May 21, 2012 - Mickey's Mooseketeers Take Alaska 2012!

[spark21]

I imagine that everyone else's will begin to trickle in within the next few days. They must send them out to Canada (and possibly Europe) earlier in anticipation of it taking longer to get here.

Spark21 - how long is your flight into Vancouver? I guess I won't complain about spending 6 hours in the air anymore...

We're actually on the cruise before so were flying into Los Angeles on 13th - it's about a 12/13 hour flight I think

 

[spark21]

We got ours about a week and a half ago! we got a great upgrade!!



We've been watching the mail each day - I forgot they come by FedEx!! Maybe today will be our lucky day!

Congrats on your upgrade!!

 

[LeslieG]

We got ours about a week and a half ago! we got a great upgrade!!



We've been watching the mail each day - I forgot they come by FedEx!! Maybe today will be our lucky day!

Did you have a guaranty, or did you get an upgrade from a room you had originally chosen?

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Still no docs And no upgrade but that's okay - we actually want our same cabin for both cruises and love the one we picked. We are in a CAT 7 but with a plexiglass verandah.

Hoping tomorrow is the day for docs!

 

[peterpan47]

Still no docs And no upgrade but that's okay - we actually want our same cabin for both cruises and love the one we picked. We are in a CAT 7 but with a plexiglass verandah.

Hoping tomorrow is the day for docs!

Hi Des,
We have one of those too. I think we are on the other side of deck 6 from you, as we are in 6634 (which is a secret verandah). I have a question, though. I thought the secret verandah rooms on deck 6 were 6134 and 6634. Your cabin is listed as 6034 on our FE list. Is this also a secret verandah room?

Mary

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Hi Des,
We have one of those too. I think we are on the other side of deck 6 from you, as we are in 6634 (which is a secret verandah). I have a question, though. I thought the secret verandah rooms on deck 6 were 6134 and 6634. Your cabin is listed as 6034 on our FE list. Is this also a secret verandah room?

Mary

Thank you! We are 6134 - I am not sure why I typed 6034. I was in your cabin this past Oct. It's a nice cabin.

 

[peterpan47]

Thank you! We are 6134 - I am not sure why I typed 6034. I was in your cabin this past Oct. It's a nice cabin.

We are excited about getting to stay in the secret verandah finally. We almost did it once, but had to change the date of our cruise and that cabin wasn't available on the new date. On the Wonder, we have only stayed in a navigator's verandah on deck 5 (5632) and an inside cabin also on deck 5 (5639). We were pleasantly surprised with the navigator's verandah. I thought I wouldn't like it much, but it turned out to be very nice, after all. I think the open portholes in the navigator's verandahs on the Wonder are bigger than the ones on the Magic, but we haven't been on the Magic so I am only going from what the pictures look like. In any case, we are very excited about staying in the plexiglass verandah cabin this time. I know it will be a great room.

We'll change your room number on our FE list to 6134 instead of 6034

Mary

 

[mrp4352]

Did you have a guaranty, or did you get an upgrade from a room you had originally chosen?

We had originally booked a specific ocean view room, but after the PIF date, decided to upgrade to a gty 6A verandah, we ended up in a 4A!

Thank you! We are 6134 - I am not sure why I typed 6034. I was in your cabin this past Oct. It's a nice cabin.

FE participants - I'll get this updated on the spreadsheet. I'm going to a conference for work next week, but when I get back, I'll put together the map and send it out with the updated spreadsheet by the end of April!

 

[remlap]

Does anyone know if we'll go through Immigration and Customs at Canada Place or Seattle? I know if you fly from Vancouver you go through US immigration in Vancouver.

 

[HollandDisney]

We finally have received our cruise documents here in The Netherlands.

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Does anyone know if we'll go through Immigration and Customs at Canada Place or Seattle? I know if you fly from Vancouver you go through US immigration in Vancouver.

I would assume you will go through customs of some type when you arrive in Vancouver but we will definitely need to go through customs when we come off of the ship in Seattle.

 

[mkladypink]

We had originally booked a specific ocean view room, but after the PIF date, decided to upgrade to a gty 6A verandah, we ended up in a 4A!



FE participants - I'll get this updated on the spreadsheet. I'm going to a conference for work next week, but when I get back, I'll put together the map and send it out with the updated spreadsheet by the end of April!

What happens if a FE participant gets an upgrade at port? How will we find out about a new stateroom number at that late date?

 

[Tiresius]

I know this was mentioned earlier in the thread, but now that we are getting closer, perhaps people have started to do a little bit more specific planning. We have two legs of travel from trains/airports/ports/hotels etc that can't realistically be accomplished by walking or public transport, both of which I know that others will also be making. Is anyone interested in coordinating shuttles or limos or towncars or cabs? We (2 adults, no kids) are willing to do the coordinating, if anyone wants to participate, in the following two legs:

1) Vancouver train station (Amtrak) to Blue Horizon Hotel (or other nearby Downtown hotels) on Sunday, May 20th, 11:40am (or whenever the morning train arrives).

2) Port of Seattle to Pike Place Market (or, again, any other centralized location - we would be fine navigating to our hotel from Pioneer Square or the Space Needle areas, if there are more folks with hotels or drop-offs in those spots), time ?? debarkation?.

