You’ll never get me on a cruise. Unless it’s to ALASKA! Recap and New PTR Link! 2/1

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

How exciting!!!!!!!!!!!! Which itinerary/date?

May 21st out of Vancouver, into Seattle, same as you I think.

[DisSarahK]

I started reading your trip report last night and got up early this morning (before getting the little ones ready for school) so I could finish it. Ahh, I loved it! I kept oohing and aahing over your pictures last night while my husband was trying to get work done--he kept feeling the need to put his computer down and come over and see what was so amazing. LOL! At first he thought I was doing it on purpose, but he quickly realized that the pictures really were that amazing!

We are from the greater Seattle are too (a ferry ride away) so it was great to get a PNW-er's perspective on the cruise experience. I think you've given us the final nudge we needed to take this Alaska cruise and get a verandah.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by KatMark

So glad you got some "alone" time in the hot tub and some "good" drinks to enjoy while doing so.

It was really a lovely afternoon/early evening!

Originally Posted by KatMark

I love the boys pillowcases...those are great.

Glad the boys enjoyed the show.

I was happy they liked the pillowcases. I was a little worried Evan would think he was too old for them but he loved it too! I am sad we missed the show but think we did the right thing, for us. Unfortunately that show isn't on the Dream but there are other new ones to see. I am going to make sure we see all the shows on the Dream.

Originally Posted by KatMark

And the sunset pictures...and the alone time...are perfect.

Thanks! It really was.

Originally Posted by glennbo123

What a nice evening. You may have gotten carried away with the sunset photos, but you sure got some nice shots!

It was a lovely evening! And believe me...I took more than I posted. It was funny, I expected some alone time (Palo of course) but not as much as we ended up with. In some ways we had different vacations, the kids had one with us, without us and so did we. It really was incredible and I don't think I'd have had the same comfort "freeing" the kids like that anywhere else and as a result, wouldn't have relaxed the way we did.

Originally Posted by englishrose47

Both of you eveing plans sound great !! The Hot Tub sounds devine !!! Great last day so far!!

We all had a great early evening!

Originally Posted by HermanTriplets+1

THANKS for the great TR!
I've been following along, well, more like lurking along!
Sort of sad to see it end, but what a romantic ending
I love that you found ways to have grown-up time, in addition to all the quality family time! We are doing NY-Canada this June and I just hope to have as great a time!

Thanks for de-lurking

It was a romantic evening and even more so because it was so unexpected. I'd hoped for some adult alone time, it's why we chose DCL in the first place but we did end up with more than expected, quite a bit more and well...it was pretty magical! We had amazing family time too, I really couldn't have asked for more on every level. NY Canada will be so cool, I can't wait to read a TR about it! Jeff has no interest in that one...I tried! I think we are all ready for something warm this summer though since we didn't really have it last.

I'm not quite done yet though!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by Chilly

May 21st out of Vancouver, into Seattle, same as you I think.

The 2011 sailings were all in and out of Vancouver. May will be a bit colder in AK but Seattle and Alaska could be lovely. It really varies but we can have some stunner days around that time of year in the low 70's. It's almost like a tease. May is often lovely, especially late May and then we get the June gloom! Nice that you have one of the Vancouver itineraries, I believe you get longer port times with that route versus the Seattle round trip one. I am happy to offer any help with Seattle stuff!

Originally Posted by DisSarahK

I started reading your trip report last night and got up early this morning (before getting the little ones ready for school) so I could finish it. Ahh, I loved it! I kept oohing and aahing over your pictures last night while my husband was trying to get work done--he kept feeling the need to put his computer down and come over and see what was so amazing. LOL! At first he thought I was doing it on purpose, but he quickly realized that the pictures really were that amazing!

Aw, thanks! and

Originally Posted by DisSarahK

We are from the greater Seattle are too (a ferry ride away) so it was great to get a PNW-er's perspective on the cruise experience. I think you've given us the final nudge we needed to take this Alaska cruise and get a verandah.

I hear you there, I wasn't sure what we'd think, given we live "locally" but it truly was amazing. I can't imagine it without the verandah. It was worth every penny to us.

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

The 2011 sailings were all in and out of Vancouver. May will be a bit colder in AK but Seattle and Alaska could be lovely. It really varies but we can have some stunner days around that time of year in the low 70's. It's almost like a tease. May is often lovely, especially late May and then we get the June gloom! Nice that you have one of the Vancouver itineraries, I believe you get longer port times with that route versus the Seattle round trip one. I am happy to offer any help with Seattle stuff!

