WONDERful time WONDERing around Alaska - 5/24/2014 - w/Photo's & Navigator's

[hygienist999]

My DH and I set sail on The Disney Wonder for a 9 night cruise to Alaska. We boarded the Ship on May 24. We arrived a little early, and there seemed to be some confusion about checking in. One lady told us to stand in a certain line, but the line was actually for the people getting off the boat needing a taxi. I think the staff was stressed as they were at a different port and one they wouldn't be using again. We waited about an hour and boarded about noon. Here are a few pics.

Once we boarded the ship we made our way to Parrot Cay to eat lunch. We chose this over Beach Blanket, thinking it would have been a madhouse.

After we ate lunch we walked around the ship exploring a little bit. We have sailed on the Magic 4 times, so we wanted to see the differences.

Still can't get in our cabin.

This was the only decoration I saw in Beach Blanket.

This was the Hot Chocolate Station. I was a frequent visitor to this machine.

 

[hygienist999]

Finally! We can go to our cabin.

Our Veranda, even though we had the iron wall that you can't see thru.

We weren't in our cabin long, before our luggage was delivered. So, we unpacked everything. Then it was time for the safety drill. We went to Animator's Palate. Once we were clear from this we made our way to the Sail Away Party on Deck 10. We actually sailed away about 30 minutes late.
The weather was mild, about 73 degrees.

After the going away party, we got ready for dinner. Our dinner time was 5:45. We ate at Tritons.

And here if our first Towel Animal of the cruise.

 

[twindaddy]

Thanks for the great photos of Ballyntyne Pier, probably will never go there. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Subbing in. We were on the 5/24 sailing too. I quoted your post on our cruise meet thread showing the Wonder coming into Vancouver on my trip report. We also had the same dinner rotation.

Looking forward to more.

 

[hygienist999]

Subbing in. We were on the 5/24 sailing too. I quoted your post on our cruise meet thread showing the Wonder coming into Vancouver on my trip report. We also had the same dinner rotation.

Looking forward to more.

Thanks, I also took a photo of the Wonder leaving Canada Place, with the next batch of people. So sad, that photo.

Twindaddy, Thanks for reading.

 

[hygienist999]

I know people are always wanting to know about the food. We sat at a table with 6 other wonderful people. They had very few complaints, but me and my DH are not seafood eating people, therefore we ate steak at every meal. I also ate a Caesar Salad at every meal. The menu was themed to Alaska. Lots of seafood. So if you love seafood, you will love their menu's. As for Lunch, if you ate in the dining room that was not buffet, you had a great meal, the buffet for us was just awful. Our dinner mates also agreed with us, so thankfully it was not just our opinion. Breakfast was good no mater where you ate. Best meal of the day for us. While we waited for the Welcome Aboard Show the atrium had a few characters.

This was the only photo that is allowed to be taken in the Theatre. No photography of any kind is allowed.

The show was pretty good. I think we got us something to drink and went back to the cabin and went to bed. We were exhausted. Coming from Georgia we were off our timeclock.

End of Day 1

 

[rentayenta]

Subbing in too. Its fun seeing the CMs in your photos that we just sailed with in April.

 

[hygienist999]

Day 2 - Sea Day - The Golden Mickey's Night - Formal Night.

Because we are East Coasters I was up at 5am. So here are a few photo's from our balcony.

As you can see, there was a lot of fog. But the scenery was still Majestic.

Since my hubby still wanted to sleep, I made my way to the center of the ship on Deck 5. I sat in one of the chairs by the window and read some and looked out the window some. I also noticed a lot of other East Coaster's. They couldn't sleep either.

Once we ate breakfast at the Beach Blanket, we made our way to the Castaway Club meeting. This cruise allowed us to be Gold Members, Yay!!!
We have been Vacation Club Members since 1999.

They served chocolate chip cookies and juice. Learned there is a lot to look forward to.

 

[hygienist999]

I believe the Vacation Club meeting was around 10:30am. We ate lunch and a little while afterwards, we went to the Castaway Club Meeting. We are now Gold Club Members, This cruise made our 6th. Yay!!

