First Time Cruisers sail to Alaska on the Wonder - May 23-30, 2016

[dinglehopper79]

Hello! This TR is filled with a lot of 'firsts'; this is my first TR, our very first time to Vancouver and Alaska, our first cruise, etc, etc.

My DH and I wanted to do something we hadn't done before to celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary; when we travel we prefer an adventure and not just lying on the beach (although those are nice every now and then too). One thing that has been on our travel bucket list for a while has been a cruise so we thought the best way to have an adventure and try a cruise was to do an Alaskan cruise. After doing a bit of research and talking to friends we decided to go with DCL (also with our love of Disney, it was an easy choice)! Another thing we loved about this sailing was where it sailed out of…..Vancouver! We live in Ottawa, Ontario Canada and one of our other travel bucket list items is to visit every Canadian province & territory and neither of us have been to Vancouver or to British Columbia….so another check!

I will try to keep these TR entries quite brief but I do plan to go into more detail of our whole trip on my own blog and will share that link once I have it up if anyone wants to read more about it (and our opinions) on every aspect of the trip.

I hope you enjoy and please feel free to ask questions along the way as I know reading TRs and asking questions really helped us get ready for our first cruise

 

[dinglehopper79]

DAY 1 - TRAVEL DAY TO VANCOUVER; PART 1 - MAY 20, 2016

We flew to Vancouver from Ottawa via West Jet and were lucky enough to get a direct flight (which doesn't happen often for us when we travel). Since we hadn't been to Vancouver we wanted to make sure we had a few days before the cruise to explore the city and to adjust to the time change so we flew out on Friday before the cruise. Our uneventful flight left on time at 7am and arrived in Vancouver at 9:15am (travelling from EST to PST meant we gained time in Vancouver which meant more exploring time on our first day). As part of our first experience on a cruise we really weren't sure about packing and then throw in that we were going to Alaska we knew warmer clothes and boots had to be included; we were also participating in a FE group so we had our gifts to pack too. I did try to find online some cruise packing tips but the majority I found were all about packing for the Carribean so I will admit that we totally overpacked and ended up with 3 (yes 3) checked suitcases plus our carry ones. Lesson number 1

When looking at the best way to get from the airport to Downtown we decided to take the Sky Train (the Canada line). This was the most inexpensive way to get to our hotel and was very easy to find following the signs in the airport. We purchased our ticket at the kiosk just outside where you board the train. The train ride for us wasn't all that comfortable with all of our luggage but it was manageable and we made it downtown in about 30 minutes. An announcement came over the train letting us know that the elevator at the original stop we were going to get off at wasn't working so we decided to go to the next stop and grabbed a cab to take us to our hotel (it was a very inexpensive cab ride as it was less than 5 mins away but again would be easier for us instead of walking through the downtown area with all of our luggage on a busy Friday morning).

Since we were staying for 3 nights before the cruise we wanted to stay somewhere a little more affordable but still close to Canada Place and central to what we wanted to do. I know most people stay at the Pan Pacific or Fairmont Waterfront but we decided to stay at The Burrard. It was a cute 4 story 'motel' style (i.e. the doors to your room opened up to an outside courtyard) right in the middle of downtown; I booked it through Hotels.com and used the rewards we currently had on our account to offset some of the cost. Since I knew we would get there hours before check-in time I had called earlier that week requesting an early check-in if possible. When we got to the hotel they were very pleasant and helpful at reception however they didn't have any rooms ready at the time but would be happy to store our luggage for us and call us as soon as our room was ready so we took what we needed and hit the ground running!

A co-worker told me of a food stand that we HAD to try that was just next to Granville Island so that was first on our list as it was getting close to lunch time. We decided to walk down to the False Creek Ferry (walking is our favourite way to explore and get to know a city) and take their ferry over to Granville Island; it was about a 15-20 min walk, most of it being downhill as like other West coast cities it is built on a hill. It was a quick ferry ride over to the island and we made our way to GO FISH. I was warned that the line can get very long but luckily we got there a few minutes before it opened and the line wasn't bad at all. We spoke to the gentleman in front of us and it turned out he was a local who comes here a few times a month for lunch, so when locals go you know it is a good spot! He told us that one of us should go around the corner and get a spot as there aren't very many and they fill up fast so I left DH to order and grabbed a prime spot looking over Vancouver.



We decided to share a 1 piece cod meal (came with classic pomme frites and Pacific Rim coleslaw) and a 2 Tacones meal (Go Fish take on fish tacos - grilled salmon, cilantro spiked salsa, chipotle crema and their slaw rolled in a white-flour tortilla). All I can say is you need to go if you can because the food was amazing!!! I love me some fish & chips but I have to admit that the winner for me were the Tacones (I dream of these now and really wish I could have gotten back one more time)!





