Disney Alaskan Cruise Part ONE



HELLO ALASKA.
Disney STYLE.
This was a much anticipated trip and it was a dream come true to be able to see Alaska for the first time with my whole family! ( Just Missing my cute sister serving her church mission in Peru ! )
My dad has always traveled a lot for his job so it's rare to find a place even he has never been to!
It was a FIRST for all of us!



I've gotten so many questions about this trip and I will do my best to tell you what we saw and did in a "PART 1" and "PART 2" post! We are obviously far from pros after only one week of being there ;) haha! BUT I would 1,000 percent recommend it to anyone! Seriously one of my most favorite vacations to date!



Alaska, we are huge fans. ^^
It is one of the most beautiful places with the most lush green mountains and greenest blue ocean water - All the heart eye emojis here!



Ryan could not understand why it was freezing every time you walked outside on the ship haha!
The weather was a shock to the system for my Texas boys!
It was definitely a NICE change from the 100 degrees we had been experiencing in Houston! ;)

Needless to say we didn't bring warm enough clothes! ^^ #fail -- I will be doing a post later on with what to pack - so stay tuned!



This is honestly the scenery outside the boat for 90 percent of the trip! ^^ It's beyond beautiful! Hard to even describe so I will just let most of the pictures do the talking. We saw sea lions, whales, bald eagles, and "jumping fish" as Ryan would say, all from our boat - SO SO COOL!





Cutest mama ever. ^^


To start the trip we had a couple "days at sea" - this particular day at sea we went in through a Fjord to an iceberg called Tracey's Arm.
We sat outside for about 4 hours just watching the scenery ( because it's AMAZING! ) and drank multiple cups of hot chocolate to keep us warm ;)



my two youngest siblings all grown up.


Wrapped in blankets ;) ^^ The ship provides endless amounts of blankets for you to take outside which is so nice!
Just noticing Ryan's STICK and cheesy smile in this picture and laughing. I'm not sure what the stick is for? ( or from ha! )


Newest sis in law and my kids are obsessed with her!
She and my brother just got married in MAY !! I blogged their wedding HERE.



I had a few titanic scare moments watching these huge icebergs we were going past! haha slightly kidding but i really did think about that movie when i saw them... ^^ ANND not to stay on the subject but I couldn't help but think how COLD that water is!!! Oh my gosh! Ok off Titanic tangent - Aaron kept telling me, "babe, we ARE NOT going to hit an iceberg" haha!
A few of the icebergs had sea lions on them and I apparently didn't get a picture- dang it! But it was SO cool!


These waterfalls ^^ 


These two buddies! ^^



Little love bug ^^


BFF ;) ^ andddd We made it to the iceberg! ^^ INCREDIBLE.



Inside joke... but check out his stretching ^^ haha!!
My dad is the coolest.


Ryan just one of the big kids! ^^ The wonderful thing about a Disney cruise is that you can take your babies to the kids club to nap. It was too cold to have Luke and my little nephew sitting outside so we took them to the kids club on the boat and had them nap :) Which brings me to what I want to talk about next -- THE BOAT~

Disney seriously knows how to do it right.


The boat is SO fun! I look forward to "at sea days"!
My family got up and worked out and ran on this track almost every morning ^^ I love that we can all run together! My fav! It was cold but had an incredibly dreamy scenery so a 5 - 6 mile run - or 19 times around the boat didn't feel so awful ;) HA!
We had to run lots so we could order every dessert on the menu each night to try... right!?


the massive kids club that Ryan was obsessed with ^^
( Kids 3 and older can be in the big one and then there is a separate nursery for toddlers / babies 3 and under )


Luke wished so bad he could hit this playroom up with Ryan :( He was too little but they had open house times throughout the day where any age could go play so we made sure to take Luke and Ry together.



Our cute waiter cut out aaron's head of the picture ^^ haha! WHOOPS.


