kpd21880 Posted August 25, 2017 #1 Share Posted August 25, 2017 (edited) Trip Report: DIY 6 day land, Celebrity Millennium SB Seward-Vancouver, 2 adults, 1 child (6 years old) We planned our trip over a full year with LOTS of help from the Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor communities. We really wanted to DIY our land portion and that would not have been possible without the advice of many, many helpful people! I’m hoping our experiences will help next year’s families as much as we were helped in planning our adventure. In addition to reviews and tips about our experiences, I’m also rating each activity on a “Family Friendly Factor” – my own made-up scale from 1-10 of our personal opinion of how fun, practical and easy each was to do with a very active and adventurous kid. My #1 tip for Alaska trip planning is to book everything (hotels, cars, tours, etc), as early as possible to make this expensive trip as affordable as possible. We read cancellation policies closely and booked as soon as we reasonably could. I’ve included our booking prices and times when possible. Edited August 26, 2017 by kpd21880 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #2 Share Posted August 26, 2017 (edited) Day 1: Travel CLE – ANC via Delta, one stop in Minneapolis. Easy flights, great seat back entertainment, which was all included in our regular economy ticket. Arrived in Anchorage around noon, local time. Hotel (Microtel,Anchorage airport): clean, basic accommodations and an airport shuttle. Very friendly and helpful front desk staff. Staff upgraded our room to a suite, complimentary, based on availability when we checked in. Booked August 2016 via Orbitz for $90/ night. Car Rental (Enterprise,downtown Anchorage location: 5th Ave). Normally, they pick you up and we had pre-arranged pick up from our hotel. But, being down an agent that day, they asked us to call Lyft for a ride and comped the expense off our rental rate. We booked a standard car for 4 days for a total of $160 (booked via USAA, August 2016) and when we arrived, they only had pickup trucks with a full cab and back seat. Second complimentary upgrade of the day! The pickup ended up being wonderful – it was so high up, we had great views during our drive. Tip: renting from the downtown location, instead of the airport, saved us about $200. Lunch: Snow City Café:awesome! Food was delicious, portions were huge, and service was fabulous. Highly recommend! Family Friendly Factor: 10 Our friends who travel frequently advised us to keep our son up until his regular bedtime (on the new local time) on the first day to help fight jet lag in the days to come, despite it being very late on home time. (It worked!) That afternoon, to keep him up and moving, we rented bikes from Pablo’s Bikes and biked the Tony Knowls Coastal Trail. Bikes were in great shape, staff was very helpful in fitting us all to bikes and helmets. Rentals were inexpensive and per hour. We rented one solo bike for me and a tandem bike for the hubs and son. The trail is paved and flat, easy to bike on,with many areas to pull off, rest, have a seat on a bench and enjoy the views. We biked out to the airport (about 4 miles?), watched lots of big planes take off and land over the water, turned around and biked back. Only downside? The mosquitoes were out in force on the trail! While we did use bug spray, we wished we had bathed in Deet. Family Friendly Factor (FFF): 8 Land Trip prep shopping: we hit up both Costco and Walmart on Dimond Blvd in Anchorage after our bike adventure to grab a cooler, snacks,water (also: beer and wine for mom and dad J) and some lunch provisions for the week. Our kiddo is a big snacker. Having lots of snacks to dole out during the week on drives and adventures was super helpful for all of our sanity. Dinner: 49thState Brewery – we made reservations, still had to wait 20 minutes to be seated, had absolutely terrible service during the meal… but also some great food. We waited 20+ minutes for drinks, another 30+ minutes for food and then they got the order incorrect. That being said, the meal (when it arrived!) was delicious and the atmosphere and views from the restaurant are great. The kiddo fell asleep well before dinner was served. FFF: 3 (unless your kids can wait 1 hour and 15 minutes to eat…..) Edited August 26, 2017 by kpd21880 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #3 Share Posted August 26, 2017 (edited) Day 2 Drive from Anchorage to Matanuska Glacier (about 2.5 hours).Beautiful and easy drive. It is literally one road the entire way and almost impossible to get lost. Tip: once we were a little ways outside of Anchorage, we didn’t have any cell, wifi or even radio station service. We should have downloaded music or podcasts instead of relying on streaming. Whoops. Matanuska Glacier trek with Matanuska Glacier Adventures (3 hours: $100/ adult, $60/ kid,private trek) Absolute highlight of our trip! MGA fitted us with crampons, poles and