The Cruise Captain and his staff made an appearance along with Mickey. They served light snacks and champaign. One of the staff member told me that the Wonder would not go thru the same overhaul that the Magic did. She said the Wonder was now the only ship that could sail the Panama Canal. The Magic had to have its width extended due to the extra weight.

After the meeting we went back to our cabin to get ready for Formal Night. In the past we have really dressed up, but for this cruise we decided not to.
We ate in Animator's Palate for the Golden Mickey's Menu.

 

[hygienist999]

Here's a photo of the desert I had.

After eating, we stopped to have our photo taken. We then went back to our cabin and changed into more comfortable clothes. I also snapped a few photo's of the views.

Here are a few photo's of Golden Mickey's.

My DH and I did not go to the Golden Mickey's show. We have seen it multiple times and my husband did not care for the show the first couple times he saw it, so we skipped it. We went instead to the atrium and watched the Character meet and greet. Then made our way up to deck 9 to get our drinks and went back to our cabin and our Towel Animal.

So, our first sea day was a good one. We were busy through out the day, spent time people watching, character watching, and drinking hot chocolate. Oh, if only hot water comes out, open the door and shake one of the containers, then shut the door, and you should have already mixed hot chocolate come out of spout. A cast member showed me the trick to it after getting only hot water.

End of Day 2

 

[hygienist999]

Day 3 - Sea Day -

The time went back one hour, and I finally got up at 6am. The day was gorgeous, bright and sunny, no fog. I went up to Beach Blanket and picked up a couple doughnuts and drinks. We went to the Character Breakfast in Parrot Cay at 8:15. I have always wanted to go to one and my husband really didn't. So, our great tablemates said they were all going to go, so he gave in and said he would go also. Yay!!!!

Our table mates Travis and Jessica from Utah.

Our table mates Ron and Betty from Florida.

Our table mates Alice and Jenna from San Francisco.

And our pics with the character that came by our table. I was so excited.

Our drink server made us little hats out of napkins.

I really enjoyed the Character Breakfast and I hope I get to go to another one. I highly recommend going if you can.

We then bundled up and went out on deck to enjoy the scenery. We couldn't stay long, it was cold and windy. We headed down to deck 4 to read and people watch.

 

[WendyDarling]

Loving your trip report - great pics!

 

[hygienist999]

Through out the day I made a point to go and see where the character's were. A little tip for you. The character's when leaving the atrium most always went to Shutters and disappeared into a door by the desk. I caught most of the photo's I have by hanging out there for the change overs.

Another photo of the scenery.

We went to Tritons for lunch. Finally a great meal, and fabulous servers, one was a girl named Theo. We wished we had her during our rotations. Before going back to the cabin to rest, we made a trip to Beach Blanket and got a plate full of chocolate chip cookies to take back to the room and something to drink. The cookies we didn't eat put put in the refrigerator. We did this everyday that we could, Disney really needs to have a place to get scones, cookies, and muffins any time of day.

The crew staff were out in the atrium this evening. Here is a photo of them gathered on deck 3. This could have been the Captains party, not sure.

We had dinner in Parrot Cay. The talk of the table were the whales, that everyone had seen, but we had not. We told them we must be cursed, lol. Here is the desert I had in Parrot Cay, which is the desert I had most every night.

After dinner we walked out on Deck 4, and finally we saw whales. They were blowing air and their tail would come up high in the water. The curse was broken. We went to the show, it was Dave's Magic Show. He was pretty good. Afterward I took a photo as the light was going and then off to bed.

End of Day 3 - Lots of lazy times. We especially liked getting the Hot Chocolate, and it was hot, I had to blow on mine for quite a while til I could sip it.

 

[hygienist999]

Day 4 - Sitka

We arrived early into Sitka, the sky was overcast, cool and very windy. My throat decided to hurt this morning. But, we had an early excursion, cough drops in bag, and out we go.

Our excursion was to the rapture place and a walking tour in the Tongass National Forest. Our guide was awesome and we could tell she really loved her job and Alaska. She had lived there since 1982.

These ladies met us as we got off the ship on our way to board buses that would carry us into town.

Photo's from the town of Sitka. A very quaint town.

And of course, my DH had to check in with work.

We went to this little bakery, and OMG best pastries ever. So good.

