Disney Wonder September 3, 2012. Seattle to Vancouver 7 night Alaska Cruise!

[lesabrowning]

Hi Donna,
Welcome to our group! My husband and I live between So. California. and Spokane, WA but are originally from So. California. We will be cruising with our daughter Macy who is 10 and will be thrilled to see two more kids on this cruise! (Our kid group is pretty small at this point) If you have any questions, jump right in, this is a great group of people here, some with lots of cruising experience : )
Lesa

 

[mompaq]

Just a reminder to everyone ...

The FE list is closed. No new groups will be added. Any request will be forwarded to all participants and if they can add you they will email you directly.

Thanks

Hi All , We are so excited, We just booked ourselves on this cruise. I have read through some on this thread and will catch myself up. I need to book excursions. If anyone has a STRONG reccommendation, please let me know as i have not educated myself yet. I will be traveling wih DH, DS (11) and DD(8). I se that the FE list is closed, if that changes, please let me know. I know my kids look forward to this every cruise. I look forward to meeting you! Donna

Welcome California Cruisers! My adult daughter and myself are traveling together and would be willing to add you to our Fe list. My other children, booked another room (Cinderelley) and would also be willing to add you to their FE list. If you would like to exchange with us and my other children, just send me a pm with your information. Only 3 weeks to go!

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

Would anyone local be willing to bring my family a case of water for the cruise? We would obviously pay you for it and I'll send an extra surprise.

$35 for a 24 pack of Evian water on board is to much for me. I can stick with my Arrowhead or Dasani

 

[jenf22]

Hi All , We are so excited, We just booked ourselves on this cruise. I have read through some on this thread and will catch myself up. I need to book excursions. If anyone has a STRONG reccommendation, please let me know as i have not educated myself yet. I will be traveling wih DH, DS (11) and DD(8). I se that the FE list is closed, if that changes, please let me know. I know my kids look forward to this every cruise. I look forward to meeting you! Donna

Howdy! I just added another new family to my list and got stuff for one more late addition. So I can add you to my list too. Maybe Hollywood Glitter can get you the full FE list and you can highlight those of us that can take one more? We are Phil, Jen, and Ryan (5). You can PM me your info, or PM Hollywood Glitter and she'll see about getting it out.

I picked excursions that take up most of the day, so I may not be the best one to ask. But I think we've picked good ones We're doing:
Chilkoot Charters Yukon Bus and Rail Expedition with Dog Sled
Best of Juneau
Bear Country and Wilderness Expedition (I think that's what it's called)
They all have a start time basically of our in port time. I figure that gives us 2-3 hours to explore the town before we have to get back on the ship for our early dinner. Good luck and welcome!

 

[mellers]

Hi All , We are so excited, We just booked ourselves on this cruise. I have read through some on this thread and will catch myself up. I need to book excursions. If anyone has a STRONG reccommendation, please let me know as i have not educated myself yet. I will be traveling wih DH, DS (11) and DD(8). I se that the FE list is closed, if that changes, please let me know. I know my kids look forward to this every cruise. I look forward to meeting you! Donna

I would recommend, if possible at this late date, that you check out independent operators from Disney--they are usually much less pricy.

 

[mellers]

Hi Donna,

I'm also from socal (and also booked within the last week). Have you figured out your logistics yet? When I went on an Alaskan cruise in 98, we flew up and sailed on the same day, but this time I'm more chicken and flying in the day before... I'm way too afraid of flight delays. That is as far as I've gotten... need to find hotel and transportation - so I haven't even had a chance to look at activities in the ports yet.

There are no hotels close to the port--it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. However, it's pretty inexpensive to get a taxi there--the cheapest taxis are usually Eastside for Hire and we've had pretty good luck with them. That is probably how we're getting to the port.

As to the best place to stay, that depends on the ages and interests of those visiting. If you're flying in the day before, and your primary interest is shopping, I would probably suggest staying in Bellevue. While the cost to get to the port will be higher, the cost of your hotel room will be a lot lower, which will help your overall costs. Also, you can get to downtown Bellevue in one bus from Sea-Tac--the Sound Transit 560--just make sure you take the one that says "Bellevue" and not the one that says "West Seattle".

The Courtyard by Marriott Bellevue is about two blocks from the Bellevue Transit Center, and the Sheraton Bellevue will pick up from Meydenbauer Center across the street. Lincoln Square, a nearby shopping center, has a Chihuly installation, and there is a Lego Store and Disney Store in Bellevue Square. There is also a great deal of upscale shopping in the area.

If your primary aim is to see the Seattle sights, I would stay downtown or near Seattle Center--Seattle Center has the EMP, Ride the Ducks, the Children's Museum, the Pacific Science Center, the monorail, and, of course, the Space Needle, and Downtown has the waterfront, the aquarium, and Pike Place Market. It's pretty easy to take the monorail between the two. You can reach downtown easily on the Light Rail from the airport.

