The Wonder to Alaska - June 14 - 21, 2011 (from start to finish - 7/17/2011)

[nzdisneymom]

Trip Report
Disney Cruise Line – Wonder – June 14 – 21, 2011
Alaskan voyage: Vancouver, Tracy Arm, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, return to Vancouver

Cast:
Cindy D. (me – 47), Gary (DH – 55), Nathan (DS-turned 15 onboard), Zachary (DS – 13 1/2) from north Florida. 6th DCL cruise, 2nd on the Wonder
Stateroom: 6116

PreCruise:
We booked air, hotel, and transfers all through DCL, arriving on Saturday before sailing on Tuesday, and returning home on debarkation day. DCL booked our flights on American Airlines with a 6:35 a.m. departure and a return at the end of the cruise arriving at midnight. We flew from Atlanta and connected through Dallas-Ft. Worth. Investigation let us to see that had we left Vancouver the day after debarkation, DCL would’ve put us on non-stop Delta flights with a later departure and earlier arrival on either end of the cruise. Lesson learned? DCL won’t book you on a return flight prior to noon if there is one that leaves later that will get you home that same day. Delta didn’t have a flight that left after noon – the latest was around11 a.m. (although maybe it was 10:30).

Saturday, June 11th

We stayed at the Atlanta Airport Marriott and used a Park and Fly rate, so we took the shuttle over to the airport at 3:30 a.m. as we wanted to be sure to not have a jam-up with the 4 a.m. shuttle. While we arrived prior to the ticket counter opening (at 4:30 a.m.), we were not the first passengers there AND we arrived prior to the large group that we would’ve ended up behind that were going to take a long time for the single agent to process through. So the early arrival let us get through check-in without worry of delay by passengers in front of us. The TSA Security line didn’t open until 5 a.m. so we had to wait about 5 minutes for that after we had checked-in and got our bags collected. (FWIW, we did online check-in the day before so we mostly just had to get our bags checked and pay for them. The first family to go through the line was a party of 6 with about a dozen bags – it took the agent 20 minutes to get them through – we were done in less than 3). We were happy with American as an airline.

Our gate was right as you exit from TSA so that was convenient. There was a Burger King right there, too, so we were able to get some breakfast before boarding. Flight to DFW was uneventful and we had plenty of time in DFW before our connection. While we didn’t like having to have such an early flight, we were happy with DCL giving us plenty of time for connections both going and coming. Flight from DFW to Vancouver was also uneventful as all flights should be. I think each of us dozed for a while on each leg of the trip.

We arrived in Vancouver about 20 minutes early. The airport at Vancouver for international arrivals is super easy – just follow the path and you’ll get to the Canadian Border Patrol station where you queue up and go through with your passports. (They give you a form on the plane – one per family up to four people, and whatever you do, don’t fold the form). The CBP stamps your passport and sends you on to baggage claim. Our bags were pretty quick off the carousel and then we went towards ground transportation where we saw a lady with a DCL sign. She checked us off and took us out to meet the shuttle that was to take us to the hotel.

That’s where we hit a bit of a snag because when the shuttle arrived, they could only take 9 people – we were numbers 6-10, so we didn’t want to break us up. The shuttle driver said another shuttle would be there in 30 minutes so we decided to just wait and know that if it didn’t work out, we’d get the DCL lady to help us. Besides, it was an absolutely beautiful day and there was free wi-fi at the airport! Half an hour passed and no shuttle. The DCL lady came out and was surprised to see us still there – we explained what happened and she made arrangements for a town-car to take us to the hotel.

We stayed at the Fairmont Pacific Hotel which is relatively new. It’s very modern and airy when you enter the lobby – it’s also loud and echoy. We were greeted and directed to the check-in desk. Our room was ready and the lady took us to the elevator giving us a quick overview of the hotel on the way. Our room was a city-view on the 9th floor. Let me tell you, the hotel was very nice – the beds were super comfortable and the room was spacious, so we were happy about that since we knew we were about to spend a week in a cabin together that cannot be described as spacious 

Vancouver:
We were in Vancouver from mid-day Saturday through cruise boarding on Tuesday. We had done some research ahead of time and knew we wanted to get cupcakes from Cupcakes (we’d been watching Cupcake Girls on WE-TV), take a city tour by trolley or bus, and just hang out. The nearest Cupcakes shop was on Thurlow, about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. There is an Old Spaghetti Factory in GasTown – which is the opposite direction. We had planned to eat at the Spaghetti Factory the first day as we knew each of us would find something to eat there, but while we were in the Atlanta airport that morning, I had been reading through the Vancouver visitor’s guide we had received in the mail and noticed there was a Red Robin on Robson which was in the same direction as the Cupcakes shop, so we decided we would do that on Saturday and then get to the Spaghetti Factory on Sunday as the trolley tour we thought we would do actually stopped right by it. As a side note, I spent some time on Google Maps “walking” the area around our hotel to get a sense of what was nearby. This proved to be a good use of my time as I felt comfortable in recognizing the sites and buildings and had a better sense of direction and how far things were on foot.

