And a Wonderful First DCL Cruise It Was, 7/6-7/13/2015, Alaska (Completed 3/27/2016)

[jtba]

Before I get started, I want to thank all the DISers for tirelessly answering all my DCL and Alaska-related questions . This was my second cruise personally, but first DCL trip with my own family, so I had many many questions immediately after booking and throughout the planning process. You guys have been awesome, and I look forward to helping others who come along later.

Edited: Here are my personal navigators that Scott Sanders scanned and put up on his DisneyCruiseLineBlog.com. Thank you, Scott!

OK, here goes...

Pre-Trip (see below in this post)
T Minus 2 Days, Saturday, July 4, Arrival at Vancouver (see below)
T Minus 1 Day, Sunday, July 5, Vancouver
Day 1, Monday, July 6, Vancouver
Day 2, Tuesday, July 7, At Sea
Day 3, Wednesday, July 8, Tracy Arm
Day 4, Thursday, July 9, Skagway, Part 1: White Pass Bus & Train Excursion thru Chilkoot Charters
Day 4, Thursday, July 9, Skagway, Part 2: Afternoon & Evening
Day 5, Friday, July 10, Juneau: Whale Watching with Harv & Marv's
Days 6, Saturday, July 11, Ketchikan: The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show
Day 7, Sunday, July 12, At Sea
Day 8, Monday, July 13 Vancouver
Final Thoughts

Pre-Trip

I booked our trip after chatting with a friend who went on her first DCL cruise to Alaska in July 2014. She and her family had such a great time that they immediately considered booking another one, in fact. We had the conversation on a Friday, I did a ton of Googling that weekend, and by Monday we booked our own for July 6-13, 2015. Between then and up to the day we departed for Vancouver, I came to the DIS multiples times a day for information about DCL, Alaska, and cruising in general, as well as the Alaska forum on CruiseCritic and websites elsewhere, though 90% of my research was done right here on the main DCL forum.

T Minus 2 Days, Saturday, July 4, Arrival at Vancouver

We flew up to Vancouver on the 4th of July and arrived in the late-afternoon. Getting off the plane, walking through the terminal, going through customs and immigration, and getting our luggage was a breeze. Probably took us 15-20 minutes, though it was probably because there weren't that many other planes that landed around the same time so there was barely a line at customs, and our suitcases came out very quickly. There was free wi-fi in the airport, btw, so I was able to check my email while inside the terminal.

Hubby did some research beforehand on the Skytrain and learned that you can buy a 10-ride book (soon to phased out, unfortunately) for around CAN$21 from the 7-Eleven right there in the Vancouver airport (YVR). Since we don't get much access to public transportation from our hometown, we decided DS8 and DD4 might enjoy that.

After a quick bathroom run inside the terminal, we headed outside the terminal to the Skytrain station, where DS, DD, and I waited for DH to get the tickets, which took around 10 minutes or less (before the kiddies got too antsy anyway). DH watched some YouTube videos while at home, so he was able to figure out how to get the tickets validated at the machines. Shortly thereafter the train arrived, and we aimed and got to sit at the very front so the kids could get a good view as we headed into downtown:



The train only has two cars, btw; it's not like the long NY subway trains.

I had desperately wanted to stay at the Pan Pacific after reading so much about it here. Alas, all the rooms were available only at incredibly high rates (+$500/night) due to the Women's FIFA World Cup Final game taking place in town the next night; same with the Fairmont Waterfront and other usual places DCL folks stay at, so we ended up booking the Delta Suites Downtown Vancouver, which is 4 1/2 blocks from Canada Place, the cruise terminal. The train ride between the airport and Waterfront Station (the terminus for Canada Line, two blocks away from the cruise terminal) took about 20-25 minutes. We had two large rolling suitcases, one medium rolling carry-on, and each person also had a backpack, but we were able to navigate our way easily (with an 8- and 4-yr-old!) and arrived in our hotel room around 7:30.

Our room was on the 5th floor (if I recall correctly) in a quiet corner, and nice and clean:



By now we were all hungry and tired, and the kids were definitely starting to get cranky, eeeek! Prior to leaving home we had yelped and planned to eat at a restaurant near the hotel, but the storefront looked closed. We walked around the block but it took a while to find cab. Then we decided to go to Kirin on Alberni Street, a Chinese restaurant an acquaintance recommended, because we had heard so much about the excellent Chinese cuisine Vancouver has to offer. Unfortunately they had no tables open until 8:30 p.m. (it was already 8 when we arrived and the kids were very whiny by now). So we made a reservation for 5:30 p.m. the next day and left.

