Our Wonderful “Whale of a Good Time” 9 Night Alaskan Cruise! – May 2014 w/pics – Completed!

We watched the bears for 20 minutes until they both started walking back to the trees.







We then rushed over to the Lumberjack show which was to start at 3:00. The show was a competition between a lumberjack from Green River and a lumberjack from Blue Mountain. Depending where you sat was which one you rooted for.



They had the log climbing competition.



The ax throwing competition.



The log sawing competition.



They also included audience participation.



They made animals out of logs with chain saws. It’s supposed to be a bunny.



They eventually made it into a chair.



Then gave it to one of the small kids in the audience.



They had a pole climbing demonstration. The guy made it all the up and back down in 9.5 seconds.





Then they had the log rolling contest.



It was a corny show, but funny and entertaining. I can’t even tell you who won in the end. Anyway, after the show, we were ready to head back down the mountain and back to Canada Place. We saw some more sculptures.



The tram to go down.



The tram going down was packed. Once we got down, we had to wait about 20 minutes for the next bus back to Canada Place.

To be continued.
 
We even got a glimpse of the Wonder


Which side of the train you sit down to see the wonder?
 


Once back to Canada Place, I got another picture of the Wonder. Unlike at Port Canaveral and Ballantyne, it was cool to be able to walk right up to the ship instead of seeing it at a distance.



We went to the Pan Pacific and got our room number. We were on the 10th floor with a slight view of the water. If we had been in this room before the cruise, we would have been able to see the Wonder.

I then went back up to the room, where DH reminded me that I had to check in for our flight home. I took the tablet and headed down to the café connected to the convention center. It was closed, but I still had access to the Wi-Fi. I checked us in and went back up to the room. It was getting close to 5:00 by now and I really wanted to hear the horn at least one more time and see the Wonder leave port. I headed out to the observation deck outside the hotel lobby. There were several people hanging out. DH came and joined me while we listened to the Sail Away Party.



One of the cocktail waitresses came over and asked if we wanted anything. We told her no, that we were just waiting for the Wonder to leave, that we had just gotten off of her that morning. She asked if the characters were really onboard or just on the big screen (Funnel Vision). We told her, yes the characters are really onboard. DH then went back up to the room to sit with DD. She just couldn’t watch the Wonder sail away. I guess it was too emotional. Teenage girls, what can you say? :rolleyes1 I waited a bit longer and ended up hearing the horn 4 times, but they still hadn’t pulled away.







A lady came up to me while I was standing at the rail and asked what time the Wonder was due to leave. I told her that we didn’t pull away from port until almost 5:30 when I was on her last week. She then asked if they played “that awful music for the entire cruise?” Of course she meant the sail away party dance music. I told her no, they actually played Disney music during the cruise. Anyway, they finally pulled in the lines and were off on another Alaskan adventure. I waited, hoping I would hear the horn again, but I had to get back inside so we could go to dinner.



Our DNeighbors recommended a restaurant in the historic Gastown district called A Flying Pig. Since we had yet to visit that location yet, we decided to eat there for dinner. We started walking in that direction.

We passed a Japadog cart. I guess these are very popular in Vancouver.



We eventually came upon the famous Steam Clock. Since it was so warm, you couldn’t really see the steam very well.





Since it was just a few minutes before 6:00, I talked DH into staying and listening to the steam whistles play the Westminster Chimes. It was very cool. A couple of blocks later we found our restaurant. I had the beef short ribs while DH and DD had the Veal Picata. They liked theirs, and my beef was very tender and delicious. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and stopped in a souvenir store on the way back. DH really liked the Maple Cream Cookies we had in Skagway, so he bought a box to bring home.

Afterwards, we went to our room, repacked a few things and relaxed before going to bed early.

Alas, no turn down service or towel animal tonight. :sad2:

Next: All good things must come to an end.
 
I loved your trip report and I'm not even going on an Alaskan cruise! After reading it I definitely want to do one in the future. You took such beautiful pictures! Thanks for taking the time to write about your trip!
 


I loved your trip report and I'm not even going on an Alaskan cruise! After reading it I definitely want to do one in the future. You took such beautiful pictures! Thanks for taking the time to write about your trip!

:flower3: Thank you so much. I highly recommend an Alaskan cruise if you can.
 
Tuesday, June 3, 2014

They say that all good things must come to an end. :sad1: Well, that was the case today. I couldn't believe how fast the 12 days had flown and how much we had seen. :hourglass We had memories to last a lifetime from this trip.

We slept in late this morning as we had no plans and nowhere to be until we left for the airport. We woke up to a cloudy day in Vancouver. After getting dressed, we walked across the street to Tim Horton’s. I got on the internet to check the DISboard and our flight status.

After breakfast I wanted to walk around to the Pixel Orca to take a picture. It was blocked off before we left on the cruise.



