You’ll never get me on a cruise. Unless it’s to ALASKA! Recap and New PTR Link! 2/1

[eandesmom]

Soooooooo - here I am reading without pics, but despite that, I still really enjoyed your update.

So where was everyone???? Did your cruisemates ever emerge from their cabins???? I know I wouldn't be holed up in a cabin with that scenery.

It was BIZARRE. At times the boat seemed literally deserted (on deck most of the time with Tracy Arm being an exception). At others, packed to the gills (dinner time, movie theater, certain shows) and others, kind of what felt like medium full (port days getting on and off).

Good call on dinner. Glad it actually worked out well. Sounds like the food was awesome and so were your servers.

Glad you liked the spa.

I'll be back!!!!

Dinners were generally quite good. Loved the spa! See you later when you can actually "see" the full update.

Cynthia, that spa looks heavenly.

It was!!!

Jeff got some great pictures. It is really odd though that there are NEVER any people?

Your dinner and dinnermates sounds wonderful.

I think they were doing things we had no interest in. Maybe it's because we are from the NW but it almost never really felt cold to us and we dressed appropriately. As a result, we were outside, a LOT but I think the indoor activities were quite busy, we just didn't do a lot of them compared to many I think. Still though it was very lopsided. At night wavebands would be packed but Diversions and Cadillac...deserted. Promenade seemed pretty busy during it's events but the pools and hot tubs, often pretty empty. Hallways and stairs were equally as lopsided, sometimes seeming quite busy and others empty.

The Buffet seemed busy all the time.


He did good, didn't he!

 

[Happydog]

I have to say on all the cruises I have taken there is definitely a sense of emptiness at times, even on the crowded summer cruise! I noticed at dinner and show times, and out on deck for events. Generally, I was not feeling like the boat was full.

What a great time! I am going to schedule an appointment at the spa this trip. I want to try it out, too! Looks great. Glad you took advantage of the Cove cafe and bar! Kids look like they had a great time, and Jeff is right that view is AMAZING. How gorgeous... Really a lot to look at, vs. a caribbean cruise, not so much.

 

[MEK]

Officially caught up now. Enjoyed all the pictures. The view from that verandah looks heavenly and so does the spa. I could just stay in either of those places and be happy. Maybe that's where everyone was - enjoying the view from their cabins.

 

[eandesmom]

I have to say on all the cruises I have taken there is definitely a sense of emptiness at times, even on the crowded summer cruise! I noticed at dinner and show times, and out on deck for events. Generally, I was not feeling like the boat was full.

I remember you saying that about the Dream on your couples trip. It's interesting as I've read some Dream reports where it sounds unbearably crowded at times but I've never gotten that sense from you at all.

What a great time! I am going to schedule an appointment at the spa this trip. I want to try it out, too! Looks great. Glad you took advantage of the Cove cafe and bar! Kids look like they had a great time, and Jeff is right that view is AMAZING. How gorgeous... Really a lot to look at, vs. a caribbean cruise, not so much.

I can't believe you haven't been to the spa yet! That's just wrong. You must do it in November!!!! The Elemis pedi and mani are just wonderful.

We did go to both the cafe and bar, more than once though we actually never had a drink actually IN the bar , we did hang out with our books a few times, Jeff more than I, and I had a lovely lovely afternoon tea once.

There was a LOT to look at, just wait till we get to Tracy Arm!!!

Officially caught up now. Enjoyed all the pictures. The view from that verandah looks heavenly and so does the spa. I could just stay in either of those places and be happy. Maybe that's where everyone was - enjoying the view from their cabins.

We did discuss that and we would often see our neighbors as we peered out, on certain days and would chat with the ones to our right occasionally. Still though, it's not like the whole boat has verandah's. I'm not sure what the percentage is.

 

[eandesmom]

We went to bed lulled by the gentle rocking of the ship. We awoke a few times to more rocking but easily nodded back off. However, as morning approached, we rocked more. And a little bit more. And..we creaked. Was it horrible? No. Noticeable? Yes. At least to Jeff and I. The kids slept through it. Honestly, I might have slept through it as well except for the fact that my internal alarm clock required me to get up at 5:30 and use the facilities and that Jeff (as some of you know) is a light sleeper, with supersonic hearing. The man wakes up when Eric rolls over in bed and hits the wall, or a cat jumps off of the washing machine. High maintenance! I think he wore his earplugs the rest of the cruise but I'm not sure. The creaking was probably more noticeable to me than the rocking and while I actually enjoyed the sound (which Jeff thought was weird but I did), it did make it harder to go back to sleep. After all, I was in a bed that very very much reminded me of my beloved Yacht Club, from the linens, overall room decor to the pure comfyness of the bed itself. Jeff however was not so easily swayed. Our clock was having issues and so I’d have to flip over my ipod to check the time because he kept asking me! Not that he could read the clock in the dark even if it had been working lol. The creaking got a bit louder and Jeff insisted I get up and get everyone the seabands. Let me tell you. If you want them on your kids, make them go to bed with them on. It woke the kids up trying to put them on. They were NOT happy about it and yelled at me that they were fine. And they were. Bands on, sleep was again attempted.

