Questions for early Alaskan cruisers!

[jilljill]

do you need to sign up in advance for the character breakfast?

No. Your server or head server will tell you when your character b'fast is. It's usually the morning after you dine in Parrot Cay when it serves the rotational menu. But this can change depending on when the sea days are since that's when the character b'fast is done. You will either have early or late seating for b'fast just as you do for dinner.

 

[Disney Dreams]

What characters could we expect to see at the character breakfast? So fun!

 

[joycsk]

No. Your server or head server will tell you when your character b'fast is. It's usually the morning after you dine in Parrot Cay when it serves the rotational menu. But this can change depending on when the sea days are since that's when the character b'fast is done. You will either have early or late seating for b'fast just as you do for dinner.

Is not after Parrot Cay and not Triton's? When we did the Eastern on the Magic, the characters were after Lumiere's. Just trying to check since we have Palo to consider.

Thanks!

 

[Swalkerwoman]

We are on the May 24th sailing and have been going to the DCL website daily to book a reservation at Palo's for a party of 3. I have been at this for over 2 months, daily, and have not seen any availability.
Does anyone know any "tips" on how you get a reservation?
It's a little disappointing when I read blogs and folks are dining at Palo's mulitiple times at Palo and we can't even get ONE reservation!
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

 

[joycsk]

We are on the May 24th sailing and have been going to the DCL website daily to book a reservation at Palo's for a party of 3. I have been at this for over 2 months, daily, and have not seen any availability.
Does anyone know any "tips" on how you get a reservation?
It's a little disappointing when I read blogs and folks are dining at Palo's mulitiple times at Palo and we can't even get ONE reservation!
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

I'm guessing you are a first time DCL cruiser. The secret is that Palo only releases 50% of their reservations for pre-booking. I'm the person who wrote about the multiple reservations. We have a 3 cabins in our party, but for brunch, you can only pre-book by cabin. We are HOPING to have a brunch for 5 people, but currently have 2 separate brunches (at separate times) for 2 each and the member of our party who has not sailed before cannot get a reservation.

What you _want_ to do if possible. Get to port early! Get an early boarding number. Once you get onto the ship, everyone in your party can head to Parrot Cay for lunch and get settled at a table. One person in your party (likely you) needs to go to Beat Street (right around the corner from where you board. You walk into the club and there will be tables set up with CMs making and changing Palo reservations - I _think_ they also do spa ressies there, but since I don't do much "spa-ing", I can't remember. If you board early, you should have no trouble getting some reservations. You are permitted to have 1 dinner, 1 brunch and 1 high tea at Palo's per cruise. (I've personally only had dinner and brunch - both of which I recommend.)

Also, you can go to Palo's for a drink in the evening, and they will often permit you to order a chocolate souffle while at the bar.

Best of luck!

 

[dkmjgal]

Just wondering about the Dining Rotation for the Alaska cruise. Does it follow the 1-2-3-1-2-3-1 format where you dine in your night 1 restaurant 3 times? I'm guessing that's how they will do it but I know sometimes they change it up.
Can you tell I'm getting ready to book my Palo reservations

Thanks!
Kelly

 

[DCL Repeaters]

Just wondering about the Dining Rotation for the Alaska cruise. Does it follow the 1-2-3-1-2-3-1 format where you dine in your night 1 restaurant 3 times? I'm guessing that's how they will do it but I know sometimes they change it up.
Can you tell I'm getting ready to book my Palo reservations

Thanks!
Kelly

You are correct about the dining rotation. Also, I thought pirate night was very low key. The servers did not dress up and there was no pirate menu. There was a party out on deck 9 (we did not attend) and the buffet afterwards was at Beach Blanket.

 

[dkmjgal]

Thanks for the speedy reply

Kelly

 

[gonecrusin]

Has or is anyone going to post the Navigator's from your sailing? We are on the 5/24 sailing. Thanks to everyone that have reported in already.

 

[MagicMe]

It's just inside the port terminal before you walk out. As you walk thru- there are people with signs up saying vancouver shuttle $14pp- they pointed us over (just a few feet away really LOL) to the shuttle desk. We walked up- no line- like 2 mins to pay- and then they told us where to walk out the doors and to the shuttle area which was like about the distance between the drink station and the adult pool area- that short. LOL They said 10min- and apparently meant from that moment. We walked over- stuck some stuff in checked luggage (toiletries we'd kept in room that last night) and there the shuttle was. It took about 20min to get to airport.

You can book ahead of time but when I tried to when I finally got connection to work- it said it was too soon to the date (it was 2 days before) and to call the number. I just decided to wait till we got there. Prior info I'd received was that cc could only be used if done online and if done at the terminal they'd only take cash... this wasn't the case.. they took cc there at the shuttle desk.

