OrcaPotter
Lucky to be local to the Mouse
- Joined
- May 21, 2005
Movies I saw listed were:
Lincoln
Wreck-It Ralph
Oz the Great and Powerful
Iron Man 3 (it played in the Walt Disney Theatre on Juneau night in place of a show)
Brave
The Avengers
... and I was surprised that many of the other showings were for classic Disney animated movies, nothing else new or relatively new.
Honestly, with all there is to see outside you will not want to be inside watching a movie! I saw Oz on the first night that started around 10:30 PM. You're going to have a fantastic time.
I was grinning ear to ear reading how much you loved it!!We are on the 6/17 sailing and we are so excited!!
Any tips you want to share? How was the disembark process and do you remember about what time the first group was called? Lastly, was the Pixar party at 10:15pm?
Thank you
Heather
Ooo, it's hard to remember all the tips I noted to give, so I'll be sure to include those in my report. As for the disembark process, it was relatively smooth. Only, it was our first cruise ever that we were hassled the night before to have our luggage out as early as possible. On all our previous cruises, we were never bothered and managed to get everything out by 10:30 or so. Our room steward this time was urging my mother to have everything out no later than 8:30, which was when the last show started. When she told him there was no way, he wanted to know at exactly what time we would have everything out. We went back to the room immediately after the show, and our steward was literally knocking on our door every 5 minutes wanting to know if we were done yet. We couldn't believe it, and it soured my perception of him after having good service from him for the whole cruise. It was clear he wanted all the luggage out before his shift ended, but considering we weren't even docked until 8:30 or so, we couldn't understand why the pressure to have all the luggage (for a ship half the size as the Dream) prepared as early as possible.
The first group called was around 8:45 AM, and it was Ariel. Followed by Daisy, then Minnie. We had Minnie tags; as we were leaving, they were prepping to call Tinker Bell. Everyone was urged to have passports and customs forms ready, and they controlled the amount of people in the terminal at one time (you get your luggage in the same area as you checked in). Only--after we handed over our customs form to the Canadian official ... no one asked for our passports. You might as well tuck them away for later at the airport. No one ever asked to see them, which I found really weird. You go through U.S. customs before your board the ship, but there is no checkpoint for Canada when you return. The airport is a different story, however. It is checked multiple times by multiple officials.
The whole process was smooth. We were in a taxi by 9:30, and that was after about a 15 minute wait to get a taxi after getting out of the terminal. Note! If you use a taxi, most taxis in Vancouver are Priuses and can only hold about 2 large pieces of luggage and 3 people. Vans were scarce and could only hold 4 people to accommodate a lot of luggage.
ETA: Yes, the Pixar Party was the same night as semi-formal night, which made things really awkward. The party was around 10 PM and if you want photos with characters, you need to be on deck 3 and snap a quick photo with them as they dance around. Because once the show is done, they all go back inside. No formal photo ops. Other than the party and the Toy Story menu (and Toy Story: The Musical show) ... that's all the Pixar offered. The few families who dressed up were all Incredibles. My tip: Go change into comfy sweats after the show, then go back out for the party. It was cute. What was even better was my discovery of wearing sweats around the ship.
The first disembarkation seems a little later than the first sailing. I'm thinking for those that have earlier flights and self disembark with their luggage it will be a little earlier?
