ELEVATE! Is that a whale out there? A three-generation cruise to Alaska!UPDATE 8/29

Yay! Y'all are on the ship! :cool1:

I was laughing so much about the little boy telling you Mickey isn't a captain. :rotfl2: But, I'm glad y'all got to meet Mickey.....impersonating a Captain.

That line for the kids club bracelet sounds crazy! :crazy2: Since you wanted to confirm, you can get their bracelets on the boat. That's how we got Reid's. I had registered him online & just waited to get his bracelet until the 1st time we actually took him & dropped him off.

Boarding with the Judies ahead & Willow worrying seems quite frantic. I completely understand why you don't have pictures. I'm so excited to see more pictures of the Wonder. I really love the atrium picture!
"Mickey....impersonating a Captain"!! I am going to pee myself that is so funny! :rotfl2:

Excellent! Mark my words, as the DIS is my witness, we will NEVER wait in that "Youth Activities" line again!

There will be MANY more pictures in future updates - in fact, some will be almost nothing but pictures! :thumbsup2


"herding cats" painted the perfect picture of what you must have been feeling. I would have been seriously stressing out.

Love the Captain (or not) Mickey photos! That was some uptight kid huh? :rotfl:

I hope that the Judies don't do this to you the whole time!
I was really trying not to let myself get stressed out - I do that and, really, why? Obviously, we would all find each other, etc., but it wasn't going at all as I had been picturing it for months! :rotfl: I really need to stop doing that. Well, frankly, I need to stick to mommy-daughter trips in the future. :thumbsup2

That kid was SO funny! :rotfl:


Love the updates. We also nearly always stay at Embassy Suites - we have hit one or two that are just blah, but also some that are VERY nice. The extra room and second TV are a must for us :-) I love a quiet room, my son not so much!

I completely understand the herding cats issue --- stresses me out!

I cannot wait to see the ship pictures !!!!
I am exactly the same way about ES - I just loving having some space to myself in the evenings, and those hotels are just perfect for that. If you ever have the chance, stay at the one in downtown Portland - it is the best I have ever seen. :thumbsup2

Sorry I am so late Roni :hug:

WOW, rough start with the Hotel del Nasty, but yay we are on the ship !!!!!! :cool1:
Pfft - you're not late at all! Thanks for joining in! :hug:

Great update!

I love the pics with Mickey! He looks like a Ship captain to me too.:rotfl2:

I definitely understand the herding cats comment! Sounds like it was a bit chaotic.

I can't wait to see more pics of the Wonder!
I just loved Captain Mickey :-)ssst: don't tell!). He was adorable.

Many more pics coming up very soon!
 
5. What? Food already?

When I last left you, our party of 4 had been reunited. And we were immediately directed towards food. FOOD. I may have more food pictures for this report than anything else. They do a lot of food on these cruises. :scared: :rotfl:

Anyway, the CM nearest to us informed us that they were serving lunch in Parrot Cay and Beach Blanket Buffet, but she said that Beach Blanket was much less crowded. Now I have read that the Parrot Cay lunch is better (at least I think that’s what I have read), but I just said “to heck with it” and followed the CM’s advice. We found an elevator and went up to Deck 9 and the Beach Blanket Buffet. We got in line and were handed hand wipes (which they do at the front of every restaurant). Almost immediately, a CM spotted Judy 1 trying to handle her carry-on and cane and came over to take her bag to a table for her; he then came back and got Judy 2’s bag as well. As we got towards the front of the buffet line, I realized that I couldn’t possibly handle our carry-ons and our trays, so I ran our bags over to the table too. Alaska was in the air - a beautiful bald eagle ice sculpture greeted us at the front of the buffet.
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Soon, we had our food and, thanks to that nice CM, a table at which to eat it! :woohoo: I don’t generally take pictures of buffet food - they just never come out very nice, but you can see some of Willow’s chow in this pic.
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The food here was surprisingly good - we all thought so. They had things like salads, salmon, chicken, pork, roast beef, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, bread, cheese cubes, and lots of desserts. Willow’s input: She liked “the mac and cheese, the cheese cubes, and the bread.” :rolleyes: She also liked the glasses - they had little Mickey heads on them.

When you board, you cannot go straight to your stateroom (because they are getting them cleaned and ready after the last group of passengers has departed). We were told rooms would be ready at 2:00. We looked around Deck 9 briefly.
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Next, we went to guest services. Judy 1 had done on-line check-in for The Judies, but had had to put her credit card as the room card. Judy 2 wanted to make sure that her credit card was tied to her KTTW so that she wouldn’t be charging all her stuff to Judy 1. :thumbsup2 This was accomplished very quickly. DD and I took some pics in the atrium while we waited for The Judies. Another cruiser was taking a picture of her daughter with the Ariel statue, so I had to copy her idea.
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A little better shot of the light fixture:
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We really liked the Mickey heads in the metal structure around the elevators.
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Not a good picture, but there are profile pics of the classic characters in the railing up the stairs.
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DD was really wanting to see the kids clubs, so we found a nice table and chairs in the Promenade Lounge on Deck 3 (same deck as guest services) for The Judies. And DD and I headed up to Deck 5 to check out the Oceaneers Club and Lab (the clubs were on “open house” at this time so that anyone could come in and look around).

