Aug 27, 2012 Seattle to Skagway Sailing

[Cambsuk]

Hello! Joining the thread, we just booked today and are so excited to be going to Alaska!! This will be our 5th Disney Cruise, but my first time chatting pre cruise on the boards.

This was very last minute but we just couldn't pass up the deal on this cruise. I will be sailing with my husband and 2 kiddos who don't start school until the day after the cruise

61 days!

 

[pixarmom]

How about a fun poll to help pass our time before our cruise?

What is your favorite thing you have eaten on a previous cruise with DCL?

I'll start. One of my favorite things was the strawberry soup at lunch just after boarding. I never even would have tried it if not for a TR I had read where someone raved about it. It was all that and more!

Anyone else care to go?

Hi maggie blossom! Fun question and easy to answer if it applied to the parks: the caramel pecan bar from Karamell Kuche in Epcot. But on a DCL cruise - that's more difficult. I enjoyed the food, but it's just tough to pick a favorite. I'd say the Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower appetizer at Enchanted Garden - yum!

Hello! Joining the thread, we just booked today and are so excited to be going to Alaska!! This will be our 5th Disney Cruise, but my first time chatting pre cruise on the boards.

This was very last minute but we just couldn't pass up the deal on this cruise. I will be sailing with my husband and 2 kiddos who don't start school until the day after the cruise

61 days!

Welcome!!! We're in the same situation - our kids start school the day after the cruise. With three boys and their schedules (along with the fantastic pricing on our sailing) we ended up on the August 27 cruise. Hope it all goes smoothly when we get off the ship and on the flight on September 3!

Question for you veteran FE'ers- how long until we have a final count on the FE participants. I am ordering something that has a little lead time and I was hoping to do that in a week or so. Will we have a lot of folks sign up at the last minute? I'm fine ordering a little extra but don't want to go overboard. Hehe overboard...

Same here! This will be our second cruise, but our first FE, and we're excited to get started. I just don't want to order my supplies until I know how many I'll need!

 

[Keurigirl]

How about a fun poll to help pass our time before our cruise?

What is your favorite thing you have eaten on a previous cruise with DCL?

I'll start. One of my favorite things was the strawberry soup at lunch just after boarding. I never even would have tried it if not for a TR I had read where someone raved about it. It was all that and more!

Anyone else care to go?

We are probably the only people around that think that cruise food sucks. I just think it's soooooo bland and unflavorful. But, like I said, we're probably in the minority! We don't cruise for the food, that's for sure. ..

Question for you veteran FE'ers- how long until we have a final count on the FE participants. I am ordering something that has a little lead time and I was hoping to do that in a week or so. Will we have a lot of folks sign up at the last minute? I'm fine ordering a little extra but don't want to go overboard. Hehe overboard...

We are closing the FE group at one month out, so we can all have time to do our final preparations.

Hello! Joining the thread, we just booked today and are so excited to be going to Alaska!! This will be our 5th Disney Cruise, but my first time chatting pre cruise on the boards.

This was very last minute but we just couldn't pass up the deal on this cruise. I will be sailing with my husband and 2 kiddos who don't start school until the day after the cruise

61 days!

Yay, welcome to the group! Here's the link to the documents so you can input your info, and join our facebook group:

The spreadsheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...xUWsyc1E#gid=0

The facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/306867739393733/

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Question for you veteran FE'ers- how long until we have a final count on the FE participants. I am ordering something that has a little lead time and I was hoping to do that in a week or so. Will we have a lot of folks sign up at the last minute? I'm fine ordering a little extra but don't want to go overboard. Hehe overboard...

That's punny!

 

[Cambsuk]

Thanks for the welcome. I am considering the FE...but a little concerned about getting everything there since we are flying in.

Bought some scarves and a coat and boots for my daughter and I last night, I wonder how cold it will get. Will most of you bring Rainboots?

I added our info to your list, can't wait to get to know you all better.

 

[DisFamilyRobinson]

What is your favorite thing you have eaten on a previous cruise with DCL?

Absolutely without question, Palo's Chocolate Souffle:
http://www.chocolateatlas.com/Chocolate_Recipes/S004 Palo Chocolate Souffle.htm

I've been meaning to try the recipe ever since they sent it out to castaway clubbers... but part of me wants to just keep it as a special treat I only enjoy on the cruise

 

[maggie blossom]

Thanks for the welcome. I am considering the FE...but a little concerned about getting everything there since we are flying in.

Bought some scarves and a coat and boots for my daughter and I last night, I wonder how cold it will get. Will most of you bring Rainboots?

