Ep. 360 - Will Trade Candy for Fish: A Disney Cruise Line Alaskan Adventure

00:00.00 dclduo Welcome back everybody this week's episode of the DCL duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel I get this thing out of my mouth holding I'll put it back in after I do the intro. 00:08.71 Sam I know I can tell that's what I was. That's what I was telling you okay. 00:17.12 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and Sam it's that time of the year when we're celebrating all of these Alaska voyages as the season winds down and we can't wait to hear from all the people who've sailed on them. 00:32.81 Sam I know and I am so excited for this week's guest because Janelle has been on the show before she's been listening to us from the beginning. Um, we met her early on actually in our podcasting journey. 00:40.72 Janelle You know. 00:47.17 Sam And she was on our show way back when Walt Disney world first reopened post pandemic or sorry it shouldn't say post pandemic should say mid pandemic actually but it's so great to finally have her back on the show welcome to the show. Janelle. 00:57.50 Janelle But each will. 01:03.25 Janelle Hi thanks for having me I'm excited to talk Alaska. 01:06.45 Sam Yeah, so we've got to of course start. It's been like I said a long time since you've been on the show so we've got to start with your Disney creds and of course with a focus on your Disney Cruise line credentials I do know that you are of course a. Travel agent with or travel adviser with dreaming about the mouse. But why don't you tell us how you got into you know Disney and Disney cruising. 01:25.35 Janelle But that. 01:32.56 Janelle Yeah I got started with Disney because of my mom. She just loved everything Disney we would um, go every few years to Disney um, that that was really her happy place and my days were filled watching vhsdisney movies that is what I did as a child. Um, so growing up. Um I wanted to pass that on to my kids we became Disney Vacation Club members at graing californian and then that literally transformed the way that we travel and we were not going to Disney once a year once every few years we were going many times a year um and we did the parks and. We did the parks up um like nobody's business I mean might know the parks like the back of their hand and then um, we kept saying I want to try this Disney Cruise I want to try cruise and I remember telling my husband I know when we go our first time we're going to regret that we didn't start earlier. 02:24.29 Sam E. 02:26.35 Janelle And sure enough that was exactly what we thought the first time we went. We went with our whole family. We had like 4 state rooms on the Disney Dream did a double dip out of ah port canaveral and it was just we were absolutely hooked. Um, was. 02:37.23 Sam Oh yeah, I mean you start with like the cream of the crop being like a ah doubled. But. 02:45.43 Janelle It was and we were the first ones on Castaway key. We even rope dropped getting off the ship day like um, yeah, yes, drop is a way of life even on the cruise. So. 02:48.14 Sam Oh like of course you did because you're parks people you start? Well you were parks people. 02:59.69 Janelle Um, yeah, so then I mean that was 2019 though so bad time to get into you know Disney cruising. Um, because then we had an Alaskan Cruise book for 2020 obviously that didn't happen. We then moved it to 2021 again didn't happen. That's when we met you guys at a lonnie I believe that year 03:07.92 Sam And here. 03:18.94 Janelle Um, and then we had it book 2022 and then my husband got covered literally the week we were supposed to leave. Um so it was it's more take 3 on Alaska it's take 4 on Alaska. So yes, we finally made it. Um. 03:27.36 Sam Ah, oh yeah, guys Oh my oh my goodness. 03:36.36 Janelle On this year's cruise and we got on a nine night um Alaskan Cruise out of Vancouver on the Disney wonder. 03:41.16 Sam Oh my goodness. That's fantastic and you also have been on the Disney Magic is that right. 03:49.55 Janelle Yes, yeah, we did spring break on the Disney Magic Um, you know, kind of in the midst of Covid a little bit but we had a wonderful time on the magic I didn't think I could love a ship anymore than the dream. But then I think I found out I like the small ships because we love the magic. We love the wonder. 04:03.38 Sam Um, yeah. 04:06.63 Janelle Um, and yeah, sailing out of Miami was great that we did love that port. 04:09.65 Sam Awesome and you have also sailed out of Galveston on a competitor line is that right. 04:15.70 Janelle Yeah, yes because I am a travel agent I have to dip my toe in the other areas of cruising and that was super fun. Royal caribbean has a brand new terminal down there in Galveston and it is absolutely beautiful. Um, so that was um, a wonderful cruise and a great option for people that live you know, really close to galveson because you know for me in Colorado is really quick for me to fly down to Galveston and just hop on a cruise that was great. 04:40.15 Sam Know yeah, that's a great point. Well I'm going to try my first royal caribbean cruise this coming year and 2024 Brian and Nathan as you know already got to sail on the independence of the seas for a short cruise but we've ah actually got 2 Royal Caribbean cruises booked so I'm going to be. 04:48.75 Janelle What. 04:56.40 Janelle Nice. 04:59.74 Sam Not just tipping the toe but maybe putting both both feet in I would say a little more than a toe. Yeah, so we'll see so we'll see I'm excited to try it I can't imagine that I'm going to love it like I love Disney Cruise line but listen I I could see myself enjoying it. It's you know as a. 05:03.50 Janelle Um, yeah. 05:16.99 Janelle Yes, you will? yeah. 05:19.67 Sam Um, product out there all right? Well we've got to you know of course get to the topic that you're here to talk about which is this amazing nine Night alaskan cruise itinerary um of course when we talk Alaska we have to give a focus to the ports because. 05:36.95 Janelle No. 05:39.25 Sam You know Alaska is all about the scenery all about the locations and of course less about the ship. Not to say the ship isn't important, but there's so much you know going on outdoors that you you spend a lot of time at the different ports. So let's start talking. Let's start there. Um, you are on you get on of course in the beautiful city of Vancouver actually I should back up and say did you guys spend any time in Vancouver before the cruise. Um, obviously you're coming from Colorado so you're you're coming from west but. 06:11.50 Janelle Me. 06:13.84 Sam You know it's still. Ah, it's still a ah ways away. Do you want to spend some time in Vancouver. 06:18.84 Janelle Yeah, we had a great time in Vancouver we flew in um and had two full days in Vancouver um, before the cruise we actually flew into Bellingham Washington if you're a southwest airlines fan that is the closest you airport you can get with southwest to Vancouver. 06:28.14 Sam Oh yeah. 06:36.22 Janelle Um, turns out we had my husband had his college roommate lives just right over there so we actually hung out with them for the day in Northern Washington went to a farmer's market got fresh raspberries and blueberries I'm sure you guys are well familiar with that that was beautiful and awesome. 06:48.64 Sam Yeah, nice. 06:54.39 Janelle And some time with them and then we drove um and then he actually drove us up um to Vancouver we stayed at the Fairmont waterfront and um, that was beautiful and wonderful, right across the street from Canada place there I um. And I know a lot of people you know are trying to figure out which resort to stay in but we really liked um that resort um or hotel and we just thought the location was great. The hotel was beautiful. 07:20.97 Sam I think. 07:24.37 Janelle Um, and then the next day um this was not pre-planned. So if we had to go back I'd love to know this idea but we rented bikes and we rode bikes all around Vancouver Vancouver is a very bike friendly city. There are even like stop lights with little bicycles on them that are sharp. 07:36.22 Sam Um, oh I Love that he yes. 07:43.17 Janelle Or the bike lanes I thought I'm so um, but so um, you know our kids are 13 and 10 both boys and so our 10 year old could manage you know more of an adult bike and um, but it was really safe for families like I wish we would have rented like specific bikes you know from a bike shop and had them all day. But. 07:52.30 Sam With it. 08:02.32 Janelle Um, we just did like like the bike sharing system and we ended up riding our bikes over to Granville Market Um I like and oh my goodness that was amazing. That was so much fun. We had oh the scenery was absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect. 08:08.52 Sam Um, yeah on Granville Island yeah Yeah, that's so keep. 08:20.90 Janelle Um, then we rode our bikes back. We you know we felt like we were getting in our exercise before we're going to go sit on a cruise for 9 nights I think we rode the bike like eight miles that day. Um, yeah. 08:29.99 Sam Wow and Vancouver while ah so I want to put this out there for people. Vancouver is not hilly like Seattle is but it's not flat either. It is so so it's not ah while it is ah very very. 08:36.12 Janelle Um, yeah terror can. 08:45.19 Sam Bike friendly as as you've noted Janelle um with all of the the bike lanes and the bike signals and all of that stuff. It's it's not completely flat terrain so it's probably not like a younger kids I would say that might be a little bit much for. But I think that's a great idea for getting around Vancouver and. 08:55.90 Janelle True, Yeah, true. 09:03.60 Sam Also like your plug for flying into Bellingham so Bellingham is about an hour of Seattle which means it's about an hour south from Vancouver so of course depending upon traffic and depending upon um, the traffic at the border because you're gonna. 09:09.26 Janelle Um, yeah, um. 09:20.16 Janelle Yes. 09:21.36 Sam Generally people are going to be driving through that that piece arch which is the main sort of border control spot between the US and Canada up North at the northern border of of Washington and in Western Washington I should say and so um, that can be that can take like an hour. 09:34.10 Janelle Yeah, yeah. 09:40.51 Sam Wait not usually to get into Canada but coming back from Canada so you've got to build in extra time if that's the way that you're commuting. Um, you know if you're flying either out of Seattle or out of Bellingham following a a cruise from Vancouver um, but I would not recommend. 