Dress Like an Onion! If You're a Kid, Dress Like a Cocktail Onion! Alaska 7/3-7/10 COMPLETE!

Great photographs!! How exciting and at least you have something to go along with the incredible memories. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the day.:goodvibes
 
July 7 Part 3 - We Got Lucky Again

See?! This is why I should have finished this report before school started. :crazy2: Oh well, it was almost 100 here today, so it's nice to think about Alaska.

Did you guess what we saw next? Orca!

While they are not uncommon in the area, humpbacks are much more predictable. Chris and Daniel were both excited that we would get to see the pod.

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There were a lot of them!

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Blurry but you can see their markings.

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Baby. It's hard to see but the young whales have yellow spots not white. They get whiter as they age.

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Sweet.

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We think this was the matriarch of the pod.

At this point we had reached our time limit watching this group. Later, I saw photos from people in my cruise group who were on the boat you see in the background. The pod caught a porpoise! They have all kinds of amazing photos of the whales jumping and being spectacular. While I would have liked to see that, I don't think DD would have been so ok with seeing active hunting.

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On our way to look for more animals, we got a beautiful shot of the glacier.

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And then it was the sea lions! These are DD's favorite animal. She spends hours watching them at the zoo so she was beyond excited. The ones on the buoy here are all females. Doesn't the one on the right look like she's posing?

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Now she's giving me profile.

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Here comes another friend who is late to the party.

Up Next - See what happens when the next sea lion arrives.
 


On our AK trip I was of course in the bathroom when we had the best views so no awesome humpback shots for me...

What a bummer. It all happens so fast that you feel like you can't look away for a second!

How exciting

Very exciting. We still talk about how amazing this day was.

I'm hoping Alaska will be our next cruise

Crossing my fingers for you! It was really an amazing trip.

Don't be so hard on yourself, you've gotten some excellent photos so far!!

Thanks. They are great memories that's for sure.
 
Those are amazing photos! I usually don't like to interrupt my viewing by taking pictures, but if I could get some shots like those, I'd be so happy. Could you see that well with the naked eye or was it zoom lens that let you see so up and close?
 
July 7 Part 4 - Sea Lions and Eagles

Did anyone else watch the eclipse today? We took the whole school to a state park and it was amazing! NASA did a citizen science thing and asked people to take temperature and cloud data. The temp dropped almost 15 degrees over the course of the eclipse! Amazing.

Ok, we had been watching the full bouy of sea lions.

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"Well hello there. Is there any room?"

"No. Go away."

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"Come in? Ok."

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"Let me just. Ooh. Uhh. Yeah."

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"See? I fit!"

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"Ugh. Guys. Ya'll are so pushy."

It was a loud verbal argument let me tell you.

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Mendenhall.

Our time was drawing to a close so we headed back towards the dock. But Chris stopped when we were by the island and started throwing out fish. And then eagles started swooping right over our heads! When Chris would throw fish, he would make this call and I swear more kept coming because they heard him.

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Just amazing animals.

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They are so beautiful.

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Check out the salmon in the background!

After feeding the eagles, we headed back. My dad got a Rum Runners hat and then Chris put us in a cab (pre-paid) back to the ship. We debated doing the glacier hike, but we decided DD was tired and needed a rest.

Like Beyond Skagway, Rum Runners far exceeded our wildest dreams for the day. Chris and Daniel were amazing. Brandi was a fun addition. The boat was in great shape and we thought it was just the right size. Having snacks and drinks was a very nice touch. Huge recommendation for this company.

We all had lunch in Cabanas. It was Mexican day and was pretty tasty. Then DD and my dad went to nap and mom and I took the shuttle into town to hit the Alaska T Shirt company. We wanted to get souvenirs and these were very reasonable. For under $50, we got DH a hat and t shirt, a stuffed eagle, a couple stickers, I got a long sleeved t shirt and we got DD a shirt. Like I said, great prices.

Mom and I then headed back to shower and chill out a bit before the Pixar party at 4:30.

