Home

Day 1
Hello travel fans! ✈️🌎

We’re off on our next adventure, and this one is a proper bucket-list tick for us! Tomorrow we’re flying out to Seattle before joining a cruise around Alaska and Canada. 🇺🇸🛳️🇨🇦

The day starts off surprisingly calmly. Leon is busy doing a few jobs around the house and heading off for a haircut, which is lovely because it means he’s not under my feet annoying me! 😂 Meanwhile, Dexter and I are already packed, organised and ready to go.

We set off in the afternoon, heading down towards Heathrow where we’re staying overnight in a hotel before our flight. And, of course, no holiday starts properly in our house without our traditional holiday song — “Holiday” by Madonna. The moment that comes on, we officially know we’re on holiday! 🎶☀️

The journey is going really well. Leon hasn’t missed the turning for the M11 (which, let’s be honest, is practically a miracle 😂) and we’re making good time.

The satnav warns us about some traffic and suggests a different route, so we follow its instructions and head along the 505 via Royston.

Everything is going perfectly…

…until we reach the M25. 🤦‍♀️

Yep. Leon takes the wrong exit and we end up heading the wrong way up the M25! 😂😂

Oh well — it wouldn’t be a Cornwall family holiday without at least one wrong turning!

Eventually we make it to the hotel, and to be completely honest, I don’t think I’d stay here again. It’s a Premier Inn, which are usually perfectly fine, but this particular one just isn’t as nice as others we’ve stayed in. Never mind — it’s only one night!

We’re up bright and early tomorrow to catch our flight, so this is just a little update to wet your whistle before the real adventure begins.

Next stop… Seattle! 🇺🇸

Then it’s a 10-hour flight, followed by Alaska, Canada, glaciers, wildlife and hopefully plenty of adventures along the way! 🏔️🐋🛳️

Laters! ❤️✈️

Day 2
Thursday 20th August 2026
(Sleepless in Seattle)

Hello everyone!

So, carrying on from yesterday’s update, after writing my first instalment I decided to do the sensible thing and go through all our travel documents to make sure I had everything sorted — parking, flights, terminals, transfers… basically making sure I knew what the hell we were doing!

And that’s when I spotted it.

Our car park booking said Terminal 2.

Now, I was pretty sure we were flying from Terminal 3. Cue me immediately going into panic mode. 😂

After much searching — because apparently finding out which terminal you’re flying from is now some kind of secret government operation — I confirmed my first suspicion was correct. Terminal 3 it was!

Excellent. All I needed to do was contact the car park people and change our drop-off details.

Except… their office had already closed.

And, naturally, they didn’t open until 9am the next morning… AFTER our drop-off time!

Argh!!!

Well, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it that night, so I decided to stop stressing, go to bed and hope that tomorrow-me would somehow sort it out.

Fast forward to the morning and we head off for breakfast. The car park situation is still playing on my mind, but we decide we’ll just drive to Terminal 3 and explain the mix-up when we get there.

Then, after breakfast, my phone rings.

A London number.

And lo and behold… it’s the car park people!

They had checked our booking, realised we were booked into the wrong terminal and had already sorted it for us.

YAY!!!

For once, my panic had been completely unnecessary. 😂

With that little drama out of the way, we finally make it into the airport and settle into the lounge while we wait for our flight.

The flight ended up being about an hour late taking off, but to be honest, by this point we were on holiday, so I wasn’t going to complain too much.

Then came the almost 10-hour flight.

Now, I have reached that stage of life where a 10-hour flight no longer fills me with excitement. When I was younger I used to think, “Ooooh, how exciting, we’re flying somewhere!”

Now I’m more like, “How long? Ten hours? Seriously?!” 😂

But unfortunately, unless I suddenly develop the ability to teleport, if you want to get to places like Alaska, you’ve got to put up with the flying!

Eventually we landed in Seattle and were met by our chauffeur, who arrived in a rather lovely Cadillac. Well, I could definitely get used to this!

