Friday:
We were set to arrive in Skagway and step on Alaska land for the first time at about 7:30 a.m. and the all aboard call would be for 7:30 p.m.
We awoke around 7:00 as we were pulling in and as I stepped outside on our verandah, it was cloudy and misty. That didn't bode well for our dogsled tour on top of a glacier. When I had called to confirm, the girl had said they were "weather canceling" about 50% of their tours recently, but I should call when we reach the port and see what the current status was. Our tour was for 12:00, so around 8:00 I called and she said that they had weather canceled the first tour, but didn't know about the rest yet.
We met everyone for breakfast and discussed our plans for the day. Nana and Bubba were heading off on their own to a panning for gold excursion. The Shields family was heading off for a wilderness exploration trip with boats and hiking and buses to Haines - another close by town. Don was heading off on a solo trip with other Disney people to a canoe trip up close and personal with a glacier.
After breakfast, Rina, the girls and I headed into Skagway to explore the town and do some shopping before our next phone call to see about our excursion.
Skagway was a cute, little town - about 850 person population of year round residents - the rest was made up of Cruise Ship tourists that came for the 4-5 months of the summer season.
We had a lot of fun exploring. The dock where our ship was looked like it was parked right in the middle of downtown. We had the closest dock to the downtown area.
Our first stop was Alaska Shirt Company - I had done my research and had learned that this store was a chain...similar to those beach stores that we see in Myrtle, Outer Banks, Emerald Isle - cheap t-shirts, sweatshirts, but pretty good quality. It was a great store and we spent quite a bit at this location and also at the location in Juneau.
One thing I noticed, that was pretty funny was the cell phone usage as soon as we got off the ship. There was no cell phone service on the ship and the service in Canada was at international rates. So...on US soil again and having had 2 days at sea - on every corner, and at every stop were people on cell phones talking to people at home. In Skagway was where we first talked to Dad and my sister, Patty. Skagway was also where we heard about the calving at Tracy Arm the days before we were there. Many people were discussing it as their people at home we being reassured that we weren't there when it happened. There were about 3 cruise ships in port in Skagway, so the town was a little crowded as the morning wore on.
We called back at about 10 to check on our dog sledding - they were still canceling, but hadn't canceled ours yet.....
We finished shopping, headed back to the ship to drop off our "stuff." It was about 11, so I called again and asked them to please make a decision, so we wouldn't be waiting and then walk over there and be disappointed. We were eating the free food on the ship for lunch and they called me back to say they were weather canceling our dog sledding glacier trip :(, but.......they could fully refund our money or put us on a glacier flightseeing adventure to a different glacier at a discounted price.
Well, we jumped on that and had to gobble down our food and meet the driver at the dock in 5 minutes....we made it and got to the Temsco Helicopter building at 11:30 for our 11:35 departure. Just enough time to put on our fancy glacier boots and life vests - we didn't even see the whole safety video (I don't think they realized that).
We were taking a 30 minute helicopter ride (sightseeing included) to Meade Glacier. We would land on the glacier and walk around with a guide for about an hour and then take a 20 minute helicopter ride back - no sightseeing on the way back. We shared our helicopter with another couple.
It was a fantastic adventure - there weren't any dogs, but it was definitely an okay alternative for all of us. Katie and Carleigh were totally intrigued with all of the information that they learned and we all loved our pilot, who was also our glacier guide.
I'll let the pictures speak:
After we got back to Skagway, we headed to the boat - we were done and COLD! It was only about 3:00 and Don wouldn't be back till close to 5:00 - so Car went to the Edge and found some friends to hang out with. Katie and I wandered the ship and then she wanted to go swimming - yep....swimming on the cruise ship in Alaska.
I texted Car on the ship phone and she wanted to swim also - so away they went. The pools were open air, but were warmed to about 90 degrees, so the girls were in heaven. A little chilly when they got out, but they didn't care.
Don got back and shared with us the fun he had on his 7 hour wilderness safari. He didn't see any bears or crazy animals, but did get lots of outdoor time and saw seals and lots of birds. He paddled right up to the glacier and got to also see "Wild Marble." Yep, marble growing right out in the wilderness.
After our room service snacks - we headed out to find an activity before dinner. We ended up in the Promenade Lounge to play a wheel of fortune type of game show - The Wheel - all the phrases were Disney related. The host broke the audience into two teams and our team was not doing very well, but then we had the chance to come back and win it all. We were almost there and needed a few more letters. The other family working with us had teenage daughters and we were all confident that we had the puzzle solved and would WIN - until we spelled Zack and Cody with a h instead of a k. Lost it all and laughed for a very long time! We saw the other family around the ship quite a bit after that and we were always and commenting.
That was one of the fun things about cruising - you do see some of the same people over and over - it was never crowded, or tons of kids running around, but it was a fun, friendly atmosphere.
We met up with everyone at dinner. Tonight was the Taste of Alaska menu - lots of salmon and seafood.
Here are the girls with Renata - our server - we had the same servers all week - they follow you from restaurant and get to know you. It is another nice thing that Disney Cruise does. Different restaurants, but same wait staff every night. They were like family by the end of the cruise!
After dinner we headed back to Studio Sea for another family game show - this time it was a variation of the old "Newlywed Game," but it was family based:
One more round of Karaoke to close out the evening - this time Alaina and Katie sang together.
Stay Tuned for Juneau, Whale Watching, and Pirate Night - is Captain Jack in Alaska?
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