But then….maybe 30-45 minutes later….

A VERY loud FOGHORN!

At that point, we gave up. I think it was maybe 7:30-8 am by this point. I’m not positive, I just know it was far earlier than we’d hoped for; we’d all been looking forward to sleeping in. Waking up then, on our own, sans foghorn would have been one thing and probably about what we wanted but we’d been kind of awake for a couple of hours by then it seemed. Or at least one of us was and he made sure I was too. LOL! A walk was suggested and so Jeff and I got up to for a walk and see what we could see. And wake up! We decided we’d do a short, one mile walk, 3 turns around deck 4, the promenade deck. The kids were unable to go back to sleep at this point, we left them lying there with the TV which they were more than happy about. They also wanted the bands off and I couldn't blame them. I think I took mine off too but Jeff left his on. On our way out, we saw Marlon our cabin host and let him know about the clock. Not only did the time seem to not be working right, the ipod dock definitely wasn't. Arriving at deck 4 we realized that we’d been going against traffic the night before. OOPS! Sorry to anyone who noticed! It was a bit foggy and cool but not bad. I didn’t bring the camera so have no morning pictures at all. I have to say, the early morning brisk walk around the Promenade Deck was one of my favorite things on the trip. Just some nice “couple” time and I know the kids loved lazy cartoon time while we did it! Jeff and I did it I think 4 out of our 7 mornings? Maybe 5?. It was fun to see who else was up running or walking (very few people!), see the cleaning activity of the crew, see or feel how much the boat was rocking or not and check out the general weather.

After our walk we headed to Cove Café for a coffee. We planned to order hot water from room service for our Via once we got back but didn’t know how long it would take. We'd considered just getting hot water from the beverage station but Jeff wasn't into the idea of snagging cream and sugar at the same time so just getting one to start, seemed best. While there, we checked out the interactive map of where our ship was and realized what had caused the rocking. We’d been entering Queen Charlotte Sound and were now in...

Hecate Strait.

Hecate Strait (/ˈhɛkɪt/) (Haida language: K̲andaliig̲wii[1], also siigaay which means simply "ocean") is a wide but shallow strait between the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It merges with Queen Charlotte Sound to the south and Dixon Entrance to the north. About 87 miles (140 km) wide at its southern end, Hecate Strait narrows in the north to about 30 miles (48 km) It is about 160 miles (260 km) in length.

Hecate Strait was named by Captain George Henry Richards in 1861 or 1862 after his surveying vessel, the HMS Hecate.

According to Wikipedia, Hecate Strait, because it is so shallow, is especially susceptible to storms and violent weather. The Haida crossed the Hecate Strait to the mainland to plunder coastal villages to take slaves and booty. Only the Haida knew the real nature of the Strait's workings, and so could not be followed by the tribes of the mainland. Hecate Strait, therefore, was one of the main defenses of the Haida people from attack.

Now honestly, in looking at the map, it makes WAY more sense that the rough waters were when we entered Queen Charlotte Sound, a sound connected directly to the Pacific, than Hecate Strait, which has land on both sides but at the time, we were convinced it was Hectate that did it. Of course we were mildly sleep deprived and not yet caffeinated but we blamed it on the Strait. I'm fairly sure it was Queen Charlotte as later in the day I felt a lot of movement and I'd guess that was the Dixon entrance, which is on the other side of the Hecate Strait so logistically, that makes way more sense. Either way it meant we were entering the inside passage so that part was COOL! So was the map, we loved checking out where we were.

