[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, DCL Duo fans, Before we get on to today's show, I've got to let you know about a new booking promotion from our travel agency show sponsor, WeDoTravel, right? As a special promotion for DCL Duo listeners only. When you book a future Disney cruise through our friends at WeDoTravel, right, you'll get a $50 onboard credit to be applied to each stateroom booked. This one's for bookings that are new to WeDoTravel, right? And what I mean by that is it can be applied to a new booking, a transferred booking, or to a transferred placeholder booking.
Redeeming this new promo is easy. Just mention the DCL Duo listener promotion when you book with WeDoTravel, right? Or fill out the quick
[email protected] DCLDUO. Your credit will get applied to your stateroom account after your sailings check in date and you'll get a confirmation once it's been applied. And here's the bonus. If you book something from DCL's new itinerary release between August 31 and September 8, that credit doubles to $100 on board credit per stateroom. That's a solid chunk towards a specialty dinner at Palo or a spa day on board. While that $100 promo is only good through September 8, the $50 promo is good through the end of the year. So if you're waiting for Believe itineraries to drop, have no fear, you have some time. The link for the booking form is in the show notes. Go get that credit before it sails away. And now onto the show, because I
[00:01:23] Speaker B: am a crab snob and I will pretty much only eat Dungeness crab.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: So
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Brian found it and I asked him what kind of crab it was and he said dungeness. And I was like, I'm in.
I will eat a whole crab to myself.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the DCL Duo Podcast brought to you. We do travel, right? I am your host, Sam today. As you can tell, you're hearing my voice instead of Brian's voice doing the show intro. But never fear, I am not alone. I have a wonderful guest. We're going to be talking about Alaska today. I know we've got a lot of episodes out about Alaska this summer, which is, I think, fantastic because it's such a great itinerary. We get asked about Alaska cruising on Disney Cruise Line all the time, but this one is going to be a little bit unique because we've got a different ship, which means different port. And we also are going to hear about Coda the bear because I know he's on the Disney magic. So super excited. I'm welcoming back a returning guest. We actually live maybe like 15 minutes away from each other in real life. But it's funny, we're still of course recording this virtually because that's the easiest way to record things for us. But welcome back to the show, Shannon. Hey, Shannon.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Hey.
Happy to be back.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it's great to have you back. Why don't you remind folks, before we get started talking about your sailing in Alaska, why don't you remind folks of your Disney background and what cruises you've been on previously? Because I know obviously you have a Disney cruising background as well.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Yes, yes, I'll try to make this quick. So let's see. Fan of Disney ever since little. Been to Disneyland several times.
Got to do the magic music days when I was in high school. Just so fun.
Been to Disney World a few times.
Started cruising in 2017 when my daughter was in first grade.
We did a Disney World trip and we're like, you know, let's just throw on like a little cruise, see how we like it, you know. And we ended up doing like a four night Bahamian one.
We actually did go like start out to do Disney, but that was the one that fit our schedule better. And then of course you're hooked from there. So. So we booked an Alaska cruise that we did in 2018 when she was just finished up second grade.
And that one was really special because I had just finished cancer treatment and it was the first time that we really took like a long vacation since then and it was really nice and then. But then, you know, things get busy. We're like, we'll do another one. Covid happens. Yada yada, yada yada. So then my dad had died a few years ago and my mom really enjoys traveling. She's like, I want to do crew, like something with you. I want to go on a vacation with you. My treat. And we're like, well, if you don't mind, I don't mind. No, I won't say no.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Threaten me with a good time. Right?
[00:04:37] Speaker B: And so we were trying to find like something that would kind of work for, you know, a teen parents, older generation, you know. And I was like, you know, mom, what about like a cruise? And she's like, I don't know, I don't know.
So we ended up, so we ended up in November 2022 doing the seven night Mexican Riviera out of San Diego, which is a Lovely itinerary, by the way. And she cried getting off the ship and immediately is like, when are we booking the next one? Since then, we have done seven cruises.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. You have racked up the castaway status.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: Yes, yes. So this, uh, this most recent sailing was her seventh sailing and our ninth sailing.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. So you're very, very close. I thought. I thought you had just hit platinum, but you're actually just under platinum status.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Just under soon.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: I mean, that just means you gotta book two more, right?
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Which we've already done, so.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Of course. Of course you have, Shannon.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: I was like, we gotta get to 10, and then we have to do one more because we actually use the benefits of it.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: To use the benefits.
Right. You have to get your free Palo meal. Absolutely. Right.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: I mean, that totally makes sense.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Right? Yeah. Book the Cruise for the $55 or $60. I forget what. I can't remember if it's 55 or 60 now or maybe it's even 65. I never remember, like, the.
But now it's free.
I love that. It's. It's Disney math. It makes. It really makes sense.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Totally makes sense. Yeah.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, so this cruise, you decided to go to Alaska again.
Now, your daughter is a high schooler now, so a little bit different in terms of what you and do sailing in Alaska between, you know, like a second grader and a high schooler. But it sounds like you went with a kind of a larger group. But tell me, like, why did you choose Alaska again?
And why did you choose the Magic, specifically?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Yeah, so the kind of funny story behind this group is we had been on a cruise in December 2024, and had ran into this couple during, you know, the game shows that they have in the evening. And they were funny. We enjoyed sitting next to them and they were chatting up the entertainment host. And we're asking about, you know, things to do in Europe because he was from the uk.
And I was like, oh, we're going to be in London, too. And they're like, oh, yeah, we're going to be on a cruise. And I was like, oh, funny. So are we. And they're like, yeah, we're going to Norway. I was like, oh, so are we.
And so we figured out that we were actually on the same cruise with them. And so then we, like, kind of like, you know, met up on the cruise. And then when we. We had, like, so much fun with them when we got off, they're like, well, we'll have to do one soon. And we're kind of like, yeah, you know, let us know. And they're like, well, how about this summer? What do you got going on this summer?
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Cruise? Friends are the best friends. They help you, encourage you to make. I don't know if I'm going to say. I don't want to say bad decisions, because I don't think. I mean, this is. To me, this is a good decision. It might be financially a questionable decision, depending on your vacation budget, if you weren't planning on going to Alaska, because Alaska's, as we've talked about on the show many times, Alaska is. The price tag for the cruise is expensive. And then you got to figure in quite a bit more for excursions, even if you're booking outside of Disney Cruise Line, if you want to do some. I mean, not. There are some excursions that are less expensive. And of course, you can always just, like, walk around the ports yourself, that sort of a thing. But there's some great excursions that unfortunately have a big price tag. Yeah. So, okay, so they were like, let's go this summer. And were they like, let's do Alaska?
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah, they're like. They're from Milwaukee, so they're like, we have to fly regardless. They're like. And, you know, I kind of been thinking about redoing Alaska because it had been a while, and I thought my mom would really enjoy it.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Right. And she didn't go on that first one with you?
[00:08:39] Speaker B: She didn't go on the first one.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I think Alaska is. I mean, Alaska is magical, and I think it can be good for both the younger generation and the older generation. I think, of course, it might alter what excursions you book. Right. Like, you may not. There are some that are, let's say, more athletically inclined that you might not book with an older generation unless they happen to be somebody who's very fit. Right. But. But you can. But there are so many excursions that are for, you know, all ages, with the exception of. I mean, I know there are people who bring really young kids to Alaska.
I think it's nice if you're doing it for you, but your kid's not gonna remember any of it.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: Right?
[00:09:21] Speaker A: So.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. When Kaylee, when we went the first time, Kaylee was. Had just turned 9, and that was actually kind of a great age because she was, you know, intrigued by everything, up for everything, you know. So I think 8, 9 plus is kind of a good age to look at it, you know, and then, I mean, she does her own thing on the ship, so I barely see her when we go on cruises.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: Well, the nice thing about doing Alaska, as I mentioned, you, you live like 15 minutes away from me. So you live in the Seattle area.
So for us, going to Alaska means driving up three plus hours to Vancouver.
I say plus because it really just depends on how much time you have to wait at the border to get across. But yeah, it's really nice. You don't have. We don't have to fly all the way to Florid.
I know.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: It's like the one benefit we have out here.
Yeah, it. And that did like help with the cost quite a bit when we're not having to do four flights, so.
