August 16, 2011 – 7 Night Alaska Sailing

[missmulan]

i agree, mrs. gumdrop's graphic is beautiful!!!!


i was just thinking that the only thing i want out of this whole cruise is a nice family picture that shows we're on an alaskan cruise with disney! i want to use this as our holiday photo.

[DumboFan]

SOOOO ready for Saturday morning to fly to Vancouver!!

In between preparing for the cruise, my office has moved. Not only was I the only one packing 5 years worth of crap, I'm the only one unpacking the crap in the new office :confused3 I just keep thinking, x days until I'm on that plane!

Can't wait to see everyone at Diversions!!

[kgsmith]

i was just thinking that the only thing i want out of this whole cruise is a nice family picture that shows we're on an alaskan cruise with disney! i want to use this as our holiday photo.

Me too! I'm bringing casual dresses for dinner each night, as I see this cruise as an opportunity to get a lot of family photos. Since I am usually the one who takes the photos, most of our vacation photos are of just DH and DS. So it will be nice to actually BE in the photos taken by the ship's photographers:)

The FE gifts are packed. Some of my gifts include snack items. Does anyone know if it is better to pack food in checked luggage or in a carryon?

All of my clothes and my son's clothes are packed. I highly recommend packing cubes and packing envelopes! Now I'm just waiting for my husband to decide what to pack. Sigh.

We leave BWI in the wee hours on Sunday morning for Vancouver.:woohoo:

We are looking forward to meeting everyone at Diversions on Tuesday afternoon!

[dkmjgal]

SOOOO ready for Saturday morning to fly to Vancouver!!

In between preparing for the cruise, my office has moved. Not only was I the only one packing 5 years worth of crap, I'm the only one unpacking the crap in the new office :confused3 I just keep thinking, x days until I'm on that plane!

Can't wait to see everyone at Diversions!!

Where are you guys flying out of? We are leaving Saturday morning also from Newark. Where are you staying in Seattle? Looking forward to seeing you again!:thumbsup2

[DumboFan]

Where are you guys flying out of? We are leaving Saturday morning also from Newark. Where are you staying in Seattle? Looking forward to seeing you again!:thumbsup2

Kelly,
We're on the 7am aircanada flight out of newark. We're stayingg in vancouver. Kate's convinced she'll see some of the guys from the canucks!

[dkmjgal]

Duh....you did say Vancouver, not Seattle. We are flying into Seattle on Saturday and then taking Amtrak to Vancouver on Sunday morning. Maybe we'll run into each other in Vancouver! My son would love to run into a Canuck while in Vancouver! See you guys soon!

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Thanks for the compliment! I requested one of the great DIS-igners on the disboard to create this first graphic for me. The others are modifications I made to some of her backgrounds. Feel free to use any or all of them for yourself.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5019/5529627700_46c73a71c8_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5133/5529627622_574971f37c_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5099/5529627314_9943b58b48_z.jpg

[disneymath]

Well ... the bags are "mostly packed" ... it's been a bit of a challenge that's for sure! (We're gone a total of 14 nights/15 days as we are spending a few days in Vancouver before we cruise and a few days in the Toronto area post cruise (plus the two driving days to/from Toronto).

In addition to our three checked bags, we have ...

*A duffle packed for the "post cruise Toronto" portion - that will stay in our vehicle out of sight while we're gone.

*A carryon packed with our jackets and ABD backpacks ... if needed (souvenirs, souvenirs), this will become an extra checked bag on the way home.

*A carryon packed with our dressy clothes (we've opted for dresses on formal and semi-formal night and dress capris / dressier jeans with nice tops for cruise casual nights). Dad is going with dress pants, dress shirt, and blazer (tie optional) on formal and semi-formal night with khakis / nice jeans and polo/golf/nice t-shirts for cruise casual nights.

*A carryon with our Vancouver pre-cruise clothes - but might forgo this if they fit in our regular suitcases - but then again, it might be worthwhile to have the third carryon if we get lots of souvenirs - three little boys and my sister and bro-in-law to spoil with surprises ya know!

So now, I just need to decide what "purse" I'm going to take that will hold my camera and iPad in addition to the regular purse stuff like cell phone, sunglasses and a wallet!

I was up to 2AM this morning and figure it's going to be another late night tonight! That's okay though ... apparently "I'm too excited to sleep" applies to all things Disney, not just Disney World! :)

We plan on leaving for Toronto early tomorrow morning (I can start online check-in for our flight on Saturday at 7AM on Friday ... so once that's done, we're out the door!

Can't wait to meet all of you onboard! :):):)

Hope everyone has safe travels to Vancouver!

(Mellers, I'm glad your scooter situation is all sorted out. Imben, sorry that you've been having a stressful week. Sending :goodvibes and best wishes for your friend's speedy recovery.)

[dkmjgal]

THANKS MRS GUMDROP!!! These are awesome!!!:cheer2::cheer2:

[msnoble]

Just wanted to check in and wish everyone safe travels to the Vancouver over the next several days :goodvibes. I have been lurking here the last week--can't seem to sit at the computer long enough to write anything:lmao: . Managed to get most of my errands run this afternoon--some last minute things to finish up tomorrow, and hoping to have enough time left over for me and DD to get last minute mani/pedis :thumbsup2

We leave Saturday mid-morning for the Detroit airport, but due to a long layover in Minneapolis we won't arrive in Vancouver until after dinner local time. DH is already on the west coast for business, so it will just be me and the kids traveling all day--wish me luck!

Looking forward to meeting everyone at Diversions!!
Maureen

[Inkmahm]

Finally, we're packed and ready to go! We leave in just over 6 hours to start our trip to Seattle. Looking forward to meeting DIS people in Vancouver on Tuesday.

Let the fun begin!

[pops711]

It sounds like everything is coming together for everyone. The girls and I spend the better part of the day running all over town trying to pick up all those last minute things. The only thing (that i can thing of) that is missing is my dress pants. this morning I wanted to make sure they still fit and the zipper exploited (no not because they were to small). So now they are at the shop getting a new zipper put in. I am 99% sure we have everything, if we for get something for me or the DW we can live with it, I just hope we didn't forget any thing for the girls!!!!

Can someone remind me what I am forgetting (for us or the girls)???? :)

[wisegal]

Just wanted to pop in to wish everyone safe travels. I am a little jealous of everyone who gets to start there vacation, but also thankful I have a few more days to get things ready. The only things that are in a suitcase are teh fish extender gifts. FE not even done:confused3. Hopefully that will be done tonight. As I have told my kids packing will be on Friday, Saturay, sunday or Monday night definatly by Tuesday morning :lmao:

Happy Friday
Nicole

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

It sounds like everything is coming together for everyone. The girls and I spend the better part of the day running all over town trying to pick up all those last minute things. The only thing (that i can thing of) that is missing is my dress pants. this morning I wanted to make sure they still fit and the zipper exploited (no not because they were to small). So now they are at the shop getting a new zipper put in. I am 99% sure we have everything, if we for get something for me or the DW we can live with it, I just hope we didn't forget any thing for the girls!!!!

Can someone remind me what I am forgetting (for us or the girls)???? :)

Socks? I often forget socks.

A few years ago I packed for a beach vacation and didn't take any pants or shorts! Boy was I suprised! I have become a much more careful packer since then. :rotfl2:

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

The FE gifts are packed. Some of my gifts include snack items. Does anyone know if it is better to pack food in checked luggage or in a carryon?
.


We leave BWI in the wee hours on Sunday morning for Vancouver.:woohoo:

We are looking forward to meeting everyone at Diversions on Tuesday afternoon!

In recent years I have carried on largish quantities of M&ms without a problem. Unless your snack had a liquid componant, it shouldn't be an issue.

We are flying out of BWI tomorrow, so we will make sure to let them know you are coming. I know, bad joke, but seriously, may we both have short security lines and no delays! :hug:

[kgsmith]

In recent years I have carried on largish quantities of M&ms without a problem. Unless your snack had a liquid componant, it shouldn't be an issue.

We are flying out of BWI tomorrow, so we will make sure to let them know you are coming. I know, bad joke, but seriously, may we both have short security lines and no delays! :hug:

Thanks, Mrs. Gumdrop. I'm leaning toward putting them in a carryon, just to minimize the chances of it all getting crushed.

And, yes to the short security lines and no delays. :)

Wishing everyone safe and smooth travels this weekend!

[dkmjgal]

Good morning everyone!:surfweb:

We are just about ready to leave :banana: I have a mani/pedi this afternoon, need to drop off the dog and 1 more load of laundry. I can't believe we are leaving tomorrow morning already...heading to Seattle for a day then on to Vancouver!

Safe travels everybody:thumbsup2

[mellers]

4... :tinker: :tinker: :tinker: :tinker:

[Aby]

Safe travels to everyone who is leaving in the next few days for Vancouver. We don't leave until Monday so I'm a little jealous!

