MY BUCKET LIST TRIP -- NORTH TO ALASKA !! - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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You'll have a blast. Alaska is unlike any place I've ever seen. We've done 2 Alaska cruises. last time we drove from Anchorage through the Kenai, staying at the Princess Wilderness Lodge and then to Seward. We were fortunate enough to see a calving at Hubbard Glacier. Do as may shore excursions as you can
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I will be in Alaska this summer for work - and am adding 3 days to the front of the trip to go to Denali and Seward before our classtime starts.
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Originally Posted by disneyqueenmum
Oh Seward is such a neat place! I hope you are planning to do a little boat trip while you are there. If I remember correctly we saw otters, puffins and walrus'.
There are several glacier cruises out of Seward - GO ON ONE - and ride the train if you have the opportunity!!! DH and I took his father on the train ride from Anchorage to Seward and then went on a glacier cruise - throughout the course of the day we saw pretty much every kind of animal possible from moose to bear to humpback whales to otters and puffins to orcas and sea lions!!! Now while you don't get a guarantee to see all these, you have a better chance of seeing wildlife by getting "off the beaten path" or at least off the highway!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
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Looks great, but just thought I would add that you are missing a MAJOR part of Alaska. But I guess that just means that you have to come back again!!! Kinda like Disney World!!!!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
:lol: you got that right, Jenifer. We certainly will have to make a return trip. I mentioned in my first post that my original trip was actually 16 days, 9 of those were land tour of Yukon and Alaska. The tour company cancelled that one.
I still want to do the northern part of Alaska, so maybe in the next couple of years, I can pull something together.
Well, Cathy, I finally clicked on the link in your signature and found my way over here just in time!
Your plans look great, I think DW will get pretty interested in your TR because she wants to do an Alaska cruise someday. I'm glad I got onboard before you left (which is SOON!!!) Looking forward to hearing the details on the excursions.
You will have a lovely time and see some some amazing things. Hopefully you will get to see a glacier calving and all the cool wildlife we have up here. Sorry you won't be making it as far as Anchorage.....but we'll just keep that for next trip!
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Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
We are sailing in July on RCL out of Vancouver for the Inside Passage as well- hitting most of the same ports, etc. Yay! I can't wait to read about your experiences!
It sounds like you have some fabulous things planned- I am sure it will be wonderful!
Sounds like a wonderful week. I would like to hear more about the excursions.
Thanks!! and Good! Cuz I wanna talk about them
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny
Well, Cathy, I finally clicked on the link in your signature and found my way over here just in time!
Your plans look great, I think DW will get pretty interested in your TR because she wants to do an Alaska cruise someday. I'm glad I got onboard before you left (which is SOON!!!) Looking forward to hearing the details on the excursions.
Kenny!! Glad you made it. (finally) I need something to keep me focused, so I may bore you with details.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenifermg0
You will have a lovely time and see some some amazing things. Hopefully you will get to see a glacier calving and all the cool wildlife we have up here. Sorry you won't be making it as far as Anchorage.....but we'll just keep that for next trip!
The thing I want to see more is the calving. Hopefully, the trip up the Sawyer Arm will provide that. If not, oh well, I will surely have to go again....
Quote:
Originally Posted by statelady01
How on earth did I miss this??
We are sailing in July on RCL out of Vancouver for the Inside Passage as well- hitting most of the same ports, etc. Yay! I can't wait to read about your experiences!
It sounds like you have some fabulous things planned- I am sure it will be wonderful!
Welcome!! Thanks for reading. Hope you do a TR too. We can compare notes!
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go on an Alaskan Cruise. I don’t know when it started, but I can’t think of a time when it wasn’t one of my dreams.
Last year, my DH turned 65. We’ve always joked about how old we are chronologically compared to how young we are mentally. He calls me a young whipper-snapper. I, on the other hand, always refer to him as being an Old F*rt……..closer to 80 than 50, or that no matter how hard I try, I will never catch up to him. You catch the drift. But he takes it all in and just laughs.
Anyhoo, for his Milestone Birthday, I took him on a Disney vacation…… a few days at POP, then a 7 day Disney Magic cruise, followed by a couple of days at POFQ. And, as the name promised, it was just that………Magic.
This year, well, I turn 60. And for my milestone birthday, he’s taking my on my dream cruise -- Alaska!!
