topsy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2007
- Messages
- 412
The story so far...
Hi there and welcome to my pre-trip (and eventually post-trip) report for the September 2nd Alaska cruise!
My biggest guilty pleasure is lurking on the dis-boards and reading trip reports, namely of any and all previous Alaska cruisers. I have found them so fun, interesting and helpful beyond belief that I thought I would have a go at writing my own. I only hope it lives up to the high standard of reporting I have come to love on these boards!
So without further ado...
A little about us. Me - Kirsty (25) and my good friend Elle (28).
Our names in the title, Krusty and Owl, come from a long standing joke from our last trip to Walt Disney World together involving two Starbucks cups and two brand new names&we had a lost in translation moment with the baristas who misheard our English accents! Since then, the names have stuck.
Elle and I worked together whilst participating in the Cultural representative Program at Epcot in 2008/9. We share a love for all things Disney and experienced my first DCL cruise together on the Magic in 2009, a 7 night Western Caribbean.
Heres a few pics of us on our Caribbean cruise...
(I'm the red-head, Elle's the brunette)
I had previously hoped to go to Alaska with my partner next year followed by a week of exploring the beautiful Canadian Rockies. That is until I heard rumours that DCL wouldnt be returning to Alaska in 2014&its safe to say we now know that was just a rumour as they are in fact returning! Anyway, we couldnt really afford to go this year and I couldnt convince him to commit to the cruise. Id found a really good price for a 7A navigators verandah and didnt want to wait for it to disappear. I made a deal with myself to keep checking and if the prices suddenly started to increase, I would re-think my options.
Fast forward a few months to January 2013 when prices started to increase and rooms started to book up. I guess that once Christmas was out of the way, people started to think of their holidays for the year. I watched as each category become more and more expensive, continually debating whether or not I should just book something as a dummy cruise. But I had nobody to go with and didnt want to go behind DFs back and book him on it!
This is where my friend Elle comes in. I had to travel to a new office which meant I had to drive right through the town where she now lives. We arranged to meet for dinner and I told her all about the cruise. Within 5 minutes shed agreed to going and we had things all planned out! A week later, I had our room booked.
As the prices had gone up and the 7A rooms were no longer available, we decided to just book an inside stateroom so at least we would be on the ship. We could keep looking at prices and try to upgrade at a later date if we could afford to. Well we committed to this decision for about 24 hours before asking our poor DU agent to upgrade our booking! We both really wanted a verandah! About a week after that I checked the DCL website and 7A rooms were available again, so once again, Kelsie from DU received a request from us to change the room&again. Weve gone from a 10C to a 5A and back down to the very last 7A on the ship (sorry if you were hoping for a 7A!). Were booked in stateroom 6642 and are happy with that. Ive actually looked at a few pictures online and it appears that room 6642 has a slightly extended porthole.
Hoping I havent bored you too much so far, Ill move onto the next thing we booked. Our excursions! I know, I know, we still dont sail for 160+ days but with over 1000 people on board, going to the same ports and most likely looking to book with the same tour operators, I figured that wed better get a jump on it. Thanks to one of the brilliant threads on these boards about Alaska excursions, we decided to go it alone and book independently.
Weve gone with Chilkoot Charters & Tours in Skagway for their Yukon Rail & Bus Excursion with lunch, Husky puppy camp & Emerald Lake. The whole tour takes 7.5 hours and departs at 7.30am, joy! I believe per person the cost is $176 which is pretty reasonable for an entire day. Plus the exchange rate must have been really good the day I paid on my card, it cost us much less in GB£ than I estimated.
For Juneau, another Disboard recommendation, were going whale watching with Harv & Marv. They have two departure times, 6.50am and 9.50am. Weve gone for the later departure as we dont want to have to rush too much each morning. We plan to spend a little extra time at Mendenhall Glacier after the trip and well get the shuttle bus back into town. We should have about 2-3 hours after the whale watching before we have to be back on the ship. I had hoped to do the Mt. Roberts Tramway too as I would love a shot of the Wonder from up high but weve not committed to this and probably wont have time. It may not matter as who knows what the weather will be like that day, we might get up there and have no view at all!
Last but not least, Ketchikan. We have no excursion planned here. It seems to be the best port to mooch around so thats what well do. I really like the idea of the Misty Fjords floatplane trip and have details of a few companies but right now the budget just doesnt allow for it. Again, well probably play this by ear and if we find a good deal at the port (or win the lottery before going!) we might add that on.
I think well be ok weather-wise as were used to cold temperatures in the UK. Its currently 3 degrees centigrade outside, which is about 37 Fahrenheit! From previous threads I believe the average temp on the cruises is around 40-60F?
Well, I think youve suffered long enough with this post! Please feel free to tag along and ask any questions.
