June 25, 2012 - WONDERful 7 night Alaskan cruise

[Deb in IA]

Deb-

Were you able to get this rate? When I tried the link, it was giving me a rate of $200+ per night. For some reason, I'm having a hard time picking a hotel! The most important thing is that its clean! We can always get to where we want to go~

Also, I saw you posted on another thread that you might take a Med cruise if they're offered in 2013. We took a Med cruise last June so feel free to ask questions. I know Glenn and his family have cruised the Med, too.

Shelly

Yes we did the Med in 2010 and can answer any questions and we just booked the Med cruise for 2013 with an onboard placeholder we had...OMG prices have gone up It was $7300 for 2 adults and 1 child on the June 15th 12 night cruise. Thats $2K more then last year with only one extra night.

Maybe the special rate is only for certain dates? I always get fooled by the "fine print".

YES, we used on OBC to book the June 15, 2013 12-night Mediterranean with Greece and Turkey!! This is going to be a double graduation cruise - DD from college, DS from high school!
We are really looking forward to it! We got stateroom 8004, port side very foreward - pretty much over the bridge, I think.

I'm sure I will have a ton of questions as we get closer, so I may look for you on the cruise!!

 

[Mean Queen]

We usually fly out the same day we get to port; however, I was worried about this cruise. DCL lists our port time as 9:00am on the 2nd. The flight we wanted to take leaves at 12:30pm. I wasn't sure that would give us enough time to get off the ship, get through Customs and get to the airport in time for the flight. I don't want to stress at the end of our vacation so we're staying an extra night.

I like the idea of meeting on Deck 7 Aft for a "Meet." That is such a nice area that many people don't know about.

I think we're going to do the same thing. I'd hate to stress about making our flight. I always enjoy just getting off the boat at a leisurely pace after the cruise.

 

[htmlkid]

Maybe the special rate is only for certain dates? I always get fooled by the "fine print".

YES, we used on OBC to book the June 15, 2013 12-night Mediterranean with Greece and Turkey!! This is going to be a double graduation cruise - DD from college, DS from high school!
We are really looking forward to it! We got stateroom 8004, port side very foreward - pretty much over the bridge, I think.

I'm sure I will have a ton of questions as we get closer, so I may look for you on the cruise!!

Hey just realized you were on the June 15th Med cruise. How funny that the cruise is only 6 days after being announced and there are 15 pages of people chatting.

 

[DCLShel]

Hey just realized you were on the June 15th Med cruise. How funny that the cruise is only 6 days after being announced and there are 15 pages of people chatting.

We are a small but mighty group! The Meets thread for my next cruise (MV of the Fantasy) is crazy!! There are so many people that I'll never get to know 90% of them.

Has anyone made any decisions about excursions? I know we want to zipline for sure. Not sure about anything else. I guess we better be making some decisions - we can book excursions Feb 26th. The only bad thing - I work at an accounting firm and its tax season. Doesn't leave me with much free time to do research. Ugh!

 

[floridahippy]

Hi all

As the port times have been 'cut' this year do you think this will mean alot of the tours wont be offered?
The only one that I know isnt on for 2012 is the steam train ride as it states not running in 2012
There are one or two excursions that we would love to do but just not sure if they will be running - so it would be great if the platinum cruisers could pass on what they have been able to book!!

So looking forward to this cruise


We are also booked on the June 15th Med Cruise!!!!!

 

[Deb in IA]

We are also booked on the June 15th Med Cruise!!!!!

So are WE!!!!

That's at least 3 of us that will be re-uniting on the Med cruise after this one: floridahippy, htmlkid, and us!!

Maybe we can convince more to join us!!

 

[Deb in IA]

Hey just realized you were on the June 15th Med cruise. How funny that the cruise is only 6 days after being announced and there are 15 pages of people chatting.

Did you see how many DIS'ers were on that cruise??

Maybe you, me, and floridahippy should have a Med planning meeting on our Alaska cruise!

 

[CousinVinny]

As the port times have been 'cut' this year do you think this will mean alot of the tours wont be offered?
The only one that I know isnt on for 2012 is the steam train ride as it states not running in 2012
There are one or two excursions that we would love to do but just not sure if they will be running - so it would be great if the platinum cruisers could pass on what they have been able to book!!

That's what the DCL web site says, but the Fraser Meadows Steam Excursion is taking reservations on their web page. The problem is that the Wonder docks in Skagaway on Thursday and WP&YR only operates the steam route on Fridays and certain Mondays.

We're signed up for the WP&YR White Pass Summit Excursion and a Whale Watching tour through Harv & Marv (I think we're getting a private boat since there's so many in our group). Both excursions booked directly with the tour companies and not through DCL.

 

[floridahippy]

Cousinvinny - would you mind telling me where you booked the excursions - I can find Harv and Marv so thats ok but I really want to know about the rail one!
Thank you

 

[floridahippy]

hehe ignore me - found it now!!!!!!

 

[htmlkid]

We are thinking about Heli Glacer Dog sledding, Zip line and mabe gold panning.

