June 7, 2011 Alaska

[Tahitian Traveler]

Good morning fellow cruisers! Has anyone been afforded the opportunity to book their excursions yet? I was wondering about which ones were full and what time some of the signature excursions are scheduled for.

 

[lenzs4]

I can't book until Tuesday but I do not think anything will book up - the cruises are offering kids sail free because it is not as full as they hoped (at least that is my thinking)...I am booking a helicopter and a zip excursion but I can not tell what the differences are between all the versions offered and I can't tell which would be better for my family!

Anyone that has helicoptered to the glacier - would you think 20 minutes walking around or an hour is better?
6, 8, or 11 zips... I do not know what to book!

 

[jarudinski]

I can't book until Tuesday but I do not think anything will book up - the cruises are offering kids sail free because it is not as full as they hoped (at least that is my thinking)...I am booking a helicopter and a zip excursion but I can not tell what the differences are between all the versions offered and I can't tell which would be better for my family!

Anyone that has helicoptered to the glacier - would you think 20 minutes walking around or an hour is better?
6, 8, or 11 zips... I do not know what to book!

We were thinking of doing the Mammoth Waterfalls and zipline excursion, but this zipline adventure is new and does not open until May 6, 2011 so I can not find too much info on it. In the end we decided we will most likely do the Musher camp and sled dog trip this day and do the ziplining in Ketchikan.

I am leaning towards the Bear Creek Zipline Adventure because of the Rappeling and Mountain Slide. There are pictures and more information on the tour operators website .. http://alaskacanopy.com/

Julie

 

[lenzs4]

We were thinking of doing the Mammoth Waterfalls and zipline excursion, but this zipline adventure is new and does not open until May 6, 2011 so I can not find too much info on it. In the end we decided we will most likely do the Musher camp and sled dog trip this day and do the ziplining in Ketchikan.

I am leaning towards the Bear Creek Zipline Adventure because of the Rappeling and Mountain Slide. There are pictures and more information on the tour operators website .. http://alaskacanopy.com/

Julie

Mammoth is the one I currently have as our top choice - but like you, I worry since there are no reviews yet!! I had eliminated bear creek due to one review I read that said it is the beginner course and once there they were sorry they had not booked the Rainforest course offered there since it was the larger and to them, better course. So I have the other course that Alaskacanopy offers as my second choice after mommoth!
So many things to think about!! AAHHH

 

[jarudinski]

Mammoth is the one I currently have as our top choice - but like you, I worry since there are no reviews yet!! I had eliminated bear creek due to one review I read that said it is the beginner course and once there they were sorry they had not booked the Rainforest course offered there since it was the larger and to them, better course. So I have the other course that Alaskacanopy offers as my second choice after mommoth!
So many things to think about!! AAHHH

It is so difficult because there are so many choices. While I personally would prefer the more advanced course, it will be my DDs (12) first ziplining experience, so I thought the easier course might be better for her.

 

[jarudinski]

It is so difficult because there are so many choices. While I personally would prefer the more advanced course, it will be my DDs (12) first ziplining experience, so I thought the easier course might be better for her.

I just read the fine print there are different height & weight requirements for each ziplining excursion as well. So while my DD meets the age requirements, she does not meet the height/weight requirements for the Rain Forest Canopy and Zipline Adventure. So that just locks us into my original thought of the Bear Creek excursion. She weighs 71 lbs and the minimum for the Bear Creek is 70 lbs. It is close now, but I am hoping she will "Fatten" up a little bit between now and then

 

[Tahitian Traveler]

Good Morning Everyone

 

[lenzs4]

I just read the fine print there are different height & weight requirements for each ziplining excursion as well. So while my DD meets the age requirements, she does not meet the height/weight requirements for the Rain Forest Canopy and Zipline Adventure. So that just locks us into my original thought of the Bear Creek excursion. She weighs 71 lbs and the minimum for the Bear Creek is 70 lbs. It is close now, but I am hoping she will "Fatten" up a little bit between now and then

Just toss some weights in her pocket!!!

Seriously - I better check my daughters weight and the requirements for our zip excursion! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Evette]

I booked the night before the cruise (June 6) at the Pan Pacific Hotel (at Canada Place) on Hotwire.com. I thought I got a good deal and I'm very happy with the location. Is anyone else staying there? We are flying into Seattle the night of June 5th and then taking the Quick Shuttle up to Vancouver on June 6th. I'm excited to be able to do online check-in, book excursions and hopefully a Palo Brunch on Wednesday March 9th. I'll be online right at 11:00pm Central Time Tuesday night!! What excursions have you decided on? Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

Hi Everyone!! I haven't checked in for a VERY long time, but we are still on this cruise. So glad to see all the new DISers on this cruise!