Our most immediate need was to find an ATM machine so we could get Canadian currency. I had opted to just use the ATM and debit card for purchases for our days in Canada rather than exchanging money ahead of time or carrying so much US currency. I had alerted the bank that we would be gone and told them where and when so we wouldn’t have any problems or surprises once we got to Canada. As it turned out, my ATM card would not work in Canada – and being the weekend, I couldn’t reach anyone at our local bank until Monday. According to them, Canada is a “restricted” country and my ATM / Debit card would not work there. It was apparently a relatively new policy and I told them that I was not happy about it as I had specifically told them I was going to Canada and asked about using my ATM card. Now that we’re home, I’m getting the credit card statement from the few times I used my credit card and will be submitting a request to my bank to reimburse me for the 3% fee that my credit card company will be charging me. Thankfully I had US cash and most places accepted it (they just give you change back in Canadian) and the exchange rate was close to even (the Canadian dollar being stronger) and my credit card didn’t have any trouble.

We found the Red Robin which shared an intersection with two Starbucks and was just across from the Cupcakes shop we wanted to go to. DH had eaten at Red Robin before but the boys and I had not, so it was a fun (and delicious) experience for us. It’s located on the corner of Robson and Thurlow. After we ate, we stopped in at Cupcakes and took them back to the hotel.

I talked to Concierge about finding a nearby market and also about finding the seabus and the cruise terminal. They gave me a map, marked the places I needed to go and offered other general information of the area, including brochures about the trolley / bus tours we wanted to do and where the Tourist Information center was right across the street from the hotel. DH and I left the boys in the room (yay for being old enough to do so reliably) and walked the few blocks to the Urban Fare market (much like our local Earth Fare for half the store but then they had the non-healthy foods in the back) to get some snacks and soda for the room. Vancouver is an easily walkable city – at least where we were – and it was such a lovely day that we were glad to be able to see a bit of the “local” life in the grocery store. In fact, I just read an article in Travel and Leisure magazine about how if you want to experience local life in a new city, just go to a supermarket. It was fun to see the familiar items and then those that are more regional. We found the nearby food court and walked out on the Promenade at Canada Place – there were two cruise ships in port so we enjoyed watching them as well as the float planes.

On Sunday we had breakfast at the food court and then got our two-days-for-the-price-of-one tickets for the Trolley. We took the Red Loop first which goes to Stanley Park. DH had gone for a run earlier in the morning and had gone all the way down to Stanley Park and back. There was a fundraiser walk that morning so our Trolley tour was delayed getting into Stanley Park, but once there, we saw what a beautiful area it is and why so many people were out to enjoy the day. We got off at the Totem Poles stop and were able to get the boys’ souvenir spoon and thimble they collect. We figured we had better get it there in case we didn’t find anywhere else to get them even though we knew we’d probably see a bazillion souvenir shops later. It was also a beautiful view back across the water towards Downtown Vancouver – we were able to see our hotel from there.

We got on the next trolley that came by and enjoyed the rest of the red loop before getting back to Canada Place for a rest. We also went to look at the Winter Olympics flame thing and the “lego” whale they have by the convention center. Again, it was a beautiful day and we were told that we were really lucky with the weather. During our rest break, I stopped into the café in the hotel lobby area to get a hot chocolate so I could use their free wi-fi. After leaving, my device didn’t drop the connection and I found that I was able to continue using it for the rest of our time in Vancouver. Best $5 I spent plus the hot chocolate was delicious and they made a heart with the milk so it was pretty, too.

Later in the afternoon, we took the blue loop on the trolley and ended up in GasTown where they were having a festival celebrating their steam fire engine they bring out once a year, so it was busy in Gas Town, but the restaurant wasn’t, so we got right in at the Old Spaghetti Factory. As it turned out, this is the original one – we didn’t know that, so that made sense that it would be a tourist stop on a trolley map. We enjoyed our lunch and then walked back towards the hotel, stopping to see the Steam Clock which DH declares to be the coolest thing he saw on our trip.