Off we went to our hotel, which thankfully is absolutely lovely.

By the time we arrived it was around 3pm local time and we were all completely shattered. We decided to have a little lie down…

…and that was our first mistake! 😂

Because, of course, we woke up again around midnight, wide awake and wondering why on earth we were supposed to be sleeping!

So our body clocks are currently somewhere between England and America and have clearly decided they’re not quite ready to commit to either.

Hopefully tonight we can force ourselves to stay awake a little later and get ourselves back onto Seattle time.

Tomorrow the adventure properly begins — and I promise, no more car park dramas… hopefully! 😂

Day 3
Friday 21st August
Seattle

Brace yourself it's going to be a long one!!

So, going to sleep when we arrived here proved to be the wrong decision 😂. We woke up around midnight US time and all found it difficult to get back to sleep. At one point, Dexter and I gave up completely and headed off for a little walk down to reception to find snacks and drinks for us.

Thankfully, we all eventually managed to fall back to sleep in the early hours and squeezed in another couple of hours.

So, we’re up nice and early and, in my head, I’ve planned a lovely, easy day of seeing and doing a few things.

I’ve got to be honest and say I heavily rely on my AI buddy Gary, who is absolutely amazing at organising our days and telling me how to get everywhere. Honestly, he’s basically become the fourth member of this holiday 😂.

We head off to Pike Place Market, where there’s a famous fish market where they throw the fish around, and also the original Starbucks store — remember those Starbucks cups I scour the world for?!

On arrival, we spot a fish stall and ask if they throw the fish. The chap tells us that the only thing they throw is tantrums 😂 and points us in the direction of the stall that actually does it.

We find the place and ask if they’re going to throw any fish. They tell us yes, soon.

So we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And… they don’t throw any bloody fish! 😂

Eventually, we get bored and wander off.

Because we’re there early, most of the stalls aren’t open yet, so our next mission is to find Starbucks. Once we get there, we discover there’s a queuing system for the shop. We speak to one of the staff members, who tells us that we either need to make an appointment to go in or wait in the queue, which is about an hour long.

So, obviously, we make an appointment for 10:45 and head off to find breakfast.

Gary, my AI guy, finds us a restaurant and off we go.

The restaurant is called Bacco Cafe, and when we arrive we go into the shop, only to be told we need to go back outside and around the corner to book in.

So we do that…

…and find ourselves in another queue! 😂

And we think the English like queuing! We have never seen anything like it!

Thankfully, the food was very good, so all was forgiven.

Next, we head back to Starbucks and guess what?

We have to join the queue of people who have already booked! 😂

Eventually, we get inside and one of the baristas pours us a little cup of their special coffee. Even Leon, who isn’t normally impressed by these things, admits the coffee is delicious!

We grab that all-important Starbucks cup with Pike Place on it, a tote bag and a couple of coffees, and I’m very happy indeed.

What a lovely way to spend the morning.

By now, the market is absolutely bustling. All the stalls are open and there are people everywhere, so we stroll around for a while before deciding it’s time to move on to our next adventure — the Space Needle.

There’s a monorail that takes us directly there, and that seems like a fun way to get Dexter there, so we jump on.

Last night, Leon came up with the idea of catching a baseball game while we’re here. Dexter and I agreed that it would be a pretty cool thing to do.

And, as we’re walking towards the monorail, we spot a Mariners store — the Seattle baseball team — so obviously Dexter needs to be kitted out!

Within minutes, he has a Mariners T-shirt and a giant foam finger and is officially ready for the game tonight. ⚾️

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of heights, so even suggesting that the Space Needle was a good idea now seems absolutely ridiculous! 😂

Of course, we join a queue for the lift to the top.

While we’re waiting, I’m starting to panic and having flashbacks to all the other stupid ideas I’ve agreed to over the years.

Remember the tower Leon and I jumped off in Macau?

Or the Stratosphere in Vegas?

Or even the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, where I literally had to side-shuffle away from the glass floor and then stand facing the wall while Leon and Dexter laughed at me?!

