Alaska Cruise Outfits

... Disney character fans sailing Disney Cruise Line’s Alaska itineraries. It’s the only... back in their regular outfits for the rest of the cruise. If you’re hoping... a few things during my Alaska cruise aboard the Disney Magic last ....m., and from a previous Alaska cruise, I knew I needed to ... spent standing in line. The outfits are beautiful, the backdrop is ...

... entirely up to you!   Alaska: https://www.cunard.com/en-gb...  Daywear: Days on board your Alaska cruise are all about comfort and...classes.   Smart Attire: Every Cunard cruise offers the opportunity to dress...decadent events, made for those outfits you reserve for truly special...: Evenings on a Cunard cruise are the perfect opportunity to... all perfect choices.   World Cruise: https://www.cunard.com/en-gb...

... different outfits, and do laundry as needed. For an upcoming Alaska cruise plus...

... cruise lines and this will be, I think, our 6th sailing in Alaska... we very much enjoyed.   This cruise is the 28-day round-trip Seattle ... "Live From" for all the cruise details of where the Noordam ... to the itinerary. But this cruise was selected just for the ... Saturday-in-Seattle clothes and the boarding outfits are all packed into a ... doing that, remember…28 day cruise and DH has told me ...

... work with all my "dinner" outfits, not one pair for each... once packed for a running cruise to Alaska - 4 different races, plus...

... later this month going to Alaska. We're experienced cruisers, but first... and bring 12-14 different outfits for a 7 day cruise either. Just not... fine on our last Alaskan cruise with RCCL, but I am...

Wow! This was amazing!! I didn't know what to expect, so this is the post I wish I had read before I went! Packing: The MUST HAVES are RAIN PANTS ($20 on amazon now, $140(!!) on ship), rain jacket (my Outdoor Ventures lined raincoat [$45 amazon] was the perfect weight), hiking pants (shoutout to my Duluth Flexpedition pants - elastic waist AND short inseam!]), wool socks, waterproof kayak gloves (that I wore every day, kayaking or not), and a ball cap or beanie. I brought 2 pairs of hiking pants for excursions and 1 pair of jeans to wear around the boat for dinner. 2 long sleeve wool shirts, 1 long sleeve lighter weight shirts, some tshirts for layering. I also used the heck out of a lightweight vest for layering as well (my husband used his fleece for this layer). You do NOT need hiking boots as you will be wearing (provided) wellingtons for all off-boat activities. Don't bother bringing your own wellingtons; people that did were told they weren't tall enough, plus they take up so much room! They also provide trekking sticks and bug spray. My usual hiking outfit was long sleeve wool shirt, rain jacket, hiking pants, two pairs of socks (socks, pants, then another pair over the pants so they stay in the boots - I think this also made the boots fit better). On our one absolutely gorgeous sunny no-rain day, I switched out the rainjacket for a lightweight vest. Don't forget a swimsuit for the polar plunge! I also brough a small packable backpack that was handy for water bottles and layers, but usually we just kept our phones and camera in our jacket pockets and didn't bring a bag. I also wish we would have brought our own smaller water bottle as the ones on board were huge! They provide binoculars but they weren't the greatest in some rooms, so you may want to bring your own. Brought but didn't use: long underwear, ponchos, dry bag (note: I think the only reason to bring a dry bag is if you have a large, fancy camera to protect). I also packed waterproof hiking boots that I used a bit in Sitka before we left, but honestly the trails there are so nicely maintained I could have gotten away with just sneakers; I didn't use them at all on the boat. Precruise: We got to Sitka on Thursday afternoon for a Saturday departure because I don't trust the airlines. Stayed in a lovely AirB&B right behind the main street (The Georgie! From what we heard, much better choice than the Sitka Hotel). We were fortunate that there was only one small cruise ship in town on Friday, on the following Monday they were expecting 9,000 people. For food, highly recommend Beak (at the end of the mainstreet, no res available) and Ludwig's (a slight walk towards the marina - make a res and ask for outside seating), as well as Old Harbor Books and their Backdoor Cafe. We also did a tour with Capt Gary's Sitka Adventures of The Fortress of the Bear, the raptor rehab center, and Totem Park on Friday which I would highly recommend (I didn't do the combo tour since I thought that we'd have enough boat time in the week, but the couple that was on our tour did it in the morning and rated it highly!). Boarding day: Saturday was boarding day and we dropped our luggage off at the meeting point which is right near the center of town. The meeting point/lounge is open all day, but we went and did some more hikes instead of hanging around. There were no other cruises scheduled that day, so quite a few activities and stores we wanted to visit were closed. We had to be back at the meeting point by 4:30. If it is an option while you are there, there is a movie that is supposed to be really good about Alaska in the same building that you could go see, or there is also enough time to do the fortress/raptor/totem park excursion that same day (we booked it through Viator). It was very first-day-of-school vibes in the meeting room with awkward intros and choosing seats! At 4:45, we loaded up on busses to take us across town (10 minutes) to the boat. Once we were greeted and shown to our rooms, we had a safety meeting and drill. Then dinner! The Vibe: At around 50, we were almost the youngest couple on board. There were about ten people in their 20s/teens who were traveling with their parents. I'd say the average age was 65? Everyone we met was delightful. About 90% were American and left-leaning. Quite a few that were active hikers, etc, but the majority were just here for the adventure without previous experience. Lots of fun conversations about previous travels; this was quite group that loved to explore! Food and Drink: All food and drinks are included, except for some top-shelf liquors (for pricing example, to have Empress Gin instead of regular gin in my drink was $8. I don't think many people ended up paying for any drink upgrades). All meals are served plated in the dining room (this is not true for all Uncruises; some do buffet breakfast/lunch). Breakfast you had a choice between a breakfast meal (eg corned beef hash, French toast, avocado toast) or a specialty omelet, and you could add eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast. They also had yogurt, fresh fruit, and the yummiest granola out for self-serve. Breakfast was usually about a B to B-, nothing to write home about, but still good. Lunch was the option of a meat meal (eg turkey wrap, burgers, chicken gyro), veggie meal, or you could have a salad with chicken or fish. Also a small dessert. Again, about a B or B+. Dinner was again the option of a meat meal (eg beef tenderloin, lamb), fish (cod, rockfish), or veggie. I would recommend doing the 50/50 surf and turf so you can try both. Each meal started with a salad/soup and bread and ended with a lovely dessert. Most of these meals were a solid A. There was also an all-you-can-eat crab night. Also one night where they shouted out all the special celebrations on board and had a special dessert, so make sure you tell them if you are celebrating! Multiple times we sat with people with dietary restrictions. The vegan said these were some of the best vegan meals she's had on a trip, with maybe just a couple meals that were disappointing. The gluten-free person went so far as to tell the captain how well her food was prepared! My husband and I both enjoyed most of the drinks we got from the bar. They make a special drink of the day for "happier hour" which was fun to try. My favorite cocktail was the Alaskan 49. There is only one bartender, so the wait can be a little long at times but you just spend it talking to your new friends in line, so no problem. The Boat: The boat was very clean and well-kept. We spent most of the time in the forward lounge or dining room, where there were tables of 6 and where we had most of our great conversations. The Rooms: We booked early enough to get a special on the Admiral room. It had a large amount of closet/drawer storage, and you could easily slide your suitcase in the closet or under the bed. It also had a desk and chair. We got the one on the 2nd floor, so our window was directly on the side of the boat, so we were able to keep our curtains open all the time to enjoy the view! (On the 3rd deck, there is a walkway between your door/window and the side of the boat so people are walking by and can look right in.) The bathroom was...very boaty. The shower was super tiny and my husband (average height) had to bend down for the showerhead. And no matter how you adjusted the curtain, there was always water outside the shower. But it got the job done! Also, the toilet paper is flushable. On the last night, we looked in on the other rooms - the Commodore Suite was fannnncy with that separate seating area and a normal- (ok, actually pretty big) sized bathroom. The pathfinder (regular rooms) were not *that* much smaller than ours (and same bathroom configuration). They had two twins that could be smooshed together for a king, but in a very awkward way (the desk would be in the way of getting in and out). Also they were orientated away from the window! But for as little time as we actually spent in there, they would have been perfectly fine. Internet: The internet is cut off from about 8am - 8pm. When it's on, well, it's not much better than being cut off. You might get some text messages, but probably not any photo attachments. You can read the subject line of emails, but unless it's pure text inside, you're gonna be waiting a while to read the rest. Most apps didn't work (say goodbye to your Wordle streak). Not a dealbreaker, but definitely good to know if you were planning on using it! What a regular