Would We Do it Again?

So, one might ask, would I take a Disney cruise again? And as you can see by the photos below, the Disney Husband looks ecstatic about something. Yes. He booked the next cruise on this past one; it saves us a percentage off and we get a two hundred dollar ship credit as well. Always looking to be as frugal as possible, this appealed to my sensibilities.

 And it made him happy! That's what counts! We'll go somewhere warm next time.

What We Saw

We saw many amazing things on our cruise on the Disney Wonder, and the excursions we took off the ship. Here are some of the highlights, in no particular order. Whales, mostly their tails, lots of them!

Blue snow! Who knew there was such a thing? Here's what we learned: freshly fallen snow contains large amounts of trapped air which reflects white light directly back to our eyes. As the snow settles, the individual flakes change from crystals to rounded grains of ice. The weight of new snow piling on these grains presses them together, reducing the air even more between them. In time, the compacted ice grains form a solid mass of ice. When light strikes this mass it is bent or refracted inside the solid ice. Only the blue spectrum is transmitted back to our eyes! Thanks to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center for that information.

We made it to Alaska's Capitol building in Juneau. We had to take a taxi because our ship made it into port much later than expected due to stormy weather the evening before.

We made it back to the ship and then disembarked for our Disney excursions: whale watching and the Mendenhall Glacier.

More glaciers!

We saw a lot of the local wildlife; lots of bald eagles, seals, sea lions, the whales, as seen above...

Oh, and on one of our excursions, the "Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary Raptor Center and Totems Walk" where we were supposed to see scads of wildlife, here's what we saw:

Yes, that's right. Two, yes, two wild Banana Slugs. Yeah, that's right! I know you're all jealous. We braved a hike in a pouring rainstorm for those slugs in all their splendor! The owl and eagle were recuperating in the Bird Sanctuary at the end of the trail.

We took an awesome train ride from Skagway, the White Pass and Yukon Route, which I believe was our best off ship (non-Disney) excursion. The White Pass climbs almost 3000 feet in just 20 miles, includes cliff-hanging turns, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. When it was constructed in 1901, the steel cantilever bridge was the tallest of its kind. Disney husband and I had a great time on this ride!

Look how deep the snow was at the top! This is a photo of the train next to a snowbank.

And of course, we saw characters!

I Wonder What Time It Is?

What's that on my wrist?

A watch? But I never wear watches! (I mean never!)

But this is a Disney Wonder watch, and a Mickey Mouse watch, and for some reason, it really called out to me ever time I passed it! What was I to do? I just couldn't say no... but it took a couple days to say yes! And I snuck away from the rest of the group one evening to buy it. My Disney husband caught me in the act! He knew I had been lurking around the jewelry counter, he just didn't know why.

 

They let me pick out the decorative tin it came in as well. Of course I chose the pie eyed Mickey! I think I made a great choice. I've been wearing the watch non-stop. I didn't realize how much fun watch wearing could be! And now I have a wonderful keepsake of our Alaska trip that I smile about every time I look at it!

Disney Wonder to Alaska

These are some of the over 3,000 photos we took of the Disney Ship Wonder and the cruise we were on from Seattle, Washington to Alaska. The ship itself is highlighted in these photos. It is an amazing and fun cruise to take, and the ship never felt crowded. Here is our first look at the ship.

We were some of the first to board, and so got many unobstructed photos.

Kiddie Pool. Conveniently located next to the Buffet and food courts.

 

Here is one of a pair of hot tubs.  

 

 Another pool. These pools were kept extremely warm, although no one in our party tried them out during the trip, we saw many kids braving the elements to spend time in the pools.

Rough seas and rainy weather were not uncommon during the trip. Surprisingly, the rougher the seas, the more my Disney husband and I loved it! The rocking of the ship was great for sleeping!