A WONDERful Alaskan cruise in all carry on luggage! May 2016

[tnshsms]

This is only my second trip report so I hope you find it useful! We are 2 mid thirty somethings with a 7 year old along from the ride. This was our grand slam cruise (all 4 ships) and our 4th Disney cruise. We had booked this trip while on our Magic cruise last year so we had a year to look forward to it. We have never been to Alaska and we were excited for the wildlife and mountains. This report won't have a bunch of food pictures, sorry to those who are foodies. We enjoy the food but it's not the reason we cruise. So if there is a food picture, it must have been really good!

Specs:
Hotels: Fairmont Airport and Fairmont Waterfront
Activities: Granville Island, Stanley Park, Eagle Preserve Wildlife River Adventure (SW41)in Skagway, Alaska Whales and Science Adventure(JU33) in Juneau, Alaskan Rainforest Sanctuary and raptor center"(KE11) in Ketchikan


We also decided to take the leap and try a carry on only trip. Our 7 yo has traveled enough times at this point we thought she could handle being in charge of her own bag. We didn't want to be without bags when we got to Vancouver and we don't mind doing laundry on board the ship so we wanted to try it. If we needed to check a bag home then we could (our bags expanded but it would be too big to check then) if we needed extra room for souvenirs. We had 3 carry on suitcases and 2 backpacks. 1 suitcase was purely setup to hold what we need in Vancouver. My goal was to not have to get into the other 2 suitcases and we were able to do that. It was tough but we made it!!

We flew to Vancouver from our Midwestern town via a 5 hour layover in Denver. Both flights were uneventful which is how you want every flight to go. The 5 hour layover was a little rough on the kid but dinner and the walking sidewalk right by our gate made the layover go faster.

Since we got to Vancouver at 9pm which felt like 11pm to our bodies, we opted to stay at the Fairmont Vancouver airport. We flew thru customs due to the late flight and electronic kiosks. It was 7 min walk to the hotel from the USA departure and when we got to the bottom of the escalator of the Fairmont the bellman handed us our keys and we headed to the 11th floor. We were all pretty tired so I snapped a few pictures and went to bed.


Here is the front of the hotel from inside the airport.

Up Next: Off to see Vancouver!

 

[saxmangeoff]

I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

 

[TJA]

I'm excited to read, thank you!

 

[tnshsms]

The next morning we woke up super early since we are still adjusting to the time change. We got ready and had breakfast at the hotel. We had $100 worth of free breakfast on our account so we used $50 of it for our 3 breakfast buffets. The adults were $32 each and the kid was $11 CAD. It was good but crazy expensive for what you got. Since we had the certificates to reduce the cost, it was more what I would expect to pay for a breakfast on vacation. The apple juice was the best I've ever had!

We finished up packing our Vancouver suitcase and got on the sky train. We knew it would be cheaper to take the sky train instead of a taxi and we were trying go without a booster seat this trip. (although if you want a booster seat but don't want to take the bulky one with you, look into a bubble bum. They are great!)
What we didn't know is that we would be charged $5 service fee per ticket from the airport. So our $7.25 turned into $22.25. Still cheaper than a taxi and it was good for the kid to see public transportation at work. We only have city buses in our hometown and we never use them so this was different for her.

Getting off the train and finding out which way to go was a little more tedious when you have no idea what you are doing and have luggage and a 7yo. So my advice, figure that out before you leave. The Fairmont waterfront had emailed me directions but my American phone didn't have service so we just figured it out. Wasn't bad. Maybe 5 min walk. However we think we came out of the wrong area and could have come out of the train at a better place but we didn't know that. Our room was ready (YAY!!!) at the Fairmont waterfront and we had been upgraded(due to an availability on our account) to a 1 bedroom suite. The 3rd floor doesn't get you a big view but the 2 room suite was really nice to have.


And at night, housekeeping would come and turn down our bed, put slippers by our bed and bring us each a bottle of water. It was awesome.


We got settled in and headed downstairs to find the Vancouver Trolley Company rep. We had cashed in some points to get a free 2 day pass on the hop on, hop off trolley. It was a little disorganized but we were able to hop on the city tour and head to Granville island. The trolley was informative and we enjoyed our trip to Granville island. (Well 2/3's of us did) Granville island, however, was a disappointment. I'm not sure what I expected but it wasn't that. It had a bunch of little shops that wasn't my style (knick knack type of stuff) and a few restaurants. We ate at Bridges. It was good, we were able to eat outside by the water which I love to do on vacation and then we walked around some more. I wished we would have done Grosse mountain instead of Granville island. I think the kid would have liked that more. There was an indoor market with food but it was just not fun for a 7 yo. Next time! We spent about 2 hours here, including, lunch, and then got back on the trolley. Our trip home on the trolley was about 1.5 hours with narration and we opted to get off at the Steam Clock from Granville Island. We got off was able to see the clock blow off some steam right when we walked up!