Arriving back we ordered our water. Which confused the CM on the phone who suggested it would be best to just order tea for two. As I’d already mentioned needing cream (for Jeff) I said ok. We perused our Navigator, finished our americano's (VERY good, lovely CM/barista who we saw often on the trip) while we lazed around and drank our coffee on the verandah. Room service, who’d said 20-30 minutes, arrived in 5, complete with cream and sugar as ordered. The boys actually let room service in, I was on the verandah. I admit, I don't recall ever seeing anything to sign for room service which was just odd to me. Then again, maybe someone else always let them in I'd have tipped on a slip but never got one. I've only recently realized we never tipped them and when you do your checkout tipping, no way to add soemthing for room service. So I feel bad about that. We didn't do it much at all but still, I feel bad!

Reading the navigator we quickly realized that if we wanted breakfast, some little boys needed to get dressed. Easier said than done as they were quite happy in their pj’s, in bed, watching TV. We are not first thing in the morning eat people on vacation, or the weekends. Half of us might skip breakfast and just do an early lunch so this was really not surprising. We made ourselves another coffee, using our empty cups from Cove Café (while trying not to spill the darn Via, personally I think it's a pain to mix and have other issues with it but I digress...it's still WAY better than the stuff we could have gotten from the beverage station or any of the restaurants besides Palo) and headed up to BBB and hit the buffet. Everything else was done and moving on to lunch at that point. They boys had wanted to do Triton's but they stopped at 10 and Jeff had zero interest in a sit down breakfast. We never made it there for breakfast (or lunch) so I've no idea if it was any good, or different.

Apparently we weren’t the only late breakfast eaters, it was packed!!! I do wish it wasn’t quite as narrow through there as it is. With the lower ceilings it took 2 passes before we realized there were things around the corners as well. We did opt to sit inside but could have been ok outside I think. It was…a buffet breakfast. Really good grapefruit (so good I had seconds) and everything else was fine. Nothing earth shattering but not bad either, plenty of good choices and in a nod to Alaska, salmon omelets in addition to Denver’s and made to orders. I tried one of the omelets, it was just ok but I’m a NW salmon snob so that’s not terribly fair. It’s funny, even on the ship it was still bad Disney bacon. LOL! The boys thought it was "awesome" though. They adored BBB and I must say that looking back, other than Palo brunch (which one can’t compare BBB to!) it was the best breakfast of the cruise.

We strolled around after breakfast for a bit, checking out the scenery, weather, fog and clouds.

Ah look, it’s burning off.

I love seeing what nature does

I wasn’t the only one

It’s fun to see how close to shore you are

Somehow, we even got a rare picture of the two of us in all our walking outfit windblown glory. Probably Evan but I can’t recall.

It doesn’t quite look like we will fit!

We headed back down to the room, why, I’m honestly not sure. Maybe to change? Walking in we saw Marlon who said he'd changed out the clock but the new one didn't work either but he was working on it. Of course, we hit our verandah while we were there. Getting nicer outside by the minute!

Snowy liked it

So did Eric!

It was now noon, what now?

 

[englishrose47]

Beautiful pix Cynthia !!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Caught up on your last two updates! The scenery is just breathtakingly gorgeous!!! So pretty! What a nice time you had at the spa, and it looks like the boys had a blast as well! Glad dinner was a success and you made friends with your tablemates!

 

[Happydog]

SO pretty! What gorgeous scenery... I am impressed and I have a feeling that after seeing your trip I am going to want to go to Alaska too! Such amazing feats by Mother Nature!! I love what I have read so far and am looking forward to more. I don't remember if I mentioned this in the last post, but I am glad to hear you were paired up with some nice people! We had a table for 4 on our cruise, I requested that after our 3 night cruise. We had a nice older couple as our table mates, DH and I. I am not good for small talk generally, and I hate to say it, but sitting with people we don't know is a make or break the vacation situation for my DH and I... I love meeting new people, but I would have been a wreck on the other cruises if we were sitting with people we didn't click with. I don't mean to sound snobbish, it would be me who was anxious the whole time, so it is just better to play it safe. I would love to cruise with friends for this reason!

Scenery is so beautiful, and coffee in the morning as you see this floating by sound fabulous! OH, and regarding the coffee, I have been saved more than once by VIA. I find it easy to use, I never thought to bring it on the cruise... that is a good idea.

 

[KatMark]

Spectacular photos, Cynthia. What absolutely beautiful scenery.

The picture of you and Jeff is great.

 

[glennbo123]

That does seem really narrow, where the boat's heading. Such beautiful scenery!

You're so spoiled with your west coast salmon. Wish I had some right now.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I just found this report. I don't know what I was thinking...I kept waiting for it to pop up on the WDW TR board. I've never been to the cruise one. Sorry I'm late!