We had a DIS Board meet scheduled for Sunday night, so the boys and I went to the lobby to hang out. Turned out only one member was able to come but it was nice to get acquainted. This was really a pre-meet as we were hosting another on Monday evening and then the main DIS meet was going to be on the ship on Tuesday.

We had some local friends who were also sailing with us but they were staying somewhere different, so we had arranged to meet on Monday morning. It was raining but we went to Gastown in the rain – Vancouver has a lot of awnings so it wasn’t too bad, plus it wasn’t heavy rain – just enough to get your glasses wet. The Canucks were playing game 6 of the Stanley Cup that night, so the streets were already buzzing with excitement. Our friends wanted some lunch and as we walked by the Spaghetti Factory, they said something about it, so we agreed to eat there again – DH and I got something different while the boys had another plateful of spaghetti.

I have an online friend and her family who live in the Vancouver area and she had suggested we meet up at Lonsdale Quay which is a public market area just at the Seabus exit in North Vancouver. DH had pulled a muscle in his leg that morning on his run, and Nathan wasn’t feeling well (too much spaghetti perhaps?) so Zachary and I went with our friends over to meet my friend and her family. We separated when we got off the seabus so they could explore while we waited for my friend. There is a food court there and they had a Beaver Tail stand, so while my friend and her family had dinner, Zachary and I had dessert  How can you not have a beaver tail when you’re on vacation in Canada?

We took the seabus back to downtown and met DH for dinner at the food court and took something back for Nathan to the room. I repacked what needed to be repacked and then went to the DISBoards meet where we had a couple of families come by. It was really loud in the lobby because the Canucks game was on – it was a bit insane.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Tuesday, June 14th - Cruise Day

We had arranged for DCL to transport our luggage from the hotel across to the cruise terminal, so we had to have things ready by 10 a.m. We went out for breakfast and walked by Canada Place to see the Wonder waiting there! At breakfast, we saw several other families who would be on our cruise – one we had even met at the shuttle at the airport, and as it turned out, they were a DIS family, too. After breakfast, we finished packing and getting everything ready to go, and then waited for our bags to be collected. They were picked up at 10:15, which was still too early to head over to the cruise terminal. The DCL hospitality desk at the hotel had said they would be escorting people over around noon.

We walked over around 11 a.m. and went to the end of the promenade so we could get some pictures of the Wonder before heading into the terminal for check-in. When you face Canada Place from the street, the entrance is down below to the right and is well-marked. We saw other families pulling their luggage across the street so we were glad we had made arrangements for our luggage to be transported for us even though we only had three rolling bags plus each of us with a backpack or shoulder bag.

We went through port security and then through US Customs before getting to where we actually check in for the cruise. We had been told by the hospitality desk what to expect so we were prepared for it and had our documents out and ready at each stage. The whole process was very efficient. We went through the Castaway Club line although the regular line appeared to be a bit shorter, but the regular line counters were taking Castaway Club, too, so that kept both lines moving. Our friends had arrived before us and were boarding group #5. We got #13. Check-in was easy – they had our pictures from before so they didn’t have to redo our pictures, we got our lanyards (yay – we made GOLD this time!) and KTTW cards along with our navigator and other paperwork.

When it was time to board, our friends had us join their party (there are only two of them) as we needed to switch up some dining arrangements so we wanted to be together to do that. We got on board and the children immediately ran off to Plutos and the ice cream machine! The adults went to Parrot Cay for the Welcome Aboard buffet. This was our first time doing that in Parrot Cay – we’ve always gone up to Deck 9 so we could eat together but since the boys had skidaddled, there was no reason to go up. It’s nice, too, because they seat you so you don’t have to scramble with your food and daybag to find a place to eat – or have one person go “hold” a table with all the stuff and then they are stuck eating last.

We were delighted upon entering Parrot Cay to see Leo from India who was our server on the Baltic cruise we did last summer on the Magic. He remembered us and we discussed what his table assignment was so we could see if we could request being moved to his area. Our reservations were linked to our friends who wanted late dining but we had early dining which for this voyage was 5:45 p.m. or 8:15 p.m. We were at a table for 6 at the 5:45 p.m., so after lunch we went to Studio Sea to get them switched to late and to put in our request for Leo. As it turned out, we couldn’t get moved to Leo but we did get moved to a table for four which is our preference – our servers were Januar and Julia who did a fantastic job for us throughout the week.

