Crusin' to Alaska May 24th, 2011 (Lots of photos, menus, ship docs)

[Dawncala]

We went back to ship around 12:30 and had lunch in Triton’s.

The kids hurried off to the clubs for afternoon activities, DH went back to the cabin for a nap and I went to BBB because I felt the need for something sweet. I picked up a sampling of mini-desserts and a little swirl ice cream and went back to the cabin to write an outline of what we did so I wouldn’t forget. I love the quietness of the ship when everyone else is away in port.

At 4:30 DH and I went to the DVC Presentation in Studio Sea. We are DVC members at SSR and thought we might hear some gossip about new properties or point incentives. (Sadly, we missed the DVC Members Celebration on Wednesday, but it was at 9:00 AM and we were barely awake) We won a DVC Steamboat Mickey pin for answering a question.

The presentation was supposed to be over at 5:30, but it was running long, and then the captain came on the speakers to tell us that due to the weather the Pirates deck party had been moved to the atrium and that instead of the POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl movie on the Funnel Vision screen they’d be showing POTC: On Stranger Tides again in the Walt Disney Theater. DH was thrilled. We hung out while they called the DVC raffle winner (not us) then ran to the Theater to get seats for Toy Story the Musical.

Toy Story was by far the most crowded show we’d been to and there were a lot more kids at this show than any of the others. (at least it seemed that way.) We wondered if some of the early dining families skipped dinner to bring their kids to the early showing. We’d seen this show before so we were fine with sitting further back, but I opted to just watch and not take photos.

Now it was time to get dressed for Pirate night. We knew less people were probably going to dress up than did on the Bahamas cruise, but the kids wanted us to dress up, and since we don’t know how much longer they will even want to be seen with us we went all out. After getting dressed we went down and had photos done with Captain Jack Sparrow.

Then it was off to dinner at Parrot Cay with the Caribbean Menu. We had a new trainee server, Carlo from Italy, whom the kids had met the night before while we were in Palo. I’ve read from many people that they do not care for the Caribbean menu, but I love it. Banana bread with banana butter, crab dip with plantain chips, my rib-eye was perfect, and I love the banana bread French toast for dessert.

For some reason Disney broccoli is the only broccoli we can get DS to eat consistently. (Magic I guess)

DS had a huge burger and was getting tired so when asked about dessert he said. “I am full”. When our desserts arrived they gave him a covered plate. He looked confused, but when he opened it he received a funny Disney surprise. "That's what you ordered." our server said.

Now it was time for the Pirates in the Caribbean party in the atrium. We found a place behind all the kids in front of the staircase. (people were also lining the railings on decks 4 & 5) DS was too tired so he went back to the cabin to bed. I got much better pictures than last time because the lighting is better indoors than on deck.

The show was much as I remembered it. I think they need to have a revised version for indoors though. There isn’t much space in the atrium, yet they kept asking us to dance and there was simply not enough room to take two steps back or side to side.

Also, I did have one of my pet peeves happen. A dad cut in front of me to usher his two young kids up to the front so they could see. I’m fine with that. I always move aside to let kids in. But then he stayed directly in front of me, in the very limited space that was there…and danced. He danced with careless abandon hitting my camera with his waving arms and backing into me several times. And he never apologized when he bumped me. I want everyone to have a good time, but manners people please.

After the confetti flew we went to the theater to get seats for the special showing of POTC: On Stranger Tides (in 3D again). I left about ½ way through because I was dead tired and falling asleep in my seat. DD came in 20 minutes later, but DH didn’t return until the movie was over.

Christiaan, the cruise director, in his awesome pirate garb.

Towel dino and DS’s Husky puppet.

It was right about the time DH came back from the movie that DS woke with motion sickness. (And nothing ever wakes him up) He threw up once and went back to sleep. The ship was rocking pretty hard tonight. We were in open seas, without the shelter of the outer islands, on our way to Ketchikan. Luckily DH had taken Dramamine earlier so he was OK. I actually enjoyed the rocking and fell back to sleep quickly.

