Alaskan cruise trip report - Day 8 - Ketchikan

Ketchikan

Another day dawned, you guessed it, grey and rainy. While I have been pointing out the weather, I don’t mean it to sound negative. It really didn’t phase us. We had the right outerwear and we just sort of went with it. It didn’t impact our enjoyment of the trip at all. We knew that going to Alaska we might deal with this weather so we were mentally prepared. We just let it roll off our backs. It did help that it was always pretty light. If we had constantly been in pounding torrential rains, it might have been a different story.

I woke up earlier than my family again and went to have something to eat on deck 9. I had a croissant and some cocoa and grabbed some fruits and muffins to take back to the room. Everyone else slept in because we had a later arrival into port this morning. Once awake, Emmaline wanted to go to the Wake Up with Disney Jr. event in the Promenade Lounge at 8:30 so I took her to that after she ate a little food. Then at 9, Tinkerbell was greeting and we hadn’t met her yet (this trip) so we hopped in the very short line to meet Tink.

Then we came back to the room and I got ready for spin class at 9:30. This time I was on the list so I jumped right on and had another great class with Carlin. The view was incredible and it didn’t fog up at all. During the class we made our way down the channel towards Ketchikan and the scenery was amazing. It was such a great way to spend the morning. During the spin class, Roger and Emmaline relaxed in the room and watched some cartoons on the stateroom TV.

After spin class, I came back to the room and showered and just sort of spent a relaxing morning doing not much of anything. We ordered some room service around 11:15 for lunch, which arrived around 11:45.

After lunch, we disembarked the ship and explored the town, walking on Creek Street and doing a bit of shopping. We tried to make a stop at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, but they are closed on Saturdays. Then we tried to ride the funicular, but it was broken. We made a quick stop on board to drop off our purchases before meeting at the visitor’s center for our kayaking trip with Southeast Sea Kayaks.







The other members of our trip were already there (they were also from our Facebook meet group). We walked to the boat that was their base of operations and donned waterproof pants, life jackets, rain jackets (we handed over our rain jackets in exchange for theirs), and waterproof aprons for the kayaks.

The other group were a family of four and were placed in two kayaks with an adult and child in each. Roger, Emmaline and I were all together in a three person kayak and we made our way around the harbor and up to Creek Street to get used to the kayaks. During this time, it became clear that with two adults in one kayak, we had an advantage. With two guides, they decided to split us up and our guide, Clay, took us out across the channel, right under the bow of the Wonder, to the other side and then we kayaked down the bank a little ways before heading back across the channel, and back into the harbor.








After we got all our wet gear off and retrieved our rain coats, Roger and Emmaline went back to the ship while I did a little more shopping. Back on board, waiting for me in the lobby was more hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies. Yes, please! (Again!)

At 5:00 we noticed that Jack Sparrow was greeting near the Walt Disney Theatre so Emmaline and Roger got in line, while I raced back to the room to put on my “Sparrow is my co-pirate” t-shirt (it was in the laundry, but whatever). I raced back upstairs (yay for being on deck two!) and got back in the line just as we were second from the front. Jack was super fun and immediately remarked on my shirt. As I began to leave, he pulled me back in for a hug saying, “I’m not done with you. We’re having a moment here.” He was hilarious and definitely a fun character meet. After meeting Jack, we were able to get in line to meet Remy.

Then it was time for dinner (after changing my shirt back) and we were back in Triton’s again for the Prince and Princess menu. Our table mates were wearing all their pirate garb because they hadn’t realized there was no pirate night and they wanted to wear their stuff. They all looked really cute and we encouraged them to meet with Jack for his second meet and greet at 7:30.

Between dinner and the show, there were more characters that Emmaline wanted to meet. We were able to meet Mrs. Incredible and Jessie before it was time for the show. We also took a quick photo on the Ketchikan backdrop they had set up. Regrettably, I wasn’t really that happy with how those photos came out.

The show for this evening was another variety act, The Magic and Illusion of Shawn Farquar. He was fairly good, but not the most amazing illusionist I’ve seen. Though, his last illusion, a lengthy slight of hand with a deck of cards set to Sting’s “Shape of My Heart” was quite good.

Once again, we fell into bed exhausted from the day, but not before turning our clocks forward as we would be returning to Canada the next day.

Click here for Day 9.