Well, hello, and welcome once again to the DCL Back, relax, and we'll be on our way shortly.

Well, welcome back to the DCL podcast, your podcast to cruise a little smarter.

I'm your host, Lake, and I'm joined by my co-host, Christy, how are you today?

I am well, Lake, how are you?

Doing pretty good, excited this morning because Talk about.

Oh, it's so good.

It is so good.

We are talking about Alaska.

I was literally thinking about this today, getting So is it my favorite cruises with the people Because that's amazing.

Or is it my favorite cruise by the destination?

I don't want to pick my favorite, but it's definitely And it's a cruise destination that we returned.

We visited twice, five years and then five years And I think we want to keep that going where But it's just so amazing that it's like we need I mean, we're the same way.

Our plan right now is 2027 to be heading back And I cannot wait to get back there.

Well, you're right.

It is hard to judge, you know, friend cruises, But man, is Alaska beautiful?

It's the most beautiful.

And I truly think too, for an adventurous sailing, From the US, I think it's very accessible.

It is.

It is.

You know, the biggest issue is those flight If you're coming from the East Coast is is tricky, So there's no language barrier.

I think regardless of what you want to do in Ways to do it.

Yeah.

Whereas, you know, I think when you book like Bogged down in we want to do this.

How do we want to do this?

Are we worried about this?

And I think it's you can get a pretty streamlined Exactly.

Well, I would like to introduce our show.

He has been on the podcast before, but it has We would like to welcome Stephen to the show.

Stephen, how are you today?

Great.

Thanks for having me.

Appreciate it.

Absolutely.

Thanks for coming on.

Why don't you begin by giving us a little bit For sure.

Kind of same old story.

A lot of people went growing up mom and dad My wife, same thing as she grew up, her family We got married, honeymoon in Disney, all that Became DVC members, went a couple of times a And 2019, she begged to go on a cruise.

I had no desire.

Water wasn't my thing.

Boats weren't my thing.

I finally succumbed.

We went on the Disney Dream in 2019.

About two hours after the sail away party, I New form of vacation for us.

So went on a few cruises, pre-COVID, obviously And we started going on as soon as we came out Went on a bunch of the early sailings.

Went on the Disney Wishes, I think third ever Ever since.

We're now platinum.

The kids are almost gold.

So yeah, we've done not a ton of different itineraries.

Alaska is by far the best one we've ever done, This point.

Awesome.

And we alluded to it just a little bit here, We booked the seven night Disney Wonder up to Juneau, Ketchikan, Sossauth, South Sawyer Glacier, Up and back.

Awesome.

Well, why don't we go at the beginning?

You need to get up to Vancouver for this sailing.

How did you get up there?

And did you do any pre-night stays up in that We did.

We were very fortunate.

My kids like to travel with my parents.

So when my dad found out we were going to Alaska, They were leaving on Friday.

So we left Friday, flew out to Vancouver, actually Didn't get into Vancouver until almost 11 o'clock Coast is pretty late for us.

Rented a car at the airport, drove up to our Place.

I wanted a car to be able to go explore over Till Monday.

So we woke up Saturday, went to Lynn Canyon It's about 20 minutes north of where we were Saw everything, walked, hiked, went to Granville Woke up Sunday, went to Stanley Park, explored I went back to the hotel, then drove down to And then took the SkyTrain from the airport Canada Place.

Kind of walked around, hung out the rest of And then woke up on Monday and got on the ship.

Of those pre-cruise activities, what would be Recommendation?

We went up to Lynn Canyon Park, and that had And we walked across that, and then there's Creeks and streams, and it was pretty quiet.

There weren't a whole lot of people there, so Of explore on our own.

It wasn't super touristy.

Stanley Park was much more touristy, but this The beaten path, and you pretty much had to We couldn't get to Stanley Park without a rental We had a car, so we chose to go up there.

Did you mention where you stayed in Vancouver?

We stayed at a Holiday Inn.

It was about 15 blocks from Canada Place, where From.

Just, I had done a ton of research.

Obviously, Pan Pacific is the most ideal, but That we were going to be there for a few nights, The parking fees weren't too outrageous either.