Stay Tuned for Day 6 - Ketchikan

 

[dkmjgal]

I am really enjoying your trip report! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your adventures with us.

Kelly

 

[LAWalz23]

Great report so far! I agree about adults just stepping in front so their kids can see and staying because they think they are "entitled because of the kids". I also let the kids through but often want to tell the parents that they should have got there earlier. Interestingly enough our first two cruises were on the Magic and there was very little of that kind stuff but last year on the Wonder, it was rampant everywhere even when standing online for characters, parents tried to push their kids into the line.

 

[Dawncala]

Great report so far! I agree about adults just stepping in front so their kids can see and staying because they think they are "entitled because of the kids". I also let the kids through but often want to tell the parents that they should have got there earlier. Interestingly enough our first two cruises were on the Magic and there was very little of that kind stuff but last year on the Wonder, it was rampant everywhere even when standing online for characters, parents tried to push their kids into the line.

This was the first and only time it happened on the Wonder for me, but it's happened to me several time at the parks with parades and shows.

We had a couple completely ruin our video of the Christmas Parade (our 1st ever) in 2009 by showing up 1/2 way through the parade and cutting in to drop off their children then staying. It wasn't even me they cut in front of, it was our 11 year old daughter who was up near the front doing the video recording. They kept leaning back and forth in front of the camera and yelling to the characters and each other in Italian. They knew she was recording too. She had to keep moving the camera up and down because they kept moving around. DD handled it politely, but they were getting some serious death stares from those around them. I wish I'd said something, but I don't think it would have mattered.

On the flip side we frequently meet people who are incredibly polite and are thankful when people step aside so their children can get up front. Now that our kids are taller we're teaching them to let the smaller ones in front of them.

My other pet peeve is people near the front putting older children on their shoulders. I mean a toddler I get, but not your 8, 9 or 10 year old. If you're standing in back okay, but if you're already up front it ruins the view for so many.

 

[Diannah]

I'm just getting caught up and was surprised to see the pic of our fish extender in your report! Glad you liked the treasure chest. I was kinda proud of it because it packed flat.

It was really a fun FE group, wasn't it?

 

[Dawncala]

I finally slept in a little and didn’t wake until nearly 8:30. DS wanted to get to the Lab quickly so he ran up to BBB for a quick breakfast, but I was in the mood for sit-down so the rest of us ate in Triton’s. We shared a table with another family and discovered that they lived about 20 minutes up the road from us. We chatted about previous cruises, DVC and other Disney experiences. There’s never a lack of conversation topics when you’re with another Disney fan.

We went to Shutters to pick up some portraits and then wandered around to take photos of Ketchikan from the ship.

The day was grey and I hoped it wasn’t going to rain. We were just arriving and our port time today is scheduled from noon to 7:30. There were three other ships in port today: Norwegian, Celebrity and Carnival. I hoped the town wasn’t going to be too crowded.

We had a light lunch at BBB at noon to give the other passengers time to disembark. At 12:45 we walked off the ship into Ketchikan. The weather was still grey, but pleasant. Our first destination was Creek Street. We found it easily following the well placed signs. I would guess that it is maybe a ¾ to a mile walk.

The beautiful Wonder docked in Ketchikan

Creek Street used to be a red light district, but now it is filled with art stores, souvenir shops and a couple of historic houses that you can tour.

The Creek Street slogan is a bit of a groaner.

One such "cat" house was called Dolly’s House. There was a girl dressed in period clothing on the steps offering passersby a tour. We politely declined, but the kids wanted to go and kept asking why we couldn’t. So… we had to carefully explain why. (awkward)

The topic quickly changed when they saw the Cape Fox Hill tram. It’s a small tram on rails that takes you up the hill to the Cape Fox Lodge. It wasn’t worth the $2 per person because you can simply take a walking path to the lodge, but we were still trying to distract them from the topic of brothels. DD has an insatiable curiosity and had a million questions.

