I'm not grumpy I'm just surrounded by people who are too happy. Alaska cruise August 20th 2018



Day 1. Tuesday 21st August. The one were we do floors and floors at sea.

So today is the first full at sea.
OH woke up moaning. This time that the boat was moving too much... So he got up and went for some air. Think it was about 7.

I showered and dressed, was aiming on getting some washing done so went to deck 6 and found the laundry room to put a load on. We had bought washing capsuals from home so everything would smell right. I know it was very easy to set up. Meanwhile Amelia got up whilst Zach moved to the big bed and went back to sleep.

OH came back and we went to breakfast. Where I here you ask. I suggested Tritons as there would be less people to worry about. More moaning about slight rocking of the boat.

I had lox and cream cheese on a bagel, a had eggs Benedict z had the waffle. Oh decided not to eat but we both drunk lots of coffee. Note that the coffee was drinkable but definitely not good.. the food was fine except for the waffles. We then got the message from the washing machine telling us it was done so oh went up to move it to the dryer. He came back to the restaurant after a chat with an officer to say it would be calmer about 11 when we get to the passage. I personally couldn't feel much movement.

After breakfast a and I delivered Fe gifts to decks 2,7 and 8. We were good and used the stairs. We ended up on deck 9. Here I wrote up what had been happening in my journal. To quote

"... I ended up on deck 9 where I'm writing this, by the funnel vision with a blanket but it is beggining to warm up and I'm watching Lilo and stitch. Have lost a t the edge and oh was sitting in quiet cove last time I saw him. I think it's the first time I've been on my own since the beginning of the summer holidays and it is quite pleasant.
Oh says he has bought the washing in to the room. He won't think of folding it and putting it away. I probably should go and sort it out but right now I can't be bothered and I've never seen Lilo and Stitch.
The fog is over the deck "

What did I do after that? You'll find out In the next installment.. coming soon...
 
I agree with OH--the rocking of the boat early on Tuesday morning was awful. Same thing with Sunday afternoon. Just for a few hours and then it was fine. One of the crew members said that particular passage of water is just bad. And alas, I think you feel it more on the smaller ships. I've never had motion issues on the Dream.

Enjoying seeing the trip from your perspective!
 
Thank you for your report! It is very informative and will be useful for a lot of people :thanks: Finally a detailed information and a sober view on this trip, I appreciate it really. When I went to cruise I used to like it, I loved the Scandinavian countries the most. Here are some photos from this countries and useful articles if somebody needs.
 


Thank you for your report! It is very informative and will be useful for a lot of people :thanks: Finally a detailed information and a sober view on this trip, I appreciate it really. When I went to cruise I used to like it, I loved the Scandinavian countries the most. Here are some photos from this countries and useful articles if somebody needs.
.

:welcome: and thanks for reading.
 
And I'm back... So where was I? It was a foggy first day. So no view :worried: .it was mid morning.
Oh found me, after he had found pizza and enjoyed it, and so did the kids. We had lunch in Cabanas. Oh was pleasently surprised by the quality of the food. The speciality of the day was Indian. So oh and I had a plate of different curries and very good somosas. Zach had rice, chips, and pasta, obviously carb loading he does eat vegetables but not today. I'm not sure what a had but, knowing her, it was slightly heathier. We found the pudding section. I have a miller fieul and a lime pie. A had found fruit, then ate my pastry... How exactly does that work?

I can't remember what we did to while away the afternoon. It proberly involved some walking around the ship. Z loves the edge so he was there again. Oh went back to the room and had a snooze I presume. He was definitely there later. I'm also pretty sure oh and Zach went to see ant man and the wasp at 2.30 .... And they enjoyed it.

And I went to see the Golden Mickey's. This is a selection of songs from various cartoons losely pulled together by the golden Mickey awards. It was good fun. A lived it, and decided that she really wanted to go see frozen the next night, even though, at the grand age of 12, she is too old for it.

We then went to pull z out of the edge. He wasn't there!!! But he was only a few feet away watching hunchback of Notre dame on the tunnel vision all wrapped up in blankets from the cold. We hit one of the eateries for hot dogs and burger for the kids. We then left them to their own devices (the edge and then the cabin). We had discussed with them going to dinner without me and I think they would have later in the week. But not on the second night. Oh and I had other plans. We dashed down to our room and changed into posh gear. Well in oh's case clean trousers and a fresh polo shirt. Then we went up to deck 9 for a meal at Palo.
 