A few stores away there was a Japanese restaurant. I spent a couple minutes looking at the menu posted outside on the window, but ended up deciding to walk across Alberni to The Keg Steakhouse, which was a chain restaurant recommended by someone in our cruise FB group (but it turns out the person had recommended the one on Granville Island). At first I wasn't sure if we were dressed for it because DH and the kids were in shorts and t-shirts, and I had on a simple shirt and jeans, whereas the young women milling about at the front of the restaurants were wearing Robert-Palmer-Simply-Irresistable-Video black dresses. But it was a trendy and classy place, and we felt at ease once we sat down at our table.

The waiter brought a fruit appetizer for the kids. I ordered and shared prime rib and baked potato with DD; can't remember what DH and DS had for main entrées. DS also tried escargot for the first time and loved it! He had 3 or 4 of them while I had the other half. Both kids were given chocolate sorbet after the meal as well, which they of course enjoyed.

After that we headed back to the hotel via taxi. Bathed the kids and put them to bed around 10:30, which was waaaaay past their usual bed time. Thankfully they didn't fuss too much, and that was the end of our first day in Vancouver.

 

[pepe3penelope]

Enjoying so far! Can't wait to read more!

 

[jtba]

Thank you!

I should add that these are the excursions we had:

Skagway: White Pass Yukon Train Ride through Chilkoot Charters

Juneau: Whalewatching and Mendenhall Glacier Tour through Harv & Marv's

Ketchikan: The Great Lumberjack Show through DCL

So if you are interested in any of those, I will be reporting on them in the days to come.

 

[Mrs Green]

I am so excited to read along! Next summer we are booked for our first dcl to Alaska, my kids are similar in age to yours and we are thinking of the same excursions that you did (except probably Ketchikan because we've done lumberjack shows in northern Wisconsin).

 

[cinderkelly]

Hi! Ill be following along as I am considering an Alaska cruise for next year. Looking forward to reading!

 

[jtba]

I am so excited to read along! Next summer we are booked for our first dcl to Alaska, my kids are similar in age to yours and we are thinking of the same excursions that you did (except probably Ketchikan because we've done lumberjack shows in northern Wisconsin).

In that case, let me say I thoroughly enjoyed all three! DS and DD did get a little whiny towards the end of the train ride but it may have been more due to hunger than boredom.

more details to come...

 

[jtba]

T Minus 1 Day, Sunday, July 5, Vancouver

Coming from California where we're having a major drought, Vancouver feels so green (literally) by comparison. In California hotel rooms you always see signs about conserving water and re-using the towels; no such thing at the Delta Suites in Vancouver.

We stepped out of the hotel at 7:45 and immediately noticed the strange color of the sky:



Turns out there were wildfires in the areas near Vancouver, and all the smoke was blowing into the city.

For breakfast, we walked a few blocks to White Spot on Dunsmuir and Homer, a chain restaurant that serves breakfast and other comfort foods (but is steps above Denny's). DH had to run an errand, so he left the three of us there and went on his way. We enjoyed a nice hot breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs (for me), hard-boiled egg (DD), pancakes (DS), hashbrown etc. DD has several medically diagnosed allergies (gluten, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, and seafood), but the waitress was knowledgeable and told us which items were gluten- and diary-free and which others she sould avoid. She also took care to separate some items so there wouldn't be cross-contact, for which I was very grateful. She was on the ball; too bad I forgot her name.

This was the day the U.S. Women's Soccer Team would play against Japan in the FIFA World Cup at 4 p.m., so I spotted three other families sporting USA gear at the restaurant. They were carrying on a friendly banter, so when I walked by them I said "Go Team USA!" and said I was American too, and we all had good cheer. Love bumping into my fellow Americans away from home.

Now, up to this point we had kept the cruise a secret from our kids. But several months ago through the cruise FB group we set up five penpals for them, so that they would know some kids when they board the ship. I asked the moms to tell their kids not to mention the cruise in the letters and it worked out really well. DS and DD loved getting stuff in the mail; they just didn't know they would actually get to meet their friends, hah hah.

We had arranged to meet with the family of penpal #1 at the Vancouver Aquarium at 10 that morning, so I broke the news to the kids at breakfast. They were happy to hear that, and off we went. The taxi ride took about 7-8 minutes, and I spotted K's family as soon as we got out. K's mom took a picture of the three of us (DH was to join us later), and we took pictures of the kids together as well. It was fun to finally meet K's mom, S, because we had been PM'ing each other for the past couple months, chatting about our plans on the cruise.