At the top was a cute lodge with a view of the area, a restaurant (we didn’t eat there though), and bathrooms. Out in front of the lodge were a series of totem poles so we took some photos there. Then our group chose to walk down the path rather than riding the tram back down.

Oh Perry!

Heading back toward town we came across a coffee shop which had the sign “free wi-fi with purchase” so we all ordered drinks with “sides of free wi-fi”. DH and I were very disappointed with T-mobile because their web site said we should have had service in these US towns (I checked before we left), but we didn’t. We even called them about it, but they only had excuses.

We sat there and enjoyed our drinks while our mail synced and I e-mailed my Mom-in-law to let her know we were still alive and having fun.


To be continued in part 2

 

[Dawncala]

Next we walked around town and in and out of a variety of souvenir stores. DS found a souvenir hatchet he liked and after a salesperson told him the history behind it, and the price, DS talked him down to $30 from the original $50 price. The owner (or manager), who had been listening, was impressed and gave him a small dream catcher and an arrowhead as a bonus. Then he gave DD a dream catcher and arrowhead too. (happy children!)

Now we happened to be just up the road from the Lumberjack show. We’d heard recommendations for it from both passengers and crew many times so we wandered down that way. We decided that if there was a show getting ready to start, and they had space for us, then it was meant to be. Turns out it was not meant to be. The next showing was over an hour away.

Lumberjack show building and one of the many seafood restaurants.

Instead we wandered through the nearby Market located next to the dock area. The kids burned off some energy climbing on a bronze sculpture and DH and I watched the 2nd of the 4 cruise ships leaving port.

Another seafood restaurant.

These are almost all jewelry stores.

Not sure why we take them places when all they want to do is climb on the bronze statues when we get there.

We headed back to the ship, taking photos along the way, and were back on board around 4:15.

DS went straight to Lab and the rest of us grabbed a snack from Goofy’s Galley and ice cream then went back to the cabin where we watched Prince of Persia and I downloaded the photos from the cameras.

The entertainment tonight was Max Winfrey, a juggler and comedian. There was only one showing for all the passengers at 7:15 in the Walt Disney Theater so I went down early to get seats in case it was crowded. (It was) We all really enjoyed him. Great fun for all ages. The show ended right at our dinner time.

Dinner tonight was in Triton’s with the servers in their formal wear. We were told that in a perfect world they’d have semi-formal night on this night too, but it was a late port day and people wouldn’t have time to get back to change. (If they made it back for dinner at all) The menu tonight was the Captain’s Menu and Mihailo made a cute joke about how the captain had been slaving away in the kitchen all afternoon.

DS was full and tired, again, and almost passed on dessert until he heard about the warm chocolate lava cake. He loves chocolate like I do. He was not disappointed.

Agent P. received an urgent phone call.

I promised DD one last trip to Mickey’s Mates, then she ran off to see the movie Prom. DH & DS went to Goofy’s pool for a while so I started pre-packing & organizing. (sigh) I was working on writing my outline for the day and sorting photos when they came back. Towel elephant (and the chocolates) were helping me.

We had our character breakfast the next morning, and since it wasn’t until 9:45 we decided to order a pre-breakfast snack through room service. (Just a few croissants, fruit, juice, milk, coffee and tea.)

DD came in at midnight, after her movie, and raced right out again to go to the tween After-Prom party at Studio Sea. I told her to come right back when it was over at 1:00 because I wouldn’t sleep well until she was back. (Apparently not true) I fell asleep and didn’t even hear her come in. I woke at 5:00 AM and jumped out of bed to make sure she was there. (she was) I found out later that DH waited up for her. (Good daddy)

Stay tuned for Day 7 - At Sea

 

[NWmom]

Dawn,
Enjoying your report and photos!! I am going to blatantly steal a few as I am in the one looking up at the pirate party!!

You must have been a few blocks away from us in towns. I love the photos. Never would have thought of taking some of them, but remember seeing them.

Love Perry.

Skye

 

[LAWalz23]

How crowded was Ketchikian with three ships? Our port day says there will be 5 ships in that day. Thanks.