09:45.85 Janelle Sure correct. 09:53.20 Janelle Um, yeah. 09:57.59 Sam Ah, renting bikes if you're sailing on a different cruise line out of Seattle I don't recommend bike riding in Seattle because while it is bike friendly with bike lanes. It is not bike friendly with our steep hills yeah sure. 10:07.48 Janelle It took good to know? yeah. 10:09.58 dclduo Well as long as you're riding back and forth across town. It's okay, but yes if you're trying to go up a few streets. It can get steep very fast. 10:15.38 Sam Fair, yeah, very very quickly. But I love that you guys did that and I love that you went to Granville Island that's such a great um spot. Did you hit Stanley park as well. 10:18.87 Janelle Um. 10:27.36 Janelle Now we did and I I really wanted to go there and we actually ended up there by accident. But um I was like where are we and we found a little ranger and he pointed on the map and I said oh great I wanted to come here anyway. So. Just kind of found our way there and yeah next time I would ride all around Stanley Park um because I think that would be super flat and you would um, be able to see um a lot of ocean wildlife there and just there's parks and food trucks and. 10:47.59 Sam Yeah, yeah. 10:56.54 Janelle That was really fun. So we enjoyed that we had some great weather that day so that was a fun day. Yeah I would do that next time too. Yeah that yeah, lots to do in Vancouver. 11:00.00 Sam Awesome. There is also a great aquarium I have to put in a plug for the aquarium at Stanley Park yeah awesome and lots of good food as well. All right? So you are boarding the Disney wonder. 11:14.84 Janelle Hope. 11:17.36 Sam In the beautiful city of Vancouver with mountains in the background tell us what did you think of the Disney wonder because you had only been on the dream and then more recently on the magic. Um, but not on the wonder and of course her her her interior is decorated differently than. Ah, the magic and of course she is that magic class smaller ship. What do you think. 11:41.67 Janelle Ah, we've loved the wonder right away I mean since we had just been on the magic it kind of felt you know like home we were like okay we're getting right back on a ship that we're familiar with and um, we loved the decor. We kept trying to go back and figure out which one we liked Better. Um. But yeah, the wonder is absolutely beautiful and so well maintained and kept up. 12:05.82 Sam Awesome I love that? um we are of course as you know, very big fans of the wonder ourselves and we'll talk more about the ship later on the show but let's hit the ports because as I mentioned earlier that's kind of the star. The star of Alaska is. 12:09.66 Janelle If I. 12:21.36 Sam Ah, her ports as well as of course the day at sea where you're visiting the glaciers but tell us where did where did you guys go first after leaving Vancouver. 12:27.41 Janelle And yeah, so we left Vancouver um, and it was actually a very rainy day the day that we left um and then we had a day at sea and then we went to icy straight point. 12:35.60 Sam Me. 12:42.80 Janelle And then skagway and then Juno and then hubbard glacier then sitka catch a can another day at sea and then back to Vancouver. 12:58.10 Janelle Oh I think I might have lost audio. 13:17.16 Janelle Oh you can hear me I cannot hear you now I don't know why yes I can't. 13:24.56 Sam I o can you hear me now. Um you know what? you didn't lose audio I accidentally had myself on mute. Ah. I so I always forget how many stops you have on a nine night itinerary or I should say locations because they're not all stops but let's start. Let's start with icy straight point right? That's where you were first. 13:34.31 Janelle Um, okay, no worries. 13:42.55 Janelle 1 13:49.60 Janelle Yes, um, and yeah, this port was we didn't really know what to expect from this port. Um, it's a smaller port. It's built more for cruise lines. It wasn't like a. Town that had really existed before there's huna down just down the way I think a mile or two down the road. Um, but icy straight point um is was built by the cruise lines from what I understand and um. I thought the town was absolutely adorable. Um, you dock right? there and there was a royal caribbean ship in doc when we got there as well. And um I heard Wes from the dcl dude describe it like a little ski lodge town and I think that's a great description. Um, it was. 14:32.82 Sam Oh nice. 14:35.68 Janelle A great port for our first stop into Alaska I mean there was like little fire pits going and um, you know like you could get coffee and there was all these cute little stops and show um shops along the way it was just um, really really well done. It almost felt like I was like what if. Disney were to build like a cast key but in Alaska like it kind of felt like maybe that's what they would have done. Um, yeah, yeah, like I could pick up on the little theming that they had around. It was really really cute. Um. 15:01.20 Sam Right? Like a little a little touristy Ski lodge down I Love that that's. 15:14.19 Janelle So like there's um, there's a lot of things to do there but you know not as much as like Juno or catch a can maybe but um, one of the big highlights. They have this big I'm just going to call it a skyliner because we're Disney fans here I mean have a skyliner that goes. There's a little skyliner that just. 15:21.26 Sam Um, is my. 15:27.80 Sam Um, right. 15:33.40 Janelle Um, hops to the other side of the island. No elevation gain so you could take that or walk and then they have the skyliner that goes all the way to the top of the mountain and that one you would have to pay for or if you're doing the zip glider down the mountain that's included in your cost. 15:41.71 Sam Oh awesome. 15:52.74 Janelle And that was our excursion that we had booked was this zip glider which we kind of booked it because we're like oh that looks fun and then you know as we were going through our itinerary I was like I don't know. Maybe we don't need to do that like that's not very Alaska like who goes a zipline in Alaska. 16:06.70 Sam Yes. 16:12.24 Janelle But then my husband and I watched a video and he watched somebody do it and he said oh we're going on that we yeah so am I boys. 16:15.68 Sam I Love that So is it One of is it one of those like big long you like single like line zip line out. Awesome. 16:25.96 Janelle Yes, yes, so it is apparently the world's largest zipwriter I can't remember if it's called zip rider or zip glider. But um and um, it was so much fun. They would send 6 down at a time. 16:36.95 Sam Um, yeah. 16:43.10 Janelle And so it's the tallest It would just drop you down Yes, tall It would just drop you down and it was so much fun. But I have a really funny story about this that um you need to hear because yeah, we get on the ship and um. 16:54.20 Sam Yeah, yeah. 17:00.51 Janelle Ah, you know we're going through the app and we're looking through our excursions and you know it has like you know, um, here's some things you need to know before you go? Well I apparently had never read that section of our excursion before the day before we go. And it says guess must weigh between seventy five pounds and two hundred and seventy five pounds and I looked at my youngest and I said oh my gosh. How much do you weigh and he goes oh I think like £72 and I said oh my gosh i. Don't weigh enough so we went to the health club and we weighed him we got someone to go help us and weigh him and he was £74 and I said oh my gosh they're not going to let you on like he wanted to do it so bad. So. Don't think we're bad parents. But before we went in there we put rocks in his pockets so that he would weigh enough and sure enough they did weigh him they made him get on a scale and they weighed him before we got all the way checked in and got to go up on. 17:51.79 Sam Peppers. 18:03.73 Sam Oh my god. 18:06.93 Janelle Yeah, so that was really funny so we were like you got to keep the rocks in your pocket. Um, so then yeah, actually the night before dinner we were making him eat everything we were like they wish all your food you have to finish this. So. 18:11.55 Sam Ah, you also should have loaded him up with Mickey waffles that morning or something. 18:21.91 Sam You just need £1 18:25.48 Janelle I Know right? one? No and so we he's like the only kid we didn't let him take off his jacket or anything we're like Nope you're wearing your jacket you're wearing your hoodie um because the yeah the weather was really nice. Um there an icy straight point to um, which. 18:31.28 Sam Right? You have hiking boots like those weigh at least like a couple pounds I feel like. 18:44.51 Janelle Which was Great. You're kind of you. You don't know what exactly what kind of weather you get you keep looking at the forecast and you just kind of have to be prepared for whatever you get, but we had great weather. Um, but that ride was absolutely thrilling. It's hard to to describe how amazing it was but it was. It was really Amazing. Um, and my son got to go with actually one of his new friends that he had met in the kids club and that ended up being one of his best friends that kid and another kid the whole trip and so that was really special that they got to do that Together. So I Would highly recommend. Um, the zip writer that was really Fun. So. 19:23.73 Sam Ah, that's awesome. 19:23.99 dclduo I'm kind of surprised they didn't have like weighted vests or something if you were close to the line to help you help you do it because the the weight thing is just to make sure you're bulky enough to make it all the way through the the line I would guess but. 19:28.35 Janelle Here. Ah. 19:34.38 Janelle I I guess that too and then Brian when we were about halfway down I looked over and I was like where's my son and he was like all the way further back than me and I was oh know it's because he took the rock. You to tell? yeah. 19:50.68 Sam Ah, is too light. Somebody's gonna have to climb up. Well. 19:52.68 dclduo I'm just I'm just picturing him like I'm picturing him tucked up in the harness in the rocks like falling out of his pockets as he goes in like that moment of oh no, not I'm not heavy enough. Um, hey Janelle. 