Our arrival into Juneau came with a lot of excitement and anticipation. We had booked the dog sledding port adventure on the Mendenhall Glacier through Disney Cruise Line and this was going to be the highlight of our cruise. But first, we had several hours before our excursion would begin, so we we had plans to go ashore.

Juneau is a cool little city tucked into the side of a mountain. Being the capital of Alaska, it’s definitely more commercial than the other ports of call, but it still has a local, small town feel.

We got off the ship around 10:00 and took the shuttle into downtown. It’s a short ride, but walking would take about 20 minutes. By that time, the sun was already out and it was quite hot.

We walked up and down the main street (which is actually call S Franklin Street) and took mental notes of some of the merchandise we might be interested in. On our way back, we stopped in one of the shops and purchased some Alaska apparel. The kids got a kick out of some of the props some of the stores had out front.

There are a few good spots along the water to take some pictures, so we made our way over there before heading back to the ship.

On our way to catch the shuttle back to the ship, a man from one of the shore excursion kiosks was yelling over to us asking if we had plans for the day. We told him that we were heading to a dog sledding excursion, so we didn’t need something else to do. He yelled over to us that our excursion was going to get cancelled and pleaded with us to come talk to him. I told him that we were all set, but this turned out to be an omen of bad news to come.

As we boarded the bus to head back to the ship, his words weren’t sitting well with me. But I brushed them off thinking there was NO way our port adventure would be cancelled on a day like today.

We made our way back to the room, threw on some layers, packed our day bag, and headed off to Azure to meet for the port adventure. As we walked in with big smiles on our faces, the cast member informed us that our helicopter and dog sledding activity had been cancelled because it was unsafe to go up on the glacier.

I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t understand how this could be possible given the conditions outside. It might have been the most beautiful day of our entire cruise. I mean…

It was a picture-perfect day. I needed (and still feel like I need) a better explanation of why it was unsafe on a day like today. I needed some facts – wind speed on the glacier was ______; the conditions were bad because ______. I feel like that might have helped dull the pain a little bit. Needless to say, we received no explanation and all of us were left devastated.

Back in our room, they had left us a “sorry about the bad news” care package in the few minutes that we had stepped out to check in for our port adventure.

In hindsight, I would have booked this shore excursion privately directly through the helicopter company. Coastal Helicopters visits a different glacier than the ones that the DCL port adventures do and I found out later on that they were actually able to bring guests to the glacier for their dog sledding adventures. I also believe that the helicopter companies have different standards for those who book through the cruise line versus booking directly with them – it’s probably a liability thing. Lesson learned. Next time, I’ll book directly through the helicopter company.

At that time, we all felt so defeated that we didn’t really feeling like putting in the effort to try to find something else to do. Once again, if I could go back in time, I would have opted to take a ride over to see the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls.

After the shock and disappointment faded, there was still one thing I wanted to do in Juneau – I wanted some king crab.

Tracy’s King Crab Shack is located in the center of town (you can’t miss it) and is highly recommended. The king crab was fresh and delicious and I would absolutely go back there again.

The afternoon, which felt like any day in the Caribbean because of how hot and sunny it was, was spent on the pool deck. Before heading back to the room to change for dinner, I made my way to the upper deck and watched us sail away from Juneau and couldn’t stop myself from thinking about what could have been.

After dinner, the 25th Anniversary Soiree was taking place in the lobby atrium. There were servers passing out free (blue) drinks and it definitely wasn’t as crowded as I expected it to be. I grabbed one of the drinks knowing I probably wouldn’t care for it, but I was more interested in the picture.

Captain Fabian and Cruise Director, Trent, shared some prepared words and then introduced the characters in their 25th Anniversary costumes. They played the signature “Silver Anniversary at Sea” song and the party was over soon after that. (I really wish I had some of these media files in landscape orientation).

That evening, Frozen: A Musical Spectacular was playing in the Walt Disney Theater. I had not seen this before, so I was excited, despite the fact that I am not a huge fan of the movie. That didn’t matter because the performance was amazing and the production and creative teams continue to amaze me with what they are capable of accomplishing on a cruise ship.

After that, it was time for bed.

---