To Alaska and Beyond! Updated 4/28 x 3 and it's COMPLETE!! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
To Alaska and Beyond! Updated 4/28 x 3 and it's COMPLETE!!
Cast of Characters:
Me, Maureen, age 35, turning 36 during this trip!
Kevan, DH, age 40
Aaron, DBIL, age 16
Matthew, DS, age 10
The beginnings of this trip date back years because Alaska has been at the top of DH’s travel wish list ever since I have known him. Me? Um, yeah- I might be interested in a bear sighting or two, along with a glacier perhaps but it’s pretty much not been an absolute must do for me.
The past year had seen big milestones for our family. We survived a very difficult separation from Matthew, our 10 year old son. In January, Matt left us to live with my MIL in Arkansas. He was so miserable at school he begged us to go- and we eventually relented. It was a long 5 months between the time he left and the time we got to Arkansas a few weeks ago. But we made it.
Kevan and I celebrated 15 years of marital bliss. Marital bliss most of the time that is! It really has gone by quickly and we’ve had our share of awesome and down right horrible times. 15 years and 5 kids later. Wow. And most of the time we still do like each other. So there’s another reason to celebrate in a big way.
In May, Kevan turned 40. I must admit he took it well. He didn’t get a massive amount of tattoos, body piercings or demand we buy a Harley in some sort of mid life crisis. He really didn’t seem to mind the big 4-0 other than the occasional musings of how he was old- which I think I will do as well, when I get there. In 4 years. Hee Hee. (Don’t remind him).
In the fall, I submitted, on a dare from my Assistant Principal, a proposal to present at the National Kindergarten Conference in Las Vegas. I really didn’t think I stood a chance to be selected but low and behold, I was chosen to attend and present! The original plan was just to go out there myself, but my MIL graciously offered to watch our kids and have Kevan go with me. That was supposed to be the extent of this trip. Out to Las Vegas for four days and back home.
Small, relatively, simple plans in my world, tend to get bigger and bigger.
In November, I began thinking about what I should do for Kevan’s 40th. He does not like parties much so a big surprise bash was not going to be what he really wanted. MIL Beverly started helping me brainstorm. I don’t remember the exact manner in which Alaska came up, but it did. Having recently become a complete cruise junkie, my thoughts immediately zeroed in on an Alaskan cruise. Since MIL had planned to send Kevan with me to Vegas, we came up with the idea of combining both destinations in one trip.
The thought of leaving all five kids with her for at least 10 days did not resonate well with me. It was just too much to ask of her. I suggested taking along Aaron, my 16 year old BIL and Matthew- since by the time the trip came around, we would have only recently been reunited.
I began looking around at the different cruise lines that sailed to/ around Alaska and narrowed down the field of finalists. It came down to Norweigan Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean. NCL was priced somewhat higher but it did have the appeal of freestyle cruising- which would have been up Kevan’s alley. He has had no desire to cruise but it was the most economical way to go. I just hoped that the destination was enough motivation to get him on a ship. Having recently sailed Royal Caribbean in one of their oldest ships, I was impressed enough with it to choose Royal Caribbean for this adventure also. The dates of the sailing worked better in conjunction with the conference and the rate a little more competitive.
By the time MIL arrived to spend the Christmas holidays with us- I had a general idea of what we were looking for. I had enlisted the help of my OTHER better half, business partner, BFF and cruise diva Lynn. She and I spent many an hour pouring over deck plans and playing around on RCCL’s website. By the time we had schemed- I had a pretty a good idea of what we were looking for. Now we just had to book it and pull off the best Christmas surprise ever.
Ooo, sign me up to read your pre-TR and TR. I'm hooked. We would both love to go to Alaska and DH has said that is the only way he'd do a cruise.
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
We'll have to work on your DH then! That sums up Kevan exactly!!
but now all of our vacation money is being saved up for a trip to Tokyo in 4 yrs. with hopefully a bunch of PP's. Sadly, I need more vacation money in the budget.
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 2
Likes (Received): 7
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 1
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
What a great start!! I am thinking about an Alaskan cruise for DH2B as next year's christmas present (a first anniversary gift in 2011 - oh heck we aren't even married and I am planning the 1st anniversary!!) since he can't come to alaska with me next week.
but now all of our vacation money is being saved up for a trip to Tokyo in 4 yrs. with hopefully a bunch of PP's. Sadly, I need more vacation money in the budget.
Tell me about it!