19:58.77 Janelle Um. 20:00.89 Janelle The I. 20:03.94 dclduo You know, remind us who was in your sailing party in the ages of your ah of your son and and your other kids. 20:07.36 Janelle Yeah, so it's my husband and I and then we have two boys and they're 13 and 10 we didn't yeah we did not so it was just the 4 of us. But we met some really good friends on the cruise which is I think one of the great things about. 20:13.46 dclduo Okay, okay. 20:15.83 Sam Um, and and you didn't have the extended family with you on this cruise. 20:25.83 Janelle Being on a a cruise in general but then a longer cruise for sure. 20:27.60 Sam Absolute. 20:29.22 dclduo Um, and your 10 year old was old enough to do the ziplining cool. 20:31.43 Janelle Yeah, he was I did not see an age um limit but it did say £75 clearly the first time around. Yeah yeah. 20:39.69 Sam Don't mean I mean we're gonna have to start fattening up Nathan Ryan ah we it's funny. We've been talking so much now that you know whenever Alaska season comes around meaning summertime and we start. Recording these Alaska episodes with folks like you Janelle we start thinking ah more and more about how how crazy is it that we have have not sailed to Alaska yet you know and Vancouver is just 3 hours to drive from us of all the you know of all the sailings the itineraries that we have not yet done and so. 21:03.70 Janelle Um, ah yeah, you have It's funny that. 21:14.52 Sam We have finally now kind of put it on the calendar for a couple years from now and so we've decided that 2025 is going to be the year of Alaska for the duo. So yeah, yeah, so what were. 21:25.73 Janelle Love it. You guys Love a great. 21:32.49 Sam Other kinds of excursions if you know that were offered in Icy Street point or was it more of a just kind of walk around town type of port. 21:39.19 Janelle Yeah I feel like if you did not have an excursion in Icy straight point I feel like you might be a little disappointed like if you wanted to take that day as kind of a chill day in your itinerary if that was like maybe in the middle of your vacation I think that would be fine. Um, but I definitely would recommend doing an excursion there. Um, they also had I saw Kayakers there. There was whale watching from there. There was some nature things that went over to huna. Um there. I Mean there were a few places to eat. We did go and eat at the crab shack there. Um I had read that the lines could get very very long like during the lunch hour so we went a little bit earlier than that. Um, didn't really have to wait too long. Um, we had wonderful crab. It was really great. My husband had a bloody Mary with. 22:18.50 Sam Okay. 22:30.11 Janelle Huge crab claw sticking out of it. He really loved that. Um, so we did that um one of the things. My kids love to do was just the water was so calm and peaceful there and there was all these um, just like round. 22:32.65 Sam Um, yeah, um. 22:43.81 Janelle Smooth rocks and they were skipping rocks for literally like an hour. It was just like so peaceful. So beautiful. It was just a good place to kind of like sit until the shops were wonderful and I would. 22:48.60 Sam No. 22:57.48 Janelle Ah, be remiss if I did not mention the little donuts that are on Icy straight point because those are becoming a famous and you can get all these different flavors and they're mini donuts and they they cook them and bake them right? There frame them up right there and you can pick your flavors and. 23:03.97 Sam Um, ooh. 23:15.37 Janelle Um, it was delicious. Our friends that we were with they kept going back for more because you got like bags of like sticks and that was simply not enough. So yeah, correct yeah. 23:21.12 Sam Um, right? yeah there it's like the kind of donuts that you get at these like little markets right? Um, yeah, yeah, so we we have some of those in the Seattle area because there's a bunch of different sort of farmers markets around Seattle as you can imagine different days of the week and 23:34.50 Janelle Yeah. 23:38.10 Sam Some of them are all year long some of them are just sort of summer things. But the ones that are all year long all seem to have those little donutt vendors but they usually only have like a couple different choices. It's like powdered sugar cinnamon sugar or plain but they are a really delicious those mini donuts. Awesome. 23:42.77 Janelle Yeah. 23:49.85 Janelle Yeah, so I would recommend that? yeah. 23:55.88 Sam All right? Well you're headed next to skagway is that right? all right will tell us what you all got up to in Skagway. 23:59.79 Janelle That is correct. Yes, yeah in skagway. Um, we had um, an excursion book through Disney it was the gold fever alaskan sled dogs and exclusive scenic railway um, on. 24:17.60 Sam Ooh oh. 24:17.69 Janelle Um, yeah, which I really would recommend that. Um, so we had 3 you know, kind of pieces of an excursion put all together into one and I really did enjoy this excursion. We had some friends that went on the white pass railway. Ah as well. Um, and they had kind of a different experience. Um than us not to say it was not as good but I I really did enjoy ours. We had a guide that went with us pretty much the entire time so it was like a over 6 hour excursion and all the guides there was like another group too. There. Um. Dressed up to be in the time period of when um gold rushers were coming up to find gold and so she and they were very funny with their jokes. They had a lot of good humor to keep us going along the way her name was Batty Betty and 25:07.54 Sam Well. 25:10.18 Janelle She was. She was a who she matched her name and she was just a wealth of information. Um come to find out. She actually moved to Skagway. Um because she went on a cruise to skagway and absolutely fell in love with it and so they were buying a house like the very next day in Skagway. So. It just shows like how much people can go and love the area. Um, but so those so with that tour you get all 3 of those and you don't really know the order of what you're going to go on the white pass railway will come right up to the. 25:29.53 Sam Um, wow. 25:39.62 Sam E. 25:44.98 Janelle Cruise ports like there's different tracks and they'll come right up there. So we just walked to the train. Um, she was our guide in the cabin so we didn't have anybody like over an intercom like she was in the cabin with us and if we had questions if she pointed things out to us. She was right there with us. 26:00.73 Sam This is. 26:03.13 Janelle Um, which I thought was really fun. Um, she also um, gave us a snack halfway through and then we even had lunch on the train and she's just like a 1 man show like pulling out all of this food and and snacks and um. The railway actually crosses into Canada for a bit and so she then pulled out little um, plastic cups and like sparkling cider and we did a little toast. Um, as we were like crossing into Canada which was really cute. It was really fun. Um, and that railway is absolutely. 26:22.45 Sam Um, oh wow. 26:27.50 Sam If. 26:37.72 Janelle Beautiful. It's um I think a lot of people do the railway when they go to skagway. Um, and then there's also a lot of other people. Another option would be to rent a car in Skagway and then there's a road that would go virtually the same. 26:47.80 Sam He. 26:53.42 Janelle Route as this as the train. Um, there's even a train that goes further up into Canada so there's quite a few options there. Um I think next time we would go. We would probably rent the car. Um, so that we could stop. There's Emerald Lake which is further into Canada I believe. And um, pictures of that are absolutely beautiful. So skagway was um, the train and skagway was absolutely beautiful. Full of history. We stopped in a national um park there and my son worked on the junior badge. Um, there're out. There's some bri being because that's something that mom likes that he does but maybe not him on his own but we had some fun there in the museum and learned some things. Um, we like that's ignore me. Yeah, and um. 27:24.74 Sam Yeah, ah. 27:34.45 Sam Yeah, the wilderness must be explored. Ah but. 27:40.29 Sam Ah I love. 27:43.24 Janelle From ah so the train I think was like 3 hours I think it was um, but like very just very scenic very beautiful. Um, it was absolutely gorgeous. Um, and then from there we went to the alaskan sled dogs and Batty Betty actually help. 27:51.68 Sam Here. 28:01.88 Janelle Um, transferred us off to a husband and a wife team that actually work um with sled dogs and the husband had been on the I didterad um 6 different times and so he was speaking from experience about I didter odd and just. 28:12.18 Sam Um, oh wow. 28:17.42 Janelle He had was filled with so much passion. You could just tell how much he loved what he does and how much he loves the dogs and so we learned a lot there and then of course we got to meet some of the dogs and then we got to see how they work ah as a team and then we got to hold the puppies which yes. 28:31.51 Sam Oh the puppies is the best part right. 28:36.87 Janelle It was. It was the best. So what they had a new litter and this litter was named after sports heroes um, so I went and found the Michael Jordan dog because that was my favorite um growing up I was a big fan of his so that was again just really great. Just felt like we were being you know in the. 28:46.20 Sam But so. 28:56.13 Sam Now we before let me let me stop you there because I want to ask a question so I know that some people. 28:56.15 Janelle Culture of Alaska and what is important to Alaskan so that was really awesome and then from there. Yeah. 29:06.85 Sam Always like well a lot of people are always looking for the excursion where they can ride the sled with the sled dogs. This one did not include that is that correct. 29:16.15 Janelle Correct This one did not and I know that there were some exccursions that you would get to rock like the sled dogs would pull you but then it was still. You were still down in skagway so you were on you know, like in rocks and they would pull you kind of in like a golf cart E type thing. Um. 29:23.97 Sam Um, yeah, yeah, right. 