June 14, 2011 - Father's Day on the Wonder in ALASKA!

[SteffyLou]

Was that for brunch or dinner?

That was for brunch. I believe there were 2 times on Day 2 open and 2 times on Day 7 open for brunch.

 

[amyhuffman]

The "No dock No pay guarantee" means that if for some strange reason the ship cannot dock at the port(s), we will not be charged for any of the excursions that we have privately booked with M&M tours and cannot make. This would include a multitude of reasons such as medical reasons (a passenger has a serious medical problem and we cannot get to the next port on time), some mechanical malfunction with the ship or extreme weather etc. I can't imagine this will be the case in Alaska, but it is comforting to know that should a problem occur, we will not be charged.

Good Luck to everyone who can try to book tonight!
Amy

 

[lsutigger2]

We'll are booked

Got Palo for Wednesday night - that is our 20th wedding anniversary. I also got hubby a massage that day. He those.

Going on the White Pass Railway, Yukon Suspension Bridge port adventure on Friday in Skagway

Going to Mendenhall Glacier and Rainforest Garden Adventure in Juneau on Saturday.

and that's it - unless I change my mind about something and add it later

I'm off to WDW tomorrow for a long weekend with two girl friends - should be lots of fun. Leaving a huge project at work behind (well almost all of it ).

Hope everyone who was trying to book this evening had lots of pixie dust.

 

[DVC Mary]

Congratulations Janie! We hope you have a wonderful 20th Anniversary.

Disney Exclusive Dog Musher was unavailable, so we're going to book privately to assure 2 excursions in Juneau. Here's what we booked:

Tracy Arm Palo Brunch: 11:30 (Anybody else going that day & want to have brunch together???)

Skagway: Takshanuk Mt Trail 4x4 7:15-1:45 & then probably Gold Rush National Park on our own in the afternoon

Juneau: Exclusive Whale Encounter & Mendnehall Glacier 7:15-12:15, private dog sled excursion 1:15-4:00 w/ Coastal Expeditions, & Palo Dinner 7:30

Kethchikan: Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour w/o dinner (much cheaper) 12:15-4:15

Hopefully this is it w/o any changes. Thanks for all the info & for putting up w/ me.

Now that I have Palo booked the chocolate souffle was in my dream last night!

 

[Smileneyes]

My other party is staying up until 11pm to book tonight. They wanted to make sure they got everything they wanted.

BTW, I know we still have 91 days to go but I'm still a GTY room. Did anyone else on this cruise book GTY and if so do you have a room number?

I was reading a couple of other threads...it appears that people sailing on an April 30th cruise began to receive their GTY room assignments yesterday. If that is the case, you will likely see your stateroom number about 45 days out from sailing (very end of April).

With that said, FE participants may plan to receive a couple of versions of the trusty spreadsheet...one early- to mid-April, and another after we get the GTY room assignments.

--Drew

 

[jcarlstrom]

Had to reschedule our August sailing, so we will now be joining the June 14th sailing....
Myself, DH, DS (almost 9), DS (6) and DD (4.5) - at time of sailing

 

[DVC Mary]

jcarlstrom! Let "SmilingEyes" aka Drew know if you are interested in our fish extender group. You can also look at the 1st page of this thread to see who's cruising w/us & their ages. Have you been able to switch your shore excursions yet? Good luck!


Has anyone else been racking up Disney VISA dream dollars during the current promotion? It ends on 3/30, so I just pre-paid my gratuities & paid for my excursions & Palo by paying for onboard credits. Now what will I spend those dream dollars on??? Gift shop, bar, photos, etc.

 

[SteffyLou]

jcarlstrom! Let "SmilingEyes" aka Drew know if you are interested in our fish extender group. You can also look at the 1st page of this thread to see who's cruising w/us & their ages. Have you been able to switch your shore excursions yet? Good luck!


Has anyone else been racking up Disney VISA dream dollars during the current promotion? It ends on 3/30, so I just pre-paid my gratuities & paid for my excursions & Palo by paying for onboard credits. Now what will I spend those dream dollars on??? Gift shop, bar, photos, etc.

We definitely were using the card for EVERYTHING. The only bummer is that you can only get a total of $100 extra dollars. Well between the cruise, graduate courses, and what not, we were WAY over that. Wish it was an extra $100 a month and not total. The other bummer is they told us that it won't post until up to 3 months after that qualifying month. So the bonus for March won't be in there until sometime in June.

It is so funny that you got a Palo brunch on Tracy Arm day. I wasn't able to get that and had been trying for 2 weeks. Were you a table of 2? I was trying for 4. That will be our first stop on the ship to try to get a reservation.

Oh, and our other party stayed up late and got everything booked they wanted. Yeay!!

 

[DVC Mary]

We definitely were using the card for EVERYTHING. The only bummer is that you can only get a total of $100 extra dollars. Well between the cruise, graduate courses, and what not, we were WAY over that. Wish it was an extra $100 a month and not total. The other bummer is they told us that it won't post until up to 3 months after that qualifying month. So the bonus for March won't be in there until sometime in June.

