To Alaska & Beyond!

[disneybarbie]

Subscribing!

Looking forward to hearing about an Alaska cruise

Emma

 

[cindianne320]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip! We are booked for June of 2016 for our 10th anniversary!

Where did you set up the price alert for the Pan Pacific?

 

[saintstickets]

Haha, yes there are slot machines in the airport in Vegas! So if you have to layover somewhere, good choice! Hopefully you'll win enough to pay for the rest of the trip!

That's the plan! I wonder if one roll of nickels will be enough? Hey...it only takes one, right?

Your plans look incredible. Lots of fun and adventure ahead!

Thanks...glad you're subbed in!

 

[saintstickets]

saintstickets said: ↑
in total, we are paying $368.52

Love the savings. But...if I understand you correctly, in both Vegas and Seattle you are changing airlines so need to collect your bags and then re-check in? Will you be doing carry on only? Vegas baggage claim and TSA are a nightmare so if you are having to collect, you'll want a decent amount of time. Seattle is not as bad but is very unpredictable. Irrelevant if you are doing carry on only, then you'll just need to change terminals

No changing of airlines on each leg of the trip. From New Orleans to Sacramento - Southwest with a layover in Vegas. 4 days in Sacramento then fly Sacramento to Vancouver on Alaska Airlines with a layover in Seattle. Spend the night in Vancouver and then board DCL Wonder for the 7 night cruise. Arrive back in Vancouver and spend the night. Fly from Vancouver back to New Orleans with a layover in Dallas. So no need to collect bags on each leg. Carry on only when we're gone for 13 days...you obviously don't know my wife!!!

saintstickets said: ↑
Do they have slot machines in the airport?

Yes they do. It's a pretty icky airport if you ask me for that reason lol.

But if I can just win a jackpot while we're waiting.....


saintstickets said: ↑
We are going on a winery tour. This should be fun

Very fun! Even more fun if you hire a driver to take you around as they are generally a bit spread out depending on where you go.

DS2 has been on numerous wine tours and he's our driver!


saintstickets said: ↑
If he can arrange it, we will take a little drive and launch the boat where we can see this DS2 said we can sail around the bay, see Alcatraz (I hope he’s not in cahoots with his mom and they try to leave me there!) and stop at the dock for a bite. That should be a great day if he can pull it off!

Not sure where you will dock but I highly highly recommend Pier 23 for lunch or dinner (closer to the Embarcadero) and the Buena Vista for their famous Irish Coffee (close to the Marina end of Fisherman's Wharf). The Buena Vista also has outstanding food for lunch.

Oooh, that sounds great. Thanks for the suggestions. I sure hope DS2 can pull this off!


saintstickets said: ↑
Our DCL Wonder onboard arrival time is 11:30am. We were pleasantly surprised with the ease of the check-in at Pt. Canaveral. We’ll see if this is as good.

We found Vancouver to be painless. Granted we arrived at 2pm but it was painless.

Glad to hear that.


saintstickets said: ↑
It is also formal night and that is the reason I wanted Triton’s tonight. Of the three restaurants in the rotation, this appears to be the more upscale one.

It is the more formal, we did the same thing.

Good...at least I got this part right!


saintstickets said: ↑
We have brunch reserved at Palo’s this morning. Palo is the adult exclusive restaurant that requires reservations. There is a champagne tasting event at noon and a mixology class at 2:00pm. We’ll probably make one of those before the ship makes its way into the Tracy Fjord

I'd skip mixology at 2, you'll likely be in pretty scenery by then, if not in the actual Fjord. The noon event will be fine but even then you'll start seeing some chunks of glaciers in the water. That said, it's been quite warm up there too so I don't know if that's impacted the calving or not.

I'm more worried about seeing double after either the champagne/mixology class!


saintstickets said: ↑
Once we get back to Skagway, we plan on walking around the town and see the sites.

Skagway Brewing. Highly recommend

There is also a cute museum, the train and then a bar that used to be a bordello.

Used to be? Darn...oh wait, this isn't Vegas so what happens in Skagway might not stay in Skagway!


saintstickets said: ↑
The ship doesn’t dock until 11:15am today so we’ll get to sleep in a bit. We will meet up with Island Wings Air Service to board of these. And fly up into the Misty Fjords where we will land on a remote lake that is only accessible by float plane. After a short walk around, we take off and continue this flightseeing tour of the National park that is 2.3 million acres and completely roadless! One thing that will be in the back of our minds is that on June 25th of this year, a very similar tour out of the same city, with the same plane manufacturer (single engine de Havilland) crashed and killed all 8 passengers and the pilot. Ours is not the same company and our plane is a different de Havilland model (ours is smaller!) but I’m sure we will be a bit apprehensive until we are safe and sound back on the ground in Ketchikan.

