Part 2

Sorry to leave you guys all hanging...I was busy booking another Alaskan cruise on the Wonder.

Now where were we?

Honestly, in that fog, it was kinda hard to tell.

The next stop was Bridal Veil Falls. We almost missed it because it came up so fast in the fog, you couldn't see it until the last minute.

There were a couple of groups there, so we took turns taking family pics for each other. This was the case at just about every stop, which was nice.

Kira insisted that she get a shot of her parents together. She's such a sweet kid.

Looking back at where we parked. We literally could not see anything. The audio tours kept talking about gorgeous, sweeping vistas and breathtaking mountains.

Yeah, uhh, we'll take your word for it.

Our next stop was the Captain William Henry Moore Bridge...

Kira showcasing our lovely views.

You can kind of make out the bridge here.

Our next stop was the most popular one. The Welcome to Alaska sign. When we got there, there was a big tour bus and their guide was taking lots of photos for them. He was kind enough to take a family pic of us when he was all done with his group.

Rob's expression kind of says it all.

Just WAIT until you see what this should look like.


As we climbed higher and higher, we crossed into Canada. The odd thing about this border crossing is that because it's so high up in elevation and the weather is so bad, particularly in the Winter, both USA and Canada customs were miles away from the actual border.

With all of this fog, it really did feel like the Twilight Zone.

Finally, we reached Canadian Customs.

The Customs officer was so nice, he asked us where we were going and Rob told him that our final destination was Whitehorse and then he asked us why we were going to Whitehorse and Rob replied "Timmy's"

He totally understood and we asked him what the closest Tim Horton's was to him and he replied "Whitehorse"

I had asked him where exactly the turn off for the bathroom was, the guide indicated that there was one in this building...

He told us we could pull in and use the one in the Customs building. So Kira and I took advantage of his kindness and then we headed back onto the highway. It was finally starting to clear up a little and the views started to hit us.

The next stop, again a busy one, was the Yukon sign! This was cool. Rob and I are in our fifties and this was our first step into any Canadian Territory.

Kira was super close to being here in March but as sad as we were that her trip was cancelled, we were all glad that we could have this experience as a family.

Just as we left, a big bus load had pulled up, great timing.

We passed by the town of Carcross, we were saving that visit for the way back. Shortly after Carcross is the Carcross Desert. It is often touted as the smallest desert in the world but it's technically a series of northern sand dunes, carried over from Bennett Lake.

Still, how cool is this???

We had some fun writing in the sand, taking way too many selfies and then back on the road we went. We still had one more stop before we hit Whitehorse.