July 22, 2013 - Wonder Cruise to Alaska

[CHIdadOF3]

Well, if you wanted to be the most popular parents, you wouldn't have had a teenager.

My DS keeps updating me on the fact that Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS is coming out a week from tomorrow (I keep wanting to call it "Flight of Icarus"). It means nothing to me but if it makes him happy...

When Mario Kart 7 came out for the 3DS, I may have been the most popular parent because I took him over to Target that morning.

My son's b-day was yesterday and his new big thing is he wants BEATS headphones. Well, we didn't buy them for him but we gave him a gift card for Best Buy and figured if he pooled his money, he might have enough to pull it off. I just hope that if he wears them to school, they don't get stolen. He's already had an mp3 player stolen out of his backpack and several kids have experienced the same.

 

[CHIdadOF3]

Ok, so more on topic - what shore excursions are you guys looking at?

I have one thing reserved already for Ketchikan - a bear viewing excursion through Island Wings Tours. They seem to be highly rated out here so we put a hold on the date.

 

[matthewsmom1]

Hi everyone! We just booked for this cruise when we were on board the Dream last week. This will be Disney cruise #5 for us (unless we sneak another one in before we set sail!). It's just me & my son, Matthew - who will be 14 when we set sail. We live in Orlando, so Disney & cruising are close by. We are down for participating in a FE exchange (we done 1 in the past).

What type of room does everyone have booked? We have had everything from 11D-4A in the past. I still would love a verandah, but I just can't stomach the extra $2K for that alone..... We ended up with a SPH room.

What's everything thinking for excursions? Or are you thinking about them yet??? I'm unsure. Thinking maybe the Best of Juneau/Best of Skagway type tours. But then one of the helicopter/floatplane tours looks awesome. I just don't know....

 

[Almeda]

We have been looking at the Neets Bay Floatplane excursion in Ketchikan (we really want a chance to see bears and do not want to do the suspension bridges) and a Mendallhall Glacier one in Juneau. Not the helicopter one. We plan to do a whale watching tour while in Vancouver so have not planned one in Juneau. In Skagway, we thought about Liarsville. I've read reviews on everything but the Neets Bay Floatplane...can't seem to find anyone who has done it.
These are all through DCL.

 

[CHIdadOF3]

Hi everyone! We just booked for this cruise when we were on board the Dream last week. This will be Disney cruise #5 for us (unless we sneak another one in before we set sail!). It's just me & my son, Matthew - who will be 14 when we set sail. We live in Orlando, so Disney & cruising are close by. We are down for participating in a FE exchange (we done 1 in the past).

What type of room does everyone have booked? We have had everything from 11D-4A in the past. I still would love a verandah, but I just can't stomach the extra $2K for that alone..... We ended up with a SPH room.

What's everything thinking for excursions? Or are you thinking about them yet??? I'm unsure. Thinking maybe the Best of Juneau/Best of Skagway type tours. But then one of the helicopter/floatplane tours looks awesome. I just don't know....

Welcome! With Disney docked in your backyard, seems like you are going a long way to get on this boat. Have you been on the Wonder yet? I'm really interested in getting someone's perspective of this boat compared to the Dream.

We have adjoining inside cabins for this cruise. We are DVC members and we only had enough pts to go with inside cabins and still outlay the minimum amount of cash. This will be our first cruise without a verandah.

As for excursions, on a previous cruise to Alaska, we have gone to the dog sledding camp, whale watching, Mendenhall Glacier, and a totem park. This time around, we are planning on a float plane trip to see the bears at Anan Creek. We are also thinking of taking the city bus to Mendenhall. Much cheaper than booking with the boat and no time schedule. Still looking at options for Skagway. I'd love to find a real gold panning experience but still need to do some research on that.

 

[Jrsy Boy]

Ok, so more on topic - what shore excursions are you guys looking at?

We have not really started looking seriously yet; just taking notes on the different ports and what others have recommended. Some of the ones I've looked at have given me a bit of sticker shock.

I've been more focused on planning this year's vacation.

What type of room does everyone have booked? We have had everything from 11D-4A in the past. I still would love a verandah, but I just can't stomach the extra $2K for that alone..... We ended up with a SPH room.

We're in a 07A, stateroom #7124 to be exact. We've only done four-day cruises before, one with an interior stateroom and one SPH room.

 

[matthewsmom1]

The Wonder was our first ship - been on 2 cruises on the Wonder & 2 cruises on the Dream. While I LOVE the newness of the Dream, I certainly love the smaller scale of the Wonder. While DCL does a great job of crowd control, you still realize the increase in numbers of people. So I'm excited to be back on the Wonder!!!!