So I traveled quite a bit and stayed at a bunch With the brand, and I was comfortable with what How did you get to the port then on your embarkation Woke up, grabbed some breakfast, and got an You know, it was kind of, we walked through There was obviously a million people moving Uber a little bit earlier than we probably needed Place.

Got there quite early, the porters were ready, Around until, you know, we had one of the earlier Of waiting until they were all set up and ready Was just outside the terminal, so we walked All the food for the week, and then kind of It was time.

And what was your embarkation process like?

Would this be your first time not going out Yeah, we'd been out of Miami once, and it was This was our first time on one of the classic That all in, and Vancouver wasn't nearly as They did a good job and just kind of, I would Group as you sit there and wait to get on.

But yeah, it was our first time not being in Awesome.

Well, what was it like then, boarding the Disney It was surreal, obviously walking into an atrium Dream class ships, and we took it all in.

This was, I said, you know, two years ago, so So all the characters were in their 25th anniversary And we literally just took it all in.

This was a trip we'd been planning for quite First day took our time and weren't rushing Highlighting on that planning aspect, I know And also, I would argue, probably your most How did you find that the planning for the sailing Kids, or how would you plan it again with your See, it's weird.

We are not the most outdoorsy, hiking, fishing, I'm not sure you could pay us to go sleep in That's what a lot of the trip is, the hiking So for us, it was finding things that we got Comfort zone.

You know, a six-hour hike up through the wilderness Not something we were going to do, so it just The Alaska experience out of it, but making And we weren't forcing ourselves to do, if that Love it.

Was there anything super notable from your embarkation That you thought was different or unique?

No, we tend to do the sit-down lunch when we We do the whole two-lunch setup.

We get on, and we headed over to Tiana's.

I obviously took all the pictures, saw everything We were one of the first people in there.

We then roamed the ship, saw everything we wanted And kind of do second lunch once the major crowd And crab legs and crab claws, and, you know, Because that's all she's going to eat is macaroni So we wait until Cabana's dies down.

That is amazing, Lake.

I don't think we've ever heard of a two-lunch, Yep.

I mean, are you really cruising if you're not Right?

That's exactly right, and we're also going to And eat at Daisy's Delights and that kind of We were very, I'll say, nervous or apprehensive We had never been on a classic ship, so we really We had been on the Dream and Fantasy already, And wanted to check out the spaces and kind Do and all the adult spaces and that kind of Well, we are going to focus just a little bit We get into these amazing ports, but before Did you book and what did you think of the accommodations That you've been on now?

Yep.

And here's also the next first for us is we Once you get on the classic ships, balcony prices, Point to where we were able to book an inside Over even a guaranteed stateroom paid for the I mean, it was like a $3,500 difference by the On deck seven versus one of the balcony rooms.

So we were a little, again, nervous, maybe the We walked in the room and immediately loved Loved the bed layout, loved the way that the For just the two of us, single bathroom obviously Of us.

It wasn't a problem.

So the inside stateroom for us, and we don't We're there just kind of going to sleep, waking And going back out.

So we were a little, you know, I was unsure, You see in Alaska.

You know, we spend so much time out walking The balcony room at all.

And for people who don't know, you can at least Ship TV because they have the bow of the ship, And so you can at least see what the weather So at least you get a sense of what is going You're not in the total dark about everything.

I think that is the only channel we actually Remote, see what it looks like, and then kind I'm going to bounce off that too and say, first Is better than the cabin that didn't get you And second of all, when I did my Alaska sailing, For an extended veranda.

And it turned out our weather was so bad and Jutted out from the ship, it was so windy, it So we couldn't use the furniture because we Just were never able to enjoy it.

So it was absolutely like a lost cause for us.

We're not coffee drinkers.

So we weren't going to be the ones that grab Much breakfast.

It wasn't going to be grabbed the room service It just didn't make sense for us, especially Marginal.

We'd go with the balcony, obviously.

But for the difference on the sailing, we found And then obviously getting to Glacier Day, I'm But that didn't stop us one bit on that day.

Love it.