And then she tried again and the left side got cut out haha! ^^ 

There are 3 dinner restaurants on the ship and this is my favorite one ^^

The drawings on the walls dance and have a little "show" throughout your dinner - kid heaven.
You get to draw a cartoon one night and SOMEHOW it comes to life on the screen up above your table! ( no idea how they do it! )


I can't count the amount of ice cream sundaes I consumed on this trip. ^^


Dressing up and going to the broadway style disney shows at night is my favorite part of a Disney cruise!
They had a FROZEN broadway one night and oh my goodness, it was unreal!
Elsa sounded JUST like Elphaba from "WICKED" if anyone is into broadways ;)
Just can't beat Disney music so all the shows every night were entertaining for adults and kids!




They have CONSTANT disney movies playing in your room-- Every TV channel has a different disney movie!
There is also a theater on the ship with the latest movies playing - new Spiderman, new Pirates of the Caribbean, new cars 3 movie etc! Ryan was in heaven!



ANNNDD Disney characters - EVERYWHERE! ^^ This is as close as Luke would get.
He's not scared of many things - but apparently he's a little scared of people in costumes ;)
I can't imagine having a baby girl with all the princesses walking around the boat - HEAVEN! Ry and Luke could care less about the princesses haha! But my girly - disney princess loving self was dying inside!

Pools were heated and even the slide was working! It was so funny, the worker lifeguarding the slide was in a parka, hat and gloves haha! My family did hot tub once or twice and said it felt so good!





A few more scenery pictures from the first couple days we were there because it's SO pretty!

ITINERARY / PORTS :
We had 3 ports of call and the rest of the days were at sea.
FIRST PORT OF CALL : SKAGWAY 



When in Skagway, get polar bear chocolate suckers ;) anndd!



And go to Klondike Doughboy and get the best cinnamon bread fried things ever!
OH MY GOSH! we kept trying to find another Klondike Doughboy in the other towns we went to on the trip and there wasn't any! So definitely go in Skagway!




This was my favorite "town" we stopped in! Ok but seriously. Cutest little town tucked right in the mountains! ^^



We toured the little town in the morning and then later on boarded an ocean speed raft .



I honestly can't describe how beautiful it was! ^^ Our driver did doughnuts and sharp turns and it secretly freaked me out but Aaron was in heaven. It was SO fun to be piled on a boat with my fam in orange sumo puff suits!
One of those "once in a lifetime times" that you can't replicate!





Look how TALL that water fall is!! ^^ All the heart eyes!



Spotted 25 bald eagles on our excursion! ^^ Yes, we counted :) HA!







These suits keep you so warm- ^^ in case you were wondering ;)
The excursion gives you goggles, gloves and hats in case you didn't bring them.\


First port in Skagway was a success.
Juneau and Ketchikan coming soon! This is already the longest post ever ;)



And thanks to the worlds best aunts and uncles for being my kids heros! ^^

Karina Marie Powell

5 comments:

  1. Wow, this looks amazing! Gorgeous photos too! Everyone in your family is so photogenic. #goals

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  2. Agree on the Disney Cruise!

    We took our daughter this summer for her 4th birthday to the Bahamas (2 days to Castaway Cay and 1 day to Nassau). She had a ball! She did the boutique for her birthday and had her Elsa dress on with her birthday sash. Everybody stopped to talk to her. Got back to our room with a surprise from our steward. Her bed had Frozen sheets, a cake made out of towels and a hand written letter from Elsa. She was in heaven! When we met Elsa and Anna the next day, Elsa knew her by name (said 'hello Vivian' as she was walking to them) and asked about her birthday. It was the icing on the cake, or pixie dusted with Disney's magic 😊 We did leave our 2 year old home with my parents. Joanna would have never slept on the cruise 😉

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  3. Amazing! That would be so weird to go on a cruise and have icebergs around all there time! I would be so confused! Can't wait to read more!!

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  4. What an amazing trip - i have to be honest, I HATE the cold so Alaska really isn't on my list!! But a Disney cruise with our girls definitely is x

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