We walked around Deck 10 while waiting for time to get into our staterooms and got some pictures of downtown Vancouver and surrounding area. We met some fellow cruisers and you could feel the excitement of this trip building!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Stateroom:
We always pick stateroom 6116 on the Magic or the Wonder because we love the location – just forward of aft on the port side – three decks down from the buffet and beverage station, three decks up from the restaurants (well, only two when you consider Animator’s Palette). Just one up from the Buena Vista theater where we like to see movies. Our stateroom host was Made who was unobtrusive, always had a friendly greeting, and kept our room clean and tidy! And supplied me with some extra shampoo and conditioner for my collection!

Youth Programs:
The youth programs have changed a bit over the last couple of sailings for their age ranges, and as our boys have gotten older, we never know what they might or might not fit into. They both love Ocean Quest on the Magic so were hoping they would be able to enjoy the Edge on the Wonder, although I had warned them ahead of time that the programming would be different and all reports about the Edge were that it was a “wanna be” Ocean Quest. We found that to be the case – plus Nathan was 14 when sailing and the Edge was for 11 – 13s. We went to the Vibe, first, which used to be known as Aloft (or the Stack on the Magic) which for our sailing was for the 14 – 17 year olds. We talked with the counselor who was there about whether Zachary could “age up” as he would be 14 in September so that they could hang together. She said to check out the Edge first, so we did. Reports were right about the “wanna be” nature of the Edge at this point, plus we learned there were way more 11 – 13 year olds than there were 14 – 17 year olds so after dinner the first night, we went back to the Vibe with Zachary to see about getting him okayed for the Vibe. There were no problems with that and it turned out to be a good fit for both of the boys. We had worried a bit that Nathan wouldn’t like it and end up hanging out in the cabin for the whole time – that was not the case! There were plenty of structured and unstructured things to do and the boys liked all three of the counselors – Daniel, Mary Grace, and Jennifer. The activities throughout the week included scavenger hunts, movies, smoothie-hour, dance parties, board games, card games, and other things. The first night, they have the teens all come in and fill out a survey indicating what things they are interested in doing and then the daily schedule gets crafted from that – so basically the teens get to pick what they want to do for the week so it varies from voyage to voyage.

Dining:
We had the TAPTAPT rotation for our dining which meant starting in Tritons for French dinner, followed by Animator’s Palate for formal night, Parrot Cay for Island dinner, Tritons for Taste of Alaska, Animator’s Palate for Show dinner, Parrot Cay for Captain’s Gala, and Tritons for Till We Meet Again dinner. We ate in the dining rooms on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Monday nights which meant all three of the nights when Crème Brulee Cheesecake was being served for dessert in Animator’s Palate (which meant Januar made sure I had a slice each night!). We never do formal night so we ate in Beach Blanket Buffet where they had table service that night – I had the porterhouse steak which was good. DH likes that they have a salad bar. Our friends opted to skip formal night because it was in Animator’s Palate – they had hoped it would be in Tritons – so they joined us for dinner that night. Friday and Sunday were buffet style in Beach Blanket Buffet with most of the same entrée selections as were on the menu in the main dining rooms. We liked the buffet-style because we could get the amount of food we wanted (or didn’t) and could select a taste of a variety of things without having so much wasted if we didn’t care for it or if they brought out a whole plate. We don’t either one like lobster so there was no worries about missing out on lobster night. We found the food to be pretty good – we just aren’t “fancy food” people so DH always had a hard time figuring out what to order. He ate a lot of seafood while I ended up not having any! The boys joined us each night we were in the dining room and Zachary tried some of the “grown up” menu for the first time. Last summer he would get the roasted chicken and mac/cheese nearly every night. In fact, the first night Leo came over to say hello and told Januar to watch out for him  FWIW, we did let our servers know ahead of time when we knew we would not be dining in the main dining room so they would not think we were unhappy with the service because we were not – we were very pleased with it.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Here are the pictures we have from Vancouver.

 

[brackjr]

Great trip report!

I am looking forward to more soon as we leave in two weeks (from this Friday) for the July 26th cruise.

 

[kde175]

Subbing...loving hearing another person's perspective. Keep up the good work!

 

[dkmjgal]

Really enjoying your trip report

 

[Smileneyes]

Great report thus far, Cindy! Yep, we were down in that crowd of Vancouver jerseys on Monday watching Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals the night before we all sailed. The locals were very friendly before the game started...not so much after the first period....

Looking forward to reading more!
--Drew

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thanks to all our readers! Feel free to ask questions or add your own comments and experiences!