My parents just left so now I've finally started my packing journey. Got a load of laundry in now and I'm getting my instructions ready for my pet sitter.

See you all soon!

Aby

[godalejunior]

I am stressing about packing....this is usual for me. I just decided I am going to go for it and hope I packed appropriate clothing for excursions. See you all soon!!!:thumbsup2

[aunursa]

This afternoon I finished packing our second, larger suitcase. After the bathroom scale determined its weight at 48 lbs -- dangerously close to the limit, I moved some items into the smaller suitcase. Now it's 46 lbs. I also packed our garment bag. In addition to the formal night and dinner at Palo, we'll dress up for my niece's bat mitzvah service, which will be held onboard the ship.

The online weather forecasts vary between overcast and showers for our port days. Unfortunately rain is expected nearly every day next week -- including showers in Ketchikan for each of the next ten days. There's a possibility that we'll get precipitation every day in Alaska ... and a good chance of showers on Monday in Vancouver. Accordingly I packed an umbrella, ponchos, hooded jackets, sweaters, and several turtlenecks.

I hope everyone has safe travels.

[mellers]

As a surprise to Mellers Kidlet (for getting college credit, in math, the summer after her 9th grade year), rather than taking the QuickShuttle to Richmond (our usual mode of transit), we decided to get a limo as a surprise and go there that way. (There are five of us going, we don't live very far away, and my husband gets a big discount on the limo service through his work, or it would not be happening).

Well, this afternoon, we got a call from the limo service, and apparently, they have a big party going to Sea-Tac tomorrow morning, and if we were willing to wait another 10-20 minutes (which we certainly were), they would let us have the WHOLE 12-PASSENGER PARTY BUS FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!! Complete with DVD player!

So, tomorrow morning, Mellers and family will be tooling up I-5 in the party bus! We'll be at the Four Points tomorrow, and we'll see everyone at the pre-cruise meet at the White Spot on Monday at 5 p.m., or at the 3 p.m. meet at Diversions on Tuesday!

[pops711]

Here is what weather.com as to say about what our weather is going to look like:

Vancouver: http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/CAXX0518 (the 16th & 23rd)

Skagway: http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/USAK0225 (the 19th)

Juneau: http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/USAK0116 (the 20th)

Ketchikan: http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/USAK0125 (the 21st)

When I first posted this 4 days ago it said it said 40% chance of rain for Vancouver and 60% for Skagway. to it says 10% and 30 %. Lets hope it keeps up this way!!!

[ICollectBelle]

"My bags are packed I'm ready to go, and I'm leaving on a jet plane! Safe travels to all! See you real soon! :cool1::cool1::yay::yay:

[mellers]

(Okay, I'm a few hours early--but we're leaving on the party bus tomorrow!)

3...pirate: pirate: pirate:

[siburdue]

As a surprise to Mellers Kidlet (for getting college credit, in math, the summer after her 9th grade year), rather than taking the QuickShuttle to Richmond (our usual mode of transit), we decided to get a limo as a surprise and go there that way. (There are five of us going, we don't live very far away, and my husband gets a big discount on the limo service through his work, or it would not be happening).

Well, this afternoon, we got a call from the limo service, and apparently, they have a big party going to Sea-Tac tomorrow morning, and if we were willing to wait another 10-20 minutes (which we certainly were), they would let us have the WHOLE 12-PASSENGER PARTY BUS FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!! Complete with DVD player!

So, tomorrow morning, Mellers and family will be tooling up I-5 in the party bus! We'll be at the Four Points tomorrow, and we'll see everyone at the pre-cruise meet at the White Spot on Monday at 5 p.m., or at the 3 p.m. meet at Diversions on Tuesday!

WOW, that sounds just awesome - too bad we aren't packed or I would try to hitch a ride a couple days earlier, just to party with you!pixiedust:party::banana::banana::dance3::

See you at the meet :)

[BishopFamily]

...
Richard, welcome back to the thread. It sounds like you have had your hands full with fun! Please forgive me for pointing out this typo, but I was highly entertained. As an appriciater of all things Star Trek, Borgy and Bess would be a very interesting show! :rotfl:
...

You are correct, it is Porgy. I guess I was trying too hard to make sure I got the "g" in the right place. It is usually pronounced Porky and Bess (but that would be just as incorrect.)

[DumboFan]

And we're off!!! :cool1:

On our way to newark for our flight to vancouver!!!!!!! party:party:

Safe travels everyone!

[dkmjgal]

SEE YOU IN VANCOUVER!!! :cheer2::cheer2::banana::banana::cool1::cool1:

[garytam]

We are leaving in couple minutes. See you all in Vancouver.

:yay::yay::yay::yay:

[Inkmahm]

Hi, everyone! We had a great trip to Seattle yesterday. No problems with any of the flights, the car rental, or the hotel. And it is SUNNY here! I've never seen Seattle in the sunshine before. I actually like it.

We are at Inn at the market hotel so it is a perfect location for doing things in Seattle. Yesterday we shopped at the market a bit ($5 for a beautiful bunch of flowers) and had dinner at the Pink Door. also went to the Comedy Underground club. Today we are doing the ducks, a segway tour and dinner at the top of the Space Needle. We're in full vacation mode!

Safe travels to everyone and see you in Vancouver in a few days!

[msnoble]

Waiting at the airport in Detroit to begin our adventure :) here is a link to my blog--I am hoping to post daily, and will upload at the ports. See you all on Tuesday!

http://wp.me/p1jiPd-3c

Maureen

[scothen]

I am flying out of Chicago tomorrow morning. See everyone soon!!:cool1:

[Elfinjojo]

So Glad everyone is on their way! Hope you all have safe travels.

We leave the UK on monday evening and will be in Vancouver on Monday evening, with the time slip being 8 hours it seems that we land just 2hrs after take off(But in fact the flight is around 10hrs+)

Cases are almost packed - just the hats, gloves and wash bags to go in!!:banana:

See you on the ship

[AppleGuy]

I Collect Belle, Apple Guy's friends, and Apple Guy arrived in Seattle this afternoon. Staying near Seattle City Center and Space Needle. Ate at a fantastic restaurant tonight, Amore, Italian food--excellent. Going to Pike City market and Space Needle tomorrow and then board the train to Vancouver Monday morning. 3 more days and we're on the Wonder--Alaska here we come!!!
:banana::cool1::yay::hippie::banana::banana:

[poohj80]

I Collect Belle, Apple Guy's friends, and Apple Guy arrived in Seattle this afternoon. Staying near Seattle City Center and Space Needle. Ate at a fantastic restaurant tonight, Amore, Italian food--excellent. Going to Pike City market and Space Needle tomorrow and then board the train to Vancouver Monday morning. 3 more days and we're on the Wonder--Alaska here we come!!!
:banana::cool1::yay::hippie::banana::banana:

Sounds like similar plan as ours when we go in 2 weeks! :yay:

Where are you staying? Are you just planning to take a cab to Amtrak Monday?

[mellers]

This is Mellers and Mellers Kidlet, coming at you from the Four Points Vancouver Airport!!!!!

We spent yesterday seeing the International Buddhist Temple Garden and having dinner with my husband's aunt (who's really neat to be around), and genrally having a great time! Today, we're having Dim Sum with his aunt (the Chinese version of Sunday Brunch), and then we're heading out on the SkyTrain to the Vancouver Aquarium.

Hope everyone is having a good time, and we'll see some of you tomorrow at the White Spot at 5880 No 3 Road, Richmond, BC, V6X 2E1, No. 3 Rpad and Ackroyd in Rchmond, BC at 5 p.m., and we'll see some of you in 2 days ON THE CRUISE:banana::banana: and at the Diversions meet at 3 p.m.

[mellers]

2....pluto: pluto:

[pops711]

It sounds like we are the only ones not up in the Seattle/Vanvouver are???? Are we the only ones flying out on Tuesday??? :laundy:

[Aby]

We're still not there yet but we are flying out tomorow! :banana::banana::banana:

Aby

[MercoBear]

We are leaving first thing tomorrow morning. See you all on the ship! :goodvibes

[AppleGuy]

Sounds like similar plan as ours when we go in 2 weeks! :yay:

Where are you staying? Are you just planning to take a cab to Amtrak Monday?

Staying at the Holiday Inn Express on Aurora St. 10 minute walk to Space Needle, 5 minute walk to free bus stop that takes you right down to Pikes Market. Taking a cab to Amtrak in the morning--10 minute ride

[Inkmahm]

Anyone looking for great restaurants in Seattle? Try the Pink Door (near the Public Market), Anthony's (great seafood at pier 66) and the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. Had great dinners at all of them! Tomorrow we fly to Vancouver and then have a dinner cruise booked. Looking foward to seeing the Wonder again on Tuesday!

[msnoble]

This is Mellers and Mellers Kidlet, coming at you from the Four Points Vancouver Airport!!!!!

... and then we're heading out on the SkyTrain to the Vancouver Aquarium.