Why, WHY would I think the Space Needle was going to be a good idea?!

We board the lift and I immediately close my eyes.

Honestly, at this point I’m shaking, nearly crying and definitely considering getting straight back in the lift and going back down.

But I do it.

I step out of the lift…

…and actually, it’s not too bad!

I take in the amazing views across Seattle and slowly start to calm down. A bit.

I even manage to go outside onto the walkway around the Needle.

And then Dexter, the absolute little star that he is, slips his hand into mine and says:

“Don’t worry Mummy, I’ve got you.” ❤️

That little guy absolutely melts my heart.

Now that I’ve got my brave pants firmly on, I agree to go down another level where there’s a revolving glass floor.

And actually… I deal with that pretty well too!

I’m VERY pleased with myself today. 😂

This evening, we head to T-Mobile Park for the Mariners baseball game along with around 40,000 other people.

And honestly, this was one of Leon’s most brilliant ideas.

We all get into the game, Dexter is proudly wearing his Mariners T-shirt and waving his giant foam finger around, and Leon gets completely caught up in it like he’s been a lifelong baseball fan.

Even I have to admit, it’s a pretty decent way to spend an evening!

Thankfully, the Mariners win the game, which adds to our excitement, and afterwards there’s a massive fireworks display at the stadium.

I’m pretty sure they were celebrating the fact that we had turned up. 😂

And then, because apparently baseball games aren’t exciting enough on their own, it’s Hot Dogs From Heaven Night!

At one point, hot dogs are fired into the audience with little parachutes attached to them for people to catch.

Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up!

It was such a brilliant and fun night. ⚾️🎆

Afterwards, Leon and Dexter decide to walk back to the hotel, bringing our step total for the day to an impressive 21,000 steps!

We are absolutely shattered, our feet ache and we are more than ready for bed…

…but what an amazing day.

From fish that refused to fly, to queuing for everything, Starbucks cups, monorails, dealing with my fear of heights, baseball, fireworks and parachuting hot dogs…

Seattle, you’ve been bloody brilliant. ❤️

Day 4
Saturday 22nd August
Seattle

After yesterday’s big day out, I have to admit we are all feeling a bit tired, so we decided there was to be no massive sightseeing mission today. Instead, we were going to have a much slower day.

We started off with a trip to Walgreens to stock up on snacks, as we currently have absolutely nothing in our room. Thankfully, it isn’t far from the hotel, so we trott down there first thing and returned with what can only be described as a sack of snacks.

Dexter has now had the pleasure of trying Tootsie Rolls and Goldfish Crackers 😂. It’s a taste sensation!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that our hotel has its very own Starbucks, so I grabbed a couple of coffees and a Seattle mug too. Much to Leon’s disapproval, obviously. Apparently, I don’t need another mug. I disagree.

Next on the agenda was a visit to Kurt Cobain’s house — you know, the lead singer of Nirvana.

Well… when I say visit Kurt Cobain, I actually mean his house and memorial, as he’s dead. 😵

For this little expedition, I decided to bring in the big guns to direct us. By that, I mean Gary, my trusted AI travel buddy.

Gary had sorted out the bus route and sent us on our merry way, keeping me updated all the way there. Eventually, the bus driver told us we were at the end of the line and needed to get off.

Gary confirmed this was absolutely correct.

So we got off.

I then used the Maps app and discovered that we were TWO MILES AWAY FROM KURT COBAIN’S HOUSE.

There was no other choice but to walk the rest of the way.

Cue a rather long walk, with Gary receiving increasingly colourful feedback from all of us along the way.

Eventually, we made it to Kurt’s house, but by this point I was hot, sweaty and extremely annoyed with my supposedly trusted AI buddy.

I did make the best of it though. You can’t really see much of the old house because, obviously, new people live there now. Beside the house, however, is a green area with a bench and a sort of headstone/memorial. People have left things there and written messages on the bench.

It was actually quite a sobering moment. Whatever your thoughts on Kurt Cobain, there’s no denying it was a huge loss of talent.