29:32.60 Janelle So yeah, you could do that but that would be like a whole different excursion and then I mean obviously then the big one is um, you know what some friends have done. Um, it's gone up to you know a glacier and had like good. So yeah I mean like that's the ultimate and I think yeah. 29:36.60 Sam Yep. 29:44.00 Sam Yep, that's the that's the ultimate ah sled dog excursion that I think people sort of imagine but I just wanted to clarify so that people don't get confused and book this one and think that that's what they're getting. 29:50.24 Janelle Yeah. 29:57.53 Janelle Um, yeah. 29:59.77 Sam Um, and and that most of the I will tell people read the fine print on all of the sled dog excursions because as Janelle mentioned some of them are where you're pulled. But you're being pulled in like a dirt track right? because you're not up at the in the glaciers where there's no so. 30:09.54 Janelle Yeah, yeah, yeah, and again we had really great weather in Skagway I mean we could have been wearing shorts honestly and it was great weather. So um, yes, you're not going to get that snow down like in the town of skagway. Um. 30:17.57 Sam Right. 30:29.13 Janelle And then the last thing we did was um, you know gold mining so again Daddy Betty was there but passed us off to some other um, colorful characters who helped us learn how to pan for gold and they did a really great job with it I'm actually a teacher and so I've taught Colorado history for many years and we've. 30:38.84 Sam No, ah. 30:47.39 Janelle Taking our kids up for gold mining um and panning in the rivers and they did a really great job with it I thought it was really fun, very informative. Um, you know that teacher side of me really enjoyed it and we actually. 30:49.63 Sam Any. 30:59.89 Janelle Got gold out of our pan and then I thought it was great. They put it in a little container for us and then they weighed it and they told us how much gold we had and how much it was worth So um, so I thought that was really well done. We did? yeah we are. 31:08.94 Sam Did did you get to keep the gold. Oh cool. Wow look at you. It's like it's like you won bingo. 31:16.21 Janelle $45 of gold we now own. So yeah. 31:17.83 dclduo You didn't pan it. You didn't pan enough now you didn't pan enough to pay for the cruise come on. 31:21.26 Janelle He actually know right? Not quite not quite few drinks of the day but not the crew. Yeah yeah. 31:26.31 Sam Ah, ah, let's that's that's all you need. That's about what is that that's probably about 4 or 5 drinks of the day that's pretty good. 31:37.72 Janelle Yeah, it is. It was good. Yeah, so um I mean and it was the boys. Loved it and um, yeah, we had. We had a great time there so that was um Skagway just just Skagway's full of history. There's so much history there. 31:51.10 Sam S d. 31:54.92 Janelle Um, so you know, kind of different than Icy straight point where there's not a lot of history to that port to So yes yeah. 32:01.40 Sam Right? Where it was created for tourism. Ah awesome. What was your was your next the glacier or was your next. Um, one of the the bigger ports God you know? okay. 32:12.38 Janelle Yeah, next we went to Juno um, yeah, so that was our next port and that's something to pay attention to as well. Ah in your itinerary just know how many days you're going to be up and going and when you're when you need to get up and off the ship and make sure that you're. You know can handle all that and rested enough is it was a go go go um vacation and so it was important to find some downtime too. But the next day was Juneau and this was truly my husband and my boys bucket list day they were so so excited. Um. 32:32.10 Sam Um, yeah. 32:46.86 Janelle My husband's been wanting to go to Alaska forever like we almost went here for our honeymoon. Um, but so and we actually celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary with this cruise. Um, so it's been. Yeah, thank you? So it's been a long time coming for him to go to Alaska and fishing in Alaska was just. 32:56.10 Sam Oh congratulations. That's awesome. 33:06.15 Janelle Absolutely at the top of his list. Um, and all the fishing excursions through dcl went so quickly we just couldn't grab 1 and actually we did find 1 but then we started digging and trying to find reviews and thought that that probably wasn't going to be the best 1 for us. 33:22.34 Sam With you. 33:24.27 Janelle So we found um Alaska bucket list adventures perfect name and it's a private company. Um out of Juneau for fishing and we just had an absolutely amazing day at the end of the cruise. This was everybody's favorite day even my favorite day and I am not a fish. 33:43.11 Sam Um, wow. 33:43.99 Janelle And I don't love to fish I would not touch the fish but I I reeled one in I did but yes, yeah, so um, it was just amazing. Um, we had Captain John and then we had. 33:47.19 Sam Same same I won't touch a fish I'll reel one in but I'm not touching it. Yeah. 33:59.72 Janelle Um, ah Dave was also there to help us and these guys are retired USForestryServicemen they've moved to Juno They live in key west in the winter they have the life but like yes I was like yes I was like that's what I want to do. 34:11.31 Sam Um, they live in key west in the winter I love that Mark guys. 34:18.21 Janelle Um, but these guys had a beautiful boat they um were so great with the kids and we were um you know Juno also has the men in hall glacier um, right there and I just didn't put all the pieces together but where we left from it was oc bay. 34:26.19 Sam I see. 34:34.78 Janelle Um, mendden hall glacier was right there and so we could see the glacier from the boat um water and that got me really excited because I did want to see mendden hall glacier but we had a 6 hour boat um excursion there and um, one of the things I really wanted to do was see whales. 34:38.71 Sam Oh Cool. You know, right. 34:53.70 Janelle Well whales really never got up on the excursion list because there's just so many things to do in Alaska. So um, so we didn't do whales. But as Captain John is driving the boat. He's like oh look, there's some whales and I am not kidding you sam we were around whales. 35:00.60 Sam Let's say. 35:05.83 Sam Oh my gosh. 35:13.53 Janelle All day first hours we it was it was literally amazing. We did halibut fishing and salmon fishing and um, the boys just were having so much fun. We're reeling in fish and there was one moment. 35:14.49 Sam Ah, ah, ah, awesome. 35:22.40 Sam Ah. 35:25.49 Sam You see. 35:29.77 Janelle Where my mind said to myself what is going on where are you and how is this real life because both boys were reeling in a salmon fish and I was filming them and off to my right was an entire pod of humpback whales bubble Net feeding. 35:41.69 Sam Ah. 35:47.16 Sam Oh my gosh. Ah. 35:49.35 Janelle And jumping out of the water I still 2 whales breach and I was just like I mean I was just in in awe. Yeah, it literally was it was and the excitement level was just so high that day. 35:54.65 Sam Um, ah it's a dream. 36:05.89 Janelle Um, the guys were so great with Alaska bucket list. Adventures. They had snacks for us. They had food my son found out. They had a candy bag and he kept he's John with you real in this fish and you get candy and so my son would re and even he's like ok for a milky way I got it I'll do. 36:10.46 Sam Here. 36:21.47 Sam Ah, is like a barter system one milky way a 1 fish but ah. 36:24.66 Janelle Yes, it was. It was so cute and then so yeah, we were just surrounded literally by whales all day I mean I watched them feed all day and saw how the birds and the whales work together while the birds are probably cheating in on the whales system. But um. 36:39.30 Sam Right? right. 36:42.67 Janelle But it was amazing. We ended up seeing Orcas as we went back into the poor. 36:46.72 Sam Ah, see that to me that's like the the pinnacle is seeing the like not not not to say that there's anything wrong with humpback whales. They're beautiful, but you can even see humpback whales down in Mexico right? like the pinnacle is seeing the orcas because those are a much more rare sighting. 36:55.42 Janelle Um, yeah, yeah, yep, yeah. 37:03.50 Sam And you really can only see them in the Pacific Northwest in in their you know well in in their natural habitat right? Amazing! ah. 37:10.13 Janelle Yeah, so that was just that was absolutely amazing. Um, and and the 2 guys were so great. Um. They offered my son some candy as we walked off the shit off the boat that he had and and my son goes that's okay I already got 2 in my pocket so that got everybody laughing but it was just fun. It was just like we you know we had such a great. Such a great time together and it was truly what we wanted in Alaska looking around also at where we were fishing in between all these mountains and then there was 2 other glaciers in addition to the Mendon Hall glacier that we were fishing between it was it was just so beautiful. So yeah. 37:43.82 Sam Clicky. 37:52.59 Sam Ah, that sounds incredible. All right? Um I already wrote it down Alaska bucket list adventures and I and I will tell you Janelle I also you know I'm not really you know a fisher woman so but. 37:54.57 Janelle You know? yes. 38:02.55 dclduo You did. 38:04.00 Janelle Yeah, and they will who um I mean they'll do whales too and I even you know I was sitting up by John and he said there's some whales up there and I said can you go over there. He goes. It's your adventure. He's like whatever you want to do so I mean they were so great about it. You know. Um, so you could book a whale watching tour with him too. So but it was great to be able to do that. 38:23.53 dclduo So so wait. So each you know sorry I'm I just wanted to clarify. Ah, just as an aside was was there fishing involved then or no ok, ok so so then so then I have a question. Well no, but that's so I was heard about the whales but I was like trying to figure out like wait did we actually? So yeah, so. 38:31.44 Janelle Oh yeah, we car. 38:32.52 Sam You Yes, this is it. We just stopped you missed it and. 38:37.76 Janelle Um, what I care about? yeah. 38:42.94 dclduo So um, so let me ask a question Janelle then at the fishing. How did you get that did they package up the fish to get it home did well I mean did I'm assuming you caught fish. So um, did they package it up and did they let you like I've I've gone fishing up in Alaska where they'll let you like trade it out and. 38:50.59 Janelle Man. Yeah. 38:58.45 Janelle Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, great question. Um, so we had to decide as we were headed out. Are we going to put everything back in the ocean. Are we going to keep it and so my husband decided that he wanted to keep it and. 38:58.65 dclduo Order from a menu if you want some smoked fish or some scallops or stuff like that did was that what you experienced. 