helmets and we set out to hike on the glacier with our funny and informative guide. Ahead of time, we were worried about our son’s ability to do this hike, but the guides could not have been more professional and caring about his safety and at no point did he struggle with any of the physical aspects. Being a private trek, we could set the pace, and really, we were all trying to keep up with the 6 year old. We loved every single minute! FFF: 10++ Lunch: Rifle RangeLodge – recommended by our MGA guide for lunch after the glacier hike – we were famished. Good, casual place for standard American fare: burgers, tacos and fried seafood. They had a cool wrap around deck with stunning views of the glacier we just hiked. FFF: 8 After lunch we drove from Matanuska to our cabin rental near Denali National Park. If you drove straight through, I think it would probably take about 4 hours. But, we stopped abunch for look-out views highlighted in our Milepost Book. We arrived at McKinley Creekside Cabins pretty late and check in was a breeze. We rented the Carlo House property with another family we traveled with and it was wonderful. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, comfy living room, well stocked kitchen, laundry room, a huge yard with lots of lawn games and outdoor seating, a sauna, and a fire pit. Highly recommend! FFF: 10 Late Dinner: take out from Panorama Pizza, enjoyed in our pajamas on the sofas of our rentalhouse. First major sticker shock of the trip - $33 for a pizza J The pizza was actually really good and hit the spot after a long day of hiking and traveling. Edited August 26, 2017 by kpd21880 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #4 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Day 3: Denali National Park EielsonShuttle (8 hours round trip): Prebooked tickets, December 2016 for the 8am departure. Our driver did a great job narrating the bus ride (although it’s no tone of the official “tours”) and spotting wildlife, as many others have reported. I can’t compare the commentary to the TWT, since we didn’t do it, but we were pleased with the amount of narration, information and commentary for the cost-savings shuttle. We brought a backpack full of activities for our son, along with his camera and binoculars, and enough snacks to feed the whole bus. I can see how this can go either way for kids – either they love it or they get restless. Thankfully, ours loved it – the weather was beautiful and we saw lots of wildlife (moose, Dall sheep, Grizzilies and cubs,caribou and wolves), as well as Mt. Denali fully “out” multiple times throughout the day. He loved peering through the binoculars and taking pictures with “his” camera. We also picked up a Jr Ranger pack at the Eielson visitors center at the turn-around and he was fully engaged in completing those activities on the way back. FFF: 7 Things I wish I’d understood ahead of time: Yes, you can get off the bus to hike and get on another subsequent one. BUT, what I didn’t understand is that the buses are really FULL. We would have liked to hike a few times though out the day, but we didn’t risk it, as we didn’t feel we’d be able to get seats together on the next buses. People arrive early to get good seats, and reasonably so, they are not going to move to accommodate a family getting on after hiking. The only place I can see that this is a good option isat Eielson where many people get off, and again, you can line up to get seatson a bus heading back. What we would do differently next time: Get off the bus at Eielson and do the more strenuous hike. We did the “stroll” hike that takes maybe 30 minutes and then explored the visitor’s center for the other 30,and then boarded our same original bus back. We wanted to be able to get back to see the Sled Dog Demonstration and so we didn’t do the longer hike – it’s the one thing we wish we had done. Sled Dog Demonstration @ the Park Kennels: ask us? This was a hugedisappointment. Ask the 6 year old? He loved it. We arrived at the kennels (got off our Eielson shuttle) 30 minutes prior to the program beginning and the “stands” where you watch the show were already 95% full. We elbowed our way into standing on the steps and waited for the show to begin – didn’t visit/ pet the dogs ahead of the show, as it was so full. A ranger spoke for 30 minutes about the history of sled dogs in the park and then the dogs ran one lap around the small circle track pulling a cart. After it was over, we spent a little time petting the dogs and chatting with the rangers before boarding a bus back to the Denali Visitor’s Center and then transferring buses to the Wilderness Access Center,where the shuttle buses originate from and our car was parked. (Park employees were super helpful in figuring out how to get back) For us, this was a loooong end to the day, but the kid loved it, so que sera sera. Parent Fun Factor: 1,Kid Fun Factor: 9. J Dinner: Take out from McKinleyCreekside Café, enjoyed again on the