Up Next - Pixar Party, Frozen Stage Show, and Dinner
 
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Your photos are amazing! Thanks for sharing with us. I'll be sad when this TR is over so I hope you have another cruise booked soon so we have another TR to read :) Our next cruise is almost a year away so I love reading TRs!
 
Haha your capturing of what the sea lions sounded like was hilarious :rotfl2:

Amazing shots of the eagles, esp the last one with the salmon jumping :eek:
 
July 7 Part 5 - Our Evening on Board

We all woke up and headed to the atrium for the Pixar Pals party.

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DD was super excited that Sulley came out from Triton's.

The show is mike the dance parties on Caribbean cruises. So everyone comes out, shows a signature dance move, then they move through the crowd and dance with people. We ended up standing right in the path of the characters, so DD got to dance with everyone. She tried hard to learn all the right moves.

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I always love when I can get a shot of all the characters on the stairs. :D

After the party we checked our photos and got DD cleaned up. Anna had stopped by to say thanks for coming to the deck party.

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We headed to the theater early tonight because it was the Frozen show. Wonderful! DD couldn't contain herself. It really was fun. Olaf stole the show. He was SO good! :cheer2:

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Juneau looked beautiful as we pulled away.

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Visiting with characters she's never seen before because she liked dancing with them. :rotfl:

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Characters getting ready for their next party.

Dinner was the captains gala menu with the additional regional inspirations including crab legs. Dinner was good but, you know, it's mass produced crab legs and lobster tails. The lava cake was awesome.

Our serving team reminded us to get to dinner early so we'd have time to do our drawings.

I ran DD up to the clubs. Dine and Play showed up about 10 minutes later. It took at least 20 minutes for them to get kids checked in and out of the dining room.

My parents went to bed and I checked the shops.

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New pattern to tempt me.

I picked up DD from the clubs and we headed to bed after a long fun day.

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This was DD's favorite animal all week.

Up Next - Ketchikan
 
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Don't be so hard on yourself, you've gotten some excellent photos so far!!

Exactly what she said :p :thumbsup2

And then it was the sea lions! These are DD's favorite animal

I love them too! They are so darn funny :laughing: :love:

Our time was drawing to a close so we headed back towards the dock. But Chris stopped when we were by the island and started throwing out fish. And then eagles started swooping right over our heads! When Chris would throw fish, he would make this call and I swear more kept coming because they heard him.

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Holy crap!!! That is an AMAZING photo!!!! :worship::worship::worship:



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Check out the salmon in the background!


Hahaaha! Love the salmon in the background!!! :P :worship:

I took the shuttle into town to hit the Alaska T Shirt company. We wanted to get souvenirs and these were very reasonable. For under $50, we got DH a hat and t shirt, a stuffed eagle, a couple stickers, I got a long sleeved t shirt and we got DD a shirt. Like I said, great prices.

Wow, all that for under $50! That really is a great price! ::yes::

I always love when I can get a shot of all the characters on the stairs. :D

I love that too :woohoo:
 
July 8 Part 1 - The Lumberjack Show

Well, we are all back in school. DD started kindergarten and she LOVES it! I love her teachers and the whole classroom situation. I know it's going to be an amazing year. I might have had some "my baby is growing up" moments though. :blush:

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Back to Alaska.

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With an all ashore time after 11:00, we didn't worry about setting an alarm. We just lazed around and woke up late. This morning we went for a sit down breakfast in the MDR. It was fine but I think I preferred Cabanas. DD saw Miguel and Rolly working and was upset that we couldn't sit in their section. Chocolate chip pancakes seemed to alleviate that problem though. :laughing:

It was foggy this morning.

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Before we debarked, we saw Spider Man.

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Leading up to the trip I had heard how long the marvel lines were. While they were certainly longer than traditional characters in standard costumes, I didn't find them awful. We also chose to show up 3-5 minutes before their scheduled start time.

Our excursion for today was seeing the lumberjack show and having a crab feast. Disney used to offer this combo but no longer does. Through Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic we found The George Inlet Lodge. While they didn't have the lumberjack show and crab feast offered the day we were there, I only had to email them and they put the tour together for us. Alaska sure understands the tourist industry.

