Disneypoor's Alaskan Cruise June 7th, 2011

[disneypoor]

Thanks Susan for the great info and trip report, it has been very helpful! Can you please PM me with Nick's info, we may try him for the day we get back from the cruise, we have most of the day before the train back to SEA.

Hi! I tried to PM you the info, but it said you didn't accept private messages. I just wanted to let you know. If you get it fixed, let me know and I'll try again.

Susan

 

[bftrainer]

I just found your TR yesterday and loved it! We don't go till June of next year but I am already excited. Yes, I too am the planner in my family. We have been DVC'ers for 5 years and love it! We have never had a regret about becoming members. I love when they welcome you home. Any way, thank you so much for the TR!

 

[disneypoor]

I just found your TR yesterday and loved it! We don't go till June of next year but I am already excited. Yes, I too am the planner in my family. We have been DVC'ers for 5 years and love it! We have never had a regret about becoming members. I love when they welcome you home. Any way, thank you so much for the TR!

I'm so glad you enjoyed my TR! Alaska was such a beautiful trip! I'm always happy to hear from other DVCer's that say they love their memberships! Did you book your cruise with points? I keep reading how it's not a good way to use your points, but I'm not opposed to it as long as I'm actually using my points every year.

Now you have me wondering, what do they do when they welcome you home? It seems so weird to call BLT home when I've never actually even been in the place!

Susan

 

[Boutilier]

Loved your trip report - we were on the June 21st sailing and loved it! That was our first cruise ever and now I have 2 more booked - Thanksgiving week on the Wonder & an Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy next September.

We are also DVC members. We bought 320 at VGC last year and just added 150 pts at AKV on the ship. We have not used pts to cruise, but I did do an RCI exchange to stay in Whistler for 2 nights prior to the cruise. I had no problems getting the reservation.

We definitely are enjoying DVC and I get especially excited when the bill comes under the door and says $0.00!! (I know it's not really free but it still makes me happy)

Jennifer

 

[disneypoor]

Loved your trip report - we were on the June 21st sailing and loved it! That was our first cruise ever and now I have 2 more booked - Thanksgiving week on the Wonder & an Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy next September.

We are also DVC members. We bought 320 at VGC last year and just added 150 pts at AKV on the ship. We have not used pts to cruise, but I did do an RCI exchange to stay in Whistler for 2 nights prior to the cruise. I had no problems getting the reservation.

We definitely are enjoying DVC and I get especially excited when the bill comes under the door and says $0.00!! (I know it's not really free but it still makes me happy)

Jennifer

Glad you had a fantastic cruise! Sounds like you're hooked! We only have 220 points, but I can see us adding on later. Do you mind me asking if you kept the same UY when you added on? I'm trying hard to understand how owning at 2 different resorts works. Do you go more than once a year? What's confusing me is how it works if you want to combine points--I'm guessing you have to wait until the 7 month mark?

Super happy to hear you were able to use an RCI exchange! I haven't read anything too good about exchanges, so it's sure nice to hear from people that have had positive experiences with it. I'm sure I'm going to love DVC! I can't wait until we have it totally paid for--that's when I'll really enjoy it the most! Of course, by then, we likely will have added on anyhow and will still owe!

Susan

 

[cwdefouw]

I have tried numerous times to do exchanges to RCI and Intrawest via the Buena Vista Trading Corp. I have always thought that I would have no problems since I am trying to get off season stays and have even been told by DVC that availability was good for the days I want when I called a few days before the booking window opens. But when the window opens and I call back to make the reservations, I am always told there is no availability. I have pretty much given up on trying to trade into these programs. Maybe I don't know what the secret is since I have seen others post that they have gotten stays at the exact resorts I am trying to get, but if that is the case, then it must be a really secret secret since I have never seen the secret posted on these boards

 

[SoThisIsLove]

Hi...