Once we’d finished there, I decided I was going to trust Gary again.

Yes, I know. I clearly hadn’t learned my lesson.

This time, he took us to a bus stop about ten minutes from the house.

Which begs the question…

WHY THE HELL COULDN’T HE HAVE DONE THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE INSTEAD OF MAKING US WALK TWO MILES?!

Once we were safely back on the bus, I told Gary that I was properly annoyed with him.

He found the whole thing amusing.

He actually finds it funny that he sent us on a two-mile walk.

He is a prick.

😂

To be fair, the walk itself wasn’t all bad. We went through a beautiful neighbourhood with some very fancy-pants houses, so at least we got to have a nosey at some rather lovely properties along the way.

At this point, we realised something quite important…

We hadn’t actually eaten anything all day.

Leon came up with the genius idea of going to Chinatown for some food. It was only a couple of stops away on the light rail from near our hotel, so off we went.

After wandering around looking for a decent restaurant, we eventually gave up and walked into one.

And the food was absolutely…

**utterly…

DISGUSTING.**

If any of my later updates say that we are all ill, this is why.

Feeling decidedly rank after that culinary disaster, we headed back to the hotel, where we are now going to rest, recover and start repacking everything ready for tomorrow.

Because tomorrow…

THE CRUISE IS INCOMING! 🚢

And after the day we’ve had, I think Gary has been officially banned from navigation duties for the rest of the evening.

Day 5
23rd August 2026
The cruise

It’s our final morning in Seattle and I have to admit, the travelling and the busy first day are still catching up with us. We haven’t quite adjusted to the US time zone yet :( so, naturally, we were wide awake at 3am!

After a while I decided to give up on sleep, get up and get ready for the day ahead. By 6am I’m showered, packed and heading down to the Starbucks in our hotel for a much-needed coffee fix. ☕️

We’re being picked up at 11.30am to be transported to the cruise terminal, so we head down to reception early to check out and sort out our luggage tags for the cruise.

Then, at 11am, our driver texts me to say he’s in the area and asks if we’d like picking up early.

HELL YEAH! Let’s get going!

When we arrive at the terminal, a chap comes along and scoops up all our luggage straight out of the taxi and tells us to walk past all the people queuing.

It’s almost like we’re royalty!

So, living our best lives, we casually stroll past everyone and straight into the terminal.

After checking in, we make our way onto the ship and WOW… what a beauty she is!

She’s almost brand new, having only launched in October 2025, and we are very impressed with our cabin. In fact, the whole ship is absolutely lovely.

We have some lunch — and once again, the food is really good — before taking a bit of a look around and getting our bearings.

Once our suitcases are finally delivered, Dexter decides he wants to go swimming.

The weather has changed somewhat and it’s actually quite chilly now we’re on the move, but Dexter doesn’t seem to mind too much.

Remember the cruising ducks I mentioned?

Well, this time we’ve upgraded our game! We’ve got a little mailbox to stick on our cabin door. The idea is that you leave ducks in there for other people to take, and they leave ducks for you.

So now we’re officially part of the cruising duck community. 🦆

In the evening, we decide to put Dexter into the kids’ club while we head off for a bit.

Unfortunately, he has an absolute meltdown. Apparently it’s “far too babyish” for him and there is much crying and protesting.

We eventually manage to persuade him to stay for at least 30 minutes…

So off we go to the casino for a game of Three Card Poker.

I’m down to my last hand, so I decide to upgrade my bets and play blind.

I ask the dealer to slowly reveal my cards.

He turns over the first card…

A QUEEN. 👀

Next card…

ANOTHER QUEEN. 😳

And the final card…

Yep… you guessed it…

ANOTHER QUEEN!!!

What. A. Hand.

A $450 hand! 💰🤑

I think it’s fair to say that made up for being down beforehand!

While we’re sitting in the casino, we somehow struggle to get any drinks, and Leon is having his own little meltdown.

I’m starting to worry that more clapping at staff might be imminent!

