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

[Bambi & Thumber]

Hey everyone:

We've decided to make the plunge too. We can't wait to see the great wilderness of Alaska with you guys. We live in North Mississippi and traveling with me will be my DW, three children, poppop and grandma. We are diving cross country to Vancouver. We all really wanted to see America on route to the cruise. We also want to participate in the FE. We did it on our most recent cruise and the kids loved it. It was one of the highlights of the trip. We got some great homemade items that we treasure. We are in two cabins, I will PM rome numbers. Below are our names to add to the list:

cabin 1
DH Brian
DW Margaret
Emily (11)
Jack (4)
Will (2)

cabin 2
Poppop Dave
Grandma Adella

Can't wait to meet ya'll in Alaska! And don't forget the green leis!

 

[Weedy]

Just made some changes to our excursions. I just read some reviews on the Mendenhall Glacier Float Trip in Juneau and they were all bad Don't know why I did not read these before now. Yes I stayed up until midnight the night our booking window opened. So I switched to The Glacier Point Winderness Safari in Skagway. It has great reviews. We were going to zipline in Skagway so now we will zipline in Juneau. I had some concerns about the zipline in Skagway because it's brand new and has not opened yet. To find the reviews I just Googled the name of the adventure and reviews came out from other cruise lines and sites like cruise critic.

 

[DVC Mary]

Welcome Bambi & Thumber! Congrats on booking. It's going to be great!!!!


Weedy: Depending on how long you're in Vancouver, there are some great places to zipline there. We have plans to zipline & raft there. We are going to stay in Whistler for a few days to be closer to that kind of fun. I need to do some more research on the reviews before I book this week.

 

[mmmears]

Hi! I just wanted to give you a quick recap (to date) of the participation list for the FE "gang". As of this moment, we have 20 staterooms participating!!!

As always, the detailed list of participants may be found in the first post on this thread. However, to date we have 40 adults participating, 10 boys (ages ranging from 1 to 16) and 15 girls (ages between 7 and 17).

The following 9 states have participants: CA, FL, IL, KY, LA, MN, OH, PA, and TX (plus one or two "mystery guests"). For what it's worth....

--Drew

Thanks for the update! And thank you, Drew, for organizing it all.

Just made some changes to our excursions. I just read some reviews on the Mendenhall Glacier Float Trip in Juneau and they were all bad Don't know why I did not read these before now. Yes I stayed up until midnight the night our booking window opened. So I switched to The Glacier Point Winderness Safari in Skagway. It has great reviews. We were going to zipline in Skagway so now we will zipline in Juneau. I had some concerns about the zipline in Skagway because it's brand new and has not opened yet. To find the reviews I just Googled the name of the adventure and reviews came out from other cruise lines and sites like cruise critic.

Weedy, I was planning to book that same extension until I read reviews on it, too. (We must have read similar ones...). Glad you found something else to book instead. I ended up booking a kayaking excursion in Juneau (not through Disney). I have also read great reviews of the one you booked in Skagway -- hope you have a great time!

 

[DVC Mary]

I was in contact w/ a local tour provider & they said that the Wonder is scheduled to arrive at 11am in Ketchikan that day.

I'm still so torn on these excursion choices--mostly Juneau. My youngest DS would the Exclusive Glacier Dog Musher, but it's smack dab in the middle of the day--making it impossible to do 2 things that day. For $300 less & 1-1.5 hours less time I could book w/ the same provider & then have time to do a short whale watching cruise--something I really want to do. Is anyone else doing a shorter dog sled excursion? Drew--I know you're going for the big one.

Thanks for any input on excursions! Maybe they're already booked solid??

Amy, Drew or any lucky CC members who can book already could someone check the availability w/ some times for the following excursions:

Juneau: Exclusive Glacier Dog Sled, Dog Sledding Mendenhall (need times), Dog Sled by Helicopter (need times)

Ketchikan: Bering Sea Crab Fisherman, Alaska Coastal Expedition (I can't decide which!!!!)

Skagway: Takshanuk Mt. Trail 4x4 (great reviews for this everywhere I read)

 

[SteffyLou]

So DH and I were able to book excursions and this is what we have planned

Day 4 Skagway
- White Pass Train with Trail Camp 7:15am-12:15pm
- Glacier Discovery by Helicopter 2:00-4:30

Day 5 Juneau
- booking private whale watching for our party of 5

Day 6 Ketchikan
- Classic Misty Fjords Flightseeing 2:15-4:45

Now, I did book this all, but it isn't official yet. I need to figure out if I am really, truly okay with spending $1,795 on excursions for 2 people. That amount is still hard for me to accept. I also need to make sure I'm okay with helicopters and planes- I hate flying (so that is why I choose 2 flying activities- ha ha)

The other half of our party (Jenny, John, and Mia) can not book yet and will have different plans. They are planning on doing the white pass train, dogsledding, and then a tour with the Raptor Center in Ketchikan.