The visit itself was kind of a blur, but I do remember enjoying the beluga whales show, seeing the jellyfish, penguins, sea otters, the blue parrots, tree frogs, etc. Missed the sloths entirely--who knew they were there? Oh well, guess we'll just have to return. We had lunch with K's family and enjoyed chatting with her parents and grandma, then returned to the hotel as DD still naps in the afternoon.

While she napped, I went to seek out a new pair of sneakers for her--back at home she had put on her shoes and got into the car by herself on our way to the airport, so I didn't see that she had worn the wrong shoes for Alaska. I mean, open-toed shoes just weren't gonna cut it up north, ya know? The first department store I went to, The Bay, strangely did not carry any children's shoes. I walked all the way back to the hotel, asked the front desk ladies, who suggested going to the mall about 5 blocks away. So with my sore feet I trudged all the way back out there, asked a mom (because she had kids with her and must know such things), who directed me to a Geoxx store. Success!!! Now I could walk home and soak my tired feet.

The game was to start at 4 p.m. and by now it was around 2 or 2:30, so people were streaming towards BC Place, the stadium. It was fun to watch the cheering fans.

After DD woke up, we rested/played for a bit and watched the FIFA game on TV, then headed out at 5:15 for dinner at Kirin, the Chinese restaurant we attempted to eat at the day before. I think we ordered some sort of pork dish, stir-fried veggies, and can't remember what else. It was fine, but I was slightly stressed because I wasn't sure if the dishes would be safe for DD because of her allergies (eating at new restaurants is always hard for families with food allergy concerns). Looking back on it we could've ordered a Peking duck as that's something she would've loved. But it worked out well, and we headed home after dinner in a cab.

A few blocks away from our house our cab stopped at an intersection because a policeman had blocked it off. A VIP was heading our way, the cabbie said; he learned from his radio (or maybe his phone) that it was an American VIP. Hmm, who could it be? We surmised it was probably Joe Biden, because we saw him on TV while watching the FIFA game before dinner. We waited five minutes, then decided to get out of the cab and wait for his motorcade. Sure enough, they arrived shortly thereafter:



I didn't see them, but DH said the marines had some pretty scary-looking weapons in their hands as they passed by. The women's team players were in the shuttle bus behind the Canadian flag.

At this point we decided to walk to Canada Place to see if there was a ship docked there. The kids' feet were sore, but they were good sport (I told them there might be a big ship docked, knowing the Wonder wouldn't get in until the next morning but perhaps there was another cruise ship). The Regatta (+800 passengers) was there, which they thought was nice (wait 'till you see the Wonder tomorrow, I thought to myself). We stayed around 10-15 minutes, just walking around, then the kids whined about wanting to take a taxi back, but we told them it was better to work through your pain sometimes to overcome a hardship. They somehow were convinced and we got back to the hotel around 8:00.

Put the kids to be around 8:30 but it took them about half an hour to fall asleep. DH went to hang out with a college friend who lived in the area, and I spent the rest of the evening surfing on the free wi-fi, probably on the DIS.

 

[RedHatDisney]

Hi! I'm watching your thread. DD, DGS13, DGS7 (8 on the cruise), and I are heading out on the Wonder 8/31. So happy to see your thread.

Two questions..do you have any navigators to share?
and, Any chance for AntMan?

Thanks......

 

[Mrs Green]

Another commonality! We are surprising our kids too. My dd's golden bday is 8/8 which is the day we embark and we will be telling them as we arrive to board! I love the idea of pen pals, my dd can be especially shy so the pen pal idea might help us with getting her in the club more frequently!

Now, up to this point we had kept the cruise a secret from our kids. But several months ago through the cruise FB group we set up five penpals for them, so that they would know some kids when they board the ship. I asked the moms to tell their kids not to mention the cruise in the letters and it worked out really well. DS and DD loved getting stuff in the mail; they just didn't know they would actually get to meet their friends, hah hah.

We had arranged to meet with the family of penpal #1 at the Vancouver Aquarium at 10 that morning, so I broke the news to the kids at breakfast. They were happy to hear that, and off we went. The taxi ride took about 7-8 minutes, and I spotted K's family as soon as we got out. K's mom took a picture of the three of us (DH was to join us later), and we took pictures of the kids together as well. It was fun to finally meet K's mom, S, because we had been PM'ing each other for the past couple months, chatting about our plans on the cruise.

