Tips I'm Glad I Listened to + Some of My Own : My Experience from My Alaskan Cruise

[Doingitagain]

Can I ask where you got this info? From DCL? or last year's navagators? Been wondering this myself and hoping my Palo ressie is not Pirate Night. THANKS!

ETA: Oops! Disregard- I missed the 2011 part- so I'm guessing last years naviagator

Shoreside concierge told us their best guess for Pirates Night is Day 5, Juneau day, but it is always subject to change.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I agree with most of what you've said. I do like the over the door shoe holder for toiletries and such.

The decent clocks in the rooms are a recent improvement. In years past, the lighted clock was a big deal to us--fortunately it is another thing we no longer need to pack.

Oh the classic ships have a lighted clock too? That's great. I like the style of the old propeller clocks but they're not very practical in the dark.

 

[adznyfan]

saw in a reply you can't bring food from the ship to the ports outside of the us - does this include metal water bottles???

thanks!

 

[jaygalterio]

You missed one of my most important tips... An extension cord. There never seems to be enough outlets or outlets in the right places.

 

[scrapbooker79]

Thanks for this very helpful tip thread! Cruising for the very first time in 43 days, and I want to be sure what to pack, and what to leave out.

As someone mentioned earlier, any Alaska-specific tips you could share?

 

[kjd469]

We're going to be booking Alaska for next summer....does anyone have a recommendation as to the best side of the ship to book a balcony room? Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We're going to be booking Alaska for next summer....does anyone have a recommendation as to the best side of the ship to book a balcony room? Thanks!

Generally speaking, the Alaska cruises are round-trip. So the scenery that is seen on one side on the way out, will be seen by the other side on the way back.

 

[rillsung]

I thought unpackaged food was not allowed off the ship in the US either? We are bringing fruit snacks and the 100 calorie cracker snacks for the girls (5 and 2) so that we won't have the unpackaged food problem. Non-prepackaged food can transfer bugs in so that is why it's not allowed. I don't think this would be the case for water bottles, right?

 

[rillsung]

I am also one of those picky people about shampoo! For some reason my hair does not like H2O stuff. I tried it several times onboard and several more in the DVC rooms.

 

[LemonPie]

saw in a reply you can't bring food from the ship to the ports outside of the us - does this include metal water bottles???

thanks!

Um, Alaska is in the US. But besides that we were on the Mexican Riviera cruise in March and they were selling bottles of water to take off the ship as we disembarked into ports and you could take off packaged goods just not fresh fruit or dairy in Mexico.

 

[Laundress]

Thank you for doing this list. We are thinking of doing Alaska in 2014 (hopefully they do it) Love your tips and all the add ons too.

 

[SoSiWe]

I loved your post....I guess what really caught my eye was that you don't have $1.00 bills in Canada. I did not know that.

We are hoping to sail to Alaska soon and this was helpful!
thnx

 

[owensjro]

I believe Subway uses folding cardboard drink carriers which fit nicely in luggage. A lot of the fast food places use pre-formed containers which may not work if you are running out of room.

We used them on our last cruise and it was great. Only 3 in our family but it still came in very handy when I had to carry drinks and snacks!

Jim

 

[son3disfan]

Thank you for doing this list. We are thinking of doing Alaska in 2014 (hopefully they do it) Love your tips and all the add ons too.

Just an FYI...
We were told that Disney is not returning to Alaska in 2014.....
On the Magic, in March, both the booking agent that booked the cruise for us and different crew members( our servers, stateroom host and staff from cafe cove) all recited the same response to us when when we told them we booked Alaska for aug. 2013....
"oh you got in just in time! That is Disney's last year in Alaska"
So, again, not 100% sure, but that is what we were told.
So you might want to look at booking next year.....

 

[mgmcpa]

Just got back from the July 23rd week Alaska cruise ... my biggest surprises (as someone who read all the threads on here for months):

#1 - Tracy Arm day
Despite having a sold out ship and the first sunny day on Tracy Arm all season, there was no issue at all getting a spot on the rail on Deck 4 at 3pm (as we pulled up to the glacier). We have a 6 year-old and had made the decision that we couldn't camp out all day for this and would just hope for a glimpse ... nope, we walked out on Deck 4 and got a great spot immediately. Took photos with Minnie & Donald, enjoyed the sights, went in for awhile to go a princess tea, then returned at 4:30pm and got the good rail spot again.

I'm so happy we didn't spend an extra $2k for a veranda for this day, there were tons of free, great spots on Deck 4!


#2 - Clear Plastic Shoe Holder
That really was awesome. I thought I'd be a bit overboard with this, but honest, the bathrooms are so tiny that you don't want to have all the medicines, brushes, make-up, etc everywhere. With this shoe holder hanging on the door (we hung it into the hallway outside the bathroom), everything was easy to find and there was very little chaos in getting ready.

#3 - Clock was horrible
We had a digital clock with an iPad docking station that came with our room. What a hunk of junk. Couldn't get the time to change (and I'm not bad at this sort of thing) on the 2 time change days and had to call maintenance. Didn't glow at night. If you need a clock, bring your own.

#4 - See the Salmon Run
If you are lucky enough to visit in July/Aug when the salmon are running, visit the hatchery in Juneau. It's a $12 cab ride from the port, admission is $4 a person. INCREDIBLE and CHEAP

#5 - Palo - skip dinner, go to the brunch
Brunch is incredible! Dinner is like going to any fancy restaurant back home ... go to brunch! We went at 11am and at 1pm when we were ready to leave they kept insisting we stay and relax longer, watching humpback whales out the window.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Just an FYI...
We were told that Disney is not returning to Alaska in 2014.....
On the Magic, in March, both the booking agent that booked the cruise for us and different crew members( our servers, stateroom host and staff from cafe cove) all recited the same response to us when when we told them we booked Alaska for aug. 2013....
"oh you got in just in time! That is Disney's last year in Alaska"
So, again, not 100% sure, but that is what we were told.
So you might want to look at booking next year.....

Yeah, that rumor went around about 2012 being the last also. Back in Nov we were booked (incl airfare) for a trip to California this summer and when we heard this would be our last oppportunity to see Alaska on DCL, we quickly switched everything. Unfortunately, SWA had awful returning flight times from SEA, not getting us back to PHL until after midnight with 1st day of school the next day. So we set those credits aside and booked our return flight with another airline. We used the credits to book a long weekend in Houston/Galveston. (dh always wanted to go there). So when it's time to get to bed so we could wake up at 3am for our flight, TS Debby is hanging out in the gulf with all signs pointing toward Houston landfall. Rather than have a crappy, rainy trip, we cancel. But now our credits expire in Nov with just one more short school break in Sept so here we are planning a long weekend in Cali.

Then once we're all psyched to go to Alaska this year, they release 2013 for Alaska.

I've decided I'm not listening to any more rumors.

 

[Clotho]

Yeah, that rumor went around about 2012 being the last also. Back in Nov we were booked (incl airfare) for a trip to California this summer and when we heard this would be our last oppportunity to see Alaska on DCL, we quickly switched everything. .......

Then once we're all psyched to go to Alaska this year, they release 2013 for Alaska.

I've decided I'm not listening to any more rumors.

Spot on. They are just rumors. Sme people don't see a port on th schedule and think it means they are not returning. Just means they have not negotiated port contracts yet. So until they announce all the ports for a give year, don't fret!