Well hey everyone! Welcome to Day 5 of our Alaska 2026 trip!
And Day 5? Day 5 is when we actually like see some Alaska for the first time.
I know. I’m excited too.
Today’s a port day which means you all, along with us all, get to experience a brand new location. Which is kind of awesome right?
And this one is a long one, y’all. So I say we just get right to it.
Our “It’s my birthday” 2026 Alaskan Trip – Day 5
Guys – we made it to Alaska!!
On Day 5, we were up all kinds of early (I think like 4:30AM) to watch the ship pull into Ketchikan!
As you can see from those pictures, it was a bit overcast in the morning and there was slight drizzle here and there, but man – it was still intensely pretty out there.
Oh and AND we got our first real glimpse of Alaskan wildlife. Check it out – bald eagles!!
Sorry. Follicularly-challenged eagles.
Majestic AF tho.
At around 5:00AM, we actually started to see the port!!
Ketchi-can you see it?
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I know. Look, I have to pun. Legit every port on this cruise has a pun-forward name. It would be a crime to let them go to waste. So just like…let’s just sit back and enjoy it.
Here’s a view of the port from the bridge cam.
Ketchi-cam you see it?
Sorry.
It’s a sickness.
As we were pulling into port, I figured we may want some coffees to enjoy on the balcony as Ketchikan came ever closer. So I made the walk down to the International Café to get some coffees, including once again a Salted Caramel Swirl.
As I said in the last post, get used to hearing Salted Caramel Swirl like a lot. I mean that’s like 5 times now in two posts.
I brought our coffees up to enjoy on the balcony.
Oh and today was obvs squad flannel day.
Ha we look like a bunch of Pearl Jams.
Right, and eventually I remembered to pour my Salted Caramel Swirl (6!!) in my mug.
I think our official arrival time in Ketchikan was 6:00AM. And as of right now at this point, we kind of had no plans for our time in port. That wasn’t always the case though.
We had originally booked the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show on account of it looking just sort of like the thing people do in Ketchikan. However, as you can probably tell from our attire above there, today was gonna be kind of rough weather-wise. Rain was in the forecast so they cancelled the show the night before, leaving us high and dry..er…wet.
So yeah, the current plan was to spend some time walking around Ketchikan, have some drinks, eat some snacks. Take it in and what not. That was the current plan when we got off the ship.
But as we started to walk into town, we came across this stand advertising wildlife tours right off the pier and decided to ask what they were all about.
I also did a quick Gemini search off that photo to see if they were legit and worth it AND the guy selling the tour offered us a hefty discount since we were nine people. And the only thing better than a discount is a hefty discount. That’s the Goodreau family motto.
So yeah, of course we did it. You think I’d tell that whole story without actually doing the tour?
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Yeah. I probably would. But whatevz. We did it. We paid our money and the tour operators told us to walk over to the grey van and get in.
As we approached the van, a gentleman in a top hat and glasses stuffed us and some black balloons inside.
I love balloons.
Although we were a large group…
…we did still end up sharing our van with a family of three. Thankfully, they were very nice. Because if they weren’t?
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Well, I don’t know what would have happened. But I know it wouldn’t have been pleasant and would have involved some pretty harsh blogging.
Don’t F with a blogger. Is what I am saying to you now.
Soon after we all were boarded, our tour guide Al (who was awesome btw) jumped into the driver’s seat and we were off. Al grew up around here and has lived here all his life so as we drove through Ketchikan, he kept us entertained with stories about his childhood, his life, his family, and Ketchikan itself. Yah, Al was great.
Just as we were kind of leaving the downtown area, we had our first wildlife sighting. Off to the right, two bald eagles were chilling in a tree. Al pulled over so we could get a better look.
America. Spread your golden wings.
But.
BUT.
BUTTTT.
We drove on a little further and Liam, looking off to the right and was like, “I taught I taw a bear.”
And Al confirmed it – “he did. He did taw a bear.”
I mean. It didn’t go down exactly like that. But you get the gist.