day looks like: 6:30 early bird pastry and yogurt available in lounge (supposedly the coffee is weak; I don't drink it) 7:00 stretch: this was shown as a yoga-mat-on-the-sun-deck operation, but it was just a standing stretch. Still a nice way to start the day. 7:15: Breakfast 8:45 - 11:45(ish): Activities. You choose one activity (more on these later) and are broken up into small (14 or less) groups. Because there are 88 people, six guides, and 3(?) skiffs, you are not doing an activity this entire time. Depending on how many people want what activity, they can last from 1- 1.5 hours (I think the bushwacks were around 2 hours). This was one of the disappointments we had - a lot of waiting around time. And for the first two days, we were on the last activity of each section so we were waiting around by ourselves while most of the boat was out. I mean, it wasn't a dealbreaker; we were just expecting to spend the whole morning and afternoon off the boat. 12:30(ish): lunch 1:45 - 4:45: Second activity 5:30: Happier hour 6:00: Preview of next day 6:30: Dinner 7:30: Nature talk by one of the guides Usually everyone was in their cabin by 9:30 or 10. The two unusual days were the first day (Sunday) as the morning was spent with orientation lectures about the activities and safety, so just one activity in the afternoon. On Glacier Bay day (Friday for our itinerary), we had one activity in the morning, and cruised to sightsee Glacier Bay in the afternoon. I really wish we had had a true full day in Glacier Bay to do more than one activity (I think is what they do on the Juneau roundtrip cruise). Activities: There were usually 4 main activities from which to choose (from "easiest" to "more active"): Skiff tour: Ride around the location in a skiff. This was much slower going that I thought (in a good way!!). We would ride around and look at stuff in the shoreline (very cool during low tide-they called it a "dry snorkel!"), as well as look for land and sea wildlife. Eco-Meander: A light walk through the shoreline and the edges of the forest. If you did go in the forest, you were walking on easy game trails. These were fun! Kayak: Throughout the week, they offered some guided kayak tours as well as open-paddles where they would just give you boundaries to stay inside. Both were fun, but I enjoyed the guided ones more. Bushwack: Walking through the forest on your own path (and contrary to what I thought, no machetes are involved. 😄) Climbing over logs (sometimes under), through creeks, up some steep climbs, and some booty scooting going down said steep climbs. They tried to label them as "challenging" "light" or "moderate." We tried a light one on Wednesday and were hooked! The forest is just beautiful and scrambling over stuff had us giggling and laughing the whole way through. We did another moderate on the next day. I wish we would have had the courage to try the other ones earlier in the week, but were a little apprehensive about the "challenging" label! Others: On one day, there was an all-day "wack and yak" which was about 5 hours (!) of kayaking and 2 hours of lunch/bushwacking. Those that went said it was a great time, even if the currents got them in the end and they needed a tow! On that same day, a snorkel was offered which got good reviews from the 5 brave souls that tried it! Also, this is not an organized activity, but be sure to visit the bridge at some point! You sign up for your two activities the day before and you are guaranteed to be on those activities the next day (one day they had a skiff tour for one person because he was the only one that signed up!). If you change your mind after the schedule is made, they will try to accommodate you as best as they can. They also may need to change due to the weather (one day the currents were too strong for kayaking safely, so they gave us alternate activities to choose from). Polar plunge: On Glacier Bay day, you have the opportunity to jump off the back of the boat into the glacier waters. DO IT!!!!! Last day: Breakfast at 7 and here's your hat, what's your hurry? You walk right off the boat into downtown Juneau at about 8:30. If you have provided them with your flight information, they will hold your luggage until they shuttle you to the airport. We had a 6:30 flight so we squeezed in a Coastal Helicopter tour to a glacier and dogsledding which was AMAZING! Wildlife: We had two evenings where we spotted whales off of the bow (my first time seeing them and I did tear up). One skiff tour saw a bear on the shoreline (one skiff saw no wildlife!). We had one skiff day where every skiff spotted otters, seals, harbor porpoises, and a whale! In Glacier Bay, we cruised around a couple islands to view mountain goats, sea lions, cormorants, and puffins (!). Final thoughts: This was absolutely a once-in-a-lifetime memorable experience. I would gladly do another tour with Uncruise (maybe Hawaii?!?). I cannot imaging getting on a larger boat! The crew was top-notch and went out of their way to ensure everyone was having a good time. Everything was well-organized and safety-oriented. I'm really glad we went Sitka-to-Juneau as each day just kept getting more scenic with the finale being Glacier Bay! Now, a caveat is that this cruise is very nature-dependent! We had drizzly rain and clouds the first few days, which was just very Alaskan and didn't stop us. But one skiff got caught in a chance rain shower and that was not the best ride to be on (especially when the other skiff tour saw a bear that day!). And for our open paddle day, the current was pretty strong compared to the completely flat bay we had the day before, so we actually came back in pretty early. I'm really glad we had a beautiful, bluebird sky for Glacier Bay to end our tour on, my feelings may have been different if we never saw the sun all week! All that to say, be flexible and open to whatever comes your way during the week! No matter what, you're going to make some lifetime memories! Happy to answer any other questions! Happy to answer any other questions you may have! submitted by /u/OutsideOfADog07 to r/Cruise [link] [comments]

Hi everyone, welcome to my (F, 42) planes, trains, ships and automobiles recap for our (DH, 39) recent trip to Alaska (May 15-25). This was our second cruise to the 49th state and our first time incorporating a land tour portion. We (by we I mean DH) self-booked all of these pieces individually, it wasn’t a Princess land-sea package or travel advisory deal. Please also note that I have Celiac and will be commenting on how I found my particular dining situations, as this was my first cruise since being diagnosed. We took a direct Westjet (via Delta) flight from LAS-YVR on the afternoon of the 15th. The flight was uneventful and border control was a breeze since we’d completed the ArriveCan declaration a few days prior to leaving. The wait for the Skytrain was minimal, and even though we’d arrived around 4:30 there wasn’t much commuter crowding the ride into the city. I’d made a hotel reservation at the Pan Pacific in Vancouver via the American Express FHR program. For reference, this is the hotel “attached” to the cruise port. Some mild confusion at check in when the desk agent insisted I had reserved a double bed room (I did not, but you know like when you go through TSA and you KNOW you don’t have any contraband but you start wondering if you actually did somehow contract a kilo of drugs since you left your house?). This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we were upgraded to what I believe was the third largest suite on property (thanks AmEx, that $895 annual fee is finally paying off)! I’m not joking that it was excessive beyond belief, especially for only one night. Dinner in Vancouver was supposed to be at Elisa, a highly regarded steakhouse; however, we’d been notified a few weeks ago that there had been a fire at the restaurant and as of our visit they still hadn’t reopened. We pivoted to Gordon Ramsey Steak at the River Rock Casino for a little entertainment (can take the girl out of Vegas….). Admittedly dinner was fine, but I definitely was bummed that it was our backup plan. I didn’t have any bread or dessert options, but they did provide a separate amuse bouche (DH got some cute profiterole and I had an oyster). If you’ve been to GR Steak in Las Vegas, this place is like night and day compared to it, especially in decor. Embarkation morning we attempted to have the inclusive breakfast in the Club Lounge, but do note the lounge is smaller than an OGG Hawaiian Airlines lounge and just as welcoming iykyk. The bright side is that they offered to cover the buffet in the main hotel restaurant. The host at the restaurant asked if we wanted buffet or à la carte and my gluten free heart fluttered at not having to buffet! However, our voucher from the lounge ONLY covered the buffet, but I had an F&B credit from my FHR booking that covered the meal. It was, as the kids say, mid. For a high-end hotel that entry level rooms exceed $500/night it was maybe the poorest hotel breakfast I’ve had. You cannot convince me the eggs weren’t powdered. As I mentioned, the PanPac is part of the Canada Place complex so getting to the port was like walking into your garage from your very large hotel-house. We did make the rookie mistake of going down to the basement where vehicles drop off just to walk back up to the promenade to drop our bags. I swear last time we sailed we dropped bags in the lower level but I can’t be certain. Oops. Three ships were in port: the Disney Something, the Holland America Something-dam and the Something Princess (our ship). Please do not ask me what ship we were on. I didn’t remember all week. I won’t remember when I am asked later by my mother. If it wasn’t printed on my medallion I’d have never known. I count my lucky stars there were never two Princess ships in port our entire sailing or I’d be lost at sea (or the US customs office in Juneau I suppose). Joking aside, it was the Grand Princess (I checked the app, I swear). While I appreciate the 5-step check-in process that Canada Place operates, this is definitely a more hectic embarkation than if you’re utilizing separate