July 8th 2013 Wonder Alaska Cruise!

[goingsouth]

Hi everyone!

Stayed up late last night to book activities on the first day possible. I was able to secure Palo brunch and dinner so that's great. I also snuck in a spa day for me on the 1st sea day. I noticed that some of the fly-to-a-glacier excursions were already sold out. So far, my group has nixed that idea. I hope we don't have regrets. How did anyone else do? Get what you wanted??

joanne

 

[DopeyFan1966]

Well, we live on the west coast, so I was lucky enough to not have to stay up late. I got everything done before 930pm.

We got what we wanted, except one thing because it interferes with another thing we wanted. So we are going to try and do it the train in Skagway on our own. I was also able to change our seating to late seating instead of main. I really was surprised that we were able to do that this close to the cruise.

We chose not to do Palo this time, but I wouldn't mind doing something in the spa. We haven't decided yet.

Good Luck everyone.

 

[mouselike-harrier]

I stayed up late and got a brunch and dinner at Palo too. I only booked for Skagway and Ketichan since I booked an outside tour for Juneau. I may cancel my Skagway tour though because I found the exact same tour for the 4 of us for $120 cheaper But I'm not canceling until we are confirmed with the other tour. Very excited!

 

[daphneg]

So jealous that some of you can start scheduling stuff! We have to wait until the 24th. Hope our chosen ones still have room then...

 

[summerblue]

Hey everyone!

We are in the July 8th cruise and wanting to get plugged into doing an FE/meet group. We are celebrating 10 years of marriage (we were married on an Alaskan cruise-obviously not Disney). It will be myself, DH, DD (8) and our niece(7). It is the first cruise for the kids, so I want to try and make it fun and special for them.

We are most likely going to book our excursions not through the cruise line. We are setting up a private whale watching excursion in Juneau, as when DH and I done it one our honeymoon, there were 150 people on the excursion, my daughter is a whale and sea life fanatic so I want it to be something really special for her. I want to go dog mushing, but DH doesn't, so I guess we will either do the character gold panning through the cruise or set up through the gold dredge and have lunch at the restraunt at the gold dredge, and Ketchikan we will just wing it I think, nothing peaked our intrest too much and there is an absolutely fabulous fish house on the docks where we will grab some lunch.

 

[TwingleMomFl]

I booked palo for 10 of us!!! And a brunch for 2 of us. Although my husband doesn't really want to go. All my port adventures I arranged on my own. I was thinking about the rainforest for a day. Has anyone done this before?

I booked my hotel for Seattle and I am now working on our stay in Vancouver. I haven't planned this much since my honeymoon so long ago!

What boarding time does everyone have?

Is anyone finding anyone finding any good rates on hotels in Vancouver?

 

[DopeyFan1966]

Hey everyone!

We are in the July 8th cruise and wanting to get plugged into doing an FE/meet group. We are celebrating 10 years of marriage (we were married on an Alaskan cruise-obviously not Disney). It will be myself, DH, DD (8) and our niece(7). It is the first cruise for the kids, so I want to try and make it fun and special for them.

We are most likely going to book our excursions not through the cruise line. We are setting up a private whale watching excursion in Juneau, as when DH and I done it one our honeymoon, there were 150 people on the excursion, my daughter is a whale and sea life fanatic so I want it to be something really special for her. I want to go dog mushing, but DH doesn't, so I guess we will either do the character gold panning through the cruise or set up through the gold dredge and have lunch at the restraunt at the gold dredge, and Ketchikan we will just wing it I think, nothing peaked our intrest too much and there is an absolutely fabulous fish house on the docks where we will grab some lunch.

I can add you to the FE list. Please send me a PM with your information and I will add your family to the list. Please look at the website that I have created. http://8july2013-dclalaskacruise.weebly.com/

I booked palo for 10 of us!!! And a brunch for 2 of us. Although my husband doesn't really want to go. All my port adventures I arranged on my own. I was thinking about the rainforest for a day. Has anyone done this before?

I booked my hotel for Seattle and I am now working on our stay in Vancouver. I haven't planned this much since my honeymoon so long ago!

What boarding time does everyone have?

Is anyone finding anyone finding any good rates on hotels in Vancouver?

