Anyone back from Alaska yet?

[MichelleVW]

The only thing I wish I had was a more protective waterproof jacket instead of my cotton hoodie.

Right! The outer layer has to be water proof.

 

[the3dwizard]

Yes were back and we had a great time. I did a TR with lots of pictures over on DVCNews if anybody is interested.

http://dvcnews.com/forum/showthread.php?14519-June-1-8-2015-Disney-Wonder-to-Alaska

Great review, perfect for us first timers!! Thanks!

 

[pillow]

Yes were back and we had a great time. I did a TR with lots of pictures over on DVCNews if anybody is interested.

http://dvcnews.com/forum/showthread.php?14519-June-1-8-2015-Disney-Wonder-to-Alaska

Love this! Unfortunately, the pictures stop showing up about half way through post #5. Don't know if thats an issue on your end or mine???

Jodie

 

[pillow]

Love this! Unfortunately, the pictures stop showing up about half way through post #5. Don't know if thats an issue on your end or mine???

Jodie

Oh never mind. I had to click "reload." Now I see them. Thanks so much for posting this!!

Jodie

 

[Carie Baker]

Yes were back and we had a great time. I did a TR with lots of pictures over on DVCNews if anybody is interested.

http://dvcnews.com/forum/showthread.php?14519-June-1-8-2015-Disney-Wonder-to-Alaska

Great pictures. I can't wait to share your TR with the other people traveling with me in Aug.

 

[Bill B.]

Great review, perfect for us first timers!! Thanks!

Oh never mind. I had to click "reload." Now I see them. Thanks so much for posting this!!

Jodie

Great pictures. I can't wait to share your TR with the other people traveling with me in Aug.

Thanks, guys. I hope to be reading one of yours at a later date.

 

[Dopey4Life]

We were on the DVC Alaska Member cruise also.
Here are some pics of the gifts we received our first night.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/20...se-5-25-5-31-15.3293741/page-50#post-53816460

We stayed at the Pan Pacific; biked to Stanley Park in Vancouver;.did the White Pass Rail and Dogsledding excursions in Skagway; Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Watching in Juneau; Halibut fishing charter and visit to Creek St in Ketchikan.

Alaska is so beautiful. We loved this cruise!

How was the Mendenhall Glacier & Wale Watching? We are scheduled for that excursion on June 26th.

 

[Bill B.]

How was the Mendenhall Glacier & Wale Watching? We are scheduled for that excursion on June 26th.

The TR I posted has a pretty decent review of this excursion (Best of Juneau JU46).

 

[Dopey4Life]

The TR I posted has a pretty decent review of this excursion (Best of Juneau JU46).

I found it now! Thanks so much!

 

[pixie*duster]

The TR I posted has a pretty decent review of this excursion (Best of Juneau JU46).

Thanks for your great review. 2/3 of your excursions are the same we have chosen, so your information was greatly appreciated!

 

[Bill B.]

I found it now! Thanks so much!

Thanks for your great review. 2/3 of your excursions are the same we have chosen, so your information was greatly appreciated!

You're both welcome and thank you for the compliments.

 

[noahdove]

Bill B, your report is awesome!! We don't have much longer until we cruise and your photos
were wonderful!!!! Thank you for posting them..

 

[Bill B.]

Bill B, your report is awesome!! We don't have much longer until we cruise and your photos
were wonderful!!!! Thank you for posting them..

Your welcome & Thank You!

 

[DisneyBelle99]

I was surprised that about half the people (unscientific survey)in the DVC Member cruise were not active on the disboards, or any other social media sites that I knew about. Now I am wondering if some of them were able to connect ahead of time on other places. It does increase the fun if people can chat ahead of time!

 

[poison ivy]

How was the Mendenhall Glacier & Wale Watching? We are scheduled for that excursion on June 26th.

No 2 trips are alike so I'll share ours too:

Juneau, AK - Whale watch and Mendenhall Glacier

As I mentioned previously in this thread, we booked a private whale watching charter thru weather permitting and paid to include a side trip to/from Mendenhall Glacier. Our tour began at 7:30 am. We were picked up right at the dock for the Disney Wonder.

There were 7 of us. You can barely see our cab waiting for us (green circle) as we exit the ship.



the original plan was - 4 hr whale watching tour followed by a side trip to the glacier. But this got turned around at the last minute. Captain Harry was anxiously waiting on his boat which just had a replacement part installed for his two brand new engines.

He wound up graciously transferring us over to Harv and Marv's with Capt. Jeff for a private tour on the "M/V Alaskan" (capacity 12) at no additional cost.

the new plan was - stop at Mendenhall first from 8-10 followed by a 4 hr whale watch.

I highly recommend visiting in this order, which was much better crowd wise. We were given close to 2 hrs to tour Mendenhall glacier first thing in the morning - arriving 1 hr before the visitor center opened at 9 and ahead of the many tour busses. This worked out fantastic as we had the place practically to ourselves to enjoy and photograph in the early hours.

Mendenhall Lake and Glacier are just breathtaking.









there is an observation pavilion





Our group of 7 had the view all to ourselves. So great.



with a small trail on the side that wraps around to the visitor center.







Note: The visitor center does have elevator access from the ground level.
Excursion busses drop off in front of a long zigzag walkway working its way up to the 3rd floor where the center is.



Looking back from the parking lot. Notice the bus here. Right in front of the walking path up to the top.
You can barely make out the visitor center - orange square - 3 stories up. To find the elevator - head toward that white tent in the far left of this photo.




By taking the path around the base



and you will arrive at the ground entrance - (opening on the right) clearly marked, which walks you under the rock to the ground floor elevators.



The visitor center is small but very nice. We gladly donated the $3/person entry fee.
Also NO refreshments are sold here so plan accordingly.











I highly recommend walking the Trail to Nugget Falls.



The path leads right up to the Falls which are exhilarating!




We never saw a bear on this trip, but knew at least one had been around not too long ago. We caught the evidence early am before it was walked over.





What a great place!

whale watching in the next post here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/anyone-back-from-alaska-yet.3414870/page-11#post-53929178

 

[Bill B.]

Wow, you guys had the exact opposite weather we had. It was cold and raining for the whale watching and even colder and rain at Mendenhall.

 

[KristiMc]

Just got off the ship this morning. We had a great trip. The weather was great. Ketchikan was sunny and about 65.

 

[pillow]

Poison Ivy - fantastic pictures!! KristiMc, can't wait to see yours. Please post some if you can! Hoping we have some sun too!!

Jodie

 

[KristiMc]

Poison Ivy - fantastic pictures!! KristiMc, can't wait to see yours. Please post some if you can! Hoping we have some sun too!!

Jodie

Jodie - we are in Seattle today. Will post some pictures when I get home tomorrow.

 

[MichelleVW]

They are now having wild fires in the interior of Alaska and with all this dry weather the salmon will have no water to come back too....I hope people the "real Alaska" with it's rain comes back soon.