So Al pulled over at this bridge heading out of town and said we should get out to take a closer look. Mia said what maybe we all were thinking at that moment – “wait, we are getting out? But there are bears.”
Mia deffo got over her fear real quick though as once we were out of the van? She immediately bolted across the busy street to get a look at the bear. Which btw…the bear at this point was walking under the bridge and coming over to the side where we parked.
Mamma mia. Amirite?
But yeah.
Lookit this guy.
Amazing. Seriously. Seeing bears was like on the top of my list for this trip and this black bear over here was out and about like our first port day. F’whatt? But I get it. Dude picked a pretty picturesque spot.
We watched him as he made his way down the water and settled in the grassy area over to the left. As my talented assistant Mia is pointing out.
And whoa. There were even two bears on the bridge.
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What? I mean. We would be, wouldn’t we?
But yeah – we obviously succumbed to our own vanity and took some pictures of ourselves. Because nature schmature, right?
As the bear was making his way further down to the other side of the water, Al suggested we hop in the van and drive over that way to get a better view of him. It was like a quick 5-minute ride around to the other side. And yeah, we def got a nice view over there.
And eventually? ANOTHER BEAR SHOWED UP!!!11
Seriously. I can’t with these two.
Yeah, I know. Sorry. Hope it wasn’t an un-bear-able amount of photos.
I know. I had to. You knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. It had to be done.
But hey look – Larissa and Mia!
We also btw saw another bald eagle while we were bear-watching.
But at this point, it was like…oh another eagle? Yawntown.
Kidding. You know I love you, bald eagles.
Also while we were over there doing our thing, Al told us this story about a time he came face to face with a mama bear after her cubs came rolling out of some bushes at his feet. Dude. Al has L-I-V-E-D.
After storytime and one last look at our furry tractors, we were back in the van for a quick drive to our next stop – Rainbow Falls.
Those are Falls.
Those are Falls-zones.
That’s Myles and Hannah.
Al also asked all of us to stand in front of the falls for a pic.
Sorry, did I say A pic? I meant 37 pics. Al took 37 versions of that same picture. No exaggeration. I know this because I have 37 of this same picture on my phone.
Dude was dedicated to getting the right shot. As you can see in this very poorly made gif.
I don’t know why it’s blurry either. But like, I ain’t creating that again. That took me like half a day’s work.
Al then took us on a little drive through the Saxman Native Village to get a look at some totems. We didn’t really stop anywhere and nobody totem to.
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Ahem.
But Al did narrate the entire time, letting us know places like this for example is the Beaver Clan House.
Our last tour stop was at City Park back in Ketchikan.
Which was a pretty park.
With pretty girls.
We were all given free reign – big mistake – to walk and explore for a few minutes. And yeah, it was a pretty spot.
Also? There WAS a bathroom here. And based on my personal experience? It worked.
The tour wrapped up at Creek Street, where Al dropped us off so we could do some Ketchikan-ing on our own. Oh but hey – look. Al!!
What a great tour though and Al was awesome. And it was made all the better by being just sort of a spontaneous thing we didn’t expect.
Like, don’t get used to that though. Everything else has been very carefully planned and mapped out on this trip.
But right, we were let off on the far end of Creek St, which would allow us to walk and explore Creek St on the way back towards the ship. The beginning of where we entered Creek St was near a salmon ladder and this sign, which led me to believe that at the height of salmon season, this thing be brimming with fish.
No salmon today unforch. But eh – Mia was there at least. So things were looking up.
Not Mia though. She was looking straight ahead.
The walk to the main kind of “downtown” area was both over the river AND through the woods.
All in all, the walk to I guess what maybe some would call “Creek Street Proper” was a little under ten minutes.
I mean, eh. When I say some would call it that, I honestly don’t think anyone ever has. In fact, it should be called “Creek Street Im-proper.” On account of this was Ketchikan’s Red Light District back in the day.
Unfortunately Fortunately, that’s not the case anymore.
Now it’s largely gift shops, places to eat, etc…but it’s a pretty cool setup they got there with the water and everything on stilts and what not. We stopped in at – I think – The Christmas House first. They btw lean very hard into the brothel of it all.
