We stayed at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. Great location and AWESOME hotel! I have never stayed at such a nice place. Everything in the room was controlled by an Ipad. We were celebrating 25 years together and the hotel sent up a bottle of champagne and a couple of trays of chocolate covered strawberries with a gold stripe down them. Oooh la la! Bathroom mirror had a TV inside the mirror that you could watch from the humongous tub or shower. They also provide really nice complimentary bikes as well as a town car service (sleek white BMW's 
) Staff was top notch without being pretentious. They offered to drive us the one block to the port but we decided that was ridiculous because it was so close and so we lugged our bags there ourselves. We took the bikes to Stanley Park and went around the Sea Wall. Took the Aquabus around False Creek and to Granville Island. Ate at "Go Fish" which had a HUGE line - about a 45 minute wait - before it even opened! Went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Flying Over Canada (just like Soaring Over California - just more expensive).
We sailed on the Magic a couple of times about ten years ago and more recently have sailed on the Fantasy for the past few years...we now have 8 cruises under our Disney belt and our gold Castaway Club members! (The gift was a navy blue backpack with two silver thermos's which were heavily used for drinking the "free" hot chocolate onboard!) Anyway after sailing on the Fantasy, the Wonder was tiny! I liked not having as many people onboard but the whole ship seemed so much smaller. The elevators were claustrophobic. In our opinion, the ship IS dated and is showing her age but it is still beautiful and very clean!
Our stateroom hostess was amazing. Very friendly and welcoming! Our stateroom was an oceanview. I went back and forth about the whole "you HAVE to have a verandah in Alaska" opinion. We sailed in an inside cabin on the Fantasy in Oct 2015 and decided that now that our son is 14, we no longer fit in an inside. So I know it was between ocean view or verandah. Finally decided that I would walk to the panoramic views on the upper decks and spend the extra money on excursions. When I booked on board in Oct. the verandah was nearly double the price of the ocean view. I don't regret this decision at all. My only regret was that I booked a guarantee and got stuck in room 2524. Horrible noise! It was across from the crew quarters, under Diversions & the Radar Trap and above where they load stuff. Every morning at 6:30 am the banging noises started as well as what appeared to be noise from the rolling housekeeping carts. Maintenance checked it out but couldn't fix it. Finally late Sat night (the night before the last night), Guest Services called and said that someone on the ship had to leave for a medical emergency in Ketchikan and we could have their balcony cabin. Prior to this, there was not one other room available to move to. We opted to just live with it for another day or two since we didn't want to take the time to move everything (we were having too much fun!) They sent us some chocolate covered strawberries and rice krispie Mickey Ears.
So for the excursions...we booked the smaller boat excursion from the ship that went to Endicott Arm at noon. We thought the "Tracy Arm BBQ" was quite bleh and nothing special. It was kind of misty so they just threw everything into the regular Beach Blanket Buffet. The excursion itself was totally worth the money. We were so close that we could hear all the popping and creaking sounds the glacier was making right before it would calve. It was quite active and several large portions fell off as we watched!!
In Skagway we took a helicopter tour with Temsco to the glacier and did the dog mushing/sledding. Simply amazing! Felt really lucky as our guides said that they had not flown for the past 10 days due to the weather and in fact had cancelled all of our days flight up until 12:30 pm (ours was at 2:30). They said that they have about 250 dogs at the camp. We got to play with three puppies that were about 10 weeks old and super cute! It all went by too fast!
In Juneau, we went with Harv & Marv's to find the whales...which we did! Humpbacks as large as a school bus! Saw two that breeched for us a few times even! Then we took the blue bus to Mendenhall Glacier. It was spectacular! The only disappointment was that the trail to Nugget Falls was closed that day due to flooding. Darn it!
In Ketchikan, we were lucky enough to score permits with Carlin Air and go see the bears at Anan Creek in the Tongass National Park. The scenery was out of this world!!! We were picked up at the port by Carlin Air and then flew in a float plane about 1/2 an hour to where the bears are. They only allow 60 permits a day so it isn't overrun with tourists. Apparently they are sold out a year or more in advance but we were lucky because someone cancelled and we were able to take their reservation. There were probably about 12-15 black bears, some baby cubs too, all trying to catch the salmon that were running! There were lots of salmon too! They have a blind set up as well as a viewing deck and I swear I could've reached over and patted one of them on the head - they were that close!!! One of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. We could have stayed there all day!