berth/terminal spaces like the Florida ports. All in all I think it took about an hour to get onboard from when we arrived at 10am. Full disclosure when it comes to cruise planning I am 1000% just along for the ride (a Princess passenger in this case??). Everything that happens involving the ship is DH. He probably always knows what ship we were on. What I do know is we were in stateroom E732 (bc one repeats their stateroom ad nauseum on a cruise, even with the medallion system). It was a suite in the aft - literally, a wake view - and had a fancy long name (Otto von Something suite). We had the Princess Premiere package. We had Reserve dining. I do NOT know what we paid, if he used a casino offer and upgraded. I’m sure we talked about it at some point, along with the name of the ship. I want to a) rest, b) not make decisions and c) not think about work when I cruise. It did take a while for staterooms to open from when we got onboard, 2pm I think? We weren’t sure what specialty dining had been included for us, so instead of barging straight to make reservations (which were woefully unavailable online leading up the sailing) we waited to review all of the in-room literature. Turns out we had embarkation dinner at Crown Grill or Sabatinis, so I called the dining line and quickly secured our spot at the Italian place. The second order of business was hunting down the Reserve Dining Manager to discuss my dining restrictions. I’d already updated my Princess profile noting my condition and all further instructions were “speak to a manager onboard” cool cool….this man, the redemption arc of the sailing, was like “yes, gluten free, ok” and I’m all “uhhh yes now what” and he’s “you eat here” and I’m like “but….” And he’s like “byeeeeee”. I’m telling you I thought I’d be a miserable human for a week. George turned out to be a massive help and received one of my commendations in the survey. To save everyone slogging through the abyss of my brain for the seven days onboard, let’s just break down some key topics. Food: Breakfast everyday for suite guests was in Sabatinis. The team was excellent, took note of my GF request the first morning and was prepared with GF pastries and toast (much, much beiger and sadder than the large assortment of regular pastries). I mostly got some egg situation and bacon. I never asked for any other special requests- I’d read online that someone asked for GF pancakes but I wasn’t sure if that was MDR or not. They had our drinks order memorized by the second day and I continually disappointed manager Olga when I didn’t want a mimosa after the first day. We dined at both specialty restaurants for dinner, Sabatinis and Crown Grill. I was pleasantly surprised that Sabatinis had a GF amuse bouche (arancini) and GF pasta. Not too much to say about the steakhouse, it’s easily the most accessible. Safe. Interestingly, our Sabatinis breakfast staff worked Crown Grill for dinner, so they had the whole spiel ready for me. For MDR we were in the Reserve Collection. This is a corner of one main dining room with dedicated waiters and some additional “chef’s specials” each meal. At lunch, for instance, the manager had a cooking station with a salad or pasta dish each day. My personal process for dining went like this: Day 1 acknowledges restriction, order from menu (adjust as needed), during meal manager drops off next days menu to select from; rinse, repeat. Most days I only preordered dinner as lunch is more fluid with the port schedule. I was always offered GF bread - literally white toast, yet toasted differently every single time. But there’s something about just being included when everyone else gets cool buns. The food was….fine. It’s cruise food. Was I blown away? No. Was it terrible? Not usually (do NOT get a GF crab cake)…but the desserts were particularly awful. The GF dessert choices nightly are crème brûlée (without the Madeline that everyone else gets), ice cream/sorbet or “chefs choice”. They want to bring you chefs choice. They’re so proud to give you chefs choice. One day (for both lunch and dinner mind you), chefs choice was not dissimilar to tinned blueberry pie filling with whipped cream on top. Again, happy to be invited to the party. We did not try the buffet. In port we had Timber & Tide in Ketchikan right by the pier; I got seafood tacos and they had corn tortillas on request. The mango salsa was just the right amount of sweet to match the chipotle crema. We caved for Tracy’s Crab Shack in Juneau. Honestly just do it. Your wallet will cry. Your tummy will smile. DH had the garlic buns that come with the bucket deal (I had asked for them to be separate from the rest of the order). One more meal to mention but it leads us to the next topic. Excursions: We’d booked some flying thing in Ketchikan. The night before, as we were leaving to go to dinner we saw a new ticket envelope announcing a new departure time - the afternoon flight instead of the morning. It was due to forecasted rain, I see the framework of their plan. However, we weren’t given an option or heads up, just new tickets. We didn’t want the afternoon session, different agenda. It’s 5:30, the excursion desk closed at 5:00. Guest services says they a) can’t issue refunds and b) excursions have to be canceled 48 hours in advance. How, pray tell, could we cancel an excursion we weren’t aware would get rescheduled? The agent called someone, refunded us. We’re not special, we didn’t make a scene, I think they realized they made some tactical errors, or that we weren’t the first ones to ask for a refund. Juneau- Taku Lodge Sea Plane glacier adventure thing. 11/10 must do, recommend to everyone. We were driven to the sea plane port place (had walked past it earlier in the morning). The flight was STUNNING. We truly lucked out on weather, our last cruise we got rained out in Juneau so I feel like it owed us one. The flight is a recorded narration, but my brain was just a loop of “Oohh pretty” and “nature is effing insane”. The lodge staff were so chill, the food was great and the bear (yes a black bear just hung out the whole time) was snuggly. Jkjkjk don’t hug wild bears. I should point out that I just used personal judgement on what I ate at the lodge; I’m generally asymptomatic but still take full responsibility for what I’m eating. Whittier - we booked the bus transfer to Anchorage. I command you now with my full chest, if you do this and your bus driver is named Robin, jump out the window. Actually just don’t board, pretend you have to pee and go back in the terminal and get on another bus. She cray. She admitted as we started driving that she’d never driven that type of bus before and that she’s still learning the “script”. I was quite certain she was going to drive us off the road trying to read her notes. Bars I am now a dual citizen between the United States and Crooners Bar. I don’t know what it is about that place, it was also our home on our last Alaska cruise. Christian and Victoria are a dream team. Had good conversations with the other captives. Do note that walk up orders queue heavily before and after shows due to proximity to the theater. Speaking of shows, don’t know her. Didn’t go to a single one. “They” said the ABBA and British Invasion were ok. Cool. If you do ever see me at a comedy juggler, I have been invaded by a body snatcher. What else can I tell you about the cruise? The ship is showing its age, it’s not all new and fancy. We dealt with (and had other people mention) HVAC issues in the stateroom. Our balcony door I think was duct taped together. The patio furniture was…worn out. I rave to anyone that will listen that cruising to Alaska is a must-do trip and that if you can afford it you MUST get a balcony for the scenic cruising days. It was really disappointing how little time we spent on our balcony this trip just due to the condition. The shower pressure was strong but the drainage was nonexistent. We existed mostly on decks 6, 7 and 8 (with the occasional field trip to 14 for pizza or an ice cream). Oh….and can we seriously ban smoking in the casino? Ok, onward. So the demon bus finally gets us to Anchorage….TWO HOURS after we left. I believe we were supposed to go straight to the Hospitality Center, but we had a group that needed to get dropped at the airport that hand carried their luggage for some reason. I’m lucky like that. We grabbed our bags and walked the two blocks to the Hilton. It was about 12:30 and we couldn’t check in yet but we dropped our bags with the bell desk and headed out for lunch. In fairness, the staff at the hospitality center said we probably wouldn’t be able to check in yet and we were welcome to drop our hand carry bags with our suitcases to hold until 5:00pm. A colleague who used to live in Anchorage had recommended F Street Station and lucky us, it was literally around the corner from the hotel. It was packed. Like not a seat open, and what appeared to be a large percentage of locals. Thankfully a table was leaving as we were prairie dogging for open chairs and we pounced (do prairie dogs pounce?). I got a mountain of clams in the most garlicy broth (without and bread to sop it up) and DH had fish and chips. Solid place, divey in the best way. Thanks Jackie. Got into the room later that afternoon, killed some time and stepped out for dinner at Simon & Seaforts. It was a quick walk but if you’re not paying attention you’ll walk right by the place. It’s in what looks like an office building. Service was quick, food was good not great. I didn’t realize it was a Landrys restaurant, would have chosen a local spot otherwise. The next morning we packed up and walked the three blocks for our bucket list part of the trip - Alaska Railroad Gold Star service to Fairbanks! Checking in was efficient. Our luggage wasn’t weighed when we dropped it off, but note that AR has a posted limit of 50 pounds per bag. I also want to specifically mention that Gold Star doesn’t have overhead storage due to the dome car, some “carryon” size bags will have to be checked. I smooshed my backpack to fit under the seat, but in hindsight it had some items that I was lugging around to keep our suitcase under the weight