Didn't read thru this whole thread, but have a few unofficial tips:
- On the day you set sail, try to get to the port early. You get on the ship earlier, which means you can have a nice lunch that you wouldn't get if you arrive closer to sailing time. Plus it gives you a little time to get to know the ship before you unpack; maybe even use the pool, if you're so inclined. Only drawback: you can't get into your room until early afternoon (1:30/2:00), so you'll need to carry a small bag around.
- If you don't have small kids, take the late dinner seating. That way you won't have to rush back from port adventures to make your dinner seating, especially
Castaway Cay day.
- Unless you want to, don't feel obligated to pay for a huge beach related excursion in Nassau. Chances are you'll be on Castaway Cay the next (or previous) day and that's the beach adventure of a lifetime.
- Especially if you do have the early seating, you'll get an insanely early breakfast time on debarkation morning. And, to add to that, you'll wind up sitting in a lounge for awhile waiting for your luggage tag character to be called. Instead, skip the assigned breakfast and go to the buffet (Beach Blanket buffet on the Wonder, don't know the other ships) when you want. If you go about when the second seating folks are going to their assigned breakfast, you'll have a leisurely breakfast and by the time you're done, chances are all the luggage tags will have been called, so you can head on out.
- If you have four people, besides pricing out a single stateroom, price out two staterooms (you'll "officially" have to split the adults). Compared to the cost of the cruise, its surprisingly not much more expensive.
- If you do have two staterooms, you can all get keys to each others staterooms. Just go to Guest Relations after you board and they'll take care of it.
- Passporter guide is probably the best source of info, especially for first time cruisers, but read below if you're going to Alaska.
A few tips for Alaska cruisers:
- On Tracy Arm day, the decks get packed mid-morning, several hours before you head into Tracy Arm. People reserve deck chairs, etc. But, guess what? The ship heads out of Tracy Arm the same way it went in, so the view is identical. Once the ship turns around, the decks empty. On the return, you can practically have the whole deck to yourself and see the same thing.
- Also for Tracy Arm, even if its a warm day, bring a jacket with you. The temperature drop is considerable as the ship goes into the arm (seems like a 20 degree drop or more).
- Don't overpack. T-shirts are really inexpensive at the Alaska ports...usually less than $10 (even for long-sleeve) and are of a decent quality. Even if you forget a fleece jacket, you can pick up a decent one in any of the ports for around $20. Plenty of selection of raincoats too.
- Many of the Alaskan souvenir stands sell something called an ulu, which is a semi-circular knife (look it up on wikipedia if you like). Problem is: you can't bring it back on the ship. Solution: let Disney confiscate it, they'll give you a claim ticket and you can pick it back up after you disembark.
- Passporter guide is pretty much useless for Alaska. Huge disappointment. I think their Alaskan coverage could be why they stopped putting the year on the cover. It wasn't published until about a month before the Alaskan cruises ended for 2011 and had very little useful information on the ports and less on port adventures. The port adventures, for the most part, aren't new -- they're the same ones offered to other ships, so the information is out there, just not in the Passporter.
During the planning process, I found out that I could bring a pillowcase/photo mat on-board and ask the CMs to have the characters sign them. Well, DH said, "why don't we have them sign one of those special platters so we can display it when we get home?". So that's what we did! I had a custom made platter painted with our logo, names, and wedding date. When we got on the ship, I went to guest services (armed with bags of candy for the lovely and helpful CMs) and asked if they would arrange for signatures. And this is what they gave us on the last night! Isn't it amazing? Oh, even the captain signed it! 