Lemme think how many were on the shuttle... I think around 16 with a few empty seats also. It was 5 of us and we got on the first shuttle that came around- even though we weren't paying attention and lots of people got on before us. I mean we walked up and were the only people, showed the guy our ticket and he said it would be a few minutes.. we were putting stuff in checked luggage as I mentioned above and then still sitting there in the chairs and saw people getting in that van/shuttle but didn't think it was for us since the guy didn't say anything. Finally I said is that our shuttle? And the guy said oh are you going to the airport? I said yes and he apologized and said yes it is our shuttle. LOL So he loaded our luggage in the back and away we went. (we had 5 in our family and 9 pieces of luggage btw.... 2 checked size luggage, 5 carry on size, and 2 DCL rolling duffles- you know how you come home with more stuff than you went with LOL)

Oh just more info- the previous info we'd received on the alaska thread was that it has times to choose and even if the time you want isn't available just choose what is available and you can still leave when you want to. I guess this must be true since we didn't even book ahead of time and were off on our way really quickly

Thanks - this was my one concern and I'm beginning to feel more confident that there shouldn't be any issues.

 

[Candy Apple]

Here are a couple of observations.

We arrived at 10:45 to the port and the line was very long to get through customs, so we dropped off our luggage and went across the street and went up to the look-out tower. Got amazing views of Vancouver. Here is a shot of the Wonder in port.

Where is this look-out tower? Any charge?

 

[joycsk]

I'm very confused. I _thought_ that Disney Dreams was NOT playing on the Wonder, but I've now seen it on a Navigator, possibly on the last night. Can anyone comment?? (I'll be heartbroken if it isn't playing)

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

Where is this look-out tower? Any charge?

I think they are referring to the Harbour Centre - it has one of those 360 round observatory tops on it - you can't miss the building because of this!!!

http://harbourcentre.com/

http://www.vancouverlookout.com/

$15 adult
$10 child

$39 family pass (2A, 2 C)

 

[MagicMe]

I'm very confused. I _thought_ that Disney Dreams was NOT playing on the Wonder, but I've now seen it on a Navigator, possibly on the last night. Can anyone comment?? (I'll be heartbroken if it isn't playing)

Disney Dreams has been on both the Magic and Wonder for some time. I believe the different ones are that the Wonder has Toy Story and the Magic has Twice Charmed.

Not sure about the third show. I know they have Golden Mickeys apparently still on the Wonder and I know that I saw Villains on the Magic last September. Don't know anything about the Dream shows as haven't yet been but I heard they had an updated Golden Mickey show and a new show (Believe - I think).

 

[joycsk]

Disney Dreams has been on both the Magic and Wonder for some time. I believe the different ones are that the Wonder has Toy Story and the Magic has Twice Charmed.

Not sure about the third show. I know they have Golden Mickeys apparently still on the Wonder and I know that I saw Villains on the Magic last September. Don't know anything about the Dream shows as haven't yet been but I heard they had an updated Golden Mickey show and a new show (Believe - I think).

Howdy, neighbor. I am specifically asking about the Alaskan cruises. On people's blogs, the shows listed were Welcome Aboard, Golden Mickeys (supposedly the old version, without the Tangled update), Toy Story, and Until We Meet Again. Now the Navigators are indicating that Disney Dreams is where I thought Until We Meet Again was. Between the two, I'd vastly prefer Disney Dreams. As their _signature_ and most highly promoted show, I couldn't believe that it wasn't playing in AL, but I wanted to be sure.

 

[MagicMe]

Howdy, neighbor. I am specifically asking about the Alaskan cruises. On people's blogs, the shows listed were Welcome Aboard, Golden Mickeys (supposedly the old version, without the Tangled update), Toy Story, and Until We Meet Again. Now the Navigators are indicating that Disney Dreams is where I thought Until We Meet Again was. Between the two, I'd vastly prefer Disney Dreams. As their _signature_ and most highly promoted show, I couldn't believe that it wasn't playing in AL, but I wanted to be sure.

Hey there! Hmmm, Disney Dreams was usually offered the next to the last night on the Magic's seven day cruises with the Til we meet again on the last night (the bookend to the Welcome show the first night - got to get that family off the ship!!). I know I saw it the last night on the 4-day Wonder cruises when I last sailed on the Wonder (prior to her heading to the west coast) since they never had a welcome aboard or til we meet again show.

 

[DCL Repeaters]

Howdy, neighbor. I am specifically asking about the Alaskan cruises. On people's blogs, the shows listed were Welcome Aboard, Golden Mickeys (supposedly the old version, without the Tangled update), Toy Story, and Until We Meet Again. Now the Navigators are indicating that Disney Dreams is where I thought Until We Meet Again was. Between the two, I'd vastly prefer Disney Dreams. As their _signature_ and most highly promoted show, I couldn't believe that it wasn't playing in AL, but I wanted to be sure.

Dreams was on the last night of last weeks Alaskan cruise. There was no Until we Meet Again show. Other shows were Welcome Aboard, Golden Mickeys, Movie Night and 2 Variety Acts.

 

[poohj80]

Dreams was on the last night of last weeks Alaskan cruise. There was no Until we Meet Again show. Other shows were Welcome Aboard, Golden Mickeys, Movie Night and 2 Variety Acts.

Till We Meet Again is the final character appearance in the atrium on the last night. The Navigators posted show it happened Monday night at 10 PM.

 

[DL1957]

Dreams was on the last night of last weeks Alaskan cruise. There was no Until we Meet Again show. Other shows were Welcome Aboard, Golden Mickeys, Movie Night and 2 Variety Acts.

Also Toy Story the Musical.

 

[PE_TCR]

Glad to see Dreams will be playing!