I knew Disney would be great...it always is...other than our dining team was not very good. I am use to them having your drinks at dinner waiting for you and we could seldom even get refills until dinner was over. Our main server was not very friendly and seemed somewhat irritated by our table. No magic tricks or jokes or crayons. No extra entrees or desserts unless we specifically asked. No one ever offered to cut up our meat or assist with the crab legs or lobster - which they have always done on previous cruises. Lastly, Disney needs to get some fresh entertainment. Surely they realize that a great many of their passengers are repeat cruisers and after 8 cruises, we have seen the same entertainers over and over again and they have not updated their acts much. I am okay with branching out to other cruise lines (we have sailed on RCCL and Celebrity in the past), but my son is ADDICTED to Disney so for now we continue to pay the high prices and go on Disney. At least we know what we are getting and for the most part, simply love!!!
To sum it up, Alaska was simply amazing. I had reservations about going since I wasn't sure that it would be that great (since I am use to what I thought was similar terrain) and we have only cruised the Caribbean - but it wasn't that cold and if you needed anything, there were a lot of affordable sweaters, gloves, etc to be found in the ports. I thought the pools and hot tubs were actually quite busy in both the adult as well as the family areas. Here's a tip, if you decide to use the pool or hot tub. After working out at the spa, we would borrow the robes from that area and then use them when we got out of the pool. Very nice! The blankets and towels they provide are kind of small. So, I have rambled enough. If you have any questions, ask away!
) Staff was top notch without being pretentious. They offered to drive us the one block to the port but we decided that was ridiculous because it was so close and so we lugged our bags there ourselves. We took the bikes to Stanley Park and went around the Sea Wall. Took the Aquabus around False Creek and to Granville Island. Ate at "Go Fish" which had a HUGE line - about a 45 minute wait - before it even opened! Went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Flying Over Canada (just like Soaring Over California - just more expensive).We sailed on the Magic a couple of times about ten years ago and more recently have sailed on the Fantasy for the past few years...we now have 8 cruises under our Disney belt and our gold Castaway Club members! (The gift was a navy blue backpack with two silver thermos's which were heavily used for drinking the "free" hot chocolate onboard!) Anyway after sailing on the Fantasy, the Wonder was tiny! I liked not having as many people onboard but the whole ship seemed so much smaller. The elevators were claustrophobic. In our opinion, the ship IS dated and is showing her age but it is still beautiful and very clean!
Our stateroom hostess was amazing. Very friendly and welcoming! Our stateroom was an oceanview. I went back and forth about the whole "you HAVE to have a verandah in Alaska" opinion. We sailed in an inside cabin on the Fantasy in Oct 2015 and decided that now that our son is 14, we no longer fit in an inside. So I know it was between ocean view or verandah. Finally decided that I would walk to the panoramic views on the upper decks and spend the extra money on excursions. When I booked on board in Oct. the verandah was nearly double the price of the ocean view. I don't regret this decision at all. My only regret was that I booked a guarantee and got stuck in room 2524. Horrible noise! It was across from the crew quarters, under Diversions & the Radar Trap and above where they load stuff. Every morning at 6:30 am the banging noises started as well as what appeared to be noise from the rolling housekeeping carts. Maintenance checked it out but couldn't fix it. Finally late Sat night (the night before the last night), Guest Services called and said that someone on the ship had to leave for a medical emergency in Ketchikan and we could have their balcony cabin. Prior to this, there was not one other room available to move to. We opted to just live with it for another day or two since we didn't want to take the time to move everything (we were having too much fun!) They sent us some chocolate covered strawberries and rice krispie Mickey Ears.
So for the excursions...we booked the smaller boat excursion from the ship that went to Endicott Arm at noon. We thought the "Tracy Arm BBQ" was quite bleh and nothing special. It was kind of misty so they just threw everything into the regular Beach Blanket Buffet. The excursion itself was totally worth the money. We were so close that we could hear all the popping and creaking sounds the glacier was making right before it would calve. It was quite active and several large portions fell off as we watched!!