View attachment 110724

The visit itself was kind of a blur, but I do remember enjoying the beluga whales show, seeing the jellyfish, penguins, sea otters, the blue parrots, tree frogs, etc. Missed the sloths entirely--who knew they were there? Oh well, guess we'll just have to return. We had lunch with K's family and enjoyed chatting with her parents and grandma, then returned to the hotel as DD still naps in the afternoon.

While she napped, I went to seek out a new pair of sneakers for her--back at home she had put on her shoes and got into the car by herself on our way to the airport, so I didn't see that she had worn the wrong shoes for Alaska. I mean, open-toed shoes just weren't gonna cut it up north, ya know? The first department store I went to, The Bay, strangely did not carry any children's shoes. I walked all the way back to the hotel, asked the front desk ladies, who suggested going to the mall about 5 blocks away. So with my sore feet I trudged all the way back out there, asked a mom (because she had kids with her and must know such things), who directed me to a Geoxx store. Success!!! Now I could walk home and soak my tired feet.

The game was to start at 4 p.m. and by now it was around 2 or 2:30, so people were streaming towards BC Place, the stadium. It was fun to watch the cheering fans.

After DD woke up, we rested/played for a bit and watched the FIFA game on TV, then headed out at 5:15 for dinner at Kirin, the Chinese restaurant we attempted to eat at the day before. I think we ordered some sort of pork dish, stir-fried veggies, and can't remember what else. It was fine, but I was slightly stressed because I wasn't sure if the dishes would be safe for DD because of her allergies (eating at new restaurants is always hard for families with food allergy concerns). Looking back on it we could've ordered a Peking duck as that's something she would've loved. But it worked out well, and we headed home after dinner in a cab.

A few blocks away from our house our cab stopped at an intersection because a policeman had blocked it off. A VIP was heading our way, the cabbie said; he learned from his radio (or maybe his phone) that it was an American VIP. Hmm, who could it be? We surmised it was probably Joe Biden, because we saw him on TV while watching the FIFA game before dinner. We waited five minutes, then decided to get out of the cab and wait for his motorcade. Sure enough, they arrived shortly thereafter:

View attachment 110730

I didn't see them, but DH said the marines had some pretty scary-looking weapons in their hands as they passed by. The women's team players were in the shuttle bus behind the Canadian flag.

At this point we decided to walk to Canada Place to see if there was a ship docked there. The kids' feet were sore, but they were good sport (I told them there might be a big ship docked, knowing the Wonder wouldn't get in until the next morning but perhaps there was another cruise ship). The Regatta (+800 passengers) was there, which they thought was nice (wait 'till you see the Wonder tomorrow, I thought to myself). We stayed around 10-15 minutes, just walking around, then the kids whined about wanting to take a taxi back, but we told them it was better to work through your pain sometimes to overcome a hardship. They somehow were convinced and we got back to the hotel around 8:00.

Put the kids to be around 8:30 but it took them about half an hour to fall asleep. DH went to hang out with a college friend who lived in the area, and I spent the rest of the evening surfing on the free wi-fi, probably on the DIS.

 

[jtba]

Hi! I'm watching your thread. DD, DGS13, DGS7 (8 on the cruise), and I are heading out on the Wonder 8/31. So happy to see your thread.

oh you will have a great time!!!

Two questions..do you have any navigators to share?
and, Any chance for AntMan?

Thanks......

i sent all my navigators to scott over at his disneycruiselineblog.com, so hopefully he will post them soon. if you have specific questions let me know and i'll look thru my copies.

as for antman, check out this thread: http://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-wonder-current-movies.3430611/

 

[jtba]

Another commonality! We are surprising our kids too. My dd's golden bday is 8/8 which is the day we embark and we will be telling them as we arrive to board! I love the idea of pen pals, my dd can be especially shy so the pen pal idea might help us with getting her in the club more frequently!

yes, it was a great idea to have the penpals and the kids ran into each other there often. i am indebted to the mom who suggested it in our group!

 

[RedHatDisney]

Thanks!

 

[jtba]

Day 1, Monday, July 6, Vancouver

I woke up with much excitement, but had to hold it all in because the kids still didn't know.

We walked to White Spot again for breakfast and had a good meal again, but got a different waitress and she was slower this time (didn't bring hot water for my tea, forgot some other thing). No matter, because we were going on the Disney Wonder and nothing can dampen my day!!!