limit. The good: the views. We had great weather to start, clear skies for the most part. Saw moose, bears, sheep and lots of birds (all from afar and you know, while speeding by them). I’m the first cynic about watching YT videos of people going “the guide says it’s always cloudy and OMG today is perfectly clear”. Sure Jan. The cloud cover rolled in ahead of reaching the Alaska Range but we were able to glimpse the base of Denali. Animal spotting is tough, anyone that thinks bears just hang out next to the tracks waving is high. The times that something was called out on the PA we’d either already passed it or it was on the wrong side of the tracks to see. Just keep your own eyes peeled and be patient - I swear I saw three bears but it wasn’t announced and no one else shouted about it. The bad: the food, genuinely not great and poorly planned. They ran out of two items during lunch service before the second seating. I’m indecisive on how to rank the fellow passengers, but we had someone on speakerphone for the first half hour, some generally loud talkers and a guy that stood in the aisle and blocked traffic for no reason over and over again. I guess the guides aren’t asked or required to police that? I dunno. All in all it was a neat experience and I’m glad we’ve done it but it was a lot of money to have such bad food and no control over your environment. There was a 90-year old man hacking up a lung for the last two hours of our journey that just killed all good vibes. It’s a looooong day going from Anchorage to Fairbanks (to the tune of 12 hours) and the last leg of the trip from Denali depot is a grind and I think everyone just wanted off. But wait! Low vibes? Do I ever have the cure for you…Captain Dave. Sir, I dont know where you came from but I will never forget you. We left Fairbanks Station thinking we could grab a cab (they said on the PA while we were approaching both Ubers and cabs were available), but none were visible. This stranger in a van with that visor with the fake hair on it (you cannot make this up) is like “where ya headed”….airport….”oh hop in, I got two more but I can take you”. First, I’m alive to tell this story, so we didn’t die. Second, there were in fact two other train passengers getting in the van with us. We are trauma bonded. Third, at no point was fare ever discussed. This man, I kid you not, pulled off on the side of the road mid-trip to stop and show us a random pen of reindeer. Or caribou. He kept saying one, then corrected himself to the other, but then did it backwards the next time. Again, we didn’t get dead, so great. We gave him a $20 when we got to the airport and he told us to find him if we ever come back. We did arrive to the airport before the Delta check-in desk was even open, but that’s how the schedule worked out and we didn’t have to stay another hotel night. Just bunked down with some vending machine snacks and killed time watching F1 and IndyCar highlights (man I miss Monaco this weekend). Eventually it’s time to check bags and head in to kill more time before our 1:40am flight….yes, 1:40am and yes it never really got dark out and my brain is still trying to figure that out. Connected in Seattle and made it safely back home in Vegas before noon. A quick comment on packing as it seems to always be a hot topic. I packed a rain coat and insulated jacket. Wore the rain coat only until Juneau then swapped to the puffer once the temperature dropped heading north. I took two beanies, only wore one. Packed three shoes: waterproof hiking shoes (not boots but good tread), casual sneakers for onboard and a pair of loafers. Wish I hadn’t packed the loafers and missed a quick slide/clog for onboard to pop out for coffee. I appreciate that Alaska sailings are much more laid back and even Gala Night was overwhelmingly casual. I had one pair of black slacks, two pairs of a wide leg “athleisure” trouser (there’s a great option from Uniqlo) and four pairs of water resistant black pants from Duluth Trading (one fleece lined). I assumed I’d change every day to a nighttime outfit…I think I actually did twice? I’m usually in all black, so a black sweater and pants covers a lot of bases. I still managed to over pack, but it was mainly dinner time blouses and cardigans that never got touched. I think that the 50-pound limit for the train helped us both in preventing any more overpacking. I hope this helps anyone planning a future cruise to Alaska. Despite the hiccups I still think that Princess is the go-to for Alaska sailing. I’m grateful for older posts on sailing with celiac across a number of social platforms and hope I can continue to shed light on how to have the best experience. Finally, shoutout to DH, who achieved Million Miler status with Delta on the flight home! All the work travel that takes you far from home makes these trips so much more memorable and important. submitted by /u/fluffybunnyFL to r/PrincessCruises [link] [comments]

the ports are Skagway, Icy Strait Point and Kichikan I also did her Glacier Day outfit from Maplelea. got some peices from some of my favorite 18in doll brands might include some our genoration accsories! submitted by /u/Fantastic_Permit_525 to r/americangirl [link] [comments]

I’m going on a cruise in May, but I can’t wear anything that shows skin, not even sleeveless. I want comfortable outfit ideas. My parents don’t let me wear anything that shows skin. The only thing I own right now are graphic tees, so I need suggestions for outfits or good graphic tees to buy. Or just regular plain tees. I went on a cruise last year and wore two dresses for the events, plus graphic tees with leggings and pants. I know it’s still a while until May, but I just want to get ideas now. thank you so much. I’m 18 yrs old. submitted by /u/Major-Advertising259 to r/capsulewardrobe [link] [comments]

1.At the very beginning of 2025 we felt a shift with the Stewart family… fresh off a trip to Dubai, ditching anything Boutique related, churning out daily mini-vlogs and weekly full length videos and announcing a 3rd baby was on the way… it was obvious they were leveling up. I don’t think anyone expected the trajectory they are ending the year on. They no longer hide what happens behind the scenes, openly talking about filming schedules and editing content… they don’t hide the fact that both parents are constantly filming so that the content is caught from every angle… and along the way we all realized that education is an afterthought, their children are truly employees, that the dark web doesn’t exist to them because it’s all just content. We heard Carlin talk about core memories and tearing up and crying and being so in love and God knows we all have heard about her post-partum journey. Evan has centered himself as the family narrator, leading the vlogs, filming even when he shouldn’t, pretending to be the world’s greatest dad and a husband every woman dreams of. So… what will 2026 bring for these goobers? They are going to move into a cavernous warehouse of a home. They will surely lure as many Bates as possible over to film, spend nights in the pool house and do manual labor in exchange for any freebies Carlin may throw their way. They will travel, they will exploit medical appointments and continue to create ClickBates titles to lure in viewers… but will the bubble burst? Will Layla finally learn to walk, brush her teeth and sleep in her own bed? I mean, first grade is looming for most children her age. She is constantly being subtitled these days, and has learned a new trick of doing somersaults to keep dad’s camera trained on her. She continues to be exploited while she is at dance class… she can’t concentrate because she is forever looking between the instructor and mommy’s camera. Will Zade stop scream talking? Will he actually get a Kindergarten DVD instead of endless hours watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? Suddenly Carlin and Evan are concerned about his hearing. In the latest update on Zade’s speech they tell us that the Speech Therapist didn’t want to continue working with Zade because he was doing just fine… but that Carlin insisted. Yes, Carlin, the same person who constantly mocks her son’s speech and uses baby talk to communicate with him. It was also Hero Carlin (and not the hundreds and hundreds of comments) who noticed him constantly screaming and thought his hearing should be tested. Evan says he was a loud kid so Zade is probably just taking after him. Another comment by the thumb that proves absolutely no one should look to him for investment/financial/child rearing/ANY advice. Dude is not smart. The Stewarts know that all of their house buying business is public knowledge, and they can’t stomach the fact that folks know they have a mortgage. To combat this, we get lots of footage of Evan running around dropping off checks to contractors. See? They have plenty of cash. The mortgage is just to help their portfolio. This house is sounding more and more like a money pit. They have had foundation work… which would stop any discerning home buyer in their tracks. They also talk about water damage/moisture problems… another BIG issue for most buyers. They’ve torn up brick, cement… have to refinish floors and basically gutted the outdated kitchen. All of that plus there is a pool house built on top of a 2 car garage that is all unfinished. They bought the place for a million... and the amount to make it livable for them just keeps rising. Seems like quite a price to pay so Carlin can pretend to be the Queen of Powell. This has required them to work non-stop and when they aren't working… these people are shopping. In almost every one of their 13 daily vlogs they have gone shopping. They are forever in a store, a mall, or you see packages piled at their door. Not one time have they mentioned doing anything for anyone except themselves. You can see the greed bubbling over in Evan’s beady eyes. You know what else they don’t talk about much? God. Christ. Jesus. I mean, unless it’s showing off their church fits or Evan is bragging about a solo he paid to torture the parishioners with… there just is no way to know that these people are Christians. They