Well, as I said, let's stick with going around First off, why don't we just talk about some New ship to you, brand new ship to explore, Around and seeing what it has to offer.

What areas did you enjoy about the Wonder the We loved Cadillac Lounge.

We had two really, we love live music, just And sitting there and listening.

We usually find one or two bartenders throughout Just tend to gravitate back to them.

And so we ended up, we were in Cadillac Lounge It was a point where we would walk in and he And within four minutes, both drinks were sitting Anything.

He just knew it was kind of a head nod and sounds And then he would work his way around and he Chatting with us about the day and what he was That good stuff.

So we love Cadillac Lounge, the D Lounge, obviously, In there.

And then Azure, we were in there quite a bit.

We're big.

We like playing bingo on the ship.

It's kind of our, our, our thing.

So we're in there and then doing pianos, we're The week.

So we tended to kind of gravitate towards down We're not even not being Alaska.

We're not big pool people on the ship.

It just tends to get so busy and crowded up Spaces more than anything, especially in the Yeah, spaces like the Cadillac Lounge are like Themed because we will never again see a lounge Ship.

But it's so interesting and charming and different The magic to the wonder.

We liked some of the spaces on the dream, the Until we got to Cadillac.

I was like, Nope, this is far better than what They just seem to be laid out better.

And so many of the other ships, it feels like For everybody.

So you're always having people will kind of It was literally we went and sat in there and And just literally watch Alaska go by.

It really is a cozy space.

It's inviting.

Yeah, I really, I really like it.

I think spaces like that is what's missing to I mean, from the Triton class, the wish treasure.

It feels like the wish we haven't been on the They're just chasing the IP and the names of And things like that.

Whereas it felt like they were trying on the In the space and the theming kind of just fits.

The wish for us, I felt like they shoved the And they're gorgeous.

They're gorgeous spaces.

It's just not the same.

I completely agree.

I think there are spaces, not to take this tangent I think does a good job capturing that.

Keg and Compass, while obviously I think we Bit more.

I think Keg and Compass does a pretty good job This is a place you just want to hang out.

It doesn't need to be IP in your face.

But let's take it back to the wonderful wonder Let's talk about dining.

What did you think of the rotational dining We had an excellent dining crew.

Our team was fantastic.

Very engaging.

Again, one of those, you know, by night two There.

We were, we don't need a very elaborate dining So once they kind of got the hang of that, it The dinners out once apps are gone and we're So we were in and out pretty quick each night, The food was as good as it always is.

My wife is a very picky eater.

And you know, once they realized that it was But it was, Hey, this is what we think you might And they're spot on.

We were one of the ones that pretty much know And it was, it was efficient.

They were friendly.

We actually just had a, our assistant server Was either the dream or the fantasy.

So she had just flown across the country, literally Never been on a classic ship herself.

So she was getting acclimated herself to everything So we actually talked to her about that nightly, Been to Alaska.

And so they're just, it was what you, you know, The reason that Disney, in my opinion, separates The experience they provide on top of the food.

But the theming was great.

The shows, you know, Tianna's show was fantastic Hit Palo for dinner.

So we were there all seven nights and had a Night was, was great and they were, food was So it was, you know, never an issue with waiting Did you do Palo brunch at all?

Yes, definitely.

How was that?

Palo brunch, Palo brunch is obviously our, our We don't like a lot of fancier type foods, but But also we can get a waffle while we do it, Everything that goes with it.

They made the grape and Gorgonzola pizza for And that was the first time we'd had that and And I actually will take it back.

We did do Palo dinner on Glacier night after, We had him, we did brunch on day two, the first We had popped back through Palo.

I said, are there, one, are there any openings?

And two is, you know, I believe his name was, Is he available?

And he was available.

So we had him and it was a very, it was probably In Palo for, you know, for a couple, but it The food was, was great.

And again, the service was just incredible.

We watched, we were sailing out of the fjords And so the scenery was a little extra special Most days.

I think Palo for a picky eater, if you have A pasta eater, like I think Palo is amazing Yes, you could do something unique, but you You could also just get a gorgeous filet.

It's not complicated food, a lot of it, but Makes that restaurant so special.