So far I *KNOW* that we want to do the White Pass Railroad (& I think I'd like the Suspension Bridge too). Still looking further into that - could change our minds on that one.

I DEFINITELY know that we are going to do the Taku Glacier Floatplane Adventure. I saw pictures during a trip report & it looks (and sounds) to me to be better than trying to do Mendenhall.

But, I haven't really done much research at all. So, I definitely could change. I LOVE trip planning!!!!

I'm open to doing tours both thru DCL & independent too, so that will definitely give us lots of options.

 

[guarn3md]

Hello Everyone!
Found this thread a few days ago but didn't want to post until I got confirmation from my TA that we were oficially booked for this cruise!! Wohoo we are going on a cruise to Alaska and with Disney (my favorite)!!
We just got off a 4 night cruise on the Dream a week ago (4/1 - 4/5) followed by 5 days in WDW (my most favorite place in the world). We booked a dummy cruise while onboard because in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to do a cruise to Alaska but needed to convince my DH! My parents and little sister, Asia (age 8) were with us too and they rebooked on board for the Fantasy Spring Break March 23, 2013. They then wanted to add my son and me to the room (had a cat 4A) but found out the ship was sold out and even though they had a room for 5 they couldn't put anymore people in it. So my little sis said she wasn't going on the cruise without Connor! So all this prompted a conversation of doing the Alaska cruise next summer. We kicked it around and I did some quick research only to come back to Disney. We love the Dream and are really looking forward to checking out the Wonder.
We booked Cat 5C - connecting rooms 6046/6044. Originally were considering connecting 7A's with Navigator Verandah but decided to go for the upgrade.
So who am I traveling with...
Room #1 - Me - Debbie (43), DH John (44) and DS - Connor (11 at the time of cruise)
Room #2 - Mom & Dad (not telling their ages) and little sis - Asia (9 at the time of cruise)
We have all done two 4 night Dream cruises - one last year spring break and this year spring break. Except for DH who has only done this past cruise. He said he is excited to be a silver medalist for the Alaska cruise (Castaway Club). He hated that he didn't get a lanyard and special colored KTTW card.
Not sure about FE for us...we did them on the last two cruises, I organized the one this past cruise. Got to think about it.
All the Alaska information is very overwhelming, trying to start researching and organizing!!
Looking forward to getting to know everyone. Read about a Facebook group - interested in that too. I organized that for our past trip and it worked out well. In fact we are all still chatting and it's nice to keep in touch with our new cruise friends!!
Debbie

 

[CHIdadOF3]

Hello Everyone!
Found this thread a few days ago but didn't want to post until I got confirmation from my TA that we were oficially booked for this cruise!! Wohoo we are going on a cruise to Alaska and with Disney (my favorite)!!
We just got off a 4 night cruise on the Dream a week ago (4/1 - 4/5) followed by 5 days in WDW (my most favorite place in the world). We booked a dummy cruise while onboard because in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to do a cruise to Alaska but needed to convince my DH! My parents and little sister, Asia (age 8) were with us too and they rebooked on board for the Fantasy Spring Break March 23, 2013. They then wanted to add my son and me to the room (had a cat 4A) but found out the ship was sold out and even though they had a room for 5 they couldn't put anymore people in it. So my little sis said she wasn't going on the cruise without Connor! So all this prompted a conversation of doing the Alaska cruise next summer. We kicked it around and I did some quick research only to come back to Disney. We love the Dream and are really looking forward to checking out the Wonder.
We booked Cat 5C - connecting rooms 6046/6044. Originally were considering connecting 7A's with Navigator Verandah but decided to go for the upgrade.
So who am I traveling with...
Room #1 - Me - Debbie (43), DH John (44) and DS - Connor (11 at the time of cruise)
Room #2 - Mom & Dad (not telling their ages) and little sis - Asia (9 at the time of cruise)
We have all done two 4 night Dream cruises - one last year spring break and this year spring break. Except for DH who has only done this past cruise. He said he is excited to be a silver medalist for the Alaska cruise (Castaway Club). He hated that he didn't get a lanyard and special colored KTTW card.
Not sure about FE for us...we did them on the last two cruises, I organized the one this past cruise. Got to think about it.
All the Alaska information is very overwhelming, trying to start researching and organizing!!
Looking forward to getting to know everyone. Read about a Facebook group - interested in that too. I organized that for our past trip and it worked out well. In fact we are all still chatting and it's nice to keep in touch with our new cruise friends!!
Debbie

Hi Debbie! Good to have you join the thread! I really like the Facebook idea too. We created a group for our last cruise (June '11) and that page has more chatter today than a lot of the pages on disboards. It was so much fun getting to know everyone and building up the suspense and excitement before departure with the whole group. I think we will do it once we get a few more people out here.

