ALASKA - August 30th, 2011 - Mickeys Mooseketeers & the last Alaskan Cruisade! New Th

[tracyvansmith]

Skagway: I am pretty sure that we are doing the Carcross Yukon & Emerald Lake through Dyea Daves with lunch it is $89 for 6-7 hours.
Town tour: 
We pick you up at the Dock and includes where the white pass trail begins, the scenic Skagway overlook, a side trip to the Gold Rush Cemetery, return down Broadway where we fill in local information that is not available on any other tour.
Summit Tour and Beyond:
 Includes the Town Tour and can include the Rail Trip to Fraser and a return trip by Van.  We go further (to Summit Lake to see the best view of the Yukon and Beyond) and see more than the packaged Summit Tours.
Carcross, Yukon and Emerald Lake
Includes the Town Tour, Summit Tour and continues through the Town of Carcross and beyond to Emerald Lake which is more than all the Packaged tours offer.  You can take the train to Fraser or Carcross, where we pick you up for a continued Van Tour to many other scenic and historic points.  Or you can take our Van to Fraser or Carcross and return on the Train.  Or take the Van Tour both ways.  This gives much more flexibility to design your own tour for your group.  This personal touch is unique in Skagway
***********To add the train one way it is an additional $81 per person***********

Are you guys doing this and if you are, are you doing the train part? and are you doing the lunch?

 

[PBader]

Tracy. hopefully I will be able to let you know for sure soon. If we do it, yes we will want the lunch. The train, they said I could decide that day if we wanted to take the train back otherwise we'd just do the bus both ways--so that part would stay in the air.

This is such a BIG adjustment for me trying to work with 2 other rooms of people (and my MIL doesn't have internet, so I have to print everything for her and then get it to her), honestly I am not trying to lollygag

 

[tracyvansmith]

Tracy. hopefully I will be able to let you know for sure soon. If we do it, yes we will want the lunch. The train, they said I could decide that day if we wanted to take the train back otherwise we'd just do the bus both ways--so that part would stay in the air.

This is such a BIG adjustment for me trying to work with 2 other rooms of people (and my MIL doesn't have internet, so I have to print everything for her and then get it to her), honestly I am not trying to lollygag

I know what you mean about getting everyone in your group to agree apon stuff. The other family I am traveling with are just now looking at what they want to do and asked me what we are doing. I think they might join us on this to if there is room left. I think the lunch would be good too.

 

[PBader]

My step sister Janet is going to be my MIL's room mate for the cruise. Now she has to get her passport. Finally (hopefully) I can get the excursions finalized!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PBader]

I rebooked our stay at Sutton Place using this link that was in the Vancouver FAQ thread. http://www.tourismvancouver.com/. It gave a $125 gift card that can be used at the visitors center towards tours, attractions and shows. It made my room $8 more per night. I plan on using it for the Big Bus http://bigbus.ca/home/ticket-sales#hop-on-hop-off-2 , you can purchase the tickets at the center.

 

[PBader]

Hope everyone has a happy Easter

 

[Chirple]

Happy Easter!

Sorry to see people leaving our cruise group, but I'm glad everyone has found something that better suits their needs.

I have booked 2 excursions. We are doing Harv and Marv's whale watch in Juneau, and we are on the Chilkoot Yukon rail/bus tour in Skagway. Both give us enough time on the back end to walk around the ports and check out other attractions. We will probably do a Ketchikan excursion through the ship once our booking window opens on June 1.

I said to my husband that the best part about booking these excursions in advance is that they are all fully paid by the time we leave and are not hit with a huge bill when we get back.

 

[MPS516]

Just got off the Dream, nice ship !

Aquaduct was fun but I hope they get the wait under control, it was between 30 and 45 minutes most of the time. They set beautiful displays near the restaurants this morning of large Chocolate decorated Easter Eggs and candy bunnies with their little eggs, awesome.

Now I can focus on our Alaska trip, oh yea, re-booked on board for an Eastern Caribbean.

 

[poohj80]

Just got off the Dream, nice ship !

Aquaduct was fun but I hope they get the wait under control, it was between 30 and 45 minutes most of the time. They set beautiful displays near the restaurants this morning of large Chocolate decorated Easter Eggs and candy bunnies with their little eggs, awesome.

Now I can focus on our Alaska trip, oh yea, re-booked on board for an Eastern Caribbean.

We're going next month as I couldn't stand missing it any longer. ;-) Any tips on the best time to ride Aqua Duck to avoid those waits?

 

[PBader]

It will be June 2012 before we make it to one of the new ships. So I just live vicariously through the postings. Sorry to hear you had long waits for the Aquaduck~~seems like that is either an issue or not depending on the sailing

 

[PBader]

Looks to be right now about 10 staterooms that are participating in the FE gifts.

Are you all leaning towards a family gift or individual gifts?

Maybe we will have a few more join in and we'll get to be a little more active after the 1st Alaskan cruise sets sail


Have a great week

 

[staffieri]

Looks to be right now about 10 staterooms that are participating in the FE gifts.

Are you all leaning towards a family gift or individual gifts?

Maybe we will have a few more join in and we'll get to be a little more active after the 1st Alaskan cruise sets sail


Have a great week

Maybe at the end of June you could repost all who are doing the FE. I can't find the list anymore. No rush, just starting to work on things. It seems we have had a few changes lately in people coming and going. Are you heading it up?
Thanks,
Kimberly

 

[staffieri]

Happy Easter!

Sorry to see people leaving our cruise group, but I'm glad everyone has found something that better suits their needs.

