August 16, 2011 – 7 Night Alaska Sailing

[Inkmahm]

I'm glad you enjoyed the luggage handle cover! They definitely do make it easier to spot the luggage, except when you are traveling with others in the FE group and think you have spotted your luggage, but it isn't!

I too loved the cross-stitched mickey ornament - we also collect ornaments from all of our trips and this was a really nice addition to our collection Plus I know it was alot of work to make and wanted to let the person who created it know how much it is appreciated

I would rate the cruise a 9 out of 10, as I was really disppointed that we couldn't walk on the glacier. I know it is not Disney's fault, but since it is all considered a part of the trip and I did miss out this excursion , I just couldn't rate it a 10.

We did have a couple of funny incidents with our servers, as there was a language barrier. One time he asked how my meal was, and I told him it was really dry (chicken) and his response was "very good" and on he went to the next person - we laughed so hard we were practically crying For the most part the service was grand. My DH misses our assistant server and a full glass of iced tea - we are definitely having withdrawals here

Our servers were pretty funny! I liked you asking for more pepper on your veggies and getting more veggies instead.

Dynaguy (DH) and I really enjoyed sitting with you and your DH at dinner (and at lunch the first day). I wish we'd have been there for more nights than we were but thankful that Palo took us for 3 dinners. The long excursions in port just made it impossible for us to do them and eat at the early dinner seating, too.

 

[Inkmahm]

We are due to receive Irene starting around 7:00 pm or so tonight with the worst winds/rain being overnight. Tornadic activity is predicted for our area of the state so that is a new worry. We do have plenty of water, batteries, flashlights, lanterns, food, etc. Removed all the patio furniture and made sure nothing in the yard can turn into a missile. Last hurricane we rode out was at the Poly when we were diverted to WDW from the cruise since Hurricane Jeanne keep the Magic out at sea extra days. Raining pretty hard right now.

News coverage of the storm is 24/7.

MJ

Best of luck to you and all the other east coast DISers. I've been watching the Weather Channel and I'm amazed at how big Irene is. It will cover SO many people that I know in that part of the country. Prayers for all of you for safety and as little damage as possible.

Irene has made me double think our Canada cruise with DCL next August out of NYC. I never even gave a thought to hurricane season when I booked it.

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Best of luck to you and all the other east coast DISers. I've been watching the Weather Channel and I'm amazed at how big Irene is. It will cover SO many people that I know in that part of the country. Prayers for all of you for safety and as little damage as possible.

Irene has made me double think our Canada cruise with DCL next August out of NYC. I never even gave a thought to hurricane season when I booked it.

If it makes you feel any better, from what the news has been saying, hurricanes very rarely make it that far north. It would be very cool to see the OTHER side of Canada!

I am just trying to suck up as much internet time as possible before I loose power. Usually I like to think positive, but if you listen to the media (and our power company) it seems outages are inevitable.

Also, we had wonderful servers this time around. Mladen from Serbia, Cesar from Mexico and Tektas was the manager. And it Palo, Mariana from Argentina (we were able to snag the last brunch reservation!) and ANOTHER Mladen for dinner.

 

[siburdue]

Our servers were pretty funny! I liked you asking for more pepper on your veggies and getting more veggies instead.

Dynaguy (DH) and I really enjoyed sitting with you and your DH at dinner (and at lunch the first day). I wish we'd have been there for more nights than we were but thankful that Palo took us for 3 dinners. The long excursions in port just made it impossible for us to do them and eat at the early dinner seating, too.

We are still laughing about the extra veggies! Our servers did their best to keep us happy, but I believe they had a limited understanding of english, which at times was a hinderance, not that we let it bother us at all. We liked Miguel and Scott really loved Baiba as she brought him lots of iced tea. I think he misses her terribly

You were great table mates. It was wonderful to get your food reviews, and the excursion reviews, too. Plus, you both took great photos of us at the character breakfast Who could ask for more in a table mate? Hope we can hook up again in the future. Maybe you should come back to the west coast and go to Disneyland with us next year

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We have been very lucky. Thousands of people have lost power, but we only had flickers overnight. We still have cable, internet and for us the storm is nearly passed. There are some small downed branches, but we clearly didn't get the brunt of the storm.