A letter from Penpal #2 had arrived in our mailbox the Thursday before, but I hid it from the kiddies. Which was just as well, because at the end of the letter the friend had written something about going to Vancouver and such.

After we returned to the hotel and were mostly done with packing, I sat the kids down and read them the letter, then told them we were going back to Canada Place to board a super awesome fun ship in an hour, woohoo!!! They were so surprised that they literally collapsed on the floor (but in a good way).

DH and I continued packing while the kids watched cartoons on TV. We waited and waited for 10:20 to arrive (finally!!!!), then went downstairs to hail a cab. It took less than 5 minutes to get to Canada Place, and the waiting involved getting through the line of taxis outside the terminal as well as inside the parking garage. We got out, paid the driver, handed our two rolling suitcases to the porters, tipped them, and were on our way.

But first I want to say what a thrilling sight it was to catch a glimpse of that black and yellow lower body of the Disney Wonder through the side windows inside the terminal. By god it was such a happy thing to see. Words could not describe my excitement...



(This was taken once we were done with Customs and other stations, but it still evokes the same feeling)

Anyway, after we got into the terminal my memory became a blur. We walked through a series of check point, went through immigration (there are these machines through which you scan your passports), but of course DD had to use the restroom right then (grrrr). Thankfully it was very close by, so DH hurriedly took her across the lines and back out, then re-joined us within a few minutes.

We went up some escalators and saw Penpal #1's family coming down, said hello to them, then went into the DCL area with a gazillion counters to check in and get our docs. There were a lot of people sitting down waiting, but turns out they were with either Princess or NCL (there were three ships in port at the same time if I recall correctly). The Disney line had only 3-4 families, so we got to the counter very quickly. BUT of course now DS had to use the restroom (grrrrrr x 2). Waited for him and DH to come back to take their photos for the KTTW cards, received said cards, and saw Penpal #3's family at another counter. We followed them to the kids' club check-in area. I hadn't intended to do the check-in as I had heard the lines can be quite long, but as there was no one waiting we followed Penpal #3's lead and did our paperwork to received the kids DCL-themed magic bands.

Afterwards, we went down the escalators to the waiting area. There was a line for passengers to take photos with Mickey so we joined in, but then Goofy replaced Mickey, which was fine too. After that we sat down near Penpal #1's family, and chatted with them about our Sunday. We were joined by Penpal #3's family after about 10 minutes.

Waited and waited and waited (we were Boarding Group #7 even though our PAT was 11:30). The kids became BFFs very quickly, and were holding hands by the time our group # was called a little after 12. Went through the long line proceeding towards the gang way.

Yay, finally got on board around 12:15 (I had recorded the whole "Welcome, X family" thing on my iPhone, but next time I'm going to just relax and enjoy the experienced), at which point A, Penpal #3's mom, and I headed straight towards Port Adventures for meet-and-greet tickets. Man, that line was long. We waited while the dads and kids hung out by the midship staircase. Thankfully they were patient, because the line moved very slowly. But it was worth it, because we received tickets for:

• Character Breakfast
• Princess Gathering
• Anna & Elsa
• Olaf
• Pixar Pals

After we got our tickets, we went back to retrieve our hubbies and kids, at which point we spotted D, the organizer of our Fish Extender group. We said hello, then went on our merry way to Parrot Cay. It was a buffet, so we all sat down at a big table, and wolfed down the food. Don't remember much other than the usual hotdogs (or was it hamburgers?) and fries for the kids, some jello dessert, and roast beef for me.

By the time we were done it was 1:30, so we headed to our stateroom:





And this is our home for the next seven nights (5A port side).

We dawdled and soaked everything in, then put DD down for her nap at 2:15. I left the three of them behind while I went to the Dining Info Session in Triton's. I had gathered some names of head servers who had good reputations in dealing with food allergy concerns from others who have sailed on the Wonder. I was very happy to learn that Sarah Vine was to be our head server, because I heard a lot of great things about her here on the DIS and elsewhere. I confirmed that DD's list of allergies were in the reservation, then moved to the Palo table to request Sasha as our waiter.

After all that I went to the Internet Café to learn how to config my cell for use with the DCL Navigator and shut off all other traffic, because I signed up for the free 50MB usage on board and didn't want to be dinged with unnecessary messages.