[00:10:23] Speaker A: Oh yeah. Plus you. If you're doing a hotel, you might be. You only really have to do a hotel for like one night. I mean, you can do it for. Of course you can go to Vancouver. There's plenty to do. It's a wonderful city to visit. You can do stuff there, but you don't have to. I mean, you could drive up feasibly. You could even do it the same day if you wanted to. But I think most people probably drive up the night before.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Well, let.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Let's talk about the planning side of things. So your friends had already. They. They were sort of selected the cruise. How big of a group did this end up being?
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Yeah, so it was the four of us, so my mom, my husband and my daughter. And then it was our friends Brian and Debbie and then Brian's dad, Keith, who's the same age as my mom.
And they ended up inviting some friends that they had met on a cruise named Mike and Amber from Toronto. And so we ended up with nine people in our group. And I'm always, you know, I'm easygoing, so I'm like, sure, what if, you know, like, it'll all work out. But planning with big groups is always kind of one of those, like, here we go. You know, you never know. You never know. You get. Sometimes it works out great and then other times it's crazy. So this group ended up being very easy to be with. So yeah, like it was. We all had similar interests and then the things that we wanted to do on our own, we did on our own. And you know, everybody was just really laid back about everything. So it worked out really well.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's a great though thought to sort of strategize when you're with a larger group, especially multiple families, to kind of figure out like everybody. I would say generally speaking, everybody books their own excursions for their own family. And then you link up so that you're all sitting together for dinner. Right? And you may do other activities together and you may end up even booking the same excursions. But it's easier if you don't lock yourself into saying, oh, we have to do everything together, because you will see each other every single day at dinner. And probably for, you know, the show or if you end up going to the adult only, you know, evening activities, that sort of a thing, it's really your port days that it's going to be hard to coordinate if everybody wants to do different things. So what did you guys do in terms of the planning side of things? Like, were you the one planning for your family?
Or, you know, did you guys book your excursions through Disney? Did you book your excursions elsewhere? Like, what was your sort of plan of attack? Shannon?
[00:13:03] Speaker B: So Brian is a big planner. Like, he really enjoys planning. And usually I'm the one that's, you know, looking up excursion stuff. So this time it's actually kind of lovely because he's like, how about this? And I'm like, sounds great.
And he would.
So we did almost all of our excursions outside of Disney. We did do one through Disney, and they were platinum status, so we're gold status. So it was fairly easy for us to get on the same. The same place or get on the same excursion.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: So they booked theirs first when their booking window opens. And then they told you, like, what times and which excursions they had booked. And then you just tried to essentially copy those that you wanted to do together, which is.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Yeah, and we linked our reservations together, which also makes it kind of nice. So I could see theirs. And then, you know, so then you're kind of. If you link your reservations together, you're kind of looked at as a group, which kind of works too. You can't necessarily book earlier because they're not in the same stateroom as you. But you can at least see, you know, when we would book, like, beverage, some of the beverage seminars, they would have us kind of like grouped together. So that was kind of nice.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's always a really nice thing. I mean, you're exactly right. You can see their, what they've got their bookings in the app. You can see them in your app. They show up, and then when you go to book, you're basically like, adding yourself on. If there's space available, it doesn't make. It doesn't make space available for you.
But once if there is space available, then when you show up to that drink tasting or to that excursion. You're going to be put onto the same, like, bus or the same boat or whatever it is that you've got booked, which is really a really a nice thing. Well, let's talk about your. Let's. Let's start with getting up to Vancouver. Did you guys go day of day before? A couple days before. What was your plan of attack there?
[00:14:57] Speaker B: We went the day before and we drove up. It was very easy. Border crossing was like five minutes. We stayed at the Century Plaza Inn, which was. It was fine. And was.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Is that close to the Canada place to the port, or is it.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Yeah, it's about. It's about a mile. Okay. So not. I wouldn't walk it, but, you know, we had a car, so we just parked. Not at Canada Place because it was very expensive, but we parked maybe about like a quarter mile down the street. Um, so my Lance just dropped everybody off and then he ran down, dropped the car off and then came back and then we checked in. So that was pretty easy. Yeah, yeah.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: And that means you were able to drop off your luggage too, rather than walking the luggage.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: Which is key. Yeah.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: And so check in at Canada Place was pretty easy. Oh. The night before, we actually met up with Brian and Debbie and Keith and did a food tour in Gastown. So that was fun.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
Was it good? Like, good food?
[00:16:06] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. We tasted like ice cream and.
Oh, gosh, that was like a whole week ago.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Lots of good food. Do they have poutine?
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we had, like, elevated poutine. It was. Oh, yeah, it was very good. Yeah.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: So that. That was nice. That kind of got us, like, in the mood for, you know, lots of good food. So, yeah, I rec. Like, I love food tours. Like, I think that is one of the best ways to see a city is to do a food tour. So we were all. Brian booked that for us, but, you know, we were like, yes, please, let's do it.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Let's do it. Yeah. We do the same thing wherever we go. We try to book at least one food tour because I think it is. It's a great way to immerse yourself in the town culture that you meet a tour guide, that tour guide is a local, and they'll give you other recommendations for food places as well.
Um, and all. And it. I mean, it's. How else do you get to know a place than through its food? I mean.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's. I felt a little bad. My daughter, she's a little picky with Food and there wasn't a ton that she enjoyed so. Oh well, oh well you just get
[00:17:16] Speaker A: her, you get her some fast food after the tour's over. That's what we do with Nathan. Nathan doesn't, whenever we take him on a food tour he like he might eat a couple of bites of something like we do. Brian. No thank you. Bite. I mean and most things he will take one bite of but it doesn't like we didn't make him try a bite of herring, let me put it that way on the, in Amsterdam. But pretty much everything else he took at least one small bite of. But yeah, it's, it's a, it's a little challenging with a pickier eater. But I was a picky eater as a kid and I'm still a semi picky eater now. So I have a lot of sympathy and I really, I'm like, well just, it's just exposure and then you will get you something else to eat after the tour is over and you'll be fine.
Plus there's always like sweets, right? There's always like you said, ice cream or there's always something that like they'll eat and they'll be fine.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I love that. Exactly.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Well, what time was your port arrival time and how was the, the check in process? It sounds like luggage drop off and all that went smooth.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Yeah, the process was pretty easy. We were in the 11:15 boarding in Group 6.
So by the time we you know, dropped the car off and then the only thing about Canada place is you have to kind of like walk pretty far down to the end of the cruise check in. So that was a little tricky for my mom who has a little bit of mobility issues. So that's just something to kind of keep in mind that there is kind of a bit of a walk. But once we got there, you know, it was very quick to check in. And then by the time we got through check in and we made it into like the waiting area they were calling group five and I think we waited maybe like not even ten minutes before they called group six. So it was like pretty much like right on. So I think we sat down for like five minutes. Like it was, it was very easy.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: I, I just love when you have that smooth of a process and then you, you're, it's that your vacation starts like immediately, right? You're just like, yeah, you're just on now. I, I gotta ask, you know, the magic just had a dry dock very recently.
But she has been showing her age. What did you think when you got on the magic, like, was it magical? Did you feel like she was a newer ship? Do you feel like she is showing her age? What were, you know, had it been a while since you'd been on the magic?
[00:19:41] Speaker B: We were on the magic maybe a year or two ago. This was our third time on the magic. I am continually impressed with how well the ships are holding up in general. When you think about the amount of traffic that they go through.
You know, I mean there's maybe if you've been on, you know, especially like the treasure or something, right? Like you're like, yeah, some of the fixtures are maybe a little bit older and things like that, but I wouldn't walk on there and think, oh my God, this is a 30 year old ship. Yeah, like, you know, totally.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: No, I agree with you. I, I think it's impressive how good the magic and the wonder still look. And while there are there places where they show their age, I would say, you know, they're just so well kept up that it's, you know, it's kind of incredible that they're still running them and they haven't sold them down market or anything like that. So. Yeah, I love that. I love that. Well, where did you guys go when you first got on board? Did you, were there any sort of threads you had to take care of, like going to guest services or dining or anything like that? Or were you like, all right, it's
[00:20:49] Speaker B: time for lunch, it's time for lunch. Like that's our, that's kind of our go to is, you know, we usually get on, you know, around 11:30, 12:00 clock and we're like up to cabanas and then basically have lunch and then just kind of chill until our room is ready. It makes it very easy and usually because we can get on on the earlier side, we get there before cabanas gets really crazy.
