Frozen Fireworks: Alaska on the Wonder July 2, 2012

[Travelbee]

calihannah - sounds like you're booked on 6/15 Greece with us. How do you find out 2012/2013 shool schedule already? DD's schedule won't be set until summer. DH is prepared for her to miss school if necessary (it's all about the talent show at that time of year anyway).

Ame - it's just the opposite for me. I'd rather go with better schedule but was outvoted by 2 other families. We'll be doing Greece unless both families cancel.

Did everyone get what they wanted tonight?

 

[lucky1]

Ok.. We booked

Day 3 - Tracy's Arm - Tea at Palos
Day 4 - Skagway - White Pass Railroad and Trail camp 7:45am
Day 5 - Juneau - Enchanted Taku galcier Seaplane 9;55am
Day 6 - Ketichan - Disney Exclusive Lumberjack show 10:30am (only one available for 4)
Day 7 - Victoria - Palos Brunch at 10:30 and Buchart Garden



Whew.. only a few glitches.

 

[calihannah]

We did pretty well tonight, I think... The new user interface on the website was...interesting, but it worked a bit better than the old one It's still soooooo slow though!

• Day 2 - Sea Day - High Tea
• Day 3 - Tracy Arm - Palo Brunch (the highlight of the trip typically! Hopefully we'll get another one once on board )
• Day 4 - Skagway - Glacier Discovery by Helicopter 8am
• Day 5 - Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest 8:15am
• Day 6 - Ketchikan - Classic Misty Fjords Flightseeing 8:45am (there turned out to be two different Misty Fjords seaplane trips...had only researched one, so I picked that one. Hard to tell the difference, honestly!). Also doing Palo Dinner this night!
• Day 7 - Victoria - Victoria Ale & Brewery Tour

Also maxed out our nursery time Will add to that once on the ship, though, I'm sure.

Does anyone know what time the early seating is on this itinerary? 5:45?

 

[calihannah]

Stayed up WAY too late, but completed online check-in as well 11am port arrival time. Now just trying to figure out the rental-car-return-then-port-arrival-via-taxi(???) shuffle. Two kids in car seats makes this a bit more complicated than I'd like But other than that, we are largely DONE!!

Well, other than making a packing list...my MR and Med lists don't exactly work! Anyone have a good start?

 

[ame]

I booked

Skagway - Yukon expedition
Juneau - Dog Sled Adventure by Helicopter
Ketchikan - Disney Exclusive Lumberjack Show at 7:30

DS decided on the Glacier hike b/c I told him that the Dog Sled was out of the budget. But he kept talking about how cool it would be to go *on* a glacier and about how he can't wait to see the dogs (a tiny part of the yukon expedition). I wanted the musher for a day, figured it's once in a life time and it's his dream 10th birthday trip, who needs food ya know, but it was sold out. So I'm sure the Dog Sled Adventure by Helicopter will suffice

We were in Victoria last December so just going to walk around and go to a supermarket to get his favourite candy and dill pickle chips for his brothers and father.

I haven't booked any palo or salon stuff as I'm traveling solo with DS and want to keep my schedule free to do stuff together with him. He'll probably end up spending tons of time in the lab and I'll be bored, but given that it is his present I want to keep myself available for him.

We got an 11AM port arrival time too. I'm happy with that. Gives us time to enjoy breakfast at the hotel, walk around the city a little in the morning if we're up early or sleep in if we don't. Then catch a cab, too easy.

 

[Bunless]

All checked in, and just finished up reservations!
Day 2--Palo Brunch (DHs number one priority)
Day 4--Adults Yukon Suspension Bridge, City, White Pass Railway (oy, 7:30am)
Day 6--Misty Fjords Float plane (my priority)
Day 7--Palo High Tea (by myself, DH is having none of it)

In Juneau we will take the bus to Mendenhall, and if the weather is clear, take the tram up mt. Roberts. In Victoria we will stay on the boat.

Got everything we were looking for... does this mean a fairly empty boat? Perhaps an upgrade? Our our other Disney cruise we got an unexpected port upgrade from a 7a to a 4b. Talk about being spoiled.

 

[Bunless]

dill pickle chips

Those are so good. Maybe I'll get off the boat for a few.

 

[ame]

Does anyone know what time the early seating is on this itinerary? 5:45?

In my reservation session it says that "The main seating on the Disney Wonder is at 5:45 p.m. and the second seating is at 8:15 p.m."

We have main dining for this cruise as we have three early morning starts 8:15, 8:15 and 7:30. We also want to hightail it to the airport for our flight to LA at the end of the cruise. We loved late dining in the MR, but that was a different kind of cruise with all the kids, that worked for us. I'll prob miss the dining room on Victoria day and maybe Skagway due to being ashore, but that's ok, I'm ambivalent about the food anyway and we'll find something to eat

Packing lists...

I have a 12 year old DS that does swim squad 4 x a week. It's a 30 minute driv from our house so I stay while he swims. I've already written up a packing list for this cruise. And next swim I'm going to start on my shopping lists for LA. It's quite difficult for us as we're also spending a week in SoCal after the cruise so will need summer stuff as well. And I'm trying to take one suitcase plus carry-ons. Should be interesting.

 

[ame]

In Juneau we will take the bus to Mendenhall, and if the weather is clear, take the tram up mt. Roberts. In Victoria we will stay on the boat.