It is so funny that you got a Palo brunch on Tracy Arm day. I wasn't able to get that and had been trying for 2 weeks. Were you a table of 2? I was trying for 4. That will be our first stop on the ship to try to get a reservation.

Oh, and our other party stayed up late and got everything booked they wanted. Yeay!!

Steffy Lou: I've been getting the extra dollars every month for Jan, Feb, & now March (statement just closed) but I can earn on next month's statement if we reach the amount before 3/30. Wierd. I'll have to look closer. Why don't you try for 2 tables of 2 and you can ask to put them together when you get upstairs. Or maybe if we get a BIG table?? Glad to hear your other party got what they wanted.

 

[SteffyLou]

Steffy Lou: I've been getting the extra dollars every month for Jan, Feb, & now March (statement just closed) but I can earn on next month's statement if we reach the amount before 3/30. Wierd. I'll have to look closer. Why don't you try for 2 tables of 2 and you can ask to put them together when you get upstairs. Or maybe if we get a BIG table?? Glad to hear your other party got what they wanted.

Hmmm, we'll have to call them and ask about the bonus because they had told us it would take up to 3 months and we haven't seen anything yet. Which bonus did you get? Get 3X after spending $1,000 each month and our other party got spend $3,000 total and then start earning $3,000. Similar, but not the same ones.

 

[DVC Mary]

We got the second bonus you listed "spend 3,000...." like your other party. Have they been getting the miles to show up already. Whenever they have the earn 3x rewards, we always get them monthly. We've never had wait. Weird!

 

[kde175]

Had to reschedule our August sailing, so we will now be joining the June 14th sailing....
Myself, DH, DS (almost 9), DS (6) and DD (4.5) - at time of sailing

Hi,

Welcome to the group. My DD (Emma) will be 4.5 at the time of sailing. She'll be excited to find out that there's another girl her age on the ship.

Enjoy you planning and look forward to getting to know you.

 

[disneyochem]

Getting closer to when we can book our excursions. We won't be able to get anything until the end of this month. I'm starting to get a little anxious but I've decided just to go with it. What will be available will fantastic as well.

Thank you for the tip about M&M Tours. I spoke to Mark yesterday--very nice and helpful. We booked a Skagway train tour with him. We saved $150 by using M&M Tours! Yea! I didn't particularly want to book with a company other than Disney but the train is a must for us. DH is a HUGE train fan--I think it is the only reason I got him to agree to go on the cruise!

I called and spoke to Disney yesterday. The woman who helped me told me that I should still be able to get Palo reservations once on board the ship (guess they hold back some slots). Not too worried if we don't get Palo. Would give me an excuse to go on another Disney cruise! She did tell me that the 5th night of the cruise is Pirate Night. I said too bad about no fireworks and she said I might be surprised. That Disney was going to have fireworks but it would depend on the weather that day. I thought that was interesting since I had heard there would be no fireworks....

 

[wendy151950]

That Disney was going to have fireworks but it would depend on the weather that day. I thought that was interesting since I had heard there would be no fireworks....

It may be too cold and wet. When I went to Alaska, it went down in the mid-30's and 40's at night plus it rained quite a bit. That was in late June. We'll see!

 

[amyhuffman]

Glad to hear that Mark at M&M was able to help you out! I was quite pleased with our reservations with M&M.

Amy

 

[sunshine state kim]

So what do you all have in mind for footwear? I gather that LAYERS are the way to go with dressing - to be prepared for cool days, rainy days, sunny days... I am not sure what to do about shoes though. Our plans are:

Ketchikan - kayaking with Ketchikan Kayak Company
Skagway - Helicopter/Dog sledding with Disney (but am reconsidering after I looked at the M&M prices)
Juneau - Whale watching with Harv & Marv

I am thinking that regular sneakers should be fine...

Finally got my FE gifts figured out. It's fun to see the list growing each day!

 

[DVC Mary]

Most Alaska packing tips say hiking boots. All the guys in my family have them. I might pick up a pair of WATER PROOF light weight ones. Since our excursions are 3 days in a row, I'm a little worried about footwear too. Sneakers w/ good treads would probably be fine for you. We're going on a 4x4 adventure near waterfalls, trails that might be muddy, etc. so that's why I'm thinking hiking boots. I've been doing more camping & could use them.

What if our sneakers get soaked? How many pair would you bring?

 

[DVC Mary]

I checked room availability out of curiosity. There are no concierge, only about 5 Cat 4 verandas, no oceanviews, & but inside rooms in the various cats of 11 & 10. If you're an 11 you could go to a 10, but there's little room for any other movement. Those Cat 4s might wind up as purchased upgrades at the port.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

 

[Mineu]

I saw a great tip on another thread-for those interested in the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show-but can't book through Disney because you have an earlier excursion-you can book online at their site-it looks like the 4:45 show is the same one listed on the Disney site!

 

[Boogie70]

I hope that this doesn't sound silly... Does anyone know if there is laundry service on the boat?
Thanks,
Laura