To Alaska and beyond

[motheroftheyear]

Loving this! You are making me excited for August!!

 

[The4Woods]

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And today, Sitka day. We were SO excited to get off the ship on land and explore our first glimpses of Alaska. Cruise Director Jimmy told us it would be a sunny day, but so far it hasn’t cracked through the clouds. We got up to Beach Blanket Buffet around 7:30. We had a warm breakfast and then packed up camera gear and the laptop. A Facebook friend stopped by to borrow my GoPro for their kayaking excursion. Since we didn’t have anything planned I figured his adventure would be more noteworthy than our wanderings. We took a 15 minute shuttle from the pier to the downtown area. We wandered around the downtown area. It was super cold and we didn’t dress right. I think if we had prepared better it would have been more fun. We climbed Castle Hill, walked to Totem Square, and wandered around the downtown shops. But the kids were freezing and hungry. Dan decided to take them back to the boat while I stayed at a coffee shop to post these. I’m running out of battery on my laptop and didn’t bring a cord. I’m just posting the front page and the schedule from the navigators, but if anyone wants all the pages I’d be glad to email them when I get home. Just send me a PM. I’ll be offline until Thursday. I’d love to answer any questions anyone has. Thanks for all the encouraging posts. I totally was wishing I had some current information before this cruise, but so far it’s turning out just fine.

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[The4Woods]

I'm sorry the pictures of the navigators are sideways. My photo bucket keeps saying they can't find the picture to edit it. And they are huge! I don't know how to resize them. I'm not too computer literate. Just enough. Signing off until Juneau!

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

Your report is great!! Sounds like you're having a blast! Can't wait to read more

 

[podsnel]

WOW!!! You are a rockstar!! Looks like so much fun- very grateful for the Navigators- awesome Seahawks lunch!

 

[DisneyHelen]

Loving your trip report! We are going June 2

 

[kyirish25]

Great update! Love that you are posting the Navigators. Can't wait to hear about Tracy Arm day!

 

[wallawallakids]

I am subbing! Love your report so far. We don't sail to Alaska until next August (2015) but I am already excited. Never too early to start planning Hope you are having a blast.

 

[engaged@disney]

Keep you updates coming! We are sailing 2 weeks after your return - your reports are helping answer so many questions! Thank you.

 

[saintstickets]

Fantastic posts!! I can't wait to read more!!!

 

[Mickdeb]

Thanks so much for reporting.....sounds like a wonderful trip so far. Looking forward to Tracy Arm day. Enjoy your trip, looking forward to reading more, we will be following along.

 

[DesertGal]

Love it so far. I can't wait to hear about Tracy arm day. I never found the navigator pics but will keep looking. I'm curious about when formal night is? Also which characters?? How is the weather??

Questions, questions. Next week at this time, we will be sitting in Palo enjoying dinner

 

[The4Woods]

Hello everyone. We hit a random cell tower when we passed Juneau out to sea on the way to Skagway. So I'm quickly trying to post this.

When I got back to our ship I met up with Dan in the room and found out what they were up to when I was gone. They had tried to win the iPod in Quarter Masters and then had lunch at Beach Blanket and at Pluto’s Doghouse. I’d love to sound all official and say I inquired because I wanted to share all the details with my readers. Nope. See it was 2:30 and I hadn’t eaten anything since Beach Blanket Buffet at 7:30. There was a cart of reindeer hot dogs on the corner on my way to the coffee shop, but I just wasn’t in the mood to eat Rudolph today. The coffee shop had tons of pastries and bagels, but I have eaten so much I really didn’t want to opt for a high carb lunch. When I got back to the ship I was ready to eat my leg. So I lovingly inquired what they had been up to which was my subtle way of saying, “do I have to eat with you guys or did you feed the kids while I was gone?” So before you judge my no carb comment earlier listen to this. I was so hungry I stopped at Goofy’s Galley for a sandwich, the ice cream machine for a cup of vanilla, Pluto’s Doghouse for chicken fingers and fries AND THEN!!!! Pinocchio’s Pizza for some pepperoni. I know I know. I can hear gasps through my monitor. In my defense I only ate about half of it and Dan helped me polish it off. We lounged a little and nature watched.

I fell asleep during part of the afternoon. I was woke up my C blasting through the door declaring Minnie Mouse was in the atrium. She grabbed her camera and blasted out again. I was awake now. When she got back she said Minnie was gone but she got a picture with Donald. C informed us that there were tons of characters everywhere. D, C and I decided to take a walk and see who we could find. We found a Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, and Pluto.

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We missed getting our picture with Alaska Mickey. But there’s always tomorrow.

