OCSC Mike

Today was our dog sled tour.
No helicopters for us as i am lucky to get my wife into a commercial plane. Small planes and helicopters are a no go.
I again used Alaska Shore Excursions to book it. The basecamp site is in the Tongass National Forrest. They bring dogs in from various teams all over Alaska to train them and keep them active in the summer. 
We were brought up to à higher elevation in a MOG which is pretty fun in itself. Once there we got a ride in a metal sled over a land course. It was a huge amount of fun and the dogs were very excited to pull us.
After we came back down to base camp for more information and a chance to interact with the puppies.
This is a fun excursion.
Oh and we saw a bear cub on the drive to the camp. Not the best picture but the bear wasn't posing properly.

I almost DIED reading this. Just...LMAO.
We used to visit my grandparents every summer in Japan, which is no stranger to earthquakes, and every now and then one would happen while we were there. The strongest two were 6.0 and 6.3 when I was there with my kiddos (ages 14 months and 3 at the time). The first one felt like the rumbling you'd feel for a train going by directly outside the house. The second one felt like everything was vibrating up and down - I remember jumping in front of a bookcase near where the girls were sleeping to block it if it tried to fall over during the earthquake. Thankfully, a few pots and pans fell in the kitchen but that was it. Spouse, however, was 100000% panic stricken over here in the States and calling us at 5am to ensure we were all okay. 
I think earthquakes are like snow to some people - you have lots of experience so you don't worry, or you have no experience and panic at the slightest threat of it.

My daughter didn’t feel it in Longwood But the kitties were skittish.
We have breakfast in the MDR on disembarkation day.  Leave the room around 7:30 & have a leisurely sit down meal then get off about 9:15.

Happy cruise day!

Too funny. We went to Shannon Falls post-cruise since we had a red eye out of Vancouver. Bridges like that don't bother me but my wife hates them. She did cross it, however, and I have a lovely picture of her halfway across... flipping me off for telling her to turn around so I could take a pic. 🤣

Fixed your typo. #trunks

And some donuts, eh?

I had to find my blog across the street for the name of this one. If it fits your schedule and you need another casual but good place in Denali...
https://prospectorspizza.com/
It's in the main downtown area with a bunch of shops, restaurants, lodges, etc.
Finding restaurants for the 10 days we spent on land was the only part that was my job since the trip itself was all my wife's idea and she spent a year planning it. I had to find big menu casual places with basic food she would eat while I was eating as much seafood or reindeer sausage or anything "Alaskan" as I could.

I'm sure you've seen me go on and on about Alaska before. Hope you guys love it as much as we did! "Somewhat unique" when comparing it to the Caribbean is an understatement. Looking forward to following along while chilling on Utopia.
If you didn't plan out meals, good bar food and massive local beer selection in Anchorage...
https://www.humpysalaska.com/

If you go to WJ or SB early, the wait should be minimal. If you wait for Mrs. Scott…
It was even pretty fast in WJ this morning (SB isn’t open on disembarkation day on Utopia, dunno if it’s fleet wide, we used to go there) and WJ can be pure chaos that last morning.
They also have the pagers btw but no waiting area. We usually place our orders, then go get drinks, grab a table, sides/pastries, etc. and that usually takes up most of the wait. That said, if the line to order looks crazy, I move on. I prefer omelets to the eggs sitting out but I could eat a bazillion other things too. So many of the other things are carb heavy and filling though & I need to save room for my 6 other meals.

I actually did one load earlier. I was very proud of myself, lol. Knock on wood, I’m not feeling my usual cruise hangover. It’s probably a byproduct of not eating or drinking as much as usual (which I see as a bad thing) but I guess there’s at least some benefit.

Just be aware you’re still basically limited to what’s being served that day. You can lose the sauce, ask for well done, get a veggie but with no olives, etc. but it’s not like a real pizza place with a ton of toppings of course.

@jbrinkm The $3 fee doesn’t affect your freeplay. Sorry if I was unclear. If you put money onto a slot machine by charging it to your account it now carries a $3 fee (unless you’re Prime & above). It just started in April.
We had $14 in non-refundable OBC to use up & my wife wanted to use it to gamble so we transferred $11 to the machine knowing the $3 fee would eat up the rest. It was a waste of $3 but she didn’t want to use it on food or merch so we had to use it on something. Hope that makes sense.