Yeah.

My wife got the filet and I try, I'll try a But it was, again, it was, it was the service, Experience.

That's what Palo is.

And the food's obviously great, but it's experience Absolutely.

Where did you find yourself eating around the We would do kind of quick run-throughs of Cabana's We're neither one of us are huge breakfast eaters.

So it was kind of run through grab, either grab Of eggs and, you know, sausage and bacon and It was around the pool deck, you know, Days The pepper, you know, the pizza place was good.

And it was, it was more just kind of eating Where we're eating.

It was kind of just easy selections, you know, And, you know, grab a burger and, and just kind Awesome.

What activities were you able to take advantage A lot of the nighttime entertainment watching, Hadn't done on other sailings watching, you There.

So they performed three or four of the nights.

Again, I was talking about bingo.

I don't think we missed a bingo session on the And they make it such an experience in there So we did that.

And then a few of the trivias, we're not too The information, but not as well as some of So we kind of go in there again for the experience Cocktails as we, as we play along with them.

And yeah, it was, then it was just kind of, Four, which was probably my favorite spot on Class, you know, love the, you know, the walking Just kind of sit there and watch it go by.

This was being outside a little bit more than We saw the amount of whales we saw from deck I mean, it was, it was probably on sale as we Were, there was a pod of probably six or eight So within the first two hours of leaving, we Had left and within 60, 70 yards of the ship.

So it wasn't like, Oh, I think that was a spot No, literally you could see the fins coming And then we saw orcas.

So it was, it was, it was incredible.

And it was night one.

So it just started it off.

And then it was, it didn't stop.

I don't think there was a day we were moving I want to note real quick, you said we're at You sailed.

So it was about July 17th.

Yeah.

I just want to highlight that because the orcas On what part of the season.

So people love to know when they can go to have Yeah.

Orcas.

We saw them on Glacier Day actually, as we were Where the water was complete blast.

There was a pod that they, those had to be within It's one of those things where if you see four A camera, you figure something's over there.

So you kind of head that way.

And we had gotten there pretty early and they 10 or 15 minutes.

Oh my God.

It's kind of in and out of the water, fins in And it was just that point to where the water And so it literally just a sheet of glass.

So it was, we saw, we were very, very, we went Had pictures of 50 to 60 different whale sightings.

I mean, it was, we were very fortunate when Well, any other notes on the wonder itself before No, we just, we'd love the intimacy of the ship, Worried about that.

We're worried about some of the spaces, but There is so much to love about the wonder and Let's go ahead and begin with Glacier Day.

You got to do South Sawyer Glacier.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, we did.

It started off in the morning.

We wanted, we knew we wanted to do the characters.

We're going to wait in lines, just the two of It wasn't a big deal.

I had kind of done my research of how early So we were number two in line for Mickey.

I got up there probably an hour and 15 ahead And there was one other lady up there and we Go.

And a few crew members kind of pointed us in And the way they did it, I'm not sure they were You're probably hanging out here, it's probably And it wasn't just, hey, Mickey's going to be So we did that.

And then by the time we jumped out of line, And obviously the line had got long for Minnie And, but we were able to see Mickey and Minnie It's exactly it.

And it's early in the, it was early in the cruise.

Everybody's still in a good mood.

Nobody's tired and cranky yet by the end of And you're also, you're sailing through, I mean, Mountains.

And so it was, you don't feel like you're standing You know, if you're sailing through the Bahamas Even if you're moving, you're not going to want Was starting to get cooler.

We were getting closer and closer to the glacier.

So it was starting to get a little chilly, but And so we were able to hit Mickey and Minnie Eat refreshed.

And then saw Donald and Daisy and it started So they put them on the kind of that under covers Lot, the rain had kind of probably made those So we went from, it was Donald and then jumped So we'd seen all four and I'm not, I don't think And so we had done everything we wanted to do And then we went and secured a spot on deck And what was it like seeing the glaciers for Or maybe what was your expectation of it?

And did it meet that expectation?

It did a couple, I'd been tracking the sailings Before us hadn't gotten super close.

