Sunday, August 27
A foggy morning on our last day at sea...
I went to the Promenade Lounge for Disney Trivia, which was so difficult I only got 7 out of 25, but the team that won got, like, 8. Ugh, so close!
Mid-morning I attended a presentation about Alaska's bears. Like at the previous talk in the WD theater, my eyelids grew heavy and I had to struggle to stay focused. I enjoyed the talk, though, I really did! And I learned a lot about Black Bears and Grizzlies.
Afterward, I checked out the gift shops again. There was a lot of Alaska merchandise, but I didn't buy any aside from the pin.
Again, I don't have the Navigator for the day, so I'm just relying on my sparse notes (and, of course, my photos) to remember the events of the day.
I know I spent some time on deck 4 that morning...
At one point, before lunch, there were two events happening simultaneously: Movie Tunes Trivia and Jack Jack's Diaper Dash. Heather went to the former and played as a team with the Guys, and I went to the latter. I don't recall them having the Diaper Dash on C1, perhaps because there were so few children (let alone babies) aboard, and I didn't want to miss it this time around.
Two babies participated. They had to crawl... no walking allowed... from Start to Finish.
Girl Baby started crawling right away, but then stopped about 2/3 of the way down, distracted by kids in the audience who had toys/bubbles. Boy Baby just sat there at the starting line, like, "nope."
Various people tried to entice Girl Baby with shiny cell phones, but she was barely interested.
Eventually Boy Baby did crawl a little...
So close! Come on, babies!
It was nuts because audience members (especially kids) kept flooding the race track. Even though the CM running the event asked them to stay back, no one cared or listened.
But still, it was amusing. At long last, Girl Baby crossed the finish line, to everyone's relief.
Meanwhile, at Movie Tunes Trivia, Heather and the Guys had another no-win. Movie tunes! Something I'm good at! Oh well. No regrets.
Heather and I met up and walked to Cabanas for lunch. On the way, we saw an orca off the port side! I didn't take a photo, since I had gotten shots of an orca the day before, and I didn't have my good camera with me anyway.
As we entered Cabanas, people were rushing to the balcony area behind the restaurant to get a look at the orca, who was now behind the ship. Excitement for everyone!
We ate lunch, then went to TV Tunes Trivia....
Aw, "Name: 31." I don't know who wrote that, but 31 was our table number in the dining rooms! Guess that works as a team name. :) Again, our team did pretty well. Definitely better than the first TV Tunes Trivia we'd done earlier in the cruise.
After TV Tunes Trivia, I was going to stay in Crown & Fin for an Innovations: Theme Parks presentation, but the ship had really started to rock, and I needed to go back to the room for some Bonine. A short while later, I headed to the Promenade Lounge, where I met Heather and the Guys, as well as two new acquaintances, R. and S., for Disney Tunes Trivia.
During this event, I ordered a drink called Parrot Song ("Fresh sliced bananas, coconut cream, pineapple juice.") Unlike my drink a few days prior, this one was super tasty!
For Disney Tunes Trivia they played snippets of Disney songs (nothing too obscure) on a piano and you had to write down the name of the song, name of the the movie from which it was from, and then answer a bonus question pertaining to the movie. You could earn 3 points per question; of course, if you didn't recognize the song, you could hardly expect to get the other 2 points. Somehow, with the 6 of us working together, we managed to get question after question correct.
AND WE GOT A PERFECT SCORE!!
Annnd so did the team next to us!
But that team must have already won medals earlier in the week, or else they were just really nice, because they gave the win to our team without us all having to do a tiebreaker.
So... we got medals! :)
The medals are just rubber/plastic but c'mon... we were so excited!
A few photos from the afternoon...
At 4:30pm we headed back to Crown & Fin for a Pub Quiz. The quiz consisted of different categories -- I think movies, TV, general knowledge, and maybe music? I don't remember.
Heather and I played on a team with the Guys, as well as R. and S., as well as two other folks that (I think?) R. and S. knew. So it was a big team, and although we didn't get a perfect score... we won!
We got 4 prizes to split as a team -- 2 hats and 2 Disney bags. We politely divided them amongst us; I got a bag.
So. We lose at trivia all week and then we win two games in a row! *dances*
At 5:15, I got in line to meet Donald. This time, the line moved quickly.
Photo by Heather M.
Just before 6, Heather and I found seats in the WD Theater for the final stage production of the cruise, Disney Dreams. I'd seen it on C1, but I didn't mind seeing it again. We ended up getting there way before it started, but hey, we got good seats. (I'd recalled from C1 that if you sit up front during this show, you get rained on by bubbles, streamers, etc. And who doesn't want that?)
Like The Golden Mickeys, Disney Dreams' plot is kind of lame, but the dancing/musical numbers in between are fantastic enough to make up for it. This show was also slightly different from its counterpart on the Magic; whether that's because they've updated it or because the shows have always been different on the two ships, I do not know, but I was super excited to see a Beauty and the Beast number this time around.
After the show and before dinner, I spent more time out-of-doors. We ending up having really nice weather today!
I was enjoying the views and the atmosphere so much! I can say I liked or loved a lot of things about this trip, but sitting out on deck 4 with my camera and binoculars is right there at the top of the list.
Especially after this happened...
Dolphins! So many dolphins!