Yes we are excited to see both Vancouver and Seattle, and we are tagging San Diego on as well.

No hotels booked yet. Thinking of the Westin for Seattle, we'll only be there for 2 nights.

[jeremysdisneymom]

Wow, what a great end to a wonderful day. It seemed like a very relaxing enjoyable time.

Love your pictures of the sunset.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by Chilly

Yes we are excited to see both Vancouver and Seattle, and we are tagging San Diego on as well.

No hotels booked yet. Thinking of the Westin for Seattle, we'll only be there for 2 nights.

The Westin is ok and is fairly centrally located but there are places I prefer that are more on the boutique side and often not any more $$ (sometimes less!) but have a ton more personality, better service, nicer rooms and closer to some of the cooler places to eat. I can give you some names if you'd like. We try to do an overnight date night 1-2x a year and as a result have stayed in many of the downtown locations.

San Diego is a lot of fun. If you can afford the Del I'd go for it but the Glorietta Bay Inn is across the street from it so you can get a darling inn and the same beach access...with out the Del prices.

Where are you staying in Vancouver? I know they have a deal with the Pan Pacific at the terminal. Nice hotel but not really close to the main shopping. The Fairmont on Georgia is lovely.

Originally Posted by jeremysdisneymom

Wow, what a great end to a wonderful day. It seemed like a very relaxing enjoyable time.

Love your pictures of the sunset.

The day isn't over yet! It was a wonderful and relaxing afternoon/early evening, couldn't have asked for more.

[Mndisneygirl]

You know what I love about your trip? That you guys took time to just relax and enjoy yourselves. It was a real vacation!! And you still got to "do" lots of stuff, the kids had fun...Just wonderful!

Your pictures have been all so beautiful too! I'm really anxious for them to release 2013 itineraries. We're considering it for that summer, but we may have to go with a different cruise line due to cost because I told DH I want a balcony! He claims it will be too cold to use it, but I'm showing him this TR! So thanks!

My kids love their pillowcases too. DH was thinking about new ones for the London/Paris trip. It's getting a little close now. I'm not sure I want to drag them around to get autographs. The cruise way is just so simple!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

You know what I love about your trip? That you guys took time to just relax and enjoy yourselves. It was a real vacation!! And you still got to "do" lots of stuff, the kids had fun...Just wonderful!

Thanks! That is always the goal on anyone's vacation I think and yet it can be hard to pull off. I think we've both learned the hard way that it's really critical to make time for the couple, as well as the family. I confess we ended up with more of it than I'd expected but I'm not complaining! It was a wonderful trip.

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

Your pictures have been all so beautiful too! I'm really anxious for them to release 2013 itineraries. We're considering it for that summer, but we may have to go with a different cruise line due to cost because I told DH I want a balcony! He claims it will be too cold to use it, but I'm showing him this TR! So thanks!

My TA felt the same and kind of tried to talk me out of the verandah. We are lanai/patio/deck/balcony people on vacation. It is a big big deal to us and has become part of our routine, more so Jeff and I than the kids. That said, we are from the NW so knew the cold wouldn't bother us and we'd have the proper clothing for it. We couldn't consider booking the next one without it to be honest...which did limit our choices. DCL is definitely not the bargain line to be sure. It's a bummer they've had to wait on the 2013 release. I understand why, the timing was lousy but...any day now would be good!

Originally Posted by Mndisneygirl

My kids love their pillowcases too. DH was thinking about new ones for the London/Paris trip. It's getting a little close now. I'm not sure I want to drag them around to get autographs. The cruise way is just so simple!

I agree, dragging them around might be hard unless the kids really wanted to and were into it. Although they don't take up much space! I am thinking of doing a photo mat as well on the next cruise, it's a neat idea.

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

The Westin is ok and is fairly centrally located but there are places I prefer that are more on the boutique side and often not any more $$ (sometimes less!) but have a ton more personality, better service, nicer rooms and closer to some of the cooler places to eat. I can give you some names if you'd like. We try to do an overnight date night 1-2x a year and as a result have stayed in many of the downtown locations.

San Diego is a lot of fun. If you can afford the Del I'd go for it but the Glorietta Bay Inn is across the street from it so you can get a darling inn and the same beach access...with out the Del prices.

Where are you staying in Vancouver? I know they have a deal with the Pan Pacific at the terminal. Nice hotel but not really close to the main shopping. The Fairmont on Georgia is lovely.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Sadly Del is not in our price range, so want to stay there though.

