Alaska on July 19th, 2011 "Where a good tan is hard to find"

["Got Disney"]

Question:

We booked a private halibut fishing excursion in Ketchican. The boat captain said the info he has says the Wonder leaves at 8pm. Our info says 7:30. Has anyone read or heard of a change?

The ship does not sail till 8pm...but we are to be back on board by 7:30....Our excursion does not end till 7:30.....so will not be back on board till around 7:45.....

So, they're doing the All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin show on the first night, but NOT the Remember The Magic: A Final Farewell on the last night?

They do have the Till we meet again....Maybe they just changed the name. Will find out soon enough.

And Darn I came here to post for the game and missed it again I was going to post like 4 times last night but thought I would just get on early to do it since had to get up so stupid early to drive my son to take his SAT test....but got home and forgot....well I guess ya snooze ya loose

DH was laughing at me again last night because he said all my thoughts are being taken over by this cruise.....

and I think it was Sharon that said I have no life with the number of posts I have(yet I cannot win this contest can I...my words in () not hers) and my 17 y/o and his friend came in and asked me for the comp and saw my # of posts and commented a familiar comment ...."Wow Mom you really have no life do you, look at your # of posts compared to the others in that thread".......kids...what do they know

anyway...I am jazzed and cant wait to meet you all and also to walk on the ship....just look for the one that is yelling "I'm finally here"!!! Yay ME!!!!
and also the one dancing like a mad woman at the Sail away party.....last cruise I was standing right where the streamers shoot out and they shot all over me....I was totally covered....I Will not stand there again

This is so exciting!

 

[wdhinn89]

[QUOTE="Got Disney";41022595]

And Darn I came here to post for the game and missed it again I was going to post like 4 times last night but thought I would just get on early to do it since had to get up so stupid early to drive my son to take his SAT test....but got home and forgot....well I guess ya snooze ya loose

/QUOTE]

Sorry, I had the East Coast time advantage on you.

My son took 2 SAT subject tests this morning. Ugh! I can't wait until this school year is over. Between SAT's, AP and Regents as well as regular class tests, he is going crazy.

 

[wdhinn89]

Just read this:

I have an email that just came in from Erik (on the ship now). Pirate night is tonight and there WILL be a deck party and it will be outside--just no fireworks.

He also says that the captain announced as they were leaving Vancouver that according to maritime law they could NOT go up on the inside pass----he thinks it had to do with the early cruise date (the Wonder is only the second ship to Alaska this season----the other used the outside pass, as well and skipped Tracy Arm altogether----and it was the first ship of the season to land in Skagway-----some of the seasonal shops had not even opened yet in town because apparently ships don't start arriving for another week or two).

So that is the info that is coming out on the ship this week about pirates and inside vs. outside sailings anyway.
__________________
WOW!! I think I posted more today than I did in a month

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

Happy Mother's Day (to all who it applies to...you know who you are)!

DW, her sister, her Mom and my Mom are going out to get pedicures and lunch today. I'm at home working on Fish Extenders.

 

["Got Disney"]

Just read this:

I have an email that just came in from Erik (on the ship now). Pirate night is tonight and there WILL be a deck party and it will be outside--just no fireworks.

He also says that the captain announced as they were leaving Vancouver that according to maritime law they could NOT go up on the inside pass----he thinks it had to do with the early cruise date (the Wonder is only the second ship to Alaska this season----the other used the outside pass, as well and skipped Tracy Arm altogether----and it was the first ship of the season to land in Skagway-----some of the seasonal shops had not even opened yet in town because apparently ships don't start arriving for another week or two).

So that is the info that is coming out on the ship this week about pirates and inside vs. outside sailings anyway.
__________________
WOW!! I think I posted more today than I did in a month

Thanks...just goes to show not to cruise on the first ship of the season...bet those other cruisers cant be very happy about missing that part of there cruise.

Happy Mother's Day (to all who it applies to...you know who you are)!

DW, her sister, her Mom and my Mom are going out to get pedicures and lunch today. I'm at home working on Fish Extenders.

Thanks Tom and same to your wife

Happy Mothers day to all here that are Moms.

 

[wdhinn89]

Just read on one of the trip report blogs....looks like this might be the only cruise that was going west of Vancouver...fingers crossed! (See Below...)