39:14.99 Janelle Um, Captain John works with someone that will um, clean all the fish and package it all up for you and send it home. So we just had a little form to fill out and it was based I don't know if the price was based on weight probably it was but we ended up with um I think. 39:27.56 Sam And here. 39:32.50 Janelle 3 halibut fish and halibut fishing is very different than salmon fishing like the things that you need I had no idea of all of this I am learned a lot on that and then I think we ended up with 5 or 6 salmon. Um, and we ended up with some good sized salmon as well. 39:35.39 dclduo Yeah, yep. 39:35.62 Sam A. 39:49.26 Janelle Um, we caught my older son caught a few Kings Salmon but those have to be a certain length in order to keep them and unfortunately they weren't quite that length that we needed to um, but they knew all the rules and regulations they worked with my husband so that we could make sure we had our fishing license before we even got on board. We did that online. 39:54.50 dclduo Yep. 40:07.74 Janelle And just made that process a lot smoother. Um and humans really great to like he didn't even take like a deposit. He was just like you show up I Trust you you know this is how I run my business and he was He was just really great to work with So um, yeah. 40:08.65 Sam Oh awesome. 40:20.82 Sam Amazing. So then they mailed it I Assume they flash freeze it and mail it back to your house so that by the time you get. It's like arriving around when you get home right. 40:26.17 Janelle Here I. 40:31.75 dclduo Um, it's usually it's usually flash frozen and vacuum packed and then and then put on dry ice and man and mailed. Yeah. 40:32.78 Janelle Um, yeah. 40:38.32 Janelle Um, yeah, correct and then we got it probably about a week after we got back? um is when we got it so yeah it was it was really easy for us. We've literally just got off the boat and walked away and they said we'll take care of all of it and then we had fish in our freezer when we got home. So it was great. 40:54.42 Sam That's awesome I would be like give me all the halibut you keep all of the salmon I love halibut and Halibut is so expensive everywhere I have to like I only buy it at Costco because it's so expensive I know I know. 40:58.78 Janelle Um, yeah. 41:02.88 Janelle Oh yeah, yeah yeah. 41:03.81 dclduo So Sam I'll tell you this once you see an actual hellabut you may be less enamored with it so they are not a good looking fish they up and they don't start off that way their eye migrates around to the other side of the head. 41:08.54 Janelle Um, as to Ryan the 2 eyes on the one side of their head very interesting to me know know yeah, very interesting. 41:10.57 Sam They're not very pretty I know they're not pretty fish. But oh ah so creepy so creepy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, all right? Well let's not. 41:23.30 dclduo Out. 41:25.92 Janelle Things and. 41:26.11 Sam I Don't want to think about it I don't look at that. So I don't buy the whole fish whenever I get hell of it I don't I only buy a hell of like the fillet. So there's no head to be seen on that. 41:32.11 Janelle Um, yeah, no. 41:34.19 dclduo I Just remember the long pole with the shotgun shell in it because they have to kill them before they get them in the boat because they're so big that if they start if they start flopping around they can rock the boat pretty hard. Yeah. 41:39.85 Sam Oh wow all right? Okay, so after Juno was that when you guys were headed to the glacier where you headed to catch a can next nice. 41:39.87 Janelle Oh yeah, what? yeah yeah. 41:53.46 Janelle Um, Hubbard Glacier was our next day. Um, and this day I really didn't know what to expect I knew that when people go to alaskkaan they see these glaciers. They're just an awe and I look at the pictures and I'm like yeah that's cool. So I really. I didn't really know what to expect and we had our day started off very foggy so we're headed up into the hubbard glacier and we're in just a you know, fog everywhere. Um and then eventually well so along with that fog comes the foghorn too. So we got to hear the foghorn every 2 minutes um as we were going up into the hubbard glacier. Um, which was funny because you're also the other big thing of this day is your character photos I mean this is the day when you're getting your photos with the characters. 42:43.37 Sam Um, yeah. 42:43.97 Janelle Um, and their little outfits you know on up on Deck Nine So this is this was the pinnacle the day that I was so excited for I yeah. 42:50.70 Sam Right? The fab 5 are in their Alaska themed outfits and it's the only time they're up on the deck in those Alaska themed outfits and it might even be the only day they're in those Alaska themed outfits at all. 43:03.73 Janelle Um, I thought that too but they actually were on. Um, they actually were on in those outfits on some other days and actually there was I didn't know about this but you could have got a picture with all of them in their a lot and outfits in the atrium. 43:10.48 Sam Okay. No. 43:20.56 Janelle On I would have to look what day it was but it was like 8 a m and I was walking down I was like what is this line for that's what it was for and there was some very smart people that knew that I didn't catch it on the on the navigator. Um, but yeah, so know that so um. 43:26.53 Sam Oh Wow. The app. Yeah. 43:38.42 Janelle So we were I I was very concerned about getting all these photos because it's the only time you can get these. So um, you know Donald's in his little checkered buffalo plaid and he's up there. Um, and they do come out at a multiple times. So. Um there's a few schools of thought if you try for those characters like first thing at like 9 9 a m nine 30 but you might not like the background. Um our background we were in the fog still I've seen other people that were just kind of in the greeny mountainy areas. Not you're not necessarily to the glacier yet. So there is a system to these characters and when they come out and they'll be on both sides of the ship. Um, and then you just kind of as long as you get in line for that character before the time cuts off so it'll say like mickey fifteen minutes starting at 9 a m. You have until 159 to get in line for Mickey and if you're in line before it's nine fifteen you know you're you're good in line so we were with some friends and we kind of worked together to hit the characters on both sides of the ship. Um, so. 44:37.57 Sam So right. 44:45.40 Sam Yeah, yeah, because if you've got mickey at Nine o'clock and if Minnie is at nine thirty you might not be done. You know taking your picture to get in line or 159 or whatever it is right. 44:51.26 Janelle Um, yeah, correct. Yep. 44:59.73 Sam It happens even even um in the Silver anniversary at Sea sailings with the characters. The same thing is sort of happening where the line gets cut off and you might still be in line waiting for that first character so there is some. There's some staggering I think is one of a good strategy like you mentioned if there's some morning ones and afternoon ones. 45:03.14 Janelle Um, yeah. 45:12.44 Janelle Um, yeah. 45:19.10 Sam Maybe you hit half the characters in the morning and half the characters in the afternoon and that you might do a better job with the staggering that way or if you've got another family that you're sailing with that's probably ah, another good way. You're waiting in 1 line they're waiting the other line that's sort of a thing and you help each other out. Um. 45:21.12 Janelle Um, correct yeah. 45:37.52 Janelle Correct. Yeah, exactly yeah and um, yeah, so this was and this is I feel like what a lot of people do on this day. Um. 45:38.37 Sam Yeah. 45:45.45 Janelle And it's um, my husband was joking. He's like I wouldn't ever wait in a character line this long but with Alaska sailing by on the outside. He's like I'm I'm here all day I got it I can stand in line here and oh I mean it was great and you just you know you make friends with the people around you and you're looking at the scenery and then. 45:48.84 Sam Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 46:04.56 Janelle Um, there was at one point I mean then you start seeing little chunks of ice in the water and then you know you're getting closer and that was just amazing to start seeing you know little icebergs in the water and then the fog finally Broke. We got some great pictures. Um, we did all the characters that I told them we're getting every single one we are doing this. So. 46:25.40 Sam Yeah, so it's a fab 5 plus daisy plus chip and dale. 46:32.27 Janelle Yes, now chip and Dale were not up there. Daisy was and actually we didn't I think we did miss Daisy but we did get co of the bear which I thought was really fun and fred the bear. Yeah yeah, so that was really fun and um. 46:33.54 Sam Okay. 46:40.61 Sam Oh I didn't yeah that's awesome. 46:49.46 Janelle Yeah, so we I mean we got all the ones that we wanted to and just the photographers take amazing pictures. They'll always take it with your phone too which is great for sharing you know with friends and family right away but those professional pictures. Um plug for the photo package I Just think it's amazing. So. 46:54.00 Sam Yeah. 47:07.39 Sam Oh yeah, if you're going to get a photo package on any cruise. It should be an Alaska Cruise no question I always think on the longer cruises in general though and any sort of longer like a seven night or anything longer than that. Um. 47:07.90 Janelle Yes. 47:11.23 Janelle Yes, how grade when I agree. 