Last Wonder in Alaska 2011

[HiMagicFan]

General Observations:

The best part of my cruise - my DIS meet group and the FE

The worst part of my cruise - the food in the main dining rooms : by the second night I was ordering off the kids menu.

The best character experience : seeing Stitch in the hall and having him come flying at me (don't know how I stayed up!).

The worst character experience : None

Palo : worth every penny for brunch and dinner

Bingo : was more fun than I thougt it would be (thank goodness I waited until the last day to play - woulda lost all my shopping money)

Shopping : wellll ~ not so good as Disney ran out of the port pins BUT all the Alaska stuff was on sale so some good deals were to be had

Cabin with three adults was a little tight but workable. Love the split bathrooms!

Went to the sail away party : one movie (the current pirates) : did the arts and craft (decorated my own DCL bag) : did Karaoke (well, actually watched it) : and took pictures of the art sale art when the cast member wasn't there. Went to the DVC talk but didn't win the $300 on board credit but did book my next cruise for 3 nights on the Dream at $75 (waiting for the 2013 dates for the next cruise).

 

[HiMagicFan]

SKAGWAY: DCL Excursion:

Line up was early - 7:30A but went quickly. Waited about 5-10 minutes in the Theater before heading out to our bus. I did the Haines trip with the nature hike with Disney. While I don't know if I would pay the same price to go again, the only plus with going with DCL was that if I was back late or there was an issue on the excursion then DCL covered us....

The weather was good going over and raining coming back. But the short time we were there we got about a 1/2 hour of bear watching with a Mom and her 2 cubs fish for salmon - best experience!

SKAGWAY : rest of the day on own
Loved having the ship so close to the main street - I was on and off twice - to get my credit card for shopping - yup I broke down. The sales for the last cruise of the season was excellent in town.

I had a personal ranger tour as I was the only one signed up for the 4pm tour ~ so bonus for me cuz I was able to ask specific questions for my particular interests.

The post office was packed - this was our first stop and already people were mailing stuff home (us included).

 

[HiMagicFan]

JUNEAU : on own (weather was raining)

My plan was to do the glacier first and intown in the after but due to the weather I hit the post office again after some shopping in the morning and the glacier in the afternoon.

Went to my favorite Glacier Smoothie shop for my soaps and the fudge shop after that had lunch.

After I just managed to catch the bus to Mendenhall Glacier. Due to all the rain, Nugget Falls was just gushing and roaring and amazing. I would definitely spend some time here again if I get the chance! I did spend about two hours - did the movie and listened to the ranger talk, went to the small gift shop and hiked out to the falls....

watch your time otherwise if you miss the bus you may waste about 20 minutes waiting for the next one.

Bus did cost $16 r/t and we saw one eagle on the way in.

 

[HiMagicFan]

KETCHIKAN : on own (rained all day - off and on)

Did the walk around town - easy to do : stopped at the ladder (again water was gushing and roaring due to the rains) then did the salmon hatchery and the totem heritage center (I liked the hatchery as they have two eagles you can see up close and personal and the salmon troughs) (I liked the center as they had a some interesting history on totems). Walked down towards town and up Creek Street. If you want to souvenir shop this is the place to go ~ never mind downtown unless you want jewelry.

We were there on sunday so the Alaska Discover Center gift shop was closed but you could still walk around the center - if you had purchased a ticket at mendenhall you got a discount on your entrance fee here - so at $3 it was a good deal.

The ship got in around 1 but by the time I got off and got started it must have been around 2pm - I was back by 4:30 for all aboard with no problem.

There is a small sundry shop by the tunnel side of the main street parallel to the dock. Was easy to stock up on some items. I never did find the post office though.

 

[haileyboo]

Thanks for the info! I'm looking at an Alaska cruise at the end of May 2012 & am debating a verandah room. I've never had one, but figure that Alaska would be a good one to have it on. Did you? Did you spend a lot of time on deck looking at the scenery? Are the pools closed since it's so cold or are they heated & used? Thanks so much for any info. We just got off the Dream & I'm looking forward to going back on the Wonder!

 

[TeresaBelle]

Hi! We are doing the Alaskan cruise next August and I'm very interested in hearing more about your trip! Can you tell us about Tracy Arm day?