There were, you know, there was some, you know, From getting all the way back into the super And for us, we've gotten, we got so close to And it wasn't just the glacier, it was sailing Of explaining what we're seeing in just, I don't Coming down out of the mountains.

And then we got to the glacier and it was incredible.

They sat there and they spawned both ways.

So if you were on your balcony, you could see So we stayed on the, we were on the starboard And then once they turned, we literally just And then saw it as we spun back around that There couldn't have been more than 50 people Everybody was up top.

That was my question.

So that's great.

We saw everything we wanted to see.

You weren't standing on top of people, everybody Of family, they would take a picture of us, And it was awesome.

It was by far probably our favorite day of the And how close we got and how vibrant it was.

And by the time we got in there, the sun was So the way the sun hit the glaciers made it Love it.

Any other notes from Glacier Day before we finally No, no, we were, we loved it.

Well then let's get into your first real port You are in Skagway.

What did you get up to in Skagway?

So Skagway, we were one of the first ones off There and kind of walked around early.

We knew we wanted to get up into the Yukon and The train that goes up and we'd watched some Like it was a little too prohibitive for us.

And again, I like to plan things out.

We like to do things at our own pace.

So I found an electric car company that do the Owners of the company bought two electric Mustangs And so you go pick it up and we picked it up Labs provides you a full charge, gives you 175 What you needed to do.

They provide like a, essentially a binder with And we thought we were going to have to really So we got in the car and got, got acclimated First time I had driven one and just started And we stopped at probably 10 to 12 different Everything in the background, just random lakes And it was gorgeous.

Again, not a cloud in the sky for us, made our And then made our way to Emerald Lake, hit a Once we got up into there, walked around, saw Shops and then made our way back down and stopped As we were driving up, my wife kind of had the And I thought I saw something dark next to the And we, once we got up to Carcross Desert, we And a mama and bear cub had run right by our We're driving 50 miles an hour on this road In the opposite direction.

So we have it freeze-framed where you can see Into the car.

I mean, they couldn't have been more than 10 So that was our only bear sighting of the week, Us go at our own pace.

We were able to stay where we wanted to as long.

If we got somewhere and it wasn't great, we Until we found something else we like better.

And up and back, we were back into town by about Afternoon to explore Skagway on our own.

Went and grabbed a lunch at the brewing company Servers and just got their story on how long And the person we had had comes in just for In Skagway and hit some of the shops, got some Type stuff.

We were back on the ship.

We got off and walked across, there's a little A little walking trail that you can go walking And there's a lookout point that the ship is We'd taken our Mickey and Minnie plushes and Path and took some pictures there and sent it We're not huge hikers.

I think it took us a matter of 15 or 20 minutes, That was our version of nature.

Another vantage point of the ship.

And as we were walking there, there were four Little inlet and sit there and took...

We sat there and took pictures of them for probably So they were playing and splashing and it was You were hoping to see, we got to see.

And then back on the ship and rested up and And Skagway was incredible, everything we were Our favorite port of the week, to be honest.

Yeah, there is no shortage of amazing things First and honestly sounds really amazing, was But I love that.

Do you by chance remember who you booked that Yeah, it's the electric bike company in Skagway.

And they actually, I looked it up this morning And I think it's now Klondike, a car rental But it's through this bike shop.

And it was a five minute walk from the ship, And I actually think they're up to three Mustangs Season.

I think I booked ours in January for that July Rented out.

And by the time we got there, they were sitting But they're the owners of the company, they're They bought them and rent them out.

It was actually, I think it was just might have Been for us to take the train.

So we spent an extra 40 bucks and then we're We actually drove along the train tracks that And, you know, the train, you know, we talked The train and they liked it.

They wish they could have spent more time doing To do.

So it takes a little bit more on your own, there's You're not just gonna go sit there and watch, Watch more.

So it was by something I'm really, really glad I love that.

Well, let's move into your next day, Juno.

What did you have planned this day?

Very similar.

We knew we wanted to go over to Mendenhall and Of St.

Therese, which I had seen somebody else Trying to figure out how to do it.

Wasn't the most optimal car rental place to I'd looked into several different places.

And then somebody recommended Turo, Where people rent their own cars out.

