Trip log, day three. Ketchikan.
9-Night Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver
July 10, 2019
Personal Navigator – Day 3
Guests Ashore: 7:30 am Guests Onboard: 4:00 pm
When you travel across country and change 3 time zones, then change another during the cruise, you tend to wake up early, no matter how hard you try to adapt; at least this is the case for me. No big deal, I can sleep at home. Emily and I woke up early to rope drop the gym with most of the ship. Emily said it was crowded on Tuesday, a sea day, but I didn’t anticipate a big turnout on our first port day.
As we were waiting for the gym to open, I turned off airplane mode on my phone since we were close to land and I was able to enjoy some free internet. Thanks Disney Cruise Line for dropping the missing Disney Magic November and December 2020 sail dates on me. I knew the day would come when they’d announce itineraries while we were on a cruise. Thankfully, it was only 11 sail dates and after the gym, I was able to gather up the data and add the information to the website.
As I worked on the new sailings, Emily and Isabelle went to Cabanas for breakfast and brought me back one of today’s specials, a turkey and cheese croissant.
Part of our packing for cruise methodology involves packing less and doing laundry. Well, we reached the endpoint of some of our clean clothes and laundry was a necessity.
We lucked out, because the laundry room near our stateroom was empty this morning and i was able to knock out two loads of laundry without any trouble.
Once the laundry was put away, we headed ashore to walk around Ketchikan. The weather was incredible and we quickly removed layers. In fact, I should have worn shorts because jeans need up being too much for today’s beautiful weather. We had a few places we wanted to revisit, but no specific touring agenda.
Orca Corn is a great place to stop in for a snack to through in your backpack while you explore Ketchikan. The shop is located under the iconic Welcome to Ketchikan sign. The shop offers fresh popcorn as well as some sealed and packaged up to take home.
We found out Kechi Candies relocated from inside a shared space to its own corner storefront, but the proprietor stepped out so it was closed when we stopped by for some chocolate covered Oreos. A friend mentioned that the store reopened later in the afternoon.
We walked around the town, Creek Street, and in and out of the shops.
The salmon ladder as well as the creek was absent of any salmon which is primary due to the warm temperatures.
Isabelle has been eager to return to her favorite shop in Ketchikan, Tall Tale Taxidermy. Last time we were here, she picked up a rabbit pelt, and this time, she had an agenda; she picked up a mink pelt, and we got her a fox pelt.
Another spot we wanted to revisit was the Ketchikan Fire Department to pick up a shirt from the vending machine. During our 2017 visit, the t-shirt vending machine in the fire department was out of order.
We found the spot to see Spider-Man: Far From Home during an Alaskan Disney Cruise since it is not being shown on the ships, like Homecoming.
Around lunch time, we searched out a place to eat. There are numerous options including the returning to the ship, but we like to eat lunch ashore if possible when the ports of call have unique offerings. In this case, it is the abundance of delicious crab and seafood.
We decided on the Alaska King Crab and Fish Company restaurant just off the pier. This is the new name for what was previously Dwyer’s. The seafood was excellent.
Walked around a bit more and Isabelle started to find some deals in the coupon books. She discovered these books during our previous trip.
These books are a great way for kids to make more of their spending money while in port. For example, Isabelle picked up a really cool deck of cards listed at $9.99 for $4.99.
Our final stop before rebounding the ship was nearby liquor store for a 6-pack of Alaskan beer. The shop was located near the dock, right by bow the the Disney Wonder.
Back onboard, we watched one of Cynthia Gibson’s talks that we had previously missed on the stateroom TV before heading off to dinner.
Dinner… Our dinner rotation had us in Animator’s Palate with the standard menu with regional inspirations.
Our friends and table mates were on a Port Adventure today with a family seated near us at dinner who have the same serving team. They broached the subject about dinner service with our friends and it turns out had the same issue with slow service. They in fact were the last to leave the main dining room the previous night.
Our head server as well as the rest of our serving team had new energy this evening and our desserts were delivered before the special guest, Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey Mouse, arrived in the restaurant.
We paid close attention to area tables and it seemed like the pace was picked up for the entire section. It was quite refreshing. We were all able to casually walk over to Crown & Fin for trivia and even had enough time for the kids to stop and dance with Donald Duck.
Bravo our serving team for speeding everything along as the spontaneous dance with Donald was too precious.
We arrived at the pub for 70’s music trivia together with more than enough time to find a spot and get settled. We really should have kept our trivia sheets from the DCL Blog Group Cruise and practiced up because the songs were identical.
While we were at trivia, I put my horses in the back.
For our evening entertainment, we went to see Michael Holly’s comedy and juggling performance in the Walt Disney Theatre. Isabelle happened to be in the wrong or right place at the right or wrong time depending on how you look at it.
She along with about 5 other kids were brought up on stage to be part of Michael’s armpit orchestra.
Tomorrow is another port day, a day the Castaway Cay of Alaska, Icy Strait Point. I know some of you like to get on me for calling it that, but even Baby Spice AKA Natalie said it before Michael’s show.
I agree with you about Icy Straight Point. Fell in love with it our last trip. The red vest/jacket workers were very efficient and friendly. Let me share a story. Right off the board walk porch we were sitting talking with a village elder and he was telling us about the first time he saw a whale off the point as a child and then he said, “look” and there was one right off the bank. Magical. I asked how deep it was out there and he said “pretty deep” and chuckled. Just a taste of what our visit was like. Enjoy!!!!