Palo, as you disboarders all know is the 'fine dinning' restaurant on the wonder. It was quite nice. Service was good. It costs extra on top of standard dinning .And there are no children allowed.

I had starter of salmon tartare followed by scallops .. which I think would have made a better starter taste wise... Oh had prawns followed by osso bucco over Milano risotto. There was anti pasta to begin and lemon sorbet between courses. It was a nice Italian but not very exciting and a bit dated in presentation. Pudding was gelato for oh and I had ameretto souffle. A bottle of wine was drunk and they gave us a shot of something small and alxhoalco after. We were a little disappointed by it, I don't think it was much better than main dinning and not worth the extra $. But to be fair, one of our hobbies is to go to michalin star restaurants, we take each other for birthdays so we are very spoilt.

We got back to our room to find kids watching movies. So we were ready for bed.

Next up glaciers and photos..
 
Day 2 Wednesday 22 August..where the grumpy is becoming human. We also saw a glacier.

Woke up a bit later but the clocks had gone back an hour so it was about 7.30 ish. We were having a VIP breakfast at 9an at animators palette.

So abloution done a and I first went up to deck 9 and 10 to see the views as we were approaching the glacier today. We could see the shore. Amelia thinks she saw a whales tale. I might have found a cup of coffee and a sneaky pain au chocolate.
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Up on deck 10. The bins were a very wonderful Fe gift.
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Then we went down for our proper breakfast where silly hats were worn.
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Oh and we met a mouse and his friends.
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After breakfast z went to the edge. The rest of us went to a shop to get replacement pin backs for Amelia as she had lost one. Somehow she acquired another pin for her collection.

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It's the one at the bottom that didn't photograph well.

Then we went up to watch the scenery. I have lots of photos going up the fjord. We went up Endicott not Tracey arm, getting to the mouth of the valley at 12. We had lunch at Cabanas (oh found crab legs so was very happy. A found prawns so was equally happy. I had a tapas selection).

Somehow we lost OH butAmelia and I walked round the decks, took photos, sat for a bit and admired the awesome views.

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More photos to come..
 
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We also pulled Zach out at some point to check the views and get a photo...1020315-1958x1469.jpg

About 4 we came inside as we were beginning to get cold and tired.

Oh went back to the room for a sleep. So I left a with him and I went to find some quality Lucy time . As I left Zach reappeard so I left oh with both of them. I went to sit in the attrium on deck 4 and watched some dancing from arendale as it was frozen night.

There were lots of Annas and Elsas.

I then went to meet my kids by the theatre to watch frozen. We all enjoyed it.
Dinner was at tritons. I remember eating a very rare piece of steak so was happy.

Back to room to sleep as we had to set the alarm for 6.45! We had a non Disney excursion the next day.

The glacier and fjord were awe inspiring. The whole holiday was worth it just for that days views. Even oh was impressed. It was the coldest day and a bit damp but it was so beautiful and brilliant.

Next up visiting the Yukon.
 
Following along as we are considering our first cruise ever on the Wonder to Alaska with our son and daughter-in-law and 3 year old grandson.
 
Day 3. Thursday 23 August. In which we visit the yukon.

Sorry for the delay. Real life and all that.

So today we landed in skagway. Our first adventure off the ship beckoned.

So first was breakfast. We went for room service at 7 (pastries, toast, coffee, milk, juice) as we were due to meet our tour at 8.30

So 3 of us headed of the boat (deck 3 mid ship this time) show our key to the world and we are let out. Head to the main dock... Which is right in front of the ship, where there is a board waiting for us. We sign up and go to the coach where a young lad called Jamison was our driver and guide for the day. The bus had people from a couple of other cruises on it too. Our tour was on the bus, up over the white pass into the Yukon through to carcross. Dinner was included, we got to the food just before 12 and left at 1.30 it wasn't very good warm chicken with some sauce bad baked potato and some coleslaw. Zach saw some 13 week old puppies which weren't as cuddly as hoped. He also petted an alpaca. Then back to the coach to emerald lake. Then back to the coach to drive back to Frazer were we caught the train back to skagway. The train ride was beautiful but you couldn't hear the commentary. When on the coach Jamison was really good. We had lots of stops for photos. So here they are. 1020397-1958x1469.jpg 1020390-1958x1469.jpg IMG_20180823_090132670_HDR-1229x1638.jpg 1020404-1958x1469.jpg 1020410-1958x1469.jpg

As you can see it was a bit misty going over the pass but when we hit Canada the sun was shining. We really enjoyed the tour but the train at the end made it a long day .and it was easier taking photos on the first half of the journey. I managed to have time to drink a good cup of coffee when in carcross .where we stopped for 15 mins on the way back to the train. We also saw a small black bear which made Zach very excited.