So I looked into that.

It was a little apprehensive, never using it But it worked out great.

I think it was 125 bucks for the day.

And the way it works is some, They rent out their private cars.

They pulled it into a shopping plaza right outside Where we got off the ship.

We took, you had to take a little bus ride Into the city in a matter of a few minutes.

And where they dropped us off, The car was sitting right there.

Process was super easy, keys were in it.

They dropped it off 10 minutes before we got We got in, you take pictures of the car, Make sure the car's in good shape and everything.

We drove over to Mendenhall and got there quite Before all the big tour buses get there and Mendenhall was fantastic.

The best part was walking to Nugget Falls.

Took a little 20 minute walk there.

And again, by the time we got there, There might've been 25, 30 people.

And it was your true Alaska weather.

It was misting.

It was a little rainy.

It was probably 55 degrees, But got up close, As close as you can get to Mendenhall Glacier.

But Nugget Falls was awesome.

We kind of climbed on the rocks, took some pictures, Got a little silly with that stuff.

And actually, as we were there, Somebody got engaged directly behind us.

We watched the proposal go down.

I kind of had a feeling something was going They had their family there And guy kind of got almost into the water and So we watched that and actually took some pictures We walked around there, had a blast, Walked back, got back in the car And then drove over to the shrine at St.

Therese, Which is just the most serene place We had been the entire trip.

Super quiet, very scenic.

We watched, there's actually a little stream That kind of runs through it.

And the salmon were just starting to Kind of start swimming upstream.

So we got to see a bunch of the salmon.

And then the highlight of that for us Is there was actually two bald eagles That were hunting, essentially.

We saw them kind of perched up And watched them fly in, grab some salmon And then go watch them just eat for 15, 20 minutes.

And the amount of pictures we took, We were there for probably hour, hour and a And just sat there and took it all in.

Again, trip we've been planning forever.

I'm not sure we talked a whole lot.

It was just kind of sit there and reflect On what we were doing, what we were able to And just the beauty of what Alaska is.

After that, drove back into the city, Returned the car, again, probably by 1, 1.30.

I went and found a bite to eat at a local spot And walked around some of the shops And then made our way back to the ship Probably by 3.30, 4 o'clock.

Again, it was nothing fancy, Nothing they're going to write brochures on.

But for us, it was exactly what we wanted out It was the scenery.

It was just us.

We weren't kind of in large groups of people And able to go at our own pace.

What was the Shrine of St.

Therese?

We've just never talked about that before.

It's hard to explain.

It's just, they've got a small church there And they've got, it's just, it's scenery Is the best way to put it.

They've got some, and I'm probably not, I'm definitely not doing the best way to explain They've got little, I don't want to say temples, But little church spaces.

You can go and people go and worship, People that are on the religious side of things.

And for us, it was more, we'd seen the videos And it was more the scenery piece of it.

We didn't get into the background Of why it was there and the history of it as It was kind of somewhere we wanted to go And see the nature, see the mountains That sit through the water.

And it was just, we were one of probably Six or eight cars there.

So again, it was just super quiet And something we wanted to take in the scenery Without having to do the big group trips.

Love it.

Well, we have one more port stop, The kitschiest of all places in Alaska, But we love it oh so much, Ketchikan.

What did you get up to here?

We had a true Ketchikan day.

It rained from the time we pulled into port And I don't think it stopped raining Until we pulled out of port.

We had nothing planned.

We knew we wanted to get out, walk through the We walked up to Creek Street and got soaked.

I mean, we had all our rain gear.

I mean, we knew we needed to have it.

It was raining pretty hard that day.

Walked through Creek Street, walked through Walked into, eat at a local spot we had found.

We didn't have anything planned.

It was, let's go see what we can find.

We'd seen all the touristy places That people eat at Ketchikan, But for us, we wanted to just kind of see what So hit a bunch of the shops.

Knowing it was our last stop, We hadn't bought a ton of souvenirs for the So we walked through and I'd walk through one You walk through all of them.

All the souvenirs are pretty much the same, But bought the sweatshirts we wanted to buy, Bought the magnets, the little totem pole magnets, Things like that.