I’m surprised more people don’t regularly order omelets in WJ (or Solarium Bistro if on O-class, our preference b/c it’s less busy & that’s where we’re going to lounge anyway). It takes away the “food has been sitting out” downside to buffets.
I’ve mentioned this before but my wife orders a “plain” omelet just to get hot, freshly made eggs rather than the scrambled eggs sitting out that tend get watery & may not be very hot.

@jbrinkm The $3 fee doesn’t affect your freeplay. Sorry if I was unclear. If you put money onto a slot machine by charging it to your account it now carries a $3 fee (unless you’re Prime & above). It just started in April.
We had $14 in non-refundable OBC to use up & my wife wanted to use it to gamble so we transferred $11 to the machine knowing the $3 fee would eat up the rest. It was a waste of $3 but she didn’t want to use it on food or merch so we had to use it on something. Hope that makes sense.

If you go to WJ or SB early, the wait should be minimal. If you wait for Mrs. Scott…
It was even pretty fast in WJ this morning (SB isn’t open on disembarkation day on Utopia, dunno if it’s fleet wide, we used to go there) and WJ can be pure chaos that last morning.
They also have the pagers btw but no waiting area. We usually place our orders, then go get drinks, grab a table, sides/pastries, etc. and that usually takes up most of the wait. That said, if the line to order looks crazy, I move on. I prefer omelets to the eggs sitting out but I could eat a bazillion other things too. So many of the other things are carb heavy and filling though & I need to save room for my 6 other meals.

Not sure where else to post this but my wife asked me if I felt the ground shake around 2pm (I didn't but I'm oblivious at times).
Apparently it was an earthquake off the coast of Cuba. Glad we got off this morning and Utopia is docked. 🙈
https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2026/06/08/6-4-earthquake-reported-in-cuba--reportedly-felt-in-parts-of-florida

More launch photos (with my mediocre iPhone 16e camera). I didn’t really appreciate how far away the launch pads were until I realized the rocket still mostly looked like a ball of light. Hearing the rumbling after liftoff was definitely cool though.














 

Got up at 5:30am to finish packing & get ready. Went up to deck 16 & watched the launch with about 30 people. Very cool.
Finishing breakfast in WJ then probably leaving shortly. Last updates from home later.

@Lovetocruise2002’s nightmare, lol, but these cabins in Fairbanks were super cool (and the lodge had a main hotel building with more standard rooms but we wanted the little cabin).

If you go to WJ or SB early, the wait should be minimal. If you wait for Mrs. Scott…
It was even pretty fast in WJ this morning (SB isn’t open on disembarkation day on Utopia, dunno if it’s fleet wide, we used to go there) and WJ can be pure chaos that last morning.
They also have the pagers btw but no waiting area. We usually place our orders, then go get drinks, grab a table, sides/pastries, etc. and that usually takes up most of the wait. That said, if the line to order looks crazy, I move on. I prefer omelets to the eggs sitting out but I could eat a bazillion other things too. So many of the other things are carb heavy and filling though & I need to save room for my 6 other meals.

I'm always too impatient to order omelettes, on World America they even gave you little pagers and had a waiting area for you to sit if you wanted,but it was always just too many people for me to bother trying.  Maybe I'll try again on Oasis. 
There was also a very big earthquake in the Philippines and the first thing I thought of was "hope none of our cruise crew friends had family there!" 
I'll admit- we have a suitcase from the last cruise that still has clothes in it, we had the laundry done the last day and a lot of the cruise only dresses and some swimwear are still in the bag. 

I actually did one load earlier. I was very proud of myself, lol. Knock on wood, I’m not feeling my usual cruise hangover. It’s probably a byproduct of not eating or drinking as much as usual (which I see as a bad thing) but I guess there’s at least some benefit.

Just be aware you’re still basically limited to what’s being served that day. You can lose the sauce, ask for well done, get a veggie but with no olives, etc. but it’s not like a real pizza place with a ton of toppings of course.

@jbrinkm The $3 fee doesn’t affect your freeplay. Sorry if I was unclear. If you put money onto a slot machine by charging it to your account it now carries a $3 fee (unless you’re Prime & above). It just started in April.
We had $14 in non-refundable OBC to use up & my wife wanted to use it to gamble so we transferred $11 to the machine knowing the $3 fee would eat up the rest. It was a waste of $3 but she didn’t want to use it on food or merch so we had to use it on something. Hope that makes sense.