 

[PBader]

How crowded was Ketchikian with three ships? Our port day says there will be 5 ships in that day. Thanks.

On our August 30th it says the same thing 5 ships, but they are staggered. The Wonder takes the place of one of them. Go back and look at their port times, it's probably not as bad as you are thinking

 

[mardonna]

Just curious on this cruise.....what night was the semi formal night? I have heard reports that they switched it up.......also we are going on June 21st cruise and plan on bringing, jeans, sweats, l/s shirts, winter coats, and hats.....bringing a few shorts and s/s shirts....but it is still on cold side right?

 

[krbrat]

I have to say I do not know you folks but your son seems to be Mr Personality himself. I see no shiness there at all.

 

[Dawncala]

How crowded was Ketchikian with three ships? Our port day says there will be 5 ships in that day. Thanks.

It didn't feel crowded at all. I can't say if the tours were or not. As another post mentioned, they were staggered. The first one was gone around 2:00/2:30 and the second left around 3:30, (I didn't see the 3rd one leave) and the Wonder left at 7:30.

 

[E&Cmom]

I absolutely love this picture.


Loved the chocolate lava cake.

 

[Dawncala]

Just curious on this cruise.....what night was the semi formal night? I have heard reports that they switched it up.......also we are going on June 21st cruise and plan on bringing, jeans, sweats, l/s shirts, winter coats, and hats.....bringing a few shorts and s/s shirts....but it is still on cold side right?

Semi-formal night was on night 7, the day at sea. I wish it was another night though. Since we had late seating, in order have the semi-formal clothing go out with the luggage we had to race back to the room right after dinner to get changed and get the luggage into the hallway. I felt too rushed.

I think clothing choice depends on where you live and how you usually dress there. It could be cool to cold while the ship was moving, but we were mostly inside anyway so it didn't matter. When the ship was docked it was very pleasant for our Pacific Northwest family. (50 to 65 degrees, maybe higher)

I suggest layers. There were many days we were comfortable in shorts and t-shirts, but if it got chilly I threw on a sweater and that was enough. I think Disney over compensated a little with the inside temp. We were frequently too warm indoors in long sleeves and we often opened our verandah door to cool down our cabin. I only really wore my coat (a ski shell) in Juneau and Ketchikan mostly because it was waterproof and it looked like rain. If I wasn't worried about getting wet I would have worn my lightweight fleece pullover.

 

[vatchr]

I am LOVING your trip report. Makes me very excited for our cruise in August. Thank you so much for writing!

 

[Dawncala]

Room service phoned at 8:00 AM to let us know they were on the way. I pulled open the drapes and put on some clothing to be ready. They arrived about 5-10 minutes later. They had everything we ordered and we nibbled while slowly getting ready for the day.

Our character breakfast was at 9:45 in Parrot Cay. We’d had many character breakfasts in the parks before so we understood how they worked. You sit still and eat and the characters come to you for photos and autographs. On the cruise it is a little different though. If you miss a character in the parks you just sit still and they eventually come out again. On the ship the characters come to your table once, and only once. They make an announcement about having your camera on and autograph books open because the characters really only spend maybe a minute or two and they move on. The characters were wearing their tropical clothing today.

Breakfast was kind of like having the buffet, only without the omelet station, and your server got your plate for you while you stayed seated.

DS made a not-so-hidden Mickey from his chocolate chip pancakes.

The servers also make cute napkin hats for the guests. DH & DS got Peter Pan hats. We weren’t sure what kind of hat mine was. (If you know can you please tell me?) And DD got a bow. (Oh the indignation. You should have seen her eyes roll)

She wouldn't wear the bow for the photos.

Another table had a Goofy hat, but our favorite was a hat that had knots tied on the sides by the ears. Attached to each knot was a silver plate cover. The effect was kind of like a metal-bunned Princess Leia. There was a guy walking around with one much of the day. (wish I had a picture)

DS went to the Lab (go figure) and the rest of us went back to room. I did some more pre-packing and DD & DH relaxed and watched Phineas and Ferb cartoons.

