Alaska July 25 2016. Float planes and whales and seals, "Oh my!" Updated 8-21-16.

[mrbudyhed]

Well, we just got back from a Wonderful time in Alaska. I've done some chores, so now all I want to do is re-live it all with you guys.

Pre-cruise: We flew in early from Cleveland on Sat the 23rd. The 2nd leg of our flight got cancelled due to plane mechanical failure, but luckily Air Canada got everyone quickly re-booked on another flight to Vancouver just about an hour or so later than our original departure time. AND, we got to go on a 777, which thrilled my spouse to pieces!

After a hellish cab ride (quick starts and stops, darting in/out traffic, speeding etc.) from the airport to the Shangri-la in downtown Vancouver we had to kill some time walking around and getting lunch until our room was ready. We were surrounded by some swanky shops and lots of good looking people. I accidentally got this room through Hotwire, intending to get a room at the Pan Pacific, but I'm glad it worked out the way it did. I feel like we saw more of downtown than we would have and met some interesting, non-cruise people that we might not have ever met. ('Course, Disney cruise people are the MOST interesting, but still...) The pool and hot tub were on the roof of the 5th floor. We hung out in the hot with some actor who is on a Netflix series, but MOST impressively, is also the voice for one of the guard droids in the Star Tours attraction at Hollywood Studios! (One of my family's faves!) We also hung out with some locals in the hot tub getting the scoop on their take of the town. So, lesson learned so far--hot tubs:good, crazy cab drivers:bad.

 

[Shanti]

Well, we just got back from a Wonderful time in Alaska. I've done some chores, so now all I want to do is re-live it all with you guys.

Pre-cruise: We flew in early from Cleveland on Sat the 23rd. The 2nd leg of our flight got cancelled due to plane mechanical failure, but luckily Air Canada got everyone quickly re-booked on another flight to Vancouver just about an hour or so later than our original departure time. AND, we got to go on a 777, which thrilled my spouse to pieces!

After a hellish cab ride (quick starts and stops, darting in/out traffic, speeding etc.) from the airport to the Shangri-la in downtown Vancouver we had to kill some time walking around and getting lunch until our room was ready. We were surrounded by some swanky shops and lots of good looking people. I accidentally got this room through Hotwire, intending to get a room at the Pan Pacific, but I'm glad it worked out the way it did. I feel like we saw more of downtown than we would have and met some interesting, non-cruise people that we might not have ever met. ('Course, Disney cruise people are the MOST interesting, but still...) The pool and hot tub were on the roof of the 5th floor. We hung out in the hot with some actor who is on a Netflix series, but MOST impressively, is also the voice for one of the guard droids in the Star Tours attraction at Hollywood Studios! (One of my family's faves!) We also hung out with some locals in the hot tub getting the scoop on their take of the town. So, lesson learned so far--hot tubs:good, crazy cab drivers:bad.

Enjoyed the pre-cruise portion of your report, and hoping you find time to report on the cruise as well. Sounds like it's going to be awesome.

 

[mrbudyhed]

Enjoyed the pre-cruise portion of your report, and hoping you find time to report on the cruise as well. Sounds like it's going to be awesome.

Awww. Thanks! One gets all enthusiastic to write one of these things, especially when they first get back home and then life starts to get in the way! FYI, for anyone reading this, I figured out that the actor we were in the hot tub with, (after googling "Netflix Lemony Snickets" lead actor and seeing that all the personal bio he gave us matched up) was Patrick Warburton (I may be spelling it wrong)--i.e. Puddy from Seinfeld. I'm kind of glad he didn't out and out tell us, because then we wouldn't have just had the casual chit chat we had and I would have been all nervous because I was a HUGE fan of The Tick, which he was the voice of!

