Disney Wonder June 12th 2023 - 7 night Alaska cruise

[PlutoDisney]

Hi all,
Our sail date is getting closer and closer with our excitement levels rising, so I thought it was time to see if anyone else will be joining us (mum, sister and me) on this cruise.

 

[sadiecatie]

We will be on this sailing! Our group is me and my DH (both 37) and our DD (8). This is our first cruise ever - we're very excited! Alaska was a bucket-list trip for my husband, and we're a Disney family so this seemed like a no-brainer way to make it happen when we started to look into options. My daughter is excited for the kids clubs and is hoping to find a friend to play with during the week. (she can be shy sometimes, but she's also an only child who is well-practiced at finding playmates in different settings )

 

[behappyJules]

My family is on this sailing, as well. DH and I have cruised before - but not on Disney. Our kids DS (will turn 15 on the cruise) and DD (13) have never cruised before. Alaska was on my bucket list, as well as DCL. We are a Disney family, so everyone is excited!

 

[thebacksideofwater]

Hi! We are on this cruise. 5th Disney cruise, our first Alaska cruise on any line. Our DDs are 15, 12, and 8.

 

[PlutoDisney]

This will be our 6th Disney cruise but first to Alaska (very excited about this), never been to Vancouver before either so more new things to see and do. We will also be celebrating a 40th birthday mid cruise. We are travelling from Australia so staying in Vancouver for 2 days before the cruise and 5 days after the cruise. We managed to book all the excursions that we wanted so now we just have to wait for check-in day to arrive.

 

[thebacksideofwater]

How is everyone doing with excursions? We just booked ours at the 90-day mark and got what we wanted through Disney. We had already booked dog sledding on the glacier at Juneau through another tour operator we were recommended (and saved $200/pp!). It's sold out for the cruise so if that is something you want, you might want to book through the tour operator before they sell out too.

 

[sadiecatie]

We’re booking all excursions separately - from what I’ve read, the Alaskan tour companies are very reliable (and often the exact same thing you’re doing through DCL, just cheaper - or, smaller groups, which we prefer).

We’re booked for whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier through Juneau Whale Watch - they offer a flexible shuttle to and from the glacier after the whale watching trip, so you can spend as much or as little time at Mendenhall as you want (we want to hike to Nugget Falls and don’t want to feel rushed).

Planning to book the Yukon Rail and Bus excursion through Chilkoot Charters for Skagway. And then playing Ketchikan by ear (maybe grab tickets for the lumberjack show and then just shop/sightsee).

 

[PlutoDisney]

We booked all our excursions through DCL as everyone in the family prefers it that way and the price comparison was only about $50pp more expensive with DCL. We haven't been on vacation since before COVID so that has allowed us to save a good chunk of money to spend a little extra, plus we have the view that we will only do this trip once (at least that's the plan lol) so will try it all. We are currently booked on the following excursions:
Glacier day: Glacier explorer
Skagway: Yukon suspension bridge, city and White Pass railway
Juneau: Enchanted Taku glacier lodge flight and 5-glacier seaplane discovery
Ketchikan: Misty Fjords & wilderness explorer

 

[behappyJules]

We booked our excursions separately.
Skagway: Chilkoot Horseback Adventure and Skagway Sled Dog and Musher's Camp
Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier Ice Adventure Tour
Ketchikan: Kayak Eco Tour

 

[sadiecatie]

For those already able to book, what’s the Palo availability looking like? (She asks with trepidation )

 

[PlutoDisney]

For those already able to book, what’s the Palo availability looking like? (She asks with trepidation )

Not sure if you are looking for Palo brunch or Palo dinner but I just had a quick look now and this is what I found (based on booking for 2 people, more people may decrease availability):
Vancouver day (12th) - multiple dinner times available
Sea day (13th) - brunch SOLD OUT, few dinner times available
Glacier day (14th) - few brunch times available, multiple dinner times available
Skagway (15th) - multiple dinner times available
Juneau (16th) - multiple dinner times available
Ketchikan (17th) - only giving me 20:30 for dinner
Sea day 2 (18th) - doesn't say sold out but not showing any available brunch times, multiple dinner times available

 

[disney4bb]

We will be on our second trip on the Wonder to Alaska, the first time being in 2011. This time is without kids for our 30th wedding anniversary!

 

[disney4bb]

We booked our excursions separately.
Skagway: Chilkoot Horseback Adventure and Skagway Sled Dog and Musher's Camp
Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier Ice Adventure Tour
Ketchikan: Kayak Eco Tour

Is the cruise leaving on the 12th going to Skagway?

 

[sadiecatie]

Is the cruise leaving on the 12rh going to Skagway?

Yes - the 12-19 is the standard itinerary of stops for glacier day, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. (as opposed to the alternate DCL does for a small number of sailings going to Icy Strait Point).

 

[disney4bb]

Yes - the 12-19 is the standard itinerary of stops for glacier day, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. (as opposed to the alternate DCL does for a small number of sailings going to Icy Strait Point).

Thank you, I saw on the website that one was stopping at the Point and I mistook that as our cruise.

 

[sadiecatie]

We got our luggage tags today! Makes it feels really real!

 

[behappyJules]

We got our luggage tags today! Makes it feels really real!

We did too! So exciting!

 

[PlutoDisney]

We got our luggage tags today! Makes it feels really real!

We did too! So exciting!

This is so exciting to hear. Unfortunately for us we will not likely receive our luggage tags until we return from our vacation, curse international snail mail!

Also, only just over 2 weeks now until online check in opens

 

[PlutoDisney]

Well, we finally managed to complete our online check-in on Monday despite a very tense and stressful hour. PAT of 12:00 and boarding group 10. Our dramas were personal detail related rather than IT related, only blue circle of death occurred in the first 5 minutes after check-in opened but then worked perfectly. So happy DCL is now cruising to Australia with it's own dedicated phone number as we needed to call DCL to fix our issues which otherwise would have meant waiting an additional 8hrs until US DCL phone line opened.
Bookings for Princess gathering still only opens at 30 days out so any first time cruisers have the same opportunity as anyone else to book.
Good luck to all others yet to check in.

 

[PlutoDisney]

I know that time is against us with the cruise now just over a month away but I wanted to put the feelers out to see if anyone would like to participate in a small scale FE/gift exchange. I know there are some within this group that have not cruised before so would not have a Fish Extender ready or necessarily have time to get one. Gifts could easily be left attached to stateroom doors with magnets or hung from the fish in any kind of bag with a string/handle. I am suggesting something simple and cheap, like keyrings; magnets; postcards, something that represents where you are from (city, state or country) or Disney related. You can decide if you gift each member of a stateroom or the stateroom as a whole, no expectations.