So that's kind of nice too. So by the time we're heading down to kind of wait for the room, were skipping a lot of the big congestion.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, I, I like to go to sit down lunch. I've, we've said this on the podcast a whole bunch. I, I prefer it because it's a more relaxing way to start the vacation. On the other hand, no judgment on going to cabanas, especially if you've got an earlier boarding time because if you're boarding early enough before cabanas gets crazy, it, that can also be very pleasant, especially if you're really into the peel and Eat shrimp and the crab legs. And so because you can't get those at the lunch, they don't have them. It's a limited menu. And so if you want all of the things at the embarkation day. Lunch. Yeah. You have to go to cabanas. Now, at what point does your daughter just say, peace out, mom and dad, I'll see you never. Right. Or, I'll see you dinner?
[00:22:06] Speaker B: I mean, it's pretty much right after lunch.
I'm not even sure, like, the room is ready this time before, she was like, I'll see you in Vibe or I won't see you in Vibe, you know, so, yeah, she.
She likes to go check in, and I don't even know what she does. Like, she.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Well, they always have that, like, open house time, right. Where. Where you can, like, meet the counselors. Do your little, like, registration for the older kids is very different than for the kids, than the younger kids in the kids club or the kids in the. Or the babies in the nursery. But, like, there is still, like, a. Meet your counselors. And then they find out sort of like what the schedule looks like. Right. In terms of what the different activities. And of course, in both Vibe and Edge, it's a lot of like. Like free time, but they also do, like, scavenger hunts and, like, movies and, like, trivia and things like that. So, like, activities, if they want to do. Now, does your daughter, like, do you. Well, does she tell you. Does she do any of the activities or does she. Or is she just there, like, hanging out and meeting other teens or both?
[00:23:09] Speaker B: So she told me that she likes to do the Icebreakers. She said that's usually really fun. So she made a point to go to that.
[00:23:17] Speaker C: She.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: I know she's mentioned she's done karaoke before.
She'll play some of the games. It kind of depends what her. Like, she usually finds a group, and then it's kind of whatever that group is into, so she kind of just pals around with them. But she does do some of the activities, for sure. But she's definitely also not hanging out in Vibe, like, the whole time.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: Yeah, she's one of those roving packs of teens around the show.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: She is one of the roving packs of teens, which I'm like, I do not want to call from security.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: I know, exactly.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: If I had to call for security. It's all over for you.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: It's all over. Yeah. Yeah.
And this is one of the. This is the good and the bad of the independence that you can give your child On Disney Cruise Line, Whether they're a tween or a teen, you know, they don't check in and out like they do at the kids clubs. It's very free flowing. And that does result in groups of teens or groups of tweens. Usually more teens, less so are the tweens. But occasionally I'll see group of tweens, like running around the ship causing havoc.
And sometimes it's just completely innocent and they're just like gossiping and, I don't know, flirting with each other or whatever. Right. And then other times it can, it can turn into the. Some negative behaviors as well. So like, like if you have a teen and you're. They're a part of one of those roving packs of teens, just warn them, like, don't do anything that's going to get us kicked off Disney Cruise Line because you do not want to be banned off on the cruise. And if your teen does something really, really bad, like, it can happen. It can happen.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: So, like, make good choices, friends.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: Make good choices.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: You know, like.
Yeah, yeah. I think Kaylee knows that we have high expectations for her behavior. Um, I am also not naive enough to assume that she won't get into any trouble. And I. Not like, not her specifically, but just in a group, you know, if things happen, you know, I. The biggest problem that we've had with her maybe is just like some drama with the group. Right? Like somebody's being mean. Someone's like saying things and is not afraid to kind of like tell people that they're not being correct.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: You know, like she's gonna tell somebody off is what you're telling me.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, in like, kind of like a kind way, like she tries to help them, you know, like there was one instance where there was some drama and she was like, I kept trying to tell him, like, what he was doing wasn't like it was a problem. Like, this is why the girl wasn't liking it and he wasn't getting it. So finally I was just like, you know what? You have toxic masculinity. And you know, I was all right, I love her.
[00:26:07] Speaker A: Oh my God, this girl is gonna change the world. I love it.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: Yeah, she. Yeah, yeah, she.
This, she found a really nice group this cruise too. They seem very sweet. And when we get into like some of the activities, I have some kind of funny stories about them. But yeah, they, they, they were not the troublesome teens this time. So I was like, well, thank God.
Well, I was worried a little bit.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Well, sure. I mean, I think most of the time it's very.
I don't want to say vanilla, but it's very, like, wholesome. Right. Like, most of the time we're talking about kids who are, like, really into Disney. Even as teenagers, their families are really into Disney. So it usually does stay on the wholesome end of things. And the worst things that happen are sometimes a little bit of property getting damaged, things like that. Like that stems from sort of of innocent conduct that then just does something a little awry. Right. Being goofy and they knock something over. Right. Like, that's the. Yeah, that's like. Hopefully that's kind of the worst of it. But. All right, so she ditches you.
I want to talk. I want to jump right into talking about the ports, and then we'll jump back to talking about some onboard stuff and talking about those activities like you mentioned. But I want to hit the ports because I know you had Icy Street Point, which is different than on the Wonders itinerary. And I know, like, that's one we haven't talked to folks a lot about. So let's start with your ports. What was your first port of call and what did you guys do at that? Port of call?
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Yeah, so it went at sea, the glacier viewing. And then our first port was Skagway.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: All right, well, let's start with glacier viewing then, because I always forget because Glacier day is kind of like a port day.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: It's NSC day, but it's kind of a special at sea day. Yeah, I love Glacier viewing day. Like, is so fun. It.
The things that I really like about the Alaska cruise is that they don't do on the other cruises. And I wish they would maybe like, include this a little bit more. Is so one thing is they have a naturalist that comes aboard, and she was a delight. Her name was Angie Taggart, and she was actually a third grade teacher in Ketchikan. So my teacher heart was like, yay, teacherness. And she talked about the animals and she talked about glaciers. So she had, like, little talks that you could go to. And then she also talked about, like, the Inside Passage, the different towns in her talks. And then she stations herself up on Deck 10 during the Glacier viewing so people can just come and ask her questions. She'll point things out to you. She's very personable.
We had the same experience the first time we went. The naturalist mom was also very personable and just available.
And the other cool thing about her is she actually did the Iditarod race.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: Holy cow.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: Yeah. And she completed It.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Wow, that's incredible.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: Yeah. So we went to her talk on that, which is, like, fascinating. And I was like, so she was just a really fun person, and like I said, very available. And then, you know, they pull out kind of all the stops. They have, like, a hot chocolate station set up, and you can just get hot chocolate and a warm cookie or you can get, like, a little Bailey's in it if you want. They have Koda, who is super cute, and he's just kind of around on Glacier Day. He's not even in the Navigator app.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: Yeah, they don't tell you when he's going to be out or what deck he's going to be on, but I think he makes appearances on Deck 10 and on Deck 4, depending upon the time. And the. On Glacier Day, on, like, Ketchikan Day, or at least I don't actually. Did you guys even go to Ketchikan? I can't remember.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: We did go to Ketchikan.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Catch a Can Day. I think he also pops up on Deck 4, but kind of in the middle of the day.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Yeah, it was.
I. We just kind of came off the elevator and we're like, oh, there's Koda.
So it was really cute. And his, like, he's a cute character, too. So even if you don't know brother bear or anything like that, he's just a very cute character. And he had kind of a cute interaction with Kayleigh where he, like, got her to, like, do his little walk. So we had this cute little video of her doing the little walk with him. And then the other neat thing is the characters also go up onto deck, onto the deck, and they have, like, kind of their own special Glacier Day outfits.
And so then you get a picture of them with the, like, glacier area in the background, which is, like, so pretty.
And. Yeah, like, they just do a lot of really neat stuff for it and make it kind of a special day.
