Trip log, day seven. Sitka, Alaska.
9-Night Alaskan Cruise on Disney Wonder
July 21, 2024
Guests Ashore: 7:00 am Guests Onboard: 2:45 pm
Personal Navigator – Day 7

I was out of the room early and up on deck 10 as the Disney Wonder arrived at our last Alaskan port of call of this voyage, Sitka. Emily watched us dock from the gym. The Magic and Wonder really have the best gym location and views of the fleet.

We met everyone in the lobby and headed ashore around 9 o’clock.

The Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal expanded since our last visit with a brand new building with additional shopping, dining, and tour operations.

Sitka Cruise Terminal offers a complimentary shuttle from the port to the downtown area which takes approximately 15 minutes.

The bus stop is located at the Sitka visitor center, Harrigan Centennial Hall and Sitka Public Library.

Today, we were going out and just walking around Sitka without any pre-booked activities. However, Emily spotted an offer for cruise passengers at Sea Mountain Golf course which I am already adding to the list of possible things to do the next time we visit Sitka.

We walked around the visitor center looking out at the harbor before making our way towards the downtown area. The shops were just starting to open for business on this Sunday morning and it was a perfect time since they were not crowded.

The focal point of the downtown area is Saint Michael’s Cathedral which was undergoing some renovations during our 2019 visit to Sitka. The original church was built between 1844 and 1848. The current church is a reproduction of the original which burnt to the ground January 1966. Being that it was Sunday, there were services underway so we were not able to go inside to look around. A sign was posted on the door stating there was a tour at 2PM, but that was the same time as the last shuttle back to the port.

Tongas Threads was open and we were eager to see what we could find this time around. If you remember, i picked up the Nakatomi Plaza complete with the Die Hard Blu-ray and digital copy collection for $6 the last time I went shopping at this thrift store.

Nowadays, the shop was more on brand with primarily clothing and not the cool random items that are fun to discover. We did leave with an American flag for just under $12 since we needed to replace the one we have at home. However, it turns out it is not your typical American flag – based on the dimensions, this one appears to be a burial flag that would be draped over a casket. It is a gorgeous flag and excellent quality.

On the floor below Tongas Threads, we discovered the perfect restaurant, Yuyo’s Pizza & Mexican Kitchen. While we had tentative lunch plans, this was close to becoming the new plan. That is until i pulled up the menu and discovered they did not open until 3 o’clock.

We set out on our trek we passed the Coliseum Theater, offering screenings of A Quiet Place Day One which would be great for crew looking to go ashore for movie, but the earliest showing on most days was 1:30PM. I know the theater in Ketchikan is often a popular spot for crew when off duty times match up with port and movie showing times.

Moving on to the next chapter in our Sitka walking tour, we headed out of the downtown area towards the Sitka National Historic Park where you can see totem poles and walk in a rain forest.

The totem museum and trail system are lovely. This was actually part of a more expansive van tour we booked during a previous visit.

Today, we were just passing through the national park using the nature trail as a shortcut to our actual destination, a local brewery. It was approximately a 15-minutes walk that included part of the trail through Totem Park. There is part of the trail that exits on Sawmill Creek road where you can see in the distance a United States Postal Service building. If your eyes are really good, you can see a gas station, food truck, AND Harbor Mountain Brewing Company.

A while back we learned the brewery was offering Sunday Brunch after reaching out to the brewery on Instagram before our cruise to see if they served food. The folks at the visitor center told Emily that there was indeed food, albeit a limited menu which no longer included brunch. As a result, some folks in our group hung back at the Totem Pole Park while we carried on.

Inside the brewery there is a pizza shop, Campfire Kitchen, with a wood fire pizza oven essentially inside the tasting room which you can order food from a walk-up window. We opted to skip the food and meet back up with balance of our group for lunch upon returning to the downtown area. I know, I am also shocked that we passed up homemade pizza.

We did try a number of the brewery’s beers and their cider and even left with some merchandise. Of note, they had a fair amount of nonalcoholic offerings, including pour over coffee. While our family does not drink soda, the one exception is a root beer from a brewery, and Isabelle enjoyed hers. Turns out, there was a tour that stopped at the brewery and a number of passengers from the Disney Wonder had the same idea as we did and walked from downtown.

Before headed back to town, a quick pit stop was made at the gas station store. With bags of Goldfish in hand, we headed back to meet up with the others who were now in the downtown area investigating options for lunch. We are so grateful that bags of Goldfish can still make our teens happy.