And then just experienced what Ketchikan is.

We didn't do the Lumberjack show.

We kind of walked outside of that And saw we'd lined up for that.

And actually the people that we were sitting That night at Keys tried to see the Disney Lumberjack And it had rained so much that they ended up Not even having Goofy come out Because the rain was that hard.

So we didn't feel like, we were worried We were going to miss that, But obviously we didn't miss that.

But yeah, it was, we walked down to where One of the Royal ships were docked at the other I think it was Ovation of the Seas And walked down and kind of saw that.

But it was just a real kind of quiet day.

It kind of set in that the trip was almost over.

So just wanted to experience as much as we could, But also not get completely soaked.

Yeah, the weather wasn't fantastic, But that's what Ketchikan is.

It's a rainy city in the States for a reason.

So it was definitely our most laid back port.

You know, one that I think if there's an itinerary That went somewhere other than Ketchikan, We'd probably veer towards that for us Because we felt like we did what we wanted to Or that might be a place we would find a group Going forward, something else we wanted to go But it was still gorgeous, still beautiful.

So everything that we wanted to see.

Well, that actually brings me into my next question.

We talked a lot before the show About wanting to go back to Alaska, As many of us do because you just cannot get In any of these ports, Are there any other excursions or activities That would be on your highlight if you were I guess it would probably depend on the time You know, for us, we wanted to see whales.

And we looked really, really hard Into some whale excursions, even when we were So I'd heard, you know, if you're there early, Do the whale excursions at Vancouver.

But for us, if we're going the same time of I'm not sure there would be.

If we went to Skagway, we would do the exact We would get in the car and drive back up, Rent the car on our own.

Juneau, you know, I'm not sure we would do this.

The Shrine of St.

Therese again, Might do one of the canoeing trips over To Mendenhall Glacier.

We'd stick in that area for sure.

We're not big fishers, So we're not gonna do a fishing expedition Or anything like that.

So I'm not sure we would do things a ton different.

If we take the kids with us Who weren't there the first time, obviously, I'd probably do a lot of the same things Because everything we saw, I'd want them to So yeah, for us, it's more about being there Than what we're doing.

And as long as we were able to see whales, I think it would be my, Because my wife's big thing was make sure we So if we're there at the same time of year, Hopefully we'll have the same luck.

You know, maybe a whale excursion in Vancouver.

But other than that, I'm not sure we would do anything a ton different.

We looked into other helicopters, But I'm just not sure That's something we would have to do.

And the cost is so high on those, Especially the family of five.

If we go back up there, I think it would just limit us On what we could do the rest of the trip.

So I think, you know, If somebody's paying for it and dollars aren't You know, probably a helicopter up to one of But for us, what we did was perfect for us.

Love it.

Well, sadly, as all cruises do, This one must come to an end.

How was your disembarkation process?

And did you do anything post stay in Vancouver Yeah, disembarkation was super easy.

We didn't have a flight out until 11 o'clock We had a red eye back, which was just awesome.

So we knew we had all day, Had some rail car points saved up.

So we actually took a taxi down to the airport, Nine o'clock in the morning, Grabbed a rental car, And it did not stop raining the entire day in Where our plan was to head over to Stanley Park Kind of see some of the things we had already But you couldn't get out of the car For more than five minutes.

So we kind of drove around Vancouver, Found a good spot to eat dinner, Actually drove back over and watched the wonder From Canada Place, from Stanley Park, Found a spot to kind of watch her sail out.

And then just made our way back to the airport.

And got there super early, Because again, you couldn't do anything.

It was a monsoon for 12 straight hours.

So we felt we were super fortunate Because our sail away day the week before was The people that sailed away that day Couldn't be outside for a sail away party Or sail under the bridge.

And so yeah, we didn't do anything super fancy And then just flew back this way, Flew back out east and got home At nine o'clock in the morning on Tuesday.

Well, Steven, I've got just a couple more questions Before we bring it out here.

First off, did you have any other notable cast You wanted to highlight from the sailing?

No, for us, it was our dining team.