As we finished up lunch we got a call from the hotel that our room was ready so we decided we would walk around Granville Island a bit before heading back to the hotel to settle in. Part 2 of our first day in Vancouver will be up next.

 

[saxmangeoff]

Fun! Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[tnshsms]

I'm glad you've started your trip report! Can't wait to read it thru a first timers eyes.

 

[dinglehopper79]

Fun! Can't wait to read the rest.

thanks for joining in!

I'm glad you've started your trip report! Can't wait to read it thru a first timers eyes.

Thank you - really enjoyed reading your TR!!

 

[dinglehopper79]

DAY 1 - TRAVEL DAY TO VANCOUVER; PART 2 - MAY 20, 2016

After lunch at Go Fish we decided to take a quick walk around Granville Island and snapped some pictures as we went. When we first got there it was pretty quiet however as we left the place was packed; it was a beautiful, sunny Friday at lunch so who wouldn't want to escape the office for an outdoor lunch! We grabbed an ice cream cone and headed back to the hotel via the Ferry.

The walk back seemed a bit longer this time but we realized it was because we were heading uphill this time around; a great way to work off lunch and our ice cream! We got the keys to our room, gathered up all of our luggage and headed to our room on the 3rd floor. Our room wasn't anything big or fancy but the room and bathroom were clean and had a welcoming feeling; DH loved the little bag of candy left for us on the bed!



DH took a quick cat nap (the amount of sleep we got the night before was only a few hours) but for some odd reason I wasn't really tired so I took the opportunity to unpack for the few days that we would be calling this place home. We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park as I had read the best time to go was either first thing in the morning or later in the day closer to park closing. We caught the free park shuttle around 2:30pm and got to the park around 3pm. I was super excited when I realized that we were going to be crossing the Lions Gate bridge, not really sure why but I just love the look of it (plus it is the sister bridge of the Golden Gate Bridge which I am lucky to have already crossed over). I think it was also because I knew we would be sailing below it in a few days so I will have travelled on and below it.




We spent 2-1/2 hours exploring the park. We saw many totem poles, walked across the Suspension Bridge (twice), went on the Treetop Adventure, and braved the Cliffwalk!






We really enjoyed our time at this park and would recommend that if you have time in Vancouver this is something you should do. I was a little nervous doing the Cliffwalk but the views from here were unbelievable and so worth the fear!! I also think they were right about going later in the day as the park wasn't that busy and I can't imagine going over the suspension bridge when it is a full park.

We hopped on the 2nd last shuttle to bring us back to downtown and decided to stop off at the Disney store since we don't have one back home. We decided to try JOEY at Burrard for dinner and enjoyed a great meal. I had read about Thierry chocolaterie patisserie cafe which was a few blocks away so we made our way to pick up some dessert to bring back to the hotel with us. Their macarons were out of this world (and we did pick up a few more later on in the trip). The hotel was only a 10 min walk away and since the weather was nice we decided to walk back to the hotel and called it a night.

 

[TJA]

I'm reading along! We'll also be first-timers next year, so I look forward to reading things from your perspective .

 

[kjduncan]

Following! We're looking to do an Alaskan cruise in 2018, so these trip reports are awesome for planning!

 

[wdwfan]

Following along! We're taking an Alaskan cruise next summer. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

 

[dinglehopper79]

DAY 2 - OUR ANNIVERSARY in VANCOUVER; Part 1 - MAY 21, 2016

After a bit of a later start than we were planning we began our first full day in Vancouver, which also happened to be our actual Anniversary, with a grab & go breakfast from Starbucks and made our way to the Hop-on Hop-off tour. There are 2 options in Vancouver and after looking at both and knowing we wanted to use this service for 2 days (or 48 hours which is how they calculate it) we went with Westcoast Sightseeing. One of their stops was a 2 min walk from our hotel (across the street and a block down) which was another reason we went with them. This was supposed to be the nicer of the 2 days in Vancouver so we decided to dedicate the entire day to Stanley Park. Since the stop closest to us is after the Stanley Park stops on the route we decided to make the walk to stop #2 of the loop to enjoy some of the city while making our way to the park. TIP: we purchased our tickets online and had them emailed to us so when we got to the stop there was a Westcoast employee who printed our paper ticket that we had to show each time we got on the bus. This was a Saturday so we aren't sure if they have an employee at each stop during the week.