47:21.29 Sam That the photo package makes a lot of sense because by the time you hit like 20 pictures. You're actually already at basically the cost of the of the unlimited photo package and obviously buying it ahead of time gives you um, gives you a discounted price or if you're pearl you're getting it for free. So. 47:27.68 Janelle First there information. Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure. Um, so and then the only excursion on this day is there's a smaller vessel a smaller boat that will take some people out and get you closer to the glacier now that I mean you you need to. 47:40.89 Sam Um. 47:46.65 Sam Um, right. 47:55.10 Janelle You know, be platinum probably to be able to book that um right off the bat. Um, because that sells out right away. Um, and there's some you know if you really want the character photos and if you want the photos with the glacier in the background doing that excrusion might not be the best idea because you are. 48:11.40 Sam Right. 48:14.52 Janelle You know going to wait in the Walt Disney theater to check in and then you're walking down so you're missing a ah lot of time up on deck nine. So I think that's just something to think about. Um we were we were perfectly happy to just be on the ship. Um, at all time. Um our captain got us Captain Fabian got us. 48:22.38 Sam Ah, here. 48:27.90 Sam Yes. 48:34.11 Janelle Within a half a mile of the hubbard glaser which is um, we heard not very. It doesn't happen very often. Um, depending on the ice depending on the weather depending on even if there's seals in the area sometimes they can't get that close and so um, it. 48:38.51 Sam It's awesome. 48:46.98 Sam He. 48:52.33 Janelle Was truly amazing. Um, seeing the Hubbard glacier. There's a lot of glaciers up there. Um, we didn't I don't think realize how lucky we were to get to see the hubbard glacier. Um, it was Fantastic. We saw you know pieces of the glacier falling off which is called Calving. We didn't know that either. But um, that was fascinating because you heard like a booming sound coming back from the glacier when that ice fell off and that was that was just like a wow moment just to be there. So um, that was really Great. Um. 49:09.91 Sam Yep. 49:26.73 Sam It's amazing. 49:28.89 Janelle Yeah, the day was absolutely fantastic. I do have to mention something else that I thought was just really fun I'm all in for the fun souvenirs. They had this really cute little hot chocolate cart that was coming around on deck 9 pushing it around with these cute um like tumblers Alaskan. Disney wonder 2023 tumblers that you could get right? there? Um, and yes, yes, what. 49:49.97 Sam Oh so so that's very smart I mean didn't he knows how to sell stuff. Ah, but but also very smart because you are standing out there probably for a long period of time waiting as you mentioned in the lines and you know having a you know couple hot cocoa is perfect. 50:04.62 Janelle Yeah, it was great. So yeah, so that was a really really fantastic day. They did bring ah um, an iceberg a small one or chunk of ice up on to the um by the pool deck and so you could get your picture with the the iceberg that was really fun. 50:05.48 Sam Daylight that. 50:21.40 Janelle Um, the kids thought that was great. Um, the Cruise director was around hanging out talking to guests and then that night was um, the frozen night freezing the night away up on deck nine and that was really fun and then we also that night we had um dinner at um Paulo with our friends that we had met. 50:28.97 Sam Oh flying. 50:39.50 dclduo No the connect. 50:39.63 Sam Oh fantastic. Ah isn't that nice when you make friends like so quickly that you decide you want to have dinner with them and you can just do that I Love that. 50:40.64 Janelle So yeah, so we had dinner up there. 50:50.50 Janelle Yeah, was I know I I know that you guys have done that too and um, yeah, it was really like our kids all 3 of the kids had just made such good friends and then the adults just completely hit it off and one of the um kids grandparents actually were sailing concierge. So. Um, that he was like I'll get us into Paula when do you want to go what we'll make it happen so that was really fun and he is an expert in wine and taught us a lot about wine that night and we had um, just a lot of fun with them. So it was fun. 51:21.86 Sam Awesome! Sorry I thought Brian had a question I didn't want to interrupt Brian did you want to ask a follow up. 51:25.56 Janelle Oh no. 51:32.18 Sam Okay, um, okay, so then you've got your I mean obviously that was us a sea day technically with an excursion option I'm glad to hear that if you don't do that smaller boat excursion that it's still an amazing day visiting the glacier because of course we've heard. Ah, from folks who've gone on that excrusion and folks who haven't gone on that excrusion and so it's It's nice to get the differing perspectives but your last port was catch a can am I right about that? Oh my goodness you still have sicka Ok tell us about sitka. 51:59.57 Janelle No, we still had sitca in between yeah sam we felt the same way as we were like counting the days we're like wait is tomorrow like our last day and we're like no, we still get to go to this port in this where it was amazing. So. Um, yeah, our next port was sitka and um sitka beautiful port beautiful port 1 thing to note with Sitka is um if there is another ship in um, port with you. Um, you have to share transportation to the downtown sitka shopping area. So if you don't have an excursion book if you're just like I'm gonna go just hang out in sitka. Um, which is what we did in the afternoon. Um, you're gonna have to um. Wait in a very long line. The ovation of the seas was in port when we were that ship is mega huge and so the lines were very long. So I think that's just something to note and be aware of um when you oh we had an excrusion book through Disney we were doing the tongass rainforest hike. 53:02.66 Sam And. 53:10.45 Janelle Um, just to try to get you know, get out in nature and it was an absolutely beautiful hike. Um, we had a great guide that knew a lot about the Flora and Fauna. Um, and we almost saw a bear. Um, we. We were on the hike and there is a family came down from the trail and they said we just sell a bear.. There is a bear up that trail and that is where we were headed and so our guide was just kind of ah she was like oh my gosh I don't know what to do and she was like that is the way we need to hike to get our transportation. 53:29.19 Sam Me yeah. 53:45.60 Janelle On the other side of the path and so we had decided collectively We were good with per you know going down the path and so um, we saw fresh bear scat right on the path right? where we were and it was like this we all wanted to see a beer but not really see a bear like. 53:51.30 Sam A. 53:59.60 Sam Um, wow. 54:02.54 Sam Right? You didn't want to encounter a bear you want to see a bear at a distance. You don't want to encounter a bear. 54:04.99 Janelle Middle. Yes, so yeah, so it was a very weird feeling. Um that whole part but we were um, it was very beautiful. We learned a lot on our hike and it was such an easy hike. It was. 54:16.20 Sam You can. 54:21.86 Janelle Just a few miles three miles and it was very flat. Um, we got some wonderful pictures. We were next to the water. Um, we saw some wildlife did not end up seeing a bear. Um, but we were close but um, that was really fun. So that was our excursion that we did that day. Um, the kids were you know indifferent with the excursion. They were kind of like we want to go to the kids club. So this was where we went back to the ship. We put the kids on the ship and mom and dad went out to sitka and the kids were happy and we were happy and so. I think that's um, you know that's one of the great things with cruising is that you know then my husband and I were just left to explore the town on our own and you know leisurely shop where we wanted to and you know got some desserts and treats and things and so that was just a great thing that we did so um, yeah, Sitka was. Was really fun. It was great. Um, there's totem poles there. A great little town to shop in and lots of things to find um in sitka so we had a fun day. There. 55:26.32 Sam Awesome! So one aside question which is was this itinerary supposed to do the inside passage or not I'm thinking not but I'm not sure. 55:39.18 Janelle Yeah, and that's been a little talk on I've seen that um on Youtube and Twitter and stuff we did the inside passage and I know we were watching a youtuber who had sailed on a seven night and they did not sail the inside passage and he kind of thought that they should have Captain Fabian had us down inside passage routes that I was shocked a cruise ship was going through. 56:01.95 Sam A. 56:04.98 Janelle Um, there were places where we just had mountains and land on either side of us just so close to us and that's one of the things that we noticed on this cruise like you know we love Disney Cruise because we love the ships. The ships are amazing and we love everything on it. But. We just felt constantly felt ourselves pulled to you know, being outside and being up on the decks and just seeing Alaska Sail by so um I don't think every cruise can possibly sail that I know one that went this summer that did not and I'm sure that's. Based on a variety of factors. But um, we we were lucky to get to sail the inside passage in so many different parts of Alaska. 56:48.71 dclduo Yeah, there's a bit of discussion even in our Facebook group because I think one of the recent shows we did on Alaska they skipped the inside passage and it made the day very rough for the ship because they were out in the open open ocean here which is not the. 56:57.57 Janelle We will. Are f. 57:05.36 dclduo Not the smoothest sailing in that part of the world and so it sparked a little discussion. Our group about um I think a particular captain on Disney Cruise line who seems to skip it more often than not or misses the window that they have to go through it and so yeah I was curious if you had made it through the inside passage or not sounds like you did. 57:17.10 Janelle And yep, yeah, we did and we were very lucky it was that was just the days sailing we it it got it was just so beautiful I know I keep saying that but it's just it was amazing. It was awesome. 