Hi there and welcome to my pre-trip (and eventually post-trip) report for the September 2nd Alaska cruise!
My biggest guilty pleasure is lurking on the dis-boards and reading trip reports, namely of any and all previous Alaska cruisers. I have found them so fun, interesting and helpful beyond belief that I thought I would have a go at writing my own. I only hope it lives up to the high standard of reporting I have come to love on these boards!
So without further ado...
A little about us. Me - Kirsty (25) and my good friend Elle (28).
Our names in the title, Krusty and Owl, come from a long standing joke from our last trip to Walt Disney World together involving two Starbucks cups and two brand new names&we had a lost in translation moment with the baristas who misheard our English accents! Since then, the names have stuck.
Elle and I worked together whilst participating in the Cultural representative Program at Epcot in 2008/9. We share a love for all things Disney and experienced my first DCL cruise together on the Magic in 2009, a 7 night Western Caribbean.
Heres a few pics of us on our Caribbean cruise...
(I'm the red-head, Elle's the brunette)
I had previously hoped to go to Alaska with my partner next year followed by a week of exploring the beautiful Canadian Rockies. That is until I heard rumours that DCL wouldnt be returning to Alaska in 2014&its safe to say we now know that was just a rumour as they are in fact returning! Anyway, we couldnt really afford to go this year and I couldnt convince him to commit to the cruise. Id found a really good price for a 7A navigators verandah and didnt want to wait for it to disappear. I made a deal with myself to keep checking and if the prices suddenly started to increase, I would re-think my options.
Fast forward a few months to January 2013 when prices started to increase and rooms started to book up. I guess that once Christmas was out of the way, people started to think of their holidays for the year. I watched as each category become more and more expensive, continually debating whether or not I should just book something as a dummy cruise. But I had nobody to go with and didnt want to go behind DFs back and book him on it!
This is where my friend Elle comes in. I had to travel to a new office which meant I had to drive right through the town where she now lives. We arranged to meet for dinner and I told her all about the cruise. Within 5 minutes shed agreed to going and we had things all planned out! A week later, I had our room booked.
As the prices had gone up and the 7A rooms were no longer available, we decided to just book an inside stateroom so at least we would be on the ship. We could keep looking at prices and try to upgrade at a later date if we could afford to. Well we committed to this decision for about 24 hours before asking our poor DU agent to upgrade our booking! We both really wanted a verandah! About a week after that I checked the DCL website and 7A rooms were available again, so once again, Kelsie from DU received a request from us to change the room&again. Weve gone from a 10C to a 5A and back down to the very last 7A on the ship (sorry if you were hoping for a 7A!). Were booked in stateroom 6642 and are happy with that. Ive actually looked at a few pictures online and it appears that room 6642 has a slightly extended porthole.
Hoping I havent bored you too much so far, Ill move onto the next thing we booked. Our excursions! I know, I know, we still dont sail for 160+ days but with over 1000 people on board, going to the same ports and most likely looking to book with the same tour operators, I figured that wed better get a jump on it. Thanks to one of the brilliant threads on these boards about Alaska excursions, we decided to go it alone and book independently.
Weve gone with Chilkoot Charters & Tours in Skagway for their Yukon Rail & Bus Excursion with lunch, Husky puppy camp & Emerald Lake. The whole tour takes 7.5 hours and departs at 7.30am, joy! I believe per person the cost is $176 which is pretty reasonable for an entire day. Plus the exchange rate must have been really good the day I paid on my card, it cost us much less in GB£ than I estimated.
For Juneau, another Disboard recommendation, were going whale watching with Harv & Marv. They have two departure times, 6.50am and 9.50am. Weve gone for the later departure as we dont want to have to rush too much each morning. We plan to spend a little extra time at Mendenhall Glacier after the trip and well get the shuttle bus back into town. We should have about 2-3 hours after the whale watching before we have to be back on the ship. I had hoped to do the Mt. Roberts Tramway too as I would love a shot of the Wonder from up high but weve not committed to this and probably wont have time. It may not matter as who knows what the weather will be like that day, we might get up there and have no view at all!
Last but not least, Ketchikan. We have no excursion planned here. It seems to be the best port to mooch around so thats what well do. I really like the idea of the Misty Fjords floatplane trip and have details of a few companies but right now the budget just doesnt allow for it. Again, well probably play this by ear and if we find a good deal at the port (or win the lottery before going!) we might add that on.
I think well be ok weather-wise as were used to cold temperatures in the UK. Its currently 3 degrees centigrade outside, which is about 37 Fahrenheit! From previous threads I believe the average temp on the cruises is around 40-60F?
Well, I think youve suffered long enough with this post! Please feel free to tag along and ask any questions.
I hope to start a pre-trip report soon, I've also so enjoyed reading the past reports from Alaska!