The float plane harbor.



We then walked back to the hotel. We asked the bellhop to come pick up our luggage at 11:30. After he came up, we checked out and met him at the bellhop desk. He then hailed us a taxi and we were off to the airport. We got a van, since the 3 of us and all of our luggage would not fit in a Prius.

The fare was $37 CSD to the airport. We were dropped off at International Departures. When we walked in we were a little confused because there were a lot of the line barricades, but no lines. We had to take a minute to figure out what we needed to do. We found USAirways and went up to a kiosk and put our confirmation number in. I had prepaid for our luggage, so all we needed was to print our boarding passes. We then took our bags to another station where one lone employee was waiting. He tagged three of our bags without weighing them. Then he looked at our biggest one and had us put it on the scale. It barely squeaked by at 49 pounds. Whew! Unlike at American airports, he didn’t take our luggage and put it on a conveyer belt behind his desk. No, we had to take our luggage and go to another area where another employee was standing by a conveyer belt.

The employee asked to see our boarding passes, scanned the luggage tags and boarding passes and asked us to put the luggage on the belt. We were then sent to Security. While there were people feeding in on the other side, we were told to merge. DD was excited because she had “TSA Precheck” on her boarding pass again. Then we realized we weren’t going through TSA. Doh! Anyway, it wasn’t bad. We still had to take our shoes off and put everything in bins. We were asked if we had liquids, but didn’t have to produce a 3-1-1 bag. DH got randomly selected to get “wanded” while DD and I just had to go through the metal detector.

We were then directed towards passport control. Here we had to find a kiosk and scan our passports. DH and I had to have our picture taken by the kiosk. Hopefully those pictures never show up on the internet (scary). Anyway, once we scanned our passports and boarding passes we were directed to another line where we had to show our passports to a United States border agent. Almost done. Once he asked a few questions about where we lived and what we did in Canada, we were free to enter “The United States of America” and we hadn’t even left the airport. We found our gate, found a place to get some sandwiches for lunch, did some last minute browsing and waited for our flight to be called.

Once our zone was called, we had our boarding passes scanned and had to show our passports one more time to board the plane. Our flight was half empty coming home.

After the pilot welcomed us aboard, he proceeded to tell us how long the flight was going to be and the weather conditions in Phoenix. It was 108 degrees! :eek: You could hear the collective moan from all the passengers.

Anyway, we arrived home with all of our luggage on time and to 108 degrees of “dry heat.” Our DNeighbors, who flew home the day before, were kind enough to pick us up and feed us dinner. :goodvibes

We shared our Maple Cream cookies with them for dessert.

Thus brings me to the end of my Alaskan Adventure. Hope you enjoyed it and found it useful if you are planning an Alaskan cruise with Disney! I’ll be glad to continue answering any questions you may have.

Thanks for coming along!

:thanks:

Next: Some final thoughts.
 
We passed a Japadog cart. I guess these are very popular in Vancouver.


These are WONDERFUL! Had a chicken sausage with seaweed and mayo. I know it sounds bizarre but it was great!

Really enjoyed your report and look forward to your final thoughts.
 
These are WONDERFUL! Had a chicken sausage with seaweed and mayo. I know it sounds bizarre but it was great!

Really enjoyed your report and look forward to your final thoughts.

Thanks! We didn't really have any opportunity to try the Japadogs, but they didn't really appeal to me either. Not my thing I guess.

Thanks, love your report. Cant wait for next year.

The time will fly!
 
As I stated on the first post of this report, this was a wonderful, fantastic, magnificent, unforgettable, and, might I add, amazing cruise. This was our 4th cruise and I can honestly speak for my family when I say this was our favorite so far.

As you can tell, I loved taking photos of everything we saw. Everywhere you turned was another awesome photo opportunity. If you go, make sure you have a zoom on your camera. It is better to see wildlife with.

We enjoy taking family vacations all over our great country and have enjoyed many of our country’s natural wonders and beauty. But, so far, Alaska takes the cake.

We especially enjoyed cruising with our friends and neighbors. It is always so much more fun with a larger group. I really don’t think we could cruise any other way.

Vancouver:

This is a lovely city. It was clean and the people were so nice. Never did we feel unsafe while walking around. There are tons of things to do and see, and we only scratched the surface. Hopefully, someday we will go back to enjoy Canada more. If you like to eat, Vancouver is for you.

The Pan Pacific was beautiful and very welcoming. It was the perfect place to stay both pre and post cruise. The rooms were very comfortable and did not feel cramped as some hotel rooms can. The staff from registration (who actually informed us that the Wonder would be docked at Ballantyne and they would be happy to make travel arrangements for us); to Concierge who made dinner reservations for us; to the Bell Hop staff who always took care of our luggage and transportation with a smile and a sense of humor, were beyond compare.