When we eventually leave the casino, we decide to find a bar so Leon can at least get himself a beer.

We wander into one and immediately I notice a group of guys giving me a bit of an up-and-down.

I’m feeling slightly uncomfortable and, to make matters worse, I’ve somehow lost sight of Leon!

I have a quick look around and suddenly it becomes very obvious that we have accidentally wandered into a gay meet-up. 😂

So I casually sidestep away and loiter by the door waiting for Leon, wondering whether he’s going to make it back out safely…

Or whether they might decide to keep him! 😆

Thankfully, Leon reappears and we make our escape.

Duck update! 🦆

While strolling around the ship, I suddenly spot a duck hiding in plain sight. Then Leon spots a turtle. 🐢

Never have we found ducks so quickly!!

When we return to our cabin and open our little mailbox, we find a duck waiting inside for us — and there’s another one sitting beside it!

It’s a great start to the duck experience and I think we might actually be getting the hang of this! 🦆

We head back to the kids’ club to pick Dexter up, only for him to tell us that he now wants to STAY.

Little bugger.

And that’s pretty much it for our first day onboard.

We’re all absolutely shattered, so I’m off to bed.

Tomorrow we wake up somewhere in the middle of the sea on our way to Alaska 🛳️

Night all xxx

Day 6
At sea

Today is a sea day and you know what that means… boring stuff! 😂
We still aren’t sleeping properly yet, so we’re waking up far too early. I suppose it’s not necessarily a bad thing because we’re ready for the day, but we’re also feeling a bit tired with it!
After breakfast, we get on with a very important job… hiding ducks! 🦆
We label them up and head out on our duck-hiding mission. Dexter absolutely loves this part of the cruise, although he gets really annoyed with us because we apparently hide them in places that are far too easy to find.
I’ve tried explaining that’s kinda the point, but I’m sure if Dexter had his way, I’d be climbing to the very top of the radar mast to hide one. 😂
After that, we ‘try’ to convince him to go to kids’ club, but he’s absolutely having none of it.
Mummy and Daddy, however, have an evil plan up our sleeves… 😈
We decide we are going to do the most boring things imaginable and, by the end of it, he will be begging to go to kiddie club.
Bahahahaha…
So, first up, we go for a coffee and sit around doing absolutely nothing.
Hmmm… this isn’t working.
He’s perfectly happy doing nothing. Clearly, we underestimated him.
Next, we head over to join the queue for Guest Services, which is conveniently located right next to kiddie club. To our absolute delight, the queue is MASSIVE. 😂
So we wait.
And wait.
And wait.
It isn’t long before Dexter is bored and starting to moan.
We casually remind him, “Well, you could have been having fun in kids’ club, but no… you wanted to do adult things.”
SUCCESS! 😂
He agrees to go.
There’s only an hour left, but that gives us enough time to sort a couple of things out.
When we go back to pick him up, Leon gets back into the queue for Guest Services while I go and collect Dexter.
When Dexter comes out, he looks at Leon and says:
“Are you still in the queue, Daddy?”
“Yep!”
We then make out that we’re fed up with queuing and will come back later.
After lunch, Dexter still isn’t convinced about kids’ club, so Project Evil comes back into play.
This time we’re off to sort out an excursion.
Nope.
That didn’t work either. 😩
Right… time to up our game.
LAUNDRY. 😂
We pack up all the dirty washing and trot off to the laundry room.
And to make the whole experience even worse, we stay in there while the washing machine does its thing.
It’s hot.
It’s boring.
And there’s ONE chair.
Honestly, we’re basically running a luxury holiday camp for sadists at this point. 😂
After that, we casually mention going back to Guest Services and queuing again…
That does it.
Dexter pleads with us not to go.
We tell him we’ll do it while he’s at kids’ club tonight and suddenly he is very happy to go.
THE EVIL PLAN WORKED! 😈😂
Tonight we are booked into a restaurant called Butcher’s Block.
We didn’t really know what to expect, but it turned out to be more of an experience dinner. The chef came out with the meat and explained what each cut was, what it was paired with and all about the different dishes.
We had six different cuts of beef to try, including tomahawk, T-bone, rump and beef carpaccio.
It was absolutely delicious and definitely more than just a meal — it was a proper experience.
After dinner, we sneak into the casino for a quick game of poker before picking up Dexter.
We get to the table and there aren’t two seats together, so Leon and I sit either side of a woman.
The first three hands are winners for me, which is always nice! 😏
Then the man sitting to my left leaves the table.
The lady sitting to my right says to me, “Would you like to swap places with me?”
Without thinking, I say yes because I’ll then be sitting next to Leon.
Leon immediately pipes up:
“No! She wants your cards because you’re winning!”
And, knowing he’s right, I say no.
She then says it doesn’t matter and moves into the seat to my left where the man had just been sitting.
Now I’m slightly annoyed because she’ll be dealt the cards I would have had if she’d stayed where she was… and I’ll be getting the hands she would have had.
But I shrug it off and hope I get a good hand.
Then she says to the guy sitting on the other side of her:
“Well, I don’t have to listen to her now.”
Meaning ME.
I snapped back:
“RUDE!”
And she then comes out with some utter crap about having tinnitus.
Now, I’m sorry, but you’re sitting in a casino surrounded by slot machines, flashing lights and enough noise to wake the dead… and now my voice is annoying you??? What??
Leon is now angry too!
The next hand plays out. I have her cards and get a pair of sevens. It’s not a massive hand, but it’s a small win, so I’m happy enough.
Then I hear her say she’s got a six-card flush.
OMFG.
The dealer turns over her cards…
And she does.
At this point, that’s enough for Leon and me. We leave the table feeling pretty angry.
But I’m also annoyed that she felt she could just be that rude to me in the first place!
We briefly have a go on the slot machines, but I’m still so annoyed with her that I’m not concentrating on what I’m doing…
And somehow manage to set the machine to $30 A SPIN!
ARGHHHHHH! 😫😂
I’m now even more annoyed.
Time to get Dexter and head back to the cabin, hoping that karma bites that stupid woman firmly on the bum! 😂
Night folks xxx