We spent several hours at the aquarium today too :thumbsup2 . I thought it was great, but it seemed pretty crowded to me. We had dinner at the Granville Island Public Market which was fun, and then just hung out in our suite (the time change is catching up with the kids...)

Hoping the weather continues to be nice--we are planning to rent bikes and ride the Stanley Park seawall path tomorrow.

Just 2 more sleeps until we are able to introduce my DH to the Wonder! :cool1:
Maureen

[mellers]

We spent several hours at the aquarium today too :thumbsup2 . I thought it was great, but it seemed pretty crowded to me. We had dinner at the Granville Island Public Market which was fun, and then just hung out in our suite (the time change is catching up with the kids...)

Hoping the weather continues to be nice--we are planning to rent bikes and ride the Stanley Park seawall path tomorrow.

Just 2 more sleeps until we are able to introduce my DH to the Wonder! :cool1:
Maureen

It was really crowded! (and, if you saw us, we were the family of 6 with the woman in the red scooter and the man who was always folding paper stuff ;) They'll be five of us on the cruise, but my husband's Auntie Suk joined us today.)

Can't wait until Tuesday, and can't wait to see some of you tomorrow at the White Spot!

[poohj80]

Staying at the Holiday Inn Express on Aurora St. 10 minute walk to Space Needle, 5 minute walk to free bus stop that takes you right down to Pikes Market. Taking a cab to Amtrak in the morning--10 minute ride

Thanks for the tips! We're staying very near there at the Hyatt Place. Hadn't heard about the free bus. What's it called or where can we pick it up?

[mellers]

1....::MickeyMo

See some of you at White Spot today at 5880 No 3 Road, Richmond, BC, V6X 2E1
at 5 p.m., and see others tomorrow at Diversions at 3 p.m.

WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!!!!

[pops711]

by this time tomorrow they will start boarding the ship. So, by this time tomorrow we will all start meeting each other:)

[missmulan]

leaving seattle today (been here for 2 days now) and heading off to vancouver to stay with dh's grandmother for the night.

safe journey to your destinations everyone!

do we have a secret handshake to know we're disers when we're on board if we miss diversions?? haha.

[Inkmahm]

We're at the Pan Pacific- flew in from seattle. That was more hassle than what it was worth, I think. Maybe next trip I'd try the train or just renting the car and driving myself.

Anyway, the hotel is great. We have a view of the harbor and the weather is perfect. Tonight we do the dinner cruise tour. I'm looking forward to that and to a leisurely morning at the hotel tomorrow before we head to the ship. See you all tomorrow!

[disneymath]

Winding down from day 3 in Vancouver ... It's been great! Big Bus Groupon was so worth it ... Did the $5 upgrade to a second day in order to take their Stanley Park tour ( included in base price) ... What a beautiful park!

See ya all soon!

[mellers]

It was great meeting scothen and aunursa today..I hope to see more at tomorrow's meet at Diversions at 3

[kgsmith]

We had a wonderful North Shore and Downtown combo tour today with Landsea Tours. DS especially loved the chair lift on Grouse Mountain. Me, not so much ;), but the view from that high was just incredible. The weather has been incredible here. I hope ou luck extends into Alaska!

We'll be up early tomorrow to see the Wonder arrive at Canada Place -- I asked for a port view room, and they gave us a room overlooking the side that the Wonder will be docking on! We watched the Celebrity Century leave yesterday evening.

We will see you at Diversions tomorrow!

[AppleGuy]

Thanks for the tips! We're staying very near there at the Hyatt Place. Hadn't heard about the free bus. What's it called or where can we pick it up?

Saw the Hyatt Place, about 5 minutes from us and even closer to the Space Needle. The Amore restaurant is right down the street on 6th. Get a map from your hotel, free bus zone is only about 2 blocks from your hotel and it will take you within 2 blocks of Pike Market place
Have a great cruise--we're on the Wonder in the morning
:banana::banana::banana::cool1::cool1::cool1:

[poohj80]

Saw the Hyatt Place, about 5 minutes from us and even closer to the Space Needle. The Amore restaurant is right down the street on 6th. Get a map from your hotel, free bus zone is only about 2 blocks from your hotel and it will take you within 2 blocks of Pike Market place
Have a great cruise--we're on the Wonder in the morning
:banana::banana::banana::cool1::cool1::cool1:

I'm jealous but not ready to be there yet as I still need to pack. ;)

[nickcapp]

Would you believe with all the careful packing....we forgot to pack our FISH EXTENDER!

We remembered everything else!

Oh well..not sure what to do..... We'll have to adapt.

[MonicaW]

Just came back from an early morning stroll and was hoping to see our ship arrive, but she's not there...... :confused3:confused3:confused3


UPDATE - it's 8 AM, I see it and people are disembarking.... Is everyone EXCITED!?!?!
Monica
#2629

[Inkmahm]

We have a wonderful harbor view room at the Pan Pacific on the 18th floor. Great view of the Lion's gate. Was very cool to sleep with the drapes open last night and see the lighted bridge from our bed. BUT, this morning we have a view of a different ship on our side of the terminal. Not the Wonder. Guess I'll have to wait to see her at the dock when we board!

[DumboFan]

Hope everyone had safe travels home. We're staying one more night in Vancouver before heading east in the morning.

Pops, my daughter loved seeing the twins around the ship! She reported everytime she saw them.
Wiseman, I'll take the blame for my husband covering the Boston magnets with Vancouver's!

The FE gifts were so creative. Loved going back to our cabin to see what surprises waited for us.

Debbie

[MonicaW]

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for the lovely FE gifts :cloud9: - it was so nice to return to the stateroom and find a surprise waiting! You are all so thoughtful! :hug:

I am now waiting for my flight at the Vanc airport just dreaming about my next cruise - OK, I am going again in January!!! :woohoo:

Cheers to all and I will look for your photos anxiously.... :dance3:

Monica
#2629

[wisegal]

Thanks for the FE gifts. It was so much fun. My kids had a blast running to the room to see if there was anything there. :goodvibes. I am not not sure :confused3 what they enjoyed more delivering them or getting them. I do know they we not that happy when I told them that there were no more to give out:lmao:

Sorry we were not able to make any of the meets but I could not get the kids away from the pool last Tues.

I did not even notice the Vancouver magnet coving the Boston one. My husband likes both teams, my son is a Boston fan and my daughter is for Vancouver.

Hope everyone gets home safely

Nicole

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Hi everyone! We are holed up in Seattle one more night and flying home tomorrow. Thanks for all the wonderful FE gifts and it was great getting to know many of you better! We will have lots of photos to share. Whales! Eagles! Rainbows! Bear! Even with all that rain it was a terrific trip.

Also reporting back for future cruisers, there was PLENTY of Alaska mech left in the stores. I will post photos when I get home tomorrow. There were plushes, postcards, shirts and sweats, Totem poles, russian dolls, scrap books, vinylmation, book marks and plenty more, so don't worry.

And to everyone trickling home - I hope you had safe travels and as much fun as we had!

[mellers]

Hi All,

Mellers, Mellers Kidlet and DH (the origami guy) are all back at home, and we hope you all had a wonderful cruise.

We really appreciate all the people who participated in the FE, and we loved all of our wonderful FE gifts. Thank you so much! You are all so sweet! It was a wonderful first cruise, but it won't be our last--we signed up for another day.

[godalejunior]

Thank you for all the FE gifts...we really enjoyed them. We had a great cruise! Only one issue with service and food quality for about a day and a half but after we brought it to the attention to our head server it was fixed and all was good! :thumbsup2

[msnoble]

Big thanks go out from us to everyone in the Mickey group for the great FE gifts! Everyone was so thoughtful :hug:

We are home safely in SE Michigan, and of course my internal clock is all screwed up so I am up way too late :rotfl2: Missing Mickey and the gang something fierce--not sure when we'll get back to the Wonder since she is now on the West coast. Luckily we'll be able to cruise on the Magic for the first time in February, plus I now have a dummy date that I ay try to book when 2013 dates come out :goodvibes

What are some of your favorite memories from our Wonderful week in Alaska?!

[Inkmahm]

We stayed at the PanPacific again last night and did a trip to Granville Island yesterday as well as Gastown. Had dinner at the revolving restaurant on top of the lookout. I am excited to be going home today though, we miss our critters!

I posted reviews of our excursions on the alaska excursion thread on the cruise forum. Other than whale watching in Juneau, they were great!

[MercoBear]

Just got home this morning at 7am. Flying back was the worst part of the entire trip. Thank you all for the FE gifts. We loved them all! And I absolutely adored running into people on the ship. I was so much more enjoyable knowing you all!

[mellers]

Are all of the East Coasters (and their property) okay after the earthquake? I've lived on the West Coast all of my life, and therefore, I've been through a few, and they can be unsettling.