By now it was close to 3, our FB group's meet-up, so I went back upstairs to wake up DD, who promptly threw a hissy fit because she had only gotten 45 minutes of shuteye when she usually required 1 1/2 hrs of nap. It took 10-15 minutes for her to calm down, so by the time we arrived at the Promenade Lounge the meet-and-greet was half over. Managed to at least catch the group photo and meet a few folks whose faces I recognized from their FB profile photos, then we all dispersed to be ready for the Muster Drill at 4 p.m.

I was prepared for the drill to be this long, drawn-out thing, but we were dismissed by 4:03 p.m., horray! Went back to the stateroom and bumped into L, who was dropped off our very first FE!!! Said hello, then we went in to unpack our first suitcase, which had arrived while we were away. We put out our FE pockets and decorated our room door a bit:



Then we hurriedly went up to Deck 10 to join the Sail-Away Party. Did I mention it was a thrill to finally be on the ship after a whole year's planning??? Oh it was such a nice feeling, to know that our vacation was finally starting, and we were going to be in an adventure of a life time.

As we sailed under the Lion's Gate Bridge, we looked up and saw someone standing on it looking down at us, and Capt. Fabian blew the ship's horn, "When You Wish Upon A Star". I swear it brought tears to my eyes...



The Fab 5 got on stage and did their thing:



To my surprise, both DS and DD got into it too. Well, not surprising that DD did, but DS was dancing as well. That made me happy because that meant he was enjoying himself.

After a while it got kind of windy (in a thrilling kind of way, because we were moving!), so we headed downstairs to check out open house at the Oceaneers' Club and Oceaneers' Lab. It made me laugh because you could hear the parents speaking in this very excited voice to their kids and talking up how much fun they were going to have, when mommy and daddy left them behind...

All right, 5 p.m. we went back to the stateroom once more, and was happy to see our second piece of luggage had arrived. Unpacked, then headed down to Animators' Palette (our dining rotation was APTAPTA) for dinner at 5:45 p.m. as we had main/early seating.

We had specifically requested to be seated with another family, so I was happy to see that our requeste was granted. Not only that, but it was a great match! The family was from the Seattle area, and they have an 8-yr-old son and 3-yr-old daughter. At first the boys were fairly quiet; halfway through dinner one of them got up to chat with another, to find common ground. "What do you play with? I play with blah, blah blah". They warmed up to each other by the end of the meal. The adults also exchanged pleasantries, and had a good conversation (or at least I thought so from my side).

Look who stopped by to visit us during dinner:



We were also very pleased to meet Sarah our head server. She was very patient, listened to and answered all our questions about the meals, and brought the next day's menus for us to pre-order for DD (which she did for the rest of the journey). We absolutely love her and think the world of her.

Because of the pre-ordering, it took us a long time to get out of the dining room. Can't remember if we headed back to the room before going to Walt Disney Theater at 8:30 for the first evening show, "All Aboard! Let the Magic Begin", which was a preview of the other shows to come in the week ahead.

The show wrapped up at 9:15. We headed back "home", where DS and DD were happy to see our room hostess had prepared their beds for them. We dawdled as usual, then put the kids to bed. I think they were still up at 10:30 as it always takes us a while to settle into a new environment when traveling.

DH and I stayed up a while longer, perusing Tuesday's navigators and the DCL Navigator app to plan ahead for the next day.

 

[seelyt2]

Great report!!

 

[sdjen]

Great report, can't wait to see more!

 

[zchantie]

Looking forward to reading more! ♪♫

 

[bcwife76]

I'm here!! Following, can't wait to read more

 

[jtba]

I'm here!! Following, can't wait to read more

lol you found me! i was going to tag you after i'm all done.

working on day 2 photos and write-up even as we speak, planning to publish it tonight.

 

[jtba]

Day 2, Tuesday, July 7, At Sea

I never sleep well on the first night at a strange place, so I wasn't surprised when I found myself wide awake at 4:07 a.m. Oh well, at least DH, DS, and DD were sound asleep. Since I didn't want to wake up any of them by turning on the light (which means I couldn't read) or waste my Internet bandwidth (which means I couldn't surf the Internet like I would at home), I ended up using the DCL Navigator app on my cell to see what was available to do on the cruise.

