Our cruise...SO much fun!! And, I can say with certainty, seeing Alaska was incredible!!! I had always wanted to go to Alaska, and it certainly didn't disappoint. I couldn't get over how stunning it was. We loved it!! For Christmas my dad surprised us with it, and it seemed forever away. We had been anticipating and planning it for months, so it when the time finally arrived for us to leave, we were really anxious for the trip to begin! First things first, the ship was amazing!! Disney always goes above and beyond, and they didn't skimp in regards to their ship. And, apparently we were on an older ship, but you wouldn't have ever guessed it. We were also on one of their smaller ones, and when cruising Alaska, I really liked that. It seemed like we could get really close to the glaciers. The first few days were sailing days. They had two movie theaters on the ship, and so we saw a couple movies the first few days...Frozen, Malificent, and Captain America. At night, they also had Disney broadway style shows - they were darling. The girls had so much fun at the Kids Club that the ship had. There were two different ones...one for smaller kids, The Club, and one for a little older, The Lab. They LOVED them!! The lab and club were open all day, so they could just come and go anytime they wanted - we just had to check them in and out. It was really nice because once the kids finished their dinner, and Mickey desserts, they all went up to the kids clubs while the parents finished dinner. Score! Our first "port day" was called Tracy Arm. It was probably one of, if not my favorite port. Strange enough, you didn't get off the boat - which I thought would drive me crazy, but I loved it. The water was the most beautiful turquoise green with the most unbelievable mountain side all around. It was a little rainy, which made it that much more Alaska-like. I loved it!! We just sat outside and watched the scenery while sipping hot chocolate and the girls had ice cream cones - makes perfect sense! Then after their ice cream cones, they decided to go swimming. Also, makes a lot of sense!!
Our next port was the charming little town, Skagway. Our day was really fun, and we had perfect weather. We met up with my sister Anna and her family. We walked about 2 miles to a gold mining cemetery and waterfall. The cemetery was really cool - I love things like that. And, the waterfall was beautiful. The weather is funny in Alaska. When the sun comes out, you get really hot, and as soon as it hides behind the clouds it cools off by quite a bit. We had a mixture of both that day. After we got back from the cemetery and waterfall, we were ready for an early dinner - late lunch. We found this little Thai restaurant, and it was so so so so SO good!! It was a really fun day!
Our next port, which was day 5, was in Juneau. Juneau was certainly a much bigger city, but had a lot of charm to it. I could see why people would live in Juneau...it was gorgeous. My dad had arranged a couple of vans to pick us up at the cruise ship, and take us to Menenhall Glacier. Our taxi driver was showing us some pictures on his phone of a bear that was on his back porch that very morning. He said they see bears ALL the time. Crazy!! Mendehall Glacier was stunning. The park itself was really well done. There was a really neat pathway of sorts that went over the river, and we could sit and watch salmon swimming upstream. It was really cool to see that! As we got closer to the glacier, there was the most amazingly huge waterfall. The whole setting was something out of a movie. It was so beautiful that it is hard to put it into words. After the glacier, we all split up and went into town for dinner/lunch. It was a great day! I loved it there!
Our next port, day 6, was Ketchikan. It was POURING rain. I have never seen rain like that. They got six inches of rain that day we were there. It was insane. Because of the rain, we didn't spend much time in the town, and some of my families excursions were canceled. Anton and I decided to leave the girls on the boat, per their request, and we went into town. We walked around for a little while, went to a museum, watched the seals in the river, then went to lunch. I am not kidding when I say, I had the best fish and chips I have ever had in my life. They were made with fresh halibut..and were simply delicious. See, they must have been amazing, I am still talking about them!! By the time we finished lunch and headed back to the boat, we were dripping wet. We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon, and evening on the boat. I wish it wouldn't have rained as hard as it did, because I would have loved to have seen more of it. My sister Anna did an an excursion, which Anton and I debated about going on, and she saw several families of grizzly bears, reindeer and eagles...needless to say we were a wee bit bummed we didn't go on it! I don't have any pictures of Ketchikan, because it was too rainy to get any decent pictures.
The boat, Disney Magic, was amazing. Like I mentioned before, Disney just does it right. We had such a memorable and great time. It was truly a trip of a lifetime, and it is a vacation I will never forget!! On our last cruising day, I got a little emotional while talking with Anton. I had so much fun watching our girls - there were times where it was just magical watching them. The girls had an absolute BALL. They still talk about it almost everyday, and tell everyone who lends an ear about their Disney Cruise!
