Just wanted to share some of my excursions and other items in case it helps anyone. I also want to say thanks for all of you who shared info about the Alaskan cruises. Your information was very helpful in our planning and we had a "wonder"ful time!
We flew to Vancouver on Friday arriving around 9:15 PM. After about a 10 minute walk, went through customs with about a 10 minute wait. Our luggage was circling through as soon as we walked up to the luggage carousel. There are free luggage carts at this airport so we loaded up and headed right out to the curb. After another 5 minute wait, we were in a cab on our way. From touchdown to hotel was a little more than an hour.
We chose to stay at the Hyatt precruise. I booked through last minute travel about 10 months precruise and got a great rate of $145. We were there on a holiday weekend so the rates were extra high. I would highly recommend the Hyatt. Great rooms and staff and very conveniently located. There is a 24 hour McDonalds and Tim Hortons right next door. Also an attached shopping center that has a drugstore and a place to buy transit tickets. We bought drinks here for the room and the cruise.
On Saturday we walked a few blocks and caught a bus to Stanley Park. We explored the park and walked a short distance to the horse drawn carriage ride booth. We did this tour which is a great way to see some of the highlights of the park without a ton of walking. After that we headed to the aquarium.
I had prebooked an animal encounter with sea otters that included admission to the park. I would HIGHLY recommend pre purchasing tickets to even just the aquarium. The lines were crazy long! If you have tickets already, there is a window on the side (not marked well at all!) where you can get stamped and inside a lot quicker. We enjoyed touring the aquarium and really enjoyed our sea otter encounter also. We learned about the animals, toured behind the scenes and got to feed a sea otter. They are so cute!!
After the aquarium, we caught a cab back to the hotel as we had Taylor Swift tickets that night and needed to get back to change and grab a bite for dinner.
On Sunday, we took the skytrain to meet some friends and catch a ride to Steveston. This is where Once Upon a Time is filmed and it's my daughters fav show so we wanted to check it out. It's a very cute seaside village that is filled with neat shops and restaurants. The skytrain is very user friendly and clean. There are always employees to help if you have questions. We purchased a fare saver packet of 10 tickets which was a time saver as well. They work on the skytrain and buses as well.
Monday morning we hit Starbucks in the lobby for breakfast and grabbed a taxi to the port a few minutes before 10 (with tip for the luggage it was about $12). We checked in for the cruise with no wait and were one of the first people in line for customs. We had to wait for them to open and the. Headed upstairs to the waiting area. They had told us that they would start boarding at 11:30 but it was closer to noon. We saw several characters come out for pictures and we had boarding group 5.
Once on the Wonder, I hit guest services to book the chocolate and liquor tasting and then we went to Beach Blanket for the buffet lunch. Shortly after that our cabin was open so we dropped off our stuff and explored the ship. All our bags came before the safety drill so I unpacked everything and got settled.
Quick observations about the cruise in general. Our stateroom (5520 a secret porthole room) was in great shape with no issues. Was very glad to have packed my own alarm clock though! Out stateroom hostess was great! We had early dining and started in tritons. We had an awesome serving team - Nino and Joseph - who my daughter adored! They're great with the kids and the family we were seated with were super picky eaters. They went out of their way for everyone and I thought the food was good to great. Parrot Cay was our least favorite menu for the week (we skipped taste of Alaska because of a late excursion) but there was always something that worked. The food on deck was good and very kid friendly. Room service was always quick and a nice option.
The shows were wonderful! The DCL shows are great and the magician and ventriloquist were awesome! We also saw 3 movies in the theater which is a nice thing to do. bTw if you haven't seen Disneynature Bears go see it!!! The Outlook Cafe is a great place to enjoy the views in peace and quiet. I sat here on Tracy Arm day and stepped out for pictures thoughout the day. We did several family game show events and enjoyed them also.
Now- on to excursions! I booked everything on my own after extensive research and everything went well. Just FYI it was myself and my 9 year old daughter.
Skagway. Booked the grizzly falls ziplining and sled dog mushers camp through Alaska Excursions. They picked us up right at the dock and took us in a mini bus on a beautiful 30 minutes drive to the base camp. We were able to book them back to back and stay at the base camp which saved about an hour of driving) We also got a discount for booking 2. From base camp you take a unimog straight up the hill for about 10 minutes. The ziplining was so much fun! You are in small groups - ours was 7 - with 2 guides. The guides do all of the braking etc... For you so you don't have to do anything but have fun. They were great with everyone and the scenery is beautiful. There were 11 (I think) different lines. At the end there was glacier water, snacks and a campfire to enjoy. Low pressure for tips but there was a hat to put in (which I did put $30 in). Then back in the unimog down the hill. Base camp has bathrooms and a little gift shop with free hot drinks. Total cost for both excursions for 2 was $457.
