Trip log, day five. Juneau, Alaska, The Capital City.
9-Night Alaskan Cruise on Disney Wonder
July 19, 2024
Guests Ashore: 7:00 am Guests Onboard: 9:00 pm
Personal Navigator – Day 5

I was still living that East Coast time, which had me out of the room early. Emily headed to the gy, and I went up to the upper deck to watch the Disney Wonder dock in Juneau.

Once again, we were in no rush to go ashore. We casually headed out in the 10 o’clock hour. We were docked at the AJ Dock, which requires a shuttle bus to the downtown area or, if you are up for a 1-mile walk to booked your time ashore.

The agenda for the morning was to explore the area to enhance and update an old walking tour. The weather was much better than our day in Ketchikan, but it was chilly when we left the ship. I layered up with my rain gear on since it was sprinkling all morning.

We walked along the boardwalk towards the Juneau Public Library which is a great spot to remember since there are public restrooms available on the exterior.

We spotted a sign detailing the early days in Juneau when Tinglit leader, Kawa.ée guided Richard Harris and Joe Juneau to nearby gold deposits in 1880. Along the harbor boardwalk and Marine Park are a couple of statues. The Hard Rock Miners sculpture was created for the centennial anniversary in dedication of those who worked to provide the lifeblood of Juneau during its first six decades. Another unique sculpture is Patsy Ann, an English bull terrier that would greet ships as they arrived to the dock in the 1930s.

We reached Juneau City Hall and began a trek out of the historic downtown area into more of a residential area to see St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church which is listed in the National register of Historic Places and believed to be the oldest surviving Russian Orthodox church in Alaska.

The church is a small wood frame structure built on an octagonal plan with a small covered entryway extending from one of its eight sides. Seven of the eight sides have large eight-light windows running from just below the eaves of the shingled roof to halfway down each side. Above the eaves are small cupolas on four of the eight panels, which elaborate the roof as it slopes up to the onion dome capped off by an Orthodox cross. A smaller cross tops the belfry that is on the covered entryway.

Next, we started to make our our way back into town, arriving at the Alaska State Capital building where I got some National Treasure vibes spotting a replica of the Liberty Bell with “Pass and Stow” facing the sidewalk.

I stopped inside the capital building where I had a brief conversation at the reception desk. I picked up some informational brochures and a walking map. There are free guided, self guided, and virtual tours available if that is something of interest to anyone.

Across the street from the main entrance of the capital, were two more sculptures – a brown bear, and William Henry Seward, who negotiated the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States and considered (according to the plaque) – one of the most important Secretaries of State in the history of the United States.

The brown bear, Windfall Fisherman, sculpture commemorates the first 25 years of Alaska’s statehood. 

Catty-corner from the sculptures is the Juneau-Douglas City Museum which resides in the Veterans Memorial Building. General admission is $7, children under 13 are free and there is a $1 discount for seniors. Additionally, the museum is a Blue Star Museum, which means they offer free admission with current military ID to active duty military personnel and up to 5 family members between May 30th and September 5th.

Around the side of the City Museum building was a Free Little Art Gallery which could be fun stop for the artists in your traveling party who may have just created a masterpiece onboard the ship.

Across the roadway and just up the street, we stumbled upon a Little Free Library.

We walked about 5 – 10 minute up the road from the city museum to walk around the Governor’s House, which was denoted as an Alaska Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1989. 

The Governor occasionally has a Wonder-ful view during the summer cruise season.

Walking down the stairs closer to sea level, we stopped at Centennial Hall which is now a convention/civic center with rentable space. The building itself was built in 1959-60 as a National Guard Armory until it was decommissioned in 2005.

Today, I overdressed and needed to peel off some layers. Thankfully, rain pants were no longer necessary and it was really nice out for a cloudy day in Juneau. I highly recommend dressing in layers with rain gear when cruising to Alaska as it helps reduce bulkier clothing and allows you to quickly adapt to the changing weather as you move around a port of call and to different areas in Alaska.

Initially the plan for lunch was Tracy’s Crab Shack 2, which is a longer walk from the ship, but often has a much, much shorter line.

However, the rain changed some of the plans early, but in turn kept the line short at the primary Tracy’s Crab Shack location, where we met up with others from our group for lunch. 

After lunch, we did a little shopping around downtown.

A friend of ours was in search of some provisions to take back to the ship. The liquor stores did not have what we needed, but a quick call over the grocery story confirmed they had what we were searching for, Coke Zero in cans. Leading to our next adventure, back towards the area near the Governor’s House to the Foodland IGA grocery store, which also shares the building with an Ace Hardware store.

