We had such a good time two years ago on a 3 day Disney cruise we decided to try a longer one this time, to Alaska!! All aboard.......
Deck 10 was FREEZING, but he didn't seem to mind. He played on the sports deck every chance he got.
Look who I found while he was playing.....
Christian never even noticed!! He's going to be tough to be married to.
First morning aboard we went to the character breakfast, styling with napkin hats.
First stop, Tracy Arm, which is a fjord that you sail through. It's technically a stop on the cruise, but you don't get off the ship. Thankfully we had a verandah off of our stateroom, so we could enjoy the scenery without fighting the crowd with all of the other guests who had parked themselves on a lounge chair beginning at 6am that morning!! It reminded me of all the people who rush to the beach early in the morning to secure the best chairs and umbrella's at the crack of dawn.
The scenery was just beautiful......
These mountains in the fjords are 7000 feet tall. Just to give you some perscpective to the size the
next picture is of a large boat going through the fjord, and it looks tiny.
The coolest thing we saw in the fjord was the Twin Sawyer glacier.
This is a stock photo from Disney, but I thought it was a great shot of the glacier and the ship.
Next stop, Skagway.
Skagway is a very poor little town, but our excursions were great!! First stop Liarsville, for a little gold panning. This area earned the name Liarsville back in the gold rush days of Alaska. Apparently, the mountain terrain was very difficult to travel through, so the reporters would just make up the stories for the paper rather than make the treacherous trip up the mountain to get first had accounting of the mining going on. The people and the surroundings were exactly what I had pictured for Alaska.
We brought home a few specs of gold. I hope the kids don't ask me for it, because I'm not sure where I put it!!
Next excusion in Skagway, dog sledding. If you're reading this blog you probably know that I really don't love animals like the rest of my family. So, when I was told there were 250 sled dogs on this mountain, I told Randy NOT to leave my side. Turns out it was my most favorite excursion of the entire trip.
We took a bus to the base of a mountain probably about 35 miles ouside of Skagway. Then we boarded a German Mercedes military troop mover to head up the mountainside. It was like something out of a movie. We went way up the mountain until we came to the summer camp for these dogs. A lot of these dogs either have run or are still running the iditarod race in Alaska.
16 dogs were pulling our sleigh. Since this was the summer camp for the dogs they outfitted the slegh's with tires to pull through the mountain. The sleigh itself was 600 pounds not to mention all 4 of us and our musher. There was an excursion to go to the top of the mountain to the snow, but the minimum age was 8. I think this was just as good. After the ride, we went back to base camp and the kids got to play with the 3 week old puppies.
These pups were ADORABLE!! So glad they were in Alaska, or I could have caved in and gotten one that day. Believe me there was plenty of begging going on.
Juneau - Bald Eagles, Sea Lions, and Whale watching...
I really regret that I didn't take my telescopic lens for the camera. The picture of him sitting on the rocks could really have been good!
We came upon these sea lions while we were whale watching. They were fighting with each other and playing, it was just incredible.
Miss Muffett had a little attitude problem..
The humpback whales were fascinating. At one point there were three of them together. They never raised their backs and flipped their tails at one time, but it was really cool to see. The kids lost interest in this excursion after the first whale sighting. They turned into "those" kids on the catamaran, we tried to pretend that we didn't know them. It would be convenient if they didn't look so much like me.
Meet Cruise Director Christian...
Next stop Ketchikan and the Lumberjacks...
When Randy first told me that he booked a lumberjack show for us to go to, I must say I wasn't all that thrilled. In fact, I got online and started looking for other alternatives. However, I quickly discovered that there really isn't all that much to do in Ketchikan, so off we went to the show.
The lumberjacks were very entertaining and really BUFF!! It was really fun.
The last day on the ship, Caroline and I went to a princess tea. It was charming and I'm not sure which one of us enjoyed it more. Caroline decided she would dress as Jasmine for the festivities. Adorable!
Last night of the cruise and Caroline participated in a performance of Friendship Rocks, put on by the Oceaneer's Club and Oceaneer's Lab. They are the kids clubs on board. Caroline wanted to go everyday for hours, and Christian wanted to go some of the time, when he wasn't participating in sports on Deck 10. Only Caroline did the show, and I just love her get in there and have fun attitude.
The cruise was amazing, Disney just does it right!! I have tons and tons of character photos with the kids, but here are some of the best ones.
This is Caroline's BFF that she made on the trip, Maddie. Maddie is almost 9 years old and she and Caroline played all the time. I am always so amazed that these older girls love to play with someone so much younger, but they always do.
This was so spontaneous of Christian. He asked Jack Sparrow for his autograph, and while he wasn't looking he said "stick em up"! Everyone was rolling laughing.
Definately one of our best vacations as a family.