Your pictures are amazing! The boat is beautiful and so is the scenery. We went on an Alaskan cruise about 10 years ago. I wasn't too sure about the cold weather cruising, but it was one of our favorite cruises we have gone on because it was so relaxing to just sit and enjoy the nature around us.

I'm so glad you liked your dinner table mates! We never had any weird ones, but we had some that didn't speak the same language as us and some that completely ignored us and acted like we didn't exist. At first, it was awkward, but after a couple of days we were over it. I would much rather have had great dinner conversation though!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[eandesmom]

Beautiful pix Cynthia !!!!

Thanks Rosie!

Caught up on your last two updates! The scenery is just breathtakingly gorgeous!!! So pretty! What a nice time you had at the spa, and it looks like the boys had a blast as well! Glad dinner was a success and you made friends with your tablemates!

It is pretty. The only thing we could think with all the missing people is that either folks were like us, and from the NW so had already "seen" it, which to an extent is true although it's all different if you ask me. Or they were on verandahs. Dinner started a little rough but by the time the first course arrived, was off to a wonderful start that just continued all week. We couldn't have been luckier and happier with how it worked out.

SO pretty! What gorgeous scenery... I am impressed and I have a feeling that after seeing your trip I am going to want to go to Alaska too! Such amazing feats by Mother Nature!! I love what I have read so far and am looking forward to more.

I see it in your rebooking future

I don't remember if I mentioned this in the last post, but I am glad to hear you were paired up with some nice people! We had a table for 4 on our cruise, I requested that after our 3 night cruise. We had a nice older couple as our table mates, DH and I. I am not good for small talk generally, and I hate to say it, but sitting with people we don't know is a make or break the vacation situation for my DH and I... I love meeting new people, but I would have been a wreck on the other cruises if we were sitting with people we didn't click with. I don't mean to sound snobbish, it would be me who was anxious the whole time, so it is just better to play it safe. I would love to cruise with friends for this reason!

I didn't even know you could do that! Honestly had Jeff known you could do that, he would have wanted to try, he was not thrilled iwth the idea of random people at our table. It can definitely make or break it (or drive you do the buffet for dinner). Small talk isn't my favorite thing either, whose is it really but we lucked out with some easy things that were in common which broke the ice early and then the kids hit it off so well I think it made the adults try harder than we otherwise might have. Still, I've thought about it for the next one and if we are able to take K, which is the goal, it could really make or break it as she is far more introverted than the boys and at that age....it might be best to see if we could get a table of 5. Not sure if that's possible though.

Scenery is so beautiful, and coffee in the morning as you see this floating by sound fabulous! OH, and regarding the coffee, I have been saved more than once by VIA. I find it easy to use, I never thought to bring it on the cruise... that is a good idea.

It's easy to use if you get it open and poured in right, watch out for wind though. Jeff always seemed to make a giant mess. It really was perfect for the cruise, we like a couple of cups in the morning and that would have added up, plus been high maintenance to go to Cove Cafe every morning 2x. The regular coffee, as expected, was

Spectacular photos, Cynthia. What absolutely beautiful scenery.

The picture of you and Jeff is great.

Thanks Kathy! It was pretty!!!!

 

[eandesmom]

That does seem really narrow, where the boat's heading. Such beautiful scenery!

It did look narrow but nothing compared to what we'd see later!

You're so spoiled with your west coast salmon. Wish I had some right now.

We are spoiled, no doubt about that. My kids get sick of it.

I just found this report. I don't know what I was thinking...I kept waiting for it to pop up on the WDW TR board. I've never been to the cruise one. Sorry I'm late!

s'okay, I bet you aren't the only one. I don't really look at the cruise board as much either so it'd be easy to miss! I'm just glad you are here Alison!

Your pictures are amazing! The boat is beautiful and so is the scenery. We went on an Alaskan cruise about 10 years ago. I wasn't too sure about the cold weather cruising, but it was one of our favorite cruises we have gone on because it was so relaxing to just sit and enjoy the nature around us.

Thanks! LOTS more coming It was gorgeous and overall we had really good weather. Cool, but not really cold.

I'm so glad you liked your dinner table mates! We never had any weird ones, but we had some that didn't speak the same language as us and some that completely ignored us and acted like we didn't exist. At first, it was awkward, but after a couple of days we were over it. I would much rather have had great dinner conversation though!

Can't wait to read more!

