Ketchikan, Alaska – Totem Pole Capital of the World

Ketchikan was our last port of call on our Disney Cruise to Alaska and the Southern most city that we visited.  Ketchikan is also the totem pole capital of the world.  We arrived in Ketchikan mid-morning which meant we easily watched as we arrived in port.  Previous mornings I would sneak out for a quick look, but we were busy trying to get dressed and eat breakfast before disembarking,  so it was so nice to be able to relax on our verandah. 

The clouds were low in the sky and I love how the mountains extend up into the clouds. Every port that we visited had lovely colored buildings rising up from the water.  

Another thing I loved to look at are the boats in each city. There is always such an array of sizes, types, and colors. 

Our cruise ship was docked right downtown – loved that!  No long walks or buses to get us into town. 

We had no excursions in Ketchikan.  When we disembarked, we headed to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center.  The discovery center is small with only a couple exhibits and a film.  Our favorite exhibit was the temperate rainforest where you learn about the animals and vegetation.  There are several scenes and finding the animals hidden in the rainforest was fun! They have a gift shop on site, which my daughter enjoyed because of their large collection of children’s books by local authors.  She wanted to look at all of them, before we could convince her to leave.

We headed back to the ship for lunch at Triton’s – actually at my daughter’s request.  A little tip is if you see something you want on the children’s menu ask your waiter.  They had mozzarella sticks on the children’s menu and they are my husband’s favorite, so the waiter happily delivered a double order to our table and offered to bring more if we wanted.Off the ship we went again for a walk to Creek Street to check out the famous raised shops/restaurants.  I was surprised to see that you walked between buildings and behind buildings and that the buildings were actually on the water most of the way not the boardwalk.  One of the things we wanted to do was ride the funicular up to Cape Fox Lodge to see some lesser known but extremely cool totem poles.  They were very different from what we had seen all trip.  The lodge also has art and artifacts on the second floor.  While the 6 totem poles were wonderful to see, both the lodge and the funicular were extremely hot, there was no air movement at all.  Which made for a very short visit! We made our way to a couple stores in town, including one where the owner said “You can tell when Disney is here, the town is filled with princesses!”  Disney’s cruise to Alaska brings a lot of families with children to a place where previously was geared more towards adults.  The nice man also gave S a bear necklace.  This type of welcome and customer service was common in Ketchikan.  Most everyone we ran into was nice, more than willing to help.  One other store that we really enjoyed was the Christmas Store right off the dock.  They had a beautiful glass cruise ship ornaments!

We had a really nice day in Ketchikan, the town was beautiful and the people friendly.  This may be our last port of call, but I am not finished sharing information about our cruise.  Still to come: tips for first time cruisers, what is there to do on the Disney Wonder, and what to see in Vancouver before or after your cruise.  

Do you want to see all my adventures in Alaska and aboard the Disney Wonder? Check them out.