We actually have added my father and niece, so now we have:
Me, DH, DD-16, DS-13, Niece-18 and father. We're in two SPH cabins 5522 & 5524.

We are getting to Vancouver a couple of days early and we're also staying at the Pan Pacific. Love the convenience of just going downstairs and getting on the ship! Post-cruise, we're heading to the Seattle area for several days.

I was able to book our Palo ressies last week both Brunch and Dinner. But we haven't decided on any DCL excursions yet. Wid book a private whale watching trip with Rum Runner in Juneau. Since we have 6 people we were able to get the ship to ourselves an it was actually less expensive than the DCL excursion.

Good luck to everyone booking activities next week!!

 

[khristy68]

We've been signed up for the June 7th sailing since March 2010 and we can't wait to get on board. I love these boards and all their helpful hints. We've never been on an Alaskan cruise before and I think we're going to sign up for several of the "general" tours - Best of Juneau, White Pass train and gold camp visit in Skagway, and, of course, the campy Lumberjack show in Ketchikan. We're also debating a short helicopter tour. It's hard to decide though, there are just too many choices. There are 7 of us going (including our 12 year old) and getting everyone to agree has been difficult.

Has anyone seen any door magnets that have been mnade for the Alaskan cruises? We outfitted our doors on our latest Caribbean cruise and loved it.

Khristy
_______________________________________
WDW Opening Weekend, WDW and DL veteran, DCL 7 day Eastern Caribbean 2010, DCL 4 day Bahama 2003

 

[Dayub]

I have not been on here for awhile either. We are still booked on the cruise and our cabin is 2106. We would like to participate in the Fish extender game also, so if Pixie can update the post with the list of people, that would be great. Thanks

 

[pixie3]

I booked the night before the cruise (June 6) at the Pan Pacific Hotel

What excursions have you decided on? Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Hello. I haven't booked a hotel or air as of yet. I've been busy booking our spring break trip. I think I'm going to look into the Pan Pacific Hotel. I think we are coming in the day before and we are going to stay for two days after.

I booked a helicopter/dog mush tour in Juneau and the White Mountain Pass Train with kid activities in Skagway.

Hi Everyone!! I haven't checked in for a VERY long time, but we are still on this cruise. So glad to see all the new DISers on this cruise!

We actually have added my father and niece, so now we have:
Me, DH, DD-16, DS-13, Niece-18 and father. We're in two SPH cabins 5522 & 5524.

I fixed your info on the front page.

We've been signed up for the June 7th sailing since March 2010 and we can't wait to get on board.

Hello! Welcome aboard. If you give me your names (and ages if you wish) of the people in your cruise group, I'll add you to the list on page one. Also, let me know if you would like to play the fish extender game.

I have not been on here for awhile either. We are still booked on the cruise and our cabin is 2106. We would like to participate in the Fish extender game also, so if Pixie can update the post with the list of people, that would be great. Thanks

I fixed your information on page one.

 

[Prose]

Hello, everyone! We are on the June 7 cruise, too...we're SOO excited! It will be me, DH (Larry) and DD (Hannah, age 11). Not sure if we'll be doing the fish extender this time around or not, but we're in #6634.

I am wondering what excursions everyone's booking/booked? Has anyone already booked Palo? We book as of midnight, and amazingly, DH is ok with staying up to book them online at 12:01. Hopefully I'll be back here tomorrow with good news!

Oh, and we'll be celebrating DH's birthday on the cruise...and we'll also be celebrating me being a year out of chemo and kicking cancer's booty....

*Tink, it's great to hear another survivor will be on the cruise! Feel free to PM me with any questions about chemo.

 

[khristy68]

Sorry I left out my important people. There is me Khristy, DH Mike, DD AllyKay (Celebrating her 12th Birthday), my Awesome Parents (AP) Larry and Sharon and my terrific brother and his girlfriend John and Debbie. My DH and I are the cruise directors for my little band of misfits, but we love researching travel information. I think my stateroom is 6131 and I a bit intemidated by the FE, so let me think on that.
Im so excited about this cruise!
Khristy

 

[Evette]

Hello, everyone! We are on the June 7 cruise, too...we're SOO excited! It will be me, DH (Larry) and DD (Hannah, age 11). Not sure if we'll be doing the fish extender this time around or not, but we're in #6634.

I am wondering what excursions everyone's booking/booked? Has anyone already booked Palo? We book as of midnight, and amazingly, DH is ok with staying up to book them online at 12:01. Hopefully I'll be back here tomorrow with good news!

Oh, and we'll be celebrating DH's birthday on the cruise...and we'll also be celebrating me being a year out of chemo and kicking cancer's booty....

