Exploring Southeast Alaska: Disney Cruise Naturalist Gig #2

We just completed our second Disney cruise gig (read history on how we became cruise ship naturalists here), and this time we brought Justin’s mom & oldest nephew on Justin’s side (Everett). It was even more magical than any of us could have imagined!!!! The TLDR summary is that we experienced completely unprecedented weather for September in Southeast Alaska, saw so many marine mammals (orcas!!) & our Disney fandom has expanded as we spend more and more time on Disney cruises. And I somehow took like 200 photos and narrowed those down to 50, so this is very picture heavy!

Let’s start with the weather. The cruise goes through Southeast Alaska—the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. One of the ports where we stop (Ketchikan) receives an average of 12.5 FEET of rain/year. Did we see a drop of rain? Nope. Temps were cool, but we had nonstop clear skies. 

We wondered if teenager Everett would think the Disney vibe was cheesy, but he did not! It’s just hard not to feel the magic of Disney if you open yourself to it! In any case, he was all in for character pictures, all the shows (so many shows on Disney cruises!), decorating our door and other fun activities like drawing & towel-folding classes! 

Everett also loved the freedom of the food … I lost count how many ice creams he had. Gosh what I wouldn’t do to have the metabolism of a teenager. Meanwhile, I’m trying to resist any sugar temptations, gain weight when just looking at food & trying to get steps in to keep my bones from crumbling … 

Moving on … the cruise itinerary on the Magic was Vancouver-Day at Sea-Dawes Glacier Viewing-Skagway-Icy Strait-Ketchikan-Day at Sea-Vancouver. When Justin & I cruised in May, we didn’t do any excursions since they cost a small fortune & we were so focused on our presentations. This time, we indulged a bit more for the benefit of our nephew & Justin’s mom & booked 3 port excursions. 

In Ketchikan, we did the lumberjack show, which we thought was a hoot.

We did the 3-hour train ride in Skagway, which follows the 45-mile White Pass Trail that gold prospectors followed out of Skagway UP 3000 feet into Canada during the Klondike Gold Rush in the fall of 1897. If you know nothing about the gold rush, it was an unforgiving path with very little reward (for most), and even deadly. I love history, so I loved hearing the narration. But the scenery blew me away more than I anticipated!

In Icy Strait, we went whale watching, which delivered! We saw humpbacks whales, sea lions & sea otters! But the best was seeing orcas (common name killer whales which is a misconception because they are dolphins that actually eat whales!). 

Side note, Icy Strait is an interesting port. The Huna Totem Corp opened it as the first indigenous-owned private cruise destination in 2004, and Justin & I had visited it in 2006 on our cruise. It was really nothing at that point, but boy have they built it up! And now they see 1 million cruise passengers/year! 

Post-cruise ship, the four of us explored Vancouver and Vancouver Island (Victoria) for 2 days. Justin & I are not city people, but Vancouver is such a pretty city, and our weather luck continued. We walked around Gastown (see below for the famous clock powered partially by steam!), the Vancouver Seawall & into Stanley Park.

Then we did an all-day tour, which almost got ruined (see screenshot below for the minor hiccup that was fixed quickly by the company thankfully). That all-day tour included a ferry ride over to Vancouver Island (Victoria) to see the Parliament & tour the famous Butchart Gardens. This flower-planting endeavor began in the 1900s when Jennie Butchart transformed an unsightly 40-foot quarry pit into a garden, now sprawling across 55 acres and still family-owned. It was well worth the visit! 

All in all, the trip was even better than we all could have anticipated! Our presentations went well & were well attended. Our server team and the food were beyond awesome. We hope to be invited back as naturalists for the 2027 cruising season, (and hope to take Everett’s younger brother, Owen, on this same cruise next year)!!!!