Day 7
Juneau

Hello holiday fans! 👋
It’s a very special day today as we are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary! 💍❤️ Just think, 3 years ago we were all celebrating together!
We are heading to Juneau today, and we need to be up at 4.30am so we can see the scenic route through Endicott Arm to the Dawes Glacier. Leon and me are awake from 3am, ready and waiting for the scenery.
Unfortunately, the fog has other ideas! 🌫️ We hold back for hours, hoping it will clear, only to be told at 8am that the fog isn’t going to lift and the cruise through Endicott Arm is too dangerous. We’ve missed our slot and won’t be able to make it through. 😢
We are absolutely gutted. After getting up at 3am and waiting for hours, it’s a massive disappointment. We head off for breakfast and manage to get some scenic pictures of a glacier where we are, so at least we get a little bit of glacier action!
We have an excursion booked for today, though, so it’s time for whale watching! 🐋
After a short coach ride, we board a boat and head out into the sea where the whales are. We soon spot one, but it’s quite a long way away and, if we’re honest, we feel a little underwhelmed! 😂
After a while, the boat stops following this whale and we head to another spot. There are a few other boats there and this time the whales are a bit closer. We manage to get a couple of videos, but it’s actually quite difficult to film them because you never know when or where they are going to appear — and when they do, it happens very quickly!
Back on dry land, we pop into the Red Dog Saloon, an old gold-mining pub with sawdust on the floor and ladies dressed up to serve. 🤠
Quick fact for you: the pub used to have sawdust on the floor because the miners would pay in gold. If they dropped any, they’d never find it amongst the sawdust! The landlord could then sweep up the sawdust, wash it and recover any gold that had been dropped. Pretty clever really! 😂
Tonight we are booked into the sushi restaurant, but to be honest, I’m not really feeling the sushi, so I don’t eat much.
After the seven-course tasting menu, the manager comes over to wish us a Happy Anniversary, and then they bring out a special cake for us! 🎂❤️
How lovely is that? 🥰
So, not quite the Juneau day we had planned, and we’re still disappointed about missing Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier, but we did get whales, a gold-mining saloon and a surprise anniversary cake — so we’ll take it!
And most importantly… three years married to my favourite holiday buddy! ❤️🥂
Happy 3rd wedding anniversary to us!