I loved reading your trip report...I am so glad you had a good time! We are going on aug 9th and can not wait!
I have a few questions for you....was it too cold to wear capris on the ship...like to dinner? Would you recommend bringing waterproof shoes? Or are sneakers ok? We are traveling with a 4 year old...do you think a tour using your recommended limo company would be nice to do with her? We are 6 adults and a 4 year old traveling...do you think I should bring a stroller for her too? Can we have the limo company's phone number too?
We are flying with island wings too and can not wait! My parents flew with her 7 years ago and they still talk about that trip!

Thanks in advance...sorry for so many questions!

 

[disneypoor]

Hi...

I loved reading your trip report...I am so glad you had a good time! We are going on aug 9th and can not wait!
I have a few questions for you....was it too cold to wear capris on the ship...like to dinner? Would you recommend bringing waterproof shoes? Or are sneakers ok? We are traveling with a 4 year old...do you think a tour using your recommended limo company would be nice to do with her? We are 6 adults and a 4 year old traveling...do you think I should bring a stroller for her too? Can we have the limo company's phone number too?
We are flying with island wings too and can not wait! My parents flew with her 7 years ago and they still talk about that trip!

Thanks in advance...sorry for so many questions!

Hi! I'm not sure I can advise on the weather because I think it will be quite different for you than it was for me. It was too cold to wear capris outside IMO on our cruise, but I did wear them to dinner. We did not bring waterproof shoes and were just fine. As for the stroller--I think it would depend on what you were planning to do for excursions. If you think you'll walk around quite a bit, I'd bring the stroller. Honestly, I didn't see too many on or around the ship while we were there though. Island Wings is GREAT! You will love your excursion with Michelle!

As for the limo, I will PM you the info to get into contact with Nick. Nick will take you where ever you'd like to go, so I don't see that the age of your daughter will have any effect on that. Just tell him what kinds of things you'd like to see, and he'll get you there!

Have a wonderful trip!

Susan

 

[Lovebug Eeyore]

I tried private messaging you for limo information, but too new to the forums. Is there any other way to get his information?

 

[brewcrew]

Did you feel that you had adequate time in each port? We just booked for June of 2012 and was reading on Cruise Critic that Disney doesn't give enough times in port. What was your experience? And do you know if Disney offered a dog sledding excurscion?

 

[Boutilier]

Glad you had a fantastic cruise! Sounds like you're hooked! We only have 220 points, but I can see us adding on later. Do you mind me asking if you kept the same UY when you added on? I'm trying hard to understand how owning at 2 different resorts works. Do you go more than once a year? What's confusing me is how it works if you want to combine points--I'm guessing you have to wait until the 7 month.

Susan

We do have the same UY - it makes keeping track of when to bank points and make reservations easier. We purchased the AKV add on so we will have an 11 month booking time at WDW. Since it is a long flight to FL, we are hoping to visit every other year and 300 pts worked for our family (2 years of AKV points). We are lucky enough to visit DL several times a year and use most of the VGC there. As for booking at the 7 month window, I will most likely use points from whichever contract still has some left!! Hope that helps. I am still very new to the world of DVC but always trying to learn more.

Jennifer

 

[jedijill]

Great report! I really want to go to Alaska some of these days!!!!

You'll love DVC. I joined about 5 years ago and have never regretted it. I can't wait to use the points to take my niece and nephew on their first trip in October.

Jill in CO (Formerly of Kansas City....Missouri side!) Go Chiefs!

 

[disneypoor]

I hadn't checked the trip report section of the DIS for a few days, and it looks like I still have readers. Thanks for reading and for the comments about DVC for those of you that have shared.

As for time in the ports, you really don't get that much time, especially in Ketchikan. If I remember correctly, we didn't arrive until around 1:00 and had to be back onboard by 6:00 or 7:00. It worked out for what we wanted to do though, and Ketchikan isn't very big. Skagway is super small, so I felt we had plenty of time. We walked around and still did a rather long excursion with the railway. Hope this helps.

For those of you still anticipating your trip---have a wonderful time and let us know how it was when you get back! I really want to hear what others thought of Nick, our limo driver, if you booked him.

