Oneanne
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2014
A recap of our 6.19-26 Alaska cruise and some random thoughts...
This was the first cruise for both my Sister and myself: I chose to do Disney because I've been to WDW many many times and felt like I knew what to expect service and quality wise. Plus I knew I could find a lot of information here, so first off a hearty thank you to everyone who has shared cruising experiences, trip reports etc... they were extremely helpful.
Transportation: We both live in Washington State, so we drove up to Vancouver the day before the cruise and spent the night at an airport hotel that offered a stay and park holiday package. Cost of hotel+parking+ground transporation was slightly less than just the room at Pan Pacific we had originally booked, so we were happy with this option. For the morning of embarkation day we took the shuttle to the port that the hotel offered: cost was $20 Canadian per person: on the return we hopped into a taxi and paid about the same. The trips were 30 to 40 minutes.
Check-in: I have a thing about schlepping around luggage, so was thrilled to see it collected first off. We had a 12:30 PAT and were running a bit early so did have to wait before starting the process, but hey, we were there. Actual check-in was fine, not exactly quick but steadily moving. Back down stairs we were still early but didn't have to wait and were directed to go right on to the ship.
The Wonder: You can add me to the legion of Wonder fans... what a beautiful ship. The atrium is intimate but grand at the same time, and it was such a thrill to hear our names called as we entered. The ship was easy to figure out and navigate. On the last day of the cruise we took the tour where they give you background info and fun facts about the Wonder and I sure do wish that had been offered at the beginning, so we would have had an even deeper appreciation.
Food: I have dietary restrictions and am always appreciative of Disney's handling of allergy accommodation requests. I was happy with everything I was served except for the special Frozen night menu at Triton's, and the others at the table were disappointed by their unaltered meals that evening as well. We went to Cabana's a couple times, the food was plentiful and well prepared but it was too hectic for me. We ended up getting most of our lunches from the other fast food places on Deck 9... I think my Sister had the Chicken Shawarma every day.
Service: I had high expectations for service, being as this was Disney, and they were met and then some. We loved our waitstaff and became very attached to them. I had to stop in at guest services a couple times and they were also great. Our cabin steward took wonderful care of us.
Entertainment: Again I had high expectations and wow. The three Disney evening shows that were offered were amazing. We saw Elemental one night, it was good but not great. One night we had a comedic magician and another night a musical group and both were good, but not something I would seek to see again purely based off of personal taste. We did quite a few of the trivia sessions, an animation class, took some character pictures, did the towel folding class, played a game and took the afore mentioned tour of the ship... all were fun and well executed.
Excursions: We booked our excursions thru Alaska Shore Tours, which seems to be a clearing house of sorts for small tour operators. Everything went smoothly and we would use them again.
Glacier viewing day: We went up Tracy Arm and the ship was able to pull closer to the glacier than that Captain has even been. The glacier calved several times while we were there and we were close enough that you could hear some of the ice break away. It was amazing to see the ship turn around, the bow looked like it was almost touching the shoreline... gotta love those side thrusters.
Icy Straight Point: We did our Whale Watching here and spent a couple hours out on the water in small boat with about 24 people. I think we saw six or so Humpback whales which were very active with lots of tail swishing and breaching and a youngster that was playing around, slapping the water with his fins.
Juneau: We took the tram up to the top of the bluff and wandered around, then we did your City Tour + Mendenhall Glacier excersion. The city part was driving around a few blocks with the driver pointing things out, not much at all. We had 1 1/2 hours up at the glacier to walk around and go thru the visitor's center and this was the perfect amount of time. When we got back in to town three other XL+++ size ships had come in and the streets were packed with tourists, so we scrapped our plan to have lunch on shore and went back to the ship.
Ketchikan: We walked back to Creek Street and did a bit of shopping then went on our tour out at the Nature Reserve... absolutely loved this. We did a mile walk thru the forest with the guide pointing things out to us, including the bear scratches on the trees... some were from cubs learning to climb and some were from adult males marking their territory. There were a dozen or so eagles flying around the estuary: there was a hatchery there and the king salmon had just started to run. What a calm peaceful way to experience Alaska. Back in town we got a fish sampler for lunch that was delish and then took in the Lumber Jack Show. Growing up in the PNW we saw many of these shows as kids, so it was nostalgic as well as silly goofy fun.
Random thoughts: It was a wonderful trip, helped a lot by the amazing weather we had. We really enjoyed our dinner seatmates and had some lively conversations. Across the board CMs were amazing. All that being said I don't think I've been converted to a regular cruiser, but would do it again.
This being our first time cruising we opted for the least expensive choice for stateroom, which was inside and they assign the room. We ended up all the way forward, which was great, in a handicap room which was double width, also great... but we were right next to a utility area where they staged their carts and room service came and went... not great. In hindsight this is the one thing I would have done differently because for so much of the route there is stuff to see and a room with at least a port hole would have been amazing.
In all the research I did I never saw anyone mention that the deck gets wet if it rains, like puddles of wet. Fortunately we only had rain when leaving Vancouver, else I would have not had the right shoes with me. And the very last cruising-to-Alaska Youtube video I watched was the first to mention taking bug spray, we didn't encounter any of the infamous Alaska sized bugs, but did use it for our out-of-doors excursions.