[00:31:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Now, did you guys wait in the lines to do the character photos? I mean, that is, like, it can take up, like, a big chunk of the day if you want to get every character. Because, as you mentioned, special Alaska outfits. In fact, Goofy has a special outfit for Glacier Day that is his, like, ski outfit, and then he has his lumberjack outfit that he'll be wearing other times on the ship. So Goofy has two Alaska outfits. Everybody else has just one Alaska outfit. Did you guys want to, like, wait and get those character photos? I'm guessing you had gotten some previously, but that's many years we did.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Yeah. We. So we have this thing called mandatory family time where we make Kayla hang out with us.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: I'm sorry to laugh, but I love that. Mandatory family family time.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: We're like, it's mandatory family time. Come meet us at this time. So we said. I was like, for the glacier, I'd really like you to, like, hang out once we get to the glacier, you know, because they get. Basically, it's very, very pretty getting into the passage, and then they get to the glacier, and then they do this really slow rotation. Right. And I was like, I'd love you to come hang out for a couple hours with us while we look at the glacier. So I didn't monopolize her whole day, but she wasn't super into the idea. Like, she's likes meeting the characters, but she doesn't always love waiting in line to meet them. So the only one that I really asked her to wait in line for was Chip and Dale, because that's her favorite, and that's the only one that we hadn't met up on board. So I was like, well, if we're gonna do any character, let's do Chip and Dale. What's kind of funny, though, is Chip and Dale didn't have any costumes. They were just.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: Yeah, they don't have an Alaska. Like, they don't have, like. So, like, at least Pluto has a special collar. I mean, it's actually.
It's a. I would say even Pluto's is a bit disappointing, only because you can't see it unless he poses in the right way. Right. So, like, I got a great video of him showing off his collar on board our Alaska cruise last year, because I was like, the pictures don't capture it really well. But, yeah, Chip and Dale don't have. But I don't know. I mean, they could have given them, like, hats or something or, like, ear muffs or.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Yeah, so it was kind of interesting because when we were on our first one, they actually did have. They had the Haida, the hat, and the, like, the cape.
I didn't really clock them other times, so I don't know if they were wearing that another time, and maybe they just didn't want to bring it up on board or if they got rid of that or.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: They haven't had that in years. Shannon, now. So I've seen old pictures of the. So I. We. We only sailed Alaska once, and that was last year. But I have seen old pictures. And, yes, Chip and Dale had those outfits. I don't know when they transitioned off of them, but they did at some point, and they never have. They have. Not.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Not.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: I'd say it's probably post Covid times that they haven't brought them back, but I'm not sure. I. I can't be exact 100 on that, but that would be my guess. I can't. I can't remember seeing the pictures of them in those outfits. Post Covid times. Yeah.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So it was kind of funny because they're just like little Nick of Chipmunks up on the board and they're never naked any other time. So it's kind of funny like, you know the one.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: The one pro tip I will give about if your kid has a device like an iPhone, where you can message them while they're on the ship and if they happen to be responsive to text messages while they're on the ship. Because those are two different things. Having the device and being responsive, two different things.
My pro tip is if you really want them to show up for pictures, you go and wait in the line. And when you're like five families or 10 families back, depending upon how fast it's moving, I understand now they're moving really, really fast because they're letting people take, like, one picture and that's it with. With the set, with the characters. And you can't do, like, multiple combinations of your family. It's like a family picture. Not, like picture of Kayleigh with the characters and then picture of Kayleigh Shannon and your husband with it. Right. Like, it's one family picture or one individual picture. That's it.
Not both. But I will say, if you do that and get your kids to come up, that's like, the only way I can get Nathan to do pictures most of the time is I get in line and then I, like, text him when I'm getting close that I'm, like, five minutes away from getting the picture.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So 100%. That is. That is the way. That's basically how we do everything. We're like, okay, meet us here.
I need you for five minutes.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: I need you for five minutes. And then you could go back. Exactly. Now you can go back to Vibe for your. For your daughter, Edge, for. For. For Nathan. I love that.
[00:35:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:41] Speaker A: All right.
[00:35:41] Speaker B: So it was funny. Oh, sorry. It was funny this time, too, because she had mentioned, you know, they were kind of joking at dinner one time, and they're like, oh, you know, hope you didn't mind us coming along. And she's like, are you kidding? It's been great. They've been bothering Me so much less this trip.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: That's so. That's a great point. Like, so Kaylee didn't mind that the other families that you were with. With, they didn't have any kids or teens with them. Right. Like, it was fine. Yeah. And in, in fact, she actually appreciated because it was. It kept you and your husband and your mom.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Yes. Entertained.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: Entertained.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: Yep. Yep. She's like, oh, they have friends, so now I don't have to, like, entertain them. Yeah.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: Oh, my God. I actually love that. It's like, it's like instead of bringing a friend for your kid, you're bringing a friends for your parents. Right. Like kids.
Yeah.
[00:36:31] Speaker B: I'm like, this is how we're doing things now. Like, I get friends and then you go off and then I don't have, like, I, you know, I'm not missing. I'm not missing you as much because I'm. I'm busy. I got things to do.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Right. Well, it's wonderful because everybody's having the vacation that they want then. Right? Everybody's have. Everybody's enjoying their vacation. And I, like, Brian and I are firm believers in. As much as we want to spend time together as a family on vacations, we also understand that it. It's Nathan's vacation. It's also our only vacation.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: Right.
[00:37:03] Speaker A: Like, and we each need our, like, time that is enjoyable for each of us individually. And sometimes that is different.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: And we're.
[00:37:12] Speaker B: We tend to kind of be like that as a family anyways, where, you know, like, I have no problem going off and doing my own things. Same with my husband, same with my kid. You know, we enjoy spending time together, but we don't. We don't feel that pressure to, like, like, always be together. And, you know, it's a vacation, so we have to do everything, you know, together. Like, so I think that that really helps. Yeah.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: Healthy balance.
[00:37:39] Speaker B: Healthy balance. And also just, you know, like, sometimes I would get a little sad if she didn't want to, like, spend time with me, you know, because she's my only kid too. Right. And she is. She's going to be a junior next year. So I'm starting to feel that, like, oh, my God. But, you know, like, this time worked out really nice. And because I wasn't bugging her as much then, she was a little more, like, present.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. That's.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: Yeah. A little more present when she did come and, you know, like, when we did things together, she was more present for us because she wasn't getting liked. Poked at all the time. So, yeah, so it worked. It worked out really well.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: I love that. All right, well, let's talk your first actual port of call, Skagway. What'd you guys do in Skagway?
[00:38:22] Speaker B: So we ended up doing two excursions in Skagway.
So the first one we booked through Disney, which was the Yukon White whale or right past rail.
And Brian's dad, Keith, really likes trains, and so this was, like, a big thing for, like, he really. This was like, his thing that he really wants to do. And we didn't do it last time because I wasn't sure Kaylee could handle sitting on a train for a few hours.
Hello, adhd.
But this time I knew she could. So it was really cool. It was very pretty. You don't get off, so you just have to kind of know that, like, you go up, you turn around, you come back. But it's also. There's some really beautiful scenes and there's. You go over some, like, wooden trestles, which is interesting. And so I. I recommend it. I don't know if I recommend it for the price, unless you really like trains.
So, you know, take that what you will, but, you know, it was a check for us where we're like, yeah, let say we did it. We also like train rides, you know, so it's similar. I would say if anybody's ever been to, like, Pikes Peak in Colorado, it's similar to that.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: And there's a few different options through Disney Cruise Line, too. For the White Pass Railway, you can do the one that you did, which is like a round trip where you don't get off and then you. There's a couple different ones where you can do one that is a.
Like a hike and then you come back on the railway. Or there's a.
Or like we did.
You went there on the railway, but then you came back by bus and you went to do gold panning in Liarsville. So, like, yeah, so there are a couple different options that. That, like, involve the White Pass railway. I think it's a great. I think some version of the White Pass railway is a great thing to do. In all in Skagway, I don't think you have to do it multiple times unless you're a train aficionado, as you mentioned. But I do think it's a. A cool. A cool one to do. What was the other excursion you guys ended up doing?