Near the grocery store, was a Salvation Army Family Store. In the past, we’ve found some gems at thrift shops including a Norwegian Olympic Team sweater at Salvation Army in Norway, and Nakatomi Plaza in Sitka back in 2019. We didn’t find anything nearly as amazing as those finds, but Isabelle did buy a ‘Bazinga’ shirt featuring Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory.

We charted a course back to downtown area, stopping in a few more shops as we worked our way back to the shuttle bus stop. One thing about walking around Juneau, is you can often spot your cruise ship which is always reassuring, especially when you wing it like we do in ports.

Today was a 5 ship day in Juneau, and once the RCCL Odyssey of the Seas ship arrived, guests started to pour ashore and it was time to leave. Juneau is in the process of working towards a redistribution of cruise passengers to level the days out to benefit the locals and tourists alike. Don’t laugh, but our shuttle bus driver told us… Seriously, don’t laugh. We asked her about the signs in town referencing cruise ships and how the locals felt about passengers. From what we were told, the issue is due to the ship scheduling when there are peek days. The goal is to welcome the same amount of passengers each summer, but change the days when the ships call on Juneau to offset days when the BIG ship(s) are in town.

Before heading back to the ship, we stopped in a liquor store to re-stock two bottles of wine, and then made our way to the Red Dog Saloon for a “Duck Fart” layered shot. The saloon was really busy so we walked to the smaller Shot Bar. After the bartender learned this was not our first Duck Fart shot, he offered a variation called the “Orca Fart” – instead of Crown Royal whiskey, Bailey’s Original Irish Cream and Kahlúa are topped with Screwball Peanut-butter whiskey.

The shot was so much better than the original version, and actually something I would make at home or order again in the future.

Since our last visit, the Alaskan Brewery store relocated closer to the waterfront and added restaurant.

The free shuttle to the Alaskan Brewing Co tasting room is still available, just ask inside the store. One day we will get around to visiting the tasting room.

The Alaskan Brewing Public House restaurant is another option if you are looking for a King Crab lunch similar to Tracy’s. The menu features a mix of land and sea proteins.

A little after 4 o’clock, we were back onboard the Disney Wonder with more than enough time to get cleaned up for the evening.

Tonight’s dinner rotation took us to Triton’s for the standard menu. The highlight of the dinner was once again the shareable vegetable medley.

Since dinner pace had not picked up, it was time to take matters into our own hands and start a new trend; part of our group would excuse themselves from dinner to get a spot for 7:30 music trivia, while the remainder would finish up and then straggle into Crown & Fin. Although nothing to write home about, the food has been fine. However, the service has been slow. At times, it seems like our Assistant Server disappears leaving our server to do everything and our head server is only making a brief appearance each night. The writing is on the wall and nothing will change, so it’s up to us to skip dessert and leave early if we want to participate in the evening activities.

Crown & Fin was packed for the busiest night of trivia so far this cruise. 80’s music trivia will draw a crowd and it did not disappoint.

Following trivia, we tried another option from the Zero-Proof menu, Lyre’s Classico, which is the non-alcoholic bubbly used in the Taste of Bubbles flight we ordered the night first discovered the menu. The Lyre’s Classico was not well received at our tasting with some saying it reminded them of vinegar. For the most part, it worked well in the mimosa flight with mixers, but on its own, not ideal. Really, Disney Cruise Line should add Cloudem to this menu.

Then, for the first time in forever, we went to the evening entertainment in the Walt Disney Theatre, a movie. Tonight, we watched Inside Out 2 for the first time.

The movie was cute and an excellent sequel to a film, I really enjoyed. However, it kinda felt a little like a direct to DVD sequel – it was just a simple continuation of the original story and was mostly centered on one of the new characters, Anxiety. While a major emotion, especially for teenagers, I wish more time was dedicated to the other new emotions. Frankly, I cannot wait for the release of Inside Out 5 when we get a full story focused on Nostalgia.

It was now time for bed, as tomorrow we are headed ashore to visit Hoonah, Alaska.

Complete Trip Log Index

• Pre-Cruise – ✈️ Travel Day from Orlando, Florida to Vancouver, British Columbia & Pre-Cruise Day in Vancouver
• Day 1 – Vancouver, Canada
• Day 2 – At Sea
• Day 3 – Ketchikan, Alaska
• Day 4 – Glacier Viewing (Stikine Icecap), Alaska
• Day 5 – Juneau, Alaska
• Day 6 – Icy Strait Point, Alaska
• Day 7 – Sitka, Alaska
• Day 8 – At Sea
• Day 9 – Victoria, Canada

We love it if you considered joining us on our next DCL Blog Cruise in May 2025 as we sail from cay to cay. We will be returning to The Bahamas visiting both Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay. Click here to learn more.