just got off the wonder on the july 6-13, 2015, cruise to alaska

[MommyMeNDisney]

and a WONDERful trip it was! am at the Vancouver airport now. will write more later. leave your questions here and I will reply as soon as I can.

What time zone do you live in and did your kids have a hard time adjusting to the time change?

 

[jtba]

What time zone do you live in and did your kids have a hard time adjusting to the time change?

we are in pacific time zone so there was only the one-hour adjustment when we entered alaska on either the second or third night. they normally go to bed around 8 at home, but each time on the ship they stayed up until 10 or later and they were ok. DD4 still naps (though she's on the verge of dropping it, boohoo) so we made sure she got some shuteye each afternoon even if it was 3:30-5. we planned our days around her nap because we knew she would turn into a monster if she didn't get some rest. as it was she got cranky a few times during the lull between dinner and the evening show (we had main dining at 5:45), esp. on night 2 when we were in line forever after dinner for our formal portraits. but as soon as the show began she was happy as a clam.

if i had to do this again i would do it AFTER DD no longer naps. because of this we only had one day-long excursions (whalewatching on day 5). all the other days we had stuff in the morning and/or afternoon. on day 6 when we had lumberjack show at 3 we made her go down at 1:30 and woke her up at 2:50. looking back we could've waited until 3:20 to get off the ship because the first half hour of the show was just silly things, having the kids line up to use this huge slingshot to hit a target near the stage. to be honest it was kind of a waste of time.

 

[tnshsms]

DD and I are planning to use Skytrain from airport to Canada Place since we are staying at Pan Pacific pre-cruise. I think taxi is about $30-35 from airport to cruise terminal. Click Here for more info. My DD is a teenager and we have each a backpack and a rolling luggage, so we want to try Skytrain. If your DD is younger and you have more luggage, you may want to consider getting a taxi. Hope this helps!

She's 7 so we might go taxi...thanks!!

 

[jtba]

Did you see if the Photo book is offered on the Wonder? It's not offered as a photo pre-order, but I'm hoping it's available. ..

i was looking thru my photos and came across these two random ones:



there are references to "photobook" in both photos (not sure if you can see it in the first one). hubby also remembers photobooks being available on board.

 

[sdjen]

Thanks so much! We wil be on the wonder is less than 3 weeks!

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

we are in pacific time zone so there was only the one-hour adjustment when we entered alaska on either the second or third night. they normally go to bed around 8 at home, but each time on the ship they stayed up until 10 or later and they were ok. DD4 still naps (though she's on the verge of dropping it, boohoo) so we made sure she got some shuteye each afternoon even if it was 3:30-5. we planned our days around her nap because we knew she would turn into a monster if she didn't get some rest. as it was she got cranky a few times during the lull between dinner and the evening show (we had main dining at 5:45), esp. on night 2 when we were in line forever after dinner for our formal portraits. but as soon as the show began she was happy as a clam.

if i had to do this again i would do it AFTER DD no longer naps. because of this we only had one day-long excursions (whalewatching on day 5). all the other days we had stuff in the morning and/or afternoon. on day 6 when we had lumberjack show at 3 we made her go down at 1:30 and woke her up at 2:50. looking back we could've waited until 3:20 to get off the ship because the first half hour of the show was just silly things, having the kids line up to use this huge slingshot to hit a target near the stage. to be honest it was kind of a waste of time.

Thank you. We are on the east coast. We will fly to the pacific coast 3 days prior to setting sail. I hope that will be enough time for DS to adjust to the time.

 

[jtba]

Thank you. We are on the east coast. We will fly to the pacific coast 3 days prior to setting sail. I hope that will be enough time for DS to adjust to the time.

having those 3 days will certainly help. during the trip i met some families from the east coast; some of their little ones fell asleep during dinner because they had second seating (8:15).