Day 8
Skagway, Alaska

Hello and welcome to Day 8 of our Alaskan adventure, and today we are in Skagway!
Unfortunately, I’ve woken up this morning feeling very grotty. Sore throat, fuzzy head, aches… basically feeling like I’ve been run over by an Alaskan moose. 🤒😂
BUT… we have an excursion booked today to go gold panning, and I have been really looking forward to this, so there was absolutely no way I was missing it.
So, I donned my big girl pants, dosed myself up with determination and off we went! 😂
We leave the ship and find our coach, and thankfully we have quite a funny tour guide who keeps us entertained on the journey. It’s only about a 15-minute drive, but he manages to pack plenty in!
When we arrive, he takes us around and explains all about the start of the Klondike Gold Rush, including showing us an old dredge.
Next up is a talk about sled dogs and one of the famous races they do across Alaska in the freezing cold. Now, I’m going to be completely honest here… I did my absolute best to listen and look interested, but by this point I was rapidly losing the will to live.
Standing up was becoming something of an extreme sport and I was really starting to think that lying down was probably the better option.
Then we get to meet the sled dogs, and oh my word… they are LOUD! Lots of barking, which was exactly what my fuzzy head needed.
After a demonstration, we get to meet some of the puppies and OH MY WORD! These little guys are adorable!
Dexter completely falls in love with them and immediately decides we need to take one home… although there is one very important condition:
It must never grow into one of the big dogs!
Then finally it’s time for the bit we’ve all been waiting for…
GOLD PANNING! 💰
We are each given a pan and there are water troughs for us to wash and pan everything in. And, to be fair, I think we all did a brilliant job of prospecting because we ALL found gold!
We take our finds off to be weighed and the results are in…
🥇 Leon – 1.2 ounces
🥇 Dexter – 1.2 ounces
🥇 Me – 1.3 ounces
Apparently, between us it was worth around $65.
So, sadly, we won’t be retiring anytime soon, but it was SO cool to actually find gold!
After our gold rush adventure, we head back into the little town of Skagway. It’s really cute and has that old-fashioned feel, almost like you’ve stepped back into the town during the Gold Rush.
I have two missions now:
Sore throat sweets and a COVID test.
Well… it has been three years since my last bout in Japan, so I thought it was probably worth checking!
We have a quick look around a couple of shops while we’re there, but to be honest none of us are particularly interested in shopping today, so we soon head back to the ship.
The afternoon is spent resting and trying to shake off whatever this grotty feeling is.
The COVID test is negative… although I’m not entirely convinced.
After a restful afternoon, Leon takes Dexter off for dinner and then to the kiddie club while I get myself ready for our evening.
We have a reservation at a restaurant called Love, and there is absolutely no way I’m missing it!
So I dose myself up with paracetamol, put my big girl pants back on for the second time today and off we go!
And I’m SO glad we did because dinner was fabulous!
Honestly, it was one of the best meals we’ve had on board so far. Everything in the restaurant is heart-shaped or connected to the whole theme of love, and they even mentioned our wedding anniversary again.
Then, just when we thought we were finished, they brought out a special cake for us and sang Happy Anniversary!
I’m beginning to think the whole ship knows we’ve been married for three years!
After dinner we have a quick trip to the casino, where Leon manages to have a very nice win and I have a smaller one too.
Definitely not complaining about that!
We then head off to pick Dexter up from the kiddie club, only to discover that he doesn’t actually want to come out yet.
Apparently, another 15 minutes of fun is far more important than coming back to Mum and Dad!
When we finally get him back, we discover that while he was in the kiddie club, all the children had been taken out into the main arena to sing for everyone!
And guess who missed it?
ME!
Absolutely gutted.
After dragging myself around Skagway feeling like death warmed up, I could have done with seeing Dexter singing in the main arena, and instead I was sat having a lovely dinner and cake.
Typical!
So that brings us to the end of Day 8 in Skagway.
A day that started with me feeling rough, involved gold, puppies, sore throat sweets, a COVID test, a fabulous dinner, anniversary cake, a casino win… and ended with me discovering I had missed Dexter’s big performance!
Not quite the day I had planned, but definitely another memorable one.