We met up with our organizer at the statue in town. It also gave us a great chance to take photos.

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The walk to the show was short and easy. We passed several shops and noticed how good the prices were for fleeces and rain jackets.

The show itself was fun. Silly for sure, but fun. DD had a blast cheering for her team. At one point they were handing out autographed postcards and they gave her one for being a good audience member. She still shoes it off to friends. :D

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After the show, we told DD she couldn't have a personalized knife and we went to meet our ride to the lodge for lunch.

Next Up - How much crab can we eat?
 
Looks like I'm late to this party! I'm looking forward to reading this report as I'm dreaming of an Alaskan cruise.


July 1 - Mt Rainier

DD slept pretty well but, as predicted, she did try to wake me up at 4:30. However, my mom game was still strong and I convinced her to get back to sleep. At 7:30, she heard the other kids get up so she followed them. I was up about 30 minutes later. Once everyone was fed and the adults had sufficient amounts of caffeine, we loaded up for the day including warm jackets and food and were on the road at about 9:30. It felt like the middle of the day thanks to a but of jet lag, but I was pleased every time I checked the clock.

Our first stop was the Maple Valley Farmers market. I wished I could buy all the apples, berries, and flowers. We did get some cherries for the day though. There were also donuts. Mmmm.

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Look at those donuts! They are three times as wide as a regular one. We bought a skewer with huge donut holes for the kids, my friend and her husband each got a filled donut and I tried my first cronut. It was very good but maybe not worth the hype. However, my friend told me we'd go to another place the next day for a better one.

We began the drive and stopped part way there to see this cool sculpture park. The kids loved checking out all the strange things.

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After some running and a potty break, we got to the park.

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Because they are local, our friends keep a pass so we just drove on in. We used the Nisqually entrance and arrived around 12:30.

Our first stop was for lunch. Peanut butter sandwiches, chips, and fresh cherries. Yum! After eating, it was another potty stop and some mild rock climbing.

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Our first stop was Christine Falls.

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I forgot to say earlier that my friend was 38 weeks pregnant so our hiking plans were pretty mild. This was exacerbated by the fact that she could only get her feet in flip flops this day. Oh I remember those times. We
I think she might have had ulterior motives. She was VERY over being pregnant by that point and a long walk seemed like a good idea to her. :rolleyes1
 
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July 8 Part 2 - Crab as far as the eye can see

Our driver picked us up from the lumberjack show to drive us to George Inlet Lodge. Along the way, we stopped at the falls.

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We then arrived at the lodge. The feast wouldn't start until the rest of the group arrived from the boat ride, so we walked around and took in the beautiful scenery.

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The event started with salad and our choice of beverage. The first drink was included - Alaska Amber for me!

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Then, we got a short class on how to properly shell crab. I've been eating crab legs for years, but I've never been "taught" how to do it. Game changer!

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I was so much faster when the delicious goodies started to arrive.

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You'll notice the "side dish" of a red potato. I'd wondered how much they would push the sides to save on crab, but the crab really was free flowing. The staff walked around throughout the meal and refilled everyone's plates. (As a side note, they also offer chicken for kids.)

During lunch, we were also participating in a crab shell tower building contest. There's a trick to it though. It's not just how much crab shell you eat, it's that crab is on top of the tower. Any guesses how people get it super tall?

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In terms of shells though, this was about halfway through our meal.

During dessert, which was delicious blueberry cobbler, they brought cute crab necklaces to all the kids. DD wears hers regularly.

So, the rest of the people at lunch were on the Disney excursion (KE31.) We paid less than that option and, from what we heard, the lumberjack show was a better match for DD in terms of enjoyment.

But, because the rest of the folks were from DCL, we opted to just ride back in the bus with them rather than the car.

On the way back, the bus driver did a great job narrating the sights along the way and talking about all the special things that happened in town.

The salmon were just getting ready to run.