We got to the park around 10:45am and hopped off at the Rose Garden. We spent some time walking around smelling all the different types of roses they had (and took way too many pictures of course). I'm not sure why but the entire time we spent in the garden I had 'we're painting the roses red, painting the roses red' playing over and over in my head; I guess I had Disney on the brain Instead of waiting for the bus to take us to the next spot we decided to make the walk to our next stop, the Totem poles where we stopped to take more pictures and check out the gift shop. By this time we just decided we would skip the bus and enjoyed Stanley Park by walking on the sea wall (again we had dedicated our entire day to the park so we wouldn't feel rushed). Here are some pictures of what we saw as we walked.

 

[dinglehopper79]

DAY 2 - OUR ANNIVERSARY in VANCOUVER; Part 2 - MAY 21, 20

A few more pictures of Stanley Park…..





We had planned to walk the entire Sea Wall and we almost did but we had dinner reservations and wanted to have some time to get ready and relax before we went so we decided to leave Stanley Park just short of the end of the seawall. We had made reservations at 'Coast' and enjoyed an absolutely delicious meal (we would highly recommend this restaurant, especially if you like seafood!). Our waiter was awesome and they even made up a special dessert for us - a little sampling of a few different desserts and wrote Happy Anniversary in chocolate! It was another beautiful evening so we decided to top off our evening with a stroll back to our hotel and called it a night.

 

[dinglehopper79]

'

Following! We're looking to do an Alaskan cruise in 2018, so these trip reports are awesome for planning!

Following along! We're taking an Alaskan cruise next summer. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

Thank you all for following along!

 

[franandaj]

We're on the July 4 sailing, and also plan on arriving the Friday before our cruise, our plans are Stanley Park Saturday and Capilano Sunday so it's nice to see your pictures and see how it might play out.

 

[anricat]

The Rose Garden looks lovely What part of the park is that in?

 

[ukintheus]

Following along, great start so far. I love any trip reports about the Wonder but the Alaska photos are always awesome!

 

[dinglehopper79]

We're on the July 4 sailing, and also plan on arriving the Friday before our cruise, our plans are Stanley Park Saturday and Capilano Sunday so it's nice to see your pictures and see how it might play out.

I think dedicating a full day to Stanley Park is a good plan then you aren't trying to squeeze it all in before rushing to something else. It is a HUGE park and if you don't feel like doing a lot of walking (or are limited to how much you can do) there is the hop-on hop-off options so you still get to see a lot of the park by getting off at the different stops. It doesn't cost anything to get into the park but it does for the hop-on hop-off.

Capilano does not need much time as we did it all in 2-1/2 hours (I also took tons of pictures so could have been shorter lol) You do have to pay to get in, about $40 per adult (taxes in I believe) so it isn't inexpensive but we thought for the views & what you get to do it was worth it. Oh and this is in CDN $ so if you are from the US keep that in mind (being CDN I loved not having to worry about the exchange haha)

 

[dinglehopper79]

The Rose Garden looks lovely What part of the park is that in?

It is near the entrance of the park so if you are on the hop-on hop-off bus it is the first stop. It really was lovely (and smelled amazing) to walk through!

 

[dinglehopper79]

Following along, great start so far. I love any trip reports about the Wonder but the Alaska photos are always awesome!

Thanks for joining! I've been sick a good part of the week but hoping to get a few posts up this weekend! Yes I took a ton of pictures so will be posting my favs

 

[franandaj]

I think dedicating a full day to Stanley Park is a good plan then you aren't trying to squeeze it all in before rushing to something else.

We mostly have a half day as we are having lunch at the Tearoom at 1:30, but if we can get my dad up and going early (for him) we should be OK. We have a rental car so no need to worry about the buses.

Capilano does not need much time as we did it all in 2-1/2 hours (I also took tons of pictures so could have been shorter lol) You do have to pay to get in, about $40 per adult (taxes in I believe) so it isn't inexpensive but we thought for the views & what you get to do it was worth it.

That's good to know. We are from the US, so I look at prices as if we get a 30% discount. One of our group has mobility issues, but I think it will be nice to be in the forest even if we can't do all the activities.

 

[anricat]

We mostly have a half day as we are having lunch at the Tearoom at 1:30, but if we can get my dad up and going early (for him) we should be OK. We have a rental car so no need to worry about the buses.

We're planning sort of the same thing, except we're going the aquarium in the morning then we have a reservation at the tea room at 12:30 and then the rest of Stanley park after lunch. I'm thinking we'll get the hop on hop off ticket for just the trolley within Stanley park.