I was almost a Brothel Inspector, but I never made it out of the academy. I kept flunking the final exam.
It was oral.
It’s wild that I have written like nine pages and it’s only 9:30AM. But yeah, it was 9:30 at this point. And hey look, there’s our ship!!
Our tour also included tickets to Dolly’s House.
As I mentioned before, Creek Street was Ketchikan’s Red Light District and Dolly’s was an operating brothel from 1919-1954 and now operates as a museum that offers a peek into Ketchikan’s colorful past.
Sounds interesting, right?
Welp, we didn’t go in. I think the whole flunking out of the Brothel Inspector Academy situation was still just too raw.
Oh look – here’s another place we didn’t enter. But still, we had to make use of the sign. On account of we were actually drenched in Alaska.
Get it? I know. Too clever.
Given we really didn’t have much in the way of breakfast, we were all getting a little hangry at this point and in Ketchikan – there were two spots we heard A LOT about in our research. One was the Alaska Crepe Co (https://alaskacrepe.co/), which was a short walk away from the clever joke we just made.
We all kind of just got a smattering of sweet and savory crepes. Nickie and I split a standard Butter & Brown Sugar but I also did get a couple bites of Myles’s Classic Breakfast Crepe (bacon, scrambled egg, cheddar cheese, seasoned salt) as well.
Both were delicious. In fact, I think still some people in our group would say this was some of the best food we had the entire trip. The crepes were delicate, subtly sweet, and buttery with some crisp around the edges. And they paired well with both the sweet and savory fillings.
Crepes crepes crepes.
While we were waiting for our crepes, some of us went over to Bootleggers Creek next door for some coffees to enjoy with our crepes.
I went with the Bootlegger, which was a Bourbon Butterscotch Latte.
Of course I did. That’s the name of the place. So obviously its what I am supposed to get.
I’m very impressionable.
But it WAS good. Very good actually.
The other breakfast-y place we heard a lot about when we were doing our Ketchikan research was Jellyfish Donuts.
However, we ALSO heard about this place that was both a bar AND a liquor store. And we just had to see that.
So while the kids went off to Jellyfish to complete the trifecta for us, Tony, Larissa, Nickie and I walked over to Sourdough Bar & Liquor Store.
This place.
Pfft. A bar and a liquor store. What a time to be alive.
This place has everything. Alcohol. Pictures of ships. Pool tables. A frikkin Godzilla pinball machine. And you know that thing where you feel like a place looks like somewhere you could get beat up but also everyone is nice and you’re not sure if this is a place for tourists or locals but you’re uneasy either way?
The girls picked up some wine to bring on the ship and we all sat down at the bar. Tony and I each got a Bloody Mary but I don’t have any pictures of what the girls ordered. I am gonna go ahead and assume it was mimosas though. Because they predictable AF.
And like I said, the kids had made their way over to Jellyfish Donuts and they got a bunch of donuts, man. Oh. You donut believe me?
Well here’s the proof sucka.
I asked them to pick me up one of their famous Salmon Donuts.
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I know, right? A salmon donut, Arnold. That’s what I’m talkin bout. Willis.
Here is a closeup of it alongside a Maple Bacon.
And you know what? It was real frickin good. It was covered more with like a creamy salmon cream cheese almost. And as you can maybe see in that picture there, there were also scallions and chunks of salmon in there. And the donut itself was like kind of a plain dough donut with no kind of glaze or anything there.
It was giving bagel with lox.
Good stuff.
At this point, we kind of felt like we did Ketchikan and, like, it was kind of craptastic weather. So we made the call to head back on the shi…whoa, another eagle!!
Haaaaa…right? See what I did there? That’s made of wood, silly goose.
But right, let’s get back on the ship there.
Once we were on the ship, we realized breakfast was like over 45 minutes ago.
So it was time for lunch.
And lunch today was at Gigi’s Pizzeria by Alfredo.
Gigi’s by Alfredo is the casual pizza shop on the Discovery Princess. Not to be confused with Alfredo’s Pizzeria, the casual pizza shop on some other Princess ships.