I have booked 2 excursions. We are doing Harv and Marv's whale watch in Juneau, and we are on the Chilkoot Yukon rail/bus tour in Skagway. Both give us enough time on the back end to walk around the ports and check out other attractions. We will probably do a Ketchikan excursion through the ship once our booking window opens on June 1.

I said to my husband that the best part about booking these excursions in advance is that they are all fully paid by the time we leave and are not hit with a huge bill when we get back.

Looks like you got some great stuff planned. Lots of fun!!

Just got off the Dream, nice ship !

Aquaduct was fun but I hope they get the wait under control, it was between 30 and 45 minutes most of the time. They set beautiful displays near the restaurants this morning of large Chocolate decorated Easter Eggs and candy bunnies with their little eggs, awesome.

Now I can focus on our Alaska trip, oh yea, re-booked on board for an Eastern Caribbean.

How was the ship? How was the new slides at castaway. Oh, I miss castaway. I'm thinking about re-booking when we are on board. Any helpful ways to go about it? Was it crowded to meet with an agent?

Kimberly

 

[poohj80]

How was the ship? How was the new slides at castaway. Oh, I miss castaway. I'm thinking about re-booking when we are on board. Any helpful ways to go about it? Was it crowded to meet with an agent?

Kimberly

When we have rebooked on-baord, I usually plan to arrive at the desk about 5 minutes before it is advertised that they open to ensure I am first (or second) to avoid a long wait. I have seen long lines throughout the cruise so this has worked best for us.

The Pelican Plunge is wonderful! There are two slides - the open slide is longest but the closed tube slide is fastest. Most when coming up the ladder are waiting for the open slide so we have found we have a shorter wait by choosing the closed slide (far end when you get up top).

 

[PBader]

Kimberly, it is on page 12 post 174. For some reason the link Des has on the 1st page comes back to an error.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40626636&postcount=174


The last 2 cruises we did there was constantly a pretty good size line at the rebooking desk. Also both times in my onboard booking they did not give the ressies to my TA when I specifically requested it. I am going to plan on booking 2 dummy cruises and if there is a line, I am just going to fill out the form on the desk and do it that way. Honestly, I hate to give them $$ for 2 cruises, but there have been 2 times now when I had booked something and planned to reshop it onboard that the prices escallated so quickly that it wasn't worth it. The prices on the Fantasy for June 2012 have just kept on climbing. I added a 2nd week about a month later and it was $200 difference, now my original week is up over $900 and the 2nd week over $1200 just for 2 guests. My mom was able to rebook this cruise in January on the Panama Canal cruise and was able to save quite a bit, but it isn't going to be something I count on any longer

 

[tracyvansmith]

Here are some links that I had from past Alaska cruises.

http://www.skagway.com/citymap.html
http://www.traveljuneau.com/images/map_downtown_big.jpg
http://www.visit-ketchikan.com/GettingHere/DowntownKetchikanMap.aspx
http://www.claalaska.com/schedules.html and its codes http://www.claalaska.com/pdf/2010/BerthCodes.pdf
http://destinationalaska.com/
http://destinationalaska.com/pdf/048_DAK.pdf

 

[PBader]

Thanks for the links Tracy, looks like we will be in Ketchikan at 1:30 for our cruise. I was hoping it would have been the 12:30 time.

I got Janet added to the cruise today and mom got her airline ticket booked, so it is finally feeling like everything is moving right along. Now if I can get them nailed down to excursions

I don't think I have mentioned that I am planning a big family trip to WDW June 18-25. There were originally about 50 people invited and it has been whittled down to 28 family members for all kinds of excuses of some sort. I have been trying to get information from some of them still about airfare and dining. I am getting close to my DVC penalty time for changing things for them. I have until May 16 to get everything settled. This is the 2nd time I have planned a big family trip to WDW and it will be my last

Took my car into the transmission shop this afternoon to get a 2nd opinion by someone I trust. Still can't believe the dealership says I need a new transmission on my car. It is a 2005 with 50,255 miles

We have had 13.2" of rain so far for April. It is our wettest since they have been keeping records. Quite a bit of flooding and strong winds now, but thankfully none of the devastation some communities have had with the tornados. Hope everyone has a nice Thursday.

 

[MPS516]

We're going next month as I couldn't stand missing it any longer. ;-) Any tips on the best time to ride Aqua Duck to avoid those waits?

That is what we did, couldn't wait so jumped a quick 3 night. If you get to the Aquaduck before 11am it seems to be much shorted lines as well as all day prior to leaving Castaway Cay - but who would stay on board there ?

How was the ship? How was the new slides at castaway. Oh, I miss castaway. I'm thinking about re-booking when we are on board. Any helpful ways to go about it? Was it crowded to meet with an agent?

Kimberly

The new platform and slides were very popular but did not seem over crowded. Don't miss out on the bicycling it is really fun. The re-booking was not crowded except the morning we returned to Port Canaveral. We picked up a quote request card early and dropped it off then returned when no one was waiting to finalize, took 2 minutes.

 

[alohabob]

Wow it has been a long long time since I've been on this thread so long there is a new thread started. Hope to be back soon just as soon as I do little catching up.....OK a lot of catching up
see ya

 

[Politzania]

Just sent a PM to A Little Pixie Dust - but thought I'd post here as well.

My husband Scott and I are going on this cruise as part of my 40th birthday celebration (I'm 6 months older than WDW, give or take a few days) - and I've been poring over cruise threads here & on other Disney fan boards... just PIF this week!

We're still trying to decide if we want to participate in the Fish Extender swap - we were thinking of including buttons to promote our podcast (Disney, Indiana) in with the goodies - is that kosher?