You have to put it into perspective. First, deHavilland is the main plane of transportation up there. Hundreds, if not thousands (my husband would know the number lol) in AK, CAN and here in Seattle fly folks all over to land in lakes, on rivers, and in the ocean itself. They are great planes, very reliable. The reality is, any time you travel anywhere accidents can happen. In your car, walking across the street, on a jet, on a cruise ship, any of the tropical dive or boat excursions, a train on the way to work, on a zipline or yes, in a small float plane. Purely statistically speaking, driving your car is far riskier (and a lot less fun!). Ketchikan is RAINY though so just watch for cancellations here as well and pack those rain jackets.

We did our float plane excursion in Juneau and it was definitely a trip highlight. Have that camera ready, you'll never take so many pictures in your life if the weather cooperates. Well, you'll take a lot on the dog sled excursion and Tracy Arm but still...it's amazing!

I'm not really worried. The de Havilland is a workhorse of a plane. It's not unusual at all for them to fly for decades. I've got 3 memory cards for my DSLR camera, a spare waterproof P&S camera and multiple batteries for both. Each night I always download all my pics to my laptop as a precaution so the worse that could happen should either camera freeze up or I drop one, is that I lose only that days worth of pictures. I fully expect to break my personal record and take over 2000 pics!

Butchart Gardens are in Victoria, no where near where you will be.

Both Stanley Park and Granville Island will require either cab or bus. Stanley Park is lovely, one of my favorite places in the world but just walking it is a little hard to see a whole lot as it is quite spread out. If you can, consider renting bikes and riding around it, that is fun! Granville, once you get over there does have a bit to walk around and look at, shop and eat.

It sounds like a great trip!!

Our activities around Vancouver are the least planned of the trip but I still have 30 days before we leave! Ackkkk...I'd better start looking!!
Thanks for the info...it sure does help!

 

[saintstickets]

Subscribing!

Looking forward to hearing about an Alaska cruise

Emma

Thanks for joining in...we can't wait!!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip! We are booked for June of 2016 for our 10th anniversary!

Where did you set up the price alert for the Pan Pacific?

Thanks for subbing in and congrats in advance on your anniversary! We will hit #33 on this cruise. We set up the hotel price alert on priceline, yapta and kayak.

 

[KatMark]

Okay...I'm back and caught up. I'm loving the plans thus far. Our oldest son did a tour of Alcatraz when he and his GF went to San Francisco in 2013 for the 4th of July weekend. They both said it was a highlight of their trip.

I look forward to future plans (and I'm so glad your wife didn't accidentally push you overboard).

Oh...and I did start the report.

 

[saintstickets]

Okay...I'm back and caught up. I'm loving the plans thus far. Our oldest son did a tour of Alcatraz when he and his GF went to San Francisco in 2013 for the 4th of July weekend. They both said it was a highlight of their trip.

I look forward to future plans (and I'm so glad your wife didn't accidentally push you overboard).

Oh...and I did start the report.

Thanks Kat! I hope DS2 is able to set the SF trip up but even if he can't, I'm sure we can find SOMETHING to do in San Fran!

I'm not getting lured into a false sense of security about DW pushing me overboard. We have 3 cruises planned and she could be biding her time to throw off suspicion before I'm swimming with the !!!

 

[saintstickets]

We finally decided what to do in Vancouver after the cruise. We purchased tickets to Vancouver's Hop-on Hop-off trolley tour. You can get on and off the trolley as often as you wish and it goes just about everywhere we were thinking about going. Here is their route map



That should keep us busy for a day!

 

[KatMark]

I'm tired just looking at the map.

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

Joining in! Word to the wise...don't do the the wine bike tour! I grew up in So Cal and a silly friend thought it was a must do for her bachelorette party. Band aids do not make the dress Uber jealous since an Alaskan cruise is on my must do list!

 

[xlxo]

I'm tired just looking at the map.

BTW.... half the stops are hotel pickups... the downtown is relatively compact, you can walk from one end to the other in around 45 minutes.

 

[saintstickets]

I'm tired just looking at the map.

I know Kat! When we first started looking at the map it was a bit overwhelming but as "xlxo" says below, most of the stops are for other riders at different hotels. If we make it to 2 or 3 of the places we want to visit, I'll be a happy camper.

Joining in! Word to the wise...don't do the the wine bike tour! I grew up in So Cal and a silly friend thought it was a must do for her bachelorette party. Band aids do not make the dress

OUCH!!! No way I'd try a wine bike tour! I'll stick with DS driving us from place to place!!