Yeah, Princess be like…
We put our names in and while we were waiting, grabbed a drink over at Bellini’s Bar next door.
Tony and I both got Fellinis (St. Germain, St. George Raspberry Liqueur, Prosecco, Herbal Butterfly Tea, Orange Bitters).
Which were very good. I am pretty sure these were not the last Fellinis we ordered on this trip.
Or I dunno maybe they were. You expect me to keep track of all these drinks? I was drunk.
Case in point? We got those drinks at around noon (12:01 to be exact). And the very next picture I have is this one, taken when we were seated at Gigi’s, at 12:25.
Staying sober was NOT an option.
But yeah, ok so we were in Gigi’s by now. And we were split across two tables. At one table we had me, Nickie, Tony, and Larissa. And at the other table were Myles, Owen, Liam, Hannah, and Mia.
But we did have the same waiter. Who seemed kind of lost in his ordering tablet from time to time. When he first came to our table, he just sort of stood there for a good minute and a half pushing buttons on it until one of us was like, “oh should we order?” And at the other table? Everyone ordered, including Owen – who got himself a Pepperoni. When he read the orders back, he said he had Owen down for a Margherita. Owen corrected him and said, “oh no I ordered a Pepperoni” to which the waiter replied, “Oh, got it.”
And then, when the pizzas came out, he brought Owen a Margherita.
Like I dunno man. The service on this ship was just…off.
But whatevz. What about the pizza, ay! Make-ah the pizza.
This is the Margherita here. Which a bunch of folks ordered.
By the way? Not a drop of tequila on that pizza anywhere. False advertising.
Tony and I had the brilliant idea to each order a different pie and then go splitsies.
Geniuses the two of us.
We ordered the Pepperoni and one of their Tony Gemignani Pizzas – the Honey Pie.
Oh Tony Gemignani? You don’t know Tony GEMIGNANI? YOU don’t know Tony Gemignani? 13-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani?
Yeh. That Tony Gemignani.
Right though – the Honey Pie. This one had Calabrese Peppers, Mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggioano, Hot Honey, Green Onions, Applewood Smoked Bacon, and Fried Onions. Look at this situation.
And here it is, making friends with the Pepperoni.
Pretty good pizza actually. If gun to my head I had to tell you whether I preferred this pizza or the pizza up at Slice on the pool deck, I think I would lean towards Slice but this was good too. I think if you find yourself on the Discovery Princess sometime, you should probably make a plan to try both.
For dessert, a bunch of us ordered the Tiramisu.
Which was…good. It was a different Tiramisu experience than I was used to. The bottom was very…pudding-y kind of. It was just different. But fine still. I wouldn’t go so far as to say, “
Tiramisu? More like Tirami-suck” or anything but like I would say maybe, “Tiramisu? More like Tirami-not-su-great.”
Overall, service aside, I kind of dug Gigi’s. Like I said, Slice probably has the better pizza but I did like the variety you could get here as a change of pace.
The weird thing is I once had a CEO named Gigi. So I just kind of kept thinking in my head, “ha, imagine if it was THAT Gigi” and like picturing her back there tossing dough in the air, which I don’t know…was off-putting. She was a nice enough person but like…not a dough-tossing type.
Right.
Ok.
Anyway.
Lunch ended around 1:30. Which was perfect timing on account of they were doing THIS in Princess Live!
Yah man Walt Disney Trivia. Worlds colliding.
We ended up breaking into teams because Myles likes to compete with me on things like Walt Disney trivia. And also on regular trivia. And in life.
Myles thinks he’s better than me. Is what I am saying to you now.
Soooo at one table (I think) was me, Nickie, Tony, Larissa, maybe Mia too? And at the other table – Myles, Owen, Hannah, Liam. Mia might have been there too. I think she was just sort of floating in a noncommittal fashion until she could get a handle on which team was gonna come out on top.
There were 20 questions in total – some incredibly easy and some kind of difficult. I think our table ended up with 18 correct.