It was funny, we had met a bartender on a cruise On the Dream named Goosty, And we'd actually gotten in contact with him.

So we'd gone back on the Dream And he had given my wife his contact information And we actually brought him some supplies That he had needed on the Dream.

And our service name was Goosty And from Indonesia, same place.

And we just, do you know him?

And they did, they'd known each other.

So we had talked about him And we actually messaged the original crew member From the ship and they had known each other.

And then the bartender at Cadillac was fantastic.

I mean, he just made it extra special, Things he had seen on his Alaskan sailings, Told us what to check out in his different ports.

But no, it was the bingo staff, I guess is the The crew staff, they were so good on the sailing, All the different animation classes And the bingos and the trivias.

They just took their time.

And I think it was on a seven night sailing They don't have to rush through Like a three and a four night that they do.

So they'd seen the same people at their things.

They just, they have conversations.

They feel like you get to know them Rather than they're there just for, Just to get through a 45 minute trivia.

They take their time to get through it.

And it was just, it was like such a relaxing On port intensive, obviously, But we didn't leave there feeling like We had ran all day for seven straight days.

It was a very, very good balance for us.

Love it.

Did you utilize the photo package at all?

We did.

Yeah, for this cruise we did and brought home, Obviously 250 from around the ship, Just with different characters and things on With Mickey and with all the characters In their Alaska outfits.

And we've done it for one or two sailings with It's like only one we've done just her and I With the picture package, But figured this one was probably gonna be worth And we brought home about 1,500 pictures Between what we took, what they took And the videos and all that stuff.

So it was actually fun to kind of go down memory And look back, you know, preparing for this And things we did.

And I guess that was the other thing With the characters being on the ship for seven And us mostly doing three and four and five People had seen the characters, So the characters were able to take more time Each guest, especially later in the week Because the lines weren't nearly as long.

So it just had that Disney touch to it That you don't find, I think.

You know, we've taken a few other sailings And other cruise lines now.

And it was just, it has that touch that Disney That I don't think we find other places.

Well, Steven, what is next for you and your We are actually jumping on Utopia of the Seas.

Taking, they took advantage of their kid sail I've taken our two younger ones.

My daughter's going into high school And said she didn't wanna miss a week of school.

So we're taking just the boys and gonna jump Check that out.

Next Disney is probably gonna be next summer.

Kind of looking at a few different itineraries.

The Destiny looks incredible to us.

We like the theming of it.

So might try to jump on that end of next summer Before the kids go back to school.

Awesome.

Well, Steven, thank you so much for coming on And sharing your sailing through Alaska.

And I appreciate you guys having us And everything you guys do.

Provide not only entertainment, But so much good information to people That are taking their first or their 20th career.

So appreciate what you guys do.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Well, Christy, where can our listeners follow You can find me all over the internet At packyourpixiedust.

And if you'd like to work with me in the future, Lake has created a work with Christy link And you can find it in the show notes Or on our website at dclpodcast.com.

Lake, where can we find you?

You can find me on YouTube and Instagram at And you can follow the podcast on Facebook And Instagram at dclpodcast.

And of course, find all of our information On dclpodcast.com.

But that is gonna do it for the show.

Thank you all so much for listening And we will see you next time on the DCL podcast.

Bye guys.

Bye everyone.

Well, it's gonna wrap up the show.

Once again, we wanna thank Steven for coming And sharing him and his wife's adventure On the Disney wonder to Alaska.

If you're enjoying the show, We greatly appreciate you leaving us a five On Apple podcast.

We'd also like to thank our patrons Who help make the show happen each and every And of course, YouTube helps support the show By visiting us at patreon.com slash DCL podcast.

Whether you're boarding a cruise And doing a trip to the parks Or adventuring outside of Disney On behalf of myself, Christie and Steve, We wanna wish you smooth sailing and safe travels.

We'll see you next time on the DCL podcast.

The DCL podcast is not affiliated With the Disney Cruise Line, Walt Disney Company, Adventures by Disney or Run Disney.

All of the opinions expressed on our shows Are those of the hosts and the guests Who appear on the show.

If you have any questions about any of these Please contact the Walt Disney Company.