If your family/group is making either of these trips (the first is very specific, but I know there are others coming up from Seattle on that same train, while the second would help anyone not going directly to the airport from the ship), feel free to post or PM me if you want to discuss any details or splitting costs.

Thanks!

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

What happens if a FE participant gets an upgrade at port? How will we find out about a new stateroom number at that late date?

If someone gets an upgrade at the port or changes cabins - please notify me and mrp4352. I will have an updated list on my cabin door but if you notify both of us - should one of us get an upgrade we can be covered.

 

[ljhayes]

I know this was mentioned earlier in the thread, but now that we are getting closer, perhaps people have started to do a little bit more specific planning. We have two legs of travel from trains/airports/ports/hotels etc that can't realistically be accomplished by walking or public transport, both of which I know that others will also be making. Is anyone interested in coordinating shuttles or limos or towncars or cabs? We (2 adults, no kids) are willing to do the coordinating, if anyone wants to participate, in the following two legs:

1) Vancouver train station (Amtrak) to Blue Horizon Hotel (or other nearby Downtown hotels) on Sunday, May 20th, 11:40am (or whenever the morning train arrives).

2) Port of Seattle to Pike Place Market (or, again, any other centralized location - we would be fine navigating to our hotel from Pioneer Square or the Space Needle areas, if there are more folks with hotels or drop-offs in those spots), time ?? debarkation?.

If your family/group is making either of these trips (the first is very specific, but I know there are others coming up from Seattle on that same train, while the second would help anyone not going directly to the airport from the ship), feel free to post or PM me if you want to discuss any details or splitting costs.

Thanks!

We'd be interested in ride sharing in Seattle if it seemed doable. We're 2 adults going from the port to the Westin, but we could probably walk from most places around Pike Place if need be.

 

[MSTXMOM]

Has anyone seen this? It appears Canada has minted a new 25 cent piece with a dinosaur on it. However, it glows in the dark and then you just see the skeleton! Here's the link to the story. That is too cool!

http://news.yahoo.com/canada-s-newest-coin-glows-in-the-dark.html

 

[spark21]

Has anyone seen this? It appears Canada has minted a new 25 cent piece with a dinosaur on it. However, it glows in the dark and then you just see the skeleton! Here's the link to the story. That is too cool!

http://news.yahoo.com/canada-s-newest-coin-glows-in-the-dark.html

Our travel money came yesterday but your post just made me think - can you use us dollars in Canada? I never realised they had their own currency!

PS dino coin sounds cool

 

[mrp4352]

If someone gets an upgrade at the port or changes cabins - please notify me and mrp4352. I will have an updated list on my cabin door but if you notify both of us - should one of us get an upgrade we can be covered.

I'm planning on having a marker board on our door, so you can leave updates there (or leave them on my wave phone or stateroom phone and I can add it for you).

Our travel money came yesterday but your post just made me think - can you use us dollars in Canada? I never realised they had their own currency!

PS dino coin sounds cool

From what I've learned, most everyone will take US dollars, but you need to be prepared that the exchange rate is different. Mom and I have pretty much decided to use our cards for everything (even taxi to the hotel), but to use the US dollars for tipping where needed and may just throw an extra dollar or two on top to make sure we're not shorting whomever helps us.

I'm also hoping for at lest two dollars in glow-in-the-dark quarters! They'll be great souvineers for my neices (and me!)

 

[peterpan47]

Our travel money came yesterday but your post just made me think - can you use us dollars in Canada? I never realised they had their own currency!

PS dino coin sounds cool

I thought I remembered from my previous trip to Vancouver (several years ago) that it was possible to get Canadian money out of an ATM there by using an ATM card. I called two places to verify the process, the Vancouver International Airport and my bank, and was given the following information:

There are ATMs all over the Vancouver airport where I can use my ATM card to get Canadian money. The ATM has a fee, of course, as do all ATMs, but the local ATM fee is all that is charged for the withdrawal from the machine itself.

My bank (a credit union) will charge me a standard (for my bank) $1.50 fee for an out of system ATM use. There is no conversion fee if I use an ATM machine to get Canadian cash in Vancouver. There is, however, an international currency conversion fee of 1% for any "swipes" of my card for purchases.

So that is the situation at my bank. If you plan to use your ATM card, you may want to call your bank to see what their policy is so you don't have any unexpected surprises when you return. We have decided that this process will be infinitely simpler than finding a bank either here or in Vancouver to do a currency exchange.

Just FYI.

Mary

 

[peterpan47]

I'm planning on having a marker board on our door, so you can leave updates there (or leave them on my wave phone or stateroom phone and I can add it for you).



From what I've learned, most everyone will take US dollars, but you need to be prepared that the exchange rate is different. Mom and I have pretty much decided to use our cards for everything (even taxi to the hotel), but to use the US dollars for tipping where needed and may just throw an extra dollar or two on top to make sure we're not shorting whomever helps us.

I'm also hoping for at lest two dollars in glow-in-the-dark quarters! They'll be great souvineers for my neices (and me!)

Michelle,
Updates could also be reported at our meet and greet, right? Are we meeting at 3PM in Wavebands? I seem to remember something about that, but wanted to confirm.

Mary