We then took the unimog to dogsledding. We took a short dog cart ride on the dirt with a professional musher who told us about the dogs and how they train. Then we had a presentation at the camp from another musher about the Iditarod race and what it takes- very interesting! Then it was my daughters favorite part- snuggling with sled dog puppies - very fun and cute! We were gone from 10:45 am to 5 PM.
Next port was Juneau. We booked a private whale watching charter with Rum Runners Charters. The picked us up at the pier at 7 am and it was about a 15 minute drive to the boat. This is a small boat with a max of 6 passengers and 2 crew. They have a dog that sometime sails with them but even though the owner had promised me that if the dog could sail we would get her, he put her on another boat with someone else. I was okay but my daughter was quite disappointed. Luckily I had told her all along it wasn't for sure the dog would be there so she was okay. We were on the water for a little more than 2 1/2 hours and saw whales -mom and baby- and sea lions and Eagles. The boat provided snacks (muffins) and drinks and did have a bathroom on board. Very cool experience.
Back in town, we shopped a little and then went back to the ship to drop off. I wanted to have lunch at Tracy's Crab Shack which was really good. We got the combo with a big crab leg, crab cakes and crab bisque - YUM! Next up was a ride up the hill on the Mt Roberts tramway. Great view and nice hiking trails up there. There is an injured bald eagle to see and a short movie also.
Last port was Ketchikan. We had an early lunch on the ship and then went to the lumberjack show which is only a few blocks from the dock. The show is fun but a little corny. It was neat to see what they can do - very good athletes.
At 4 pm we had our final excursion with Ketchikan helicopters. They picked us up at the dock and took us about 10 minutes to the copter. This was $580 for 2 of us. It's a small helicopter with 2 passengers and the pilot. It was amazing! The scenery is amazing! We landed in an area and hiked for awhile trying to see bears. We saw salmon spawning and were right by the water. We saw one bear, Eagles, salmon and mountain goats. We flew for more than an hour and loved it! Highly recommend!
We have done 3 Caribbean DCL cruises and enjoyed them but the Wonder to Alaska was amazing. If you are hesitating at all just book it! The scenery is beautiful the entire time - not just in the ports. You can see land the entire time. The pools were heated and fine for swimming as long as it's not super windy. The ship is in great shape and the service was excellent. I really enjoyed the size of the Wonder compared to the Fantasy. It doesn't have some of the bells and whistles but it's still great!!
We flew to Vancouver on Friday arriving around 9:15 PM. After about a 10 minute walk, went through customs with about a 10 minute wait. Our luggage was circling through as soon as we walked up to the luggage carousel. There are free luggage carts at this airport so we loaded up and headed right out to the curb. After another 5 minute wait, we were in a cab on our way. From touchdown to hotel was a little more than an hour.
We chose to stay at the Hyatt precruise. I booked through last minute travel about 10 months precruise and got a great rate of $145. We were there on a holiday weekend so the rates were extra high. I would highly recommend the Hyatt. Great rooms and staff and very conveniently located. There is a 24 hour McDonalds and Tim Hortons right next door. Also an attached shopping center that has a drugstore and a place to buy transit tickets. We bought drinks here for the room and the cruise.
On Saturday we walked a few blocks and caught a bus to Stanley Park. We explored the park and walked a short distance to the horse drawn carriage ride booth. We did this tour which is a great way to see some of the highlights of the park without a ton of walking. After that we headed to the aquarium.
I had prebooked an animal encounter with sea otters that included admission to the park. I would HIGHLY recommend pre purchasing tickets to even just the aquarium. The lines were crazy long! If you have tickets already, there is a window on the side (not marked well at all!) where you can get stamped and inside a lot quicker. We enjoyed touring the aquarium and really enjoyed our sea otter encounter also. We learned about the animals, toured behind the scenes and got to feed a sea otter. They are so cute!!
After the aquarium, we caught a cab back to the hotel as we had Taylor Swift tickets that night and needed to get back to change and grab a bite for dinner.
On Sunday, we took the skytrain to meet some friends and catch a ride to Steveston. This is where Once Upon a Time is filmed and it's my daughters fav show so we wanted to check it out. It's a very cute seaside village that is filled with neat shops and restaurants. The skytrain is very user friendly and clean. There are always employees to help if you have questions. We purchased a fare saver packet of 10 tickets which was a time saver as well. They work on the skytrain and buses as well.
Monday morning we hit Starbucks in the lobby for breakfast and grabbed a taxi to the port a few minutes before 10 (with tip for the luggage it was about $12). We checked in for the cruise with no wait and were one of the first people in line for customs. We had to wait for them to open and the. Headed upstairs to the waiting area. They had told us that they would start boarding at 11:30 but it was closer to noon. We saw several characters come out for pictures and we had boarding group 5.