aren’t going to Evan’s family’s Christmas this year. Probably because they can’t film. They plan to stay at the home studio so they can exploit the kids, who won’t get paid overtime. Get ready because 2026 is coming… Carlin is going to hit 1 million followers on the Gram… and momma needs to pay these interior designers so that means Layla won’t get a day off until her parents head out on their first (sponsored) solo trip. The Clark family started 2025 with a big secret. Travis was attending online classes to finally learn all of the basic knowledge he was denied as a child who was forced to attend his parent’s fake school. Once he had all of his basics under his belt… they were ready to let the world in on the big secret that he was going to become a nurse. The only thing that changed was the size of the bags under dude’s eyes and the amount of time he could spend away from his wife and kids. Travis continues to be the only nursing student who still manages to be a full time influencer, and show up all over the east coast like he’s a lady of leisure. Katie and Travis share lots of New Jersey content when they visit for Thanksgiving break. They run a 5k that Katie says everyone hated and head out to their annual ice skating. Travis says Katie is taking a “One year break from skating”. Katie immediately says people will think she is pregnant but she is NOT pregnant. In fact though, most of her content lately has been her eating, wearing loose fitting clothes and screeching at the camera that she isn’t expecting. Doth protest too much?? On the way home, they make an interesting stop… they meet up with Lawson in a gas station parking lot. Again. What’s going on with these 3 that we are missing? Why is Lawson always meeting up with them late at night in random parking lots? He gets in the car with them before the video ends… he’s on the front and Katie is shoved in the back. Could Travis be editing for Lawson? Travis does mention that Lawson’s vlogs are like watching some high energy kid’s show. Drag him Trav! Katie spends so much time alone in her house that she’s started heading to the big house to hang out with Momma B. Travis does get to go golf with Evan late night at a simulator but Katie doesn’t see Carlin… doesn’t mention Josie… she’s just alone with her kids. They go viral with a reel featuring Travis being the most amazing daddy to Hailey. Hailey pulls in 10 million plus views. Travis’ biggest music reel has 1.5 million views. See? That’s why their kids continue to be front and center. Katie and Travis celebrate their 4th anniversary with a table full of gifts and some fake hugs for the camera. 4 years of exploiting children and wallowing in vapid consumerism. Happy anniversary babe! Katie lands a deal with a counter top robot stove that costs nearly $300 and has a subscription service for frozen meals. She cooks chicken and freeze dried rice as if she’s Julia Child. They do explain their sudden love of Santa. After avoiding his name like the plague previously, Travis says they have decided Santa can be just like the Disney Princesses and he doesn’t care who disagrees. Katie jumps in to explain that gifts come from Mom and Dad but Santa is just a character. Oh. I didn’t know. Also, they take a minute to thank their followers for helping them buy a house this year. They very pointedly say their home is perfect for their family. They love it, it’s cozy, it’s just enough for them. Mmmm-Hmmm…. Are you picking up what they are throwing down? 3.Josie Balka started the year having her back blown out on a cruise ship and ends it… predictably… giving birth. Baby #4, a boy named Brooks, makes his debut on December 6 and momma did it without an epidural, squatting on a bed in full glam wearing a pool noodle on her head. After doing this 3 times in quick succession, she finally found the right mixture and every reel she drops goes viral with over a million views. Her follower count has grown by at least 25,000 in 10 days. The algorithm loves a Trad Wife. Josie definitely has a birth fetish and romanticizes every part of delivery… right down to ole square head Ktron doing his best Evan Stewart impression preparing her pads and numbing spray post-delivery. Baby Brooks requires NICU care due to Josie’s complicated medical condition but that just means more content can be served up. Josie films in the NICU, in the labor room, post labor room and at home her first night back with the kids. Meanwhile, at the house Willow and Hazel pick up the slack in some pre-recorded canned content. The Balka girls and baby Miles are being exploited more now than ever before. Ellie is in charge of the older 3 and her public IG chronicles the adventures in babysitting while mommy and daddy are away. Sister-in-law and best friend Lydia is the grand prize winner in the “who will get to film” sweepstakes. None of her sisters, or her mother even, are allowed in until the baby is born. Lydia is the only one to even share any baby content besides Michael who posts that she is overjoyed. Josie has shared just about every aspect of pregnancy except where this new baby is going to… BE. Miles is already stuffed in what they call the nursery, and the girls are cramped up in a little room sharing a trundle bed. Josie’s bedroom and bathroom are usually her studio… filled with clothes, shoes and every beauty product ever created. Don’t they own a camper? Maybe the baby’s nursery will be in that. 4.January 2026 will mark one whole year since Alyssa Webster got ticked off, quit YouTube and turned off commenting on all of her social media. Of course about 3 months after that she was back to share some lame-o camping trip they took in a family member’s backyard… but that’s beside the point. She’s been pouting for basically 12 whole months now, only stopping long enough to sob over Charlie Kirk, and dress in dated prom gowns for various Conservative functions. Besides all of that she is still able to score free dresses from the Mormon chicks and so she has to show those off. Man, those dresses are so terrible. I know these fundamentalists love to suffer so I guess these dresses help with that. It’s the stiffest, itchiest fabric while still being slick and thin and wrinkly and always just the most garish patterns. Think grandma’s curtains meets Jessica McClintock or thrift store table cloth mixed with 1981 formal living room. Yesh. The girls have to wear this stuff, and they have to smile while doing it. John is always in some cheap, too short tie and little Rhett is always just… there. Usually in the sad hat. The Webster fam lines up for Thanksgiving pictures, Sunday go to meeting pictures and Christmas tree pictures. They are all filtered into oblivion and posted with some lifeless, meaningless AI caption. Girl is really doing the least. But… she did manage to head to the farm for a trip to see Janie. And of course she’s going to post about that and exploit her children while also managing to exploit her elderly grandmother. They seem to have gone to the farm the second the rest of the Bates headed back to Tennessee and the big reason for this trip was that… Alyssa got a new pair of boots. After complaining that she had the same pair from when she was 16 either super fan Tikki came through, or John got a bonus because Alyssa is feeling herself in her new kicks. Unlike Kane Brown, she only has the one pair but still manages to wear them with every outfit and has Allie take her picture posing with her leg thrown out all over the farm. The shot in the midst of the cow poop is my personal fav. I don’t even have to tell you that the girls spend the whole week on the farm in those same damn orange fake leather, zip on the side, ankle booties. God I hope someone has a growth spurt soon so at least one pair can move out of the rotation. 5.In 2025 the Bates clan positioned Zach Bates as the new patriarch. Gil who? Zach has his little siblings staying at his house constantly, he is teaching them to drive, he is hosting and planning family get togethers, filming conversations with Kelly, giving fatherly advice to those out of town, grilling and chilling and camping and scouting out houses for all of his siblings while helping build housing for others. Zach has stories to tell and he will force you to listen. Just ask anyone who tries to join him in his kitchen. He will talk over you, around you and through you. The latest victim is Whitney who shows up to peel potatoes and laugh at his corny jokes. Yes, they make a 20 minute vlog all about mashed potatoes. It has 3 ingredients and a 12 minute tutorial of him showing how to cut a potato. I want to scream “what does it matter?? You’re boiling and mashing them into oblivion man….” Anyway, they show some behind the scenes at the Boutique just before it closes. Zach and Whitney join Evan and Carlin to stand around and observe while the siblings do all of the hard work cleaning up and moving out. Addee says her car is full to the brim with clothes and Ellie takes a ton of stuff as well. Gil, Kelly, JebJud and Warden are all there to help wrap it up and to gladly take every last clothespin left behind. Whitney is back to selling lollipops that supposedly heal strep throat and shows off some gristle turd meat on a plate that she doesn’t eat but says you should, thanks to a meal subscription service. She is still selling that protein shake but just features the 12 pack this time instead of gagging herself on film trying to demonstrate how much she loves it. Their family of 7 heads to the mall to meet the Stewarts for a movie and Zach has to back out of the parking garage because he has that pop up camper strapped to the top of the Denali. I wish they would reverse out of exploiting their kids and lying on film in 2026 as fast as he skedaddles away from Carlin after that movie date. 6.Trace and Lydia Bates have had quite a 2025. They have rearranged that square they live in more times than I can count, but it seems they will be looking for more storage solutions as a new year dawns because so far… they still don’t have a house. I wonder why God doesn’t drop one in their lap the way he saw fit to do for Evan and Carlin. That crazy silly God… always