[00:40:24] Speaker B: We didn't really realize this when we had put these two together, but the other one we did was puppy Playtime. You know, sled dogs gotta love it. And. But what we didn't quite realize is we get back to Skagway, and then we get on a van, and then we go. Go back up to the Yukon. So we basically went back and forth, which was like, it was fine for me. Kaylee, by the end of. It was kind of like, that was a lot of car time. And I was like, I get you, girl. And this one. So this was through Skateway Tours. Our tour guide really, really made the trip. His name was Trey, and he was, I don't know, maybe in his 20s. And he was hilarious. Like, he just had a great sense of humor. He told the story of gold mining, the Gold Rush in kind of a unique way where he kind of made up this character to kind of give, like, an experience of how someone might experience things. And it was actually, like, very engaging. And I was like, my little teacher brain was like, excellent.
[00:41:29] Speaker A: This is how I'm going to teach about the gold Rush. Yeah.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: I was like, all right. And.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: And.
[00:41:33] Speaker B: But it was so funny about. It was like, because he's, like, telling the story, but we kind of make little stops, you know, and by the end, he's like, I'm gonna put some music on. And everybody's like, but what about Joe? What happened to Joe?
So people got really invested in Joe, this fictional gold panner.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: So that was like, did. Did Joe live? Did he die of, like, diphtheria or something?
[00:41:57] Speaker B: He made it. He made it back home, but he lost all of his money. Wife left him. Like, he wasn't happy.
[00:42:03] Speaker A: So it was like a country song is what you're saying.
[00:42:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it was pretty much a country song. It's like, it was very much a cautionary tale that maybe don't put all your money into it and go gold panning. Like, probably not gonna work out.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: If you're listening to us right now, chances are pretty good that you love Disney vacations as much as. As we do. But even seasoned travelers know there's a ton to keep up with when it comes to Disney Cruise Line. From cruise itineraries to the perfect stateroom for your family, shore excursions, and onboard experiences. And if you're planning to visit the Disney parks before or after your cruise, then there's even more to plan. From the perfect resort to lightning lane strategies, dining reservations, park tickets, special offers, and much, much more.
[00:42:47] Speaker C: That's where wedotravelright comes in. Their team of experienced trainers, travel advisors, specializes in Disney Cruise Line, Disney parks, and other exciting places all around the world. They take the time to understand what matters most to your family, Providing personalized recommendations and helping you navigate all the details so you can spend less time stressing and more time looking forward to your vacation. Whether it's your first Disney Cruise or your 10th, having an expert in your corner can make all the difference.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: Life is short. Take the trip. Visit wedotravel right.com.com DCLDUO to connect with a travel advisor and start planning your next unforgettable adventure.
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[00:43:29] Speaker B: I love it. And then we went up to. So the sled dog farm is called Tashi's or Tashi's, something similar to that. And Michelle Williams is the one that owns it, and she's Inditarod champion. I believe I. I believe she's won a few times.
And you can take the sled dog, like, have the sled dogs pull you in a utv.
We didn't end up doing that. We just wanted to play with puppies. But they do kind of a cool thing. So they raise actual sled dogs. And so they had little puppies that were like four weeks old that we got to snuggle. But they also, to help socialize, they'll take. Take litters of puppies that need to be adopted and they'll bring them to the facility. And those are dogs you get to hang out with, actually, mostly, which some people might be a little disappointed by. So I think, you know, knowing that, like, some of these dogs that you're playing with aren't actually sled dogs. But. But what I. But from my perspective, what I thought was cool is they're bringing these dogs, socializing them and helping them get adopted. And these are dogs that probably aren't high on the list for adoption anyways. They're like German shepherd mixes.
Super sweet, cute dogs. But I think that's like, I like that they give back in that way.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Did you get a sense from them as to why those dogs weren't becoming sled dogs? Were they the just like, the wrong breed or were they just like ones who weren't fast enough or something like that?
[00:45:04] Speaker B: That. Yeah. So they were definitely like, not the breed for sled dogs. So one thing that I actually learned from Angela Tager, Angie Tager, when she was doing. She's like, most people think of like the Siberian husky. And they're like, she's like, that's not actually the dogs that get bred for this. They're like 40 different breeds that have gone into these Sled dogs and they have like greyhound in them. They have hunting dog in them. So they have that drive, you know, so they're like.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: Yeah, they're usually like a mutt, actually.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: They're, yeah, they're totally mutt pets. They look like a really slim version of like an Akita almost, but she's like, they're, they're highly specialized. So it's not just like any dog off the street kind of thing. Which having learned that after we visited, I was like, oh, like, you kind of get it. So the little puppies that we snuggled are. Are going to be trained to be sled dogs. So though they're that sled dog breed, whereas the other puppies we had were like goofy little like shepherd mixes, you know?
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. Well, I mean, listen, I love a good dog rescue visit regardless of whether they're sled dogs or not. But it's, it's cool to see that, like a facility where they're raising the sled dogs too. I'm curious now, I know you guys didn't get pulled on the, the sled dog sleds, but I'm imagining that we're talking about like a dirt track. We're not talking about anything in the snow. Yeah, Okay. I just want people, I just want our listeners to know. So this is, this is like one of the options if you want to go see.
You can see actual sled dogs. You can see puppies who are being bred to be, you know, are sort of going to grow into being sled dogs. But you're not going to be on the snow because there's no snow in this part of, you know, unless you're up on a glacier, there's not going to be snow, so.
[00:46:53] Speaker B: Right, right. Yeah. Eventually, one of these days I will, I will have a sled dog pull me, but I would love for it to be in snow because that looked really scary and fun.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: It's wonderful.
But a lot of people don't do those excursions for a couple of reasons. One, of course, they're very expensive because you're taking a helicopter up to the glacier.
And two, they just get canceled quite a bit for weather. Right. The weather has to be just right for those helicopters to fly and land on the glaciers. And so.
Yeah, so that's definitely. And then of course, they're just, just like I said, they're kind of, they're expensive excursions as well.
But I know a lot of people just who are afraid to go up in a helicopter and no judgment, I, I Absolutely get that. They. They. It's a little scary. I'm gonna. I'll admit. I was. I was. I mean, I. I loved it, but I was scared myself. All right, well, okay, so that sounds like a long day.
[00:47:48] Speaker B: It was a long day. We had a long port time. We didn't have to be back on the ship until, gosh, like, 6 or something. We were there from like 7 to 6, 7am to 6.
[00:47:59] Speaker A: Now I'm gonna ask this question. I'm guessing I know the answer to it, but early dining or late dining?
[00:48:05] Speaker B: Late dining. Always late dining. Yeah.
[00:48:08] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, you have an older kid anyway, but also in Alaska, that's really the answer. I know that, like, there are people who are early dining devotees. I get it. If. If that's what you need to do, especially if you have young kids who late dining is too late for. But in Alaska, you're days are long and you might not even be back on the ship in time for early dinner.
This is one. This is one place where, you know, missing the shows might happen because you're still at port.
All right, well, what was your second port day?
[00:48:39] Speaker B: Our second port port day then was Icy street, which was so I. I really wasn't sure what to expect. It's actually kind of a cool little setup. So it's. It's a. A port that was just built for cruise ships.
So there's. And it. And it's owned by the. Or I don't know owned, if the. If that's the right word. But it's like, ran by the native community. You can. They have. They have shops there. They have. Where all the excursion people meet.
They have like a gondola that goes up to. Either takes you to Hunan, which is about a mile down. That's the local community.
Or you can go up to like a viewpoint.
There's ziplining. We watched a show with some of the native kids, high schoolers and middle schoolers, did some dances for us and told the story of how Raven created the world.
And that was really cute. There's.
There's food. There's like. It's not a part that you would need to spend a ton of time in, but you could easily pass, like, a very relaxing afternoon there. There's a nice little boardwalk that if you like walking, you can walk along the beach all the way down to Hunan, which is about a mile and a half away. So a lot of people did that where they just kind of walk down. So, yeah, it was a delightful little community and very organized, clean. Yeah. It was cute. Like, I would totally go back.
[00:50:26] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. You know, I. I've heard mixed things about Icy Straight Point, and I think the reason you hear mixed things is because it was not. It's not like a Juno or Ketchikan or Skagway that existed because of the Gold rush, essentially. It is a town that was literally built because of cruises, and so that's why it's like.