deck, in pajamas, with copious amounts of wine. Food was delicious and hearty after a busy day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #5 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Day 4: Drive back from Denali to Anchorage, with a few stops. Again, it’s one road, the whole way, about 4 hours without stops. We had purchased the Milepost book and it was helpful to identify scenic stops along the way, as well as bathroom breaks. Stop 1: Talkeetna– we stopped for lunch at the Talkeetna Roadhouse and intended to walk around the town a bit. Lunch was delicious (reindeer chili and Rudy in a Parka), service was friendly and fast, seating is family style and we met other interesting travelers and locals. FFF 10. Unfortunately, the little dude didn’t feel so well after lunch, so instead of walking around, we got back into the truck and let him sleep in the car while we drove to Wasilla. We’d have loved to explore more here – there were tons of shops in town, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Stop 2: Iditarod Museum, Wasilla –about an hour and a half later we arrived in Wasilla at the museum and little man was good to go. Everyone needs a nap sometimes! This experience was night and day from the Sled Dog Kennels at Denali. I would recommend this free museum over the kennels for sure. There is the “museum” part,which is a few small buildings with artifacts and a nice gentleman who talks with visitors one on one about sled dog history in Alaska. He also had one week old puppies that we got to cuddle and play with! Next, we each paid for the sled dog cart ride and did a lap with the dogs and driver – fun! Lastly, we watched the little movie they have about the Iditarod history and visited the gift shop. We maybe spent an hour here and we all enjoyed it. FFF: 10. Hotel overnight in Anchorage: Hilton Home2 Suites, Anchorage (booked, January 2017 with Hilton Honors points). Clean, new, all suite hotel with a pool and a free shuttle to the Railroad Depot. Great room set upfor families. FFF: 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted August 26, 2017 #6 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Keep it coming!!! Loving the pictures! Little dude looks adorable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #7 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Day 5 Morning: Goldstar Dome Train from Anchorage to Seward on Alaska Railroad: a splurge for our family, but an experience we really wanted. Train departs Anchorage very early (6:45am) and arrives Seward at 11:30am. The good: The Dome cars were fantastic. The views were beautiful out of the walls/ceilings of windows and the train attendants were great at spotting wildlife and narrating. The open air viewing platforms off the back of the cars are spectacular and the kid loved being outside. The bad: breakfast is included in the ticket price, so we didn’t eat beforehand (plus, you are arriving at the Depot at 6am to check bags and board the train!). But, the dining cars are small and can only handle about 1/3 of the Dome car passengers at a time and breakfast service is sloooooooow. We were in the last 1/3 to eat, which was around 10:15am. Had we known this ahead of time, we could have eaten a light breakfast at the hotel or brought snacks and not had to deal with a hangry 6 year old for 3 hours. (To be honest, there were a multitude of hangry, unhappy adult passengers as well….) I diplomatically documented this issue on the post-train survey and was contacted by a member of the management team. To their credit, they gave us a partial refund of our ticket price. Kudos,Alaska Railroad, you have great customer service recovery. FFF: 7 Afternoon: Major Marines 6 hour Kenai Fjords Tour Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Seward on the train, it was raining pretty hard and Major Marines picked us up from the Seward Train Depot and brought us to their marina. They told us on the bus ride over that the seas outside Resurrection Bay were quite rough and the captain was unsure if we’d be able to cross the open sea to get to the glaciers. They gave us a few options: cancel outright for a refund, switch to the 4 hour Resurrection Bay tour or continue on the 6 hour tour and hope for the best with some recommended seasickness medications. We opted to give the 6 hour tour a try, and while we skipped the meds, we did give the kiddo Dramamine, just in case. The Bay was beautiful and relatively calm (to us) – we saw whales, bald eagles, puffins, lots of birds, sea otters and sea lions. Before we even attempted to cross the open sea, though, many passengers were getting sea sick in the calm Bay. The captain did attempt the crossing, and we made it about 10 minutes (1/3 the way) and then he turned us around to go back, as the swells were about 15 feet and increasing. Safety first! While we didn’t get sea sick at all, I will say, the boat felt like a roller coaster in the open Sea. Many, many people did get