BTW, I had read that a lot of people were having problems booking things if they weren't over 2 hours apart. It looks like maybe they changed that because I was allowed to book things 1 hour and 45 minutes apart.

 

[DVC Mary]

Steffy Lou

The say Alaska is all about the excursions. Let's hope you will be so overwhelmed w/ the majesty of Alaska that you'll forget you're on a helicopter/small plane. The other good thing is that Misty Fjords plane floats too!!! I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[SteffyLou]

Are you finding excursion reviews just from googling the name (as a pp said) or are you doing something different to get the reviews?

 

[DVC Mary]

Googling the name w/ review usually words, but I've also gone to:

tripadvisor
cruisecritic

Which ones are you looking for info on & I can try to help you find some reviews?

 

[SteffyLou]

I was in contact w/ a local tour provider & they said that the Wonder is scheduled to arrive at 11am in Ketchikan that day.

I'm still so torn on these excursion choices--mostly Juneau. My youngest DS would the Exclusive Glacier Dog Musher, but it's smack dab in the middle of the day--making it impossible to do 2 things that day. For $300 less & 1-1.5 hours less time I could book w/ the same provider & then have time to do a short whale watching cruise--something I really want to do. Is anyone else doing a shorter dog sled excursion? Drew--I know you're going for the big one.

Thanks for any input on excursions! Maybe they're already booked solid??

Amy, Drew or any lucky CC members who can book already could someone check the availability w/ some times for the following excursions:

Juneau: Exclusive Glacier Dog Sled, Dog Sledding Mendenhall (need times), Dog Sled by Helicopter (need times)

Ketchikan: Bering Sea Crab Fisherman, Alaska Coastal Expedition (I can't decide which!!!!)

Skagway: Takshanuk Mt. Trail 4x4 (great reviews for this everywhere I read)

Times for you:
Exclusive Glacier Dog sled: is blacked out and has no times available; appears to be sold out now.

Dog Sledding Mendenhall: 8:15-11:15, 9:45-12:45, and 12:15-3:15

Dog Sled by helicopter: 10:15-1:15 and 11:15-2:15

Hope this helps!

 

[mmmears]

Are you finding excursion reviews just from googling the name (as a pp said) or are you doing something different to get the reviews?

Like DVCMary, I've googled the name, but also spent some time reading on TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic. On TA, if you can find the excursion then it's easy since all the reviews are listed by provider.

Oh, and I hear you on the price of the excursions.

 

[amyhuffman]

DVC Mary:

Here is the info you rquested on the possible tours.

Juneau:
Exclusive Glacier Dog Musher for a day- NOT AVAILABLE
Dog Sledding Mendenhall - Available at 8:15-11:15, 9:45-12:45, and 12:15-3:15
Dog Sled by Helicopter- Available for 10:15-1:15 or 11:15-2:15

Ketchikan:
Bering Sea Crab- Available for 12:15-4:15
Alaska Coastal Expedition- Available for 1:45-6:15 or 2:45-7:15

Skagway:
Takshanuk Mt. Trail 4x4- Available for 7:15-1:45

As for our arrival time in Ketchikan, I spoke with a DCL rep who told me that we were not docking and able to get off until 12:10pm.

I hope this helps you in your planning.

Good Luck with your bookings tomorrow night!
Amy

 

[amyhuffman]

Anyone looking at Dog Sled/Helicopter tours:

We have been talking to a tour Guide (Mark with M&M tours In Skagway-you can Google search to get his contact information). He is able to arrange tours in all our ports for quite a bit less than DCL. Most of them are the identical tours as DCL. We are planning to use him to do a dogsled/helicopter in Skagway (the identical thing that is offered by DCL) for about $100pp less than DCL. He has been VERY responsive and helpful on everything! He has also quoted us the Raptor Sanctuary and a Whale Watch (with a $100 PP refund if no whales are sighted). He also offers a no dock/no pay guarantee. His prices are much better, especially if you have kids between 9-12 where DCL charges adults rates vs. child rates.

Also, for what it is worth, he recommended that if Dog Sled is a "Must Do" on your list that you plan to do it in Skagway since those tours are much less often affected by weather cancellations.

Please feel free to contact Mark and let him know that we referred you.