 

[mrbudyhed]

I know when I have read these Alaska trip reports, I don't care so much about the pre-cruise part. But then again, I did find some valuable info that I don't know I would have found on my own. I'll split the difference and just briefly go over what we did. Let's see, the first night we also walked down to the harbor (10 minutes or so, all downhill) to explore and eat. The fact that we probably should have been in bed because of the time change really hit us, especially while waiting for our food. The 9 year old fell asleep at the table! The 2nd day, after sleeping in a bit, we took a cab to the Aquarium. It was very enjoyable. Loved the beluga whale outdoor and indoor viewing. The hotel concierge gave us 10% discount coupons. I think it was about $100 bucks, give or take, for the 4 of us to go. We probably spent about 3-4 hours there, and that was with lots of lingering at different attractions and some extended bathroom breaks. Then we took off on foot to walk around Stanley park a bit. We decided that walking to the entry to the park to get bikes would be the same amount of walking we would do just to start our sightseeing from the Aquarium. I don't know if that was correct or not, but I am glad we didn't get bikes because it was SUPER busy. My girls aren't the most confident of bike riders, so I feel it would have been very stressful making sure we weren't in other bicyclists' way, or trying to pass with people coming and going. I don't know if it is normally like that, or just packed with tourists and locals because it was a Sunday and pretty much perfect weather. We walked to the Westin hotel, which was a bit of a hike due to the crabbiness level of the youngins', to grab a shuttle to Capilano Bridge Park. Again, the concierge gave us some discount tickets. We arrived at the bridge around 4ish. The line to get tickets took about 10-15 minutes. It is probably over-priced, but you got to do it right? I know I don't have anything like a long-*ss suspension bridge to visit in the greater Cleveland area. It is somewhat unnerving to be on that thing. Again, it was super busy. I don't know if being on with all those people made it scarier with all the movement or being on it more isolated would make it seem more precarious. My kids were less nervous on the return trip when we were done exploring the other bridges. We did more swimming and hot-tubbing before we went to bed to get ready for our cruise the next day! Oh, our hotel had a "pillow menu." There are about 6 different types of pillow with all of these spa-like descriptions of their benefits to choose from. We ordered several different kinds--foam pillow for side sleeper, a lavender pillow, a buckwheat pillow...Yeah, I felt fancy.

 

[mrbudyhed]

 

[mrbudyhed]

Day 1 of cruise.
We had breakfast in town and then packed up our stuff and walked down to the ship, maybe 10:30 ish? Very easy to do with rolling luggage, because, again, it's downhill. We struck up a conversation with a family of obvious fellow Disney cruisers (luggage, matching t-shirts--yeah, I'm a detective). Everyone was so excited and in a great mood. The check in was easy, but not like Cape Canaveral. The first part is, but then you don't wait around for your boarding # to be called, which I at first didn't realize, otherwise we would have been just hanging around in that part unnecessarily. Instead, you walk down a series of hallways. Then at some point you do customs and security. I can not remember what order, but once you leave the first initial check in room, you're just led like cattle, no thinking required. The other thing that WAS similar to CC, was the youth services check in to get your bands. Don't do it. It was a very long line. We just registered online and then got our bands at the club 1st night with no wait. I can see doing it at CC because you're just waiting around for your # to be called anyway, but for Alaska, we just went through all our lines and check points and then were immediately ushered on to the ship. Might as well get on the ship as soon as possible! OH, don't panic when you go through security and see signs to leave your water bottles--those are for the other cruise line checking in (Pricess, maybe?), Disney folk are allowed to bring it on. We didn't realize this at first and were quickly downing a bottle of fancy hotel water to not waste it--what a scene.

We ate lunch at Parrot Cay. This our 3rd cruise, and every time I can really sense the ship movement in here. I also always feel it really bad in the theater. I took Meclizine that morning, which gave me a mild headache. For the rest of the cruise , I took it at night with a Tylenol, and the nausea and headaches were kept at bay. We didn't have any ticketed events that we wanted to get and we have been on two Disney cruises before, so we explored the ship at a leisurely pace. Having been on Disney before, it really did take the pressure off of feeling like we had to "get it all in." So, the only conclusion that I can draw is that everyone should take at least 3 Disney cruises to get optimal enjoyment!
Dinner was at Parrot Cay. Our rotation was PTA, which made formal night on our Triton's night--not important for us, but it was cool to be in the more elegant dining room if we were going to bother getting a little gussied up. And by "little" I mean a "little." I saw one family in tuxedos, but this cruise seemed more casual in general than previous warmer cruises.