- Tony

 

[Madhattr]

Just off the Fantasy eastern yesterday. Awesome does not begin to describe that ship. We booked this Alaska cruise while on board!!! We have previously sailed on the Dream but not one of the classics yet. Such a long wait though. We may have to do an in between ;-)

 

[matthewsmom1]

I would LOVE a Facebook group - I'm always on Facebook -

Any volunteers to create/maintain it?? LOL!

I'm starting to get the planning crazies. Started a research BINDER! Printed out all the Disney excursions so I can easily (ha!) hopefully sit down and evaluate which ones I'm interested in....

I've already decided that we will be flying home from Seattle. Going to ride the Amtrak down to Seattle so that we can be tourists and see the Chihuly Glass Garden (I'm a Chihuly FREAK!) and the Space Needle. Any other places we MUST do in Seattle???

 

[CHIdadOF3]

Just off the Fantasy eastern yesterday. Awesome does not begin to describe that ship. We booked this Alaska cruise while on board!!! We have previously sailed on the Dream but not one of the classics yet. Such a long wait though. We may have to do an in between ;-)

Welcome to the thread! How many of you will be sailing on the Wonder?

 

[CHIdadOF3]

I would LOVE a Facebook group - I'm always on Facebook -

Any volunteers to create/maintain it?? LOL!

I'm starting to get the planning crazies. Started a research BINDER! Printed out all the Disney excursions so I can easily (ha!) hopefully sit down and evaluate which ones I'm interested in....

I've already decided that we will be flying home from Seattle. Going to ride the Amtrak down to Seattle so that we can be tourists and see the Chihuly Glass Garden (I'm a Chihuly FREAK!) and the Space Needle. Any other places we MUST do in Seattle???

Since we seem to have some interest in the Facebook group I'll gladly create it but first we need to come up with a name for our group. Any suggestions? Get creative! Something like The 2013 Wonder 9er's (play on 49er's - I know it's corny but just an example). Everyone can contribute and then we'll pick something the majority likes. So let's hear 'em!

 

[matthewsmom1]

Welcome to the thread! How many of you will be sailing on the Wonder?

I introduced myself earlier in the thread. I'm Angela & will be sailing with my then-14 year old son, Matthew. He's excited to be in the Vibe for this cruise!!

As for FB group names:

Our WONDERful Alaska Cruising Group
Cruising to WONDERful Alaska - 7/22/13

 

[aldarowa]

Hi All,

we will be joining you on this cruise. It's going to be our first time to Alaska, second time on the Wonder, third Disney cruise and fourth cruise (at least for me).

I haven't started planing yet, but we will probably drive to Vancouver from San Francisco with some stopovers on the way. Any recommendations?

 

[billandangie]

Just off the Fantasy eastern yesterday. Awesome does not begin to describe that ship. We booked this Alaska cruise while on board!!! We have previously sailed on the Dream but not one of the classics yet. Such a long wait though. We may have to do an in between ;-)

Looks like great minds think alike!!! We were on the Fantasy with you last week....still very sad to be home!! However, booking the July 2013 cruise to Alaska has helped give us something new to look forward to!!! Already starting the countdown!!!

 

[billandangie]

We are from Arkansas. We are going to WDW the week of Thanksgiving. We have been in Nov in 2008 and 2010 and love that time of year. Usually, I am scouring the boards for WDW news but now that we have this cruise booked, I am obsessed with Alaska! Keep reading excursions...

The Fish Extender sounded like fun. Has anyone set that up or is it too early?

Hello, you can count us in for FE! We just did it for the first time on the Fantasy cruise last week and we loved it. So many wonderful gifts and the kids had a blast giving just as much as they enjoyed receiving. It's like Christmas every day!!!

 

[Madhattr]

How about "Wonders of Alaska ~13" for the Facebook group?

 

[billandangie]

How about "Wonders of Alaska ~13" for the Facebook group?

LOVE IT!!! It has my vote

 

[matthewsmom1]

Very nice!! So, perhaps it's a bit premature, but I just finished designing my family FE gift. LOL!!! See - told you I was a bit crazy!