I get the same reaction from everyone when I say I just got back from a Disney Alaska Cruise. The raised eyebrow, the quizzical frown. The titans of the manufactured experience in the heart of nature’s raw beauty? It sounds like a mismatch. But somehow the contrasts work: combining the ultimate hosts and entertainers with the serene beauty of a non-stop wild shoreline makes for a magical experience.
I have to admit that pre-departure I was curious to see if my 24 year old daughter Brett and I would be the odd couple on our Disney Wonder cruise to Alaska. Would we be on the outside looking in or would this be a vacation in which we could fully engage?
The magic gets off to a bit of a slow start – the cruise terminal at the Port of Vancouver is not the happiest place on earth but it does the job efficiently. Unlike at Disney’s dedicated terminal at its Port Canaveral base, it can’t deliver a branded boarding experience at Vancouver’s cavernous general purpose terminal. The job gets done though, as we rub shoulders with the relaxed and well-behaved crowd of multi-generational families and, surprisingly at first, a few honeymooners and other couples.
We wondered why couples would choose such a family specific holiday – with so many kids in tow. We didn’t wonder for long. Those couples were very clever and/or have very clever travel agents. The Disney adult demographic is youngish. Grandma and grandpa are often along, but the senior contingent is not nearly as predominant as on other Alaska, and many other cruise itineraries. Kids are great fun to watch and families that vacation together and want to provide their children with this kind of experience are clearly great families. We were cruising with a whole bunch of very happy, very nice people, many of whom were Disney cruise veterans. We met one 11-year-old on his 3rd Disney cruise – we were such rookies.
Disney makes keeping such lovely people happy look like child’s play. The fun is calibrated for every age group. Babysitting is disguised as full entertainment for toddlers and active children. Teens have their own venues and activities every day and the outdoor basketball and soccer courts were full of active kids of all ages at all times of the day. The shy kids, the awkward kids, the little kids... all energized by the oxygen-rich coastal air.
The crew seemed to enjoy the trip as much as their guests and were invariably friendly, chatty, accessible and enthusiastic. Many have been cruising for Disney for many years but were enchanted by the Alaskan scenery, a Lawren Harris painting come to life. And the scenery is truly a highlight throughout the sailing as much of the route is quite close to the shoreline.
The ports of call in Alaska are also easy for crew and guests – the ports are right in the towns with the formulaic jewellery and souvenir shopping streets of Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan easily accessible on foot. Locals and crew members alike were thrilled that Walmart has recently opened in Juneau. Although it’s Alaska’s capital, it is a remote island community accessible only by plane or long ferry ride. On opening day, all the big box abundance of products was stripped within a few hours and it took a month for the supply ships to get it fully stocked again.
The split between four days at sea and three in port was ideal. One “at sea” day was spent cruising up Tracy Arm to the Sawyer glacier – and back. The waterfalls, icebergs, mountains and the glacier made for spectacular viewing along the entire journey. We later realized we had spent a solid 5 hours standing at the rail taking in the scenery. We couldn’t take our eyes away. Knowing that, the crew had set up coffee, drink and Bar-B-Q stations on deck so no one would have to miss a moment of the view. Throughout that day’s cruise, the kids continued their basketball games while the parental units took in the scenery.
While there are lots of fun interactive and entertaining shore excursions available, we opted for the opportunities to experience the natural setting on guided rain forest walks, a whale watching expedition and sea kayaking.
Our guides were all knowledgeable Alaska enthusiasts – most of them permanently transplanted from more southerly states but too captivated by the close-to-nature lifestyle to ever leave. As advertised, grizzly bears, mountain goats, dolphins, sea otters, sea lions, seals and eagles were all spotted, but the highlight was the humpback whales which we saw at a distance from the ship on a few occasions, but also on our whale watching excursion.
We had been assured that the humpbacks don’t breach while they are in Alaskan waters feeding and nurturing their young. Although our guides knew an awful lot about Alaska’s secrets, we were thrilled that they were dead wrong on that bit of info. We came upon a mother whale with her calf playing, rolling, flapping flippers and breaching repeatedly in the most spectacular synchronized performance our guides had ever seen. Photos aside, the memory is stored forever with me, narrated by 6-year-old Josh from Colorado. He told me he felt very lucky to have seen that. So did I, and taking it all in with Josh and his brother and cousins made it even more special.
Our sea kayaking excursion allowed us to get even closer to the water and the abundant eagles and ravens along the shoreline as we paddled around the Tartoosh Islands out from Ketchikan. There, even close to shore, the waters are up to 3,500 feet deep. As we learned, this provided ideal conditions for testing the sonar of nuclear submarines – you don’t come upon an Ohio Class nuclear sub out on manoeuvres every day. We stayed at a respectable distance as per security requirements. The eagles weren’t fazed.
While the dining rooms aren’t quite as stately as on more adult-focused ships, they weren’t Denny’s either. White tablecloths, lovely service and a delicious selection for both breakfast and dinner came as another pleasant surprise. We enjoyed one elegant evening of northern Italian cuisine in the adults-only Palo for only a $20 per person supplement – a significant bargain. But on other nights we were more than content to dine with the family travellers in the other three excellent onboard dining rooms.
We delighted in waiting 24th in line for our turn to have our pics snapped with Donald & Daisy or watching the Disney Princesses bring a little magic into the lives of kids and adults alike. The characters were very accessible, popping up unexpectedly or as planned for breakfast and photo sessions.
A week is hardly enough time to do it all – but one of our favourite things was to relax in our stateroom taking in a recent movie with one eye while the other could still take in the passing scene. The family rooms are relatively spacious and have plenty of storage space. Their combination of powder room plus bath tub/shower room take the scheduling out of primping, refreshing and bathing. The bath tub is a nice touch – but, then, of course, little kids don’t take showers.
Both Brett and I wanted to do it all over again immediately. We had made lots of wonderful memories and could have made a lot more with another week. Yes, Disney’s got it right – they’ve created the Happiest Place on the Ocean.