ill. After getting back into the Bay, they served lunch, and while it looked really good, with the amount of people getting sick, it wasn’t very appetizing with the stench. We cruised around the Bay a bit more and found a pod of transient Orcas and got to watch them play in the Bay. Once back on land, Major Marines refunded the difference between the 4 and 6 hour tours, as well as the price of lunch for anyone who didn’t eat. While we may have been in the minority of the people on the boat, we had a great time! We stayed outside in the open air, covered decks and enjoyed all of the marine life, despite the rain. If you are prone to sea sickness, this is not the tourfor you. If you’re not, it’s an awesome experience. FFF: 8 Hotel: Best Western Edgewater Plus, Seward ($129/night, via booking.com, booked August 2016) Clean and serviceable. Completely fine for one night at $129/night. However, we overheard a group at breakfast who had paid the more standard rates of $300/night and this is not a $300/night hotel! Rooms are older, dark, outdated, but clean. Breakfast is included, but the area is small and very cramped in the mornings. There is coin-op laundry, and a free shuttle to the cruise port. FFF: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #8 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Day 6: Cruise Check in: Celebrity Millennium, Southbound. For sure the quickest and easiest check in we’ve ever experienced. We took the hotel shuttle at 10am to the port, arrived around 10:20 and found out we couldn’t check our bags or selves in until 11am. No problem! We walked around the marina a bit and they promptly began taking bags at 11am. Bag drop off took all of 1 minute, and we headed indoors to check in. No lines, no wait, we were on board by 11:10am. We grabbed some lunch at the buffet and then headed back off the boat to spend the afternoon in Seward. Tip: When we walked off the boat a little after noon, there were lots of people and lines. The train arrives at 11:30 and brings lots of people. Arrive before 11:30. Sea Life Center:We took the free Seward shuttle (green school bus) from the port to the SeaLife Center. Major Marines had given us 50% off coupons the day before, which was great, because we were planning ongoing anyhow. We liked this aquarium a lot –the puffin exhibit in particular. The exhibits were fun and interactive and our son was engaged the whole time (about 2 hours). FFF: 9 We headed back to the ship on the same free shuttle and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the indoor pool (family hours 3pm-6pm) and doing some family activities at the Fun Factory (ship’s kids club). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #9 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Cruising: Hubbard Glacier Our first and only day of bad weather, start to finish. It rained pretty hard all day long, which made glacier viewing sub-optimal. Our son enjoyed lots of activities in the kids club and the hubs and I enjoyed relaxing and reading at the indoor pool until we got close to the glacier. From 2-3pm, we were about 3 miles out from the glacier face. It was rainy and foggy and difficult to see, but we huddled up outdoors with the provided blankets, as many layers as we had brought, some spiked hot coco and made the best of it and absolutely enjoyed ourselves. We did hear one very loud calving, but didn’t actually SEE it because of the weather. Still thrilling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirthdayGirl30 Posted August 26, 2017 #10 Share Posted August 26, 2017 This is the most incredible trip report. Thank you so very much for all these details. I am absolutely copying many of these details for our own trip in June of 2018. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 26, 2017 #11 Share Posted August 26, 2017 This is fabulous between the narrative and the beautiful photos. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 26, 2017 Author #12 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Thank you all for the kind comments. This is my first trip report :) I'll be back later tonight with more days. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mapleleaves Posted August 26, 2017 #13 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Wonderful trip report! Certainly a memorable family adventure. Thx for taking the time to share your experiences. And please be sure to add this to the trip report list as it will be very helpful for future travelers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 27, 2017 Author #14 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Wonderful trip report! Certainly a memorable family adventure.Thx for taking the time to share your experiences. And please be sure to add this to the trip report list as it will be very helpful for future travelers. Hey there mapleleaves! A big thank you for all of your wise advice as we planned. It was invaluable. I'd be happy to add it to the 2017 trip report list, but I don't know how. Can you explain the steps? I took me a solid hour just to figure out how to add pictures yesterday. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 27, 2017 Author #15 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Juneau Juneau was a lesson in rolling with punches and trusting it will all work out J Our plans for the day: Glacier landing Helicopter Tour with Coastal Helicopters in the morning and Mendenhall Glacier in the afternoon. Neither happened. While the rain stopped from the day before,it was VERY foggy and all heli tours were canceled. Disappointing, but we knew it could happen. That’s why we also rented a car to go to Mendenhall in the afternoon. But, we went to Juneau Car Rental that morning to pick up the car and were informed that access to Mendenhall Visitors Center was closed due to “criminal activity” with the suspect still on the loose in the park. Yikes. There were multiple tour operators set up just off the Juneau dock. We stopped to talk to one and lucked into the last 3 spots on the Mendenhall Lake Canoe trip with Alaska Travel Adventures and the best surprise of the trip. It was absolutely fabulous! We were bused to Mendenhall Lake with a large group (cruise excursioners from our own ship) and canoed across Mendenhall Lake (6 miles round trip) in large,20 person Tlinglet canoes with a funny, informative guide. Hubs and I were seated together on one of the canoe benches with the little man in between us. Each person was given a paddle to "help" row, but in reality, it was the guide on the back with the huge oars that did all the heavy lifting. We paddled within 150 yards of the face of Mendenhall Glacier and right up to Nugget Falls as well, through large chunks of glacier ice, while viewing bald eagles and migrating birds. We couldn’t stop at the beach next to Nugget Falls, as they usually do, since the park was still closed, but it didn’t make a difference to us. SUCH a fun day! Since this was super last minute, we didn’t know to bring hats and gloves… and while the day was warm and foggy, it was COLD on the lake near the glacier and we could have used them. FFF: 8 Late afternoon: Mendenhall visitors’ center was still closed, so we asked our canoe guides where we should spend the rest of the day.They suggested the DIPAC Salmon Hatchery. We picked the rental car (a late 90's Camery that wasn't much to look at, but worked just fine and got us around town) back up from the port (Tip: the parking in the garage next to the port is free on Sundays!) and drove out to the Hatchery. Just about the best value of any “tour” of our trip – admission was $5 and included a short tour of the facility, access to the “touch tanks” and lots of indoor exhibits. Very cool place and we got to see the chum salmon jumping up the salmon ladder, returning home to the hatchery. Kiddo loved this place – very hands on and kid friendly exhibits, plus, jumping fish are justplain funny at any age. Sorry no pictures (those salmon jump too fast!), but we do have funny fish jumping videos that Little Dude still watches all the time. JFFF: 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 27, 2017 Author #16 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Skagway Rented a jeep from Green Jeeps to do the drive to Emerald Lake and back through the Canadian Yukon territory. Green Jeeps provides an audio CD that narrates a small part of the drive and a laminated copy of Murray’s Guide in a binder. We’d already purchased and printed Murray's Guide online from home and mapped out our plans, but it was a nice touch nonetheless. The drive is stunning. Each turn in the road is another gorgeous view. Murray’s Guide does a wonderful job of adding some history and information to the drive. It took us about two and a half hours to get from Skagway to Emerald Lake, as we did not stop on the way there. Customs and border crossing into Canada was very quick and easy, no back up of cars, took maybe 5 minutes total. Hubs and I enjoyed the drive immensely, and the kiddo was worn out from all of our travels (this was day 9!) and enjoyed his morning riding in a Jeep (so cool to a 6 year old), while watching his favorite downloaded Star Wars movie on his Kindle. Perfect. FFF: 8 On the way back, we first stopped in Carcross to have lunch at the Sourdough Bakery. From the outside, it looks like a large shack. Inside, though, is homemade bread, fresh ingredients and soups that make you want to lick the bowl. Nice outdoor picnic table area that allowed the kiddo to run around and stretchout his legs. FFF: 9 Next up was the Carcross Desert. We spent a good hour running up and down the dunes, as well as watching the dirt bikers speed around the other side of the “world’s smallest desert”. FFF: A desert in the middle of snow-capped mountains? Running up and rolling down sand dunes? Watching dirt bikes? 