Now I must compliment DCL on making the Navigator app so useable! I had previously heard all these horror stories about it, but was happy to learn a few months ago that they had made many improvements. And all those people touting its usefulness were right! I know much has been written about it elsewhere so I don't want to devote much time about it, but here are some screenshots I took to give you a view of what you will see:



That last one all the way to the right is the Open House hours at the kids' clubs on Day 4. You can use the calendar icon to select any other day, too. If something has already passed, the text is then grayed out. If I had to request for one more feature to be added, it's the ability for the phone to vibrate or alert you somehow, because (as others have reported) you don't know you have incoming text unless you happen to open the app. I don't text much at home, but I found myself texting my friends on board constantly. It was definitely very handy, and I used it a lot to ping our penpals' moms to see when their kids would be in the clubs so we could send ours too.

Speaking of the Open House hours, btw, may I gripe about how many there were??? I know there's already a thread (http://www.disboards.com/threads/wh...-open-houses-at-the-kids-clubs.3422208/unread) about it, but here's a screenshot:



The first couple days there weren't that many, but Day 3, 4, & 6 were really excessive. DD took a few days to warm up to Oceaneers' Club (even though we did the Open House on the first afternoon) and didn't like the Lab at all, so the Open House hours at the club really did not help us. Chatted with friends on board and they agreed as well.

Anyway, as I laid there, eyes wide open in the wee hours of the morning, I used the app to peruse the schedule for the week ahead, which made me even less sleepy. I also noticed some mechanical-sounding, banging noises. Our stateroom, #7086, is considered midship, but it's definitely closer to aft than midship, so I don't know if that was part of the engine noise or whatever. It was not from the hangers--I had read about banging hangers on the DIS so took care to remove the unused ones from the closet before going to bed. Our next-door neighbor said they noticed the banging noise too but we never figured out what it was. It wasn't enough to wake me up, I don't think, but lying there it definitely made me more awake. I heard it a few more times throughout the cruise, but never enough to bother calling Guest Services for further inquiry.

Because we had Character Breakfast scheduled at 7:45 a.m., I woke the kids up at 7. They ran outside immediately to see if they received any gifts in our FE pockets; they were not disappointed. The adults showered, then were off to Animator's Palette. We gave our orders to the servers, and waited maybe 10-15 minutes before the characters started coming in one by one. It was Pluto, Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie (I wonder where Donald was???). Each character came up to the table with a CM and photographer. The photographer would take a picture of the character with the kids, then I would hand my camera to the CM to take a picture of the whole family, then the character went on to the next table. There wasn't much interaction at all. Again, we haven't been to a Disney property after we had kids, so this was our very first character breakfast anywhere, and we have nothing to compare it to, but my friends on the cruise who have done character breakfasts at WDW or DL said this one felt very rushed. But we were happy because we didn't have to line up anywhere and still got eight good photos!

We finished breakfast quickly, went back to the stateroom a bit before heading over to the Alaskan Animals talk with the naturalist at 9:30. I'm sorry to say I left with DD after 10 minutes because I didn't enjoy it very much--to my surprise, actually, because I love watching nature shows. I guess I was expecting more moving pictures than a man narrating and showing one PowerPoint slide every 5 minutes. I ended up using the time to deliver some FE gifts to a few cabins with DD. DH and DS came back at 10:15.

Here are a few more photos of our stateroom:



Overall it was a very nice room. Because it was on Deck 7, located between two decks of staterooms (6 & 8) and the midship and aft elevators, it didn't feel like there was that much foot traffic. Of course we heard people walking up and down the hallway, but there wasn't a lot of noise other than the weird banging reported above. Next time we book a 5A on the Wonder/Magic I would probably consider moving further up towards midship, but staying in this one is perfectly fine, too. I was worried there might not be enough drawers, but I am happy to report there were so many I never ended up using all of them! (I also used packing cubes, so most of my stuff stayed inside and I didn't unpack the clothes a whole lot.)

I delivered more FE gifts (probably did half of the 16 cabins by this point), then ran various errands at Shutters, Future Cruises Desk (gotta at least find out what our options are for next time!), Guest Services, etc.

Our next big event was the Princess Gathering, scheduled for 11:15 a.m. DD dressed up in her Anna costume, but got shy when she saw the four princesses (Rapunzel, Belle, Ariel, and Cinderella). She said she didn't want to take pictures with them, which was fine with me--I didn't want her to be scarred from the experience or anything! We went to Deck 4 so she could get a better view:



We walked around a bit, then waited for DH and DS to show up at Triton's at 11:45 so we could have lunch. After we sat down and looked around, I realized why people like it so much. It's the ambiance of the room, the classical music in the background, the decor, everything. I think even if they served really bad food here (which they certainly did not) I might still like the restaurant better than Animator's or Parrot Cay.