 

[Inkmahm]

We are still laughing about the extra veggies! Our servers did their best to keep us happy, but I believe they had a limited understanding of english, which at times was a hinderance, not that we let it bother us at all. We liked Miguel and Scott really loved Baiba as she brought him lots of iced tea. I think he misses her terribly

You were great table mates. It was wonderful to get your food reviews, and the excursion reviews, too. Plus, you both took great photos of us at the character breakfast Who could ask for more in a table mate? Hope we can hook up again in the future. Maybe you should come back to the west coast and go to Disneyland with us next year

Hey, we LIKE Disneyland! We were just there in January. Will return once the new Cars stuff is open in CA.

 

[godalejunior]

I agree with everyone that the FE gifts were great! Even the "big" kids enjoyed participating. Thanks to everyone!

Being from the east, we missed the earthquake. I didn't feel Thursday morning's aftershock that I know of, but I did awaken, so maybe I did feel it. It was awful to come back, go straight to work and then have to prepare for a hurricane. I am just getting to download my pics, and I am slowly unpacking & washing as I go.

I would rate the cruise about an 8 also. I LOVED the cruise portion, although, we also had slight drink issues. I was also on east coast time, so I was pretty much awake at 3am and dog tired by 10:30pm. I did stay up for a few of the late evening events, though. I think the Alaska portion was the most disappointing. Again, not Disney's fault, and not Alaska's fault either, but Mother Nature's. Those 2 days of rain killed it for me. It was so dreary, all I wanted to do was sleep. We barely did anything in Juneau or Ketchikan. We did, however, enjoy re-watching older Disney movies that we don't watch at home because they are on the dreaded VHS.

Anyway, this was our 6th DCL cruise. I had fun, but missed a lot of what I wanted to do in 2/3 of the ports. Tracy Arm was wonderful, though!

I enjoyed meeting everyone that I did. Sorry, MercoBear, Dancing Mickeys & NickCapp, I had an old list with me and couldn't find out your cabin numbers until we got to Vancouver. Hope you received the items from my parents & kids that were left at your door very early Tuesday.

Lisa

We had drink issues, serving issues and cold food issues as well. As this being our first cruise...we went in with really no expectations except how everyone of our friends talking about how amazing the food was on a cruise. My dad and his wife were on the cruise with us and have cruised other lines..this being their first Disney cruise. They said the food quality and service was very poor and that what we experienced in Palo is what it was like for them on the other cruise lines in the dining room.
I am curious what others experiences are...we intended to book a dummy date but did not do so as we were concerned it may happen again. Obviously many of you are repeat Disney cruisers.....did we just get unlucky on our trip?

 

[DumboFan]

Hope all our fellow east coast cruisers rode out the hurricane without major problems. We had some trees taken down while we were cruising so, luckily, we didn't have any damage.

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We had drink issues, serving issues and cold food issues as well. As this being our first cruise...we went in with really no expectations except how everyone of our friends talking about how amazing the food was on a cruise. My dad and his wife were on the cruise with us and have cruised other lines..this being their first Disney cruise. They said the food quality and service was very poor and that what we experienced in Palo is what it was like for them on the other cruise lines in the dining room.
I am curious what others experiences are...we intended to book a dummy date but did not do so as we were concerned it may happen again. Obviously many of you are repeat Disney cruisers.....did we just get unlucky on our trip?

Truly, your serving team can really heavily effect your dining room experience. We had wonderful servers and good food. Not amazing food, but quite good. My food was never cold, and always correct. The one time my DH's steak was undercooked the Head Server noticed and fixed it before DH had a chance to report it. If you are true foodies, maybe DCL won't meet your standards. But if not I would recommend sailing again and requesting a server that others have been happy with in the past. Especially if you really enjoyed the other aspects of the sailing. Personally, I LOVE DCL and I would never sail with anyone else, but I know many people have been happier when they shopped around. I am sorry you had bad luck.

 

[lmben]

Well, I am checking in from work, as we have no power (over 36 hours and counting by the looks of one major tree and snapped lines). I was thinking last night, how ironic, last week we were being pampered and having lobster and cold drinks and hot showers...this week we are basically camping with a bed. We are on a well, so no electric means no toilet, no shower, melting items in the fridge, no phone (FIOS only lasts 8 hours), no means to cook besides the grill, no dishwasher, etc. I think we were moved to steerage "Mickey, did we do something wrong???"