Thanks,

Mellers

[dkmjgal]

Mellers-

Everything is ok here in New Jersey. We were in Vancouver Airport when my daughter started seeing on facebook that there was an earthquake. I logged on to make sure it wasn't the teenagers just joking. Sure enough all of my friends were posting about it also. Crazy! A lot of people in my hometown felt it.
Funny story...last year we took a red eye home from California and arrived in NJ on Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday near San Diego there was an earthquake that we would have felt where we had been just the day before in Newport Beach. So weird that we have missed 2 earthquakes!

[G'sMaman]

We are back in San Francisco now and I wanted to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone for the terrific FE gifts!! The wonderful gifts made a wonderful trip even more special. When we travel we pick up ornaments for our Christmas tree and so I will be turning many of the gifts into something we can hang from our tree. That way we can continue to enjoy the great memories for many years to come. So sorry we missed meeting everyone at Diversions on the first day, but it was difficult tearing my DD away from the pool and then she literally slept for 2 1/2 hours until dinner time. However, we did run into Mellers’ parents and DH on the ship and it was a pleasure meeting them! You may have spotted my DD on the ship – she was the 3 year old running around with a big flower hair clip and a heart shaped necklace on (all FE gifts) almost the entire trip – yes it was a challenge getting her to take them off even for bath time! Anyway, we truly appreciated every gift that we received and I hope our paths cross again sometime!

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We are back home in Maryland and our cat was VERY happy to see us! Seriously though the earthquake was very upsetting for those who experienced it here, but I am happy to report that everyone and their stuff is safe.:thumbsup2

I am glad everyone is getting home safely and enjoyed their trip!

P.S. Oh No! My computer is having issues. DH is going to fix it tomorrow, but it will take a few days before I can process my photos. Darn! <Insert sulking face here>

[mellers]

I figured, given the time difference, that the East Coasters would have just missed the earthquake (although I bet it was NO FUN flying home), but I'm glad to hear that, so far, everyone is okay.

[msnoble]

In case anyone has any interest, here is a link to a subset of the photos I took (both cameras combined I took over 1700 photos! :scared1:)

most are pretty specific to my family, but there are a few more general ones as well. I have lots more of the shows, but haven't been able to get them off my camera yet...

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvN97ZX

and now I really have to try to get some sleep--have to be at work in less than 8 hours!! Re-entry is such a pain :rotfl:

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

In case anyone has any interest, here is a link to a subset of the photos I took (both cameras combined I took over 1700 photos! :scared1:)

most are pretty specific to my family, but there are a few more general ones as well. I have lots more of the shows, but haven't been able to get them off my camera yet...

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvN97ZX

and now I really have to try to get some sleep--have to be at work in less than 8 hours!! Re-entry is such a pain :rotfl:

Thank you for sharing your terrific photos! I am very jealous of your camera. :thumbsup2

[mmouse37]

In case anyone has any interest, here is a link to a subset of the photos I took (both cameras combined I took over 1700 photos! :scared1:)

most are pretty specific to my family, but there are a few more general ones as well. I have lots more of the shows, but haven't been able to get them off my camera yet...

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvN97ZX

and now I really have to try to get some sleep--have to be at work in less than 8 hours!! Re-entry is such a pain :rotfl:

So nice bumping into you outside the shops!! Nice to put faces to screen names. We had an awesome time!! I will check out your pics later and I agree re-entry is a bummer!

To everyone.....hope your experiences were as WONDERful as ours. It really was a fantastic trip...so different from our other warm weather DCL cruises. Loved all the scenery...made me feel very small in our great big world!

We got home 7 am yesterday (took the red eye from Vancouver). Went to the Aquarium for a few hours, had lunch at Steamworks rest. and then went over to Londsdale Quay for a bit. Took the Skytrain to YVR and hung around the airport until our 10:50 pm flight on Cathay Pacific.

We spent 4 wonderful days precruise in Vancouver as well. Loved how getting around was so easy....we purchased the $9 pass each day and it got our use out of it.

I even purchased a new bathing suit in downtown Vancouver! What a difference when you have someone picking out proper sizes and styles for you!!!

We had a total group of 18 on this trip and had APT rotation late dining.

Will try to put a trip report together soon. Just uploaded our pic from the camera to computer and now have to upload to Webshots for sharing.

Bracing for the hurricane...looks like NY will have a very wet weekend!!

MJ

[wisegal]

In case anyone has any interest, here is a link to a subset of the photos I took (both cameras combined I took over 1700 photos! :scared1:)

most are pretty specific to my family, but there are a few more general ones as well. I have lots more of the shows, but haven't been able to get them off my camera yet...

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvN97ZX

and now I really have to try to get some sleep--have to be at work in less than 8 hours!! Re-entry is such a pain :rotfl:

I took almost 1600 and my friends and family think that I am crazy. I was talking to a guy at the Enchanted Dreams show who had about 600 on his camera and could not understand what I took 1600 of while there. Glad to see that I am not alone.

Nicole

[wisegal]

We are back in San Francisco now and I wanted to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone for the terrific FE gifts!! The wonderful gifts made a wonderful trip even more special. When we travel we pick up ornaments for our Christmas tree and so I will be turning many of the gifts into something we can hang from our tree. That way we can continue to enjoy the great memories for many years to come. So sorry we missed meeting everyone at Diversions on the first day, but it was difficult tearing my DD away from the pool and then she literally slept for 2 1/2 hours until dinner time. However, we did run into Mellers’ parents and DH on the ship and it was a pleasure meeting them! You may have spotted my DD on the ship – she was the 3 year old running around with a big flower hair clip and a heart shaped necklace on (all FE gifts) almost the entire trip – yes it was a challenge getting her to take them off even for bath time! Anyway, we truly appreciated every gift that we received and I hope our paths cross again sometime!

I missed the meet at Diversions for the same reason. I am glad to hear your daughter liked the hair clip. My 5 year old loves them so I figured most little girls would.

Nicole

[pops711]

HI all

We made it home (kinda). The person that picked us from the air port forgot the car seats. Daddy and the girls had to take BART (subway) home.

The DW, the girls and I would like to thank all of you for the gifts. also the person who gave us the sleepers thank you because the came in handy on the last night.

It was great to meet you all and I hope we can cruise together again!!!

[pops711]

I would like to take a poll:

on a scale of 1 to 10 rate your cruise.

[mellers]

i would like to take a poll:

On a scale of 1 to 10 rate your cruise.

11!

[Inkmahm]

11!

I agree! Disney did a great job with this cruise. It was different than the cruises I have done to Alaska with Princess, but was done very well. I would do Alaske with Disney again. I just wish they started in Whittier and did a one way cruise to Vancouver so that there could be land time in Alaska before the cruise.

[Juldara]

Hi All,

Mellers, Mellers Kidlet and DH (the origami guy) are all back at home, and we hope you all had a wonderful cruise.

We really appreciate all the people who participated in the FE, and we loved all of our wonderful FE gifts. Thank you so much! You are all so sweet! It was a wonderful first cruise, but it won't be our last--we signed up for another day.

A big thank you for organizing the FE lists. It was so great to come home to all the surprises and even more fun delivering them and hoping not to get caught! We loved participating.

[Juldara]

Pops711 - I was on the Kayak/train with you and you mentioned that you wanted photos of the waterfalls that I took on the train. If you send me your email, I'm happy to send you some. Let me know.

[siburdue]

In case anyone has any interest, here is a link to a subset of the photos I took (both cameras combined I took over 1700 photos! :scared1:)

most are pretty specific to my family, but there are a few more general ones as well. I have lots more of the shows, but haven't been able to get them off my camera yet...

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvN97ZX

and now I really have to try to get some sleep--have to be at work in less than 8 hours!! Re-entry is such a pain :rotfl:

WOW - your pictures are awesome:worship: I can't wait to see the rest of them. I had heard good things about the Rebel before, but had never seen it in action.

My husband had given me a hard time for taking 700 photos, but you have me beat:woohoo:

[siburdue]

We had so much fun partifipating in the Mickey FE group! Thanks Mellers for putting it all together, and thank you to everyone that participated. It really added a fun element to the cruise.:goodvibes

I hope that everyone enjoyed the disney luggage handle covers that I made for you all. The shuttle driver told me that the padding in them did actually make the bags easier to lift:) So at least he thought it was a great idea :rotfl:

We loved all of the little goodies we got, including the little scrapbook, pirate stuff, candy (some types we hadn't eaten in years), CDs, necklace, cinderella goodies, bottle clips, soft lanyard, Boca clips, magnets, postcards and items from your local areas, picture frame, etc etc - it was all very appreciated and was or will be enjoyed.:cool1:

[G'sMaman]

We had so much fun partifipating in the Mickey FE group! Thanks Mellers for putting it all together, and thank you to everyone that participated. It really added a fun element to the cruise.:goodvibes

I hope that everyone enjoyed the disney luggage handle covers that I made for you all. The shuttle driver told me that the padding in them did actually make the bags easier to lift:) So at least he thought it was a great idea :rotfl:

We loved all of the little goodies we got, including the little scrapbook, pirate stuff, candy (some types we hadn't eaten in years), CDs, necklace, cinderella goodies, bottle clips, soft lanyard, Boca clips, magnets, postcards and items from your local areas, picture frame, etc etc - it was all very appreciated and was or will be enjoyed.:cool1:

Loved the Disney luggage handles! In fact, it made picking out our luggage from the sea of other black suitcases much easier when we disembarked. Thanks again for the terrific and creative gift! :love:

Not sure who made the cross-stitched Mickey ornament (my dd already had everything out of the packaging in one giant heap when I got back to the room), but it was very much appreciated! Someone broke into our storage locker recently and stole everything - including all the Christmas ornaments I had been collecting since I was teenager from my various travels around the world. Anyway, it brought a big smile to me and my dh to have something so nice to kick off our new collection from our travels together! :flower3:

I would rate this cruise a 10 out of 10! Would love to do another Alaskan cruise someday.