Great start - I can't wait to hear all about your trip, as we're hoping to do an Alaskan cruise one day. It's something Mark's wanted to do for some time.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Beverly and I hovered in a Books A Million a few nights before Christmas, lattes and laptop by our side. She would be helping a lot with the cost of the cruise, paying for Aaron and splitting the cost of Kevan’s fare for his birthday gift.
Finally, we had it. July 4 -11 on the Serenade of the Seas, departing and returning from/to Vancouver, Canada. This would align perfectly with my conference in Vegas. We booked a balcony, which as far as I was concerned – a must. I wasn’t going to go all the way to Alaska not to have a view. After much consideration, cabin 8088 was selected. MIL paid the deposit.
As grandmothers sometimes do, MIL went overboard (no pun intended!). After we finished the RCCL booking, she told me Emily and Katie (our daughters) as well as Kevin, our eldest son- should get as nice a trip as the rest of the family would have. Disney was offering the Kids Sail Free special- so we booked myself and the girls for a 3 day sojurn in May. Then we hit the Amtrak website and booked a Dad-Son overnight train trip for Kevin. Connor, our baby, would not be making any big adventures this year and we figured he’ll forgive us for it since he probably isn’t going to remember any of this anyway. When he turns 3, his first trip to Disney World will take place and it will be all about him on that one.
So as we closed down Books A Million that evening, I left in shock. We had booked 3 trips in the amount of time it took us to drink 2 lattes.
We decided to give the trip to Kevan as a birthday/Christmas combo chiefly because I did not want to have to plan in secret for the better part of 6 months. If this was his trip, he needed to make a lot of the decisions on where to go and what to do.
So Christmas morning arrives, he opens up a box with 2 Alaska guidebooks and a printout of the confirmation. He didn’t get it at first, but then it all sunk in.
He was still in shock most of the day and dove into the books straightaway. Thank goodness we had planned this at least 6 months in advance- there was a lot to learn about Alaska.
One night in January, I was surfing around Cruise Critic and decided to look at posts about Serenade of the Seas- when I noticed the number 8088 come up in a few threads. I kept digging and couldn’t believe it- we had secured one of the most coveted cabins onboard that ship! Lynn and I had looked at the deck plans back in the “investigative” phase if you will- but I didn’t realize that 8088 was that special. It’s midship and a hump cabin- giving us more balcony room on the rounded edges of the ship. The cruise adrenaline really started to pump at that point.
February came and we began to rethink the economics of our portion- money was going to be a bit tighter than I had expected. I went back to the RCCL site and began to play around with other cabin categories- when I noticed our category was pricing out cheaper than what we had booked. I called RCCL to inquire about this and then told the agent I would probably need to go to a much cheaper cabin anyway. I was floored when she told me that our category was on sale and she would be happy to adjust the rate! One phone call saved us nearly $1200!! Cruise adrenaline flowed through my veins once again!!
By March, Kevan had read the guide books and began pouring through the shore excursion offerings. Most of the ones he had really wanted were outrageously priced- helicopter tours and things like that. While I wanted so desperately to give him all he wanted on this trip- $570 per person for such an excursion was just not realistic and luckily, he agreed. He found a few other things of interest and got on the phone with Matthew and Aaron to narrow our choices. We limited ourselves to one excursion in each port. The time docked wasn’t particularly lengthy and we wanted to also have the opportunity to explore Juneau and Skagway on our own, in addition to the planned excursions.
Beverly and I both began the mad hunt for airfare around this time as well. Several things complicated finding good airfares. Flying from our regional airport is very expensive. Flying at a peak travel time. Also, needing a multi city itinerary. All of these factored in to big frustration for what seemed like the longest time but finally, using Orbitz- we got an itinerary that came in slightly below $500 per person. The only downside was having to leave from Little Rock National Airport, a 2 hour drive from our area. Our itinerary also has us on three completely different airlines- 2 of which- Air Canada and United, I have never flown before.
I also made arrangements around this time for the conference. It’s being held at the Riveria Casino and Resort in Las Vegas. My one night before the conference was per diem, but the other 2 nights of our time there was not- so I did my own checking. I was shocked to find I was able to get a better rate at the Mirage instead- so I booked that for the entire time. We figured a car was going to be a necessity with me having to go back and forth- so I used some discount codes and got a intermediate rental with Dollar for just under $100 – taxes and fees included.
In early May, Royal Caribbean offered a 5% discount on Alaskan shore excursions, so we booked a majority of them at that time. My poor debit card was screaming leave me alone! Stick a fork in me! I am done and you are broke!