A final photo of our FE and magnets before packing them.

Disembarking paperwork and luggage tags arrived.

At 12:30 we went to Studio Sea because I had a question for the DVC reps. (They ran late the other day and I didn’t have time then) They were not there yet because they were signing up last minute members so I went to Shutters to see if we had any photos I hadn’t seen yet.

At 1:00 we went to Cruisin’ For Trivia in the Promenade lounge. I assumed it was going to be Disney related trivia, and although some of it was, some of it was just random trivia. We had to answer 25 multiple choice questions. After you finished you exchanged your paper with another table to grade it. We got 24 out of 25 as did three other groups. (Bummer! If I’d gone with my initial choice on that one question we would have had all 25) All four teams got the 1st tie-breaker question right so the cast member running the show asked a second one. We had to guess her age without going over. Unfortunately we lost. (I’m terrible at guessing ages) It was fun anyway.

During the trivia game DD received a text on her Wave phone. All it said was a line from a Disney song. She handed the phone to DH who texted back the next line of the song. Then they texted another line from another Disney song. Then we did, then they did, then we did… and we went back and forth the whole time we were playing trivia. The texts were coming from someone in a cabin on deck 6. (you can see the cabin number on the text) We never did find out who it was. If you happen to read this Mystery Texter…thanks for the fun!

Then DS called from the Lab to tell us he was going to the Goofy Pool with friends. DD left us to go to the Edge Club so DH and I went to Wavebands to see the John Charles Family Cabaret. I had wanted to see the John Charles adult show the night before, but DS really wanted DH to go swimming with him. (who am I to stand in the way of guy bonding time)

John Charles was probably the funniest of all the live acts we’d seen this week. (Now I was disappointed I’d missed the adult show) We laughed until we cried. I highly recommend making time for his show. The kids would have really loved him too.

A little blurry. It's hard to take clear photos when you're laughing.

At 3:00 we checked in with DS at the Goofy pool. He was still happily splashing about with a group of kids around his age. It was a nice, slightly overcast day, and it was a perfect day to be on deck. DH and I went to Pluto’s Doghouse for lunch. I wish BBB was open all day. The fast food places on the Wonder are really not that great in my opinion. The fries are OK though, but I try not to eat too many fries. We told DS we’d be at the adult pool if he needed us.

DH and I changed into our swim suits and went to the adult pool. It was so quiet and peaceful in there. You’d think you’d be able to hear the kids screaming in the other pool, but you can’t. (more Disney magic) I did some slow laps and then ended up chatting with some other women about Disney, cruising and DVC. The one mom was new to DVC so we chatted a lot about that. Then DH and I went in the hot tub. (Ahhhh!) We were in here for a short bit earlier this week and the same woman we met then showed up again. It was her first Disney cruise so she had lots of questions for us. She picked our brains for a while about DVC. When she left I told DH we needed to leave. I wasn’t going to market for DVC any more today without getting paid.

We told DS it was time to come back to the cabin and we all showered and got ready for the show & dinner. DD was running around the ship with her friends and didn’t want to go to the show. The show tonight was Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic and she’d seen it before. DS had not so he came with us. We told DD to make sure she changed into her semi-formal clothing and meet us for dinner by 8:15.

At 6:15 we saw the Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic show. It was pretty much as I remembered it. DS fell asleep in his chair about ½ way through. We woke him just before the dramatic ending.

Just outside the theater after the show was Pin Trading with the ship officers. DD met us there and we all traded some pins and chatted to other pin traders. We think pin trading is a fun space filler, like when waiting in line for a ride, but we’re not very seriously into it.

DD likes pins, but she also likes Vinylmation. She purchased three while on board. Most of them you purchase sight-unseen and you never know what you’re going to get. She liked two of the three. I learned that you could trade them at the cash register in Mickey’s Mates so DD ran up to get the one she wanted to trade. Here’s how it works. The ones you can trade for are hidden in a big box labeled 1 through 24. You pick a number and that’s the one you trade for. (a blind trading) You can do up to two trades per day. On her first pick she got one she already owned, so she traded again and got one she didn’t have and she liked. (score!)