Up next: 6. A Little Exploring and Getting Settled In​
 
That's so nice of the CM to put the Judies bags on a table for y'all. Sounds like it was a yummy buffet. I am loving Willow's input on the TR! :goodvibes

The pictures of the Atrium are great, especially Willow with the Ariel statue & the light fixture.

I can't wait to see what the kids club looks like on the Wonder. And to hear what Willow thought about it.
 
So nice of the CM to help the Judies (I love that that's what we're calling them)! I'm glad that the food was better than advertised! That's a good sign.

Yay for boat pictures! I can't get enough of them. Great picture of Willow and Ariel.

I can't wait to hear what Willow thought of the Kids Club, and see the pics of course!
 


Everything looks so elegant inside. Impressive. And I LOVE the Willow pics, even the food ones :hug: So adorable!!!:cutie:
 
amandaw said:
That's so nice of the CM to put the Judies bags on a table for y'all. Sounds like it was a yummy buffet. I am loving Willow's input on the TR! :goodvibes

The pictures of the Atrium are great, especially Willow with the Ariel statue & the light fixture.

I can't wait to see what the kids club looks like on the Wonder. And to hear what Willow thought about it.

The buffet really was good. And I don't think that was just in comparison to the awful ES buffet that morning! ;)

Lots of pics of kids club and more in next update. Hopefully tonight!
 


shan23877 said:
So nice of the CM to help the Judies (I love that that's what we're calling them)! I'm glad that the food was better than advertised! That's a good sign.

Yay for boat pictures! I can't get enough of them. Great picture of Willow and Ariel.

I can't wait to hear what Willow thought of the Kids Club, and see the pics of course!

I was so grateful to that CM - I was trying to get everyone where they needed to go, etc., but I had no idea how I was going to handle the bags as well as the people. Phew!!! That was just the beginning of the best service I have ever experienced anywhere. The cruise took the Disney customer service to a whole new level.

LOTS more pics coming up soon! :woohoo:
 
pas130 said:
Everything looks so elegant inside. Impressive. And I LOVE the Willow pics, even the food ones :hug: So adorable!!!:cutie:

Thanks pas! The ship was just beautiful.
 
iloverags2 said:
What an awesome CM to help out with the bags! Gotta love the service on a cruise!

We were all totally blown away by how we were treated!
 
cheryllarsen said:
sailing to alaska in sept!

Welcome! And that is awesome! I hope I can give you some sense of the amazing time you will have!
 
Your DD is adorable!!! I'll be on the Hawaii cruise in October so I get to meet Ariel then! I'm 29....I hope I can do a pic like your daughters! Its a great idea!!!! :banana:

That being said I cannot wait to read more!!!
 
LittleGirlGrey said:
Your DD is adorable!!! I'll be on the Hawaii cruise in October so I get to meet Ariel then! I'm 29....I hope I can do a pic like your daughters! Its a great idea!!!! :banana:

That being said I cannot wait to read more!!!

Thanks for joining!!!!! How exciting to be on the Hawaii cruise! One of the CM told me that it was his favorite - I love all the at-sea days, and you definitely can't beat the ports!
 
Thanks for joining!!!!! How exciting to be on the Hawaii cruise! One of the CM told me that it was his favorite - I love all the at-sea days, and you definitely can't beat the ports!

Sea days are my favorite! Which is why my mom and I chose that one!! We're very excited!!! :cool1:
 
LittleGirlGrey said:
Sea days are my favorite! Which is why my mom and I chose that one!! We're very excited!!! :cool1:

That is great! I could happily do an entire cruise of at-sea days. Hahaha
 
6. A Little Exploring and Getting Settled In - Part 1

When I last left you, DD and I were headed to check out the open-house Oceaneers Club and Lab while The Judies hung out in the Promenade Lounge. DD was quite impressed with the Club. I took quite a few pictures, but I don’t think they do it justice.
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She loved the big pirate ship (could not get a good picture of it) because it had a great slide.
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There were computers, video games, and movies too.
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There was a stage, which I think was used quite regularly by characters and for other activities.
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DD loved the kid-sized bathroom!
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The Lab was much more electronic-focused, and DD did not care for it as much (although she was willing to go there when the Club was on open house and therefore not available for her to stay).
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DD’s input on this first experience with the Club: “It was great. I liked it a lot.”

DD really did not want to leave the Club, but I told her that she could go back after dinner if she wanted. I heard the announcement that staterooms were ready, so we hightailed it out of there and down to Deck 3 to collect The Judies.

[Continued in next post.]​
 

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