6 year old boy heaven: 10 Lastly, we stopped at the Yukon Suspension Bridge: I thought this would be just the bridge, but it was so much more! We picked up a Family Scavenger Hunt packet from the gift shop on the way in and had to visit all the exhibits to answer the questions to earn a “treasure box prize”. Walking across the bridge itself was very cool and the scenery was beautiful. The numerous exhibits were informative and fun. We spent about 45 minutes here beforeheading back to the Jeep for the last leg of the ride back to the Skagway. FFF:8 Tip: We had read beforehand that the round trip drive takes 4 hours without stops. I’d say that’s probably accurate. We decided to drive straight through on the way out so that we could better time our way back and know how much time we had for stops. Doing this made it stress free on the way back and allowed us to allocate time appropriately. All in all, we spent about 7 hours with bathroom breaks, lunch, lots of scenic photo stops, the desert and the bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 27, 2017 Author #17 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Icy Strait Point Happy 4th of July! We slept in a bit this day to rest our tired selves and then went to breakfast in pajamas. Who could object to the minor etiquette violation by this cutie pie, in holiday appropriate patriotic pajamas? At 11am we headed out for our small boat whale watching tour through Hoonah Travel Adventures. Whale watching was high on our list of must-do’s in Alaska and ISP boasts a 100% whale viewing record. They did not disappoint. Hoonah Travel Adventures picked us up at the ISP excursion hub (which is a bit of a hike from the dock!) and drove us to the marina. There we met our captain, his assistant and the rest of the 18 person group on the very well maintained boat. Plenty of seating for everyone inside the heated cabin as well as plenty of outside deck space for everyone on board to have fantastic views. We saw a few of the cruise ship excursion boats out on the water throughout the day with 100+ passengers and we were happy to be on a much smaller boat without any jostling for space. As for the whale watching? It was simply spectacular. We followed two humpback whales around Hoonah for most of the day. They breached, dived, played and blew lots of water out of their spouts. We also saw sea otters (one mama and her baby too!), lots of birds, but no bears on the shore. Our captain and his assistant, who is his 17year old daughter, told us funny stories and history of Hoonah and Chichagof Island (their home), throughout the day. They were warm and friendly and we enjoyed their conversation and commentary very much. Towards the end of the afternoon, one of the two whales breached right next to the boat. Every last person on the boat screamed as the giant whale surfaced, and when we collectively caught ourbreath, we agreed it was one of the most incredible things we’d ever witnessed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirthdayGirl30 Posted August 27, 2017 #18 Share Posted August 27, 2017 This pictures are of an orca or killer whale, it's like my dream to see one in the water. In your report you say humpback whales - so just clarifying if you saw orca or humpback or both? Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 27, 2017 Author #19 Share Posted August 27, 2017 This pictures are of an orca or killer whale, it's like my dream to see one in the water. In your report you say humpback whales - so just clarifying if you saw orca or humpback or both? Sent from my iPhone using Forums Hi BirthdayGirl30! To clarify, we saw both- sorry for that confusion. The majority of the day, we followed the pair of Humpbacks. They were ENORMOUS and majestic and beautiful. So stunning to see in real life! Unfortunately, they don't photograph as well as the Orcas (well, for me, anyway!!). The Orcas jumped straight up out of the water and were graceful and gorgeous. The Humpbacks did these long, lumbering U shaped trips to the top that exposed their whole bodies in increments, but not all at once. The last photograph above in the Icy Strait Point post is of the Humpbacks tail flip at the end of their surfacing - my personal favorite part. Here's a picture for you of the two Humpbacks from a different part of the day - you can see the one is mid U shaped surfacing and the other is in the foreground of the picture already completed her surfacing and is blowing the air up out of the water. If you really want to see the whales up close, book an independent tour on your trip. The big boats from the cruise ship excursions were nearly as close to the wildlife as we were. Maybe they make too much noise? I'm not sure. There are a number of independent operators, though we had a fabulous experience with Hoonah Travel Adventures and I would highly recommend them! Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disneygirl10 Posted August 28, 2017 #20 Share Posted August 28, 2017 I am lovong this report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirthdayGirl30 Posted August 29, 2017 #21 Share Posted August 29, 2017 If you really want to see the whales up close, book an independent tour on your trip. The big boats from the cruise ship excursions were nearly as close to the wildlife as we were. Maybe they make too much noise? I'm not sure. There are a number of independent operators, though we had a fabulous experience with Hoonah Travel Adventures and I would highly recommend them! Hope that helps! Yes, it totally does. What an amazing day. We just booked a cabin at McKinley Cabins thanks to this review and are basically patterning our whole pre-cruise trip after yours. Thanks for this report. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted August 29, 2017 Author #22 Share Posted August 29, 2017 . We just booked a cabin at McKinley Cabins thanks to this review and are basically patterning our whole pre-cruise trip after yours. Thanks for this report. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Oh that's fantastic! I think you'll love the Cabins. Not only are the accommodations lovely, the baked goods (pastry, cinnamon rolls, muffins) in the morning at the Cafe are divine!! BTW, the Alaska board on Trip Advisor is super helpful in plotting out your land based portion. If you post your planned itinerary on there, many folks will help you with recommendations, timing, driving, etc. It's a great resource. Good luck planning and please let me know if you have questions - I'd be happy to help. Since I can't plan a return trip for MY family for next year, I can live vicariously through you :) Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucfalli Posted August 30, 2017 #23 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Thanks for your review. We did an Alaskan cruises for our honeymoon and really want to do a land vacation next time. We now have a 17 month old.... so who knows when that will be. Until then I will be living vicariously through trip reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted September 2, 2017 Author #24 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Long week at work! I'm back to finish out the report... Ketchikan Morning: We walked around Ketchikan and did some souvenir shopping (hello, Diamonds International. You are not just in the Caribbean, I see) and then found a playground just 2 blocks from the port on Grant Street. Little man had fun for an hour making local friends and playing on all the same playground equipment we have in Ohio,but with snow- capped mountains in the background. FFF: 9 Afternoon: Daddy and Little Man excursion on the Deadliest Catch Crab Fishing Tour (momis seafood allergic). The boys had a blast learning about crab fishing, touching the king crabs and even saw a bald eagle nesting cove, where the fishermen tossed out fish bits that the eagles dive bombed the water to catch. Both little and big dudes had a blast and loved how hands on the trip was. Tip: I booked this independently (it was also a Shore Excursion offered from Celebrity) and saved about $20 per ticket. The company gives clear instructions on where to meet, right off the ship and they transport you with the rest of the Shore Ex people! FFF:10 I spent the afternoon at the ships spa and didn’t miss them one bit,champagne in hand J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpd21880 Posted September 2, 2017 Author #25 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Cruising:Inside Passage The kiddo spent a lot of this sea day again in the Kid’s Club with various pirate related activities, all thrilling to a 6 year old boy, while we lounged at the pool and enjoyed the glorious, hot sunshine! It was almost 80 degrees. Close your eyes and you’d swear you were in the Caribbean. Open them and look outside to the breathtaking scenery on both sides of the ship. The perfect way to end the cruise! We were tired from traveling and touring for almost two weeks and the treat of a POOL day with a good book and fruity cocktails as our last day of the cruise was sublime, Yes, we did get sunburned and no, no one can believe we got burned in Alaska. We even had pre-dinner drinks while watching the sunset from the Aft of the ship and an adult-only dinner. Relaxation from start to finish! I haven't written much about the Fun Factory (kids club), but let me say this: it was fabulous! Our kiddo made lots of friends through out the week and thoroughly enjoyed his time with them, as well as the wonderful counselors. On Sea Days, they had many activities to keep the kids entertained. We didn't use the club on port days other than for dinner and after dinner times. About half the nights little dude ate dinner with us in the Dining Room and the other half, he had a pizza party dinner with the Fun Factory. There were multiple themed nights that our son loved...and we loved being able to visit the martini bar and have a few quiet, kid free hours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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