57:41.53 dclduo And I'm not sure what happened to Sam. 57:48.95 Sam And oh sorry I was on mute. So ah, so after sitka we know your last port was beautiful, catch a can of course before you have to. You know, go back to beautiful Vancouver I mean of all, you know all these horrible places we talk about you know, but what did he all get up to in catch a can and did you do another dcl excursion. 58:04.43 Janelle Yeah I know. 58:13.12 Janelle Yeah, catch you can was a great city. This was our first rainy day of really the whole cruise it had rained in Vancouver as we left. Um, but every other port city was completely beautiful. Sunny great weather. This day it was raining however, catchy can that's what they're known for it rains all the time. So I think that is to be expected there so we got off. Um it was raining what the exccursion that we had booked was um, a boat. Um catamaran to the misty fjords. Um, and so this was a 5 hour excursion it took um, quite a while to um sail the boat on back to where misty fjords is um, we had a great tour guide on our katamaan that was giving us lots of history about the native people about Alaska um. They were great to even go out of their way to find um purple starfish for us because a grandmother wanted to show that to her grandkids. We saw really great wildlife. Lots of bald Eagles. We didn't really see whales and things on that particular day but going back in the misty fjords. Ah, the name is just perfect I mean that is literally what it is it was Misty. It was rainy and it kind of felt like you were back in like if we were in lord of the rings or something. It's kind of what it felt like it was just you felt like you were almost on like a different planet a little. 59:47.48 Janelle Even like Avattari like there was just birds living on the side of this huge sheer rock face of mountains and just the landscape and the waterfalls we were seeing like um, it was really beautiful I know another popular excrusion is actually a float plane. 01:00:05.61 Sam This is. 01:00:05.62 Janelle Back into the Misty few arts and I think again when we go next time because we're going next time we've already decided that before we finish this cruise. Yeah I mean it's that. 01:00:15.49 Sam Um, oh wow. 01:00:18.69 Janelle Um, it's that amazing I think we'll do a float plane because then you can the flow planes we were noticing um are landing up in those high mountain lakes and so they're getting a completely different perspective. We're glad we got the perspective that we did um, but there's way more to see and to do there. 01:00:28.58 Sam Um, a. 01:00:37.76 Janelle And then um so the misty fields were absolutely great and we had a lot of fun there also catch a cans. Obviously the salmon capital of the world so that would be a great place to go salmon fishing. We did walk down Creek Street and saw the salmon kind of running up the stream as they were so um, starting to do that. 01:00:49.76 Sam Isn't it. 01:00:56.70 Janelle Um, but um, yeah, so catch a can was probably not like our favorite port city. It was very commercialized like there was a lot whereas Icy straight point felt like you know, cute and you know touristy but like in a. 01:00:58.36 Sam What's cool. 01:01:12.84 Janelle Almost authentic way catch a can was a little more touristy. Um, but so we enjoyed our icy straight point. We're glad we got out on the water again and got to see some beautiful areas of Alaska. 01:01:14.90 Sam With it. 01:01:23.90 Sam Awesome! Well I mean it sounds like you enjoyed catch a can maybe not as much as the other ports but it wasn't you know wasn't a bad day by any means of course the rain makes it I feel like rain impacts your your enjoyment as well. So. 01:01:34.58 Janelle Yeah, no yeah Drew to. 01:01:43.44 Sam So let's talk about some of the stuff on the ship. We'll just do some like highlights. Um, you know obviously a huge highlight is getting all those pictures on deck with the characters and you mentioned the frozen night at sea. But what were some of the other things. Um, that were highlights for you all on. 01:01:53.54 Janelle Peru. 01:01:59.87 Sam Board and did you do any of the if were there were any other special activities for Alaska or for silver anniversary at sea that you particularly enjoyed. 01:02:09.45 Janelle Yeah, great question. Um, on our first day at sea we did have a naturalist on board. Um, and I think that's pretty standard for Alaskan cruises. Um, and so he came on and had a slide presentation. On things that we were going to start seeing in Alaska and I thought that was a great way to kick off the crews. Um, just with some information. Um, that's why we knew about humpback whales bubble net feeding because he had taught us um in that presentation on our first day at sea. Um, and then so he did some stuff with um you know sea life and glaciers and so I thought that was a really nice touch. They also had a naturalist on board when we were at hubbard glacier and she had spent extensive time in that area and so she was actually on the. Um, intercom like over head at the ship like telling us things that we were seeing and noticing. Um, so I thought that was great of Disney to have um those experts on board to help answer questions and to teach us about the areas that we were in. Um. There was a lot of um silver anniversary at sea we got um we did get a picture and you know met characters. You know the fab 5 and those um outfits as well. Make sure to check the navigator so you know. 01:03:28.60 Janelle When they're going to be in those um outfits um, there's times where you can get just Donald and then there's times where you can get Donald and Daisy and likewise with Mickey and Minnie. So. 01:03:35.50 Sam E. 01:03:39.19 Janelle You just you really have to go through that and make sure that you know what characters you're wanting to get and when but I mean on a nine night cruise we were you know we had characters all around us. Um, you know all the time. Um. My kids love the kids club my my older son was more you know in edge and he just had such a great group of kids that they all became friends on you know on the dcl app and had a group chat and they were constantly. You know, um, hanging out together and that's just so fun when your kids can do that? um together. Um. Broadway shows on the ship were absolutely amazing. Um, and that was just like I think that was our our Juno day I think we you know it's just it's so great to get off the ship. Go have a wonderful day in port and then come back on. Have your server team that knows you knows what drinks you like knows what food you like they serve you this wonderful meal and then you head off to this absolutely amazing Broadway show and it was like how can it get any better than this like this is the way to go. So um, yeah, we did. 01:04:37.16 Sam The. 01:04:46.43 Janelle We I only played trivia once on this cruise and that just shows like how much Alaska kept tugging at us. We were just constantly outside trying to look at Alaska and um, you know we weren't doing as much of the things maybe on a you know inside the ship as we do and. 01:04:48.28 Sam Z. 01:05:04.35 Janelle Other cruises. 01:05:06.73 dclduo Very fun Janelle it sounds like had an amazing trip I have 1 question to ah, hopefully wind us down here. But you mentioned early on that. You know Alaska was the star of the show and I think there was a premise of a lot of Sam's questions too that you know the port excursions and things like that and so generally I would guess you're spending less time on board than you might on a caribbean cruise or another cruise and so I'm just curious. You know, looking back. Disney is a very expensive option for Alaska. Do you think that the value was there on Disney or would you consider if you're going back to Alaska sailing on a different cruise line. 01:05:43.10 Janelle Alive that's a great question because the the price is so much higher than some other cruise lines I think it depends on your family. Um for us with kids Disney was absolutely the right choice just because of the activities and the things. That our kids got to do our kids had just as amazing a vacation as a ten and a thirteen year old and we did as adults seeing Alaska for the first time because the things that matter to them are their friends and playing games and you know having fun together and I just. You know they have not cruised on another cruise line and I just worry for my kids. Are they going to enjoy that as much on celebrity or royal caribbean or something like that and I you know for adults. Yeah, maybe you do so try celebrity or norwegian or. You know because there's a there's only 3 crewer cruise lines that will take you up into um glacier bay and so if that's important to you maybe picking one of those other cruise lines that go to Glacier Bay um but for us with our family like Disney's always going to be the first choice for us. 01:06:51.16 dclduo Well Janelle I think we have reached that point in the show where I need to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions some arbitrary rules and a dash of judgments or the round we know as a rapid fire. So Sam you want to take it away. 01:07:04.68 Sam Absolutely Janelle I know this is your second time on our show but your first time doing rapid fire as your previous episode happened to be a bonus show. So we're gonna do our classic rapid fire and we're gonna start off with who is your favorite Disney. Or Pixar or whatever disney property character. 01:07:25.59 Janelle It would have to be Donald Donald Duck is my favorite. 01:07:31.58 Sam Um, that's because he's number one. Ah, he's Brian he's one of Brian's favorites I would say as well. Um, all right? Well what is your favorite Disney movie and again Disney means everything that Disney owns. 01:07:33.77 Janelle Is here. 01:07:44.91 Janelle Yeah, um, that would be up up is my favorite Disney movie I know I know? Yeah yes, yes, my 1 b would be ratouy. 01:07:51.19 Sam Um I love that movie. But it's also the movie that I cry every time So I have to fast forward the beginning? Yes, yes, yes yeah, and I would put right at to a because. 