And you know what? So did the other table. Another tie. As you all may remember, this also happened when we participated in Walt Disney trivia on the Disney Wish. But hey – there? We tied with 17. So we are obvs squad getting smarter.
This time though – neither of us actually won. Someone beat us with 19. So it was less dramatic than when Myles and I came down to a tie-breaker to decide a winner.
THAT was dramatic.
Who won that time?
I mean. Who remembers such things?
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I did.
It was me.
I won.
But this time – this time we both walked away tied for second place. Yes, we were the #1 losers. Of all the people that lost, we did the best.
After trivia, we headed back up to the room to watch as we pulled out of Ketchikan and to head towards our next destination.
And guys – when we were standing out on the balcony? It started snowing! Unfortunately, these pictures don’t really pick it up but it definitely was.
In honor of the snow, I put on the winter-wonderland-iest of all the Star Wars movies – Empire Strikes Back, courtesy of Princess’s rather impressive On Demand library.
We chilled in the cabin for about an hour or so, alternating between watching Empire and seeing what we could see off the balcony.
But at around 4PM, the US-Belgium World Cup match was starting. Our original plan was to catch this at the pool but with the weather being what it was, they moved the public screening indoors so we decided to just order up some room service (because we for sure had not eaten enough) and watch it in the room.
USA USA!!
Well some of us did. Hannah and Liam took this opportunity to play Cribbage out on the balcony like a couple of communists.
But eh. They probably made the right call.
Things got no better from this point on.
The US ended up losing 4-1 and were eliminated from the World Cup. Which was sucktastic.
I have no idea who won the cribbage game.
These balcony shots are SO different from our Bahamian cruises, huh?
For dinner tonight, everyone was kind of splitting up. Myles and Hannah were having a sushi date night and Liam, Owen, and Mia were gonna be hitting the Main Dining Room.
Nickie, Tony, Larissa, and I had dinner for just us four tonight.
And to do things completely right, we started the night out back at Bellini’s, which was fast becoming our favorite bar on the ship.
The girls ordered champagne (surprise) while Tony and I opted for Grey Goose martinis (surprise surprise), mine dirty his clean.
Yumtown.
Dinner tonight was at The Catch by Rudi, the ship’s seafood-heavy restaurant located on Deck 5. This was another specialty restaurant.
As you can see above, The Catch was a super pretty spot. Lots of dark wood coupled with vibrant light and a good number of windows looking out on the water.
And guys – look at these plates.
Cool plates right? I just realized we never actually ate on these plates. That’s when you know. When a restaurant has plates just for lookin’…youz fancy.
Our dinner started with a bread service. I didn’t get any pictures of the actual bread. But that’s because I was so enamored with this Caponata and Whipped Cheese Spread they served alongside it.
Lot going on in that little dish there – you got some Sicilian Eggplant Caponata over there on the right. Some Whipped Goat Cheese and Ricotta on the left. And then it’s all topped with some Herb Oil & Pesto.
This ain’t no Country Crock here…this is how you do a bread service right.
For appetizers, we all ordered something different.
Tony went with the Shrimp on the Rocks, served with Horseradish Cocktail Sauce.
Larissa ordered the Taste of Citrus – Marinated Lobster Tail, Sesame Oil, Frisee Lettuce, Grapefruit, and Brandy Cream.
Nickie decided to play by her own rules and ordered the Cheese Plate off the dessert menu.
And like – we were all glad she did because that was actually kind of a stellar cheese plate and Nickie is kind of a stellar person that shares.
I went in for the Lump Crabcake (with Caramelized Mustard Hollandaise, Asparagus Salad, Fennel, and Micro Greens).
That was on the waiter’s recommendation and he for sure did not steer me wrong. These were some very good crabcakes. Actually I should mention the service at The Catch, as with the service across the specialty restaurants, was great. Like, this meal still ended up being a long meal but we never felt neglected. We always had full drinks and the meal was very well paced out.
And right – all good appetizers btw. I think we were all very happy with our choices.
Onto the mains.