Amy

 

[DVC Mary]

[/SIZE]

uneau:
Exclusive Glacier Dog Musher for a day- NOT AVAILABLE
Dog Sledding Mendenhall - Available at 8:15-11:15, 9:45-12:45, and 12:15-3:15
Dog Sled by Helicopter- Available for 10:15-1:15 or 11:15-2:15

Ketchikan:
Bering Sea Crab- Available for 12:15-4:15
Alaska Coastal Expedition- Available for 1:45-6:15 or 2:45-7:15

Skagway:
Takshanuk Mt. Trail 4x4- Available for 7:15-1:45

As for our arrival time in Ketchikan, I spoke with a DCL rep who told me that we were not docking and able to get off until 12:10pm.

I hope this helps you in your planning.

Good Luck with your bookings tomorrow night!
Amy

Thank you Amy! It looks like we'll be looking to book sled dogs privately, which could be good, b/c then I can get my whale watching trip in too!!! But then again, DCL may have held some slots for lowly silver CC members that they'll release at midnight & maybe I'll get lucky.

If we wind up on a shorter dog sled excursion, did anyone do some serious checking to find our which ones were best. There seem to several companies w/ great reviews.

 

[DVC Mary]

Anyone looking at Dog Sled/Helicopter tours:

We have been talking to a tour Guide (Mark with M&M tours In Skagway-you can Google search to get his contact information). He is able to arrange tours in all our ports for quite a bit less than DCL. Most of them are the identical tours as DCL. We are planning to use him to do a dogsled/helicopter in Skagway (the identical thing that is offered by DCL) for about $100pp less than DCL. He has been VERY responsive and helpful on everything! He has also quoted us the Raptor Sanctuary and a Whale Watch (with a $100 PP refund if no whales are sighted). He also offers a no dock/no pay guarantee. His prices are much better, especially if you have kids between 9-12 where DCL charges adults rates vs. child rates.

Also, for what it is worth, he recommended that if Dog Sled is a "Must Do" on your list that you plan to do it in Skagway since those tours are much less often affected by weather cancellations.

Please feel free to contact Mark and let him know that we referred you.

Amy

Amy, you are just full of helpful info today. What is a "no dock/no pay guarantee"??? Most of the dog sledding is much cheaper if done privately. The Exclusive One that looks booked solid is a very unique one that my youngest DS would really love.

Thanks Steffy Lou too!

Is anyone else booking tomorrow night??

 

[SteffyLou]

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?

 

[DVC Mary]

Hi, Mary. You're right, this doesn't quite match up with everything else I've seen.

The rotations are supposedly confirmed as follows:

TAPTAPT
APTAPTA
PTAPTAp

Now, let's take one as an example (PTAPTAP). Three are "rotational" meals. If formal night (which is usually the "Golden Mickeys" dinner) is night 2, night 6 is "Captain's Gala", and night 7 is "Til We Meet Again", that would leave nights 1, 3, 4 and 5. The only way that I can see for us to have a regular rotational menu would be for pirate night to be on night 1 or night 4. Since we know it doesn't kick off the cruise, it'd then have to be the fourth night.

So, the rotation would look something like this:

P: rotational
T: formal - Golden Mickeys (?)
A: rotational
P: Pirate's Night
T: rotational
A: Captain's Gala
P: Til We Meet Again

Of course, the possibility exists that they would be using a rotational menu for the Pirate Night (instead of the special "pirate menu" that we have seen in the past), and have another themed night for the fourth evening.



I guess we'll hear more as things develop.

--Drew

Has anyone gotten anymore SOLID info our nights?
If I'm trying not miss special menus, what night should I do Palo?
I'm going to try for Thurs. or Wed. for brunch.

 

[SteffyLou]

They did not have Thursday brunch open for a party of 4. They had only Weds. and Friday from what I remember.

 

[DVC Mary]

They did not have Thursday brunch open for a party of 4. They had only Weds. and Friday from what I remember.

Was that for brunch or dinner?

 

[Smileneyes]

Has anyone gotten anymore SOLID info our nights?
If I'm trying not miss special menus, what night should I do Palo?
I'm going to try for Thurs. or Wed. for brunch.

Hi, Mary! The only thing more "solid" that I read was where people had confirmed with DCL that night five was indeed the Pirate Party night. Again, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're planning a pirate menu for pirate night...it could be that, given no fireworks in Alaska, they might be doing the rotational dinner that evening, and another menu (i.e. the Princess menu) on night 4.

I would imagine by now that DCL knows what the menus will be each evening...but I haven't seen anything on the boards indicating that they've let that cat out of the bag....

--Drew