Tuesday, continued

So after getting dining situated, youth programs sorted out, we went back to the cabin where two of our bags had arrived, including the one with the dirty laundry. I had pre-sorted when we packed at the hotel, so I immediately put it into our pop-up hampers - we take two - one for lights, one for darks - then whenever one is full, someone takes it to wash. We use the Purex 3-in-1 sheets and they work well. We thought it would be a great time to go to the laundry room as we had gotten our bags early and most people would be doing other things. The only problem with that was that the machines were "off line" as they were getting reset between voyages. I called and they said it would be after the safety drill before they would be online again.

We had our DIS Boards meet at 3 p.m. (Thanks, Smileneyes, for coordinating us) and wow, there were way more people there than I had imagined - I knew we had a lot of families but put us all in one space and we filled it up! It was on Deck 3 Promenade Lounge and we were a sea of cruisers! DVCMary herded the teens and tweens towards each other so they could get acquainted face-to-face before dispersing to their youth programs later in the day - she's a teacher so it came naturally to her! It was great fun to meet the people we've been planning this trip with for so many months.

Safety Drill: We didn't need our life jackets! We did discover that we had three adult sizes and two children's sizes, so just because you don't need them for the drill doesn't mean you shouldn't double check that you have the sizes and number that you need. We just traded ours out with the stateroom host who was apologetic for not having the right ones there. I said no worries - that's what the drill time is for! Our third bag had arrived so I was working on unpacking it when they started making announcements that the drill would start in 15 minutes. In the past, I've always rushed the family out the door so we could get there and be on time. Our spot is on Deck 4 midshipish (N). This time my family couldn't believe it when I was continuing to unpack - I so wanted to get it done so we could enjoy sailaway! At the 5 minute mark, we went on out. While we were in line, we were talking with a family next to us and it turns out half their group live in the same city as us. How small-worldish!

One of my favorite things to do is watch us pull out of port, so I staked out the spot I like to watch from. The boys found us so we got our obligatory sailing day photos and they were off and running with a plan to meet at the Promenade Lounge at 5:30 for chips and salsa pre-dinner as has become our tradition.

We had early dinner which for this trip meant 5:45 p.m. - I so prefer 6 p.m. but understand that 8:15 is better than 8:30 so they have to push the early dining to 5:45. But I felt the loss of the 15 minutes as we were not fully sailed away when I needed to go meet the boys. DH was on the other side of the ship with one of our friends, so the wife and I went down to meet the boys. DH met us right at 5:45 and we were seated for dinner, met the servers, and had a good meal.

Nathan took off in the middle of dinner for the pin station that was just after 7 p.m. as he wanted to see the Alaskan cruise pins - and while he was there, he heard that DCL won't be back to Vancouver after this season so it was imperative to him to get a Vancouver pin. However, Mom being Mom, I had revoked charging privileges for the boys, so he came back to dinner to see if I could go buy the pin right then. I didn't realize the one he was talking about was part of the set of pins they would have all week, but I also didn't want to leave dinner - then I had an aha! moment and sent DH who was surprised that he DOES have charging privileges (hee hee - I give them to him so he can do laundry - ). They were back in a flash and DH told me about some of the shopping promotions they had - like for gold castaway clubbers you could get a $25 onboard credit if you spent $100 at once.

After dinner, we finished settling into our cabin, got our laundry done, walked around the ship and shops, and just relaxed. We were finally on our cruise! Our friends got done with dinner and we decided to go see Mars Needs Moms which was showing in the Buena Vista theater. I had read this movie had lost Disney so much money, so I had to see it for myself. The first five minutes were funny and cute, but after that, well, let's just say I see why it lost so much money. It's that creepy animation I don't like and it was also in 3D which I'm not crazy about, so between the busy day and the good meal and the dark room, I found myself nodding off about 45 minutes into it, so I left. My friend wasn't far behind me, and the two men stayed til the end just so they could say they weren't quitters

We gave the boys a midnight curfew most nights (depending on what was going on the next day and what was going on in the Vibe, some nights it was earlier). Neither were late the whole trip so that was good! Zachary was mostly in the Vibe and Nathan had gone to Mickey Mania and then to the Vibe - they had their "what do you want to do this week" meeeting / survey so I had suggested to the boys they make sure to go so they could see what was happening.

A word about Wave Phones - I wasn't sure I would like having them around but I hardly noticed other people using them - so maybe I'm just so used to people using phones and other devices all the time that it didn't register. We don't have texting on our antiquated cell phones and the boys don't have cell phones, but I have to say it was nice to give them one and me have one so we could stay in touch. They used it more to tell me where they were or to see what time we were going to lunch or if we wanted to meet them somewhere. We were happy with it for texting but it was sometimes hard to hear if they were somewhere loud or if we were somewhere loud. We found this to be a great addition!