Hubby picked up some salt and pepper shakers and we walked back to the hotel from there. We knew it was close thanks to the disboards but wasn't sure how the kid would do but she preferred that to waiting for the next trolley. It was probably a 7-10 min walk. We looked around at the food court area that is below the hotel and saw they had McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, sushi place, Natures fair, pizza, Thai place, juice place and a Fatburger.

We went up the room to rest a bit before going downstairs and eating at the ARC restaurant in the hotel. We again had some dining certificates and a gift card so we were able to eat for free this time! We walked down to the Olympic cauldron to take a picture and headed back to the hotel to turn in for an early lights out.


Up Next: Day 2 in Vancouver - Stanley Park!

 

[SonyaShay]

joining in!

 

[franandaj]

We're sailing in 5 weeks, also with a couple nights in Vancouver beforehand. Looking forward to hearing about your experience.

 

[tnshsms]

Day 2 in Vancouver...Stanley Park!
After waking, getting some Tim Hortons and getting ready we went downstairs to catch the trolley again for Stanley park. We got our new stickers and waited about 15 min for our trolley. We got o nboard and we were excited to see Canada's Central Park. We took the trolley to the couple of stops in town where we learned that Vancouver has a west Vancouver, a west end Vancouver and Vancouver west since they are on a peninsula. Talk about confusing!!!

Our first stop in the park was the rose garden. We walked around a bit while we waited about 20 min for the next trolley. It was really pretty in this area and the kid loved smelling all the roses. I had to stay away a bit since I'm allergic to bees and they were all over the flowers.


We got back on the trolley to the totem poles which was really neat to see. We spent some money in the gift shop and stopped at the restrooms which were pretty clean in case you need to know those things. The kid wanted a stuff moose and brought along her own money just for Molly the Moose.


We opted to walk along the sea wall to the Lumberman's arch & the Lion's Gate Bridge.

The famous girl statue...complete with bird.....


We took the trolley to prospect point and chose to eat lunch here. I had the fish and chips and the hubby and kid had a hot dog. From what I could tell, my fish and chips were way better than their hot dog. After looking around we shared some ice cream which was surprisingly tasty! We caught the trolley back thru the city to the last stop before Canada place to pick up a couple of items at the IGA. We needed some band aids and marshmallows. They don't have marshmallows on the ship for hot chocolate and we wanted some.

 

[tnshsms]

Here is some more from prospect point.....


Lion's Gate Bridge



We took the rest of the afternoon easy and packed a little. We walked to take a picture with the whale and rain drop and ate at Bellagio's which was great. We had great service and it was just across the street from us.



After dinner we went back for another early bedtime to get ready to board the wonder!!!

Up Next - What's it like to board the ship in Vancouver?

 

[tnshsms]

We're sailing in 5 weeks, also with a couple nights in Vancouver beforehand. Looking forward to hearing about your experience.

You will have a great time! Ask any questions you might have and I hope I can answer them!

 

[tnshsms]

Thanks for joining in!

 

[dinglehopper79]

DH and I were also on this cruise - our very first cruise - and spent some time in Vancouver before the cruise. I'm really looking forward to reading your TR and I plan on doing my own TR as well so it will be nice to compare our experience to a veteran's experience!!

 

[tnshsms]

DH and I were also on this cruise - our very first cruise - and spent some time in Vancouver before the cruise. I'm really looking forward to reading your TR and I plan on doing my own TR as well so it will be nice to compare our experience to a veteran's experience!!

Yay! That's exciting. I can't wait to read your trip report too!

 

[MHag]

We leave June 20th! I can already tell I am going to love your report! Thanks in advance.

 

[tnshsms]

We leave June 20th! I can already tell I am going to love your report! Thanks in advance.

Thanks!

 

[tnshsms]

I'm uploading my pictures from my CD. We chose to get the all picture CD this time. The first cruise we didn't buy any pictures but on a 3 day cruise its hard to get enough to be worth it. On our 7 day and 5 day, we bought the 20 picture package and that was perfect for us. This time we spurlged to get the full picture CD since we knew we'd get pictures up on deck too. We ended up with only two pictures on deck. I probably would have been fine with the 20 picture CD but it was nice to not have to worry about taking pictures with my own camera since I knew I'd get all of them. I really think its just up to each family and their budget. It was fine this time, but I'm not sure I'll spend the extra $100 again over the 20 picture package. I did get 69 total pictures...but only 30 of them were really good and not duplicate. Just a frame of reference.