But it's really nice know that it's mostly run by the native community nearby and that. And that they have excursions that will help immerse you in some of that culture. So that's really cool. I. I have heard that there's some excursion that involves coda at Icy Straight Point, but I have. Yeah, but I. I'll be honest to say I have not heard what it is. It's. It is a Disney Cruise Line booked excursion, of course, but I don't remember, like, what it actually is.
[00:51:13] Speaker B: So they had a lot of like, you know, like, crap feasts kind of things. And so maybe he shows up for something like that.
They had like a totem pole painting thing. But what was that Was even run by like, the high schoolers and middle schoolers.
[00:51:30] Speaker A: I will say I saw on Facebook the other day that somebody was essentially reviewing the. The totem pole painting. One who said it was horrible, who said it was literally a teenager just dropped off a bunch of like, little tiny totem poles and paint.
And. And it was like.
It was like over $100 a person. And it. Yeah. And it was just like, they didn't do any instruction. There was no teaching. So there's just a warning out there. If you are looking at the totem pole painting excursion in Icy Strait Point, don't. Don't do it. It's. It's not. It's not what. It is not what the description makes it out to be. And it is. It is one that is purchased through Disney Cruise Line. There are people who have given feedback on this excursion. And can you. Disney Cruise Line has not yet taken it off of its excursion list and it sells out because it sounds very good by the description, but it is literally a teenager takes you to some. A picnic table, drops off some mini totems and some paint or paint pens maybe, and then walks away.
[00:52:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what we saw. And I mean, even like the cultural dance that we saw, it was a little disorganized. It was run by teenagers and middle schoolers, and I work in middle school, so part of me is like, bless them you know, like. Like, they're doing the thing. They're doing the thing. Right. But they're also not professionals. And I do think that if Disney is providing an excursion, it does need to be professional, and especially at the price I'd see Straight point is not cheap. There were. There's, you know, a lot of things that are very expensive. I.
Part of me is like, if this is funneling money back into the local community and helping provide scholarships and things like that, cool. I. I'm okay paying a little bit extra. But some of the stuff was also just like, oh, wow. Like, the ziplining was, like, over $200. And I was like, I don't need a zipline that badly. So I do think I will be curious to see in a few years when they work out a few of those kinks, because I do think that they have, like, such a great opportunity there to make it a really good experience, and I just don't think that they're there yet. Right. So.
But I'm. I do think people do need to provide their feedback on that because it's also kind of not fair to, like, the teens, you know, that are trying to run this, and then people are getting frustrated with them because it's not what they expected.
And the teens are like, I'm not.
[00:54:11] Speaker A: Right. I mean, they're not the ones who. Who wrote the advertisement for it.
[00:54:14] Speaker C: Right.
[00:54:14] Speaker A: Like, and they're not the ones who set the price point for it, so. But I think the. The best tip I think that Shannon and I can both give you is do your research, look in the cruise groups on Facebook or go on to TripAdvisor or other, you know, Viator. They're similar websites. And whenever you're booking these excursions, like, just double check, like, what the reviews are, because sometimes the description and the cost doesn't match with the actual experiences. And. And it's okay if you want to book it anyway. Just book it with your eyes wide open so that you're not then disappointed later. Okay.
[00:54:51] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. What we ended up doing in Icy Strait is we booked a private excursion, and we did through Viator, which I've had good experiences with overall. And it was.
It was a crap feast, a Dungeness craft feast. And because I am a crab snob and I will pretty much only eat Dungeness crab.
[00:55:15] Speaker A: So
[00:55:18] Speaker B: Brian found it, and I asked him if what kind of crab it was, and he said, dungeness. And I was like, I'm in.
I will eat a whole crab to myself.
[00:55:25] Speaker A: I mean, this Is when you know you. This is, you know, how. You know, you live in the Seattle area, Right?
[00:55:33] Speaker B: Exactly.
You got opinions about crab. And it was. Is a guy and his wife who bought this home in Hunan, and this is, like, one of the ways that they make money. And he sets out his crab traps on, like, a line, and he reels them in, cooks them for you. She's from Thailand, and so she makes Thai fried rice and.
[00:55:54] Speaker A: Oh, my God, that sounds amazing.
[00:55:55] Speaker B: Oh, my God, it was so good. I think that sounds like a perfect
[00:55:59] Speaker A: combination, by the way. I've had. I've actually had, like, Dungeness crab fried rice. And like, that's. Oh.
[00:56:05] Speaker B: Oh, it was so good. And she made little dipping sauces that were kind of like a.
Rice vinegar.
Rice vinegar, Sweet and sour kind of sauce. Oh, my gosh. It was so good. We asked her what was in it, and she said, love.
[00:56:22] Speaker A: Like, can I take some of that home in a jar?
[00:56:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
But it was kind of. It was. It was very, very laid back. It was. You know, he took us. He explained kind of, you know, how he came to get the house, how they do the crabbing, like, took us down onto the beach, had, you know, shows bringing in the crab.
And then he took us in the van and took us to their garden and kind of talked about how they do gardening there and things like that. It was. It was like, kind of visiting your, like, next door neighbor really is kind of the vibe that it was. It was.
There was a fair amount of downtime, but it wasn't bad downtime. You know, it was just. It was very relaxing.
And, you know, we just all hung out and ate crab, and it was delicious. And, you know, and so it was.
And it wasn't overly expensive. I think it was, like, $80 a person. So, you know, it was. It was great. Like, I loved it. Kaylee doesn't eat crab, but she liked tied fried rice, so.
[00:57:26] Speaker A: Yeah, there we go.
[00:57:27] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:57:28] Speaker A: That sounds. Honestly, that. That sounds like a perfect excursion.
You know, walk around the town a little bit, do the excursion, go back. Love it. Yeah. Did you have one more port of call day?
[00:57:39] Speaker B: We did. We had Ketchikan. And so we had been to Skagway and Ketchikan before Ketchikan. We actually booked another private excursion. And when Brian had gone to Alaska before, he had gone on this tour with a woman named Rebecca, and she's Haida, and so she really gave him, like, a very cultural background from, like, an indigenous perspective. And he's like, I'd really like to do that again with her. I was like, I'm in. Like, that's what I wanted. We were supposed to go to Windy Cove, I think, but the dock wasn't finished yet, so we got switched over to Ketchikan. And so one thing that I was excited about at the other places it was was again, another native run place.
And my college degree is in anthropology with a minor in American Indian studies. So, like, this is like, yay. My little brain gets all excited about this. Yeah. I was like, yes, tell me everything.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, I love that this is your belly. I love it.
[00:58:48] Speaker B: So she, since we had nine of us, she ended up booking a private tour with us and gave us, like, a nice discount. And so it ended up being very affordable. It was like a hundred dollars per person, including tip. So she took us to Totem Bite State Park. And so she, but it was really neat is she explained the totem poles.
And, you know, she would say, like, sometimes you'll hear over here stories that aren't exactly true. And it's not really the tour guide's fault because they're just kind of of saying what they've been told. But she's like, but, you know, you can kind of trust me because this is actually my culture.
And so it was neat to be able to, like, talk to her about the different artwork and then, like, master carvers and things like that. And so that was really neat. And then she took us to a couple different spots. I'm not even really sure where they were, but this one was, like a little spot overlooking a river, and there were two juvenile eagles and a couple bears.
And one bear came in and actually, like, got a fish and then wandered off into it. So we got to see bears. So that was really cool. And then the other place was on this beach kind of looking out this bay, and we got to see some ravens. So that was fun. And so, yeah, it was just a really lovely excursion. And again, you know, getting to see, like, hearing the native voices, like witches were just important to me in general.
I'm very aware and cautious about that.
And so I felt really excited to be able to spend the afternoon with her. And she's actually going. She was leaving in a couple weeks to go to another state to earn her master's in, like, like law and Homeland Security. So she can, you know, know all the things about Homeland Security from an indigenous point of view. So, yeah, she's a really cool person.