 

[Claireywalsh]

What did you think to the frozen day? Any things not to miss or anything that was particular missable?
Also what time were you off the ship? We have 2nd dining so later breakfast and I'm worried about our pick up time when we get off which is taking us to whistler for a few days, I might try and push it back a bit if I can

 

[jtba]

What did you think to the frozen day? Any things not to miss or anything that was particular missable?

it was ok. they decorated the deck 4 bannisters overlooking deck 3 with silvery snowy banners and there was a maypole on deck 3, but other than that i didn't notice anything else (though i wasn't looking for them either; was just focused on getting off the ship for our 8:30 white pass yukon train excursion). the dinner was frozen themed; everyone received a snowflake-shaped light-up necklace at dinner and my kids were happy with that. we chose not to attend the frozen deck party at 9:45 p.m. because it was simply too late for my kids, who generally are in bed between 8 & 8:30 (though on the cruise they were in bed by 10 for the most part).

for folks who are into meet-and-greets, get yourself over to port adventures as soon as you get on board to snatch up the tickets. that was key. this was our first DCL experience so we were simply wow'ed by everything. the first evening show was ok; the golden mickeys and toy story the music were very good, but disney dreams was hands-down absolutely the best and should not be missed.

match your mate was hilarious too; it's kind of like the newlywed game.

some things i would change next time:

• i wish i had taken care to just relax and enjoy things more, soaking everything in. i did have an hour here and there to hang out at cove café by myself (and saw whales off the side of the ship during one of those hours, very awesome); really wish i did more of that. DD didn't warm up to the club until the 2nd half of the cruise, otherwise i would've sent her there more.
• i wish i had eaten more soft serve--as it was i only had it twice!
• should've visited the stores earlier. i didn't set foot in them until day 5, and by then some items were already sold out.

we had a verandah so we spent almost the entire afternoon there on tracy arm day. DS and DD were only mildly interested in the glacier stuff, so they were able to quickly run in and out to check out anything interesting. for me, that was a very good investment of our money--if we didn't have a verandah or at least a porthole, i can just imagine them being unhappy and whiny up on deck 9 or 10 after 10 minutes of viewing, then either DH or i would have to take them to the club/lab or back to the stateroom and miss the view. our tracy arm day was cold and drizzly (and rainy as we headed out of the fjord); we stayed dry and warm on our verandah.

 

[Claireywalsh]

it was ok. they decorated the deck 4 bannisters overlooking deck 3 with silvery snowy banners and there was a maypole on deck 3, but other than that i didn't notice anything else (though i wasn't looking for them either; was just focused on getting off the ship for our 8:30 white pass yukon train excursion). the dinner was frozen themed; everyone received a snowflake-shaped light-up necklace at dinner and my kids were happy with that. we chose not to attend the frozen deck party at 9:45 p.m. because it was simply too late for my kids, who generally are in bed between 8 & 8:30 (though on the cruise they were in bed by 10 for the most part).

for folks who are into meet-and-greets, get yourself over to port adventures as soon as you get on board to snatch up the tickets. that was key. this was our first DCL experience so we were simply wow'ed by everything. the first evening show was ok; the golden mickeys and toy story the music were very good, but disney dreams was hands-down absolutely the best and should not be missed.

match your mate was hilarious too; it's kind of like the newlywed game.

some things i would change next time:

• i wish i had taken care to just relax and enjoy things more, soaking everything in. i did have an hour here and there to hang out at cove café by myself (and saw whales off the side of the ship during one of those hours, very awesome); really wish i did more of that. DD didn't warm up to the club until the 2nd half of the cruise, otherwise i would've sent her there more.
• i wish i had eaten more soft serve--as it was i only had it twice!
• should've visited the stores earlier. i didn't set foot in them until day 5, and by then some items were already sold out.

we had a verandah so we spent almost the entire afternoon there on tracy arm day. DS and DD were only mildly interested in the glacier stuff, so they were able to quickly run in and out to check out anything interesting. for me, that was a very good investment of our money--if we didn't have a verandah or at least a porthole, i can just imagine them being unhappy and whiny up on deck 9 or 10 after 10 minutes of viewing, then either DH or i would have to take them to the club/lab or back to the stateroom and miss the view. our tracy arm day was cold and drizzly (and rainy as we headed out of the fjord); we stayed dry and warm on our verandah.