Uber jealous since an Alaskan cruise is on my must do list!

This trip has been on our bucket list for a few years. I can't believe it's almost here!

BTW.... half the stops are hotel pickups... the downtown is relatively compact, you can walk from one end to the other in around 45 minutes.

That's good to know that everything is closer than the map appears! I can't wait!!

 

[saintstickets]

Well......DW and I did a dry run today packing...SMH!!! I really hoped we would be able to get by with one checked bag each in addition to our carry-on each...NOPE!! It looks like there will be a 3rd check bag between us. Predicted temps for Sacramento will be low 90's during the day. San Francisco will be low 70's but I imagine a bit more chilly if we go sailing on the bay. Vancouver will be about the same as SF. Then there is the cruise. The three ports should be upper 50's if the weather holds but that could easily drop into the 40's. The excursions to the glacier, dog sled and remote lakes plus the day the ship is at Tracy Arm Fjord will probably be considerably colder. Then there are the formal and semi-formal nights on the cruise plus any restaurants we visit in California or Vancouver. This is a packing nightmare for a man....DW is gonna freak. By the time we get everything packed, I'm afraid we'll look like this going through the airport

 

[KatMark]

Heaven help you both! Perhaps that's why I've never booked a cruise...too much change in temps, and formal/non formal attire.

I have news (since you've not visited me elsewhere). We are booking a trip to Disneyland...our first ever...February 24 - March 1 next year. I am very excited.

 

[sug78]

It's been a pretty epic summer all over Alaska weather wise...hopefully you have a great trip

 

[eandesmom]

Packing for the Alaska cruise was HARD for us with 4 of us, and this was before DCL elevated the beds for lovely storage. Yep, no way you are getting away with only 2 bags!!! Downtown is compact, I wouldn't even put it at 45 minutes. You need the trolley for Granville and Stanley Park. That will be fun.

 

[Stasieki]

Looking forward to reading about your trip

 

[MEK]

We finally decided what to do in Vancouver after the cruise. We purchased tickets to Vancouver's Hop-on Hop-off trolley tour. You can get on and off the trolley as often as you wish and it goes just about everywhere we were thinking about going. Here is their route map



That should keep us busy for a day!

Oh My! That looks pretty confusing. Good luck with that!

Yup - I can see why packing would be a nightmare. That's a lot of temp changes and clothing type changes. I find that even my exercise clothes take up too much room. I can't imagine packing for all possible scenarios. And then there's my makeup bag which keeps getting bigger and bigger. I don't understand why?

 

[saintstickets]

Heaven help you both! Perhaps that's why I've never booked a cruise...too much change in temps, and formal/non formal attire.

I have news (since you've not visited me elsewhere). We are booking a trip to Disneyland...our first ever...February 24 - March 1 next year. I am very excited.

Sorry for not "visiting" you elsewhere! I'm doing good to keep up here!! So glad to hear about your Disneyland trip. We thought about doing that on this trip before the cruise but couldn't extend the trip another 4 days!!

It's been a pretty epic summer all over Alaska weather wise...hopefully you have a great trip

I sure hope the weather holds up for our excursions. Thanks for the good wishes!!

Packing for the Alaska cruise was HARD for us with 4 of us, and this was before DCL elevated the beds for lovely storage. Yep, no way you are getting away with only 2 bags!!! Downtown is compact, I wouldn't even put it at 45 minutes. You need the trolley for Granville and Stanley Park. That will be fun.

Yeah...we kinda figured it's going to require 3 checked bags. And that's hoping we make it under the 50 pound limit for each!! Sighhhhh.

Looking forward to reading about your trip

Thanks. I'm not sure when I'll be able to start once we return. Work is going to be crazy trying to get caught back up. The good thing about no one else being able to do your job at your place of employment is job security. The bad thing is no one else can do it for you while you're on vacay so it's sitting there waiting for you when you return!!!

Oh My! That looks pretty confusing. Good luck with that!

Yup - I can see why packing would be a nightmare. That's a lot of temp changes and clothing type changes. I find that even my exercise clothes take up too much room. I can't imagine packing for all possible scenarios. And then there's my makeup bag which keeps getting bigger and bigger. I don't understand why?

My exercise clothes take up the least room of all. Maybe it's because there aren't any?!

 

[saintstickets]

Well...the first (and I hope only) excursion has been canceled. DS2 was hoping to get a friend of his in San Francisco to take his sailboat out on the bay for us one day. Not gonna happen. I was looking forward to visiting San Fran but I'm sure we'll have fun doing whatever he has planned for us. The most important thing is that we'll get to see him for a few days!! T-minus 12 days and counting......