lovely_serenity

You should take a look at the other cruise lines that sail Alaska too! :) Since I live in Vancouver, we cruise Alaska very frequently since it's ... right here LOL. (As you can see from my signature) we've done Alaska 4 times already! I've done a trip report for HAL, and am currently doing one for Disney.

My advice for you would be to remember that it is indeed a mainly scenery-based cruise, so that's really the highlight. In regards to the ports, they're really like little frontier towns filled with little shops. You basically have like 3 options for port activities: walk around random little shops and explore town, do a little tour excursion and see some animals or a nearby glacier, or do something really adventurous like whale watching, helicopter riding or dogsled riding.

Another piece of important advice: Unless you're going to be doing those super adventurous (expensive) excursions and want the cruise line-guaranteed safety, book your excursions on land. Near the area you disembark, there a row of excursion booths near the place you disembark in Juneau that sell tours for like $10 a person (versus like $50 per person with the cruise line). Though Skagway, if you want to do the White Pass train (that's like $100 per person) that most book through the cruise line as well. In Ketchikan, it's mostly like a shopping town (plus Creek Street that's a little further in), so there aren't really many excursions here.

Also, each Alaskan cruise visits one glacier (so keep that in mind when booking because some cruise lines seem to only visit a certain one in all of their itineraries). There are 3 main options: Tracy Arm Fjord, Hubbard Glacier, and Glacier Bay National Park. (Keeping in mind that the weather is often crummy) if we give all three of these glaciers an even fight and assume that we're looking at all 3 of them in beautiful, sunny weather, here would be the rankings:

1.) Glacier Bay National Park

2.) Hubbard Glacier

3.) Tracy Arm Fjord

The reason being that with #2 and #3, they're literally 'drive up, park, ta-dah!, okay bye.' While #1 is a whole 'park' that you cruise into and drive around looking at many different things. Overall scenery is much more beautiful at the main glacier anyways. #2 on a sunny day looks like a picture you'd see on a post card, and #3 is just a regular glacier. Also keep in mind that #2 on a bad weather day also doesn't look very good LOL. We went to #1 on a bad weather bad and it still looked more magnificent than the other two.

Going in August, we've seen a salmon run in Creek Street in Ketchikan (we saw in one year, but not the August after that). In August we've also been to areas that the tour guide's warned us that there are little black bears and to stay away - so I assume that bears are indeed active during August?

(Yup, they're looking at the middle. -_-)

We then bid farewell to each group of friends. Mike & Sully were hilariously last.

Here's the aftermath:

Now, here is the party from another perspective. My eldest cousin actually went down therer and danced with the characters! The following pictures of characters are from her.

Mrs. Incredible:

Russell & Dug + their random wave your hands in the air and jump around (from Up!):

(At their segment, they threw confetti and huge balloons onto the crowd ^^)

Jessie & Woody + their square dancing (from Toy Story):

Toward the end, all of the characters line up on the stairs for a group picture – BE READY. THEY ONLY LOOK LEFT-MIDDLE-RIGHT ONCE. ONLY ONCE. BE PREPARED. The first time around, I missed it because I didn't expect them to look my way first i.e. I couldn't switch lenses fast enough. This is all I managed to capture:

Remy + his twist (from Ratatouille):

Mike & Sully + their monster mash/Michael Jackson thriller dancing (from Monsters Inc.):

Flick (omg he was so hard to capture, HE MOVES SO FAST) + his itsy-bitsy spider dance (From Bug's Life):

From across the way, I spotted my auntie with my grandma!

And the characters were coming out from behind them! (Studio Sea) Since I was aware that the Pixar Pals Party would be held twice tonight, I decided that I would record a video for one, and just take pictures for the other. I then switched back to my wider lens.

So the general gist of the party was: Introduction of character -> The character goes out and dances with the crowd -> After all of the characters have been introduced, they take turns going back up onto the 'stage' and present their specific dance + song -> each character gets a chance to do their specific routine -> The end.

Here are the pictures I managed to take the first time around

Mr. & Mrs. Incredible + their flexing, punching exercise dance (both from the Incredibles):

Lastly, Salmonberry Taffy:

(This one was good too. It tasted like watermelon!)

We basically got our cousins to try all of the taffies in a specific order to enhance the experience ^^. Fireweed -> Mooseberry -> Bourbon -> Salmonberry (The reason being: Euhh -> Oo not bad-EW WHAT NO -> *doesn't trust you* //cautiously eats it but is reassured that it tastes good -> uncertain but ends off on a good note! :-) INTRICATELY PLANNED AND EXECUTED.

Taken by my eldest cousin, and that's the order she ate them in ^^.

Following the taffy ordeal, we all gathered and played my brother's King of Tokyo board game.

After a while, we all headed to the atrium in anticipation for the Pixar Pals Party. As we waited, I took out my super zoom lens to play with it a bit. I took some random shots of the balcony opposite of me.