I bought I neat little art print of a wood carving, all locally made at this little store.

It was very windy.

We had to meet for our excursion at 11:45am. Our first stop and only one on the bus was the rapture center where they take in injured birds.

Here is the cutest little guy ever.

Here is our wonderful guide.

We walked down the drive of the Rapture Center to the roadway, went across the road into an entrance of the Tongrass National Rain Rainforest. But that will be for tomorrow. Hope I'm not putting anyone to sleep. If you have any questions, please ask and I will answer to the best of my ability.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Thanks, I also took a photo of the Wonder leaving Canada Place, with the next batch of people. So sad, that photo.

I know, right? I was standing outside the Pan Pacific watching the Sail Away party and craving the sound of the horn one last time, or 2, or 3, or 4. Anyway, I too watched it sail away without me.

 

[sdjen]

Thanks for your report. Cannot wait to see more!

 

[hygienist999]

About to enter into the Tongrass National Forest.

The trees in this Forest are only damaged by wind, never fire. I thought that was interesting.

There was many Totem Poles and they were very ornate.

Once we got back to the ship, I napped for several hours, as I did not feel well at all. My nose was running, and my throat hurt. Thankfully I packed a Z-pac antibiotic, and I started on it immediately. I also had a box of Dayquil, so I took one of them also. We missed dinner in the Dining Room, I just felt to bad to bother with changing clothes and we weren't crazy about the menu. We tried to grab something to eat at Beach Blanket, but they were serving the Tritons menu and it wasn't a buffet. We ended up eating chicken tenders and hamburgers. We made our way to the Atrium to see what was happening on the ship, and ran into a few characters.

We did make the show, which was a broadway dude. He could sing, but he was very boring.

Because it was a port day, we went to the DVC desk and picked up our gift. It was a signed card by a Disney animator.

Afterward we got our drinks from Deck 9 and made our way back to the cabin. So far, this trip we slept way more than we ever have on a cruise. Maybe it was because I got the crud, but I'm actually embarrassed at the time on night it was when we went to bed.

 

[hygienist999]

Day 6 - Tracey Arm Fjord

We slept til a little after 7am. We both dressed in base layers as we planned on being on the deck most of the day and we weren't sure how cold it would be. We ate outside of Beach Blanket, and I was able to watch whales blowing and showing their fins while I ate my Mickey Waffle. We went up to Deck 10 and found a spot and planted ourselves. We were at that spot from 11am til 3pm. We were a little bummed that the Captain could not get the ship very close to the Glacier because there was so much ice flow. But, he got further up than we thought he would. We drank Hot Chocolate and there was a soup station and cookies at the front of the boat. I never knew there was food on the deck of Beach Blanket or I would have made my way there.

DH was ready for anything.

 

[hygienist999]

More photo's from Tracey Arm.

Chip and Dale made their way onto the Deck.

Once the boat turned around we went back to the cabin to take some layers off and watch the scenery go by. We went down to Deck 4 to people watch and sit and look out the round windows. Out on Deck 4 was a piece of ice that was brought up on board, so DH took my photo with it.

Tonight dinner was in Animator's Palate and they put the show on this night.

After dinner we went by the DVC desk to pick up our port gift. We were given a Steamboat Willie Pin. We got to see a few characters.

We made our way to the Theater to see Adam Ace. He was ok, Red suit that was too big for him.

Then it was back to the cabin and our Towel Animal.

 

[WendyDarling]

Day 6 - Tracey Arm Fjord We slept til a little after 7am. We both dressed in base layers as we planned on being on the deck most of the day and we weren't sure how cold it would be. We ate outside of Beach Blanket, and I was able to watch whales blowing and showing their fins while I ate my Mickey Waffle. We went up to Deck 10 and found a spot and planted ourselves. We were at that spot from 11am til 3pm. We were a little bummed that the Captain could not get the ship very close to the Glacier because there was so much ice flow. But, he got further up than we thought he would. We drank Hot Chocolate and there was a soup station and cookies at the front of the boat. I never knew there was food on the deck of Beach Blanket or I would have made my way there. DH was ready for anything.

It doesn't look very crowded at all - was the ship pretty full?