So with that, our first day onboard was over. The bed in our cabin was comfortable. For the first time, Nathan got the upper berth and Zachary got the lower bed - it's always been the other way but Zachary is taller than Nathan so we swapped them. We pulled the curtain tight on the balcony door so the early sunrise wouldn't wake us too early - although it's character breakfast in the morning, so I'm setting the alarm on the ipod so I don't miss it - plus Zachary said he wanted to go - or at least he wanted me to ask him when I got up!

(Oh, one more thing - I love the clock lets you charge your iPod so it's one less thing to plug in at the desk / behind the tv, but it's a pain to figure out how to set it - we had to get our stateroom host to reset the clock for us the first day the time went back an hour... thankfully it didn't change again until the return trip and we figured it out then, but there's nothing intuitive about it and even following the directions didn't quite seem to work).

 

[jlacobb3]

Great trip report! Looking forward to more.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Wednesday, June 15th - Day at Sea

I woke up early as I often do when we're cruising. I sleep so well on the ship that I am much more rested than a typical night's sleep so I find I wake up early. Plus I'm always excited to see where we are, and this morning was no disappointment - sailing along the inside passage to Alaska with mountains and trees and snowcaps in the distance.

The morning started with Character Breakfast for Zachary and me. The last time we sailed, I went to character breakfast by myself, so I was glad for the company this time. We stayed for all the characters except Pluto as we wanted to go to the DVC Members meeting afterwards. Zachary also went to the Vibe to get the day's schedule since it wasn't ready at the time they printed the Navigators, and I stopped by Guest Services to check our account balances, onboard credits, and make sure I hadn't had too many laundry charges from the day before.

TIP: Always keep track of how many times you swipe your card in the laundry room and double check the bill - sometimes you can end up with an extra charge and Guest Services will take it off for you. Also, if you need more than 45 minutes on the dryer, don't add time while your load is going because you won't get the full 45 minutes extra for your $2. And if someone is waiting and you take yours out before your time is done, let them know to use the rest of your time first before swiping to add more time.

The DVC giveaways this time were their spiffy new hats - white with red embroidery - and a blue reusable shopping bag that I've used a few times already since coming home! We didn't stay long as we wanted to go to the TV Catchphrase trivia in Diversions. This was an adults-only activity but there were only a couple of other teams and we didn't ask, so Zachary got to play with me. We came in third and added several shows to our Netflix queue

After trivia, Zachary met Nathan up in the Vibe while Gary and I walked around the ship so our stateroom could be cleaned. We try to be considerate of our cabin steward's time by letting him know when we were out for the morning and staying gone long enough to have ample time to get to it. I don't like it left too long in the day because we do enjoy our time in the cabin.

I needed a different jacket than the one I brought - I needed a hood - so I figured we could get the $100 worth of shopping out of the way. I found a hooded fleece jacket that I liked in Treasure Ketch, but they didn't have the pins I wanted to get - so I asked about it and they let me just carry the jacket across the aisle to the other shop. I was surprised! Anyway, I got the rest of the pins for the collection that we would give to Nathan for his birthday the next day, and with the jacket, we spent $101. How's that for coming in close!

We had lunch in Tritons - I like to do table service for lunch and breakfast there at least once during a cruise. The boys met us for lunch which surprised me - they had texted on the Wave phone to find out lunch plans. I had a good hamburger while Gary got the meatloaf which was not good. He was disappointed with it. I don't remember what the children ordered.

After lunch we got a hot chocolate and went to the back of Secret Deck 7. There were only a few other people out at the time. While we were out, we saw an orca - it was amazing! And the views were beautiful. It was a bit out of the wind, too, so that made for a more pleasant afternoon. Also while we were out, some of the youth program people came out with a few youngsters and filmed a couple of segments for Disney's Friends for Change. We are hoping at least one of them makes it to be aired on the Disney Channel - that was so cool to watch them do that and what a great experience for the children.

Our friends had Palo Brunch that morning, so we met up with them later in the day. Because it was formal night and we weren't going, we agreed to have dinner at the Beach Blanket Buffet - so that meant we could go any time between 6:30 and 8:30 which was perfect - they like a later dinner. And this gave us time to see Tron Legacy which was showing at 5:15 in the Buena Vista Theater. Before going to the movie, we went to the Captain's reception and got a fancy drink to take with us. Nathan met us at the movies; Zachary went to see the Golden Mickeys with some friends from the Vibe. We enjoyed the movie, much more than Mars Needs Moms.