Anyway, no property damage so we will just have to rough it. Never hurt anyone, right?

As far as the x-stitched ornaments...I'm glad you all liked them. This was a long process with many changes throughout. Some just had 4 stars, but those with more than 4 stars, please look closely and see if you can figure out what they represent. (I can figure it out in my own head, but then I did the pattern...)

On a side note regarding cruising. We have done NCL & RCCL along with this being our 6th Disney cruise. As I tell family & friends, if you can afford DCL, then I would only do DCL. If the only way you can cruise is by using someone else (i.e. RCCL out of Baltimore) then just cruise. On RCCL, the service was terrible, from the servers to the nasty lady handing out towels. Also, we were very bored on the ship because we rarely gamble. They even charge you for ice cream, can you believe it? There is so much more to do on Disney, and as far as the food, I have noticed a downgrade in recent years, but it was still much better than RCCL.

Hope to check out everyone's pix soon. I downloaded most of mine, 1475 with 2 more cameras to go, but will have to wait for BGE to restore power.

Lisa

 

[siburdue]

Well, I am checking in from work, as we have no power (over 36 hours and counting by the looks of one major tree and snapped lines). I was thinking last night, how ironic, last week we were being pampered and having lobster and cold drinks and hot showers...this week we are basically camping with a bed. We are on a well, so no electric means no toilet, no shower, melting items in the fridge, no phone (FIOS only lasts 8 hours), no means to cook besides the grill, no dishwasher, etc. I think we were moved to steerage "Mickey, did we do something wrong???"

Anyway, no property damage so we will just have to rough it. Never hurt anyone, right?

As far as the x-stitched ornaments...I'm glad you all liked them. This was a long process with many changes throughout. Some just had 4 stars, but those with more than 4 stars, please look closely and see if you can figure out what they represent. (I can figure it out in my own head, but then I did the pattern...)

On a side note regarding cruising. We have done NCL & RCCL along with this being our 6th Disney cruise. As I tell family & friends, if you can afford DCL, then I would only do DCL. If the only way you can cruise is by using someone else (i.e. RCCL out of Baltimore) then just cruise. On RCCL, the service was terrible, from the servers to the nasty lady handing out towels. Also, we were very bored on the ship because we rarely gamble. They even charge you for ice cream, can you believe it? There is so much more to do on Disney, and as far as the food, I have noticed a downgrade in recent years, but it was still much better than RCCL.

Hope to check out everyone's pix soon. I downloaded most of mine, 1475 with 2 more cameras to go, but will have to wait for BGE to restore power.

Lisa

I'm going to tell my husband to quit complaining that Baiba isn't there to bring him his 5 iced teas at dinner and then clear away the dishes. You are really roughing it Glad to hear that everyone is well and there is no property damage (other than the food loss). I can't wait to see your photos. Everyone took great pictures!

I'm working on a Picaboo album for the character photos only, as I had alot of fun seeing them (stalking them is what my husband says lol).

Tonite I will check to see how many stars my ornament has on it.

Thanks

Sheri

 

[kgsmith]

Well, I am checking in from work, as we have no power (over 36 hours and counting by the looks of one major tree and snapped lines). I was thinking last night, how ironic, last week we were being pampered and having lobster and cold drinks and hot showers...this week we are basically camping with a bed. We are on a well, so no electric means no toilet, no shower, melting items in the fridge, no phone (FIOS only lasts 8 hours), no means to cook besides the grill, no dishwasher, etc. I think we were moved to steerage "Mickey, did we do something wrong???"

Anyway, no property damage so we will just have to rough it. Never hurt anyone, right?

.

Hope to check out everyone's pix soon. I downloaded most of mine, 1475 with 2 more cameras to go, but will have to wait for BGE to restore power.

Lisa

We are waiting for BGE, too! We have some Irene refugees staying with us -- My in-laws were evacuated from the Delaware shore on Friday night. The sad thing is that we made it all the way through the storm with our power intact. Then around 12:45 this morning, we lost power. BGE has stopped giving us a time estimate. Now it just says that the vast majority of customers will have power restored by Friday evening or Saturday morning. I brought the iPod, iPhone, and iPad to work today so I could charge them!

