Official May 17th Alaska Cruise Thread!

[long_time_cruiser]

Thank you soooo much, you are awesome. Where do you live?

No problem!
I'm from New Jersey...looks like you're from California

 

[kris3kid]

Yes from California. Big Disneyland fans and becoming Disney cruise fans quickly. It will be interesting to see how full our ship gets, seems to be a bad time for anyone in school with graduation, finals and all the end of school activities. Do you have a cabin number yet or are you a GTY. We are GTY.

 

[long_time_cruiser]

Yes from California. Big Disneyland fans and becoming Disney cruise fans quickly. It will be interesting to see how full our ship gets, seems to be a bad time for anyone in school with graduation, finals and all the end of school activities. Do you have a cabin number yet or are you a GTY. We are GTY.

We booked through DVC and are also GTY. We are hoping for an upgrade - fingers crossed! The timing of the cruise worked out for me because I finish up my master's degree the week before, and I decided to cruise instead of going to graduation. My traveling companion has a pretty open schedule while my husband does not so she could take off work and come with me.

My husband and I did the Alaskan cruise through Holland America four and half years ago and had a ton of fun. I'm very excited to go back!!!!

 

[tigger137]

I'm still wondering if there's only the few of us on this cruise!

Has anyone else noticed that we're either stalking, or being stalked by, the Carnival Spirit? They set off from Seattle rather than Vancouver, but then every day of our cruise is the same port as ours, even Tracy Arm.

 

[tigger137]

If anyone is looking to stay at the Pan Pacific Vancouver, the best price I could find (by a good margin and after much checking over a long period of time) was through skoosh dot com. I actually found them through trivago dot com, a comparison website. I've booked a Harbour/Mountain view room for less than I could find a City View anywhere else. And although it's a pre-pay rate, the cancellation policy is good whereas all the next best prices were non-refundable.

 

[kris3kid]

Yes, I did notice last week that we will be traveling with carnival on this trip, I just hope we are far enough away that we won't see them all the time. I have been watching and still none of the levels for the rooms have sold out and the board is still quiet. I am hoping on a great upgrade and a Palos Brunch. I can't wait to check in tomorrow night.

 

[kris3kid]

 

[kris3kid]

I got all set up for Palo's brunch. I noticed that all the high teas are sold out so there must be others on the ship. I also got us on the dog sled summer camp trip that we wanted. Now will be the hard time to wait for our cabin number and the final count down.

 

[F&A]

My DW and I are also cruising with you.

We finally sat down yesterday and booked air and hotels for pre/post cruise. After watching airfare from Dallas, TX to Vancouver BC for months, we finally decided to book air to Seattle. Our roundtrip to Seattle total for both of us was less than the roundtrip to Vancouver for one person.

So, we are staying in Seattle for a couple of nights, then catching the Quickshuttle to Vancouver for a one night stay at the Pan Pacific before the cruise. Then we will stay one night in Seattle post cruise.

Overall, we save alot of money from the roundtrip airfare to Vancouver. And we get to explore Seattle and Vancouver.

See ya on the boards and onboard

We just booked yesterday. We are flying nonstop from DFW to Vancouver thanks to AA miles. We just did our 3rd Disney cruise last month on the Wonder to Mexico. The Wonder has had some nice upgrades recently.

 

[C2broncofan]

My family and I are booked for the may 17th trip. We are wondering how the reservations are looking for palo. Sinceit is our first trip we can't booked till march. Are we out of luck already?

Anything else I should know.

 

[kris3kid]

I just looked on the website and there are still Palo's brunch and dinner, high tea is sold out right now.
It seems that all the excursions are okay, if there are spicifics that you want let me know and I will look them up. I have done most of ours on our own, smaller groups and a little cheaper.
Depending on where you live you can check in at midnight, Eastern time,the day that booking opens for you, I live in Calif. so I was able to sign in at 9pm the night before. If you really want to make sure you get Palo do it first instead of your paperwork, just go to the planning not check-in.

Good luck and hope to get to know you before the cruise.

 

[C2broncofan]

Thanks for the information. We are really looking forward to our first Disney cruise. Our first of many I am sure we have a young child who loves Disney.
We live in ca too. So I will try the night before like you suggested Can you give me any other suggestions to get the most out of the Disney experience.

My wife would like to know if the spa is worth it. Or do they charge too much like charging 4.50 for a soda at Disneyland

I am planning on booking a coupple of excursions on my own. I was really hoping to get a reservation at palo on may 18 since it is our anniversary Believe it or not I wrote a letter to Disney cruise and was told that palo was completely booked for the entire cruise.

What is the high tea? Am I really missing anything?

Thanks again

 

[kris3kid]

I just looked on lline and there are time slots for dinner at Palo's every night of the cruise. Brunch is offered on day 2,3 and 7 which are full days at sea, and they also still have room each of those days. My mom did Palo's on her last cruise for dinner and said that it was awesome and the service was the best. We decided to do a brunch because the room is set up where everyone has a view and we are doing the day of Tracy Arm where we want to watch the view anyways.
As for making the most of the trip, I have done alot of research before my first cruise and getting on early is a great thing and having lunch. The pool is a bit quieter at that time, but may be quiet the whole trip as we will have cool weather. I studied the deck plan alot and it sure helped when I got on so I did not always feel lost. I hear the tour of the ship helps as well.
Where in Cali. do you live? How old is your child?
Let me know if you need times or costs for the excursions and I can get them. I have not done a spa day myself so I am not sure on that one.

 

[kris3kid]

::80 days

 

[nennewmom]

Our family just booked this trip as our very first cruise of any kind. A friend suggested this website for information. Obviously we have a lot to learn.

 

[kris3kid]

Our family just booked this trip as our very first cruise of any kind. A friend suggested this website for information. Obviously we have a lot to learn.

Welcome to the boards.

 

[MontanaDJ]

Our family is so excited about our first ever cruise...I feel like I"m way behind, but it's been great to read about pillowcases and fish extenders...how do we get to be a part of the fish extenders? My husband and I are traveling with are 3 children Teyo (9), Lani (7) and Lea (5) and Grandma and Grandpa....

 

[nennewmom]

MontanaDJ: Our family will be on our first cruise as well. We will be traveling with our 7 year old (who will be 8 on the cruise), 9 year old, and grandpa.

 

[MontanaDJ]

How exciting! Where are you from? Do you have boys or girls? The kids are close in age...so maybe we can try to meet up, or at least have the kids meet up at some point...do you have a cabin room number yet? Sorry...tons of questions...I've been reading about Fish Extenders and stuff kind of like secret mickeys...so much information!

 

[nennewmom]

We should definitely get together MontanaDJ. We're traveling from the Bay Area (California) and will be flying up to Seattle.