The walk back from the brewery was much quicker, or it felt quicker because it always seems longer when you are first going someplace, but once you know the way, it seems faster walking back. Just, use extreme caution and watch out for bears. Seriously.

Unfortunately, being a Sunday, several of the restaurants were closed. There was a building near downtown with a number of food options that were open: Asian Palace, Highliner Coffee Company, Subway, and Sitka’s Burger & Crab Shack. While some in our party went to Subway, we picked the most authentic of the four choices. Isabelle and I had the fish sandwich, Emily had the lobster roll, and our travel mates enjoyed the burgers and chicken. There were a lot of wasted fries, and in hindsight, we should’ve had fresh pizza at the brewery.

It was a little after 1 o’clock, and the last shuttle back to the ship left town at 2 PM. Rather than push it to the limit like we did in 2019, we boarded the bus and spent the balance of our time exploring the new shops at the port.

By exploring the new shops, I mean i found the bar at Halibut Point Crab and Chowder which if we were paying attention would have come back earlier and ordered lunch here instead. The restaurant offers a lovely view of the ship and even had an outdoor patio. The food that we watched coming out here looked great and was definitely more our speed; another note for the next visit!

After finishing our drinks, we headed back onboard to warm up.

We were back onboard before 2:30 and happened to be walking past the Oceaneer Club during an open house. Living with a Vibe-aged daughter, we have not had the opportunity check out the kids clubs. Wii Sports was setup on the main TV and the Club was practically empty allowing Isabelle and I time to play a few holes of Wii Golf.

For each DCL Blog Cruise, we’ve put together a photo scavenger hunt specific to the ship. Well, 2019 was our last time sailing on the Disney Wonder, and a number of things have changed. Even some that are brand new. Within 5 minutes of boarding the ship on embarkation day, I discovered one of the items was already gone, and it was in French Quarter Lounge… THE NEWEST VENUE!!!! As a result, I wanted to walk around and triple check that nothing else was changed. So far so good, until later when I discovered an area of carpet was replaced and my 2017 photo is now out of date. Fan-fricin-tastic, this is starting to look like amateur hour here.

Anyway, if you like to explore the Disney Wonder on your next cruise, here is a link to the revised Disney Wonder photo scavenger hunt updated with a couple changes that reflect the 2024 state of the Disney Wonder. I also have similar scavenger hunts available for the Disney Dream, Disney Magic, and Disney Wish. I will soon be updating the Disney Dream because l suspect the Wall-E art will no longer be in the forward funnel once the Tower Suite is added during the upcoming dry dock.

I also noticed crew members out on deck 4 repainting the shuffle board court which is awesome because we are going to have a shuffleboard tournament later this cruise!

For pre-dinner drinks, we braved the elements for happy hour at Signals. Savings is savings, I will happily go outside for 5 minutes and freeze to save on my bar tab.

Oh dinner. Yeah. I can only imagine how tonight is going to go. We had assurances from our serving team we’d all be out in time for trivia.

It was Mardi Gras night in Tiana’s Place with the main event, LOUIS running around the dining room trying his best to keep his tail from knocking things off tables. Given the show experience, I had my doubts about getting out in a reasonable time. When the server was opening bottles, pouring and serving the bottles and not the assistant server, we knew the writing on the wall meant we would be in for the long haul……

The awesome vegetable medley was served, but still it took nearly forever for the first courses to arrive at our table. There were tables nearby ordering dessert by the time our entrees started to arrive. Our seating was 5:45pm, we were all on time, and the first courses never arrived before 6:25pm each night.

Seriously, Louis is our favorite part of the dinner experience in Tiana’s Place because it sure isn’t the dessert they are attempting to pass off as beignets. They were actually worse than those served in French Quarter Lounge. Like I said, call them something else and they’d be a lovely treat. JUST DON’T CALL THESE BEIGNETS. 

Those of us who stayed, received our desserts at 7:30 just as trivia started. We took the rest of the desserts to-go for those that bolted earlier for trivia and headed out to Crown & Fin. We should know better, the service is abysmally slow and collectively, the table has said something to both our head server and server. Our biggest pet peeve is slow dinner service because there are other activities on the ship we want to do. I understand this is often easier to navigate when dining at a 4 top, but when others in our party are also now speaking up…

It’s adult trivia for a reason. When you play Tik Tok by Ke$ha, expect to hear a mix from the origin to the updated lyric from Coachella.

After a day walking around Sitka, it was time to close out the night and rest up for a day at sea. Also, the map updated!

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.