Got everything we were looking for... does this mean a fairly empty boat? Perhaps an upgrade? Our our other Disney cruise we got an unexpected port upgrade from a 7a to a 4b. Talk about being spoiled.

Our glacier dog sledding finishes at 11:15. I've got my fingers crossed for a clear day to go up the tramway as well. I love scenery!

The only excursion that was sold out on the whole cruise (when I booked) was the musher for a day disney exclusive. When I look at room availability there is lots and the price for my room is $50 less than I booked it for in April last year. So there seems to be a lot of vacancies. Maybe they'll run a promo or discount rooms? Or just give us all upgrades

 

[lucky1]

I booked

Skagway - Yukon expedition
Juneau - Dog Sled Adventure by Helicopter
Ketchikan - Disney Exclusive Lumberjack Show at 7:30



We got an 11AM port arrival time too. I'm happy with that. Gives us time to enjoy breakfast at the hotel, walk around the city a little in the morning if we're up early or sleep in if we don't. Then catch a cab, too easy.

We got 11am port arrival time as well. We wanted to do the 7:30am Lumberjack show, but unfortunately could not book for 4 people

We wanted to do the Yukon expedition as well, but didn't want to be traveling for 8 hours but we might change later, as it sounds like fun.


Does anyone know why there were Stars next to some excursions?

 

[Liblady]

This is our first cruise, can't book until April 18th. Wondering if we should even bother planning anything. Looks like lots of things will be booked by then. It's all so overwhelming!

 

[Bunless]

Does anyone know why there were Stars next to some excursions?

For me, the stars were next to the ones that I had 'favorited'.

Wondering if we should even bother planning anything. Looks like lots of things will be booked by then. It's all so overwhelming!

Don't worry about it! There are plenty of excursions available. Even if you don't book anything prior to the cruise, there will be plenty of excursions that you can book on board, sometimes you can walk off the boat and there are tours being offered. You can also book things on your own without using Disney. It's really more of a convenience to be able to use Disney to book excursions. Let me suggest going to the Lonely Planet website and look at what they are writing about for the ports.

 

[calihannah]

In my reservation session it says that "The main seating on the Disney Wonder is at 5:45 p.m. and the second seating is at 8:15 p.m."

We have main dining for this cruise as we have three early morning starts 8:15, 8:15 and 7:30. We also want to hightail it to the airport for our flight to LA at the end of the cruise. We loved late dining in the MR, but that was a different kind of cruise with all the kids, that worked for us. I'll prob miss the dining room on Victoria day and maybe Skagway due to being ashore, but that's ok, I'm ambivalent about the food anyway and we'll find something to eat

This is our plan, too. We have had late dining on our previous cruises, which has been fine even with two little kiddos, because we've shifted their schedules to go to bed late/get up late. But in Alaska, we have a bunch of 8am stuff, so we went with early dining Will be our first time on the main seating though. New experiences, I guess!

 

[calihannah]

Finally caught up on my reading of the shore excursions review thread for Alaska -- decided to cancel out of the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest and book a private charter with Harv and Marv's instead for Juneau Anyone have any restaurants they're aiming to go to in Juneau? Now that we're not going to be on the 6-hour tour, we can actually go for lunch

 

[Bunless]

Anyone have any restaurants they're aiming to go to in Juneau?

Food trucks by the port, they have tents with seating and so, so tasty.

 

[ame]

I haven't even started looking at things to do outside shore excursions! But now that I have the times that we're free then I can start working out how to fill it

I'm planning to find a Starbucks at one port to add to my awesome Starbucks mug collection. Also I want to take DS to the Klondike National Park in Skagway. He has Jr Ranger badges from the Grand Canyon and Death Valley. He'd love to make a hat trick. That's as far as I am so far!

I am happy that we have early excursions so that we'll be able to get off the ship early and then have some freet ime after to explore.

 

[ame]

This is our first cruise, can't book until April 18th. Wondering if we should even bother planning anything. Looks like lots of things will be booked by then. It's all so overwhelming!

There's only 4 port excursions that are sold out. The musher one, a glacier walk and a private charter plane in Ketchikan for $1899. There are still so many to choose from. And just think, when you're checking in for your next cruise you'll be able to book at 90 days

 

[Bunless]

I am happy that we have early excursions so that we'll be able to get off the ship early and then have some freet ime after to explore.

Agreed!
If I remember correctly, there is a really awesome toy store in Ketchikan in the Creek Street shopping area... along with the really amazing book store.

 

[Travelbee]

So there seems to be a lot of vacancies. Maybe they'll run a promo or discount rooms? Or just give us all upgrades

I like your thinking! Hopefully DCL thinks along the same line!

We got 11am port arrival time as well.

So did we. My sis can't check in until 4/18 so we may have to stick around for them anyway.

This is our first cruise, can't book until April 18th. Wondering if we should even bother planning anything. Looks like lots of things will be booked by then. It's all so overwhelming!

Don't worry. My understanding is the DCL holds a number of reservations for release at each booking window.

It's getting closer!!

 

[Travelbee]

Okay, I started a list for the FE. You can enter your information FE through the link below. Is June 15 is a reasonable cut off date for the FE?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDh0RnZFbHNqdjMzRlFMWEdZaG0xZ1E6MQ