[01:00:58] Speaker A: What an interesting person. I, I, well, and I, I, I'm I'm also kind of surprised you were able to see bears because the time of year you're talking like, early mid July, that's kind of like. I mean, you can see them. It's just more rare to see them out and about it because they aren't fattening themselves up quite yet until usually late August for hibernation. Of course, they still need to eat, but they're not like, they're not stuffing their faces like they do later. So it's harder, a little harder to find. That's so cool.
[01:01:32] Speaker B: And the salmon were late to spawn this year, too, so even less likely to see the bears in the rivers. Right? So, yeah, we saw them also in Skagway. We saw one kind of like off into the distance. So I was. I was surprised, but yeah, and we saw some whales off of the ship. It wasn't. We didn't see as much wildlife as we saw the first time we went. But it's there. It's. You know, you can definitely see it all around.
[01:02:00] Speaker A: So, yeah, I mean, it's random what you're going to see when. Right. You can't predict it. Of course, there are, you know, spots and times that are more likely than others, but nothing is a guarantee in Alaska. All right, well, sounds like amazing excursions, amazing port days.
Let's jump back on the ship. I want to talk about some of the activities you all got up to on the ship. We're not going to talk every activity you did, but what were some of. Yeah, what were. What were some of the favorites that you guys did, whether with your daughter or just the adults?
[01:02:36] Speaker B: Yeah, we all really like trivia, so we do a lot of trivia. We only won one diff competition this time. We were so close, so close on so many of them, but that's always a good time. And we also really like doing the, like, adult, like, game shows in the evening.
And this is just kind of my. I don't know, my plug for it, I guess, is, like, make a point to go every night if you can, or most nights, because what happens is you build on it and you get the same.
Right. You get the same people that come and you make, like, you know, when they, like, divide the room. Like, people tend to sit on the same side of the room and you have, like, you know, your.
Your group of people, and like, I don't know, people get weird, too, when there's competition. So that can be really interesting. And you get to know the host, the entertainment host, and, you know, they bring back jokes from the other day. And then they get to know you and so they'll, like, reference things. And it kind of builds this, like, really fun adult community.
And everybody by the end gets, like, so goofy. And like.
Like, my husband and I were, like, tangoing because we had a dance and he was doing this aggressive tango with me. And my husband's not one to get on the dance floor. Right. Like, and so it, like, it is hysterical. By the time. By the time you get off the ship, you're like, I have so many best friends, you know, like, everybody's best friends. And yeah, the 1820 crowd is usually pretty into them too. And so then a lot of times you get like the elder. The elders, you know, versus the 1820. And that's always kind of a fun thing. And yeah, that's just my plug. Like, I think, like, yeah, even if you are.
[01:04:31] Speaker A: So I was gonna say people. And people become sort of ship famous. And like, we. We talk about, like, we talk about Match youh Mate. And of course, the couples that participate in Match youh Mate become ship famous. But like, the person who gets chosen as, like, the team leader in one of the other adult games often also become or.
[01:04:48] Speaker B: Or.
[01:04:49] Speaker A: Or several people because of their participation in, like, that crazy scavenger hunt game or what, you know, like, those people, like, kind of become like the ship's personalities, even though they're other guests. But you're right, also, the hosts do too. And then it gets incorporated. Like, now I will say we get tired and we do not go to every adult activity. But, like, I try to go to some of them, and, like, I know when I miss one because then they're talking about something. I have no idea what they're talking about. And they're joking about whatever happened the night before that I wasn't at. Yeah, but I totally get what you're saying. And it does become a really fun community. On the other hand, the hard part about that is if you show up, let's say night four, and you didn't come to night one, two, or three, you may come in and be a little bit confused. Don't worry. People. You can ask. People will fill you in. Yeah.
[01:05:39] Speaker B: And you know, and I think too, like, I find that space very inclusive. Like, people want to have a good time with you, and you can participate as much as you want. Like, I don't. You know, I know some people. I'm not usually one to, like, throw myself on the. On the.
In front of everybody, but it's. It's very inviting. Like, I think like, you know, it's. No one's going to harass you for not participating if you don't want to. But you know, if you do participate, everybody's gonna be excited that you did. Like, it's. I just find it very positive. And we don't always have sometimes really positive adult interaction spaces in our lives. And I think that that is one thing. Like, even if I'm tired, I will try to make that first game show just because that's just not a space that we get to be in all the time. And so that's just my plug. I just think that, you know, that's always.
It's a fun time and it's goofy and weird and people's personalities really come out. Yeah, no.
[01:06:43] Speaker A: Did you also have Piano Party on board, the Dueling Piano?
[01:06:47] Speaker B: We did. So I got really tired one night and I didn't go to it.
They did it twice. My husband went the second time and he said it was really fun.
And Brian and Debbie also really liked it. And so I got good reviews from people. So they said that that was excellent and that people should make a point to go to that. That they did a really amazing job.
[01:07:09] Speaker A: That was my experience as well. I love a dueling piano in general. I love dueling pianos in general.
And I just thought that now you're gonna have different piano players. Cause they rotate whoever they have on board. But it's a company called Piano Party through from Orlando that they contract with or at least they have over the last couple of years. I don't know if that's. I don't know how long that partnership has been going, but really fantastic entertainers on board. What were some of the family activities that you guys got up to?
[01:07:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, so this is another thing that I love that Disney is starting to do more and more and more.
And this was kind of the funny thing that I was telling you about. So they have started to have their Broadway star series. And so this was our second cruise that had Broadway stars on it. And they had three of them actually. So they had one Maria Coyne, who was actually like the guest artist. And so she was in the shows. And then she did like a 45 minute song singing show on our last sea day, kind of in the middle of the day.
She was delightful, Loved her. And then they had like their Broadway stars.
And so they did a family show and then like an evening entertainment family show. They did adult only Q and A. And then they did an adult only show and it was Diana, Huey, And Colm Francis.
Okay, so my daughter is a big Broadway fan, and. And she made best friends with them. Her and her group became, like, besties with them. Like, they follow each other on Instagram now. It is so cute. And we found out that Diana Huey originated. She was the first person of color to play Ariel, and she on the national tour.
And she was the one that we saw at the Fifth Avenue Theater when Kaylee. Back in, like, 2016, when Kaylee was, like, six.
[01:09:18] Speaker A: Oh, my God. How cool is that?
[01:09:21] Speaker B: So Kaylee's like, oh, my gosh, we saw you. You know, like, she lived in Seattle for a really long time. And, you know, they were both in Miss Saigon. And Kaylee loves Miss Saigon. Like, she is obsessed. So the funny thing is, you know, when they do the 18 plus, if it's, like, trivia, they're not, as, you know, strict about it, but when it's the evening entertainment, it is strict. And so they were trying to convince the entertainment staff to let them in.
And we have this hilarious photo of Kaylee standing by the 18 only sign, looking so sad that she couldn't come in.
And so they actually hung out in the hallway to listen, and they had to call down, like, the assistant cruise director, David, who knew them, like, he had met them a couple times, and he's like, yeah, they can listen in the hallway. But what was so cute about it is both Diana and Callum like, shouted them out, like, from the stage in Phantoms. And they're like, so it was just, like, it was so sweet. And they're.
Yeah, they were just really, really kind. And, you know, you'd see them around the ship and they would say hi to you, and it was, like, such a. A cool experience. Like, I'm like, I want them on, like, every ship. Like, that was, like, highlight for us was just getting to listen to them and their experiences, and they were amazing singers.
[01:10:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that. That partnership. So that's tenth and Main Productions. It's Susan Egan, and I'm gonna forget his name. I want to say it's Jonathan Levy, but I might be wrong on that. Maybe it's Adam. I don't remember his name. But basically, they own this production company and that they're the ones who, like, contract. Of course. Susan Egan, of course. Disney legend, godmother of the Destiny. Like, all the Disney connections. Of course. She was original Belle on Broadway. She was the Megara's voice in Hercules Animated. Right. Like, so she has all the Disney connections, but she's the. It's her company. 10th and Main that brings on these Broadway stars series where the two performers come on for. Usually they come on for like two sailings in a row, I want to say. So they sort of straddle two sailings, but usually, you know, week long sailings. So Alaska is a perfect example. But even some of the, some of the, the Caribbean sailings as well. But yeah, it's the phenomenal, phenomenal partnership. And of course, as you mentioned, there's. Oh, there's not all the time, but most of the time on the Disney ships there is a Broadway visiting artist who is a part of the cast, the main stage cast. Now they don't do all of the other duties that the main stage cast does, like deck parties and character meet and greets and all of that. But they are usually a main character. And on the magic entangled, it's Mother Gothel.