pulling tricks. Some people get million dollar homes and some people can’t get a green card. Oops…moving on. Lydia is now fully in charge of pretty much everything in this home and Trace just bumbles around avoiding all responsibility. While Lydia runs away to a coffee shop to edit videos for their sole source of income… Trace takes the kids to the big house so his little siblings and mom can care for them. Man the big house just never disappoints. It is always, always a random disaster… unless of course there happens to be a surprise sleepover for 40 happening. Then, it’s amazingly clean. The front door is beat all to hell and the porch is loaded with every metal shelving unit from BSB. Inside the trash is just everywhere. Literal trash is on the floor, the couches, toys are strewn around everywhere, there’s dust, crud, smears… it makes me itch. Trace flops down on the stained up old couch that has been there since the reality show began, and starts to narrate what’s happening around him. Obviously he doesn’t do a great job because Lydia has started adding captions to the clips to correct or fill out the story. Baby Kaia is old enough now at 6 months to be stuck in that walker for 20 hours a day just like Ryker. While she rolls around the big house she is chased by Hailey Clark who shows up with Harvey and Katie. Kelly is in the kitchen, noodle in her hair, cooking away. Something that really caught my attention… Kelly Jo was cooking bacon. REAL bacon. Not turkey bacon like they always, always cooked/ate on their reality show. I know Zach and Evan have both cooked real bacon but to see it in the big house with the matriarch cooking it… really makes me wonder. No pork was a big Gothard/IBLP rule. Lydia shares her excitement over being chosen to attend Josie’s birth. She films and types out a love letter to Josie calling her a phenomenal mother. Lydia also gifts Josie a beige basket full of beige gifts. Lydia really has been light on content. Maybe they have been busy house shopping, or maybe she was busy helping Josie. I certainly hope she doesn’t have morning sickness. That would be crazy…. Right?? 7.Michael and Brandon Keilen kicked off 2025 by announcing they were going to change up their YouTube content, share a vlog every other week and planned a huge trip to Alaska for their 10th wedding anniversary in August. The only thing that happened out of all of those plans was that he did stop creepy coloring with his nieces and nephews on film. Otherwise… the year went sideways and the trip to Alaska was postponed when they decided to become foster parents. Michael was the first sibling to congratulate Josie on the birth of her baby. She also shared pictures from Thanksgiving at the farm with Jane. In a new vlog they explain that Brandon went to Michigan alone for Thanksgiving because his sister was getting engaged. What follows is a long, boring story of how the engagement happened in a state house building and how Brandon had to wear a “cool guy tourist” outfit to fool his sister so he could secretly film the whole thing. Whatever. Michael says the boys were with her at the farm and that they will all go together to Michigan for Christmas and be able to stay for a longer time. She hasn’t mentioned anything about how temporary this situation is in a while. It’s interesting that the boys are with them… and only them… for all of the big holidays… and are even able to travel out of state. Michael says how much she has loved this year having the boys in her home. Brandon still doesn’t seem quite as thrilled as Michael and just says it has been “an adjustment”. Michael gets choked up talking about it and Brandon awkwardly tries to comfort her and that’s how they wrap up the vlog. Of course they are swamped with comments from folks saying they “deserve” to adopt these boys and that they are praying they get to adopt them. That’s a touchy subject and people say the stupidest things. 8.Erin Paine is spending every waking minute directing her beef fat operation from her perch at the end of her kitchen table. She’s making sure Chad, Carles and all of the little Paines keep that Kitchen-Aid mixer whirring away and those jars stuffed to the brim with ooey, gooey beef lard packed full of MLM oils to satiate the masses. Fundies and Christian Nationalists just love to coat themselves in some good old animal fat and to make sure she stays top of mind… Erin mails PR packages to all of the top TradWives. One of them features her product and manages that wonderful Southern Baptist backhanded compliment by saying how “lovely” Erin’s product is while also saying she had NO clue Erin made Tallow and has sooo many friends who are already making it. Ouch. Even with Chad working harder than he ever worked under his phony construction business, Erin still can’t keep the stuff in stock and has to wait list folks right at Christmas. Maybe she shouldn’t have sent out so many jars for free. If she’d only speak to Carlin, she could take some lessons on how to get by without giving anything to anybody ever. In other news, Ellie has been to visit and the Paine fam participated in their church’s Living Bethlehem program. Erin was allowed to hammer down on the piano to her heart’s content and the kids showed up in their normal clothes which worked great for their roles as shepherds. We don’t know if they will spend Christmas with Tori’s family in the Smokey Mountains again this year, but we do know Chad’s repaired Advent Calendar is filled full of marginally fun things that the kids will almost love doing every day until Santa Claus doesn’t arrive. Happy Hollydays! 9.Tiffy Bates is still pregnant… maybe. The timeline for Lawson and Tiffany is so backwards and screwed up, it’s hard to say. Esther and Nathan were in town a week ago for what Tiffany called “baby watch”, but then Esther showed them flying out of Knoxville to Las Vegas. Lawson popped up in Katie’s vlog to say that by the time the vlog was posted, the baby would be here… yet their stories have shown them chilling out at home with baby Will. Will is becoming a pro at smiling, laughing and waving “bye bye”…. He learned quickly that if he just complies, then dad won’t cause him to suffer from shaken baby syndrome. Tiffany and Lawson promised multiple vlogs and have only dropped 2 so far. They haven’t shared an update in weeks, but it seems her due date is Christmas Day, so she still has a week and a half to go. Or not… no one knows. We do get a quick sighting of Duke the Dog. He lives exclusively in the backyard, but gets his fair share of being exploited when Lawson scores a paid ad from a dog food brand. Tiffany talks to the camera while sitting in the nursery and says the baby’s name is right in front of the viewer’s face…people guess John or Gilvin… or maybe Espensen… but really with these 2, the kid could be named CRIB or CARPET… or Tiffathon?? I am sure we will find out sometime in the next 6 months. I sure hope the Red Flag Guy is ready. 10.Bits and Bytes….Trace says he is encouraging Kelly to start her own YouTube. He says she should start by sharing on IG. Where has he been? Kelly Jo hawks yet another product that she isn’t paid for… it’s a set of high dollar frying pans and they may not be sending her a check, but she certainly got free product and she happily shares the link…Esther continues to document her workouts and she also shows off pics and videos from their time in Vegas…Evan and Carlin are installing a new fancy automated gate. One thing they can’t replace? The huge electrical wires and transmitters looming right over their house. Tell us again about how desirable this place is…During the kids walk through of the house Zade takes a hard fall opening a closet door and Layla knocks herself out cold while jumping in a low celing closet… concussions all around! Have a great week friends. If you are like me and in charge of all of the Holly and the Jolly… Godspeed. We are almost there! submitted by /u/dixcgirl10 to r/BatesSnark [link] [comments]

1.At the very beginning of 2025 we felt a shift with the Stewart family… fresh off a trip to Dubai, ditching anything Boutique related, churning out daily mini-vlogs and weekly full length videos and announcing a 3rd baby was on the way… it was obvious they were leveling up. I don’t think anyone expected the trajectory they are ending the year on. They no longer hide what happens behind the scenes, openly talking about filming schedules and editing content… they don’t hide the fact that both parents are constantly filming so that the content is caught from every angle… and along the way we all realized that education is an afterthought, their children are truly employees, that the dark web doesn’t exist to them because it’s all just content. We heard Carlin talk about core memories and tearing up and crying and being so in love and God knows we all have heard about her post-partum journey. Evan has centered himself as the family narrator, leading the vlogs, filming even when he shouldn’t, pretending to be the world’s greatest dad and a husband every woman dreams of. So… what will 2026 bring for these goobers? They are going to move into a cavernous warehouse of a home. They will surely lure as many Bates as possible over to film, spend nights in the pool house and do manual labor in exchange for any freebies Carlin may throw their way. They will travel, they will exploit medical appointments and continue to create ClickBates titles to lure in viewers… but will the bubble burst? Will Layla finally learn to walk, brush her teeth and sleep in her own bed? I mean, first grade is looming for most children her age. She is constantly being subtitled these days, and has learned a new trick of doing somersaults to keep dad’s camera trained on her. She continues to be exploited while she is at dance class… she can’t concentrate because she is forever looking between the instructor and mommy’s camera. Will Zade stop scream talking? Will he actually get a Kindergarten DVD instead of endless hours watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? Suddenly Carlin and Evan are concerned about his hearing. In the latest update on Zade’s speech they tell