August 2, 2011 - WONDERful Alaskan Adventure

[motherofallfans]

Has anyone else noticed that our cruise keeps dipping in & out of inventory? Currently only one category showing available... Yesterday there was nothing. All indications are for a full ship. I've never sailed on a full ship.

 

[joycsk]

Has anyone else noticed that our cruise keeps dipping in & out of inventory? Currently only one category showing available... Yesterday there was nothing. All indications are for a full ship. I've never sailed on a full ship.

I've only ever sailed on a full ship. I can't make a comparison, obviously, but it isn't too terrrible. Animator's Palate can get very loud, but that's my main grump. The pools are ridiculous in the Carribbean, but I doubt it will be a problem in AK.

 

[PE_TCR]

Same here. Being a teacher I can only travel at "peak" times. The ship has always been full but it never seemed crowded. Things will be fine. The more the merrier.

 

[SCFamily4]

I am hoping that most "tourist" places will be open on Monday. We get in at about noon from the train so we will be headed right to Grouse Mountain as soon as we check in.
If you decide to take the train Monday morning let me know. We can all meet up there and go together. We have our tickets purchased already.

We are planning to take the Amtrak from Seattle on Monday am as well. Perhaps we can meet up! I haven't purchased tickets yet ... Will do soon.

 

[motherofallfans]

I am hoping that most "tourist" places will be open on Monday.

I'm sure only the banks will be affected but you will likely see more traffic and crowds. Everything you'll be looking to do should be still be open.

Recommendations:
Vancouver Aquarium & Stanley Park
Grousse Mtn
English Bay Beach (but not on Gay Pride Day) - great sunset views
Kitsilano Beach (out of downtown)

Restaurants:
White Spot (2 downtown locations:Georgia St at Cardero St and Georgia at Seymour)

If you're renting or have a car, I also recommend driving out to UBC and stopping at any of the beaches on the way as well as the Museum of Anthropology.

And just in case you weren't already aware, we have a very high sales tax (12%) and liquor and gasoline are taxed even more (gas = >$5/gal.)

 

[SmilingGrump]

Howdy all!

I just found this thread and I'm really excited to see that so many DISers are going to be onboard with us! Myself, DW, DD(6), DD(3), as well as my parents, brother, his wife, and their 4 children will also be onboard. My wife and father are both celebrating birthdays (36 & 70) and my folks will also be celebrating their 42nd anniversary so it's going to be a fun time!

I've never been to Alaska but I grew up to the NE of it so it will be interesting to see the SW coast

I've sent in a request to be added to the FB page.

Count us in for FE and Secret Mickey. We've never done anything like that, but it sounds WONDERful

 

[Skiboy116]

We fly in early Sunday, staying at the Hampton on Robson, planning on Grouse Mtn on Monday. Sunday is jet-lag from the east coast day, Monday should be better! Everybody here is excited about this trip!

Going looking on facebook next.

 

[SanDiegoSteph]

Jordak, over on the DISigners board, was kind enough to create these August 2-9, 2011 Alaska cruise designs for me and I wanted to share them in case any of you wanted to use them for anything for our cruise (Just click on the link and it will take you to his photobucket site where you can download).

http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/...Designs/?action=view&current=hotchocolate.jpg

http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/...ed Designs/?action=view&current=AlaskaMap.jpg

Enjoy and give great accolades to Jordak if you get a chance!

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

First, awesome art!! Nice job! Do we have an "official" cruise design, or are we going with those? They are awesome!

Second, we finally booked airfare from BWI to Seattle today. The prices on Southwest dropped this morning to below $200, and we had $70 in credits for each of us. So our BWI to Seattle leg was only $525 for all 4 of us!

Still trying to figure out how to get up to Vancouver Monday. i wanted to take the train, but it leaves at 7:40am, so I need to figure out transportation...any suggestions?

Also, we made our final payment today! ouch But so very excited!!

Also, I have asked before, but just haven't found it. Do we have an FE list, am I on it and if not, is it too late?