Coconut Cream Pie:

(not a coconut person but still not bad. 8.0/10)

Side note: I'm actually not a picky person at all LOL. So just to clarify, when I say that I'm not a “____” person, that just means that if I were given the choice, I would choose something else. If I didn't have any other choice, I'd obviously eat it, it's just a preference indicator to point out a bias on my end when I'm scoring foods, so if you like that kind of stuff, please don't be deterred from ordering it! It's also to show you that, if I'm not a “____” person but I still think it's not bad, those who like “____” would probably like the dish. :-)

Once lunch was wrapped up, we exited Triton's. Now, there were a few more decorations up!

We were kind of debating what we should do next, when my brother suggested to my cousins that we all hang out in our room and play the board game he so-painstakingly carried here LOL. We all agreed and headed up to our room. Upon entering, my eldest cousin took this picture of our vanity. (LET ME EXPLAIN THE MESS FIRST OKAY- so, normally with just our daily “get ready” items, our vanities are always tidy. The ONLY reason that it looks like such a mess is because of the FE (fish extender) gift exchange going on during the course of the cruise. We'd get excited and bring gifts into the room, but end up just making a giant pile on the vanity ^^.)

Okay, so here are the new taffies I had bought so far.

Mooseberry Taffy:

(Okay, LISTEN WELL MY FRIENDS. Be warned. This is a trap. This taffy initially tastes alright upon eating, but as you chew, about 5 seconds in, it will quickly turn disgustingly bitter. We quickly spat it out. Immediately upon our male cousin's arrival, we made him eat one hahaha, and we didn't let him spit it out LOL.)

Next up, Bourbon Taffy:

(Bourbon taffy was delicious. It doesn't even taste like alcohol (I'm pretty sure it's non-alcoholic anyways), it just tastes ... good. My siblings ate quite a few of these)

Seafood Risotto:

(Personally not a risotto person, but overall, an alright dish. Not very much seafood, but still not bad. 8.1/10)

Now on to dessert!

Chocolate Cheesecake:

(Still more mousse-like than I'd like, flavour not very strong either. 7.9/10)

Cookie sundae: (that I think my eldest cousin had them conjure up as a dessert LOL)

(I'm not going to rate vanilla ice cream plus chocolate syrup plus a cookie haha)

Double Chocolate Cake:

(This one was quite good, I enjoyed it. Moist and chocolatey. 8.4/10)

I believe my brother just asked what the daily ice creams were and there was like Coconut ice cream and just regular chocolate: (normally disney's in-restaurant ice cream flavours are very boring)

Mexican Tortilla Soup:

(It's like tomato soup but with some more spices in it. It's okay. 7.4/10)

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad:

(Okay, I know what you're thinking. “How is THAT a tomato and mozzarella salad?? =_=” BUT LISTEN OKAY, IT ALSO TOOK ME LIKE 10 MINUTES TO MATCH THIS RANDOM SALAD TO THE MENU LOL. I'm not even kidding, I just sat here staring at the green blob and the two options of salad items on the menu; while this little salad just sat there not looking like either one hahaha. So I figured this out. The tomato and mozzarella salad comes with some beef and arugula leaves. My theory is that ALL of the other ingredients MUST be hidden under this bush of arugula leaves! ^-^. That's got to be it! Anyhow, even after all of this deducting, salads are still just salads to me LOL. 7.3/10)

Okay, entrée time! :)

Orecchiette Pasta:

(This was pretty good. There weren't very many clams-literally there were two LOL-but the little shell pastas were cooked al dente and the cream sauce they made was pretty good. 8.2/10)

Cheese Croissant Sandwich:

(Okay, while I'm not a sandwich person, I actually liked how they made this one. Croissant as the bread, cheese, horseradish mayonnaise, caramelized onions, potato chips and steak instead of burger. I literally like all of those things. This was pretty good. 8.3/10)

Smoked Duck Breast Salad:

(I actually realized here that while duck is one of my favourite meats, I don't really care for duck that is smoked. It just tastes too ... ham-like? And I don't like ham LOL. Also another thing about this entrée: this is so small, there's no way you'll be full from this haha 7.9/10)

Mild Chicken Curry:

(This wasn't bad, quite mild in spice, not bad in flavour. 8.2/10)

She also noticed how cute they always made their sauces haha ^^

In the meantime, I took note of the prettily coloured ceiling!

At this point, appetizers started to arrive.

Chicken Tortilla Wrap:

(Personally not a wrap person, but it was alright. 7.4/10)

Lobster Ravioli:

(This is one of those foods that just don't look pretty no matter how you take the picutre LOL. It is yummy, but by far the messiest appetizer ever haha. You eat it with a spoon, but because it's in this broth, the ravioli's kind of slippery, i.e. If you drop it, it's going to splash LOL, right into the broth haha. Splash = you splash onto yourself. Therefore, I warn you now, YES I recommend you order it anyways because it's tasty, BUT, BE WARNED. Eat with caution ;) like ... bring your face lower and closer to the dish haha. 8.3/10)

Chilled Cream of Pineapple:

(Overall, Disney's chilled fruit soups are all pretty solid. They all taste like a chunky smoothie. 7.9/10)

I also took a few random shots to occupy myself ^^

(The delicious drink my brother came up with that I had all week: Half Sprite, half orange juice. It's so good ^^)

My brother had also ordered us something to snack on as we waited!