I added our info to your list, can't wait to get to know you all better.

We are doing FE and flying; flying across the country for that matter. We did FE on our last cruise and flew to Fla. What I can tell you I learned is to consider the weight and bulk of what you choose as your FE gifts. Believe it or not what brought us down last time was candy! We had boxes and packages of candy, particularly for the teens for the movies. Candy is heavy. We are thinking about size and weight as we plan our gifts this time.

We won't bring rainboots, way too bulky. But we will bring some kind of shoe that is waterproof or can get wet. I may actually go with plain 'ole keens as they can really get wet, and muddy if need be, and will dry out nicely. And they are great for tons of walking.

 

[Luv_Tink]

Bought some scarves and a coat and boots for my daughter and I last night, I wonder how cold it will get. Will most of you bring Rainboots?

We won't be bringing rain boots. I'll likely pack my waterproof boots that I take camping and DD's will have their imitation Ugg style boots.

 

[jadedjojo]

Bought some scarves and a coat and boots for my daughter and I last night, I wonder how cold it will get. Will most of you bring Rainboots?

We aren't bringing rain boots either. I bought nice insulated waterproof hiking boots, and hubby bought some hiking boots that we are going to scotchguard. Luggage was of concern for us since we are flying in, so hubby will be wearing his boots on the plane, and mine will be checked since I will look like a moron boarding a plane with furry insulated hiking boots in 90 degree Orlando weather . I even had to leave my recently bought puffy vest out of the luggage due to room constraints. It took up half of the suitcase!! Judging by the weather research I've done, I don't expect it will be particularly COLD cold, just a good chance of rain. Very, very, very excited!! We are packed and ready to go!

 

[Cambsuk]

Maybe the Rain boots are a bit much, can you tell we are from Calfornia and have no need for anything beyond flip flops and sneakers...Ill have to see about waterproof boots.

btw my favorite thing to eat on the Disney Cruise...the Osso Bucco @ Palo and the hash browns at breakfast.

 

[gotomu212]

We are all going to wear our coats onto the plane since they would take up one whole suitcase. We will of course look like total idiots with coats in August, but I plan on talking very loudly about going to Alaska so everyone will overhear and stop staring.
Did I mention it's going to be 107 degrees here in KC tomorrow- I can't even imagine the weather in August?

 

[Doodles811]

I haven't thought about packing yet. I keep checking the weather in Alaska so I'm still not sure exactly what to bring. Going to pack the boots and jackets in those "Space Bags" - hope they have a vacuume on board to shrink them back down before we leave the ship otherwise I'll be the one selling coats and boots at the airport.

TWO MONTHS TO GO!!!!!!!

 

[Clotho]

Hello all,

Hubby and I are taking our very first cruise on this Aug 27th Alaska sailing (37 and 38, child-free, already put our names on the spreadsheet, not sure if we are qualified to FE...). We have been to Disneyland many times, and Disney World a few times as well--we love the Disney experience and my husband is blessed to be employed by Disney here in Seattle to boot. As Seattelites we were already eager to try and get a cruise while the boat was right at our doorstep. However, in April of this year, hubby was diagnosed with cancer, and immediately began intensive chemotherapy. All plans had to be put on indefinite hiatus, uncertain how he would feel, how long his chemo would end up being, etc.

I am happy to say that he just finished his last round of chemo last week, and while he still has a ways to go until he feels healthy and energetic again, his CT scans look great and indicate his cancer has been beaten back! As soon as he was feeling well enough to talk about making any future plans, the first thing he did was start looking at cruise availability. We are celebrating the end of his chemo in STYLE. We feel hopeful that his energy will be up enough and health returned enough to really enjoy the excursions we hope to do, enjoy all the food, take in the shows and of course RELAX some, too.

QUESTION FOR Y'ALL!
Being foodies, we are eager to get to enjoy Palo as our big hurrah-screw-you-cancer dinner; but being complete cruise-noobs, we have no idea how to decide which night we should book our celebratory dinner. We don't want to make a silly mistake of
a) overlapping with a cool activity--like pirate night Yaaar!
b) overlapping on formal night--we love dressing up, and since we plan to dress up for Palo already, we don't want to overlap two opportunities to dress up!, or
c) missing out on another culinary experience we are looking forward to--Animator's Palette is an experience we don't want to miss

I am guessing nobody gets their dining rotation information until you get on board? So that means C isn't really something we can avoid. Let us know if I am wrong about that. However, I believe I have seen elsewhere that the dress rotation is the same across the cruise itineraries? So we could at least be able to know when formal night is, and hopefully the night on which events like pirate's night fall on are also predictable? If so, what/where is this info?

