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

[ClubDis]

I would just book it, but I'm waiting for either the onboard booking discount or the cast member discount I hopefully have coming sooner rather than later, as soon as a possition opens up. Hopefully I'll get hired soon, I'm hoping with the bigger discount I can convince his mom, sister, and step-dad to join us and surprise him on board.

 

[DVC Mary]

ClubDis: Good luck on the CM job!

mmmears: It's too small of a sampling to tell anything about the whole cruise, but you have a possible theory. Older kids might enjoy Alaska more. I know my son's friends think it;s cool they're going.

They asked about everything: food, entertainment, excursions, what would make an Alaska Disney experience, etc. In general, they seemed to be wondering what people's expectations were & it was a big brainstorming session.

What are you expecting & what do you mean about the non-inside to the inside?

I'm hoping for more nature experts aboard & alerts on when/where to look for wildlife. Special things in the kids club about Alaskan culture & wildlife & things for us to learn about while onboard too! DH also wants more fresh fish or something special w/ native foods. I'd love to bring back Brother Bear stuff for the kids. It would fit perfectly & I love the music.

What do we expect as a group??? What are you guys hoping for?

 

[mmmears]

What are you expecting & what do you mean about the non-inside to the inside?

I'm hoping for more nature experts aboard & alerts on when/where to look for wildlife. Special things in the kids club about Alaskan culture & wildlife & things for us to learn about while onboard too! DH also wants more fresh fish or something special w/ native foods. I'd love to bring back Brother Bear stuff for the kids. It would fit perfectly & I love the music.

What do we expect as a group??? What are you guys hoping for?

1. Here's a link to the tread I was mentioning :http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2491135&page=7 The itinerary map was showing that the ship wasn't traveling through the inside passage as most cruise ships do -- past all the beautiful scenery in protected waters. It showed the Wonder going out to sea, where it is rougher and there is nothing to see. Then someone noticed about a week ago that the map was changed on the website to reflect a true "inside passage" cruise. Calls to DCL seemed to get different responses, but I am really hopeful that with this new map it will be an inside passage cruise (as it should be). I'm not sure I'm explaining it well, but the thread goes into it in depth.

2. I'm hoping they put a naturalist on board like Princess and HAL does, and that they point out the whales, birds, animals etc. I also hope that since they can't do the fireworks at sea in Alaska that they will replace it with something fun and Alaska themed. Plus just more Alasking theming in general, I guess. My main hope is that they do follow the inside passage route.

 

[DVC Mary]

Thanks!

I really hope we get to enjoy lots of scenery. I have my 1st verandah ever & I hope it doesn't matter which side you are on. I chose the port side. Oh well, I can always go hang out on Deck 4. What happens if they announce grizzly bears starboard side & everyone moves to that side of the boat????

I'm used to knowing so much beforehand about a cruise. This feels wierd, but I guess until the 1st cruises come back we'll have to wait to be delightfully surprised. I think naturalists would be the norm. Disney is so education focused & conservation minded.

Can't wait!!!!

 

[Mineu]

Hi: We may be joining you guys tomorrow. I'm currently booked on the 5/31 cruise-but-just got an email saying my son's senior trip is being moved to 5/29-since I volunteered to chaperone-we may be moving our Alaska cruise... Does this seem to be a full cruise?

 

[Mineu]

We're booked! If you see a family with t-shirts that say 5/31 sailing-that's us-I guess I planned too early on that one! We are two adults, recent high school graduate son (18), 17 year old son, 14 year old son (this is the one to watch), and 12 year old daughter! I might continue to hold off on the flights-but hopefully we're all set!

 

[DVC Mary]

Congrats & Welcome Mineu!

What grades will they be finishing? More teens!!! We've got to get these kids their own thread going or most likely they'll want to text/facebook each other. Why is your 14 yr old the one to watch??? LOL

I can't believe you made your t-shirts already. Too funny. If I did that though at least I'd be more organized & less stressed before the cruise.

Did you notice that there's someone from Baton Rouge on this cruise? Read back to earlier posts from lsutigger.

Where's your son's senior trip going? They don't let parents chaperone on the 8th grade trip. We just went to that meeting tonight.

Aahhh back to school & I've already got too many papers to grade.

 

[Mineu]

Thanks!!! My "senior" will actually be a college freshman (he just got accepted to LSU!) He opted out of the Cancun trip (thankfully!) and picked the Carnival cruise (wish they did Disney!). My 17 year old will be the new senior in the family, my 14 year old will be a freshman (he's the most like his Dad-very social and so cute you don't notice when he's misbehaving!) and my daughter will be an eighth grader. Wow-I feel old now!!

Right now our plan is to fly into YVR from Lafayette, Louisiana spend the night at the Pan Pacific, cruise, and then pick up a rental and drive to Seattle (got a pretty good rate on a family suite at the Doubletree Seattle Airport) to fly home. I'm still watching flights though.

Good luck with school this year-when does your year end?