In Skagway we took a helicopter tour with Temsco to the glacier and did the dog mushing/sledding. Simply amazing! Felt really lucky as our guides said that they had not flown for the past 10 days due to the weather and in fact had cancelled all of our days flight up until 12:30 pm (ours was at 2:30). They said that they have about 250 dogs at the camp. We got to play with three puppies that were about 10 weeks old and super cute! It all went by too fast!
In Juneau, we went with Harv & Marv's to find the whales...which we did! Humpbacks as large as a school bus! Saw two that breeched for us a few times even! Then we took the blue bus to Mendenhall Glacier. It was spectacular! The only disappointment was that the trail to Nugget Falls was closed that day due to flooding. Darn it!
In Ketchikan, we were lucky enough to score permits with Carlin Air and go see the bears at Anan Creek in the Tongass National Park. The scenery was out of this world!!! We were picked up at the port by Carlin Air and then flew in a float plane about 1/2 an hour to where the bears are. They only allow 60 permits a day so it isn't overrun with tourists. Apparently they are sold out a year or more in advance but we were lucky because someone cancelled and we were able to take their reservation. There were probably about 12-15 black bears, some baby cubs too, all trying to catch the salmon that were running! There were lots of salmon too! They have a blind set up as well as a viewing deck and I swear I could've reached over and patted one of them on the head - they were that close!!! One of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. We could have stayed there all day!
I knew Disney would be great...it always is...other than our dining team was not very good. I am use to them having your drinks at dinner waiting for you and we could seldom even get refills until dinner was over. Our main server was not very friendly and seemed somewhat irritated by our table. No magic tricks or jokes or crayons. No extra entrees or desserts unless we specifically asked. No one ever offered to cut up our meat or assist with the crab legs or lobster - which they have always done on previous cruises. Lastly, Disney needs to get some fresh entertainment. Surely they realize that a great many of their passengers are repeat cruisers and after 8 cruises, we have seen the same entertainers over and over again and they have not updated their acts much. I am okay with branching out to other cruise lines (we have sailed on RCCL and Celebrity in the past), but my son is ADDICTED to Disney so for now we continue to pay the high prices and go on Disney. At least we know what we are getting and for the most part, simply love!!!
To sum it up, Alaska was simply amazing. I had reservations about going since I wasn't sure that it would be that great (since I am use to what I thought was similar terrain) and we have only cruised the Caribbean - but it wasn't that cold and if you needed anything, there were a lot of affordable sweaters, gloves, etc to be found in the ports. I thought the pools and hot tubs were actually quite busy in both the adult as well as the family areas. Here's a tip, if you decide to use the pool or hot tub. After working out at the spa, we would borrow the robes from that area and then use them when we got out of the pool. Very nice! The blankets and towels they provide are kind of small. So, I have rambled enough. If you have any questions, ask away!
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and that we were staying at the same hotel post-cruise! When Rod got into the hot tub I thought he looked familiar and I knew that he was on our cruise but I didn't recognize him initially without his hat! We just LOVED the bears. For us, that was just a once in a lifetime opportunity. Hopefully I won't be in any of your pics 
but I do have a lot of your family from the back!!!
I don't know how to post pictures here and I have never found the time to write a full on trip report on any previous cruise so this was the best I could do. We are really feeling tired as well. Our flight was at 5:40 am and we were in the baggage line at 3:30 am after going to bed at midnight so I can feel your pain. If I remember correctly you guys also had an early flight...and a much longer one! Anyway, it was really nice meeting your family! Can't wait to read your trip report!
My 14 year old LOVED it. As for the entertainment, at the beginning of the season, I saw in the navigators that the acts were Michael Holly (juggler), Michael Harrison (ventriloquist), John Charles (guitar singer), Kyle Knight & Mistie (illusionist) and over the past cruises we have seen all of them - some of them a few times. Don't get me wrong - they were entertaining but their acts have not changed much at all. I was hoping that by the end of this cruise season that they would have changed but alas, that was not the case. As for the Disney production shows, the only new one for us was Toy Story Musical. I get that they can't change or update those very easily or frequently but I would think, given the amount of talented people that are discovered on all of the talent shows, that they could find some fresh new acts that meet Disney standards. We have seen a few of this seasons' America's Got Talent acts that we wouldn't mind seeing! 