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We also drove by the Saxman Village. If we get to go back, I really want to go see that and creek street.

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We got back to the ship around 3:30. Mom and dad stayed in town to shop, and I took DD to nap. We saw some cool boats on our way.

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DD crashed right away and I read until mom & dad came back. Then I went ashore and wandered the shops. I got myself a really nice fleece for $10 and a couple Christmas ornaments that were made in Alaska. The ornaments took some searching. The store mostly had mass produced stuff, but there was a section dedicated to local artists. This was also the only port that I found the coupon hawkers and jewelry folks annoying. Oh well, I was back on board by 5:00.

Because it was nap time, I headed to Promenade for my daily visit. Today there was live music to accompany my journaling and pomegranate martini. I didn't realize at the time that this was actually a Palo specialty drink. I did notice it was amazingly delicious though.

Next Up - Dinner, Characters, etc.
 
Catching up now that we are back from Alaska!
How fitting to read about your time in Ketchikan since this was our last stop just a few days ago *sob*

Oh man.....look at that mound of seafood!!!

Gotta say we ate a LOT of seafood last week.....I'm ok if I don't have any for a while (though I oddly found myself craving sushi tonight. :rotfl:But I was good and made us all chicken for dinner :rotfl2:)

We never got in line for any Marvel characters because as you stated, the lines always seemed to be the longest! DD9 did say that Capt America came to the clubs when she was in there though so she got to meet him.
 
Looks like I'm late to this party! I'm looking forward to reading this report as I'm dreaming of an Alaskan cruise.
Welcome! I hope you get to do it. We had an amazing time.

Catching up now that we are back from Alaska!
How fitting to read about your time in Ketchikan since this was our last stop just a few days ago *sob*

Oh man.....look at that mound of seafood!!!

Gotta say we ate a LOT of seafood last week.....I'm ok if I don't have any for a while (though I oddly found myself craving sushi tonight. :rotfl:But I was good and made us all chicken for dinner :rotfl2:)

We never got in line for any Marvel characters because as you stated, the lines always seemed to be the longest! DD9 did say that Capt America came to the clubs when she was in there though so she got to meet him.

Was it amazing? I hope you'll write a report.
 
July 8 Part 3 - Evening Onboard

DD has been asking a lot about the Mickey boats and if everyone is ok with hurricane Irma. I hope anyone in the path is being safe.

I forgot to show you the amazing birthday surprise waiting for us when we got back. This trip was a birthday present for both DD and me. Well, we certainly felt celebrated!

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I had never seen anything like this before. This is why I still content we had the best room host EVER!

After my delicious drink and some live music, I went to wake up DD. We visited some characters inckuding Chip and Dale. They were being silly as always.

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I took pictures of the screens where they show the officers. I had never heard of captain Zvonimir before.

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It was gray and cloudy as we got the last stragglers before pulling away.

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I grabbed a hot wine in a commemorative mug which was delicious and worth the $10. While hanging out in the atrium, I spoke to Alastair the Head of Guest Services about what an amazing trip it was. I also made sure to tell Lloyd about Shinde.

Wandering around we visited with Hook, Ariel, and Belle.

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Belle actually walked with us to the clubs for story time. Hook arrived later for pirate games.

At dinner time, I picked up DD for our meal in Animators. It was animation magic night! I made a shark man this time and he was the first one up. I didn't take a picture though and we forgot our papers. Oops.

For dinner I had the appetizer sampler, chicken schnitzel (yum,) and they gave me my celebration cake. DD went back to the clubs for some more play time. My dad went to bed and mom and I wandered around talking.

When DD and I went back to our room, we had a new funny friend.

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That made for a full menagerie.

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We fell asleep quickly knowing that the next day was our final day at sea. :sad:

Next Up - Day at Sea
 
incredible shots of those humpbacks. And you saw Orcas and Bears. Really exceptional.
Also love the surprise pic with Stitch and your daughter. Really great. I never seem to have the camera ready when the characters randomly happen by.

great report. We loved cruising Alaska with Disney.
 

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