Here's the chocolate cake that made DD exclaim, "Mommy, today is the best day of the whole world!!!



At 1:45 I took DS to the Club so he could meet up with his new friend from our dinner table. By the time I returned to Triton's, DH and DD had already finished their lunch and gone back to the stateroom. A panoramic view from our verandah:



We put DD down for her nap, then I went to Guest Services (can't remember what it was I needed, probably to ask how close to the downtown area we'll be when we dock at Skagway on Day 4), Vista Spa (to see how to use the Rainforest Room passes I bought online before the cruise, and whether I could take a friend along), etc. DH stayed behind in the stateroom.

I had taken a few FE gifts with me so I could assemble them at the Cove Café. I texted back and forth with S, Penpal #1's mom, to see if she would like to go to Rainforest Room with me during the cruise (yay, she said yes!), then just enjoyed some quiet time reading The New Yorker on one of the chairs by the window:



Over the course of 8 days and 7 nights, this was my second favorite moment on the cruise. I wish I had done this more.

Shortly after taking that photo, the cruise director (probably) came on the PA system and said there was a whale on the starboard side. I was at port so I grabbed everything and ran to the other side and up to Deck 10, and saw, to my delight, a whale blowing out air from its blowhole! A screenshot from the short movie I took:



The other passengers and I watched the whale for probably 5 minutes, until it disappeared from our view.

Here's a view from Deck 10 of what we left behind:



I went back down to Deck 9, ordered a hotdog and fries, enjoyed both, then helped myself to some soft serve--wish I had done more of that too! That was the first of only two I got on board, though DH grumbled he got none at all!

At 3:30 I went to the Club to pick up DS, but he wanted to stay longer to watch the magic show, so I left him alone and went back to the room. DD was still napping, so DH and I read quietly until 4:15, when I left to pick up DS (but promptly got lost walking around on Deck 5 so didn't get there until closer to 4:25, I think). I delivered a couple more FE gifts on Deck 2. When I came back up to Deck 3, I saw our tablemates dressed to the nines, waiting to take their formal portraits. Oops, I totally forgot about that!

Hurriedly got DD through her bath, DS took his shower, then the adults changed but it seemed to take forever (probably because I, as usual, dawdled too much). We didn't arrive at Parrot Cay until 5:48. Don't remember much about that particular dinner except the boys were much more animated with each other, and the photographer came by to take our photos at the table.

After dinner, we went to the Deck 3 atrium for our formal portraits. We stood in this line by Guest Services and chatted with the people behind us--I recognized one of the ladies from her FB profile photo. Turns out we were in the wrong line--it was for a photo with the captain, not the one at the staircase. Well, since we were already in line we might as well get our money's worth (we pre-ordered the photo CD).

"Hello, Captain Fabian! It's nice to meet you, Sir. Yes, we're having a great time on our cruise, thank you very much." Click!

Now we are ready for our official formal photos. But wow, that line took forever... DD was very fussy after 10 minutes, but after 20 minutes she was about to melt down. She kept wanting us to hold her, which we did as much as we could, but at almost 35 lb. she's getting heavy, you know? Then all of a sudden she had to go to the restroom right now! Thankfully there were still probably 5 families ahead of us. But wait, she said she didn't want to go right then and promised to hold it. OK, but please do not pee in your nice dress in front of everyone right here in the atrium, pleeeeease?

We finally got done with the photos at 8:27 ("Golden Mickeys" was to start at 8:30 so we had given up hopes long before that we would have good seats). Ran to the bathroom, where DD cried and cried and cried. Lately she had developed a sudden fear of the loud flushing public toilets, which of course were the only ones available on the ship. *sigh* At 8:32 she decided she's cried enough and quieted down, so we headed into the Walt Disney Theater, grabbed two seats on the very right edge of the theater (DH & DS sat further down), and enjoyed the show.

I wish we could take still photos of the shows. The costumes are so elaborate, and the songs are so awesome. I would buy a postcard of the shows if they offered them (or maybe I just missed them?).

The show ended around 9:30, I think. The kids seemed to be in good spirits, so we let them stay up a little longer before putting them to bed. Also firmed up my plans to go to Rainforest Room with S in the morning on Day 3.

 

[JCAJCrew]

This is so helpful for us first timers. Right now we are still a year out from our DCL Alaska trip but my kids will be 4 and almost 7 at the time. I'm a complete rookie and already overwhelmed. Thanks for putting it all out for us newbies to try and organize.