Looking forward to sailing soon! We get to book excursions on April 19th

 

[joycsk]

First, awesome art!! Nice job! Do we have an "official" cruise design, or are we going with those? They are awesome!

Second, we finally booked airfare from BWI to Seattle today. The prices on Southwest dropped this morning to below $200, and we had $70 in credits for each of us. So our BWI to Seattle leg was only $525 for all 4 of us!

Still trying to figure out how to get up to Vancouver Monday. i wanted to take the train, but it leaves at 7:40am, so I need to figure out transportation...any suggestions?

Also, we made our final payment today! ouch But so very excited!!

Also, I have asked before, but just haven't found it. Do we have an FE list, am I on it and if not, is it too late?

Looking forward to sailing soon! We get to book excursions on April 19th

Brian has been organizing an FE, but it's on Facebook. For my own selfish reasons, I've been wanting to add one here. Maybe we could leave the names on FB, but have cabins and numbers of people here?

Sadly, we don't seem to have invented either a name or logo for our cruise. Any and all suggestions are welcome! Happy Tuesday - and I feel you about the final payment!

 

[PE_TCR]

I just have it on facebook because of the ability to only allow those on our cruise to access the information. If you want the information I can e-mail it to you if you don't have a facebook page. Let me know.
It looks like we might have a small group all going to Vancouver on the train. Anyone want to arange a "train meeting"? We leave Monday at 7 am.

 

[CarolAnnC]

We are still tossing around the idea of renting a car..just seems to be more convenient. Lugging all my luggage on a train is scaring me, lol.

Hope everyone is well!

 

[cwdefouw]

Got all of our Palo Dining reservations, Spa Treatments and Excursions booked at 12:01 last night. No problems getting everything we wanted. Also did online check-in this morning. They are doing the "Arrival Time" selections for Vancouver as well. We were able to grab a 10:30-11:00 slot. I knew that Gold status would be good for something.

 

[CarolAnnC]

John and I had booked ours as we are Platinum, my DD is Gold so I had to go on last night and book her excursions so we would all be together. Fortunately, that all worked out fine.

We have a Palo brunch and dinner (one will be complimentary for Platinum) and we will preboard, so not too worried about check in yet.

Got our first choices in excursions, so we are excited now!

 

[nanaguide]

We too got all our ressies last night. It was a "walk in the park". I was so glad. I need to check-in in the morning. I was surprised that all the Palo slots were open for dinner, brunch, and tea. I hope I picked the right nights. The only problem I had was trying to book the Bering Crab excursion and the Lumberjack Show - they overlap by 15 minutes. I think I'll book the Lumberjack show on my own. Does anyone know which dock we are at in Ketchikan? One dock is 5 minutes away and the farthest dock is a 15 minute walk. I'm sure we can fit it all in but just want to be prepared. I did notice our excursion times for August are not the same as the May cruise excursion times. I had everything planned according to the May schedule so needed to make adjustments. I'm happy! I'm ready to cruise - enjoy Canada and Alaska

 

[kate2961]

Hi all! We recently had to change our cruise dates so we won't be able to join everyone on this one.

Hope you all have a great cruise.

Kate

 

[CCGMatt]

Hello!

My mother and I will be on this cruise, too! This will be my 3rd Disney cruise (2nd this year!) and my mother's first cruise ever. We are both avid Disney fans, and can't wait! Only 99 days to go as of today!

I asked to join the FB group today, so I will look and see what's going on over there.

I've never been aware of FE activities on my prior cruises, but since I found DISboards, it looks like fun! We can probably come up with something to participate!

See you all soon!

Matt

 

[PE_TCR]

I will finalize the FE a week from today. Let me know if there are any additions or deletions. We can add a few later but I know people want to get things prepared for it.

 

[CCGMatt]

The FB group won't currently let me add anything to the FE thread, so please count us in!

Bailey - (Matt and Sharon) - 7505

 

[M&C]

I'm anxiously waiting for May 3rd, 9:00 pm. That's when we can book excursions! Sometimes, it's kinda nice to be on the west coast.