I just contacted United and changed our flights from Portland to Seattle. Luckily we didn't have to pay any change fees because our flight had changed. I just called on a whim to see what it would cost and was told they would waive the $150(per person) fee because my flight itinerary had changed. I was really happy about that, now we are flying into Seattle for only at total of $261 more than we were into Portland. Now we get two days to visit with my grand daughter in Olympia before heading up to Vancouver.

We are staying at the Residence Inn in Vancouver. I have Marriott reward points. I couldn't find a decently priced hotel in Vancouver. We chose an 1130 port arrival time.

Hope everyone is doing well, and get what they want.

Cindy

 

[DopeyFan1966]

I stayed up late and got a brunch and dinner at Palo too. I only booked for Skagway and Ketichan since I booked an outside tour for Juneau. I may cancel my Skagway tour though because I found the exact same tour for the 4 of us for $120 cheaper But I'm not canceling until we are confirmed with the other tour. Very excited!

Which tour did you book and who did you book it with? I'm trying to go as cheap as possible this time around. And now that our daughter is at the adult price it is killing us.

We are still looking at doing things on our own to save as much money as possible.

Cindy

 

[mouselike-harrier]

We booked The hike and float tour for Skagway, with Skagway float tours. For the 4 of us that's a savings of $120. In Juneau, we booked the Taku lodge seaplane tour directly. Didn't save us much $, but bought us piece of mind because my son really wanted this tour.

 

[summerblue]

It won't let me PM you, since I haven't made many post, but our info is

me: Dixie(30)
DH: Brad(31)
DD: Natalie (8)
Niece: Abby (7)


We are very excited, I haven't been on a Disney cruise since I was a kid, it will be the first cruise for DD and niece. Dh and I are excited about returnign to Alaska ( and Vancouver). We were married on an Alaskan cruise 10 years ago. If only i could convince DH to do the dog mushing, he didn't want ot do it 10 years ago, and still doesn't now.

 

[TwingleMomFl]

I have a friend going on dcl to Alaska in may. I asked her to bring me back some extra navigators, land if she does I will let you all know In case anyone ha questions.

 

[goingsouth]

We cruise in 11 weeks. That sounds so close! Did our online check in and set for 11:30. I sure wish I had a better idea of the weather for that week.

 

[DopeyFan1966]

We cruise in 11 weeks. That sounds so close! Did our online check in and set for 11:30. I sure wish I had a better idea of the weather for that week.

Per Weather.com,

On average, the warmest month in Vancouver is July. The average high is 71 and the average low is 54. And the average rain fall is 1.4 inches.

The average high in Skagway is 63 and the average low is 51. There is approximately 18 1/2 hours of sunlight a day during the first week of July. Sunrise on July 1, will be approximately around 3:50 am and sunset will be approximately at 10:20.

The average high in Juneau is 63 and the average low is 49. There is approximately 18 hours of sunlight a day during the first week of July. Sunrise on July 1, will be approximately around 3:57 am and sunset will be approximately at 10:00.

The average high in Ketchikan is 62 and the average low is 51. There is approximately 17 1/2 hours of sunlight a day during the first week of July. Sunrise on July 1, will be approximately around 4:11 am and sunset will be approximately at 9:31.


Hope this helps with everyone's planning.

We cruise in 75 days!!!!!!!!

Cindy

 

[mouselike-harrier]

Thanks for the awesome weather facts Cindy. It does help with the planning; no shorts for me! It's going to be weird with all that daylight. Everyone remember those shades!

 

[goingsouth]

Thanks, Cindy!

I think my family is in for a shock coming from Florida. We'd better pack the parkas!

I honestly just hope it doesn't rain and disrupt excursions. Oh well, either way we'll be happy just sailing!!!!

 

[summerblue]

When we went to Alaska (August almost 10 years ago though). The weather was beautiful in my opinion, it did rain a lot, nearly daily (it is a rainforest zone) but it was not stormy just drizzly and not all day long. Only because of the rain were we not able to wear short sleeves daily. I was very comfortable in light weight sweaters or a light jacket ( wore a jean jacket most days and ended up with it off) I would say most days with the rain it was around 68ish degrees. It was awful coming home to 108 weather after the trip, which is the one thing we dread for after this trip, is how spoiled we will be to the weather.