"The captain came on with his nightly report about 8:00, and
explained (again) that the reason we had come up on the west side of
Vancouver Island on the northbound portion of our cruise rather than
coming up the Inside Passage was because anytime a new ship cruises
Alaska for the first time, it has to be certified (I don't think
that's the word he used, though), that it is able to navigate the
rather narrow passage safely. Our cruise is the only Disney Alaska
cruise that is scheduled to go north the way we did - all of the
others will cruise the Inside Passage both north and south. (Good
news for anyone who is worried about being seasick, since they
should not experience the rough seas that we had on our second day."
__________________

 

[Schachteles]

Just read on one of the trip report blogs....looks like this might be the only cruise that was going west of Vancouver...fingers crossed! (See Below...)


"The captain came on with his nightly report about 8:00, and
explained (again) that the reason we had come up on the west side of
Vancouver Island on the northbound portion of our cruise rather than
coming up the Inside Passage was because anytime a new ship cruises
Alaska for the first time, it has to be certified (I don't think
that's the word he used, though), that it is able to navigate the
rather narrow passage safely. Our cruise is the only Disney Alaska
cruise that is scheduled to go north the way we did - all of the
others will cruise the Inside Passage both north and south. (Good
news for anyone who is worried about being seasick, since they
should not experience the rough seas that we had on our second day."
__________________

I was just coming to post this also. Glad that we might miss the rough seas, though July will be very different from May.

 

["Got Disney"]

Glad to hear that also...it was like watching the "Greatest Catch" on TV and the waters that they Crab in...ARRRRRRRR not fun but agree that May is so much different than July.

So besides me...who thinks about this cruise every stupid day...raise your flower As it gets closer it gets more intense.

All I am thinking about is FE gifts, clothing(we live in Ca and dont have much warm stuff) magnets,pet sitting, and on and on....and have end of year stuff for my boys and school and SATs,ACTs, AP tests, scholarships...and so on and so on....


Man do I need a vacation!

 

[wdhinn89]

I am starting to get REALLY excited too now that all of our plans have been finalized and we are starting to get some real time information on the cruise through blogs and reports. Just need to get this darn, hectic school year done with as well.

 

["Got Disney"]

Found this which shows the remember the magic show like Tom was looking for....they must have changed it or something....






Day 1: The restaurant menu (Island Dinner for Parrot Cay, French
Dinner for Triton's and Show Dinner for Animator's Palate). Dress
is Cruise Casual.
Day 2: (At Sea) Formal Night, with the Golden Mickeys menu.
Day 3: (Tracy Arm) The restaurant menu, Cruise Casual.
Day 4: (Skagway) The new Taste of Alaska Menu, Cruise Casual.
Day 5: (Juneau) Restaurant menu, Pirate Attire or Cruise Casual.
Day 6: (Ketchikan) Captain's Gala menu, Semi-Formal attire.
Day 7: (At Sea) 'Til we Meet Again menu, Cruise Casual.


The temperature inside the ship is pretty comfortable - I get cold
very easily, but I've been ok in the restaurants and public spaces
in just long pants and a shirt - usually long sleeve, but I've been
ok in short sleeves, too.




The show schedule is:
Day 1: Let the Magic Begin
Day 2: Golden Mickeys
Day 3: One of the cruise entertainers
Day 4: Movie (for us it was African Cats)
Day 5: Toy Story The Musical
Day 6: One of the cruise entertainers
Day 7: Remember the Magic

 

[mouseclick1]

[QUOTE="Got Disney";41041113]
So besides me...who thinks about this cruise every stupid day...raise your flower As it gets closer it gets more intense.

[/QUOTE]

 

[CBEB]

Originally Posted by "Got Disney"
So besides me...who thinks about this cruise every stupid day...raise your flower As it gets closer it gets more intense.

Guilty!

 

[Meskamooska]

Hi All!

Cruise? What Cruise? Are we going on a cruise that I didn't know about? You Betcha!

Not only am I thinking about this upcoming trip every livin' lovin' day, I am finding it permeating my dreams at night as well. I am also knee deep in FE plans, compulsive reading of the early cruiser's trip reports, the avid picking of the brains of friends and relatives who have already enjoyed Alaska's splendor and gazing fondly at the cruise docs I printed off when I did our online check-in.

