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Old 7 Jun 17, 09:27 AM  
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Bats
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I'm back - DCL Alaska - my thoughts and ramblings

Our trip was 4 nights in Anaheim, 5 nights San Diego to Vancouver cruise then 7 night Alaskan cruise.

First off, Geoffa is right about the Grand Californian at Disneyland. Such a beautiful hotel with great cast members, we did miss having a mini kitchenette though.
Took Amtrak from Anaheim to San Diego and that was sooo easy. We'll do it again next year after the Panama Canal cruise. Very good value and they take your luggage from you which makes it super easy.

Our first cruise was a repositioning one and I must say that in 20 cruises, SD port was the worst ever. We queued with guests from another cruise ship which meant the lines looped around a car park with no safety barriers and no coordination. Both sets of guests were surprised and shocked at the mess it was. Dropping cases off was across the car park which had fork lift trucks speeding around (I really do mean speeding too), cars and trucks. Absolute nightmare and so bad, we made a complaint to DCL about it. Many near misses were spotted with pedestrian Vs vehicle .. horrible embarkation experience and not what we expect.

The actual cruise was great and our only port, San Francisco was lovely. The weather was awesome and we went to Alcatraz for the evening tour. personally, I wouldn't bother paying extra for the evening tour, just do the daytime one. Did the trolley bus thing too and that was great going up and down those steep hills (we stood on the back).

So, Alaska ... well, this cruise had been sold to us by so many people and the scenery did not disappoint. It really has the most stunning views of any cruise we have ever been on. Our excursions were all booked DIY .. Harv and Marvs whale watching in Juneau was probably the favourite with Mick (my husband) spotting a 'hunchback' whale breaching. In his excitement, he forgot their correct name .. awesome sight though.
We had booked a heli trip to the glacier with dog sledding too, but due to low cloud, we could only do a walk on the glacier. This in itself was brilliant though so we were not too disappointed thankfully.
Our other excursion was a seaplane to an island to see black bears. This was the most disappointing excursion, despite us seeing 4 black bears in 2 locations. The pilot, on the 30 min flight (each way) didn't say one word to us and we couldn't talk to each other as we were front and back passengers to balance the weight. He hadn't shown us how to use the headsets so we just sat there, bored. We spoke to the manager of the company when we were dropped off at the ship (he was there to pick others up) and he said the pilot must have had a bad day as normally he tells people about the landscape, flora, fauna etc. That's all we wanted .. something about the habitat of black bears perhaps, how many there were, what they ate before the salmon got going. Anyway, disappointing for that part only.

The ports of Alaska can only be reached by ship or plane and as such, they seem to think everyone wants jewellery shops
For those who have been on Caribbean cruises, you'll be aware of Diamonds International, Tanzanite International etc ... how about 14 of those in one street (Juneau)? Awful places and it totally ruined the pleasure of bimbling around port towns for us.
Skagway was the best and we would highly recommend Skagway Brewing Company for lunch (and a drink of course) and then dessert on 3rd Street at the place that sells Elephant Ears (OMG calorific flat donut coated in cinnamon sugar then cut in half to look like elephant ears). They are huge, at least 40cms wide!

So, we had a great time as we always do, but we've done Alaska now and don't need to do it again. It was the most expensive trip we've done as the excursions were all fairly pricey, but it didn't have to be that way of course. We just had the thought of if we're doing it once, we need to do the things we really want to do.

Forgot to say about Endicott Arm ... they advertise you will go to Tracy Arm, but I knew that DCL had not managed this all of last season due to the amount of ice in the water. No surprise when we were told we were going up Endicott Arm and wow wow wow .. amazing place. We dropped anchor and all just sat looking at it. We saw it calve 3 times which made our day ... fantastic and best day.

So what have I missed in the past few weeks?
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Old 7 Jun 17, 05:31 PM  
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Great review and sounds like you had an amazing time with only a few lows. Do you have any photos to share, I'd love to see them. xx
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Old 8 Jun 17, 07:36 AM  
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I loved our Alaska cruise as well, the scenery was breathtaking but I agree with you that it was the most expensive cruise we've taken. We were of the opinion that we probably wouldn't go back so we wanted to do as many tours as possible (did the helicopter / dog sledging, Float plane to a hidden lake in the mountains etc.,) and that really added to the cost, especially as there were 4 of us.
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Old 8 Jun 17, 07:54 AM  
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Thanks so much for the review! It sounds like you did enjoy it but I can completely see its a one off cruise (I think it would be for me too!)
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Old 8 Jun 17, 09:14 AM  
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Enjoyed reading your account but I'm surprised at the problems you had at San Diego port. We started our Panama Canal cruise from there in April (Celebrity Infinity) and our experience was completely different - easy and fast embarkation. We walked across the road from our hotel (Marriott's Springhill suites) and onto the ship with only a few minutes' wait. What a pity it marred the start of the cruise.

The rest of your trip sounds wonderful. Our Alaskan cruise (with Princess) was probably my favourite of all. However the embarkation at Vancouver took forever!
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Old 8 Jun 17, 08:44 PM  
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Thanks Joa for an honest review on Alaska and repo cruise... good job you were on your favourite Ship/cruise line as I guess it might have not been as diplomatic lol...
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Old 8 Jun 17, 08:57 PM  
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Sounds amazing (and assuming we take to cruising, it might be something we think about for a future year. Gotta do Disneyland at some point!)
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Old 9 Jun 17, 04:41 PM  
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Tianas Place plate (how cute!)


Mick on stage in a bra (this will come as no surprise to those who know him)


Arrival to San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge


Bliss- Catfe, a cat cafe in Vancouver. Eat cake, drink tea and stroke cats!



Leaving Vancouver in the sunshine
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Old 9 Jun 17, 04:52 PM  
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On our way to Endicott Arm


Our favourite ever Palo server, Susana from Portugal. She was at our wedding dinner in 2014 on the Magic! (It's a unicorn hat I have on by the way, not Olaf)


Endicott Arm - I think it's called Sawyer Glacier. Amazing!


Mick drinking glacial water. Unbelievable and pure.


The Wonder in Skagway


This blue is water on a glacier. 25mtrs deep and the bluest of blues


A couple of the Wonder (first one from a heli)


Mendenhall Glacier and then Mick holding up Medenhall Glacier!


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Old 9 Jun 17, 04:58 PM  
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The Crown and Fin 'pub' on the Wonder.





The best pub in Skagway (Skagway Brewing Company)
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