Ugh, that's exactly what you fear. I did one, 14 years ago and it was all other couples (all quite a bit older) and half were cool, half were..whatever. It worked out ok thanks to the cool ones but it was like a table divided so a bit awkward at times and one couple definitely had a language barrier. This time, dinner was just a blast, every night. So lucky! It's funny, we figured the kids would make friends in the kids club, turned out the best ones they made were at our table.

Part of the reason we chose Disney was we figured our chances were much better for parents and kids our age. The mom's were a little bit older but not much, 3-5 years which doesn't even count at our age!

 

[natebenma]

Somehow I didn't realize you'd done a DCL cruise before.

Because I haven't!

We have been on 3 cruises- all Royal Caribbean. One was a 3 night to the Bahamas over 20 years ago. Then we went on a family reunion cruise to the Western Caribbean in 2006- Auntie Jeanne paid for 42 members of our family on this trip. We LOVE Auntie Jeanne! The following year, the 4 of us took another cruise.

Mark would like to try a Disney cruise, but right now we are limited to vacationing during the boys' school vacations and of course everything is $$$ on those weeks!

***************************************************

Sounds like you enjoyed your laid back morning. Well, except for the early wake up! Must have been a nice change from the previous day's chaos and marathon explorations of the ship.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'm loving your updates!

Small World Comment:
I just got back from a scrapbooking weekend and the woman sitting next to me was working on a DCL Alaska cruise. So I'm asking her all about it, looking at her stuff...SHE WAS ON THE SAME CRUISE AS YOU! I just went back and looked at your dates to confirm.
I'll have to look more closely at your pictures (if you have any with more people in them!) and see if I find her.

 

[eandesmom]

Because I haven't!

We have been on 3 cruises- all Royal Caribbean. One was a 3 night to the Bahamas over 20 years ago. Then we went on a family reunion cruise to the Western Caribbean in 2006- Auntie Jeanne paid for 42 members of our family on this trip. We LOVE Auntie Jeanne! The following year, the 4 of us took another cruise.

Can she be my aunt too?

Mark would like to try a Disney cruise, but right now we are limited to vacationing during the boys' school vacations and of course everything is $$$ on those weeks!

Ugh, tell me about it. The real bummer for us is that the E's school breaks are a different schedule than most and the rates are not as horrible for both their spring break and end of summer (though that's more in hurricane seaon than I want on a boat) but K's are smack at high season. I'm amazed at the difference booking early makes and how much the rates go up. I think we've landed on a plan but depending on what the 2013 rates look like, it could change.

Sounds like you enjoyed your laid back morning. Well, except for the early wake up! Must have been a nice change from the previous day's chaos and marathon explorations of the ship.

LOL! The only real chaos on the first day was the lunch fiasco. The cats took way longer than I'd hoped but it wasn't exactly chaotic. Lunch had me twitchy though. The risk with the late arrival is that if the port makes the boat leave early. THAT would suck and apparently happened to some during Irene.

I'm loving your updates!

Small World Comment:
I just got back from a scrapbooking weekend and the woman sitting next to me was working on a DCL Alaska cruise. So I'm asking her all about it, looking at her stuff...SHE WAS ON THE SAME CRUISE AS YOU! I just went back and looked at your dates to confirm.
I'll have to look more closely at your pictures (if you have any with more people in them!) and see if I find her.

It is a small world! I'm sure I have more with random people in them.

I hope she had a great time!

 

[MEK]

Gorgeous! Just gorgeous! What a wonderful adventure!

I still don't think that boat is going to fit in there!

 

[treece2122]

Oh so beautiful! I live in the Pacific NW and I'm still in awe! This makes me want to go on an Alaskan cruise even worse than before....

Must win lottery and somehow convince reluctant DH that this cruise is the ONE for us!

You're updates are great, I'll be waiting patiently for the next one ...

 

[eandesmom]

Gorgeous! Just gorgeous! What a wonderful adventure!

I still don't think that boat is going to fit in there!

Thanks! It gets prettier

That was nothing compared to what we saw the next day!!!

Oh so beautiful! I live in the Pacific NW and I'm still in awe! This makes me want to go on an Alaskan cruise even worse than before....

Must win lottery and somehow convince reluctant DH that this cruise is the ONE for us!

You're updates are great, I'll be waiting patiently for the next one ...

We felt the same and we live here too. Yes, the lottery is needed. It was definitely ouch in the cost category, especially the excursions. Worth it though!

 

[jenjolt]

Isn't that area just gorgeous!! You are making me homesick Cynthia!! LOVE IT!!!

I'm so enjoying this report!! I haven't been able to post a lot but I've been lurking hardcore and I just love your pictures!!