[01:12:24] Speaker B: Which is Mother Gothel. Yeah, yeah.
[01:12:25] Speaker A: Which is fabulous. And then they're also in Twice Charm. They also play the stepmother, whatever her name is. I am forgetting her name. But off the top, that's it. Lady Tremaine. Yes, there's Lady Tremaine and Mother Gothel in those two shows which, you know, in the, in the Twice Charmed. So it's. Yeah, fabulous. In other, on other ships they're different characters, of course, but having like those Broadway artists, they don't always do that, that talk, the, the one that you're.
It just depends on the sailing. I have found more recently they haven't been doing, I don't know, the sailings we were on. It seems like they haven't done a lot of those, those showcases for the Broadway visiting artists. But I love when they do because that Q A or song showcase or sometimes it's a combination of those two.
They're so fabulous. I, I always appreciate hearing, you know, the, the story of somebody's career and how they got to where they are
[01:13:28] Speaker B: and, and it was really cool. Yeah.
So the family one that they do in the theater was all Disney songs, which makes sense. And then the adult singing one that they did was all Broadway songs which, you know, that's why Kaylee's like, ah,
[01:13:49] Speaker A: I don't blame her. I don't blame her.
[01:13:51] Speaker B: I would be annoyed too.
And I kind of wish that Disney, I kind of wish that Disney had maybe like, like 15 plus events because there are a lot of like I, I get the 18 plus adult only spaces, but there's a lot of things that they make 18 plus. And I know why they do it, you know, but I'm like, but so many kids, so many teens are really in a Broadway, and it's like they're kind of missing out on. Like, so I. I almost wish that they had something that the, you know, they did a Broadway. Broadway thing for the teens, like, in Vibe or whatever or a meet and greet or something so that they could, like, meet them. But literally they would, like, see them around the ship, like, all the time and talk to them. And it, like I said, it was quite hilarious, but it was. And it was different. Like, the. The setup was different than when we were on the Treasure. Like, who was doing the Q and A.
They just happened to be some of the most personable people, and they obviously really enjoyed each other because they would, like, joke around with each other. And so that was really fun. And it was also really neat to see them. They were at most events, too. Like, they were. They. We would see them, like, watching the shows in the theater. They were, like, pretty good friends with the magician. I saw that, you know, Angie Taggart, the naturalist, hanging out with them.
They'd hang out with the dueling piano people. Like, we passed them at Icy Street. They were all eating crab together, you know, like. Like, so it was really cool. Like, it. It seemed like they. And. And they were, like, really friendly with the cruise directors, who also are big Broadway fans. So they were geeking out a little bit, which was hilarious. So it was. It was like, a huge highlight for us. And I hope they continue doing that because it adds. Just adds, like, kind of a neat extra that you kind of have to seek out. It's not shoved in your face at all, but it does allow you to, like, listen to some amazing people and then also just get to know them on kind of like a human level, which is really neat. It's kind of. It's kind of like stage dory. That's what it kind of feels like. It kind of like, feels like you're at the stage door, you know?
[01:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and it's such, like, a uniquely Disney thing to do because if you think about it, if you go on any other cruise line in general, you will. Usually they'll have some kind of theater production. Right.
But often not as good unless it's one of those actual Broadway shows on Royal that they've put on. And even those are a bit hit and miss depending upon if you get stuck with cats.
But, yeah, I mean, you can.
I'm going to be completely transparent about how I feel about cats. It's terrible. Trash.
Yeah, don't go. Don't do not do. I hear wonderful things about Jellicoe Ball, which I now hear is closing. But it's. I've heard. Yeah, I heard it's what I've heard. It's wonderful and I believe it because the music. It's not the music. It's the storyline of Cats and the Cats that is the weird part of Cats. But I do think it's. It's just like, you know, you pay more for Disney and you're paying for service entertainment characters. Right. And so the addition of the Broadway stars series and those experiences for fits so well with the Disney brand, even. So even though it's sort of an extension of their brand because those folks are not Disney employees, it just ties in really well. And as you mentioned, in the main stage show, they're doing Disney songs. In the adult only show, they're doing Broadway stuff. Right. And that is outside. Well, of course, there are ones that are in the Venn diagram across both Disney and Broadway, of course, but there's a lot of Broadway that, that fits outside of the Disney bubble. But I. I just think so nicely. It's a perfect partnership. And it does help as that differentiator as to, like, why I'm going on Disney Cruise Line instead of going on a Royal or Carnival, celebrity, Princess Holland, whatever, what have you. So, yeah, well, Shannon, as we round out the show here, we have. I did rapid fire with you last time, so I'm not going to do rapid fire with you again this time. But I want to ask, like, was there anything we've missed? Anything sort of either unique, good, bad, different, that you wanted to make sure folks knew about, especially when sailing Alaska on the Magic?
[01:18:30] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a really good question. I say make Alaska happen. I think out of, you know, the nine cruises we've been on, this probably had some of the most grateful people. I think the people that go on Alaska cruises, I feel like, are people that, that want to experience nature and something different.
And, you know, there's all these little extra touches that you don't get on your Caribbean.
Although I really hope that they start doing more of it because it's awesome. And, you know, everywhere I turn, people were just like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh my God. Wow, look at that. You know, like everybody's sharing their bear videos with each other. And I think especially being on the smaller ship, I feel like, you know, you do run into a lot of the same people and so you kind of become your own little floating community, which I think is really cool.
And so, you know, I'm sure other cruise lines also do amazing things in Alaska. Like, I think Alaska, like, I feel like you can't really go wrong in Alaska.
But if you are at all interested in the Disney aspect, I think Alaska is, is a worthwhile itinerary to look into, especially now that they have the two ships going up there like that. Just, I think that did help level out the pricing and I think, you know, it just gives you more opportunities of different things. And so, and it was very easy. And the only other thing, I'll say the only bummer that we had on this whole trip and you'll just appreciate this, we had a 40 minute wait at the border coming back in, which wasn't a huge deal, but then we got pulled for secondary inspection.
I have crossed the border over a hundred times in my life.
I have never been pulled for secondary inspection before.
And we waited two and a half hours for them to inspect our car.
[01:20:44] Speaker A: Okay, well, this is that lesson I've told people, remember, like, build in extra time at the border. We've said this a bunch of times. It's rare, but it can happen even for somebody who lives in Washington. So you have a Washington driver's license. You never know.
[01:20:59] Speaker B: Oh my God. So I'm glad that happened to us on the way home.
[01:21:01] Speaker A: All the way home.
[01:21:03] Speaker B: Not going there, but just like, I mean, going into Canada, I'm sure probably wouldn't have been two and a half hours. I don't. There's a lot of people being pulled over for secondary inspection. I'm not exactly sure what was going on, but.
But yeah, so that was, that was the only damper. Glad it happened at the end. But otherwise it was a super successful trip. Trip we're looking forward to.
We're going on the Destiny in February.
So I've been catching up on all your Destiny talks. So I'm excited for that. And then we are going on the Wish in Europe this summer or next summer.
Yeah, we're doing the one that leaves the. The one way out of Barcelona that goes to Vigo, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and then ends in Southampton.
So I'm really excited about that one. And I think our friends Brian and Debbie and possibly Mike and Brian are also going to book on that one because they're like, sign us up for another.
[01:22:01] Speaker A: Oh, I love that cruise. Friends are the best friends. We're bad influences on each other, but it's so much fun. It's so much fun to sail with friends. Shannon, thank you so much for joining me today. It's been a pleasure catching up with you, hearing about this amazing Alaska, Alaska cruise and of course hearing what's next for you.
You'll be, you have to come back, of course. I'd love to, you know, hear what you have to think about the destiny. But even more importantly, love to hear about the wish in Europe as well. So with that I'll just say thank you.
Yeah, just say thanks so much for joining me.
[01:22:38] Speaker B: Thank you.
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[01:25:16] Speaker A: Sam.
