Disney Alaska Cruise: First Day at Sea, Part I

I had made reservations for a character breakfast for our first day at sea.  The only time available was 7:45, which seemed early.  However, our group has many early risers, so it worked out fine.  The breakfast was located at Animator’s Palate, the same restaurant we had eaten at the night before.

The waiters made us napkin hats to wear on our heads.

Not everyone seemed especially pleased.

Here are some of k’s thoughts about the breakfast:

Since we had a character breakfast, there were Disney characters that took pictures with us.  We also got hats made out of cloth napkins to wear.  I ate scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and a mini chocolate croissant.  Since it was breakfast, and not dinner, our server’s name was Charlie.  Daddy found out that he was a Christian.

The menu featured breakfast basics that you could choose from to make your own plate.  I had a Denver omelet, bacon, grilled tomato and Mickey waffle.  There were also various muffins and croissants being passed around by the servers.

My youngest sister actually was not feeling too well at this point and had to excuse herself back to her room.  I am glad that I was able to take this picture before she left.  She ended up feeling better later on, so all was well.  I was afraid I would feel seasick (as I do on smaller boats), but I took Bonine every night, including the night before I even boarded the ship.  I also wore Seabands.  I am not sure if I would have been sick without these preventative measures, but our days at sea were the only days I could really feel any movement.

My tip for the character breakfasts would be to sit on the same side of the table with the people you want to take the most pictures with.  n was on the other side of the table from us, but you are not supposed to get up from your seat once the characters start coming by.

After breakfast, we went to the kids club open house.  There were two clubs for kids age 3-12.  The first is the Oceaneer Club, which was geared for younger kids and, and featured storytelling and imagination.  The Oceaneer Lab had more of the hands on activities, including cooking and science experiments.

I appreciated these handwashing stations that every child had to use before entering the kids areas.  Our kids stayed healthy during the entire trip!

This Marvel-themed area looked really cool, but I think it needed some more interactive features.

There was also an area based on Andy’s bedroom from Toy Story.

After the exploring the Oceaneer Club, we checked the kids into the Lab.  k’s thoughts:

In the Oceaneer Lab, we did a program called “Gasses in Action”.  The program was science-based.  We got to do experiments like putting Mentos through a tube and having it land in a Coca-Cola bottle.  It ended up exploding on the ceiling, so it was good that there was paper on the ceiling. 

The kids were able to check themselves in and out of the club using their bracelets.  n just made the cut-off for this privilege since he is eight years old.  By the second day, I felt comfortable letting the kids go by themselves to different places on the ship, as long as they stayed together.

While the kids were in the Lab, D and I checked out the Cove Café.  It was a nice, quiet, adults-only space to relax.

After that we went to an educational seminar presented by Doug Jones, a naturalist.  He gave an introduction about the Alaskan Wilderness.  I thought it was informative, but in hindsight we should have just had it on the television in our stateroom while enjoying the scenery from our verandah since they played his talks on a continuous loop.  After that, I went to a port shopping seminar that promised some free gifts.  I returned empty-handed, but did have some coupons that I was able to redeem later on in Skagway.

Next, it was time for lunch.  We wanted to check out the offerings at Cabanas, which is the only buffet onboard.

It was kind of crowded inside, so we opted for an outside table even though it was chilly.

There was quite an array of food.  I took a little bit of a lot of things.  Sorry, I did not arrange my plate to look appetizing!  This was one of the two meals on the whole cruise where D over-stuffed himself.  He had a full plate of food and had missed the whole seafood section, so he went back for another plate.  Then the kids said they wanted to try the Mexican food section, but they did not eat much of it.  So, D took it upon himself to finish it!

Of course, there is always room for dessert–tiramisu parfait.

And, we could not pass up the mango and pina colada soft serve being offered that day!

The sun was out and the scenery was constantly changing.

That morning, we had received our first Fish Extender gifts, and they were amazing.  I will write a separate post explaining Fish Extenders later.  The kids were eager to deliver our Fish Extenders to the other people in our group in the early afternoon.

At 2:00, the kids joined us for another talk by Doug Jones.  This time it was about whales.  At 3:00, I took the kids to make a Disney ship 3D paper craft.

I found their matching Mickey shirts at Uniqlo the week before we left for the cruise.  I liked that they were kind of nautical and gender-neutral!