[godalejunior]

I would rate our cruise at an 8.5...because of the food quality and the service issues. I would really like my drink before my meal is finished. :goodvibes

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Loved the Disney luggage handles! In fact, it made picking out our luggage from the sea of other black suitcases much easier when we disembarked. Thanks again for the terrific and creative gift! :love:

Not sure who made the cross-stitched Mickey ornament (my dd already had everything out of the packaging in one giant heap when I got back to the room), but it was very much appreciated! Someone broke into our storage locker recently and stole everything - including all the Christmas ornaments I had been collecting since I was teenager from my various travels around the world. Anyway, it brought a big smile to me and my dh to have something so nice to kick off our new collection from our travels together! :flower3:


I wanted to second this. I was very impressed by the creativity and generosity of the givers in our group. I also did a bad job of keeping my gift labels organized. I also realized I didn't put my name on the gifts we gave. I made the marble magnets. :cutie:

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

I would like to take a poll:

on a scale of 1 to 10 rate your cruise.

I would give it a 8. This might seem like a low rating, but I really did love the trip. We received excellent service all around. But because of the time change for us I felt like I missed out on a lot onboard because we didn't have the energy. That's just because of circumstances, not Disney's fault. I just wish we had been up for more evening activities and around for Pirate night. pirate:

Also, this was our third cruise with DCL and this is the first time I felt like kids were running the ship. I love children. I really do. But WOW! Did anyone else experience this? My take away was "don't sail during school breaks".

BUT I loved experiencing Alaska aboard the Disney Wonder. :boat:

[lmben]

I agree with everyone that the FE gifts were great! Even the "big" kids enjoyed participating. Thanks to everyone!

Being from the east, we missed the earthquake. I didn't feel Thursday morning's aftershock that I know of, but I did awaken, so maybe I did feel it. It was awful to come back, go straight to work and then have to prepare for a hurricane. I am just getting to download my pics, and I am slowly unpacking & washing as I go.:laundy:

I would rate the cruise about an 8 also. I LOVED the cruise portion, although, we also had slight drink issues. I was also on east coast time, so I was pretty much awake at 3am and dog tired by 10:30pm. I did stay up for a few of the late evening events, though. I think the Alaska portion was the most disappointing. Again, not Disney's fault, and not Alaska's fault either, but Mother Nature's. Those 2 days of rain killed it for me. It was so dreary, all I wanted to do was sleep. We barely did anything in Juneau or Ketchikan. We did, however, enjoy re-watching older Disney movies that we don't watch at home because they are on the dreaded VHS.:rotfl2:

Anyway, this was our 6th DCL cruise. I had fun, but missed a lot of what I wanted to do in 2/3 of the ports. Tracy Arm was wonderful, though!:yay:

I enjoyed meeting everyone that I did. Sorry, MercoBear, Dancing Mickeys & NickCapp, I had an old list with me and couldn't find out your cabin numbers until we got to Vancouver. Hope you received the items from my parents & kids that were left at your door very early Tuesday.

Lisa

[mmouse37]

In case anyone has any interest, here is a link to a subset of the photos I took (both cameras combined I took over 1700 photos! :scared1:)

most are pretty specific to my family, but there are a few more general ones as well. I have lots more of the shows, but haven't been able to get them off my camera yet...

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvN97ZX

and now I really have to try to get some sleep--have to be at work in less than 8 hours!! Re-entry is such a pain :rotfl:

Your pics are great!!! So funny...it seems we have similiar tastes in our picture taking......I have some of the same shots!!

Here are mine....I took about 800 and whittled it down for posting.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580776197RzhqFc

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580776996EUaYTJ

I would rate the cruise an 11. We had great servers....Jose as Server and Nyoman as Assistant Server. They were so friendly and gracious. Always had a smile on their faces and their service was good.

MJ

[mellers]

On the subject of the hurricane--East Coasters, be sure to post to us if you are okay. If you need help, remember that I am on the West Coast, and will help if I can.

[AppleGuy]

I would also rate the cruise an 11--we loved everything about it. Food and servers were good--we had Ralph from Jamaica and Jack from Thailand, good servers and a lot of fun. Tracy Arm was a great day, did the White Pass train in Skagway and Liarsville--could have skipped Liarsville, probably the only negative of the trip. Whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier were great in Juneau. I know the weather could have been better for us but we were prepared with rain coats and umbrellas. Thanks to all for the FE gifts, we were in the Pluto group. We can't wait until our next Disney cruise
:banana::banana:::love::love::cool1::cool1::banana ::banana::cheer2:

[Inkmahm]

...

Also, this was our third cruise with DCL and this is the first time I felt like kids were running the ship. I love children. I really do. But WOW! Did anyone else experience this? My take away was "don't sail during school breaks".



Yes, I agree. The restaurants were LOUD compared to our 5 previous DCL cruises. I didn't connect the noise to extra kids until you just pointed out that we were sailing during the summer school break. All of our previous cruises were when school was in session.

[disneymath]

We're home safe and sound.

I missed the meets as well, but did meet Mellers and family waiting to check in (it was great talking with you), kgsmith and family through the ABD (what a great experience) and MonicaW at the airport on the way home (so glad we all got on that flight).

Having never cruised before, I would give our cruise experience a 10! We loved the ship and had great service (thanks Dee and Mike). We've booked a dummy date and plan to take my sister's family with us next time!

I would rate our ABD as 10 as well (this is using EF Tours when I was in high school as baseline). I don't think we could have had half the experiences in the ports of call had we opted to book DCL excursions or go on our own. Our guides Landon and Korey were fantastic ... they took care of everything and made it seem effortless even when we knew they were scrambling to reorganize plans due to the weather in Juneau.
I would sign up for another ABD in a heartbeat!

That said, until I become a more seasoned cruiser, I don't think I would be so quick to sign up for a combined cruise and ABD again. There was just so much to do onboard and trying to work things around the ABD stuff left very little downtime. It was a fantastic experience, but not necessarily a relaxing one! :upsidedow

Unfortunately, my "Disney bubble" was abruptly popped when I turned my cell phone on during breakfast on disembarkation day. While we were cruising Alaska my hotmail email account was hacked and a scam email was sent to all of my contacts. I have spent the past two days trying to update websites with a new email address, changing passwords, etc. It's been frustrating to say the least.

[siburdue]

Loved the Disney luggage handles! In fact, it made picking out our luggage from the sea of other black suitcases much easier when we disembarked. Thanks again for the terrific and creative gift! :love:

Not sure who made the cross-stitched Mickey ornament (my dd already had everything out of the packaging in one giant heap when I got back to the room), but it was very much appreciated! Someone broke into our storage locker recently and stole everything - including all the Christmas ornaments I had been collecting since I was teenager from my various travels around the world. Anyway, it brought a big smile to me and my dh to have something so nice to kick off our new collection from our travels together! :flower3:

I would rate this cruise a 10 out of 10! Would love to do another Alaskan cruise someday.

I'm glad you enjoyed the luggage handle cover! They definitely do make it easier to spot the luggage, except when you are traveling with others in the FE group and think you have spotted your luggage, but it isn't!:rotfl::rotfl:

I too loved the cross-stitched mickey ornament - we also collect ornaments from all of our trips and this was a really nice addition to our collection:) Plus I know it was alot of work to make and wanted to let the person who created it know how much it is appreciated :yay::woohoo:

I would rate the cruise a 9 out of 10, as I was really disppointed that we couldn't walk on the glacier. I know it is not Disney's fault, but since it is all considered a part of the trip and I did miss out this excursion :headache:, I just couldn't rate it a 10.