us that the Speech Therapist didn’t want to continue working with Zade because he was doing just fine… but that Carlin insisted. Yes, Carlin, the same person who constantly mocks her son’s speech and uses baby talk to communicate with him. It was also Hero Carlin (and not the hundreds and hundreds of comments) who noticed him constantly screaming and thought his hearing should be tested. Evan says he was a loud kid so Zade is probably just taking after him. Another comment by the thumb that proves absolutely no one should look to him for investment/financial/child rearing/ANY advice. Dude is not smart. The Stewarts know that all of their house buying business is public knowledge, and they can’t stomach the fact that folks know they have a mortgage. To combat this, we get lots of footage of Evan running around dropping off checks to contractors. See? They have plenty of cash. The mortgage is just to help their portfolio. This house is sounding more and more like a money pit. They have had foundation work… which would stop any discerning home buyer in their tracks. They also talk about water damage/moisture problems… another BIG issue for most buyers. They’ve torn up brick, cement… have to refinish floors and basically gutted the outdated kitchen. All of that plus there is a pool house built on top of a 2 car garage that is all unfinished. They bought the place for a million... and the amount to make it livable for them just keeps rising. Seems like quite a price to pay so Carlin can pretend to be the Queen of Powell. This has required them to work non-stop and when they aren't working… these people are shopping. In almost every one of their 13 daily vlogs they have gone shopping. They are forever in a store, a mall, or you see packages piled at their door. Not one time have they mentioned doing anything for anyone except themselves. You can see the greed bubbling over in Evan’s beady eyes. You know what else they don’t talk about much? God. Christ. Jesus. I mean, unless it’s showing off their church fits or Evan is bragging about a solo he paid to torture the parishioners with… there just is no way to know that these people are Christians. They aren’t going to Evan’s family’s Christmas this year. Probably because they can’t film. They plan to stay at the home studio so they can exploit the kids, who won’t get paid overtime. Get ready because 2026 is coming… Carlin is going to hit 1 million followers on the Gram… and momma needs to pay these interior designers so that means Layla won’t get a day off until her parents head out on their first (sponsored) solo trip. The Clark family started 2025 with a big secret. Travis was attending online classes to finally learn all of the basic knowledge he was denied as a child who was forced to attend his parent’s fake school. Once he had all of his basics under his belt… they were ready to let the world in on the big secret that he was going to become a nurse. The only thing that changed was the size of the bags under dude’s eyes and the amount of time he could spend away from his wife and kids. Travis continues to be the only nursing student who still manages to be a full time influencer, and show up all over the east coast like he’s a lady of leisure. Katie and Travis share lots of New Jersey content when they visit for Thanksgiving break. They run a 5k that Katie says everyone hated and head out to their annual ice skating. Travis says Katie is taking a “One year break from skating”. Katie immediately says people will think she is pregnant but she is NOT pregnant. In fact though, most of her content lately has been her eating, wearing loose fitting clothes and screeching at the camera that she isn’t expecting. Doth protest too much?? On the way home, they make an interesting stop… they meet up with Lawson in a gas station parking lot. Again. What’s going on with these 3 that we are missing? Why is Lawson always meeting up with them late at night in random parking lots? He gets in the car with them before the video ends… he’s on the front and Katie is shoved in the back. Could Travis be editing for Lawson? Travis does mention that Lawson’s vlogs are like watching some high energy kid’s show. Drag him Trav! Katie spends so much time alone in her house that she’s started heading to the big house to hang out with Momma B. Travis does get to go golf with Evan late night at a simulator but Katie doesn’t see Carlin… doesn’t mention Josie… she’s just alone with her kids. They go viral with a reel featuring Travis being the most amazing daddy to Hailey. Hailey pulls in 10 million plus views. Travis’ biggest music reel has 1.5 million views. See? That’s why their kids continue to be front and center. Katie and Travis celebrate their 4th anniversary with a table full of gifts and some fake hugs for the camera. 4 years of exploiting children and wallowing in vapid consumerism. Happy anniversary babe! Katie lands a deal with a counter top robot stove that costs nearly $300 and has a subscription service for frozen meals. She cooks chicken and freeze dried rice as if she’s Julia Child. They do explain their sudden love of Santa. After avoiding his name like the plague previously, Travis says they have decided Santa can be just like the Disney Princesses and he doesn’t care who disagrees. Katie jumps in to explain that gifts come from Mom and Dad but Santa is just a character. Oh. I didn’t know. Also, they take a minute to thank their followers for helping them buy a house this year. They very pointedly say their home is perfect for their family. They love it, it’s cozy, it’s just enough for them. Mmmm-Hmmm…. Are you picking up what they are throwing down? 3.Josie Balka started the year having her back blown out on a cruise ship and ends it… predictably… giving birth. Baby #4, a boy named Brooks, makes his debut on December 6 and momma did it without an epidural, squatting on a bed in full glam wearing a pool noodle on her head. After doing this 3 times in quick succession, she finally found the right mixture and every reel she drops goes viral with over a million views. Her follower count has grown by at least 25,000 in 10 days. The algorithm loves a Trad Wife. Josie definitely has a birth fetish and romanticizes every part of delivery… right down to ole square head Ktron doing his best Evan Stewart impression preparing her pads and numbing spray post-delivery. Baby Brooks requires NICU care due to Josie’s complicated medical condition but that just means more content can be served up. Josie films in the NICU, in the labor room, post labor room and at home her first night back with the kids. Meanwhile, at the house Willow and Hazel pick up the slack in some pre-recorded canned content. The Balka girls and baby Miles are being exploited more now than ever before. Ellie is in charge of the older 3 and her public IG chronicles the adventures in babysitting while mommy and daddy are away. Sister-in-law and best friend Lydia is the grand prize winner in the “who will get to film” sweepstakes. None of her sisters, or her mother even, are allowed in until the baby is born. Lydia is the only one to even share any baby content besides Michael who posts that she is overjoyed. Josie has shared just about every aspect of pregnancy except where this new baby is going to… BE. Miles is already stuffed in what they call the nursery, and the girls are cramped up in a little room sharing a trundle bed. Josie’s bedroom and bathroom are usually her studio… filled with clothes, shoes and every beauty product ever created. Don’t they own a camper? Maybe the baby’s nursery will be in that. 4.January 2026 will mark one whole year since Alyssa Webster got ticked off, quit YouTube and turned off commenting on all of her social media. Of course about 3 months after that she was back to share some lame-o camping trip they took in a family member’s backyard… but that’s beside the point. She’s been pouting for basically 12 whole months now, only stopping long enough to sob over Charlie Kirk, and dress in dated prom gowns for various Conservative functions. Besides all of that she is still able to score free dresses from the Mormon chicks and so she has to show those off. Man, those dresses are so terrible. I know these fundamentalists love to suffer so I guess these dresses help with that. It’s the stiffest, itchiest fabric while still being slick and thin and wrinkly and always just the most garish patterns. Think grandma’s curtains meets Jessica McClintock or thrift store table cloth mixed with 1981 formal living room. Yesh. The girls have to wear this stuff, and they have to smile while doing it. John is always in some cheap, too short tie and little Rhett is always just… there. Usually in the sad hat. The Webster fam lines up for Thanksgiving pictures, Sunday go to meeting pictures and Christmas tree pictures. They are all filtered into oblivion and posted with some lifeless, meaningless AI caption. Girl is really doing the least. But… she did manage to head to the farm for a trip to see Janie. And of course she’s going to post about that and exploit her children while also managing to exploit her elderly grandmother. They seem to have gone to the farm the second the rest of the Bates headed back to Tennessee and the big reason for this trip was that… Alyssa got a new pair of boots. After complaining that she had the same pair from when she was 16 either super fan Tikki came through, or John got a bonus because Alyssa is feeling herself in her new kicks. Unlike Kane Brown, she only has the one pair but still manages to wear them with every outfit and has Allie take her picture posing with her leg thrown out all over the farm. The shot in the midst of the cow poop is my personal fav. I don’t even have to tell you that the girls spend the whole week on the farm in those same damn orange fake leather, zip on the side, ankle booties. God I hope someone has a growth spurt soon so at least one pair can move out of the rotation. 