June 16, 2014 Wonder to Alaska

[Ohana 4]

Welcome, Deann! Good to have you.

MrsRachel2432, Welcome to our little group! My first cruise ever was also Alaska, back in 2011. We didn't know a thing either. But here are some tips that I learned along the way:

In general:

1. You can order whatever you want to eat at dinner. Even two entrees or two desserts!
2. You can bring an item to guest services with sharpies and characters will sign them for you and return your item to you at the end of the cruise!
3. Your kids are going to love the kids clubs and never want to spend time with you. Which can be good or bad. I'd set rules. ;-)
4. You'll never be hungry because there is food everywhere and all the time.
5. You'll want to book your next cruise onboard. Not only because you'll love it so much, but also because you get good discounts!

For Alaska:

1. Bring layers for clothing. You may need lots, you may need little. Depends on how God decides to treat us that week.
2. Don't miss Tracy Arm day. The views are beautiful!
3. Don't miss the buffet on Tracy Arm day. They grill salmon and chicken and things right outside!
4. You will see whales. Bring a camera with a zoom, binoculars, etc.
5. Check out the upstairs area of Cove Cafe for adults only. You can check out the views without being cold!

Hope this helps, and enjoy your very first cruise.

 

[DVC4US]

Shall we start the countdown already?

62 days!

: :

YAY!!!!!!! So Excited!!

 

[DVC4US]

Hello everyone! My parents and I will be on this cruise. We are really looking forward to it. It's been too long since our last Disney cruise. We can't wait to be back on the Wonder! I signed up for the Facebook group. 2 more months!

Hello everyone! This will be our first cruise and we're clueless!! We will be cruising with my mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, my husband, my 3 boys (ages 13, 10, & 6) and myself. I want to get the most out of our experience (& I'm such a planner, it's almost ridiculous), but being the first time we've ever done anything like this, I don't even know where to begin.

So, any tips for a first-timer?

Welcome to both of you!!

 

[PIGLETSMOMMA]

Our family just returned on Saturday (June 29, 2013) from the Eastern MedCruise. Absolutely wonderful and miss everything about it! So, here I am. I booked our family on another cruise while I was on the ship. Looking forward to it! We are looking forward to the FE. I need to make new magnets, because someone or some people stole our magnets off our doors on the 2nd day. Our next door neighbor (StateRoom) had their FE bag stolen. So, I took our magnets off our doors. What's the weather like in June in Alaska? Now, mind you, we just returned from an unusually hot and humid climate in Cinque Terre, Rome, Athens, and Kusadasi. So, I thought returning back to CA, it would be nice. But, it's been over 100 degrees. So, some nice cool weather in June of 2014 would be great! Thanks!

quick question, "Abayaflowers" Are you still doing the FE? We had a final check in on FB for the list and wanted to double check .

 

[Piercefamilysc]

Aloha, all!

My husband and I are counting down the days till Alaska!!

Can someone tell me if the DCL Dooney and Bourke (navy blue charms print) are available fleet wide? ...more specifically, on the Wonder?

Mahalo!

Hi! We just got off the Magic today and they had DCL Dooney and Bourke bags for sale in the shops on board. I glanced at them, but don't know enough about them to confirm which pattern it was. See you in June!

 

[chellez]

Hi! We just got off the Magic today and they had DCL Dooney and Bourke bags for sale in the shops on board. I glanced at them, but don't know enough about them to confirm which pattern it was. See you in June!

, Piercefamilysc!

I am *crossing my fingers* that the Wonder has them. When the bags first came out, they were exclusive to the Disney Magic re-launch and heard they were found on the Dream a little bit later... haven't heard anything about them being on the Wonder so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[carl850]

Originally Posted by frankiefiner

Hello all! I just got off my first Disney cruise Friday (on the Magic). This board was really helpful in getting me prepared and I am grateful to everyone for sharing their experiences. Once on board I discovered something about the wave phones that I didn't see in any of the posts, so thought I'd share.

Many posters have commented/complained that you can only charge one phone at once, when in fact there are two ways to keep multiple phones charging at the same time.

Method 1: Spare Battery Charging Slot:

Behind the main charging slot you will find another small slot with a thin metal strip on top. If you pull the battery out of the second phone and slide it in that little slot, underneath the metal strip, you will see a light go on and it will start charging. Works great for overnight charging of two phones.

Method 2: Micro-USB port

If you look at the phone and the charger in detail, you'll see that everything is powered by USB power and micro-USB ports. This is the same port type used to charge most non-Apple phones, Kindles, etc. With power strips now outlawed and outlets limited I just brought two of the Anker 5-port USB chargers that others have recommended here (these are handy at home too), along with plenty of cables. So with 10 USB charging ports at our disposal there was no problem keeping wave phones fully charged. If someone wanted to free up an extra outlet, they could charge both phones this way and get rid of the bulky charger altogether.

On a side note, we used the wave phones often since we were traveling with another family, but like others found them a little dated and clumsy to use. But they got the job done. With the Navigator App now available on all the ships and WiFi coverage pretty good, I see no reason why they couldn't just integrate text and talk into the app, which would eliminate the need for wave phones all together.

