All Is Lost

The theme for the day was "Lost".

We farewelled the Wonder with great sadness not knowing if or when we'd go on another Disney cruise. For the first time in forever, we did not rebook onboard! The disembarkation process was smooth and easy. We picked up our rental Dodge Caravan and it was with great relief that all our suitcases fit in the boot...with space to spare! The picturesque route to Whistler made the journey seem quick. It was only when we got there did we realise that Grandpa had accidentally picked up the wrong bag and left their bag back at the port!

We rang the port authority and finally got through to a Disney agent. We were told that they would look for it and contact us again sometime today. There was not much more that we could do so we walked to the village for lunch. Boy was it hot! We bought groceries to last us for the next two days. One thing that we noticed was that there were Australians working everywhere! This would explain the vegemite scrolls in the grocery store.

Nana decided to walk back to the hotel to keep Grandpa company. Grandpa was horrified when we returned without Nana. It turned out that she somehow managed to get lost walking the short distance to the hotel and had circled round the whole village!

Loading up our Dodge Caravan at the port

Aava Hotel, our base at Whistler

After being couped up in cabin we didn't know what to do with all this space...A living room...

A kitchen and dining area...

2 huge King bedrooms...

Whistler Village

The hotel offered free bicycles for use and so Malcolm convinced the family to go cycling through the trails around the Whistler area. A ride to Lost Lakes should only take 40 minutes...the man said. We ended up cycling for nearly 3 hours!!! Lost at Lost Lakes...As beautiful as the scenery was with lakes, rivers, mountains, and woodpeckers, it was a struggle to motivate Jonah (and myself) to push through to reach the hotel! Fortunately we had the use of a complimentary Gopro to document our extended adventures.

When we returned to the hotel nearly dead, we discovered that Grandpa had received word from Disney. They had found Grandpa's bag. Unfortunately, as per protocol, the bag had to go back on the Wonder and is going around Alaska for another week! It will then travel to Florida before being shipped home to Sydney! In the meantime, a Disney rep will be at the airport to meet up with Nana and Grandpa to pick up the bag that wasn't theirs and return it to its rightful owner. Fortunately Disney will be doing this all for free! Thank you Disney! Your customer service is indeed second to none.

With everyone either exhausted mentally or physically, no one was in the mood for a long dinner. So pizza it was before heading home to sleep.

Bikes ready

Gopro ready. Little did we know what was ahead of us...

Woodpecker!

One of the exhausted children

A gigantic pizza to share!

Tired but still smiling!

Last Sea Day

It was always going to be a little depressing being our last full day on the ship. However, we had a full day ahead of us and we were determined to enjoy it. Caloric intake was not taken into consideration as we gorged ourselves during breakfast at Triton's. From there it was down to the business of artful packing of purchased merchandise! The children were ecstatic to roam free at the kids club as the adults partook in brunch at Palo's. It appeared that the earlier breakfast did not hinder the second round of gluttonous food consumption. The food was as good as we remembered it, made all the more special with dolphin and whale sightings.

The highlight of our day would be the purchase of Disney Vacation Club membership! We were super excited to own points for our home resort of The Polynesian.

We headed to our last served dinner before watching Tomorrowland. The movie had such a promising start but unfortunately failed to deliver with its ending. Highlight of the evening had to be the little girl who told Elliot in front of us "You're really cute"!

Last thoughts - food was surprising really good! Portions were a little smaller which suited us perfectly as we were not then stuffing ourselves. Quality of ingredients and actual flavour were noticeably better than our previous Disney cruise on the Fantasy. We were worried that the children were growing out of Disney. Much to our pleasure, it appeared that Elliot enjoyed the cruise the most. The tween areas were well supervised with a great range of activities that suited most children.

Ketchikan

Today was the day to celebrate my spa credit win! We were not arriving at Ketchikan, our last port of call on the cruise, until 11am and so a 90 minute stone massage was in order. Bliss...to have the neck and shoulder tension massaged away.

The ship pulled into the pretty fishing village right on time. We were warned that Ketchikan has a high amount of yearly rainfall, more than Scotland...but we needn't have worried. The weather was magnificent with most of us ending up feeling hot!

Ketchikan has the world's largest collection of standing Totem Poles. We visited one of the major location, Saxman Totem Park, independently. The taxi driver kindly pointed out a bald eagle's nest on the way and we saw many more during the day!

We moved on to explore the historic district of Creek Street, an area with antique boardwalks built over Ketchikan Creek. Unfortunately, we were not there at the right time to view the salmon run much to the disappointment of some. A quick walk through the town and we were back on to the ship.

Dinner was a feast of Alaskan King crab! I have to comment that the food on the ship has been very good. It was much improved than when we were last on the Fantasy. Unfortunately Jonah was feeling unwell, and so he and I skipped comedy show and went to bed instead.

The gorgeous fishing town of Ketchikan

Oh look...there's a cruise ship parked at the end of the road

Saxman

The Totem Village

Rainforest right off the carpark

Bald headed eagles everywhere

More freebies! This time 20 minutes in the arcade

And the children were off!