The 1st of 3. She didn’t trade this one.

At 8:00 we happened to pass the "Wonder at Sunset" portrait background in the atrium so we took another family photo. Then dinner was at Animator’s Palate. It was semi-formal night with the Til We Meet Again menu. The servers were in their flag vests for the post-dinner show. It was a night of group photos and some sadness since it was our last night on the cruise.

With Corrina and Mihailo

Carlo, who is sure to “earn his ears”

After dinner the chefs came out with flaming Baked Alaska and the servers paraded around the room carrying flags representing their home countries. Of course we all cheered loudly for our favorite servers as they passed by.

The head chef in the middle

Corrina and Mihailo

Corrina kisses “Phil” goodbye. I can’t remember if I mentioned that Corrina called Perry Phil the whole cruise. She said she thought he just looked like a Phil.

The luggage had to be outside our cabin door by 10:30 so at this point we had two choices. If we wanted to pack our semi-formal wear we had to go back to the cabin to change now. If we went back to the cabin now we’d miss the Til We Meet Again show in the lobby. Since the kids didn’t want to see the lobby show (We saw it on the last cruise) we all went back to change. DD changed and raced off to the Final Farewell night in Edge.

I sent DH down to Wave Bands to get seats for the Pub Night show. I had read that it was the “not to miss” adult show and I wanted to see it. I finished packing, and DS helped me put the luggage out in the hall before he crawled into bed.

With about a minute to spare I sat down with DH for Pub Night with special guest Max Winfrey (the juggler from earlier in the week). The show started with the entertainment crew singing pub songs with the audience joining in.

(L-R) Tesa, DJ Franke, Sheena and Drew

Then Max Winfrey did two funny juggling sketches. The highlight of the show is a skit called ‘If I were not upon the sea”. In it all the entertainment cast members sing an interactive song telling us what job they might have if they didn’t work on the Wonder. It is creative, hilarious, and I understand why it is highly recommended. Our favorite was Christiaan at the end. (Sorry, no spoilers) His part was extra funny. At the end he said. “My parents would be so proud.” We laughed, and then he pointed out his parents in the audience. They were actually on the cruise.

After the show there was dancing with the crew, but we’d promised DS we’d come back when the show was over. We figured he was probably asleep, but he was up waiting for us. DD returned at midnight and it was our last lights out. (sniff)

Our last towel animal (sniff, sniff)

 

[Meskamooska]

Hi!

I have really enjoyed your trip report. We will be on the July 19th, 2011 sailing and I can hardly wait! I do have a couple of questions for you:

1) What service are you using to host your photos? Photobucket? Flickr? Something else? I have yet to post a picture because I don't know where I need to load them in order to put them up.

2) You mentioned that you are using an E-510. My DH and I both have E-520's and I was wondering what lenses you were using. I am particularly curious about what you were using as your zoom. Oh, and the panoramic that you shot in Ketchikan, was that done with the Olympus or with another camera?

Thank you again for your extremely enjoyable report. I do believe you have inspired me to do one pre and post cruise report myself!

Take care, help lots of people and have a "Wonder"ful day!

Tisza

 

[NWmom]

our favorite was a hat that had knots tied on the sides by the ears. Attached to each knot was a silver plate cover. The effect was kind of like a metal-bunned Princess Leia. There was a guy walking around with one much of the day. (wish I had a picture)

If I can figure out how to post a picture I have one for you. This was my hat of the night!

I think what amazes me most is that except for the one gameshow we were both at- we both had fantastic fun and did different things. There was so much to do that looked interesting. I need to go back just to do other on ship activities.
Skye

 

[E&Cmom]

John Charles was hilarious. We went to his adult show and then for the first 30 minutes of the family show. We snuck out to go to the animal towel folding class since I really wanted to go to that.

We were at pub night as well. That skit was priceless. I could't stop laughing especially at the last part with Christiian.