 

[DVC Mary]

Mineu: Are you going on the Carnival cruise as a chaperone? If so, Wow two cruises in one month. My school year ends somewhere between June 1st & June 8th, it just depends on how many snow days we get. On average we get 1-2 snow days a year.


Happy Labor Day everyone!

 

[Mineu]

At first, I was going to get home from the senior's cruise on May 29th and then fly to Vancouver on May 30th for the Alaska cruise. Now, the senior cruise will depart on May 29th and we will take the June 14th Alaskan cruise. I'll probably be able to pre-pack for the Alaska cruise-we won't be wearing shorts there!

I can see why you booked the June 14th cruise since you may get out late-my three younger children don't get out of school until June 1st-really late for Louisiana!

 

[lsutigger2]

Welcome to all the new members who have joined us recently.

It is so great to see our group growing - I haven't been on the boards much. It was a crazy August. Hopefully things will slow down a bit.

I had volunteered to keep the list of those who joined this thread and I'm still willing to do that. I do have the list up-to-date, I think. Last cruise I put together a spreadsheet with cabin numbers, names and ages of children. If you feel comfortable doing so, send your information along either with a post or in a PM and I'll begin working on the spreadsheet for this cruise. For those participating with exchanging fish extender treats it was a big help.

Mineu-we're from Baton Rouge So glad you'll have an LSU Tiger soon. My DH met in Lafayette and lived there for a while.

Drew-Where are you??? It's football season

Take care all - i'll be checking back soon.

Janie

 

[sunshine state kim]

My 17yr old daughter will have completed 11th grade
My 14yr old son will have completed 8th grade
My 16yr old nephew will have completed 10th grade
My 14yr old niece will have completed 8th grade

I have to check on room numbers for my parents & brother (and search for mine too!). They went with a different travel agent so I need to get us linked so we can sit together at dinner. I hope my TA can do that even though they didn't use her!

 

[mmmears]

My 17yr old daughter will have completed 11th grade
My 14yr old son will have completed 8th grade
My 16yr old nephew will have completed 10th grade
My 14yr old niece will have completed 8th grade

I have to check on room numbers for my parents & brother (and search for mine too!). They went with a different travel agent so I need to get us linked so we can sit together at dinner. I hope my TA can do that even though they didn't use her!

More teens! My DD will be 14 and just finishing 8th grade, too.

Question -- Does anyone know if there is a max limit on teens like there is for little kids (because of the clubs). I'm wondering if the cruise sells out of teen space, and not many little kids will be going... if we'll be sailing on an empty ship or if they might (hopefully) release some kind of discount. Just silly speculation, I know, but still... I'd love a discount!

 

[mmmears]

In case any of you are as anxious as I am to hear about the shore excursions, someone posted a link here to a site with some preview information from DCL:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2555604

It looks like more information will be released in the next few days.

 

[lsutigger2]

Hi to all the Alaska bound travelers

does anyone know if Disney has released any additional information about the shore excursions yet? I don't get to the cruise board much.

Starting to get more anxious. Anyone checked how many days until sailing day??

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

 

[DVC Mary]

Nothing new on DCL--just on cruisecritic.com. See post below for info & link.
Scuttlebutt is that now that Disney has taken some travel agents out & done surveys of people booked for Alaska that we should see excursions posted in the next month or so.

Anytime you want to see how many days just come back to this board & look for our tickers. My next trip is our cruise. Christmas presents this year will be excursions b/c it looks like they will be pricey. Kids will stay get gifts from relatives but if they want certain excursions, they will have to decide for them to Christmas presents. DH is in school full time & doesn't start working part-time until January.

 

[Smileneyes]

(sheepishly entering conversation....)

Hi, all! Wow...I hadn't realized how much time had passed since we last visited the site! Things have been rather hectic in Cincinnati. Matthew is buried nose deep in his studies...for his senior year he decided to take 2 AP and 4 "honors" courses. SAT and ACT coming up next month as well.

Yes, Janie...football season is upon us! Congrats to the Bayou Bengals on the win over WVU! Sadly, we had a heartbreaker against Oklahoma this past weekend...and it's been a rough season so far, but we're not giving up on our Bearcats!

Our flights are booked as well. Outbound via Delta on the 13th, one stop in SeaTac. Returning on United by way of O'Hare.

FYI...we liked the B2B on the Wonder so much that we've booked B2B on the Dream in September of 2011. I'm thinking of taking out a second mortgage and naming it "Disney"...LOL

Welcome to those who've been joining us while we've been away. We look forward to getting to know all of you over the next several months!

--Drew

P.S. Hard to believe that we've had this cruise booked for just over a year now....WOW!!!

 

[tearem]

My DH, DD8 and I will be on this cruise. It is our first one and we can't wait!

 

[nzdisneymom]

My DH, DD8 and I will be on this cruise. It is our first one and we can't wait!

welcome!

 

[Mineu]

Has anyone booked flights? I'm trying to hold out until Southwest releases their dates (November 18th)-it's an extra two hour drive for us-but love the free bags!!