Hope this is helpful! Sorry I couldn't post links or photos to make it clearer.

 

[Ambaugh]

We are excited to say that we will be joining you on this cruise! This will be our first Alaskan cruise, but our 6th DCL cruise (our 5th one is coming up in March!) There will be 3 of us - DH, DW, and DD14. We look forward to getting to know all of you and we will definitely be doing FE!

If I can get a name or initials for your daughter, I can make a personalized tag for her gift. Thanks

 

[Piercefamilysc]

Originally Posted by frankiefiner

Hello all! I just got off my first Disney cruise Friday (on the Magic). This board was really helpful in getting me prepared and I am grateful to everyone for sharing their experiences. Once on board I discovered something about the wave phones that I didn't see in any of the posts, so thought I'd share.

Many posters have commented/complained that you can only charge one phone at once, when in fact there are two ways to keep multiple phones charging at the same time.

Method 1: Spare Battery Charging Slot:

Behind the main charging slot you will find another small slot with a thin metal strip on top. If you pull the battery out of the second phone and slide it in that little slot, underneath the metal strip, you will see a light go on and it will start charging. Works great for overnight charging of two phones.

Method 2: Micro-USB port

If you look at the phone and the charger in detail, you'll see that everything is powered by USB power and micro-USB ports. This is the same port type used to charge most non-Apple phones, Kindles, etc. With power strips now outlawed and outlets limited I just brought two of the Anker 5-port USB chargers that others have recommended here (these are handy at home too), along with plenty of cables. So with 10 USB charging ports at our disposal there was no problem keeping wave phones fully charged. If someone wanted to free up an extra outlet, they could charge both phones this way and get rid of the bulky charger altogether.

On a side note, we used the wave phones often since we were traveling with another family, but like others found them a little dated and clumsy to use. But they got the job done. With the Navigator App now available on all the ships and WiFi coverage pretty good, I see no reason why they couldn't just integrate text and talk into the app, which would eliminate the need for wave phones all together.

Hope this is helpful! Sorry I couldn't post links or photos to make it clearer.

Good information. Thanks for sharing!

 

[KatHuss]

Originally Posted by frankiefiner

With power strips now outlawed and outlets limited I just brought two of the Anker 5-port USB chargers that others have recommended here (these are handy at home too), along with plenty of cables. So with 10 USB charging ports at our disposal there was no problem keeping wave phones fully charged. If someone wanted to free up an extra outlet, they could charge both phones this way and get rid of the bulky charger altogether.

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't seen multi-port chargers beyond the 2 port ones so I got online and looked around. I found a 6 port wall charger so that should do for us. Cell phones don't work at sea unless you pay DCL's crazy fees so we won't use them for at least half the trip anyway.

 

[KnightRail]

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't seen multi-port chargers beyond the 2 port ones so I got online and looked around. I found a 6 port wall charger so that should do for us. Cell phones don't work at sea unless you pay DCL's crazy fees so we won't use them for at least half the trip anyway.

My phone is always in airplane mode on cruises but I still keep it on me and take pics with it (I have fun editing apps). But at least when we're in Alaska it's in the US so I'm hoping my palm with work there

 

[KatHuss]

My phone is always in airplane mode on cruises but I still keep it on me and take pics with it (I have fun editing apps). But at least when we're in Alaska it's in the US so I'm hoping my palm with work there

Check with your carrier. Most do work in the ports we will be in. We are on Straight Talk and will be able to use our service in port, though not in Vancouver without international service which I refuse to pay for since we won't be there that long. It will do the 17 year old good to be offline for a few days, lol!

 

[KnightRail]

I got my luggage takes and cruise book-thing today! I still cannot believe Im finally going to Alaska!!

 

[KatHuss]

I got my luggage takes and cruise book-thing today! I still cannot believe Im finally going to Alaska!!

It is getting closer and closer! We got ours the other day too. We leave for Seattle 5 weeks from today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[KnightRail]

So seeing as how I'm not on FaceBook has there been any fun/interesting discussions on there? Like any meet ups?

 

[Ohana 4]

So seeing as how I'm not on FaceBook has there been any fun/interesting discussions on there? Like any meet ups?

The FE sign up link on the first page, first thread has the two meetups we have planned at the bottom of the spreadsheet

 

[KnightRail]

The FE sign up link on the first page, first thread has the two meetups we have planned at the bottom of the spreadsheet

Thank you. Not yet ready to participate in an FE, but the second day meet up....what does it mean by refund drink? I'm all kinds of confused.

 

[Ohana 4]

Thank you. Not yet ready to participate in an FE, but the second day meet up....what does it mean by refund drink? I'm all kinds of confused.

So there was a small refund given back to all cruisers by DCL at some point, and some of the group is meeting up to buy drinks with that money saved. ;-)

 

[KnightRail]

So there was a small refund given back to all cruisers by DCL at some point, and some of the group is meeting up to buy drinks with that money saved. ;-)

I was wondering why they gave back some money....any idea as to why?

 

[Ohana 4]

I think it has to do with the ship' port charges or taxes or something.