The scenery was beautiful. We were on the 8th deck port side aft which was just a few doors from the stairs to the 9th deck with the drink station and pool. Very convenient. We loved our veranda and do not regret the cost. We used it all the time. Of course, I wouldn't NOT go on an Alaskan cruise without one. There are plenty of public spots to watch for whales and enjoy the scenery. I don't know if I would enjoy it without a window at least, though.

 

[mrbudyhed]

More pics of the first night. BTW, we have nothing cameras. So, anything you see here was 100x more stunning in real life. (Except for my youngest's "dabs." Those translate exactly as obnoxiously as they did in real life.)

 

[mrbudyhed]

.

 

[mrbudyhed]

Day 2. I love that a sea day starts off the cruise. Makes it so leisurely! The kids went to the clubs throughout the day. They are not much into the characters, but Stitch was still a priority for them. We hung out on the veranda throughout the day watching the scenery get more beautifuller. Oh, I forgot--my hubbie and one of the girls went to the late showing of Star Wars: Force Awakens on the first night. They seemed to show BFG A LOT. Finding Dory came out a few weeks prior to our cruise, so I purposely didn't take the kids to see it before hand. They had very few showings of it and at inconvenient times--like when we were in port. To be fair, they did have it in the Walt Disney Theater as one of the nightly shows, but it was in 3-D, which two of us in the family can not tolerate, much less in that theater that always seems to be nausea inducing anyway. I have only seen ONE show in all the 3 cruises I have been on, and that was the welcome show many years ago on the Magic. Something to look forward to in the future...or maybe not. At home, we go to a couple local theater shows (The Beck Center) and at least one Playhouse Square show a year, but on these ships, I just don't feel any pull towards them!
They had talks with the naturalist about whales, dolphins and seals and then one later in the day about bears. I thought I would be into this, but I never made it. We went to Glacier National Park a few years ago where the risk of running into bears was GREAT, so I really studied up on them back then. It was formal night, so we got kind of dressed up. The kids are into pin trading, so we did some of that. They have designated pin trading events throughout the cruise. They have the pin trading station, which is this cart of more pins that I guess aren't in the store trading books that are always out? They also have "pin trading with the officers." The pin trading books are really cool, because if the kids see a pin they like they can just trade one of theirs for one in the book. It is kind of on the honor system because there isn't anyone lording over the book to supervise. Also, it can help with those kids that are shy and don't want to interact with the staff all the time. One clerk noticed my girls looking at the pins and he struck up a conversation with them about what pins they were looking for in particular. Later in the cruise, we had a bag on our fish extebder with a note from him and a pin for each of the girls of the specific kind they wanted. Such a sweet surprise. This might have been a day that I went to listen to the DVC pitch, not only to try and win the $200 OBC, but also to get a Stitch pin. My eldest joined me for the last 1/2 hour and on the way out they gave us both a pin. I didn't win the $. It always seems to be someone who shows up 1/2 way through that wins. Anyway, it was a cute Stitch pin. If you or your kids don't like it, you can trade it!
I hit the hay early because of the time change and probably because of the anti-nausea meds..and the two beers...and my 44 years on this planet. My spouse retrieved my 9 year old from the club around 10:30 and I hear her through my drowsiness, "We had a dance party and the girls won!" Yep, I can't hang with younger crowd anymore!

 

[SonyaShay]

reading along!

 

[mrbudyhed]

reading along!

Yay!

 

[mrbudyhed]

Day 3. Glacier Day!