Susan

 

[Lovebug Eeyore]

Can you email us the limo information? Thank you -We appreciate the referral to someone good

 

[disneypoor]

Can you email us the limo information? Thank you -We appreciate the referral to someone good

I just sent you the info. I hope it works out for you! Enjoy your trip!

Susan

 

[Lovebug Eeyore]

Thank you so much! We are doing the LA-Canada repositioning tour and my college age daughters are flying up to do the Alaska cruise following with us. I want to arrange transportation from the airport and a day tour of Vancouver for them

Thanks again for the referral!

 

[Doingitagain]

We got back on Tuesday and had a wonderful trip. I hear that the July 5 cruise had the best weather and got the farthest into Tracy Arm so far.

Susan, we also added on to DVC! Could resist the Hawaii tease...hopefully with banking and borrowing we can go every 3 years.

Thanks for the tip of Nick, the limo driver, who did our airport pickup and a city tour.

P.S. We booked another cruise to Alaska next year. I know the port stops aren't as long, but it was the scenery on the ship that really impressed us. A half day in port is fine with us, especially since we were there this year.

 

[disneypoor]

We got back on Tuesday and had a wonderful trip. I hear that the July 5 cruise had the best weather and got the farthest into Tracy Arm so far.

Susan, we also added on to DVC! Could resist the Hawaii tease...hopefully with banking and borrowing we can go every 3 years.

Thanks for the tip of Nick, the limo driver, who did our airport pickup and a city tour.

P.S. We booked another cruise to Alaska next year. I know the port stops aren't as long, but it was the scenery on the ship that really impressed us. A half day in port is fine with us, especially since we were there this year.

So glad you had a great trip! I wish our weather had been a bit warmer when we cruised, but I shouldn't complain. It's been around a hundred degrees with heat indexes in the upper 100's here lately, so right now I'm kindof aching for that chilly weather. I'm never happy! Glad Nick worked out for you as well!

Now, you must tell me about adding on at Aulani! I keep eyeing it on dvcnews and it really isn't priced bad in my opinion. Do you mind me asking what kind of deals they had going on if you added on during the cruise? I've been thinking of adding on there already and doing a smaller number of points, banking and borrowing, and also trying to go every third year or so. I'd love to hear what you got!

Take care!

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

We got back on Tuesday and had a wonderful trip. I hear that the July 5 cruise had the best weather and got the farthest into Tracy Arm so far.

Susan, we also added on to DVC! Could resist the Hawaii tease...hopefully with banking and borrowing we can go every 3 years.

Thanks for the tip of Nick, the limo driver, who did our airport pickup and a city tour.

P.S. We booked another cruise to Alaska next year. I know the port stops aren't as long, but it was the scenery on the ship that really impressed us. A half day in port is fine with us, especially since we were there this year.

I forgot to even comment on you booking another Alaska cruise! That is awesome! We thought the scenery was some of the best we've ever seen! We're heading to Maui for spring break, so we likely might not even get to enjoy our DVC until next summer at the earliest. We're hoping to take my entire family (sisters and their families as well as my mom) for a beach vacation next summer if things work out when I go to book. It still seems weird to call BLT my home resort when I've never stayed there and don't have plans to stay there for my first DVC visit.

Susan

 

[Doingitagain]

So glad you had a great trip! I wish our weather had been a bit warmer when we cruised, but I shouldn't complain. It's been around a hundred degrees with heat indexes in the upper 100's here lately, so right now I'm kindof aching for that chilly weather. I'm never happy! Glad Nick worked out for you as well!

Now, you must tell me about adding on at Aulani! I keep eyeing it on dvcnews and it really isn't priced bad in my opinion. Do you mind me asking what kind of deals they had going on if you added on during the cruise? I've been thinking of adding on there already and doing a smaller number of points, banking and borrowing, and also trying to go every third year or so. I'd love to hear what you got!

Take care!

Susan

We have the same heat and really miss the cooler weather in Vancouver and Alaska!

The onboard perks are as follows:
30 VIP fast passes
$500 shipboard credit at 150 points or more
Discount against points depending on how many you purchase