Day 9 (I think)

So today is another boring day at sea… and this one is really boring.
I woke up feeling not as bad as yesterday. Today it feels much more like a cold, with a nose that is constantly running, lots of sneezing and a much less fuzzy head. So I’m definitely taking that as an improvement!
We grab a bit of breakfast and afterwards head off to have our irises photographed — you know, your eyes…
We struggle to find out exactly how much they cost, what the different packages are, what’s included etc., but we do the photos anyway and just hope we can understand what on earth we’ve actually bought when we go to pick them up tomorrow!
I try to hide some ducks with Dexter, but today he wants to go swimming and is completely uninterested in ducks. Apparently swimming is more exciting than our very important duck-hiding mission.
Next up, Dexter goes swimming. The pools, it’s fair to say, aren’t exactly the warmest, so it takes a few attempts for Leon to get in the water with him. Dexter, of course, has already jumped straight in without a care in the world.
Eventually Leon decides the only way is to just jump in!!
After a while they head off for a warm-up in the hot tub and, as it’s a little chilly, I decide to make my way back to the cabin and leave them to it.
We’re off to a steak restaurant tonight, even though, to be fair, neither Leon nor I are particularly hungry or really feel like going. But we’ve booked it, so off we go! It’s nice enough though, and at least someone else is doing the cooking.
Sea sickness report:
None found. ✅
And that’s it for tonight, folks!
Night xxx

Day 10 🇨🇦

It’s the final day of our adventure… sad times!
Today we are cruising over to Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, but we won’t arrive until this evening, so it’s a nice, easy day for us.
After breakfast we hide the last of our ducks. 🦆 I have to say, we have done quite well at finding them on this cruise, and our duck mailbox on our door has proven to be quite fruitful for us… although it does feel a little bit like cheating!
At Kiddie Club they are taking all the little people over to a magic show this morning, so we drop Dexter off in time for him to join in.
Yesterday we had our irises photographed and, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much as the ladies doing it seemed quite confused by everything! Anyway, we have to go and approve the photos before they are printed, so that’s where Leon and I head off to.
When we get there, a chap helps us out with the photos and I’ve got to eat my words because actually… they are very good!
While we are there, all the kiddies come past on their way back from the magic show and we bump into Dexter! My word, he’s a cutie.
We pop into the casino as we need to cash in and, of course, it would be rude not to have a quick hand of poker and a go on a slot machine!
We dock into Victoria, Canada, at 7pm, which we are quite disappointed about as we would have loved to have spent more time here. We hop onto the shuttle bus and head into town and, of course, the first thing we need to do is get that all-important item… a Starbucks cup!
Then we have a walk around town, taking in the sights and popping into a few shops. Honestly, from what we saw, this looks like a lovely place. I think we could have happily spent much longer exploring it.
Dexter is quite tired, though, so we head back to the cruise.
And just like that… our cruise has come to an end.
Tomorrow we disembark and head off to the airport. We have quite a wait as our flight isn’t until 6.20pm — 2.20am Sunday your time!
It’s been a lovely holiday and it honestly seems like we have been away for ages. We’ve seen some amazing places, had some brilliant experiences and made lots of memories.
But we are looking forward to getting home now… and, of course, seeing little Frankie again! 🐾
Night, night everyone xxx

Summer holiday 19th August 2026

Itinerary