Heather wasn't with me; she was at 2000's Music Trivia in Crown & Fin, but luckily someone in there spotted the dolphins out the pub window and beckoned everyone over, so Heather did get to see them.
Final dinner in Tiana's Place....
For appetizers, both Heather and I ordered side salads. She ordered the "small" and I the "large", but as far as I could tell the only difference between our salads was the physical dish sizes. Pretty sure we got the same amount of actual food. ;)
Tiana!
At one point Tiana left the stage to go find her a "Prince Naveen." She selected a kid from a table near ours. In the pic below, she's walking with him (he's got a gray vest/shirt on). The other kids at his table are like jealous!
Tiana took "Naveen" on stage and danced with him. We couldn't really see much happening up there, our table being so far away, but I assume it was adorable.
Louis the alligator came by the tables tonight. I seem to recall he came by on the first night, too. His tail almost took out some fine china at one of the tables, so I question the safety of his gallivanting.
My appetizer this evening was Eudora's Artichoke Ravioli ("with sauteed spinach, lemon butter, sage and pecorino cheese.") It was tasty, but not my favorite entree of the week.
The dessert menus came. My tablemates said that the menus light up! Only... some of our menus didn't. Time for new batteries, I suppose. This one did, though!
All six of us ordered the beignets.
But before they could come... we got to watch a parade!
Sorry these are blurry. It was such a fast parade, see...
I think this ^ was our Server.
After the parade, the desserts arrived...
Everyone at our table initially got two beignets, which came with an espresso dipping sauce that nobody seemed to care for.
I also ordered the Southern Style Pecan Nut Tart...
And Heather got the New Orleans Banana Foster Sundae...
Heather and I each ate one beignet and gave the others to our Lady tablemates, C. and B, who were big fans of the treats. Soon after, we said goodbye to them and also to our servers, since we wouldn't be there for breakfast the next morning. The guys had zipped out to go to an event, but we were sure to see them in Azure later.
After dinner, we spent a few minutes at the 'Til We Meet Again party in the atrium...
I got a photo with Daisy...
I spotted land & lights outside...
We then headed to Azure. That night, we played a group game called Pop! which was a pop culture trivia matching game.
Then we did an event called 80's Flashback, where we were divided into 2 teams.
In turns, each team had to identify a song from a clip, then do a physical challenge in order to earn points.
Challenges ranged from Thriller to line dancing to human pyramids.
I was laughing so hard.
When it was time to go, many people said a personal goodbye to, or even hugged, the MC, Jo, who had been entertaining us each evening that week.
Back at the room, Heather and I ordered room service one last time. (Cookies!)
As it was the final night, I couldn't bring myself to just go to bed, then. I wanted to take a few more pictures around the ship. I walked up to decks 9 and 10. There were only a few people out there; a few CMs cleaning, and a couple of passengers. It was sort of eerie.
Finally, it was time for bed... our last sleep on the ship....
Goodnight, weird towel creature.
Monday, August 28
We woke up very early, before 7. Heather ran up to Cabanas to get some food for both of us. I had packed the night before, but I still had a few things to try to stuff into my bags. With all our Fish Extender gifts, I was leaving with a lot more than I'd arrived with, but I managed to cart it all off the ship with only one casualty (that BATB pin, alas....)
We did Express Walkoff. It was quick and only slightly painful. Back at Canada Place, we walked to the area where the taxis were. We waited about five minutes in line, got our cab, and zipped to the train station. At the station, there were no signs or info. or anything telling us about the bus we were to catch, but eventually we figured it out. (Train stations, I've discovered, seem to be years behind airports in many respects. And yet... you never have to remove your shoes and get scanned, so... win.)
Our bus left Vancouver and made its way south. A stop at customs. Then Seattle. Train. Southward to Portland. Just north of Vancouver, Washington (about 20 minutes from Portland) the train got stopped for about an hour, waiting for its turn to cross the bridges. Oh, apparently Portland was still having a scorching summer. Welcome back from Alaska! Have some 96-degree heat!
Heather's dad was waiting at the train station, and he drove us to our various homes.
And just like that, my trip was over.
The trip I'd been eagerly anticipating for months and months.
Sigh!
But I had a great time, and I guess that's what matters!
One more thing before I end this...
Comparison between Cruise 1 and Cruise 2
Cruise 1 (September, 2015)
Ship: Disney Magic
Nights: 11
Departed From: Barcelona
Landed In: Miami
Ports: Funchal, Madeira; Castaway Cay
Room: Deck 2, Forward, Starboard, Porthole View
Traveled With: Myself
Favorite Things: Eating, sitting in a porthole seat and watching the waves while listening to audiobooks, activities in the Kids Club during Open House, crafts, watching Disney movies on TV.
Cruise 2 (August, 2017)
Ship: Disney Wonder
Nights: 7
Departed From: Vancouver B.C.
Landed In: Vancouver B.C.
Ports: Skagway; Juneau; Ketchikan
Room: Deck 5, Aft, Port, Inside Room
Traveled With: Friend
Favorite Things: Sitting on deck 4 watching the scenery, late-night activities in Azure, trivia, fun and sometimes hilarious dinners!
I currently have no vacations planned. I'm thinking Disneyland, though... ;)
1 comment:
It took me two weekends of reading here and there, but I finally finished reading your blog of this trip, and enjoyed it immensely! Great pics, videos and stories. You sure know how to make the most of a trip.
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