July 26, 2011 – 7 Night Alaska ~ Bears, Whales, Eagles and Ducks. Oh My!

[MrsMork]

Nice, Brack!!

Happy New Year!!

And a very happy birthday to Annette!!

 

[pjpoohbear]

Happy New Years! You are going on an Alaskan cruise with Mickey and Friends this year!!!!!

PJ

 

[sherjoy]

Welcome, I know that many on this thread love the planning as much as the vacation and are always willing to help with questions.

On the dinning rotation, just have your TA or call DCL (if booked directly with DCL) after everyone in your group has booked excursions and ask that your group's cabins be linked for dinning. They will need all the reservation numbers and possibly the lead name on each as well.

Check out the website linked to in the first post, I will be putting any information on the alaska cruises that catches my eye in the news section. And if you have questions on any of the news posts, please send a comment and I will attempt to help out.

PJ

Thank you for the warm welcome and the tip on dining rotations. I'll make sure to tell hubby after everyone has booked.

I have already been peeking at the great links at the beginning of the post. Used the tip on flying to Seattle and taking the train. Flights to Canada were pretty expensive for my family of four.

I guess I haven't posted enough to PM for Roll call. We will be a family of four- me 40 at time of cruise, dh, ds 10 at cruise time and dd 7 + inlaws and friends if they can get eveything situated I think all total will be 10.

 

[sherjoy]

Nice, Brack!!

Happy New Year!!

And a very happy birthday to Annette!!

Happy New Year! Can't wait; disney cruise made this year great

 

[brack]

Nice, Brack!!

Happy New Year!!

And a very happy birthday to Annette!!

Thanks! Happy New Year to you as well.

 

[MrsMork]

What did you do to celebrate the birthday?

 

[MrsMork]

Has anyone had a chance to look at the excursions? Yikes..... $200 to $600 per person for the ones I took a quick peek at. I may have to put DrHug back to work to pay for them.

 

[MrsMork]

We are hoping to get a windfall soon....well, enough to book DGS Aaron with us anyway. That means to take 2 excursions for the 3 of us we will need a couple THOUSAND!!! Well, once...we will only do this once so I guess we should just suck it up and enjoy.

 

[Jhalkias]

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have been MIA - too much work and too much holidays!

Right now we are trying to focus on our 2-13 Dream Cruise - it has been almost 3 years since our last cruise, so we are in serious withdrawal.

Will try to spend more time as time allows!

 

[pjpoohbear]

John, what category are you sailing in? Send pictures and your highlights when you get back.

Pj

 

[Bella2000]

Yikes I was just looking at calendars and realizing I need to get to planning or figuring out what we are doing. I still haven't determined where we are staying, or flying in but I think I am still looking at Vancouver vs stateside and ferry or bus option. I just haven't determined airlines or availability (and cost but its Vancouver all more expensive unfortunately).

I am excited for your upcoming trip John. I'll live vicariously through you. I wish we could stowaway in your luggage on your trip but such is life we can't.

I hope everyone is well and has a Happy New Year!

 

[MrsMork]

For excursions I think we will look at Mendenhall Glacier by helicopter out of Juneau, White Pass Railway out of Skagway - we may do this on our own rather than thru DCL- and then just do Ketchikan exploring on our own. It looks like Ketchikan has a street trolley that we could use. Is anyone else looking yet at what they might be planning?

 

[plutojudy]

So far the only thing we have decided on is the White Pass Railway from Skagway. This weekend we are going to start looking at the other ports. We think we have decided to fly in and out of Vancouver and arrive on Saturday or Sunday to tour Vancouver before the cruise and return home the day we get off the ship. Still many decisions to be made. Looking forward to cruising with you again!

 

[MrsMork]

You too, Judy! We are pretty sure we will be driving over, just not sure if we will be in the RV or in the car. We have friends from here in Missoula that have decided to sail with us. A very nice couple. He loves Mickey Mouse and I cannot wait to see him interact with the REAL Mickey. He has not even been to DL or WDW. Converting one friend at a time.

 

[pjpoohbear]

The White Pass was a must for me, sigh.... I really wanted to see the immigration guy/gals face when they saw my passport go in and out of Canada 5+ times in one week, lol, and from one side of the country to the other.

Pj

 

[MrsMork]

PJ, had you looked at booking the railway on your own, or booking thru DCL? It looks like it just leaves once a day, so either way should get us back in time......I think. I always worry about missing the boat if we go off on our own.

 

[Jhalkias]

John, what category are you sailing in? Send pictures and your highlights when you get back.

Pj

We are in a Cat 7 Navigator Verandah at the back of the ship. You can bet there will be lots and lots of photos taken.

Yikes I was just looking at calendars and realizing I need to get to planning or figuring out what we are doing. I still haven't determined where we are staying, or flying in but I think I am still looking at Vancouver vs stateside and ferry or bus option. I just haven't determined airlines or availability (and cost but its Vancouver all more expensive unfortunately).

I am excited for your upcoming trip John. I'll live vicariously through you. I wish we could stowaway in your luggage on your trip but such is life we can't.

I hope everyone is well and has a Happy New Year!

Right now I am focusing on the February cruise. We can't wait to see the Dream.

I am a bit stressed on planning transportation for the Alaska cruise - lots of decisions to make, and I too worry about missing the ship, the train, or whatever. This is like a planes, trains, automobiles, and ships vacation!

 

[pjpoohbear]

PJ, had you looked at booking the railway on your own, or booking thru DCL? It looks like it just leaves once a day, so either way should get us back in time......I think. I always worry about missing the boat if we go off on our own.

I was planning on DCL, since I had crazy OBC, for a single person, for this cruise (DCL and DU), .

Website, http://wpyr.com/frasermeadows.html
All ashore in Skagway is 7:15am, so the 12:00n tour that DCL is doing would give time to explore the town before the tour. It is a four hour round trip and the boat leaves at 7:30 pm, allowing almost 3.5 hrs to get back to the ship.


DCL $214/105 (inc. commemorative ornament & glass of champagne/cider)
Direct $155/$75 (inc. bottle of water)

a note on Cruise passengers
"For passengers arriving via cruise ship, this tour is available from your ship's Shore Excursion Department. By booking through the cruise line, you will be able to take advantage of the dockside service and board the train on the pier alongside your ship. Contact your cruise line's Shore Excursion Department for more details." There appears to be a trunk line that goes right to the cruise dock.

 

[MrsMork]

I am a bit stressed on planning transportation for the Alaska cruise - lots of decisions to make, and I too worry about missing the ship, the train, or whatever. This is like a planes, trains, automobiles, and ships vacation!

We had that stress getting to Barcelona for the TA. Drove to Spokane, WA (you cannot get there from Missoula and if you could it would be 3 times as much money as from Spokane!), then flew to Ft Lauderdale (that is where Southwest flies to from Spokane), spent one night there, drove to Miami, spent one night there and then finally flew to Barcelona via Zurich on Swiss Air. The good thing was that both SW and Swiss Air allowed us two checked bags each. A rarity these days. It was an adventure, but in the end so very worth it!!

This trip we are looking at driving to probably Bellingham, WA and then taking the train to Vancouver. We would want to get there the day before the cruise, then in reverse on the way home, spending one night in WA somewhere both going and coming.

 

[Bella2000]

Grrr to the Disney Website this week - so frustrating. Of course I can't make heads or tails of the changes. Didn't there used to be a place you could save your itinerary items in advance by pressing a heart or something. I can see a saved item from 2 years ago I have but I can't see with the new format how you do it now - or don't you or is it controlled by time frame. So confused...