Oh, and today oh happy happy joy joy, our passport cards arrived along with the return of our birth certificates. I was chewing nails a bit since my info was showing up on the State Department website but my DH's was not. Fortunately, that didn't seem to have any correlation with the actual processing and ultimate receipt of the documents. We elected to just get the cards for this go 'round. When we decide to take future excursions which require air travel we will get the books at that time.

Since we are driving to Vancouver, if, heaven forbid, someone had to be flown out of Alaska, one of us would still have to get to Vancouver to get the car out of the parking lot so the cards made more sense for us.

I must confess that I did an amazingly long and extremely heartfelt happy dance when the DH presented me with the coveted envelope.

On another note, I spent the better part of yesterday and last evening building a miniature working model of a Celestron Telescope as a cake topper for a friends upcoming birthday celebration. It is about six inches high and fits on the palm of your hand.

The really cool thing is that when you look into the eyepiece you actually see a galaxy inside! Both she and her hubby are amateur astronomers of some repute. He has discovered a super nova and has the certificate to prove it and her son is an astronomer of considerable note, having discovered countless super novas and the like. (He likes to name them after lesser known Star Wars characters

Now all I need is a star chart map for the night she was born and the two hardest elements of the cake will be completed. Well, there is the sculpting of a miniature of her to be done as well but somehow that seems to be the easy part to me. Heck, the entire rest of the project pales by comparison to the building of the telescope. Now, if I could just figure out where I needed to put my pictures in order to be able to post them here I would show you folks a photo.

I better get back to retouching the photos I took for folks at work. I need to get proofs to people but don't want them to see things right out of the camera. Especially since I am still very much learning about lighting set up and the like. Overall, I think things look pretty good but I hope I get more opportunities to shoot portraits so I can get better.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. We went out for Sushi, (Yum!) and I didn't even have to remind the Rotten Kid aka my younger DSS about the holiday!

Hmm, I think I made it about 10 whole minutes without the trip being in the forefront of my brain, I must be slipping

Take care all, help lots of people and have a "Wonder"ful day!

Tisza

 

[Schachteles]

I am starting to get REALLY excited too now that all of our plans have been finalized and we are starting to get some real time information on the cruise through blogs and reports. Just need to get this darn, hectic school year done with as well.

I agree!! It has made it seem all the more real!! I just went on and booked the Tram in Juneau...I am hoping that having that in addition to our other excursion isn't too much.

 

[Schachteles]

Tisza, glad that you got your passports. My husband's came a week ago so he is doing the happy dance that he can go now. People who are still waiting, it took us 3.5 weeks from us mailing it priority mail to them and for them to get it back to us...so it wasn't bad (and we did not pay for any expedited shipping).

 

[Meskamooska]

Hi All,

We didn't do expedited shipping for our applications either and we were both first time applicants so we had to go to the Post Office to process them in person. It took about 3.5 weeks for us as well. Actually, I am pretty impressed with the speed and efficiency of the operation. Fancy saying that about a government agency but I am

Now the only two things I am waiting for are 1) Confirmation of my parking reservation since we had booked with Cruise Park in Vancouver and then a couple of weeks back got notified that they would not be open this season and that they were transferring our reservation to Vinci Parking. On the up side, Vinci is honoring the other companies rates and they are the parking structure that is attached to Canada Place . On the down side, it took Canada Place forever to refund our money so I had to wait to rebook and now will be sitting on pins and needles until I get confirmation from the new folks.

And 2) Our cabin assignment from Disney. We are booked as an 11C guarantee but not an inside guarantee so I will be curious as to where they will be putting us. At this rate although the boiler room will probably be noisy I expect it will be warm so if that is where we get stuck that will be a plus.

Actually my family arrived in the United States during the last great wave of immigration around the turn of the last century and they came steerage so it somehow seems fitting that I would wind up traveling that way as well

I have to do some gumpaste sculpting for a birthday cake topper for a friend this weekend so I will be up to my armpits with that project today. I hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!

I sure hope that the folks that just got off the ship will get a chance to upload some navigators for us to peruse. Thank you again Got Disney for posting those links to the blogs. They have sure been interesting reading!