If anyone uses the Disney CC to book your trip you should consider upgrading to the new preferred. I got confirmation from the Marketing Director that DCL will be included in the 2% disney cash back and in addition there is a 5% bonus for three months when you sign up with no spending limit. For us that means that we will pay off the Alaskan Cruise and the 2013 Med Cruise and get back almost $600 with the 5%...not a bad deal. They do charge you $49 to upgrade.. but I think it might be worth it.

Just something to consider.

 

[DCLShel]

We are thinking about Heli Glacer Dog sledding, Zip line and mabe gold panning.

If anyone uses the Disney CC to book your trip you should consider upgrading to the new preferred. I got confirmation from the Marketing Director that DCL will be included in the 2% disney cash back and in addition there is a 5% bonus for three months when you sign up with no spending limit. For us that means that we will pay off the Alaskan Cruise and the 2013 Med Cruise and get back almost $600 with the 5%...not a bad deal. They do charge you $49 to upgrade.. but I think it might be worth it.

Just something to consider.

Are you booking your excursions through DCL? I mentioned a Float Plane or Heli ride to DH and he wasn't too hip on either. He's not a big fan of flying! haha! The way I look at it - its a once in a lifetime adventure - go for it!

I upgraded our Disney Visa last week but I'm still waiting for the new cards. When I checked our account online, its still showing the 1%. As long as I have the bonus 5% to pay off this cruise, I'll be good.

I hate paying for cards but we charge everything on our Disney card so the $49 fee is worth it.

 

[htmlkid]

Are you booking your excursions through DCL? I mentioned a Float Plane or Heli ride to DH and he wasn't too hip on either. He's not a big fan of flying! haha! The way I look at it - its a once in a lifetime adventure - go for it!

I upgraded our Disney Visa last week but I'm still waiting for the new cards. When I checked our account online, its still showing the 1%. As long as I have the bonus 5% to pay off this cruise, I'll be good.

I hate paying for cards but we charge everything on our Disney card so the $49 fee is worth it.

Although I always book through Disney I'm seriously considering shoretrips.com they are cheaper then disney to book. Let us know about the zipline would love to do that with you.....

 

[Mean Queen]

We will definitely not be doing any of the flying ones. DD12 and I are both afraid of heights. We'll probably do the dog sled summer camp, the gold panning, and not sure what others. DD12 is very against the log chopping for some unknown reason. I can't believe we'll be booking all this next month.

 

[Mean Queen]

It's official! We have bought our plane tickets. We got 4 round trip to Florida for $1700 on AirTran. We will stay 3 nights before the cruise and 1 day after. That gives us two full days of checking out Seattle. We still have to book our hotel, but that won't be as big an issue as the ever rising airfare was.

 

[htmlkid]

It's official! We have bought our plane tickets. We got 4 round trip to Florida for $1700 on AirTran. We will stay 3 nights before the cruise and 1 day after. That gives us two full days of checking out Seattle. We still have to book our hotel, but that won't be as big an issue as the ever rising airfare was.

Wow that sounds like an amazing price....more money in your pocket for excursions and shopping!!!!

 

[Mean Queen]

Wow that sounds like an amazing price....more money in your pocket for excursions and shopping!!!!

AirTran! Even with the cost of the baggage, it's cheaper than Southwest. Plus, we can pick our seats so we don't have to fight to sit together for the trip.

 

[Deb in IA]

AirTran! Even with the cost of the baggage, it's cheaper than Southwest. Plus, we can pick our seats so we don't have to fight to sit together for the trip.

We booked our air today!!!

We actually went with Southwest - our first time flying them!

We got a good fare out of St. Louis - $1,161 round trip for the 4 of us, which is about
$290 per person! These days, I figure anything less than $300 a ticket is pretty good.

And we are flying nonstop for the first leg, so less chance of lost luggage! I am always a bit paranoid about that when we are heading for a cruise.

Coming back, we have a lay-over in Vegas, but it is about 2 hours, so I think we should be OK.

Now to look at hotels. I think some of them have a "cruise package"? I forgot which one that was.

 

[DCLShel]

We booked our air today!!!

We actually went with Southwest - our first time flying them!

We got a good fare out of St. Louis - $1,161 round trip for the 4 of us, which is about
$290 per person! These days, I figure anything less than $300 a ticket is pretty good.

And we are flying nonstop for the first leg, so less chance of lost luggage! I am always a bit paranoid about that when we are heading for a cruise.

Coming back, we have a lay-over in Vegas, but it is about 2 hours, so I think we should be OK.

Now to look at hotels. I think some of them have a "cruise package"? I forgot which one that was.

Wow, Deb - you got a good price on your flights! We're flying SW out of St. Louis and ours was $423/pp. Luckily I had miles to use so we only had to pay for one round-trip ticket.

When are you flying to Seattle? We're flying out of STL on Friday, June 22nd. Coming back on July 3rd. We might be hanging out at the SW terminals together - haha!

Shelly

 

[htmlkid]

Where are all the new people... I'm thinking that there is not going to be a problem getting a chair by the pool on this cruse...



BTW some good news today. We were initially going to drive to Miami (we live in west palm) to catch our flight due to cheaper airfare, but they changed a leg of our flight yeaterday. So I called today and told them I was a little dissapointed and asked if there was any change of changing us to departing and arriving out of West Palm as compensation. They said no problem, and no change fees....whoo hoo!!!!!