Once on the Wonder, I hit guest services to book the chocolate and liquor tasting and then we went to Beach Blanket for the buffet lunch. Shortly after that our cabin was open so we dropped off our stuff and explored the ship. All our bags came before the safety drill so I unpacked everything and got settled.
Quick observations about the cruise in general. Our stateroom (5520 a secret porthole room) was in great shape with no issues. Was very glad to have packed my own alarm clock though! Out stateroom hostess was great! We had early dining and started in tritons. We had an awesome serving team - Nino and Joseph - who my daughter adored! They're great with the kids and the family we were seated with were super picky eaters. They went out of their way for everyone and I thought the food was good to great. Parrot Cay was our least favorite menu for the week (we skipped taste of Alaska because of a late excursion) but there was always something that worked. The food on deck was good and very kid friendly. Room service was always quick and a nice option.
The shows were wonderful! The DCL shows are great and the magician and ventriloquist were awesome! We also saw 3 movies in the theater which is a nice thing to do. bTw if you haven't seen Disneynature Bears go see it!!! The Outlook Cafe is a great place to enjoy the views in peace and quiet. I sat here on Tracy Arm day and stepped out for pictures thoughout the day. We did several family game show events and enjoyed them also.
Now- on to excursions! I booked everything on my own after extensive research and everything went well. Just FYI it was myself and my 9 year old daughter.
Skagway. Booked the grizzly falls ziplining and sled dog mushers camp through Alaska Excursions. They picked us up right at the dock and took us in a mini bus on a beautiful 30 minutes drive to the base camp. We were able to book them back to back and stay at the base camp which saved about an hour of driving) We also got a discount for booking 2. From base camp you take a unimog straight up the hill for about 10 minutes. The ziplining was so much fun! You are in small groups - ours was 7 - with 2 guides. The guides do all of the braking etc... For you so you don't have to do anything but have fun. They were great with everyone and the scenery is beautiful. There were 11 (I think) different lines. At the end there was glacier water, snacks and a campfire to enjoy. Low pressure for tips but there was a hat to put in (which I did put $30 in). Then back in the unimog down the hill. Base camp has bathrooms and a little gift shop with free hot drinks. Total cost for both excursions for 2 was $457.
We then took the unimog to dogsledding. We took a short dog cart ride on the dirt with a professional musher who told us about the dogs and how they train. Then we had a presentation at the camp from another musher about the Iditarod race and what it takes- very interesting! Then it was my daughters favorite part- snuggling with sled dog puppies - very fun and cute! We were gone from 10:45 am to 5 PM.
Next port was Juneau. We booked a private whale watching charter with Rum Runners Charters. The picked us up at the pier at 7 am and it was about a 15 minute drive to the boat. This is a small boat with a max of 6 passengers and 2 crew. They have a dog that sometime sails with them but even though the owner had promised me that if the dog could sail we would get her, he put her on another boat with someone else. I was okay but my daughter was quite disappointed. Luckily I had told her all along it wasn't for sure the dog would be there so she was okay. We were on the water for a little more than 2 1/2 hours and saw whales -mom and baby- and sea lions and Eagles. The boat provided snacks (muffins) and drinks and did have a bathroom on board. Very cool experience.
Back in town, we shopped a little and then went back to the ship to drop off. I wanted to have lunch at Tracy's Crab Shack which was really good. We got the combo with a big crab leg, crab cakes and crab bisque - YUM! Next up was a ride up the hill on the Mt Roberts tramway. Great view and nice hiking trails up there. There is an injured bald eagle to see and a short movie also.
Last port was Ketchikan. We had an early lunch on the ship and then went to the lumberjack show which is only a few blocks from the dock. The show is fun but a little corny. It was neat to see what they can do - very good athletes.
At 4 pm we had our final excursion with Ketchikan helicopters. They picked us up at the dock and took us about 10 minutes to the copter. This was $580 for 2 of us. It's a small helicopter with 2 passengers and the pilot. It was amazing! The scenery is amazing! We landed in an area and hiked for awhile trying to see bears. We saw salmon spawning and were right by the water. We saw one bear, Eagles, salmon and mountain goats. We flew for more than an hour and loved it! Highly recommend!
We have done 3 Caribbean DCL cruises and enjoyed them but the Wonder to Alaska was amazing. If you are hesitating at all just book it! The scenery is beautiful the entire time - not just in the ports. You can see land the entire time. The pools were heated and fine for swimming as long as it's not super windy. The ship is in great shape and the service was excellent. I really enjoyed the size of the Wonder compared to the Fantasy. It doesn't have some of the bells and whistles but it's still great!!