We did have a couple of funny incidents with our servers, as there was a language barrier. One time he asked how my meal was, and I told him it was really dry (chicken) and his response was "very good" and on he went to the next person - we laughed so hard we were practically crying :laughing::laughing::laughing: For the most part the service was grand. My DH misses our assistant server and a full glass of iced tea - we are definitely having withdrawals here :sad2:

[siburdue]

I wanted to second this. I was very impressed by the creativity and generosity of the givers in our group. I also did a bad job of keeping my gift labels organized. I also realized I didn't put my name on the gifts we gave. I made the marble magnets. :cutie:

Oohh, those magnets are so cute! I love them, thank you:love:

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

I am sorry it took so long for me to get these posted. I am still having computer issues and it is seriously slowing down my ability to manage photos. But without further ado...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6210/6085534213_ac0e5a121f_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/6086081550_28fd9e4835_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6185/6085534015_cde7fb0c06_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6075/6086081388_8cdda3913c_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6209/6086081314_caac12125c_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/6086081242_af2f9719df_z.jpg

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Oohh, those magnets are so cute! I love them, thank you:love:

It was my pleasure! They were a lot of fun to make. :goodvibes

[mmouse37]

On the subject of the hurricane--East Coasters, be sure to post to us if you are okay. If you need help, remember that I am on the West Coast, and will help if I can.

We are due to receive Irene starting around 7:00 pm or so tonight with the worst winds/rain being overnight. Tornadic activity is predicted for our area of the state so that is a new worry. We do have plenty of water, batteries, flashlights, lanterns, food, etc. Removed all the patio furniture and made sure nothing in the yard can turn into a missile. Last hurricane we rode out was at the Poly when we were diverted to WDW from the cruise since Hurricane Jeanne keep the Magic out at sea extra days. Raining pretty hard right now.

News coverage of the storm is 24/7.

MJ

[Inkmahm]

I'm glad you enjoyed the luggage handle cover! They definitely do make it easier to spot the luggage, except when you are traveling with others in the FE group and think you have spotted your luggage, but it isn't!:rotfl::rotfl:

I too loved the cross-stitched mickey ornament - we also collect ornaments from all of our trips and this was a really nice addition to our collection:) Plus I know it was alot of work to make and wanted to let the person who created it know how much it is appreciated :yay::woohoo:

I would rate the cruise a 9 out of 10, as I was really disppointed that we couldn't walk on the glacier. I know it is not Disney's fault, but since it is all considered a part of the trip and I did miss out this excursion :headache:, I just couldn't rate it a 10.

We did have a couple of funny incidents with our servers, as there was a language barrier. One time he asked how my meal was, and I told him it was really dry (chicken) and his response was "very good" and on he went to the next person - we laughed so hard we were practically crying :laughing::laughing::laughing: For the most part the service was grand. My DH misses our assistant server and a full glass of iced tea - we are definitely having withdrawals here :sad2:

Our servers were pretty funny! I liked you asking for more pepper on your veggies and getting more veggies instead.

Dynaguy (DH) and I really enjoyed sitting with you and your DH at dinner (and at lunch the first day). I wish we'd have been there for more nights than we were but thankful that Palo took us for 3 dinners. The long excursions in port just made it impossible for us to do them and eat at the early dinner seating, too.

[Inkmahm]

We are due to receive Irene starting around 7:00 pm or so tonight with the worst winds/rain being overnight. Tornadic activity is predicted for our area of the state so that is a new worry. We do have plenty of water, batteries, flashlights, lanterns, food, etc. Removed all the patio furniture and made sure nothing in the yard can turn into a missile. Last hurricane we rode out was at the Poly when we were diverted to WDW from the cruise since Hurricane Jeanne keep the Magic out at sea extra days. Raining pretty hard right now.

News coverage of the storm is 24/7.

MJ

Best of luck to you and all the other east coast DISers. I've been watching the Weather Channel and I'm amazed at how big Irene is. It will cover SO many people that I know in that part of the country. Prayers for all of you for safety and as little damage as possible.

Irene has made me double think our Canada cruise with DCL next August out of NYC. I never even gave a thought to hurricane season when I booked it.

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Best of luck to you and all the other east coast DISers. I've been watching the Weather Channel and I'm amazed at how big Irene is. It will cover SO many people that I know in that part of the country. Prayers for all of you for safety and as little damage as possible.

Irene has made me double think our Canada cruise with DCL next August out of NYC. I never even gave a thought to hurricane season when I booked it.

If it makes you feel any better, from what the news has been saying, hurricanes very rarely make it that far north. It would be very cool to see the OTHER side of Canada!

I am just trying to suck up as much internet time as possible before I loose power. Usually I like to think positive, but if you listen to the media (and our power company) it seems outages are inevitable.

Also, we had wonderful servers this time around. Mladen from Serbia, Cesar from Mexico and Tektas was the manager. And it Palo, Mariana from Argentina (we were able to snag the last brunch reservation!) and ANOTHER Mladen for dinner.

[siburdue]

Our servers were pretty funny! I liked you asking for more pepper on your veggies and getting more veggies instead.

Dynaguy (DH) and I really enjoyed sitting with you and your DH at dinner (and at lunch the first day). I wish we'd have been there for more nights than we were but thankful that Palo took us for 3 dinners. The long excursions in port just made it impossible for us to do them and eat at the early dinner seating, too.

We are still laughing about the extra veggies! Our servers did their best to keep us happy, but I believe they had a limited understanding of english, which at times was a hinderance, not that we let it bother us at all. We liked Miguel and Scott really loved Baiba as she brought him lots of iced tea. I think he misses her terribly:rotfl:

You were great table mates. It was wonderful to get your food reviews, and the excursion reviews, too. Plus, you both took great photos of us at the character breakfast:) Who could ask for more in a table mate? Hope we can hook up again in the future. Maybe you should come back to the west coast and go to Disneyland with us next year :lmao:

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We have been very lucky. Thousands of people have lost power, but we only had flickers overnight. We still have cable, internet and for us the storm is nearly passed. There are some small downed branches, but we clearly didn't get the brunt of the storm.

[Inkmahm]

We are still laughing about the extra veggies! Our servers did their best to keep us happy, but I believe they had a limited understanding of english, which at times was a hinderance, not that we let it bother us at all. We liked Miguel and Scott really loved Baiba as she brought him lots of iced tea. I think he misses her terribly:rotfl:

You were great table mates. It was wonderful to get your food reviews, and the excursion reviews, too. Plus, you both took great photos of us at the character breakfast:) Who could ask for more in a table mate? Hope we can hook up again in the future. Maybe you should come back to the west coast and go to Disneyland with us next year :lmao:

Hey, we LIKE Disneyland! We were just there in January. :) Will return once the new Cars stuff is open in CA.

[godalejunior]

I agree with everyone that the FE gifts were great! Even the "big" kids enjoyed participating. Thanks to everyone!

Being from the east, we missed the earthquake. I didn't feel Thursday morning's aftershock that I know of, but I did awaken, so maybe I did feel it. It was awful to come back, go straight to work and then have to prepare for a hurricane. I am just getting to download my pics, and I am slowly unpacking & washing as I go.:laundy:

I would rate the cruise about an 8 also. I LOVED the cruise portion, although, we also had slight drink issues. I was also on east coast time, so I was pretty much awake at 3am and dog tired by 10:30pm. I did stay up for a few of the late evening events, though. I think the Alaska portion was the most disappointing. Again, not Disney's fault, and not Alaska's fault either, but Mother Nature's. Those 2 days of rain killed it for me. It was so dreary, all I wanted to do was sleep. We barely did anything in Juneau or Ketchikan. We did, however, enjoy re-watching older Disney movies that we don't watch at home because they are on the dreaded VHS.:rotfl2:

Anyway, this was our 6th DCL cruise. I had fun, but missed a lot of what I wanted to do in 2/3 of the ports. Tracy Arm was wonderful, though!:yay:

I enjoyed meeting everyone that I did. Sorry, MercoBear, Dancing Mickeys & NickCapp, I had an old list with me and couldn't find out your cabin numbers until we got to Vancouver. Hope you received the items from my parents & kids that were left at your door very early Tuesday.

Lisa

We had drink issues, serving issues and cold food issues as well. As this being our first cruise...we went in with really no expectations except how everyone of our friends talking about how amazing the food was on a cruise. My dad and his wife were on the cruise with us and have cruised other lines..this being their first Disney cruise. They said the food quality and service was very poor and that what we experienced in Palo is what it was like for them on the other cruise lines in the dining room.
I am curious what others experiences are...we intended to book a dummy date but did not do so as we were concerned it may happen again. Obviously many of you are repeat Disney cruisers.....did we just get unlucky on our trip?

[DumboFan]

Hope all our fellow east coast cruisers rode out the hurricane without major problems. We had some trees taken down while we were cruising so, luckily, we didn't have any damage.

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We had drink issues, serving issues and cold food issues as well. As this being our first cruise...we went in with really no expectations except how everyone of our friends talking about how amazing the food was on a cruise. My dad and his wife were on the cruise with us and have cruised other lines..this being their first Disney cruise. They said the food quality and service was very poor and that what we experienced in Palo is what it was like for them on the other cruise lines in the dining room.
I am curious what others experiences are...we intended to book a dummy date but did not do so as we were concerned it may happen again. Obviously many of you are repeat Disney cruisers.....did we just get unlucky on our trip?