Was thinking of maybe near Stanley Park for Vancouver but nothing is decided yet.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by Chilly

Any help greatly appreciated!

Sadly Del is not in our price range, so want to stay there though.

Was thinking of maybe near Stanley Park for Vancouver but nothing is decided yet.

There really isn't anything "near" Stanley park as far as I know, but the Robson area and even the waterfront aren't horribly far and the public transportation options (and cabs) are pretty good.

For San Diego, check out Glorietta Bay Inn we had a lovely 4 night long weekend there a couple of years ago. I have pictures if you'd like. It is across the street from the Del. The prices at the Del are insane.

In Seattle, my favorites (in price order lol)are

The Alexis
The Monaco
The Edgewater
Inn at the Market

We were just at the Alexis before Christmas for an anniversary getaway and got an amazing upgrade, it was just wonderful all around. I have pictures of our EMP corner suite, it was crazy! The first 2 are Kimpton Hotels and if you sign up for the membership with the chain, you'll get extra treats like possible upgrades!


I've heard great things about the arctic room but haven't stayed there myself.

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

We had zero issues with power but I know a ton of people that lost it, some that got it back today and some are still out. The ice on Thursday really did a lot of folks in. I did telecommute about half of the week. The kids all had monday off anyway for MLK day. On Tuesday they called a 2 hour delay and then literally at the time they should be getting on the bus, cancelled school. It was really annoying, they should have called it at least an hour earlier than they did. They did miss the entire week. Luckily for us they only end up with one extra day at the end of the year so as long as there are no more snow days it isn't a huge impact.

What's this about having to make up days because of snow, I've never heard of that before. I know in Toronto if we missed school because of snow the conditions had to be really bad and even then they didn't add days to the school year. Although the last time we had snow days where schools got closed here was in 1999, when are mayor called in the army by accident.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by EastYorkDisneyFan

What's this about having to make up days because of snow, I've never heard of that before. I know in Toronto if we missed school because of snow the conditions had to be really bad and even then they didn't add days to the school year. Although the last time we had snow days where schools got closed here was in 1999, when are mayor called in the army by accident.

LOL! It doesn't snow that much here and as a result, between lots of hills, a climate that produces wicked black ice, only so many snowplows, the fact that we only sand (salt is very bad for the watershed aka salmon) and the high winds knocking down trees and taking out lots of power lines, the area can get rather paralyzed when we have a major storm.

It is usually the ice, or power outage that causes school closures, the buses simply can't make it over the hills and schools can't be open without power

As a result, pretty much the entire area was closed school wise for all of last week. Monday was a holiday anyway. They have make up day plans to accommodate that. In the E's school district it means no more in service days for the rest of the year for the teachers, plus one more day at the end. If we end up with any more snow days, it will go later than that. Right now we are at 6/25. K's school has a different policy so I have to check what happened with her days but it's likely about the same. One year we went almost until the 4th of July! We had something crazy like almost 2 full weeks of snow days and a lot of it was power outages.

Some homes are still without power and there was definitely still some black ice this morning which caught folks off guard thinking most of the melting was done.

It's funny though, I lived in Chicago for 10 years and there...no black ice, it's flat and they plow and salt the heck out of everything. I don't ever recall school being closed!

[MAGICFOR2]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

LOL! He was working from home all week but with the internet down, he couldn't so had to go somewhere that did have it. This was on Thursday which was probably the worst road day and his car just isn't equipped for it so I dropped him off at a cool location that is a bookstore/food court/coffee shop as it gave him more options than being stuck at Starbucks all day. If he doesn't go in early to the office, he has to park a bazillion miles away so it can be far more efficient for him to telecommute.

Jeff actually working AT a coffee shop? I would pity anyone trying to get a coffee. He would never have the patience for it. He was there for a good 7 hours though, bleh. Thankfully when we got home it was back on and we never lost power.

It rained a lot here and has melted most of it but there is a fiar amount of standing water. On Friday I swear there was 3 inches int he parking lot at work, ick. Raining now.

I'm ready for the sun too....though I don't see any in my near future.

YAY for Hawaii! Poor Jim, having to work though

I didn't think Jeff was EMPLOYED at a coffee shop!

I meant trying to get work done with the small tables, distractions, etc.

Sounds like you hooked him up with a better location

[MAGICFOR2]

Beautiful sunset pics! One thing about those - once you start snapping, you can't stop because each moment is better than the last.

Nice relaxed shots of Jeff, too - wonderful background scenery!

So how does Jeff feel about cruising now - would he do another itinerary?