 

[AMB1]

We were finally able to book our port excursions today. Our group of 9 was able to secure everything we wanted (DD would have been disappointed if the Bearing Sea Crab Fisherman excursion was sold out). I was worried the CC Club members would have snagged everything before our booking window opened.

The trip feels real now!

 

[TwingleMomFl]

Per Weather.com,

On average, the warmest month in Vancouver is July. The average high is 71 and the average low is 54. And the average rain fall is 1.4 inches.

The average high in Skagway is 63 and the average low is 51. There is approximately 18 1/2 hours of sunlight a day during the first week of July. Sunrise on July 1, will be approximately around 3:50 am and sunset will be approximately at 10:20.

The average high in Juneau is 63 and the average low is 49. There is approximately 18 hours of sunlight a day during the first week of July. Sunrise on July 1, will be approximately around 3:57 am and sunset will be approximately at 10:00.

The average high in Ketchikan is 62 and the average low is 51. There is approximately 17 1/2 hours of sunlight a day during the first week of July. Sunrise on July 1, will be approximately around 4:11 am and sunset will be approximately at 9:31.

Hope this helps with everyone's planning.

We cruise in 75 days!!!!!!!!

Cindy

Thank you for putting it together!!!

Just booked my pre nights hotel on Hotwire in Vancouver and then I have to figure out if I want to stay at the airport on the return. Our flight is the next day!

It's starting to come together! What will I do with all my free time after this cruise?

 

[DopeyFan1966]

Thanks, Cindy!

I think my family is in for a shock coming from Florida. We'd better pack the parkas!

I honestly just hope it doesn't rain and disrupt excursions. Oh well, either way we'll be happy just sailing!!!!

We live in the high desert of California, it is going to be a little bit of a shock to us also. (We are from Florida, so I know that it will be for you also). But, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the weather. It is going to be in the 50/60s, but the sun will be out shinning all day (lol 18 hours of it). I really think that you should be fine with capris and shorts, especially if you picked some of the active excursions. I plan on bringing my capris (I don't wear shorts) and short sleeve shirts. Then I will bring a light sweater or jacket to put on if my arms get cold.

I really enjoy the cold weather though, maybe I've got tough skin or something. I know so people thought I was crazy a about a month ago when I was walking around in flip flops and capris while it was snowing. I'm in the military and wear boots all day long sometimes for 20 - 30 hours, so when I'm off duty I won't wear shoes unless I absolutely have to. I will be bringing shoes for the excursions where I will be walking, but other than that it will sandles all the way.

I can't believe that it is only 73 days away now. I'm going to start driving my husband crazy because I will probably start packing in the middle of May. June will be super busy for me at work and I will have little time off (I will have to work a 24 day schedule from 10 June through to 3 July). Then we fly on 5 July. It is going to be great to take this cruise after that!!!!!!

Can't wait to meet everyone. Take care and see you soon.

Cindy

 

[TwingleMomFl]

We live in the high desert of California, it is going to be a little bit of a shock to us also. (We are from Florida, so I know that it will be for you also). But, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the weather. It is going to be in the 50/60s, but the sun will be out shinning all day (lol 18 hours of it). I really think that you should be fine with capris and shorts, especially if you picked some of the active excursions. I plan on bringing my capris (I don't wear shorts) and short sleeve shirts. Then I will bring a light sweater or jacket to put on if my arms get cold.

I really enjoy the cold weather though, maybe I've got tough skin or something. I know so people thought I was crazy a about a month ago when I was walking around in flip flops and capris while it was snowing. I'm in the military and wear boots all day long sometimes for 20 - 30 hours, so when I'm off duty I won't wear shoes unless I absolutely have to. I will be bringing shoes for the excursions where I will be walking, but other than that it will sandles all the way.

I can't believe that it is only 73 days away now. I'm going to start driving my husband crazy because I will probably start packing in the middle of May. June will be super busy for me at work and I will have little time off (I will have to work a 24 day schedule from 10 June through to 3 July). Then we fly on 5 July. It is going to be great to take this cruise after that!!!!!!

Can't wait to meet everyone. Take care and see you soon.

Cindy

Which high desert? My husband grew up I. Ridgecrest. I laughed when one of the tour operators said they would take us to the desert near Canada. Like we haven't seen enough of dry lake beds! I will be glad yo get away from the high Florida humidity myself and cover temps this summer for a few weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have rain!!!