Somehow that morning I got a couple of messages through asking me which orchestra Amelia had got into. So when we returned to skagway our mission was to find some free wi-fi so I could read an email.

Small aside. Amelia plays violin and in our county we have a fantastic music service called mnpat. She has been in the county orchestra at the junior level for a couple of years. You get to audition in July and then you get you result to tell you if you are in and which orchestra normally when you are somewhere with no signal....

So when we got back we decided to walk back to the wonder.

We found a bar with advertising for free wi-fi.. I couldn't find a password.. I was about to buy a beer so I could acquire it but a very nice lady told me it. I must have been looking very frazzled. So, Amelia got into county training strings which is the mid level and higher than the previous one. So very happy child and proud mommy. All I had to do then was work our lift sharing options as it is half an hour away on a tuesday night which is my choir night..

When we got back it was about 4. I have no idea what we did then. Dinner was at tritons. I had steak...but no idea what the kids had. Oh went off on his own again

Pretty sure we went straight to bed after an exhausting day. We had another early start in the morning....
 
We did a similar tour although our bus was just Disney folks--I think we left 30 minutes before yours did. Agree that the lunch was lousy at Caribou Crossing and I had a very fretful child in Carcross whose camera battery had run out without any means of charging it or replacing it so I missed the brief shopping opportunity. We really liked the train ride. I just wish we had more time at Emerald Lake and in Carcross.
 
Day 4 Friday 24 August. The one where we see a whale.

Hi. Made it back. Real life and all that. It was half term last week soI was busy looking after the kids. Also feeling sad as I was almost in Disney... If we hadn't gone on the cruise I would have been in Florida....

So on with the report. Today was our only Disney excursion. Whale watching with scientists. So we would be doing some citizen science before and during the boat trip. Oh and we had made it to Juneau

We had to be in the azure lounge at 8.15 so again we had room service for breakfast.

Then we followed the Disney paddles to the coach. First stop was mendall glacier. The kids sampled some water in a salmon stream, before walking through a forest trail for views of the glacier. 1020453-1958x1469.jpg
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Then snacks on the bus before being dropped off for whale watching.

We lifted a crab pot to check for invasive species, there weren't any. 20180824_201808-24-EX-B__DSC0047_052-400x267.jpg
Then we headed out to count and watch for whales. They gave the kids things to do. Amelia was the official photographer. Zach mainly got in the way. Awesome to see the humpbacks. We saw 2, one of which we identified as flame from her tail.

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Amelia's photo of flame.

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And mine of the other one.

Really enjoyed this trip. Very kid friendly and not too long.. well could have spent longer everywhere really.

It was now raining. We got the coach back to town and got dropped off there as we were meeting oh for lunch at Tracey's crab shack. We had a nice meal but nothing to write home about and it felt quite expensive. Then oh led us through town to find free wi-fi and a coffee. I managed to talk to my sister on messenger an was the first to wish her happy birthday as it had turned midnight in the UK.

We then took the free shuttle back to the ship. Very useful as it was about a mile back and it was really wet.

Amelia and I saw Christopher robin in the afternoon. Zach was in the edge again. Oh was being grumpy, in the room?

Dinner was at tianas place. I know I had beef (again) followed by the best desserts on the cruise. The beignets and the white chocolate bread pudding were both wonderful. I had both. It was a semi formal night so I had forced Amelia into a dress and Zach into a clean polo shirt.IMG_20180824_201807422-1229x1638.jpg

Somewhen in all this we managed to lose Zach's rucksack so had called into customer services to find it... They said they would let us know. Seems they new Zach as he had got a replacement kttw as he had lost his first one....

Another full day so we fell into bed again. Next up meeting bears in Ketchikan. Up
 
Looking forward to more...
We have this cruised booked and excited to learn all I can. What were your must dos and things you wish you did differently?
 
We're planning an Alaska cruise for August 2020, so looking forward to reading more. And hello neighbour! I live in Northampton!

Claire :)
 
Thank you for sharing. Enjoying reading. Except for OH being grumpy.......sounds like a great trip.

We are also planning an Alaska cruise/tour - most likely on the Princess. Trying to absorb any tips/suggestions, etc.
 

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