WOO HOO!! Alaska, Here we come! 8/25/2014

[Karlzmom]

Just booked our passage, so we will be joining you all!


I am so excited!!!

We will be [as we will all be a year older ] DH 69, DS 8 and me 43....we will be enjoying the scenery from our Navigator's Verandah Suite on Deck 7.

This is our 1st cruise and our 1st trip to Alaska. I'm getting a two-fer on my bucket list with the one. I'll still have to research the excursions, etc. but as I tend to be an uber-planner I'm certain it will all work out ok. 1st decision to decide if we will fly or take the train and whether to go to Seattle or Vancouver.

 

[piglet33]

I booked this cruise while on the Dream two weeks ago. It will be me - Reneé, DH - Lenny and DD - Haley (11) and will be cruise #11 for us. Can't wait!

 

[CatDenver]

We're switching to the Aug 11th cruise. Have fun on this one!

 

[baybeedoc]

The facebook group is here:
The FE Signup sheet is here:

sent request to join fb group. We are officially booked!

 

[jpglisson]

Hey guys!! We just returned yesterday from Alaska and rebooked again for next year. This will mean we've done Alaska with Disney three years in a row!! LOL It must be good, right?

This trip will be our 6th Disney Cruise.. the first one cruising Gold, yahoo!

I went ahead and started a facebook group and a signup sheet for the FE Exchange group.

The facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/375041592628435/

The FE Signup sheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au6ZjSAKNCdBdHNGaUJaUGRBaXZYZ3pxOWUwS3lFMFE&usp=sharing

Can't wait to start getting to know you all! I know we will have some influx of folks coming and going, since we are a year away. But it will still be fun to chat in the mean time.

Super! I was hoping someone else would want to do FE! We went on our first cruise last year on the Disney Magic. Soooooo much fun! And we did the FE. My daughter looked forward to finding little "goodies" every time we went to the room. We'll be signing up!

And thanks for getting it started!

 

[piglet33]

Hey guys!! We just returned yesterday from Alaska and rebooked again for next year. This will mean we've done Alaska with Disney three years in a row!! LOL It must be good, right?

This trip will be our 6th Disney Cruise.. the first one cruising Gold, yahoo!

I went ahead and started a facebook group and a signup sheet for the FE Exchange group.

The facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/375041592628435/

The FE Signup sheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au6ZjSAKNCdBdHNGaUJaUGRBaXZYZ3pxOWUwS3lFMFE&usp=sharing

Can't wait to start getting to know you all! I know we will have some influx of folks coming and going, since we are a year away. But it will still be fun to chat in the mean time.

I sent the FB request. Thanks!

 

[mkmommy]

I sent a FB request.

I booked this cruise several months ago and have been on the fence about taking it. Kids start school the day after Labour Day, so not ideal, but it is one of the few weeks that works for me and work.

We saw the Wonder in Vancouver this summer and my daughter just wanted to jump on board. Hope next summer the weather is as good as it was this summer.

 

[DisneyMom70]

I sent the FB request. 339 days

 

[bridgetmck]

Hi everyone,
We reserved our Alaska cruise for 8/25 last week.
Traveling along will be myself (Bridget), DH (Kieran), and our 2 boys who will be 6.5 YO (Declan) and 3.5 YO (Liam) at time of sailing.
We are so excited! But, also, we are going to the World in 3 weeks.

Has anyone begun to look at excursions?
Also, how are you getting to Vancouver? We are debating flying to Seattle and then taking Amtrak to Vancouver OR flying directly to Vancouver. I would ideally like to spend a couple of days in Vancouver first to adjust to the time change. Plus, it's beautiful there!

 

[bridgetmck]

I'm more excited about this cruise than any of the upcoming vacations that we have this year

Yup! Agreed!

 

[bridgetmck]

We're currently booked in 5024 (it'd be our third cruise in a secret porthole room) with main dining.

What's a secret porthole?
(excuse the naiveté)

 

[bridgetmck]

FB request sent.

 

[Karlzmom]

What's a secret porthole?
(excuse the naiveté)

As I understand it, there are rooms that are classified as "inside" and priced as though they have no access to outside light but really have a porthole. The rooms can not be sold as a "porthole" room as the view is obstructed, so they market them in the cheaper category and the occupant gets a "bonus" rather than selling them as the more expensive "porthole" rooms and having to deal with unhappy customers who don't get the view they were expecting and paid for.