I also found accommodations for our overnight in Vancouver before the cruise at the Sheraton Wall Centre. I had that booked with a AAA rate of $170. One of the hotels I had really wanted to stay at was the Pan Pacific at Canada Place where the main cruise terminal is. (Course, we are sailing out of Ballayntne- which is the not so great one). Pan Pacific is very close to some of the things we hope to do in the morning before we board the ship and it gets fab reviews on Trip Advisor. Anyhow, I start surfing on Hotwire and doing some research to find that the Pan Pacific often comes up as a 5 * hotel and had the exact list of amenities that goes in the listing. And it comes up for $138 incuding all the taxes and fees. Should I? I did.. and wouldn't you know?? We got the Pan Pacific!! I am so excited about this little development!
I couldn’t believe my luck when I logged onto our reservation one evening to see that the My Time Dining waitlist had been opened up. I had previously had us set up for late seating as My Time was not available. My Time is Royal Caribbean’s version of freestyle dining- somewhat. You can dine anytime between 6:00-9:30 pm. Once onboard, we select a targeted time for each evening- such as 7:00- but if we need to change it according to our daily plans, we can. It’s being rolled out on a few ships and I figured we might give it a try.
Kevan and I also chose Chops Grille as our anniversary celebration dinner. It had a $25 per person surcharge. Matthew is too young to dine there- so he and Aaron can head to the teen/kids programs while we enjoy Chops.
At one point, I felt like I was really being nickeled and dimed before we even got onboard- but I think that mostly comes from the fact that RCCL has a lot of things being prepaid- all of the shore excursions, the Chops reservation and the soda pass. However, as I write now with 9 days to go- I am glad I prepaid all those things- it’s done and taken care of and won’t be hitting my onboard account.
Coming Up Next: A new feature to my trip reports..
I'm so excited for you and can't wait to read all about it when you get back. Hopefully, you take good notes 'cause we want details
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Wow - it must've been some Christmas with a wonderful present like that for Kevan! I bet his face was a picture - how long did it take him to stop grinning?
The more I read about this, the more excited I get - it just sounds amazing.
About This Page: 
Um, yeah- I might be interested in a bear sighting or two, along with a glacier perhaps but it’s pretty much not been an absolute must do for me. 
Marital bliss most of the time that is! It really has gone by quickly and we’ve had our share of awesome and down right horrible times. 15 years and 5 kids later. Wow. And most of the time we still do like each other. So there’s another reason to celebrate in a big way.
He really didn’t seem to mind the big 4-0 other than the occasional musings of how he was old- which I think I will do as well, when I get there. In 4 years. Hee Hee. (Don’t remind him). 
The original plan was just to go out there myself, but my MIL graciously offered to watch our kids and have Kevan go with me. That was supposed to be the extent of this trip. Out to Las Vegas for four days and back home.
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
ºOº ~*~ 
but now all of our vacation money is being saved up for a trip to Tokyo in 4 yrs. with hopefully a bunch of PP's. Sadly, I need more vacation money in the budget.
PassPorter Guide Author
She would be helping a lot with the cost of the cruise, paying for Aaron and splitting the cost of Kevan’s fare for his birthday gift. 
-11 on the Serenade of the Seas, departing and returning from/to Vancouver, Canada. This would align perfectly with my conference in Vegas. We booked a balcony, which as far as I was concerned – a must. I wasn’t going to go all the way to Alaska not to have a view. After much consideration, cabin 8088 was selected. MIL paid the deposit. 
I was floored when she told me that our category was on sale and she would be happy to adjust the rate! One phone call saved us nearly $1200!! 
and began pouring through the shore excursion offerings. Most of the ones he had really wanted were outrageously priced- helicopter tours and things like that. While I wanted so desperately to give him all he wanted on this trip- $570 per person for such an excursion was just not realistic and luckily, he agreed. He found a few other things of interest and got on the phone with Matthew and Aaron to narrow our choices. We limited ourselves to one excursion in each port. The time docked wasn’t particularly lengthy and we wanted to also have the opportunity to explore Juneau and Skagway on our own, in addition to the planned excursions.
Several things complicated finding good airfares. Flying from our regional airport is very expensive. Flying at a peak travel time. Also, needing a multi city itinerary. All of these factored in to big frustration for what seemed like the longest time but finally, using Orbitz- we got an itinerary that came in slightly below $500 per person. The only downside was having to leave from Little Rock National Airport, a 2 hour drive from our area. Our itinerary also has us on three completely different airlines- 2 of which- Air Canada and United, I have never flown before.
Linear Mode