Sorry this got so long. Just looking for any insight or resources your more experienced cruisers might be able to offer up. Thanks for reading!

 

[jadedjojo]

a) overlapping with a cool activity--like pirate night Yaaar!
b) overlapping on formal night--we love dressing up, and since we plan to dress up for Palo already, we don't want to overlap two opportunities to dress up!, or
c) missing out on another culinary experience we are looking forward to--Animator's Palette is an experience we don't want to miss

I am so sorry to hear about your husband Clotho. But I am happy to hear that he is responding well to treatment, and that you get to celebrate his recovery in a very grand way!! Welcome to our cruise group!!

There's a FB page for our cruise group where a lot of info has been posted. https://www.facebook.com/groups/306867739393733/ According to the "Cruise at a Glance" from May, Formal night is Tuesday (the day at sea) and
Pirate night is Friday (the day we are in Juneau). Things may change, but in my experience they rarely do. As far as Animator's Palate goes, you will be there atleast twice because of dining rotation, but you will only see the show the first time. Because of this, I would suggest booking Animator's Palate on Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday, so you don't miss Pirate Night and you can enjoy the show at Animator's Palate. If anyone has had an experience with not seeing the show first, please jump in! I just have always had it in the first rotation. I would definitely call reservations and see if they can tell you your dining rotation. We've made specific requests in the past, and they are usually very accommodating!

If you need any help at all with anything, let us know! Most of us are experienced DCL cruisers, and we are all happy to give advice and help!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hello all,

Hubby and I are taking our very first cruise on this Aug 27th Alaska sailing (37 and 38, child-free, already put our names on the spreadsheet, not sure if we are qualified to FE...). We have been to Disneyland many times, and Disney World a few times as well--we love the Disney experience and my husband is blessed to be employed by Disney here in Seattle to boot. As Seattelites we were already eager to try and get a cruise while the boat was right at our doorstep. However, in April of this year, hubby was diagnosed with cancer, and immediately began intensive chemotherapy. All plans had to be put on indefinite hiatus, uncertain how he would feel, how long his chemo would end up being, etc.

I am happy to say that he just finished his last round of chemo last week, and while he still has a ways to go until he feels healthy and energetic again, his CT scans look great and indicate his cancer has been beaten back! As soon as he was feeling well enough to talk about making any future plans, the first thing he did was start looking at cruise availability. We are celebrating the end of his chemo in STYLE. We feel hopeful that his energy will be up enough and health returned enough to really enjoy the excursions we hope to do, enjoy all the food, take in the shows and of course RELAX some, too.

QUESTION FOR Y'ALL!
Being foodies, we are eager to get to enjoy Palo as our big hurrah-screw-you-cancer dinner; but being complete cruise-noobs, we have no idea how to decide which night we should book our celebratory dinner. We don't want to make a silly mistake of
a) overlapping with a cool activity--like pirate night Yaaar!
b) overlapping on formal night--we love dressing up, and since we plan to dress up for Palo already, we don't want to overlap two opportunities to dress up!, or
c) missing out on another culinary experience we are looking forward to--Animator's Palette is an experience we don't want to miss

I am guessing nobody gets their dining rotation information until you get on board? So that means C isn't really something we can avoid. Let us know if I am wrong about that. However, I believe I have seen elsewhere that the dress rotation is the same across the cruise itineraries? So we could at least be able to know when formal night is, and hopefully the night on which events like pirate's night fall on are also predictable? If so, what/where is this info?

Sorry this got so long. Just looking for any insight or resources your more experienced cruisers might be able to offer up. Thanks for reading!

First, I just want to wish your dh the best of health in the future & glad to hear you can still cruise, now with so much more to celebrate!

2nd: As for booking Palo, I would avoid booking the last night; that is usually busy with packing. I haven't cruised a 7nt on the Wonder but on the Magic, Formal night was always the 1st sea day.
Personally, I would avoid booking Palo on our day in Skagway. That's our 1 day with a long stay in port and I wouldn't want to have to cut it short for dinner. jmho.
I don't know exactly when Pirate night is on the Alaskan cruises. I have heard there won't be fireworks on the Alaskan cruises which is the part of the pirate night my family enjoys most. Because of that, I haven't been paying attention to when pirate night will be.
Maybe someone else has more info there.

Have a great cruise!!!