The Ship:

I have only sailed on the classic ships, but I love the Wonder. She is still beautiful even after 15 years of service. Sure, she is showing her age with some cosmetic flaws, but who doesn’t, right? I can’t get enough of her horn, and unfortunately didn’t hear it much in Alaska. I always like to compare her to other ships in port and she is so much more beautiful than those other floating hotels and she looks proud knowing it.

I loved the fact that the ship was not at capacity and never felt crowded, even on Tracy Arm day!

As usual, the entertainment was superb. The cast and crew were friendly and welcoming and did their jobs with aplomb. I loved playing trivia while on board, the entertainment staff made it a lot of fun to play.

We loved the character interactions and the many opportunities to see them. Their Alaskan costumes are so cute. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for Norway!

Our servers weren’t the best we ever had, but they held their own and made our dining experience pleasant. We really enjoyed the crab offerings while on the ship and in port.

We really enjoyed seeing the honest excitement from the crew about seeing Alaska, some for the first time. It was evident every time there was a whale sighting and many crew members would run to the rails or windows to catch a glimpse and be just as awed as the rest of us.

Alaska:

Alaska was beautiful, and we only saw less than 10% of our 49th state. I can’t wait to go back and see more! Being able to cruise around Baranof Island and through the Icy Strait was a bonus we didn’t expect. Everybody in Alaska was very nice. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.

It was so special to be able to go to Sitka on this cruise. Sitka was beautiful and quaint. Everybody was so welcoming and very happy to have us there and make an impression with Disney. I really hope that DCL works it into their itinerary in the future. I will never forget watching eagles soar after being released back into the wilderness after having been rehabbed.

We were delighted to see so many otters and their pups and mesmerized by the Gray Whales in Sitka.

Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier are without compare and no words can describe their splendor.

We were in awe of the breathtaking scenery of Skagway while riding the White Pass & Yukon Railroad, and of the gorgeous blue and green lakes and snow covered ranges of the Yukon.

We were amazed by the serenity of Mendenhall Glacier and thrilled with seeing Orca whales in Juneau.

We were blessed with a beautiful and rare sunny day in Ketchikan; ideal for zip lining and crab fishing.

I never got tired of seeing a majestic Bald Eagle either sitting in a tree, buoy marker or soaring through the air.

Watching Humpback Whales from our stateroom balcony and along the outside decks was priceless.

We were so very grateful to all of the excellent independent tour agents we found to show us their wonderful state.

If you get a chance, or are on the fence about sailing to Alaska, I say go for it. I know it is not cheap, unfortunately everything in Alaska (and Vancouver for that matter) costs way more than your typical Caribbean or West coast cruise, but it was worth every penny.

I want to thank all the DISers who went before and shared their tricks, tips, trip reports and knowledge about their cruise. It helped me tremendously. :flower3:

I guess that pretty much wraps up our Alaskan cruise. I hope you enjoyed remembering it with me. Again, if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them if I can.

Thank you for reading. :surfweb:
 
Loved following along on your report. Alaska looks awesome. Let us know when you start another!!
 
Loved following along on your report. Alaska looks awesome. Let us know when you start another!!

Thanks! It was. I am hoping to have a new report next summer after our Norway cruise! I will keep you all posted! :goodvibes
 
Can i just say WOW!!!! I just sat here and read thru your entire trip report....and i want to thank you. We are booked on the members cruise to Alaska in may 2015 and after reading your report I wish we were leaving tomorrow.
I love your descriptions of each port, and your pictures are part amazing and breathtaking...

I was on the fence about Alaska, booked because my husband solo wanted to go and i love to cruise, and after your trip report i am now counting the days.

Hope you won't mind when i pester you with questions when i start to plan! :cool1:
 
Can i just say WOW!!!! I just sat here and read thru your entire trip report....and i want to thank you. We are booked on the members cruise to Alaska in may 2015 and after reading your report I wish we were leaving tomorrow.
I love your descriptions of each port, and your pictures are part amazing and breathtaking...

I was on the fence about Alaska, booked because my husband solo wanted to go and i love to cruise, and after your trip report i am now counting the days.

Hope you won't mind when i pester you with questions when i start to plan! :cool1:

Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.

You will love Alaska and the time will fly by. Don't worry about the questions, I will be happy to help if I can. :)
 
I'm a little late, but just wanted to say "thanks" for the great trip report! We were in room 7618 on our Alaskan cruise in 2012 and loved it. I loved seeing your pictures, especially Sitka which we didn't get to visit. Now I really want to go back!
 
I'm a little late, but just wanted to say "thanks" for the great trip report! We were in room 7618 on our Alaskan cruise in 2012 and loved it. I loved seeing your pictures, especially Sitka which we didn't get to visit. Now I really want to go back!

Thanks! Yeah, we really want to go back too! Some day.

We loved 7618 and especially love being near the aft of the ship.
 

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