01:08:03.74 Janelle I Know you love that. 01:08:07.11 Sam I don't want to cry in the first couple minutes all right? What's your favorite Disney Song I love that so good. Okay, well speaking of music of course what is your favorite Disney. 01:08:08.72 Janelle Yeah, agree agree. Love radically? ah happily ever after yes. 01:08:26.79 Sam Cruise Line stage show. 01:08:27.40 Janelle Oh my goodness. Um, oh it might be beauty and the beast I think it? Yeah think it is so hard because I love the taled one too. But I think I'm going to go with Beauty and the beast. 01:08:35.17 Sam Ah, it not might be. That's what it has to be yeah I know yeah tangled one is fabulous as is frozen honestly. But I do think that. 01:08:45.93 Janelle Yes. 01:08:50.16 Sam Beauty the beast is the right answer. So thank you for? Thank you for having that answer all right? What's your favorite adult bar space on any of the 3 ships that you've been on. 01:08:52.37 Janelle Yeah, dead. 01:09:03.68 Janelle Um, great question I don't um I don't know I don't frequent them too often. Um, so we go to. We went to after hours area and oh what's that one that we were in not the catalog. 01:09:20.38 Sam What so you were on the wonder so you would have either been in the crown was crown and fin whatever it's called the pub. There's there's the pub. There's the Cadillac lounge or there is azure. Um. 01:09:20.91 Janelle Lounge. Um, yeah, brown. Yeah. 01:09:34.42 Janelle Oh yeah, we say oh yes I like that one that one is very nice theme I'm not a huge drinker at all. Um, but I do the cove Cafe is a great great space for adults I Love that. 01:09:35.20 Sam Or you could of course pick Cove cafe because that's an adult bar as well. 01:09:48.60 Sam Awesome! All right? What is your favorite space on any of the ships. 01:09:55.78 Janelle Um, I really enjoyed the french quarter lounge on this last cruise and I believe it is worth noting that they had a happy hour every morning where you could get a coffee and beng ya's for $5 and I just thought. 01:10:11.66 Sam Yes, yes, it is brilliant and they are delicious beniers. 01:10:14.92 Janelle That was brilliant. So ah, yeah, yes, they are so um, that space I just thought was was beautiful and they were doing trivia right right in that space during happy hour sometimes so that was really fun. 01:10:29.60 Sam Absolutely that is a great space. All right favorite rotational dining. You know this is hard because you've been on now that you've been on the classic ships it becomes I think harder. 01:10:37.80 Janelle Um, oh. 01:10:41.80 Janelle I Know um I te ona's place like completely blew us away the last night on Tianaa's place. We had so much fun. Um, because you know that's that big Mardi Gras liberation and oh my goodness. 01:10:56.34 Sam Mardi Gras yeah 01:10:59.68 Janelle That was a ball we were laughing and just had so much fun. Our servers were getting us up out of our seats and um it just and that was our last night that was our last dinner and it was perfect. It was a perfect way to end our cruise and our vacation with our servers and so. 01:11:07.18 Sam Please. 01:11:16.10 Janelle I Think that will always be a really great memory for me that was a lot of fun. 01:11:19.18 Sam I love that and I love that you who got to go to pollo for dinner but you didn't miss mardi graite because that's like the one night the the entertainment is just so much fun in in Tiana's place on that night that's yeah that's my favorite night 01:11:26.53 Janelle Um, young was. 01:11:36.46 Sam On the wonder generally speaking is is that night are even though I will say it's actually not my favorite food on the ship. Oddly enough. Oddly enough all right? What is a favorite activity that you like to do on board a disney ship. 01:11:37.67 Janelle Yes, yeah, yeah. 01:11:53.15 Janelle My I love playing Trivia I have never won trivia I have not won yet I'll say it that way. Um, but I love playing it I just think that is a lot of fun on our last cruise on the magic I was up and down everywhere playing trivia as much as possible. 01:12:06.14 Sam Even. 01:12:08.23 Janelle Um, my husband his fever activity with me to sit on Deck 4 and just watch you know Alaska go by I mean that's what we did a lot on this cruise. Um, and we just you know we found we spent a lot of time on deck for because Alaska was sailing by where we didn't do that. You know on our other cruises down in the caribbean. 01:12:29.90 Sam Absolutely all right? A controversial question aqua dunk versus Aqua Duck I know you haven't been on the aqua mouse yet. So I'm excluding that from the question. Yeah. 01:12:33.70 Janelle Okay. 01:12:41.54 Janelle I Could not yeah um I have done both I was really proud of myself for doing the awkward dunk um that was thrilling and but I just think I like the Aqua duck better I'm proud. 01:12:57.97 Sam Um, that is the right that is the right answer the congratulations is that one and done The Aqua dunk is a you must do it once because to say you've done it. But. 01:12:59.40 Janelle I did the dump that I think that might be 1 and done for me you yes I did it? yeah. 01:13:11.41 Sam It is a 1 and done that is right? Brian will disagree but he can sit there and be wrong in his wrongness all right, another controversial question now you've been on 2 classic ships 1 dream class ships. So 2 magic class ships 1 dream class ship. 01:13:16.46 Janelle I. 01:13:28.52 Sam Which one is your favorite. 01:13:30.52 Janelle That is a hard question I feel like a lot of people go back to their first ship is their favorite. Um, and yes it is but I really the magic class ships just are awesome I love them I didn't think that I would when we went on them. Um. 01:13:33.72 Sam Yeah, that's true. That's a very popular answer. Yeah. 01:13:48.31 Janelle I think I'm going to have to go with the wonder. But I mean that's the one I've spent the most time on and obviously the most recent but this is a question that I will continually ponder as we get on all of the ships. Our next cruise is actually on the wish. So we're excited. 01:13:50.50 Sam You see. 01:13:58.50 Sam Yeah. 01:14:04.82 Sam Ah, fantastic. 01:14:05.96 Janelle Compared that and but I loved being on the wonder it was awesome. 01:14:09.21 Sam Awesome I Love it I I mean that's also the right answer. But I you know they're there. They all have something amazing about them. It's like different personalities is like different children right? like. 01:14:18.83 Janelle Um, they do no. 01:14:23.41 Sam They all have their own you know feel and and flavor and so you can love you can love them all and still have a favorite, especially if you only have 1 child that's easy. Yeah, ah all right last question. 01:14:26.91 Janelle Um, agree agree. Yeah. 01:14:39.72 Sam Bucketless Cruise if you can go anywhere in the world on a Disney Cruise where are you going? Janelle. 01:14:43.79 Janelle That is such a great question because when we were on our cruise we're like all right? What big one are we doing next? what are we doing next and I really think our bucket list one is probably Norway like the northern european. 01:14:57.25 Sam Yes. 01:15:00.63 Janelle Um, is what we're really and I think that's more of a bucket list. We really want to do the Southern Caribbean we almost have ten night southern caribbean booked um I feel like we'll get to that one I just feel like that Northern Europe Norway is a little bit more of a. 01:15:06.30 Sam Is it. 01:15:17.64 Janelle Bucket list item that I yes. 01:15:19.43 Sam Well especially if you loved Alaska as much as it sounds like you did because they have that I mean we haven't been to Alaska yet ourselves or Brian has been to Alaska but not on a cruise and I have never been to Alaska. Um. But they do have. There's a lot of overlap in sort of the type of excursions. It's a very outdoorsy you know feel and all of that. So I do think there's quite ah, quite a bit of similarity there and we can't get. We can't wait to do one of that one of the northern ones that goes also to Iceland since we've done Norway we want to also hit Iceland. 01:15:36.19 Janelle Your. 01:15:50.81 Janelle Ah. 01:15:51.40 Sam And maybe even a stop in Sweden so the the longer itineraries tend to do that so someday. Awesome! Well thank you for playing Janelle you have clearly won rapid fire. 01:15:54.40 Janelle Hey that's what I want to do that cruise I swing Norway suited and that sounds great. Yeah I think. 01:16:08.39 Sam Yeah, you you didn't even you had mentioned ah before we started recording that you hadn't you had meant to like sort of study and decide on your questions and you hadn't done that and I'm actually really proud of you because you didn't do that and you still won Rapid fire. 01:16:22.45 Janelle That is awesome. Thanks Sam. 01:16:27.30 dclduo I Love that I love that you ah portray that there's some sort of objective winners list here are we are are we etching names in a wall somewhere in my house that I'm not aware of or or. 01:16:27.78 Sam Ah. 01:16:29.18 Sam Yeah, you know, no no the only no I like I always like I like to say in certain shows. Um, the winner is always me so I hope is the wind red fire. Yeah yeah. 01:16:31.99 Janelle Up. 01:16:39.30 dclduo I think we're gonna have to make a t-shirt that says rapid fire winner and mail that out to the quote unquote contestants. Yeah there you go there, you go? Well Janelle. 01:16:41.88 Janelle Oh I'll take care I say that feel like it. 01:16:48.74 Sam And love it. 01:16:51.58 dclduo As always thank you so much for taking time out of your day to share your fabulous experience in Alaska with us. So we just super appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time. 01:16:58.16 Janelle Thank you, It's fine. 01:16:58.44 Sam Yeah, and Janelle why don't you tell folks where they can connect with you if they want to book a Disney vacation or another vacation with you. 01:17:08.50 Janelle Yeah, um, my email is janellejanelle at dreaming aboutthemouse. Dot com is the best way to get a hold of me I also have a Facebook page dreaming about the mouse travel. Ah, Janelle Howell is on Facebook and I'm also on Instagram with the same name. Yeah, thank you. 01:17:25.90 Sam Awesome! Thanks again so much.