 

[damiel]

Really Small world. I am on the August 27th cruise also. I work on lower base at Bangor.

Stop by and say Hi - I work @ KCU on Bangor and also @ Keyport.

 

[damiel]

If you have a child and are participating in the FE exchange, can you please tell me what your child's name is and their favorite disney character? If you need to PM me this info that is totally fine. It's for their gift!

Not sure if my DS counts as a child or not - he just turned 15 confused:I can't believe he's 15, I'm not that old...) Eli is a classic and loves any of the Fab 5.

 

[damiel]

So I finally went on to do online check in, Palo, and port adventures. Given that I was a little later I was surprised to see that the second earliest port arrival was available, Palo had TONS of openings, and all the port adventures are still open. It made me wonder so I searched the reservations and it looks like there is still tons of availability in almost every category.

Does that seem odd to anyone else? I thought the last Alaska cruise with Labor Day weekend would be really full but now I'm wonder if it will be a ghost ship. hehe

Where did you search reservations? I was looking around myself in hopes of getting an upgrade and I didn't see too many cabins left.
Could they have sold that many in a week?

 

[Cambsuk]

Hello all,

QUESTION FOR Y'ALL!
Being foodies, we are eager to get to enjoy Palo as our big hurrah-screw-you-cancer dinner; but being complete cruise-noobs, we have no idea how to decide which night we should book our celebratory dinner. We don't want to make a silly mistake of
a) overlapping with a cool activity--like pirate night Yaaar!
b) overlapping on formal night--we love dressing up, and since we plan to dress up for Palo already, we don't want to overlap two opportunities to dress up!, or
c) missing out on another culinary experience we are looking forward to--Animator's Palette is an experience we don't want to miss
. Thanks for reading!

I am so happy to hear your husband is doing better and that you are going to be sailing with us!

As for Palo, get online ASAP and book the Brunch. This is our 5th cruise and I have never been able to book it (until this cruise!) I have heard NOTHING but good things about it and it takes place during the at Sea days so you don't miss anything and you would still be able to have dinner at Palo on another night!

I believe you can join the FE even if you don't have kids.

 

[Keurigirl]

Hello all,

Hubby and I are taking our very first cruise on this Aug 27th Alaska sailing (37 and 38, child-free, already put our names on the spreadsheet, not sure if we are qualified to FE...). We have been to Disneyland many times, and Disney World a few times as well--we love the Disney experience and my husband is blessed to be employed by Disney here in Seattle to boot. As Seattelites we were already eager to try and get a cruise while the boat was right at our doorstep. However, in April of this year, hubby was diagnosed with cancer, and immediately began intensive chemotherapy. All plans had to be put on indefinite hiatus, uncertain how he would feel, how long his chemo would end up being, etc.

I am happy to say that he just finished his last round of chemo last week, and while he still has a ways to go until he feels healthy and energetic again, his CT scans look great and indicate his cancer has been beaten back! As soon as he was feeling well enough to talk about making any future plans, the first thing he did was start looking at cruise availability. We are celebrating the end of his chemo in STYLE. We feel hopeful that his energy will be up enough and health returned enough to really enjoy the excursions we hope to do, enjoy all the food, take in the shows and of course RELAX some, too.

QUESTION FOR Y'ALL!
Being foodies, we are eager to get to enjoy Palo as our big hurrah-screw-you-cancer dinner; but being complete cruise-noobs, we have no idea how to decide which night we should book our celebratory dinner. We don't want to make a silly mistake of
a) overlapping with a cool activity--like pirate night Yaaar!
b) overlapping on formal night--we love dressing up, and since we plan to dress up for Palo already, we don't want to overlap two opportunities to dress up!, or
c) missing out on another culinary experience we are looking forward to--Animator's Palette is an experience we don't want to miss

I am guessing nobody gets their dining rotation information until you get on board? So that means C isn't really something we can avoid. Let us know if I am wrong about that. However, I believe I have seen elsewhere that the dress rotation is the same across the cruise itineraries? So we could at least be able to know when formal night is, and hopefully the night on which events like pirate's night fall on are also predictable? If so, what/where is this info?

Sorry this got so long. Just looking for any insight or resources your more experienced cruisers might be able to offer up. Thanks for reading!

Welcome to the group!! Celebration is definitely in order for the two of you!

Also, feel free to join the FE group! The link to the facebook group and the group spreadsheet are in the thread on the previous page (I'd get it but I'm on my phone). If you need FE ideas or help there are lots of threads on the DIS about it - I can get you links if you need me to!