I am going next May and wanted to get some info:
How much do the tasting classes cost?
Has anyone done the Mountain Point Snorkeling Excursion?
What port is the best one to go on a fishing charter excursion?
Has anyone gone to Sitka from one of the other ports?
Is there a cheaper way to do a dog sledding trip in the snow than the excursion listed?
When can you start boarding?
Who is invited to the captains party?
When is the character breakfast and do you need a ticket for that or is there an additional charge?
Is it better to wait for the daily spa specials to book or should you book ahead of time?
We are flying into Seattle and taking the train to Vancouver. Where would the best place be to buy liquor prior to boarding the cruise?
Any recommended hotels in Seattle?
How exactly does the day at Tracy Arm work?
Is Palo worth it and is it better to do dinner or brunch?
Thanks in advance!
When can you start boarding?
We went a bit early then our booking time 10:30 rather then 11:00. We are glad we did this because they were late loading people and it started to back up and get quite full. After you check in they give you a boarding number and once your number is called you can board. It's not an individual number but rather a group number. While you are waiting sailor Goofy and Captian Mickey take turns poising for photos with guest off to the side. This is a great way to keep yourself and the little ones busy. Don't be afraid to hand off your own camera here either.
When is the character breakfast and do you need a ticket for that or is there an additional charge?
When you get to your state room there is a ticket on your desk that tells you when the breakfast is. You don't need to bring the ticket with you. Your servers will remind you the dinner before the your character breakfast is tomorrow and give you another ticket. It will be held in the same restaurant you had dinner the night before. We had ours on the forth day. On the third day we had dinner at PC so our breakfast was day four at PC. Theire is no extra fee for the breakfast and was the most fun we had at any of our sit down meals don't forget your camera. Well worth going only the characters were very rushed and we did not get to see them all but I'm sure if we hung around we would have.
How exactly does the day at Tracy Arm work?
I'm not exactly sure what you are asking here. You start to enter TA in the morning but there is not much to see until later on I'm thinking around 10 or 11 it starting getting interesting. We saw a few seals sitting on the ice flows and a bunch of birds all sitting on one together. We did see a mountain goat but it was so small it looked like a snowflake on a hill to the naked eye. How the person we were with saw it is beyond me.
It is very relaxing while traveling through all the S curves. Disney does not play any music, funnel vision is muted, no horns are sounded and they don't make any announcements (other then when first enter and once when you get to the glacier) apparently they have a narrative on the TV but we stayed on deck four the whole time. They searved us hot chocolate on deck four and handed out blankets if anyone wanted one. We were a group of four and to keep our spot along the rail I went up to deck ten and brought down a bunch of food from Plutos for everyone and we had our own little buffet of burgers, hotdogs and chicken fingers (the chicken finger are sooo good) for lunch.
They told us that it's best to stay on the same side going in as coming out that way you get to see everything. If we had a balcony I think we would have just stayed on it the entire day. As far as the glacier goes the blue on the ice flows is a blue I have never seen before and pictures do not do it justice. They are simply amazing!
Having said that I found the glacier itself at Juno more impressive maybe it was the nicer weather we had that day. We did a whale watching tour that included a bus ride to the park where you can view the glacier from land. We only had 20 minutes which was not enough time. Other people on the ship had more time and walked up to a huge waterfall that you can't miss. I would have like to have done that but we were not given enough time.
Is Palo worth it and is it better to do dinner or brunch?
We weren't planing on doing Palo but won dinner there. It was so good! But to be honest with you for my money I would not have paid for it. I can see how for some people it would be totally worth it and it was excellent. I can't find one thing to complain about other then the price for it. So I guess if money is no object or it's something you can afford and want to do it then I would say go for it. Some people on our cruise ate there three times.
My only disappointment as far as dinners go is looking back I would have liked to had a dinner buffet at least once. With the rotation we had we ate at Tritions three times.
I hope this answers some of your questions. Sorry I can't help you with the others.