Mother Nature has been very busy on the East coast this week! We got home from Vancouver on Tuesday night to find the effects of the earthquake: a lot of things on shelves had fallen over or had fallen onto the floor. The china cabinet was a mess, but luckily nothing broke.

Anyway, on a much happier note, we had a fantastic time on the cruise. I'd give it a 10 out of 10! I'm so glad that we did the Adventures by Disney add-on. I loved all of the little extra things they did for us (and the surprises they gave to us). We enjoyed meeting you at the cruise meet in Diversions. And, we had lots of fun delivering the FE gifts. Thank you all for the great gifts! Everyone was so thoughtful.

It was very hard to leave the ship last Tuesday morning. DS misses the Oceaneer Lab -- In fact I have a photo of him crying as the CM cut off his the wristband on Monday night.

 

[mellers]

We're so sorry to hear of the East coasters roughing it due to Irene! Still, despite the inconveniences, I'm glad to hear that you are all safe.

 

[disneymath]

We are waiting for BGE, too!

<snip>

Mother Nature has been very busy on the East coast this week! We got home from Vancouver on Tuesday night to find the effects of the earthquake: a lot of things on shelves had fallen over or had fallen onto the floor. The china cabinet was a mess, but luckily nothing broke.

Anyway, on a much happier note, we had a fantastic time on the cruise. I'd give it a 10 out of 10! I'm so glad that we did the Adventures by Disney add-on. I loved all of the little extra things they did for us (and the surprises they gave to us). We enjoyed meeting you at the cruise meet in Diversions. And, we had lots of fun delivering the FE gifts. Thank you all for the great gifts! Everyone was so thoughtful.

It was very hard to leave the ship last Tuesday morning. DS misses the Oceaneer Lab -- In fact I have a photo of him crying as the CM cut off his the wristband on Monday night.

Glad to hear you made it home ok ... and that the east coast weather hasn't caused any major damage.

I agree that it was tough to leave the ship ... I can understand how your DS was so sad to leave! I'm still sorting through photos and will send the one of your family getting your gold weighed soon.

We have already told my nephews that they are coming with us next time! As expected, they weren't too happy to find out we had been on a Disney ship ... but the ongoing little "surprises" (like the bedtime chocolated we collected in our stateroom cooler) went a long way to helping them forgive us!

 

[kgsmith]

Ah, the power of chocolate!

 

[siburdue]

As far as the x-stitched ornaments...I'm glad you all liked them. This was a long process with many changes throughout. Some just had 4 stars, but those with more than 4 stars, please look closely and see if you can figure out what they represent. (I can figure it out in my own head, but then I did the pattern...)

Lisa

I just checked my ornament, and I was one of the lucky ones that had 8 stars on my ornament It is the Alaskan State Flag! Great idea! This ornament just got a little more special

Thanks

Sheri

 

[pops711]

I would rate our cruise at an 8.5...because of the food quality and the service issues. I would really like my drink before my meal is finished.

I would agree!! I our assistent server needed some help!!!! and we did have a few issues with a rude case member with the girls, but over all we had a blast!!!! We booked a dummy cruise while on the ship. now we just need to decide when and were we are going

 

[pops711]

I wanted to second this. I was very impressed by the creativity and generosity of the givers in our group. I also did a bad job of keeping my gift labels organized. I also realized I didn't put my name on the gifts we gave. I made the marble magnets.

We have your magnets on your frig they are coming in very handy My DW and I really enjoyed meeting you guys on the Misty Fjord trip. If you guys want to swap pics let me know I am sure we both took some good pics

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We have your magnets on your frig they are coming in very handy My DW and I really enjoyed meeting you guys on the Misty Fjord trip. If you guys want to swap pics let me know I am sure we both took some good pics

I would be happy to share. I will let you know when I have our photos posted somewhere.

 

[lmben]

Our power was restored yesterday morning , so I was able to finish downloading pix. A total of 1648 pix were sent for printing. If I have time this weekend, I will try to post a few. I needed to get them ordered in time for my scrapbooking weekend starting 9/9!