Wow, thanks for such an honest and detailed response.
My DD is a frozen maniac so we will have to participate in some of the frozen stuff.
We also have a verandah this time and this was for 2 reasons, 1 all the beautiful scenery but 2 so we can enjoy the scenery and DD can also be in and out of the room and not get wingey out on deck. Glad to hear this worked
For you. I completely agree with you about stopping and soaking it up. We did a 4 night on the dream last year and felt we were so excited we were constantly doing something, this time we have said we need to take that extra time and just absorb it! Thankyou!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Welcome back and so glad you had a great cruise

Heather

 

[Angie_Ohio]

it was ok. they decorated the deck 4 bannisters overlooking deck 3 with silvery snowy banners and there was a maypole on deck 3, but other than that i didn't notice anything else (though i wasn't looking for them either; was just focused on getting off the ship for our 8:30 white pass yukon train excursion). the dinner was frozen themed; everyone received a snowflake-shaped light-up necklace at dinner and my kids were happy with that. we chose not to attend the frozen deck party at 9:45 p.m. because it was simply too late for my kids, who generally are in bed between 8 & 8:30 (though on the cruise they were in bed by 10 for the most part).

for folks who are into meet-and-greets, get yourself over to port adventures as soon as you get on board to snatch up the tickets. that was key. this was our first DCL experience so we were simply wow'ed by everything. the first evening show was ok; the golden mickeys and toy story the music were very good, but disney dreams was hands-down absolutely the best and should not be missed.

match your mate was hilarious too; it's kind of like the newlywed game.

some things i would change next time:

• i wish i had taken care to just relax and enjoy things more, soaking everything in. i did have an hour here and there to hang out at cove café by myself (and saw whales off the side of the ship during one of those hours, very awesome); really wish i did more of that. DD didn't warm up to the club until the 2nd half of the cruise, otherwise i would've sent her there more.
• i wish i had eaten more soft serve--as it was i only had it twice!
• should've visited the stores earlier. i didn't set foot in them until day 5, and by then some items were already sold out.

we had a verandah so we spent almost the entire afternoon there on tracy arm day. DS and DD were only mildly interested in the glacier stuff, so they were able to quickly run in and out to check out anything interesting. for me, that was a very good investment of our money--if we didn't have a verandah or at least a porthole, i can just imagine them being unhappy and whiny up on deck 9 or 10 after 10 minutes of viewing, then either DH or i would have to take them to the club/lab or back to the stateroom and miss the view. our tracy arm day was cold and drizzly (and rainy as we headed out of the fjord); we stayed dry and warm on our verandah.

Silly question. but how many chairs are on a verandah?

 

[jtba]

Silly question. but how many chairs are on a verandah?

there are two plus a little table.

 

[jtba]

i've posted the first entry into my trip report now: http://www.disboards.com/threads/an...l-cruise-it-was-7-6-7-13-2015-alaska.3430303/

 

[jtba]

Scott Sanders over at www.Disneycruiselineblog.com just posted my navigators.

thank you, Scott!

 

[ahain]

The photo book was available on the cruise That was right before this one. 150ish for 34 photos I believe.

We were on this cruise as well! However, although I generally purchase the photo/CD package, I'm too cheap to pop $150 for a photo book. I wait until we get home and create a photobook on Sams Club photo online. A smaller one (maybe 9"x9") was about $34; and a large one (12"x12") with extra pages was about $50.

 

[jtba]

We were on this cruise as well! However, although I generally purchase the photo/DVD package, I'm too cheap to pop $150 for a photo book. I wait until we get home and create a photobook on Sams Club photo online. A smaller one (maybe 9"x9") was about $34; and a large one (12"x12") with extra pages was about $50.

plus you can make the photobook at the leisure of your own home rather than the kiosks at chaotic Shutters on that last day...

 

[disfam3mi]

Tha

i was looking thru my photos and came across these two random ones:

View attachment 109800 View attachment 109801

there are references to "photobook" in both photos (not sure if you can see it in the first one). hubby also remembers photobooks being available on board.

Thank you!

We were on this cruise as well! However, although I generally purchase the photo/DVD package, I'm too cheap to pop $150 for a photo book. I wait until we get home and create a photobook on Sams Club photo online. A smaller one (maybe 9"x9") was about $34; and a large one (12"x12") with extra pages was about $50.

We're planning photo book instead of CD - I think the CD is too pricey.

 

[Dopey4Life]

We

Did you see if the Photo book is offered on the Wonder? It's not offered as a photo pre-order, but I'm hoping it's available. ..

We went 6/22-29 and ordered the photo book on-board. It came about 2 weeks after we got home. It was $155.

 

[cruisingfromTX]

Thank you for taking the time to post and answer questions! It sounds like you had a wonderful time, makes me even more excited for our cruise next year!