Truly, your serving team can really heavily effect your dining room experience. We had wonderful servers and good food. Not amazing food, but quite good. My food was never cold, and always correct. The one time my DH's steak was undercooked the Head Server noticed and fixed it before DH had a chance to report it. If you are true foodies, maybe DCL won't meet your standards. But if not I would recommend sailing again and requesting a server that others have been happy with in the past. Especially if you really enjoyed the other aspects of the sailing. Personally, I LOVE DCL and I would never sail with anyone else, but I know many people have been happier when they shopped around. I am sorry you had bad luck.

[lmben]

Well, I am checking in from work, as we have no power (over 36 hours and counting by the looks of one major tree and snapped lines). I was thinking last night, how ironic, last week we were being pampered and having lobster and cold drinks and hot showers...this week we are basically camping with a bed. We are on a well, so no electric means no toilet, no shower, melting items in the fridge, no phone (FIOS only lasts 8 hours), no means to cook besides the grill, no dishwasher, etc. I think we were moved to steerage :confused3 "Mickey, did we do something wrong???"

Anyway, no property damage so we will just have to rough it. Never hurt anyone, right?

As far as the x-stitched ornaments...I'm glad you all liked them. :yay: This was a long process with many changes throughout. Some just had 4 stars, but those with more than 4 stars, please look closely and see if you can figure out what they represent. (I can figure it out in my own head, but then I did the pattern...)

On a side note regarding cruising. We have done NCL & RCCL along with this being our 6th Disney cruise. As I tell family & friends, if you can afford DCL, then I would only do DCL. If the only way you can cruise is by using someone else (i.e. RCCL out of Baltimore) then just cruise. On RCCL, the service was terrible, from the servers to the nasty lady handing out towels. Also, we were very bored on the ship because we rarely gamble. They even charge you for ice cream, can you believe it? There is so much more to do on Disney, and as far as the food, I have noticed a downgrade in recent years, but it was still much better than RCCL.

Hope to check out everyone's pix soon. I downloaded most of mine, 1475 with 2 more cameras to go, but will have to wait for BGE to restore power.

Lisa

[siburdue]

Well, I am checking in from work, as we have no power (over 36 hours and counting by the looks of one major tree and snapped lines). I was thinking last night, how ironic, last week we were being pampered and having lobster and cold drinks and hot showers...this week we are basically camping with a bed. We are on a well, so no electric means no toilet, no shower, melting items in the fridge, no phone (FIOS only lasts 8 hours), no means to cook besides the grill, no dishwasher, etc. I think we were moved to steerage :confused3 "Mickey, did we do something wrong???"

Anyway, no property damage so we will just have to rough it. Never hurt anyone, right?

As far as the x-stitched ornaments...I'm glad you all liked them. :yay: This was a long process with many changes throughout. Some just had 4 stars, but those with more than 4 stars, please look closely and see if you can figure out what they represent. (I can figure it out in my own head, but then I did the pattern...)

On a side note regarding cruising. We have done NCL & RCCL along with this being our 6th Disney cruise. As I tell family & friends, if you can afford DCL, then I would only do DCL. If the only way you can cruise is by using someone else (i.e. RCCL out of Baltimore) then just cruise. On RCCL, the service was terrible, from the servers to the nasty lady handing out towels. Also, we were very bored on the ship because we rarely gamble. They even charge you for ice cream, can you believe it? There is so much more to do on Disney, and as far as the food, I have noticed a downgrade in recent years, but it was still much better than RCCL.

Hope to check out everyone's pix soon. I downloaded most of mine, 1475 with 2 more cameras to go, but will have to wait for BGE to restore power.

Lisa


I'm going to tell my husband to quit complaining that Baiba isn't there to bring him his 5 iced teas at dinner and then clear away the dishes. :lmao: You are really roughing it :sad1: Glad to hear that everyone is well and there is no property damage (other than the food loss). I can't wait to see your photos. Everyone took great pictures!

I'm working on a Picaboo album for the character photos only, as I had alot of fun seeing them (stalking them is what my husband says lol).

Tonite I will check to see how many stars my ornament has on it.

Thanks

Sheri

[kgsmith]

Well, I am checking in from work, as we have no power (over 36 hours and counting by the looks of one major tree and snapped lines). I was thinking last night, how ironic, last week we were being pampered and having lobster and cold drinks and hot showers...this week we are basically camping with a bed. We are on a well, so no electric means no toilet, no shower, melting items in the fridge, no phone (FIOS only lasts 8 hours), no means to cook besides the grill, no dishwasher, etc. I think we were moved to steerage :confused3 "Mickey, did we do something wrong???"

Anyway, no property damage so we will just have to rough it. Never hurt anyone, right?

.

Hope to check out everyone's pix soon. I downloaded most of mine, 1475 with 2 more cameras to go, but will have to wait for BGE to restore power.

Lisa

We are waiting for BGE, too! We have some Irene refugees staying with us -- My in-laws were evacuated from the Delaware shore on Friday night. The sad thing is that we made it all the way through the storm with our power intact. Then around 12:45 this morning, we lost power. BGE has stopped giving us a time estimate. Now it just says that the vast majority of customers will have power restored by Friday evening or Saturday morning. I brought the iPod, iPhone, and iPad to work today so I could charge them!

Mother Nature has been very busy on the East coast this week! We got home from Vancouver on Tuesday night to find the effects of the earthquake: a lot of things on shelves had fallen over or had fallen onto the floor. The china cabinet was a mess, but luckily nothing broke.

Anyway, on a much happier note, we had a fantastic time on the cruise. I'd give it a 10 out of 10! I'm so glad that we did the Adventures by Disney add-on. I loved all of the little extra things they did for us (and the surprises they gave to us:goodvibes). We enjoyed meeting you at the cruise meet in Diversions. And, we had lots of fun delivering the FE gifts. Thank you all for the great gifts! Everyone was so thoughtful.

It was very hard to leave the ship last Tuesday morning. DS misses the Oceaneer Lab -- In fact I have a photo of him crying as the CM cut off his the wristband on Monday night.

[mellers]

We're so sorry to hear of the East coasters roughing it due to Irene! Still, despite the inconveniences, I'm glad to hear that you are all safe.

[disneymath]

We are waiting for BGE, too!

<snip>

Mother Nature has been very busy on the East coast this week! We got home from Vancouver on Tuesday night to find the effects of the earthquake: a lot of things on shelves had fallen over or had fallen onto the floor. The china cabinet was a mess, but luckily nothing broke.

Anyway, on a much happier note, we had a fantastic time on the cruise. I'd give it a 10 out of 10! I'm so glad that we did the Adventures by Disney add-on. I loved all of the little extra things they did for us (and the surprises they gave to us:goodvibes). We enjoyed meeting you at the cruise meet in Diversions. And, we had lots of fun delivering the FE gifts. Thank you all for the great gifts! Everyone was so thoughtful.

It was very hard to leave the ship last Tuesday morning. DS misses the Oceaneer Lab -- In fact I have a photo of him crying as the CM cut off his the wristband on Monday night.

Glad to hear you made it home ok ... and that the east coast weather hasn't caused any major damage.

I agree that it was tough to leave the ship ... I can understand how your DS was so sad to leave! I'm still sorting through photos and will send the one of your family getting your gold weighed soon.

We have already told my nephews that they are coming with us next time! As expected, they weren't too happy to find out we had been on a Disney ship ... but the ongoing little "surprises" (like the bedtime chocolated we collected in our stateroom cooler) went a long way to helping them forgive us! :)

[kgsmith]

Ah, the power of chocolate!:lmao:

[siburdue]

As far as the x-stitched ornaments...I'm glad you all liked them. :yay: This was a long process with many changes throughout. Some just had 4 stars, but those with more than 4 stars, please look closely and see if you can figure out what they represent. (I can figure it out in my own head, but then I did the pattern...)

Lisa

I just checked my ornament, and I was one of the lucky ones that had 8 stars on my ornament:) It is the Alaskan State Flag! :banana: Great idea! This ornament just got a little more special:love:

Thanks

Sheri

[pops711]

I would rate our cruise at an 8.5...because of the food quality and the service issues. I would really like my drink before my meal is finished. :goodvibes

I would agree!! I our assistent server needed some help!!!! and we did have a few issues with a rude case member with the girls, but over all we had a blast!!!! We booked a dummy cruise while on the ship. now we just need to decide when and were we are going;)

[pops711]

I wanted to second this. I was very impressed by the creativity and generosity of the givers in our group. I also did a bad job of keeping my gift labels organized. I also realized I didn't put my name on the gifts we gave. I made the marble magnets. :cutie:

We have your magnets on your frig;) they are coming in very handy;) My DW and I really enjoyed meeting you guys on the Misty Fjord trip. If you guys want to swap pics let me know:) I am sure we both took some good pics;)

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We have your magnets on your frig;) they are coming in very handy;) My DW and I really enjoyed meeting you guys on the Misty Fjord trip. If you guys want to swap pics let me know:) I am sure we both took some good pics;)

I would be happy to share. I will let you know when I have our photos posted somewhere. :surfweb:

[lmben]

Our power was restored yesterday morning :cool1:, so I was able to finish downloading pix. A total of 1648 pix were sent for printing. If I have time this weekend, I will try to post a few. I needed to get them ordered in time for my scrapbooking weekend starting 9/9!