For her entrée, Nickie went with the Surf-and-Turf, hold the Surf. So she ended up with a Filet Mignon, Red Wine Sauce, and Steamed Vegetables.
I don’t actually know what happened to her “surf” – it’s not like us to be like, oh no don’t worry about the lobster tail. I mean, I know Nickie doesn’t like lobster but I just don’t know in what kind of world I would forego lobster.
Maybe I was drugged.
For my main, I went with the Shiitake-Crusted Halibut with Fava Bean Puree, Scallion, and a Teriyaki Glaze.
So good. The fish itself was so fresh-tasting and the glaze added a nice kick of flavor.
Larissa ordered the Grilled King Prawns (cooked with Garlic, Lime, Cilantro & Chipotle Sauce alongside Grilled Scallions and Avocado Brioche). You can see it up there in the picture below right in front of her.
Oh what is that hanging bit of death in front of Tony? Well that. No, the Blair Witch did not visit our table.
That is a langoustine. And it was hanging over Tony’s Triple S Platter (Salmon, Shrimp, Scallops with Lemon Butter Sauce).
Presentation on point, Catch by Rudi.
Yeah, some wild stuff happening at our Catch by Rudi table.
To finish things off, here is a picture of my Chantilly Lace dessert (Mini Croquembouche filled with Crème Chantilly and covered with Hot Chocolate Sauce).
This was another top thing I ate on this cruise. Ooh man this was a good dessert. MUCH better than that Tiramisu from earlier.
Also, isn’t there a song called “Chantilly Lace”? So I mean.
I also for sure wanted to point out that while we were having dinner, the kids were up in the hot tub enjoying some Bacon.
Oh sorry, Kevin Bacon. They were watching Footloose is what I am saying to you now. At least I think it was Footloose. I mean, Becky Shargo. So obviously.
They also btw? They point to this as one of their favorite moments of the trip. Which I get. I mean, I know we saw bears and glaciers and whales on this trip (spoiler alert) but like Kevin Bacon saved a town through dancing here.
No comparison.
After dinner tho – we met up with the kids at the Princess Theater for the show that night. Behold. Dan Middleditch.
Wait back up. I mean. I obviously grabbed a drink for the show. I think tonight I went with a Rum and Coke.
And like – what is with pictures these days? Like why do so many pictures of me holding a drink make it look like when Gandalf was drinking wine at Bilbo’s house?
Whats up, my nerds?
I swear it’s like an iPhone thing or something. Or I don’t know. Maybe Trump like issued some sort of decree that all pictures should make hands look bigger than they are now or something. You know…on account of his little baby person hands.
But like – yeah I don’t know what it is. Trust me though – this was served in a non-Hobbit-sized glass.
Dan Middleditch though.
So Dan put on what I guess I would call an Elvis tribute show. Like, he wasn’t necessarily an Elvis impersonator but he sang Elvis songs and kind of like moved like Elvis and sort of sounded like Elvis sometimes.
Yeah I guess that’s how I would describe it – a show where this dude sings like Elvis sometimes and moves like Elvis sometimes and sings Elvis songs.
And he sort of broke up the performance with personal anecdotes or stories about Elvis. That sort of thing. It was actually a super fun show. I mean, I love me some Elvis so I’m down but Dan really seemed like into the show and that he really enjoyed what he does. So yeah, I dunno. I really liked it a lot and I think everyone in our party was into it.
I mean, not AS into it as the woman up front reaching for Dan’s sweaty handkerchief situation. But still. Into it.
After the show, we kind of called it a night and all headed back up to our cabins. It was close to 11PM by the time we were back. Which I guess is kind of early for vacation but it was a full day you guys.
And hey – check this out. Look how light it still was at 11PM.
Pretty cool stuff. Wait until we get even further north.
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Because it will be even brighter you guys. THAT’s what I am trying to say.
Anyway – that was Day 5. Our first official Alaska day. And I’d say it was a pretty big success, no?
Wait until Day 6 – Day 6 is a rollercoaster of a day. Juneau what I mean? Well, you will.
See you all then!
Last post – Day 4!
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