5.In 2025 the Bates clan positioned Zach Bates as the new patriarch. Gil who? Zach has his little siblings staying at his house constantly, he is teaching them to drive, he is hosting and planning family get togethers, filming conversations with Kelly, giving fatherly advice to those out of town, grilling and chilling and camping and scouting out houses for all of his siblings while helping build housing for others. Zach has stories to tell and he will force you to listen. Just ask anyone who tries to join him in his kitchen. He will talk over you, around you and through you. The latest victim is Whitney who shows up to peel potatoes and laugh at his corny jokes. Yes, they make a 20 minute vlog all about mashed potatoes. It has 3 ingredients and a 12 minute tutorial of him showing how to cut a potato. I want to scream “what does it matter?? You’re boiling and mashing them into oblivion man….” Anyway, they show some behind the scenes at the Boutique just before it closes. Zach and Whitney join Evan and Carlin to stand around and observe while the siblings do all of the hard work cleaning up and moving out. Addee says her car is full to the brim with clothes and Ellie takes a ton of stuff as well. Gil, Kelly, JebJud and Warden are all there to help wrap it up and to gladly take every last clothespin left behind. Whitney is back to selling lollipops that supposedly heal strep throat and shows off some gristle turd meat on a plate that she doesn’t eat but says you should, thanks to a meal subscription service. She is still selling that protein shake but just features the 12 pack this time instead of gagging herself on film trying to demonstrate how much she loves it. Their family of 7 heads to the mall to meet the Stewarts for a movie and Zach has to back out of the parking garage because he has that pop up camper strapped to the top of the Denali. I wish they would reverse out of exploiting their kids and lying on film in 2026 as fast as he skedaddles away from Carlin after that movie date. 6.Trace and Lydia Bates have had quite a 2025. They have rearranged that square they live in more times than I can count, but it seems they will be looking for more storage solutions as a new year dawns because so far… they still don’t have a house. I wonder why God doesn’t drop one in their lap the way he saw fit to do for Evan and Carlin. That crazy silly God… always pulling tricks. Some people get million dollar homes and some people can’t get a green card. Oops…moving on. Lydia is now fully in charge of pretty much everything in this home and Trace just bumbles around avoiding all responsibility. While Lydia runs away to a coffee shop to edit videos for their sole source of income… Trace takes the kids to the big house so his little siblings and mom can care for them. Man the big house just never disappoints. It is always, always a random disaster… unless of course there happens to be a surprise sleepover for 40 happening. Then, it’s amazingly clean. The front door is beat all to hell and the porch is loaded with every metal shelving unit from BSB. Inside the trash is just everywhere. Literal trash is on the floor, the couches, toys are strewn around everywhere, there’s dust, crud, smears… it makes me itch. Trace flops down on the stained up old couch that has been there since the reality show began, and starts to narrate what’s happening around him. Obviously he doesn’t do a great job because Lydia has started adding captions to the clips to correct or fill out the story. Baby Kaia is old enough now at 6 months to be stuck in that walker for 20 hours a day just like Ryker. While she rolls around the big house she is chased by Hailey Clark who shows up with Harvey and Katie. Kelly is in the kitchen, noodle in her hair, cooking away. Something that really caught my attention… Kelly Jo was cooking bacon. REAL bacon. Not turkey bacon like they always, always cooked/ate on their reality show. I know Zach and Evan have both cooked real bacon but to see it in the big house with the matriarch cooking it… really makes me wonder. No pork was a big Gothard/IBLP rule. Lydia shares her excitement over being chosen to attend Josie’s birth. She films and types out a love letter to Josie calling her a phenomenal mother. Lydia also gifts Josie a beige basket full of beige gifts. Lydia really has been light on content. Maybe they have been busy house shopping, or maybe she was busy helping Josie. I certainly hope she doesn’t have morning sickness. That would be crazy…. Right?? 7.Michael and Brandon Keilen kicked off 2025 by announcing they were going to change up their YouTube content, share a vlog every other week and planned a huge trip to Alaska for their 10th wedding anniversary in August. The only thing that happened out of all of those plans was that he did stop creepy coloring with his nieces and nephews on film. Otherwise… the year went sideways and the trip to Alaska was postponed when they decided to become foster parents. Michael was the first sibling to congratulate Josie on the birth of her baby. She also shared pictures from Thanksgiving at the farm with Jane. In a new vlog they explain that Brandon went to Michigan alone for Thanksgiving because his sister was getting engaged. What follows is a long, boring story of how the engagement happened in a state house building and how Brandon had to wear a “cool guy tourist” outfit to fool his sister so he could secretly film the whole thing. Whatever. Michael says the boys were with her at the farm and that they will all go together to Michigan for Christmas and be able to stay for a longer time. She hasn’t mentioned anything about how temporary this situation is in a while. It’s interesting that the boys are with them… and only them… for all of the big holidays… and are even able to travel out of state. Michael says how much she has loved this year having the boys in her home. Brandon still doesn’t seem quite as thrilled as Michael and just says it has been “an adjustment”. Michael gets choked up talking about it and Brandon awkwardly tries to comfort her and that’s how they wrap up the vlog. Of course they are swamped with comments from folks saying they “deserve” to adopt these boys and that they are praying they get to adopt them. That’s a touchy subject and people say the stupidest things. 8.Erin Paine is spending every waking minute directing her beef fat operation from her perch at the end of her kitchen table. She’s making sure Chad, Carles and all of the little Paines keep that Kitchen-Aid mixer whirring away and those jars stuffed to the brim with ooey, gooey beef lard packed full of MLM oils to satiate the masses. Fundies and Christian Nationalists just love to coat themselves in some good old animal fat and to make sure she stays top of mind… Erin mails PR packages to all of the top TradWives. One of them features her product and manages that wonderful Southern Baptist backhanded compliment by saying how “lovely” Erin’s product is while also saying she had NO clue Erin made Tallow and has sooo many friends who are already making it. Ouch. Even with Chad working harder than he ever worked under his phony construction business, Erin still can’t keep the stuff in stock and has to wait list folks right at Christmas. Maybe she shouldn’t have sent out so many jars for free. If she’d only speak to Carlin, she could take some lessons on how to get by without giving anything to anybody ever. In other news, Ellie has been to visit and the Paine fam participated in their church’s Living Bethlehem program. Erin was allowed to hammer down on the piano to her heart’s content and the kids showed up in their normal clothes which worked great for their roles as shepherds. We don’t know if they will spend Christmas with Tori’s family in the Smokey Mountains again this year, but we do know Chad’s repaired Advent Calendar is filled full of marginally fun things that the kids will almost love doing every day until Santa Claus doesn’t arrive. Happy Hollydays! 9.Tiffy Bates is still pregnant… maybe. The timeline for Lawson and Tiffany is so backwards and screwed up, it’s hard to say. Esther and Nathan were in town a week ago for what Tiffany called “baby watch”, but then Esther showed them flying out of Knoxville to Las Vegas. Lawson popped up in Katie’s vlog to say that by the time the vlog was posted, the baby would be here… yet their stories have shown them chilling out at home with baby Will. Will is becoming a pro at smiling, laughing and waving “bye bye”…. He learned quickly that if he just complies, then dad won’t cause him to suffer from shaken baby syndrome. Tiffany and Lawson promised multiple vlogs and have only dropped 2 so far. They haven’t shared an update in weeks, but it seems her due date is Christmas Day, so she still has a week and a half to go. Or not… no one knows. We do get a quick sighting of Duke the Dog. He lives exclusively in the backyard, but gets his fair share of being exploited when Lawson scores a paid ad from a dog food brand. Tiffany talks to the camera while sitting in the nursery and says the baby’s name is right in front of the viewer’s face…people guess John or Gilvin… or maybe Espensen… but really with these 2, the kid could be named CRIB or CARPET… or Tiffathon?? I am sure we will find out sometime in the next 6 months. I sure hope the Red Flag Guy is ready. 10.Bits and Bytes…Trace says he is encouraging Kelly to start her own YouTube. He says she should start by sharing on IG. Where has he been? Kelly Jo hawks yet another product that she isn’t paid for… it’s a set of high dollar frying pans and they may not be sending her a check, but she certainly got free product and she happily shares the link…Esther continues to document her workouts and she also shows off pics and videos from their time in Vegas…Evan and Carlin are installing a new fancy automated gate. One thing they can’t replace? The huge electrical wires and transmitters looming right over their house. Tell us again about how desirable this place is…During the kids walk through of the house Zade takes a hard fall opening a closet door and Layla knocks herself out cold while jumping in a low ceiling closet… concussions all around! Have a great week friends. If you are like me and in charge of all of the Holly and the Jolly… Godspeed. We are almost there! submitted by /u/dixcgirl10 to r/BringingUpBates [link] [comments]