 

[Karlzmom]

Starting to work out whether to fly into Seattle or Vancouver, where to stay and what to see.

Anyone care to weigh in on the pro or cons of each option? Seems like Seattle is cheaper airfare and may be cheaper on the hotel for the days leading up to the cruise. Price is important, but so is having a great vacations and I don't feel like I really have a good handle on what to do with a family in either city to make a mini-vaca before the cruise.

All I know about Seattle is the Space Needle and the fish market...I know less about Vancouver.

What about car rentals v. train?

I'd love to hear what the rest of you are planning.

 

[bridgetmck]

Starting to work out whether to fly into Seattle or Vancouver, where to stay and what to see. Anyone care to weigh in on the pro or cons of each option? Seems like Seattle is cheaper airfare and may be cheaper on the hotel for the days leading up to the cruise. Price is important, but so is having a great vacations and I don't feel like I really have a good handle on what to do with a family in either city to make a mini-vaca before the cruise. All I know about Seattle is the Space Needle and the fish market...I know less about Vancouver. What about car rentals v. train? I'd love to hear what the rest of you are planning.

Hi!
Yes, this is a big consideration for us to.
Option 1. Fly into Seattle then either Amtrak or car up to Vancouver (right now, leaning heavily towards Amtrak). Spend one night in Seattle before departing. See the space needle and maybe one or two other sites. Spend one night in Vancouver.
Option 2. Fly into Vancouver. Spend 2 nights in Vancouver before the cruise. See Stanley Park. I want to look into what else there is to see, as well, but Stanley Park is high on our list.
Hotels in Vancouver. I've read that both the Pan Pacific and the Fairmount are great and on some of the threads about Alaska, people said they were able to get the Pan Pacific for about $200 per night on Priceline or Hotels.com. I haven't looked yet, but there is a website called betterbidding.com that tells you exactly what perimeters to put in to priceline.com to ensure you get Pan Pacific.
Either way, I am budgeting $2000-$2400 for airfare/ trains. And $200 per night for the hotels (willing to go to $225 to get a better hotel).

I would love to hear others ideas and budgets as well as plans!

 

[bridgetmck]

I've also been reading reviews on Trip Advisor about the hotels. The Residence Inn by Marriott in Vancouver looks lovely. Probably more in my price range as well!

 

[bellanapoli]

I'm leaning toward flying direct into Vancouver. I think we'll come up Saturday (8/23) and spend a few days touring around before we leave. I've been to Vancouver before but DH and DS haven't so it should be fun.

I've thought about Seattle, but DS will be starting school the day after labor day so I think it makes more sense for us to just fly straight out of Vancouver the day we get back, as early as we reasonably can. We're in southern California so it's not a terribly long flight and we should be able to get home at a reasonable time.

Thanks for the tip on the Residence Inn - I'll take a look at that one. I've heard great things about the Pan Pacific and Fairmont but really like being able to cook our own breakfast.

 

[piglet33]

We're leaning toward flying directly to Vancouver. We're coming from NJ so when you add the extra hotel day, train and taxis, it only comes to about $300 total to fly into Vancouver vs. Seattle. So for us, it makes more sense to fly direct and minimize the stress. We're also looking at staying at the Pan Pacific and flying home the day the cruise ends, because my daughter will probably start school the day after Labor Day. Not sure on that, because we never know the school schedule until about March. I'm hoping it will be later, but with them, you never know. This year we didn't start until the Monday AFTER Labor so 9/9.

 

[bridgetmck]

We're leaning toward flying directly to Vancouver. We're coming from NJ so when you add the extra hotel day, train and taxis, it only comes to about $300 total to fly into Vancouver vs. Seattle. So for us, it makes more sense to fly direct and minimize the stress.

We're coming from Brooklyn and I feel the same way.
And we start school after Labor Day as well. No idea about 2014, but we will probably leave the day the cruise disembarks in Vancouver.

 

[bridgetmck]

What type of stateroom has everyone booked? Right now, we are booked for a Deluxe Oceanview stateroom (#2128 ).However, we are debating an upgrade to a verandah. Just trying to justify the $1900 addition. Any opinions?