Take care all, help lots of people and have a "Wonder"ful day!

Tisza

 

["Got Disney"]

Glad to see that i am not the only one feeling like this every thought and movement of the day.....guess its good it helps get rid of the more trying stuff on my brain....like Teens

As for the PP we are still waiting for them to get here. Did the boys on April 16th and ours on the 19th....so am waiting patiently...well as patient as I can. Glad I did not get a phone call stating that I was wanted for something I know nothing about....denying me my passport...or DH...like DH said...if they are looking for us they know now where to find us

I am thinking about changing my dinner to late seating....still thinking about it.The boys are always eating so stupid much during the day that when Dinner comes around they are not that hungry. But the late seating is soooo late. I need to look at the itinerary again and excursions and see what time we get back on all the nights. We are doing all the later excursions ...we are not morning people when it comes to cruising,...we stay up late and sleep in.

 

["Got Disney"]

I have had this on page one for a long time but as we get closer thought I would copy it and bring it forward....

http://www.al-cruise.com/FAQ.php
What is the best time to go on an Alaskan Cruise?
What are good side trips/land excursions for various ports?
What is the temperature on an Alaska cruise? Is it quite cold, given the glaciers and icebergs?
What will I need to wear on an Alaska cruise? Will I need to pack my winter clothes and a cold weather jacket?
What is the best pre or post cruise tour out of Vancouver?
Where is the best place to view bald eagles in Alaska?
Where is the best place to view bears on other wildlife in Alaska?
I don’t have much extra in my budget for shore excursions (and some run over $300 per person!) What are some fun yet inexpensive things to do while in port?
Is it true that not all cruise ships stop in Glacier Bay National Park? I heard that this was one of the most beautiful spots in Alaska and want to see it.
My favorite cruise line does not stop in glacier Bay. What is a good alternative destination?
What about icebergs? Aren’t they dangerous? Will we see any?

 

[Meskamooska]

Hi All,

I wanted to do the late dinner seating and was really excited when the group was slated for that but then when the defacto leader of our personal group did the PC cruise and had late seating she decided that it was just too late soooo... she changed everyone (with our permission of course) to the early seating again. I was actually bummed because I was looking forward to not having to rush back to the ship on port days to make it in time for dinner.

Of course I thought I was being so smart when I booked our Palo dinner reservation by setting it for 8 pm on the night we will be in Skagway. I figured that it would be nice to not have to rush back to the ship, and that it would be enjoyable to sit up in Palo and watch the ship leaving the port whilst we enjoyed our repast. Wouldn't you know it though, the one menu I am the MOST excited about is the Taste of Alaska (I do love me some Crab legs and from the reports I have seen thus far, that menu is served on the night we will be in Skagway. So, I may or may not be enjoying the Palo fare but may elect to see if they can get me the Crab, Salmon and possibly the Elk (curiosity may get the better of me there). Alternatively, I may consider switching our Palo reservation for another night.

I haven't decided yet. Of course, I could always ask our server to save me a plate We will see...

I spent the better part of today sculpting two gum paste models of some dear friends of ours for the cake topper for her birthday party this Sunday. I wound up doing her and her hubby to go along with the working miniature telescope I made a couple of nights ago.

I hope she likes them all. I also hope she doesn't decide to bite the head off of her figure (which I have had happen to a couple of the pieces I have done for other cakes in the past) because after all the time and detail that went into the sculpt I think I would just break down and cry right there in the middle of the party!

I hear you with regard to worrying albeit jokingly about finding out if you are wanted for anything. I always have that fleeting thought whenever I am confronted with anything "official". Of course my DH then put it into perspective for me when I was doing the happy dance about getting our PP cards and saying how excited I was about the fact that they meant we were going to be allowed to leave the country. He smirked and then pointed out that what they really meant was that we were allowed to return.

Well, since I have already done my nightly "have they assigned us a cabin yet" check I can now go back to obsessing about FE's.

Take care all, help lots of people and have a "Wonder"ful day

Tisza

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

Good morning all!! I'm sitting the Fresno airport waiting for my flight to Orlando (via LAX).

Our passport cards should be here soon, the 15th I think it said.

I got quite a bit done on our FEs, but I'll have to finish it when I get home from my trip.

Have a great day everyone.