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We went back to the room and the kids wanted to go back to club and we wanted to do So You Think You Know Your Family at 7:30. We decided the kids would do the club until pin trading at 7:15 and then we would meet them at Mickey’s Mates and go together to so you think you know your family. Id never done one of the game shows on board and was a little apprehensive about going up. C was going bonkers trying to get picked. But 4 other families got picked. After hearing the questions I don’t think we would have won and it sounds like we’d need to get to know each other better. It was a lot of fun to watch the other families squirm. The show ended just in time for our dinner. It was show dinner night at Animator’s Palate. This was one of our favorite menus last cruise. I was seriously looking forward to the Black Truffle Pursettes. I was not disappointed. I ate so much food and got the best video of Fantasia Mickey dancing through Animator’s. It was a great meal. After dinner we let the kids hang at kid’s club with the strict reminder to be in the room at 11:30. We went to the Adam Ace adult show. I laughed so hard I almost had an asthma attack. I don’t even drink. He was either that funny or I was that tired or both. D and C have been AMAZING this cruise at following their curfews. And on cue they were back in the room at 11:25. I was so proud. And that was our night. We fell asleep to a nature show about ocean life on the TV. Good night to all.

I will edit and add pictures tomorrow!

 

[The4Woods]

We haven't seen Elsa or Anna yet. I have a feeling they won't be showing up. Not sure though. Malificent is premEARing tomorrow night. Tracy Arm was AMAZING! We have a veranda on the Starboard side so we didn't even have to go up to the deck to have a great view which mean no crowds! Win win. They bring up a chunk of iceberg and put it on the Goofy Pool. Formal night was the second night. We haven't had semi-formal night yet. The staterooms have new wave phone. They were super old and terrible in December and now they are great and way easier to use. Also the doors have been updated. No longer do you have to put your KTTW in the slot you just have to tap the door with your card. Shutters is redesigned since December. Everything is digital still and now they have a personal book with all your families printed pictures. It looks like a library. It's pretty cool. Oh last thing the weather is cold. I ran into Cruise Director Jimmy on deck. I gave him a bad time for telling us the weather in Sitka would be beautiful cause it was cold. He said it's Alaska Sunshine. Jimmy said if it isn't raining it's "sunny". So I'd plan less for shorts and warmer weather and more for chilly. If you are the kind of person who is cold all the time like me you'll want to not wear the adorable white mini skirt you packed. But if you're more warm blooded like my Dan then you can wear your great plaid shorts in Tracy Arm and feel great. I would have packed more warm stuff.

Talk to you all tomorrow in Skagway!

P.S. I had to include a picture of my FAVORITE towel animal so far this trip! A stingray!

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[dclwonderprincess]

I have a random question, do you know what the current castaway club gift is? I saw pictures of a different bag and wondered of they had something different for the non beachy cruises.

 

[jetskigrl]

We haven't seen Elsa or Anna yet. I have a feeling they won't be showing up. Not sure though. Malificent is premEARing tomorrow night. Tracy Arm was AMAZING! We have a veranda on the Starboard side so we didn't even have to go up to the deck to have a great view which mean no crowds! Win win. They bring up a chunk of iceberg and put it on the Goofy Pool. Formal night was the second night. We haven't had semi-formal night yet. The staterooms have new wave phone. They were super old and terrible in December and now they are great and way easier to use. Also the doors have been updated. No longer do you have to put your KTTW in the slot you just have to tap the door with your card. Shutters is redesigned since December. Everything is digital still and now they have a personal book with all your families printed pictures. It looks like a library. It's pretty cool. Oh last thing the weather is cold. I ran into Cruise Director Jimmy on deck. I gave him a bad time for telling us the weather in Sitka would be beautiful cause it was cold. He said it's Alaska Sunshine. Jimmy said if it isn't raining it's "sunny". So I'd plan less for shorts and warmer weather and more for chilly. If you are the kind of person who is cold all the time like me you'll want to not wear the adorable white mini skirt you packed. But if you're more warm blooded like my Dan then you can wear your great plaid shorts in Tracy Arm and feel great. I would have packed more warm stuff.

Talk to you all tomorrow in Skagway!

Those were some of the same improvements to the Wonder that I noticed weekend before last too The door change seems like such a small thing but I really love not having to take my KTTW card out of the lanyard to get in into the room (loved that on the Dream and Fantasy and was so glad they updated that on the Wonder). I didn't even have a chance to get used to the new wavephones (it was only a 2-night cruise) but I'm sure we will be using them on the Alaska cruise with the kids.

Thanks so much for the updates!!!

 

[mstinson14]

Thank you so much for this report, we are getting on when you get off so your report is so helpful!

 

[wallawallakids]

Sounds amazing so far! We have never been on the Wonder and are looking forward to it. I have a quick question, if you get around to it. How are your children liking the Vibe? I will have two that are old enough to go there next year and I am a tad worried about it! (Sounds crazy, I know). They both LOVED the kids clubs and I am wondering if the pre-teen area has less fun stuff to do? I would love to hear what your kids are thinking about it on this cruise. Also would love their perspective on Alaska. I feel like Alaska appeals more to adults and I am praying the kids find it interesting and exciting too.

Thanks so much for your great trip report so far! It has been such fun to read it.

 

[AquaDame]

Thank you so much for your report! We leave Saturday and sail this coming Monday! Were you able to get very far into Tracy Arm?

 

[silverangel879]

Subscribing!!! Loving your report so far. Thanks for the updates!

We booked our Alaska cruise a couple of weeks ago while on the 7-day Western Caribbean Fantasy trip. The only problem is we have to wait until August 2015!