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Our power was restored yesterday morning :cool1:, so I was able to finish downloading pix. A total of 1648 pix were sent for printing. If I have time this weekend, I will try to post a few. I needed to get them ordered in time for my scrapbooking weekend starting 9/9!

I can't believe it took so long to be fixed. That sucks! :hug:

At least it's back. Yay!

[siburdue]

Our power was restored yesterday morning :cool1:, so I was able to finish downloading pix. A total of 1648 pix were sent for printing. If I have time this weekend, I will try to post a few. I needed to get them ordered in time for my scrapbooking weekend starting 9/9!

Good for you! You took twice the amount of photos I did, good job :) I had a groupon I needed to finish using at Picaboo, so I created a photo book of us with the characters, which was fun. I can't wait to get it. Next is to get the autograph pages placed into an autograph book. Then I need to figure out which photos to send to be printed, so that I can start my scrapbooking. Whew!:goodvibes

Would love for you to share some of your photos, too!

[Aby]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who participated in the FE exchange - everyone was so creative. It was great meeting those that made the meet in Diversions - thanks so much Mellers for setting it up.

We had an amazing time on the cruise and will try to go back as soon as we can swing it. I took tons of photos and am still sorting through them all.

Thanks again for making our first cruise very magical! :lovestruc

Aby

[aunursa]

We had drink issues, serving issues and cold food issues as well. As this being our first cruise...we went in with really no expectations except how everyone of our friends talking about how amazing the food was on a cruise. My dad and his wife were on the cruise with us and have cruised other lines..this being their first Disney cruise. They said the food quality and service was very poor and that what we experienced in Palo is what it was like for them on the other cruise lines in the dining room.
I am curious what others experiences are...we intended to book a dummy date but did not do so as we were concerned it may happen again. Obviously many of you are repeat Disney cruisers.....did we just get unlucky on our trip?

We had very slow service at dinner. Other tables were tasting their desserts and we hadn't been served our entrees. After I spoke with the head waiter at the end of the second dinner, the service magically accelerated. He assigned a second server to assist for the third night, and was noticeably present during the subsequent evenings. Our waiter made sure to get our orders in ASAP.

[Inkmahm]

We had very slow service at dinner. Other tables were tasting their desserts and we hadn't been served our entrees. After I spoke with the head waiter at the end of the second dinner, the service magically accelerated. He assigned a second server to assist for the third night, and was noticeably present during the subsequent evenings. Our waiter made sure to get our orders in ASAP.

I'd say your head server did his job and fixed the problem you were having with your original team. That's what he is supposed to do. A good head server will check with you to make sure you aren't having problems with your team.

I make it a point to always tell our team before we eat a meal at Palo. We have had contact from head servers wondering if we had a problem with the team when we didn't show up for a meal. We always make it clear that we are eating at Palo because we enjoy it, NOT because we are trying to get away from our servers!

On this cruise, we did have servers who didn't necessarily have the best english skills. But they worked SO hard and tried hard so the errors that were made due to the language differences were just funny to us. No big deal.

[Elfinjojo]

Hello fellow cruisers! we are finally back home after the B2B

Wasn't it the best week ever?(well apart from the 2nd week - but I don't want to make you all jealous of that now do I?:rolleyes1)

Thank you to all those in the Mickey FE group - what fun and fab gifts we recieved.
The X-stitched ornament was great (8 stars yay!), all the candy we got we enjoyed, and the kids really enjoyed getting all their bits and bobs.

I loved the Parrot clips that we recieved, they came in so handy for pegging up our rain coats on the towel rails in the bathroom when we ran out of hanging space to dry our coats! Thank you, they are in my case ready for the mext cruise, but for pegging the beach towel to the chair this time :rotfl2:

It was great to meet Mellers as we caught her delivering our gifts - DS loves the origami x-wing fighter, and it was lovely to chat to MsNoble in the photo queue one day, but cannot remember which character it was for - Minnie in her furs I think.:confused3

We enjoyed the whole cruising experience - I have never been to a more beautiful place - I wished I had my camera on me when we saw the rainbow on the last sea day!
We had fab servers for the first week Vijay from India and Steven from Hungary, they were so attentive and funny too, Vijay was so good at his job that by lunchtime on the next cruise he had stepped up to Head server along side Deniz, who was our head server for the first week! We also had just the best room host Christina who went out pf her way to make our 2 weeks feel like home from home! bless she had tears in her eyes on the last morning when we said goodbye!
We changed dining slots on the second week by request so lost our serving team(they couldn't get us a four top in their section for early dining:sad2:) - the second one was not so great - Violetta from Peru was ok but Pablo from Argentina was uninterested - he kept forgetting to bring the bread amongst other things- one night we went a whole meal with no brewad but a bowl of dip!!! But we didn't let that spoil things.

And get this! We met a server who was from our home town in the UK(although she is Spanish, she has lived there for the past 4 yrs to study at the uni, ) it was great to update her on local news.

Well the Jet lag is still hanging on, and the kids and I are back to school tomorrow so I guess I should try and sleep!

[nickcapp]

Hi all!

I just wanted to check in and say thanks for all the FE gifts.

We had a great cruise. I'd rate it 8/10. I don't want to seem like a complainer but some of the food was just down right bad at times! Our servers were great and the entertainment staff was great as usual. I swear David and Ponz follow me on every Disney Cruise!

Positives:

Staff
Servers
Stateroom hosts
Activities
Vancouver
Whitepass Train Ride

Bummers:

Weather (But what was I really expecting)
Saxman Native village
Food
NOT HAVING HONEY BBQ WINGS IN DIVERSIONS UNTIL THE LAST NIGHT!!!

Thanks all again for a really great time!

[Elfinjojo]

Hi all!

I just wanted to check in and say thanks for all the FE gifts.

We had a great cruise. I'd rate it 8/10. I don't want to seem like a complainer but some of the food was just down right bad at times! Our servers were great and the entertainment staff was great as usual. I swear David and Ponz follow me on every Disney Cruise!Positives:

Staff
Servers
Stateroom hosts
Activities
Vancouver
Whitepass Train Ride

Bummers:

Weather (But what was I really expecting)
Saxman Native village
Food
NOT HAVING HONEY BBQ WINGS IN DIVERSIONS UNTIL THE LAST NIGHT!!!

Thanks all again for a really great time!

I thought they were following me:rotfl2::lmao::rotfl:

[lmben]

:

We changed dining slots on the second week by request so lost our serving team(they couldn't get us a four top in their section for early dining:sad2:) - the second one was not so great - Violetta from Peru was ok but Pablo from Argentina was uninterested - he kept forgetting to bring the bread amongst other things- one night we went a whole meal with no brewad but a bowl of dip!!! But we didn't let that spoil things.

We had Violetta & Pablo the first week. Sorry, I guess we should have complained about Pablos, and then your service may have been better :sad1: I didn't notice the bread thing as much as the drink thing. On previous cruises, our drinks were on the table if not before we were seated, then within 5 minutes, and were constantly refilled. With Pablo, it was a minimum of 20 minutes before we received our drinks (usually we saw them sitting at the wait station with the ice melting) and we had to beg for a refill. Apparently, we were only allowed one refill per meal maximum. :lmao: Anyway, it made for some mealtime fun timing the drink delivery.

Very jealous of your B2B. No, I don't want to know how the weather was...;)

Lisa

[d3mckinl]

Does anyone have coppies of the navigators. I was looking for ours and can't find them.

[pops711]

Did everyone fall off the face of the earth??? I know i have not been on the page in a week (sick twins), and not many posts have happened???? where did everyone go????

[mellers]

Did everyone fall off the face of the earth??? I know i have not been on the page in a week (sick twins), and not many posts have happened???? where did everyone go????

Sorry--got so busy with school starting, and then I meant to check in, but then I got the flu, and then Mellers Kidlet got the flu, and she has two advanced courses to take this year so making up the homework was murder.

It's been crazy over here, but other than the flu, things are going okay.

[mellers]

Did everyone fall off the face of the earth??? I know i have not been on the page in a week (sick twins), and not many posts have happened???? where did everyone go????

Actually, the other thing that happened is that the sun finally came out in Seattle. We usually have one of three reactions--run outside like Ray Bradbury's story "All Summer in a Day", turn shiny or run away screaming, "Daystar! It BURNS!!!"

We enjoyed our summer. All two weeks of it. :rolleyes1