 

[tnshsms]

Day 3-Board the wonder!
We slept in a bit and headed to breakfast at the hotel to use our last certificates. It was fun to see all the shirts people got from our disboards meet and to see the wonder sitting outside our hotel! We got our luggage, checked out, and went over to Canada place about 10:15. I didn't use the Fairmont service of having them take our luggage because we wanted to carry them on ourselves. I wanted to be able to unpack right away and not wait around for them to deliver. There isn't much we do that first day and I'd rather do it and get it over with right away. I wasn't sure what it would be like to board the ship in Vancouver. Thanks to a fellow diser who had posted an exact walk with pictures thru the whole thing I had an idea but you never really know what its like til you get there. Well that walking tour was perfect. We walked past luggage drop off and went upstairs to check in. They didn't start the checkin process until 10:30. We were 20th or so in line with the silver and gold members. The first timer line was shorter than ours and the concierge/platinum was about our length. We finally got to check in and were boarding group 5. We checked in for the kids club since there were only 2 people in line and then headed down to security. This was pretty quick as well. We were questioned about our food (snacks) and moved on our way. Next was customs. This took the longest. Then it was on to the terminal to wait. From hotel to terminal it took about an hour to 90 minutes. Then we saw Mickey and Minnie both in the terminal before seeing the first family of the day! The boarding process started at 11:55 and we were on the ship by 12:15.


I first headed to wavebands to get our ticketed events done but the line seemed long so we went to lunch at Parrot Cay instead. After a great buffet lunch we went back to wavebands before our room was ready. I should have stayed when I got on the ship because the line was twice as long. I chose to wait it out this time and talked to the people in line with me. I always enjoy talking to other DCL people who have drank the kool-aid! This line took an hour to get thru so we got to talk a while! I was in front of the family of the day(first timer) and behind a silver cruiser, a new cruiser and one who had cruise 8 times. We had a good time talking and comparing stories. However we all agreed that we should be able to choose our princess gathering, Pixar, character breakfast and frozen meet tickets online before you cruise. Just like fast passes. Even if it all didn't open til 75 days so it's fair for everyone. Anyway, it was crazy to wait an hour for my 2 sets of tickets. Our rooms were ready so the hubby and kid went to the room while I finished getting tickets. After I got what I needed I went up to check out our room. This was the first time to have a navigators veranda and I really liked it. We had stateroom 7126. It was in the aft which I was concerned about because I tend to get sea sick but I liked that it was further from the elevator than we've had before. It was a pretty quiet stateroom but this is the first time in all our cruises that we heard voices next door. We have heard closets closing and drawers closing before but we actually heard voices this time. I don't know if the walls are thinner or the couple of times we heard the neighbors just happened to be a fluke but maybe its just cause the wonder is a little older. Although we never had that come up on the Magic. Anyway......




The wonder is showing her age though. She really shows it on the navigators veranda. Rusty spots and the seating is worn. In general she's still pretty but a little tired compared to the others. Since we carried all our luggage on, I started to unpack. I decorated our door (thanks to other disers!)


We enjoyed the room a bit before going to the kids club open house. Our kid isn't a fan of the kids clubs. She likes them ok and will go with a friend but isn't one to just go all the time. She enjoyed this club about as much as the other ships. It was time for our muster drill in animators then off to the sail away party. We stopped by our room first to get our coats cause it was chilly. During the sail away party I went down to deck 9 to get some hot chocolate and I must say the hot chocolate was quite tasty! We watched the ship go under the lions gate bridge and walked down to dinner at Animators.


Our rotation was APTAPTA. After dinner we went to the show after picking up our refillable popcorn (6.95). We enjoy popcorn every night in the theater so the refillable option makes sense for us. It's larger than the normal popcorn size but the refillable price is the same ($3.50). Then it was off to bed.

 

[tnshsms]

Here are some pictures from the kids club....

 

[bcwife76]

Following!!

We live in Vancouver (just outside) and were originally booked to go to Alaska this August but had to change our cruise. So now we are going to Alaska in August 2017!

 

[franandaj]

I'm finding your report very helpful! I'm glad we scratched Granville Island from our list. It's my wife, and my parents coming along. While the three gals might enjoy Granville Island, my father would be bored to tears.

We're doing a similar day at Stanley Park, but trying to decide between lunch at the Tea Room or Prospect Point.

So the big question I have is "what was the ambient temperature on the ship?" In the Caribbean or Mexican Riviera I find that I am comfortable wearing a sleeveless top all day and night, inside or out. I am sure that the outside temperature on this cruise will be nowhere near tank top weather especially for a So Cal girl. However if I am wearing long sleeve shirts or sweaters will I be overly warm in the corridors and dining rooms? Others in my party think that the ship will still be at the same temperature as a cruise in the warmer climates, (meaning that all ships keep their common areas at the same relative temperature). Please help resolve this dilemma! Thanks!

 

[xavier2001]

Thank your for your trip report, I am enjoying it greatly so far (so much that I created an account just to comment). We are leaving in 13 days for this same trip with 2 8 year olds in tow AND we are doing the Eagle Preserve (Skagway) and Rainforest Walk (Ketchikan) excursions you did, so looking to get some feedback on those. Can't wait to read more!!