French Fries:

and Fish Nuggets:

(Both off of the children's menu ^^. Fries were good, so were the nuggets. 7.6/10)

My eldest cousin had also done the same!

Upon boarding, we all headed up to Triton's for lunch. (My sister who had stayed on board came down to meet us)

Just before entering the restaurant, I noticed some small preparations being made for tonight's Pixar Pals Party!

After taking some quick pictures (obviously quick since they're blurry LOL), we all settled in a row of tables together.

Here was today's lunch menu:

As usual, my siblings started out with some bread

After sitting down and ordering, we chatted for a while. I also took this opportunity to take a picture of the “the Little Mermaid” mural at the back of the restaurant (I had been meaning to all week).

Soon enough, the shuttle arrived.

On the way back, I spotted a Princess ship from between the hedges!

Soon enough, we were back at the ship

The view from the Wonder was actually quite nice (:

First you turn the crank to the image you want imprinted onto your penny:

You then insert your money and start spinning!

Soon enough, out pops Mr. Penny!

After that, we all headed back to the shuttle bus stop. On the way, a cable car came down.

Nearby, I believe it was a tent promoting the dog sled excursion. The dog was so pretty though...

As we walk over to the Alaskan T-Shirt Company (one of the better souvenir stores, the kind with a branch at each port), I spotted the Oceania Regatta parked right in Juneau's best parking spot.

Anyhow, here is the Alaskan T-Shirt Company store!

Right outside of the store is a big stuffed bear display, as well as those penny crank machines that my brother likes so much:

Once we were all basically done, we slowly started making our way back to the shuttle bus area. On the way there, we ran into a few friends (:

(As you might have noticed, in a number of my eldest cousin's pictures, you will spot this giraffe. She apparently puts it in her pictures to make them more interesting LOL. Anyhow, the giraffe was eaten this day.

Here are some things that my eldest cousin saw on her own:

They sell their chocolate in either a clump form or a slice-of-fudge form:

After that, we visited a few more shops and random stores (there's Bro):

After they had bought those, we kept on walking

(the 10 year old's mom)

(the 10 year old and the female sibling-duo cousin) Down the street we could smell something delicious. The unmistakable scent of freshly made fudge.

Alaskan Fudge Co.'s brilliant, silent advertiser. A fan the pumps out chocolate scented air, which engulfs the entire block. You can literally smell the chocolate from a block away. It's wonderful.

Once pictures had been taken, we kept heading down the road in search of more random shops.

We came upon a little alcohol store (that was also kind of like a convenience store) and the aunties (plus my brother LOL) bought some “Alaskan” specific flavoured beer (taken by eldest cousin):

Anyhow, we kept walking

and eventually arrived at the Red Dog Saloon. We entered the gift shop first, since it was on the way.

These penny machines are always so interesting ^^. My brother really likes them. For some reason, we always see them in the States, as well as Japan. You put a penny in, plus like 50 cents and it squishes your penny and prints a picture on it. Ta dah! New souvenir! :D

Once we were done with the gift shop, we went over to the actual saloon.

They browsed for quite a while, so as they looked around, I poked my head out of the hut to see where everyone else went. I quickly located them huddled together in a little blob on the left LOL.

I went back in and continued to observe them. I also helped them smell a few soaps to help them decide which smelled better ^^. (By the way, I don't know if you remember, but I bought some taffy at the other port, the pink one that was “Fireweed” flavour, and it literally tasted like the smell of the fireweed soap we found here hahaha)

Once they were finished, we kept on moving.

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My eldest cousin, on the other hand, went into this interesting little shop (these are her pictures):

I wound up following her and her parents into this little hut-like shop that sold soaps and whatnot.

(next 2 photos are hers)

Here my aunties (plus an uncle) browse a nearby clothing store

I kind of wandered around aimlessly, but within reach of my relatives.

The place was quite nice! We ended up buying a few shirts and colour-changing nail polishes (which came with free window stickers too). ((LOL I blurred my oldest cousin and her dad's faces.))

(Side note: I recently tried the Del Sol colour-changing nail polish I bought and indeed, it is pretty, plus it changes colour in direct/strong sunlight ... however, it chips away very easily and can't last for more than 5 days without starting to chip. Pretty on the nails, but very weak staying power.)

Connected to the store was a bamboo store which was filled with bed sheet, mattresses, blankets and other kinds of cloth items made from bamboo. They were incredibly soft! Bamboo makes an incredibly comfy material!

Once we had bought our things, we kept on moving.

What'd I tell you? Deserted, eh? (<- that's how you use “eh” properly – sincerely a Canadian LOL)

We also passed by this map of the area:

Walking along, we also happened upon this King Crab store that'd we'd somehow heard about earlier. I don't remember the pricing, but it apparently fluctuated based on the seasonal king crab pricing.