Unfortunately, I usually just take a bus or taxi into Seattle, so I don't have a hotel recommendation. In general, Silver Cloud Inns are a good choice, and a lot of people have had good things to say about the Inn at the Market

At any rate, we hope you enjoy your visit!

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

There has been some confusion in regards to late-comers to the FE list. I want everyone to have a great trip and will do what I can to include everyone

So I'm going to clarify.

The FE list is closed

However, if you are interested in seeing if someone can add you to their individual list you can email me your info and I will forward it to all the participants. If someone can add you they will email you directly with their info. This means you are putting together your own list. If you need help putting this info in a spreadsheet please contact me.

For privacy reasons I cannot send out the master list to anyone who is not on that list. I also ask that anyone who has a master list not send it out. Those people only agreed to have their information sent to the participants who signed up before the list closed.

If you are just joining the party here is the info you need to send me (Hollywood.Glitter@aol.com)

Dis Screenname:
Stateroom # (if known):
Total # of guests:
First name (and ages of children) of each guest:
Special Celebrations:
Email:
Special Issues (allergies, etc...):

 

[DizDays]

Does anyone know of a reliable cab company they can recommend in downtown Vancouver? We are going to need a cab around midnight on the 11th when we drop off a rental car. I want to make sure I have a good game plan so we're not waiting around a dark location in the middle of the night all alone. Help?

 

[Cinderelley]

Do you think its possible for a GTY status to get an upper berth if there are 3 people? I doubt it but I didn't know if they'd think about it if there were available rooms.

I emailed Disney figuring there is no harm in asking. The worst they can say is no.

 

[LaurenB]

Does anyone know of a reliable cab company they can recommend in downtown Vancouver? We are going to need a cab around midnight on the 11th when we drop off a rental car. I want to make sure I have a good game plan so we're not waiting around a dark location in the middle of the night all alone. Help?

Your best bet is Yellow Cab - they are everywhere!

 

[DizDays]

Your best bet is Yellow Cab - they are everywhere!

Thanks a bunch! That should make our life easier.

 

[Momma2Jax]

Do you think its possible for a GTY status to get an upper berth if there are 3 people? I doubt it but I didn't know if they'd think about it if there were available rooms.

I emailed Disney figuring there is no harm in asking. The worst they can say is no.

Yes, we are 3 people, and our GTY upgrade was to a 5a with the upper berth. Hope you hear soon!

 

[DizDays]

For all you past Disney cruisers, refresh my memory, please. Other than the possible supplemental tip (in addition to the pre-paid gratuities), what else does one need cash for onboard the ship? Is there anything that is cash only I should take into account as I'm planning how much I need? TIA, friends!

 

[mellers]

For all you past Disney cruisers, refresh my memory, please. Other than the possible supplemental tip (in addition to the pre-paid gratuities), what else does one need cash for onboard the ship? Is there anything that is cash only I should take into account as I'm planning how much I need? TIA, friends!

Other than the occasional supplemental tip (and we never got room service, so we never needed to deal with it), the only time we needed cash was when we were off the ship or paying the luggage gratuity.

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

For all you past Disney cruisers, refresh my memory, please. Other than the possible supplemental tip (in addition to the pre-paid gratuities), what else does one need cash for onboard the ship? Is there anything that is cash only I should take into account as I'm planning how much I need? TIA, friends!

The only time we used cash was for excursion and tip. I don't remember using it for anything else.

 

[DizDragonfly]

For all you past Disney cruisers, refresh my memory, please. Other than the possible supplemental tip (in addition to the pre-paid gratuities), what else does one need cash for onboard the ship? Is there anything that is cash only I should take into account as I'm planning how much I need? TIA, friends!

$1 bills for room service tips. Porter tips. I can't think of anything else.

 

[DizDragonfly]

I don't know anything more about this than is on their website, but I came across this when looking for port to airport transport in Vancouver.

http://www.vancouvershuttle.ca/cruise-transfers.html

Thought it may help someone who doesn't want to deal with luggage on the train to the airport, but doesn't want to pay so much for Disney transfers.

We won't be using them though. Because the Seattle port's parking lot closes so early, it looks like we are going to do a park, stay and cruise package in Seattle, instead of driving up that morning. We're going to go ahead and take the Quick Shuttle from the port to SeaTac. And then we can take the hotel's shuttle back from the SeaTac to the hotel to pick up the car.

This way we won't have to deal with getting to the airport in Vancouver to pick up the rental car and taking a taxi from the car drop point to the port to pick up my car. The added bonus is we'll get to spend a little time in Seattle. My mom hasn't done Seattle before.

 

[DizDays]

Thanks everyone! I was racking my brain but couldn't think of any cash outlays from the last cruise, except for tips. I feel better now that I'm not forgetting something.

 

[Momma2Jax]

We are planning on bringing a bunch of $1 bills for room slice tips and porters, if we use them. We may also bring some cash to add to tip envelopes as needed.

 

[Thnlk]

Has anybody who booked GTY gotten a room assignment?