Jonah enjoying the Alaskan king crab legs

Juneau

Our port of call today is Juneau, the largest state capital in the USA and the only one (other than Hawaii) not connected by road. The weather was not on our side today. We werevgreeted by rain flying sideways courtesy of the wind. The top of Mt Robert's could not be seen because of the clouds and fog. Our Paddle board guide was unfortunately snowed in and could not make it for our tour. We were secretly happy....Instead we walked around the town and sampled some of the famous Alaskan crab at Tracy's Crab Shack. It was SO good!

We returned to the ship where I had a nap as I was not feeling particularly well. Upon our return to our cabin, we discovered that each child had received a toy from reception (a different ghost each from the Haunted Mansion). We were not quite sure why and racked our brains to remember if we had complained about anything...

It was a relaxing end to the evening with the family enjoying Toy Story the musical.

Juneau

We're ready for the cold and the wet...

Taking advantage of the very short shuttle ride downtown

The famous Tracy's crab shack

Our sampler meal. Crab legs, crab patties served with the most amazing sauce (so much so that we bought a bottle!) and crab bisque

Our freebies

Ready for semiformal night

Menu in 3D

Lobster for dinner. Mmmm...

The rings!

Skagway

Skagway is located in the northernmost point on the Inside Passage. Directly behind the town are majestic peaks of the Coast Mountains which made for a spectacular entry into the port. The area around present day Skagway was once inhabited by Tlinigit Indians. "Skagua" was the Tlingit name and means "the place where the north wind blows".

Today, Skagway still retains the feel of those Gold Rush days. The historic downtown has largely been restored to its roots, complete with false-fronted buildings and wooden sidewalks. The population of Skagway is comprised of approximately 862 local residents. Many of them move out during the winter as the city primarily relies on tourism which run only during the summer months.

Our ship docked right at the end of the town's Main Street. Our guide for the day, Michelle of Trail of 98 tours, was ready and waiting for us at 715am! She was knowledgeable, friendly, well-prepared and went the extra mile for our family. She made our day educational as well as enjoyable.

Ready for our first port of call!

Our private tour van

We started with a quick tour of the town. All 7 blocks took less than 5 minutes...From there we commenced our scenic journey towards the Yukon, Canada, driving parallel to the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. As conditions at the actual US/Canadian border were extremely harsh in the winter, both sides made agreements to have their customs buildings further in from the actual border. Along the way, Michelle pointed out various flowers and animals. We spotted arctic squirrels, ptarmigans (the national bird of Alaska) and mountain goats! It wasn't long before we arrived at the dog musher camp. There was a new litter of puppies which the children loved cuddling. This was soon followed by an exhilarating "sled ride" pulled by powerful huskies.

The huge machine used to clear snow from the train tracks

Spot the railroad on the other side of the river

Err....that looks pretty scary!

Yeah...waterfalls just by the side of the road...

Michelle was awesome! She was prepared with scopes and stopped whenever she spotted animals so the children could look too. She also had water and snacks for the group.

Fireweed. They bloom from bottom up. It is said that once the flowers at the top bloom then the season will end.

Bright and colourful Lupin

Ptarmigan and her baby! It is the national bird of Alaska

And we're back to Canada!

Thelma and Louise and the dog musher camp

The gorgeous husky puppies

They only just opened their days a few days ago

Adult huskies ready to go!

And they're off!

The passengers!

Our end destination was Emerald Lake. The photo explains it all! We stopped by the town of Carcross on the way home. Unfortunately the bistro which served caribou burger was closed! With more photo opportunities along the way home, we passed through US customs back into Alaska and moved onto shopping! A while ago, I lost my engagement and wedding bands. With other things that were more "important", we never got around to replacing it until today! My mother had kindly in the meantime given me her beautiful diamond ring. It was unfortunately too big. We used the diamond from the ring for a new setting, and got 2 matching bands along with it. I finally had my long awaited wedding band and eternity band! My mother's old ring received a sparkling new tanzanite gemstone and was resized. All in all, a pretty good jewelry day for a girl! Best of all, Disney's personal shopper picked up the jewelry and brought it back onto ship for us, leaving us to be able to enjoy the rest of Skagway.

We returned to the ship exhausted with just energy to watch Pixar's new release Inside Out. The children absolutely loved it, I thought it was good. Malcolm thought it was enjoyable but not as good as other pixar movies. You be your own judge!

Emerald Lake, the colour is from the limestone and calcium sediments

The wonderful Michelle thought the children were so well behaved that she got them a soft toy each of Alaskan animals!

The tiny town of Carcross, we arrived and left well before the train would arrive with the busloads of passengers...

We loved the vibrant summer flowers at each town we visited

Lara trying out a sled dog. Sausage surrounded by sourdough and cheese. Mmmm....

Short stroll to the shore of Bennett Lake before hopping back onto the bus

A very tired child!

Bove Island

A quick stop...

....to skip stones!

There's the train!

Another stop to build our own "inukshuks"

Daddy's help needed with some of the bigger stones

Voila!

Back to Alaska!

The town of Skagway

Oh look...oh its a just a ship down the road

The mountainous scenery all around never gets tiring!