After the movie, we went to dinner at BBB. It was table service from a menu. I had the porterhouse steak which was good. Our friends also had the steak while DH had fish of some sort. We like eating there because they have the salad bar available for you to make your own salad.

After dinner, we went to the shops so I could get Nathan some gummy candy for his birthday the next day. he loves it and we rarely buy it at WDW so I knew he'd be happy with it. No cake for him, but he would love his own bag of candy!

John Charles was the adult entertainment for the evening, playing in the Walt Disney theater at 10:30. DH doesn't usually go to the later evening activities but having friends on board led him to participate more in those sort of things. We had seen John Charles previously but I didn't remember that until we saw him. He was entertaining as always and the theater was pretty full. In fact, when we arrived just a few minutes before the show started, we couldn't see any seats but a CM showed us there were still seats in the lower level starboard side - which happens to be where the boys and I always sit for stage shows. The show was entertaining as always.

Afterwards, we went to the Promenade Lounge to see what late night snacks they had - it was not a big selection and what they had was not wow... but we sat in the lounge for quite a while just talking - in fact, I finally had to say I was going to bed. It was after midnight and the boys were already in the cabin going to bed. DH came in about 1/2 hour later.

And with that, our 2nd day was done.

Hot chocolate machine: This was a welcome sight on the Wonder - no packets of mix, no add hot water and stir with a stick - just stick your cup under and dispense the hot chocolate. We had some nearly every day. We aren't coffee drinkers so this was nice to have easily available and accessible.

Ice Cream machine: We noticed that there were cones in the first part of the week but cups later in the week. No bottles of chocolate syrup.

Read your Materials: We found at the end of the week that we had missed the Castaway club's reception. It wasn't on the navigator but was on the letter that came with the Castaway Club gifts. The gifts were water bottles and an over-the-shoulder bag. We had gotten one like it last year and used it extensively; in fact, I packed it for this trip to use in case they didn't still have them as the gifts. I use it at WDW and other places as well. I love it. We also got the sandle shaped rice krispie treats with the icing on them. I much prefer a Mickey shaped no icing but these will certainly do in a pinch.

Fish Extenders: I am so glad we participated in the Fish Extenders with our DISBoard group. We had such fun collecting something from it nearly every time we went in or out of the cabin, and such a variety of items - some extremely useful, some whimsical, some delicious, some were fabulous to pack as snacks for the plane ride home! We received several door magnets to add to the magnets we already had (which I just now realized I never took a picture of our door!). We passed ours out throughout the week depending on where we were going. If you're in a DIS group and they are doing FEs, it's such a treat to do - and the gifts don't have to be "over the top" - we loved everything we got (and thanks whoever gave us bandaids - we had a few times they were needed!).

thanks for reading so far!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Here are the pictures for our At Sea day and from Tracy Arm which is the following day.

 

[kde175]

If you're in a DIS group and they are doing FEs, it's such a treat to do - and the gifts don't have to be "over the top" - we loved everything we got (and thanks whoever gave us bandaids - we had a few times they were needed!).

That was us...we always end up sharing band-aids with others on our trips, so we thought they would be good for the FE gifts...even better when you can find the Disney ones.

 

[MassDisLovers]

Really enjoying your report- thanks for taking the time to write it!

 

[disneyochem]

Wonderful report! We were on the same cruise--it's fun reading about your adventures at the same time that I'm writing down ours and scrapbooking!

We too loved the hot chocolate machine! If always life was so good!

 

[brackjr]

Safety Drill: We didn't need our life jackets!

Really?

 

[nzdisneymom]

Really?

Really - no life jackets required at the safety drill. They tell you that when it's time to go - no need to bring them. At least not in Canada

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thursday, June 16th - A birthday and Tracy Arm

This day marked our older son's 15th birthday, so we started the day by letting him sleep as late as he wanted! I went out early to get breakfast and stroll around the ship and I think I did a load of laundry. There wasn't a lot going on onboard in the early part of the day as most guests were beginning to stake out spots for later in the day. I was trying to keep a journal so I went in search of a place to write so I could remember what all we'd done but this was the last day I wrote anything. I found a place on starboard side of Deck 4 to sit for a while that was out of the wind - the temperature was definitely chillier than it had been the day before.