This was the first cruise for both my Sister and myself: I chose to do Disney because I've been to WDW many many times and felt like I knew what to expect service and quality wise. Plus I knew I could find a lot of information here, so first off a hearty thank you to everyone who has shared cruising experiences, trip reports etc... they were extremely helpful.
Transportation: We both live in Washington State, so we drove up to Vancouver the day before the cruise and spent the night at an airport hotel that offered a stay and park holiday package. Cost of hotel+parking+ground transporation was slightly less than just the room at Pan Pacific we had originally booked, so we were happy with this option. For the morning of embarkation day we took the shuttle to the port that the hotel offered: cost was $20 Canadian per person: on the return we hopped into a taxi and paid about the same. The trips were 30 to 40 minutes.
Check-in: I have a thing about schlepping around luggage, so was thrilled to see it collected first off. We had a 12:30 PAT and were running a bit early so did have to wait before starting the process, but hey, we were there. Actual check-in was fine, not exactly quick but steadily moving. Back down stairs we were still early but didn't have to wait and were directed to go right on to the ship.
The Wonder: You can add me to the legion of Wonder fans... what a beautiful ship. The atrium is intimate but grand at the same time, and it was such a thrill to hear our names called as we entered. The ship was easy to figure out and navigate. On the last day of the cruise we took the tour where they give you background info and fun facts about the Wonder and I sure do wish that had been offered at the beginning, so we would have had an even deeper appreciation.
Food: I have dietary restrictions and am always appreciative of Disney's handling of allergy accommodation requests. I was happy with everything I was served except for the special Frozen night menu at Triton's, and the others at the table were disappointed by their unaltered meals that evening as well. We went to Cabana's a couple times, the food was plentiful and well prepared but it was too hectic for me. We ended up getting most of our lunches from the other fast food places on Deck 9... I think my Sister had the Chicken Shawarma every day.
Service: I had high expectations for service, being as this was Disney, and they were met and then some. We loved our waitstaff and became very attached to them. I had to stop in at guest services a couple times and they were also great. Our cabin steward took wonderful care of us.
Entertainment: Again I had high expectations and wow. The three Disney evening shows that were offered were amazing. We saw Elemental one night, it was good but not great. One night we had a comedic magician and another night a musical group and both were good, but not something I would seek to see again purely based off of personal taste. We did quite a few of the trivia sessions, an animation class, took some character pictures, did the towel folding class, played a game and took the afore mentioned tour of the ship... all were fun and well executed.
Excursions: We booked our excursions thru Alaska Shore Tours, which seems to be a clearing house of sorts for small tour operators. Everything went smoothly and we would use them again.
Glacier viewing day: We went up Tracy Arm and the ship was able to pull closer to the glacier than that Captain has even been. The glacier calved several times while we were there and we were close enough that you could hear some of the ice break away. It was amazing to see the ship turn around, the bow looked like it was almost touching the shoreline... gotta love those side thrusters.
Icy Straight Point: We did our Whale Watching here and spent a couple hours out on the water in small boat with about 24 people. I think we saw six or so Humpback whales which were very active with lots of tail swishing and breaching and a youngster that was playing around, slapping the water with his fins.
Juneau: We took the tram up to the top of the bluff and wandered around, then we did your City Tour + Mendenhall Glacier excersion. The city part was driving around a few blocks with the driver pointing things out, not much at all. We had 1 1/2 hours up at the glacier to walk around and go thru the visitor's center and this was the perfect amount of time. When we got back in to town three other XL+++ size ships had come in and the streets were packed with tourists, so we scrapped our plan to have lunch on shore and went back to the ship.
Ketchikan: We walked back to Creek Street and did a bit of shopping then went on our tour out at the Nature Reserve... absolutely loved this. We did a mile walk thru the forest with the guide pointing things out to us, including the bear scratches on the trees... some were from cubs learning to climb and some were from adult males marking their territory. There were a dozen or so eagles flying around the estuary: there was a hatchery there and the king salmon had just started to run. What a calm peaceful way to experience Alaska. Back in town we got a fish sampler for lunch that was delish and then took in the Lumber Jack Show. Growing up in the PNW we saw many of these shows as kids, so it was nostalgic as well as silly goofy fun.
Random thoughts: It was a wonderful trip, helped a lot by the amazing weather we had. We really enjoyed our dinner seatmates and had some lively conversations. Across the board CMs were amazing. All that being said I don't think I've been converted to a regular cruiser, but would do it again.
This being our first time cruising we opted for the least expensive choice for stateroom, which was inside and they assign the room. We ended up all the way forward, which was great, in a handicap room which was double width, also great... but we were right next to a utility area where they staged their carts and room service came and went... not great. In hindsight this is the one thing I would have done differently because for so much of the route there is stuff to see and a room with at least a port hole would have been amazing.
In all the research I did I never saw anyone mention that the deck gets wet if it rains, like puddles of wet. Fortunately we only had rain when leaving Vancouver, else I would have not had the right shoes with me. And the very last cruising-to-Alaska Youtube video I watched was the first to mention taking bug spray, we didn't encounter any of the infamous Alaska sized bugs, but did use it for our out-of-doors excursions.
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