*Tink, it's great to hear another survivor will be on the cruise! Feel free to PM me with any questions about chemo.

I will be booking our excursions and hopefully a Palo Brunch tonight at 11:01 Central Time too!! We are doing the White Pass Scenic Railway in Skagway, Mendenhall Glacier & Whale Quest in Juneau and hopefully will also have time to do the Mount Roberts Tramway there too. In Ketchikan we will do the Saxman Native Village & Exclusive Lumberjack Show. My DD is 24 but has Down Syndrome and mobility issues so we aren't very adventurous as far as excursions go.

We will be celebrating our 30th Anniversary (June 6) on the cruise. Congrats on kicking cancers booty!! DD had Leukemia when she was 10 years old and we are so thankful everyday for her beating cancer.

I hope everyone is able to book the excursions and other activities that they want....I'll let you know tomorrow how I did.

 

[*tinker*bell*]

I haven't posted in a while, we can't book our excursion till almost the end of the month but my grandma and I are only planning on doing one anyways, the Liarsville Gold Rush Trail Camp and Salmon Bake w/ a character I'm excited for it, otherwise my grandma knows her way around the cities pretty well so we shall wander around some

For everyone staying at the Pan Pacific, it is a very nice hotel and very convenient, super close to transit and right downtown, if you have any questions about Vancouver I would be happy to answer them I do LOVE my city!

 

[Prose]

So I can't believe it, but DH and I actually did set the alarm for 11:50pm, woke up, booked our excursions, and fell back into bed. We got the Bering Sea Crab boat excursion in Ketchikan, The Enchanted Taku Lodge Flightseeing and Feast in Juneau, the White Pass Railway and Trail Camp in Skagway, and of course Palo brunch on DH's birthday!

For those who can't book yet, there were definitely openings for Palo brunch...you have your choice of day two, day three (Tracy Arm), and day seven, and it looked like there were at least three seatings open for each.

 

[ldconley]

So I can't believe it, but DH and I actually did set the alarm for 11:50pm, woke up, booked our excursions, and fell back into bed. We got the Bering Sea Crab boat excursion in Ketchikan, The Enchanted Taku Lodge Flightseeing and Feast in Juneau, the White Pass Railway and Trail Camp in Skagway, and of course Palo brunch on DH's birthday!

For those who can't book yet, there were definitely openings for Palo brunch...you have your choice of day two, day three (Tracy Arm), and day seven, and it looked like there were at least three seatings open for each.

Glad you were able to get what you wanted. I did not start trying until this morning, but so far I am not having any luck getting into the system. I keep getting one of two pages. The first is the Please Wait page that never goes away. The second is Page Not Found. I have used the online system for our two other DCL cruises with no problems, so I don't think it is me. This is not a lot of fun. Hopefully I get through soon. I had read some other posts about people having problems with the system lately and that they deleted cookies and all that kind of stuff. I have tried all that, on two different computers, but it is still not working. Guess I will jut have to be patient...not something I am very good at.

 

[chernabogfamily]

Hi everyone. I have been away from here for a few weeks (life got in the way of my vacation and Disney planning ). As soon as I started booking my excursions last night, our GTY room assignment showed up.
We are in room #2510. Not all that excited about being that far forward on the ship and down on lower deck, but who knows---I may love the room and location!

We booked our excursions and reservations last night. I overdid it, and since the hubby is away he didn't get to make any choices. So as soon as he is home, we will go thru all of them and could possibly cancel at least 1 thing (the Palo Brunch). We liked it last time, but we LOVE the chocolate souffle they have at dinner more. Tough decisions!

Anyone else doing the same excursions as us? Here's a rundown:

Juneau- Exclusive Whale Encounter and Glacier (my kids are cuckoo over whales); I also thru the Mt Roberts Tramway on there. Let's hope we have time.
Ketchikan- the Disney Exclusive Great Alaskan Lumberjack show only had the 4:30-6:30 pm slot left, whiich would end up being right in the middle of our dining seating and also right before the ship leaves port. Too much stress for me. So, we just booked the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show for earlier in the afternoon.
Skagway- Liarsville Gold Rush/Salmon Bake Disney Exclusive. **** someone else was interested in this excursion- there were a couple of times available still for it, so you should be able to book it no problem.

Only a couple of excursions were unavailable (glacier trek, glacier dog mushing, jeep tour). So everything is still pretty open.

Palo was also open for High Tea/Brunch/and Dinner everyday it was offered still. I'm excited to do High Tea on our 1st sea day. I have never done that one, but my husband and I do enjoy high tea.

Enough talking about myself and our family cruise plans. What's everyone else doing??