DH had gone for a run so he came and sat with me for a bit until I shooed him to get a shower so our cabin could be tended to. The boys went to the Vibe to do their activities. Nathan went to see Mars Needs Moms since we had told him how awful it was - poor kid, on his birthday he went to the movies by himself to see a bad movie... but this day was really about him doing whatever he wanted to do.

We met our friends for lunch at the buffet and then walked around just oohing and aahing at the ice floes we were starting to see with regularity. At some point we realized that this was the day of the BBQ - I had read about it pre-cruise but forgotten about it and there was no notice or information that I had come across about it - I would've rather done that for lunch! They were grilling chicken, steak, and what looked like salmon, and it smelled good, but there was no room for a second lunch

The afternoon was so slow and easy - and quiet - it was so quiet! There are only limited areas where they can have outdoor broadcasts, so whenever we were in those areas, the naturalist came on and talked about what we were seeing and gave information about the area. It was interesting. At one point, I went to the cabin on deck 6 where you are so much closer to the water than our Deck 10 spot, and it was so cool to see things up close like that. In the past, whenever there have been talks outside that are broadcast on the tv, I've had a hard time hearing them when sitting on the verandah even with the volume turned up. This time I didn't - and I figured out why - because there wasn't a lot of passenger noise and there wasn't the music and such blaring from Deck 10. It was a totally different experience!

Seeing the glacier was so amazing. I didn't have any idea of what it "really" looked like so that was a moment I'll remember. We took a lot of pictures. The characters were out and about on deck, too - it was so cool to be standing around and Mickey or Minnie or Goofy just come up to watch with you. That's a plus factor for DCL

I could've spent the entire afternoon and into the evening hours just watching or sitting on the verandah, but at 4 p.m. I had a ticket for tea with Disney friends. This is a tea party with a couple of princesses - this one was hosted by Ariel, and Tiana joined her. It's very cute for the younger girls and boys - they serve apple juice and cookies and the children get to interact with the princesses a bit more up close and personal than just getting their picture made. Ariel comes around and checks in with each group to make sure that you're having a good time and learning how to pour and drink your "tea." As I was by myself, they had seated me but then I saw someone else come in by himself, so I asked if he minded if I joined him - he was very gracious and said yes - turns out, he works for Disney and was there to critique the party. It was interesting to talk with him about various entertainment and his job with the company, and I gave him our feedback about the things that make DCL magical for us. One of the things he said was that DCL really tries to make those character interactions more personal and allow guests to have more time with them throughout the trip. I was telling him how much delight we get when we see a princess walking unescorted and she'll stop and talk with guests, or one time I saw Peter Pan hanging out looking for mischief It's like the characters really and truly do live on the ship!

Dinner tonight was at Parrot Cay - and it was island night so you know what that means - creme brulee cheesecake for dessert! We met for chips and salsa beforehand at the Promenade Lounge. The duo performing during the cruise was "Alex and Justin" and they were really good - we enjoyed them throughout the week. I mentioned that it was Nathan's birthday so they gave him a shoutout and sang happy birthday to him which completely embarrassed him so I think my work as a mom was done (LOL). Seriously, I was just hoping for a shout-out but it was nice they sang to him, too!

One thing about being in Alaska was that it didn't get dark early so there was plenty of time after dinner to continue walking around the ship. Our friends had Palo dinner that night. John Charles was playing in the Walt Disney Theater for the show, so I took the boys to the 8:30 show. And completely out of order, Nathan and I went to Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer after dinner and before the show. It was his birthday so I wanted to do whatever he wanted to do. The boys loved the John Charles performance - it was his last on the Wonder for a while.

Because the next day was our first port day and we had an early excursion time, we had a curfew of 11 o'clock. We were back in the cabin around 10 and decided to order room service for cookies and milk and also for some pb/j sandwiches to take with us on our excursion. In the past, we've gotten the smuckers pb/j's which are super-easy to toss in your day bag. So I ordered four, knowing they would come with chips which I knew the boys would want to eat that night. Well imagine my surprise when we got four plates with pb/j sandwiches which were three slices of bread high and cut into triangles. No smuckers. DH and the boys laughed and laughed at it because they knew that was so not what I was expecting! They stopped laughing when I pulled out a ziploc bag, inserted the pb/j sandwiches, sealed it up and placed it with my daybag stuff for the next morning - and they were happy to have a bite when they were hungry the next day!

So lesson learned - be sure to pack ziploc bags - you never know when you'll need them!

 

[JOANNEL]

Great report. WE will be following next month. Love the FSU jackets. My boys graduated in 08 &10. Being from florida did you freeze?

 

[Shanny145]

Great report so far can't wait to read more!!!!