It has been an emotional roller coaster, planning this trip. We originally had booked a 16 day land/sea tour of the Yukon and Alaska, but the touring company cancelled the trip due to not enough interest. I was not able to duplicate that itinerary on my own. So, nose to the keyboard, I pored over itineraries that suited us best and just put the finishing touches on our plans. I cannot tell you how excited I am. I got every single thing that I wished for !!
The players in this dream:
Me -- Cathy, turning 60 in November, retired since Jan '07
DH (sorta) Lorne, – 66 at time of trip retired since 1997 (lucky dog)
Next up....let the planning begin!
Boy, do I envy you! An Alaskan cruise has always been my big dream also. Please do let us know how it is. DS just got a job as an entertainer on Princess cruise lines, and guess where he's headed-yes, Alaska! There's something not right about it being my dream to go, yet he's the one going.
thanks!! as always, it's a lot of work, but still a lot of fun
another post to come soon...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simba's Mom
Boy, do I envy you! An Alaskan cruise has always been my big dream also. Please do let us know how it is. DS just got a job as an entertainer on Princess cruise lines, and guess where he's headed-yes, Alaska! There's something not right about it being my dream to go, yet he's the one going.
Thanks for reading and posting! let's hope that your DS will be able to get employee discounts for ALL KINDS of cruises! I'm the one that's envious
And a closeup of where we will be going. Lots and lots of beautiful scenery. It doesn’t matter which side of the ship you are on, you get the scenery all the way there and back.
We sail away about 5:30 pm on Sunday and don’t dock in Ketchikan until 6:00 am on Tuesday. The stores open whenever the first ship makes port. So we can shop around a little bit before we meet for our first excursion. We are being picked up around 7:30 am for our flightseeing tour of the Misty Fjords.
From the website:
Misty Fiords Flightseeing
Alaska's Inside Passage or Southeast Alaska is home to some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth. One of its jewels is the majestic Misty Fjords National Monument. Completely roadless and consisting of 2.3 million acres, an area larger than Yellowstone , makes a seaplane tour the only way to comfortably experience the many different levels within the deep, narrow fjords.
Carved by glaciers long ago, snow capped, sheer granite cliffs rise dramatically 3,500 out of the sea, ribbonned with waterfalls plummeting sensationally thousands of feet. Nestled within the steep walled canyons, lie pristine bowl-shaped alpine lakes suspended at many different elevations above sealevel. Fed by more than 150 inches of misty rain annually, the lush rainforest, made of giant stands of spruce, hemlock and cedar, cling to the rugged rising terrain. Wildlife abounds in the area, with mountain goats and harbor seals being the most frequently sighted animals.
Big Goat Lake in Misty Fjords National MonumentOur most popular tour, lasts 2 hours and takes you across Revillagegedo Island over to the Alaska mainland where the fiords are located, and into the heart of the monument. Headsets with voice communications are provided to passengers so you can chat in flight and ask questions as we fly. For the highlight of the tour, we will land on an alpine lake or on a calm bay at sea level and let passengers get out of the aircraft and onto land for a quiet excursion. Relax, stretch your legs and take some photos as you drink in the silence of the vast wilderness. Flying within the Misty Fiords is truly an emotional experience you'll never forget!!
Tour Includes: 1:15 hour flight and 35 minute stopover
Island Wings Air Service is the only air taxi offering a shore Stop and voice communications for passengers
I am really looking forward to this tour. We have been on a floatplane only once before, (Vancouver to Victoria) and it was a lot of fun!!
I am in a quandry and I would like to ask your opinions. I have a digital camera that I love, love, love! Panasonic Lumix. It takes great photos and videos as well. The problem with the video is that I cannot use the zoom while filming. I can, of course, zoom first and then begin to film. I have 24G in memory cards. My daughter has offered to lend me her Sony handicam. Which is a great little camera too. The quandry?? I would have to learn between now and then how to operate it and secondly... I don't want to be stuck behind the viewfinder all the time. But just look at that scenery!!!! So therein lies the rub...... do I take it or not??
After the excursion, we will just take in all the local sites and do some souvenir shopping in town. We leave port about 2:00 pm.
Next up....Juneau, two excursions, and WE'RE NOT ON THE SHIP!!
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I need something to keep me focused, so I may bore you with details. 
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I pored over itineraries that suited us best and just put the finishing touches on our plans. I cannot tell you how excited I am. I got every single thing that I wished for !! 
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