I was looking forward to this the most and it didn't disappoint. Tracey Arm was still too icebergy, so we headed to Endicott Arm instead. I stayed in our room for most of it, knowing we would see the other side when we turned around. My hubby hung out at deck 10 a lot to get good pics and I joined him for a bit as did the kids. We wore jeans, long sleeve t-shirts, sweater or hoodie and then a fleece or fall like jacket over that. The gloves and headband/hats really helped also. At times we also wrapped the provided blankets also, just to make it cozier. Winter coats were not necessary and I am glad I didn't pack them for this one day. It was just amazing being immersed in the beautiful landscape. There was a peaceful quietness to the whole thing (even though people were expressing their awe and talking etc.). There were waterfalls, seals on icebergs, greenish/blue water, calving glaciers....When we reached the glacier the starboard side got the first view and then the ship turned around and us portsiders got to sit and take it all in. (I did go up on deck 10 when my veranda wasn't facing the glacier because I did not know how much time our side would get.) The calving is so exciting. (Boo climate change, yay for us....I guess.) You hear some deep crack noises and then huge chunks of the glacier fall and then you hear the crash that sounds kind of like thunder.




This is where you can see the glacial silt (?) meeting the water, hence the color difference.






More to come. I have to find more space on my Photobucket account!

 

[Laura1123]

Great start. Can't wait to hear more. Thanks for sharing!

 

[elena_n2o]

Following! Loving your report, and the pictures are gorgeous!!

We're hoping to do Alaska in 2018 (and it will also be our 3rd cruise)....

 

[mrbudyhed]

h

 

[nycdisneygal]

Looks like fun so far! I like your pics!!! waiting for more....

 

[linetbo]

We stayed at the Shangri La hotel too, we love it, and the hotel area too.

 

[richkaryn]

Day 2. I love that a sea day starts off the cruise. Makes it so leisurely! The kids went to the clubs throughout the day. They are not much into the characters, but Stitch was still a priority for them. We hung out on the veranda throughout the day watching the scenery get more beautifuller. Oh, I forgot--my hubbie and one of the girls went to the late showing of Star Wars: Force Awakens on the first night. They seemed to show BFG A LOT. Finding Dory came out a few weeks prior to our cruise, so I purposely didn't take the kids to see it before hand. They had very few showings of it and at inconvenient times--like when we were in port. To be fair, they did have it in the Walt Disney Theater as one of the nightly shows, but it was in 3-D, which two of us in the family can not tolerate, much less in that theater that always seems to be nausea inducing anyway. I have only seen ONE show in all the 3 cruises I have been on, and that was the welcome show many years ago on the Magic. Something to look forward to in the future...or maybe not. At home, we go to a couple local theater shows (The Beck Center) and at least one Playhouse Square show a year, but on these ships, I just don't feel any pull towards them!
They had talks with the naturalist about whales, dolphins and seals and then one later in the day about bears. I thought I would be into this, but I never made it. We went to Glacier National Park a few years ago where the risk of running into bears was GREAT, so I really studied up on them back then. It was formal night, so we got kind of dressed up. The kids are into pin trading, so we did some of that. They have designated pin trading events throughout the cruise. They have the pin trading station, which is this cart of more pins that I guess aren't in the store trading books that are always out? They also have "pin trading with the officers." The pin trading books are really cool, because if the kids see a pin they like they can just trade one of theirs for one in the book. It is kind of on the honor system because there isn't anyone lording over the book to supervise. Also, it can help with those kids that are shy and don't want to interact with the staff all the time. One clerk noticed my girls looking at the pins and he struck up a conversation with them about what pins they were looking for in particular. Later in the cruise, we had a bag on our fish extebder with a note from him and a pin for each of the girls of the specific kind they wanted. Such a sweet surprise. This might have been a day that I went to listen to the DVC pitch, not only to try and win the $200 OBC, but also to get a Stitch pin. My eldest joined me for the last 1/2 hour and on the way out they gave us both a pin. I didn't win the $. It always seems to be someone who shows up 1/2 way through that wins. Anyway, it was a cute Stitch pin. If you or your kids don't like it, you can trade it!
I hit the hay early because of the time change and probably because of the anti-nausea meds..and the two beers...and my 44 years on this planet. My spouse retrieved my 9 year old from the club around 10:30 and I hear her through my drowsiness, "We had a dance party and the girls won!" Yep, I can't hang with younger crowd anymore!

We were on the 2nd Alaskan of the season. At least 1 of our family went down each night to trade with Rachel at the pin trading station. We also received a "magical moments" certificate with a pin my husband had been looking for during our cruise. Loved the extra attention/bonds we were able to make with the cast members on the smaller ship!