Alaska on the Wonder, May 24th sailing...
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Diannah · 03-20-2011, 01:04 PM

Hi all!

I'm Diannah, a dog training instructor from Bloomington, MN. My DH (Tom), DD (Miriam, 16, aka Mim) and I will be sailing on the Disney Wonder to ALASKA on the May 24th sailing. I know, I know. This is WAY early to be starting a trip report! But I need some outlet for all this excited energy!

One of my favorite parts of vacation is actually the planning, so my family tends to leave most of it up to me, knowing that they will be included once decision times approach. So they get a little tired of hearing it from time to time...

Some background: Being a (slightly) compulsive Facebook user, I was merrily minding my own business, checking up on all my fb friends and games, when I noticed a post from Disney saying something about kids cruising free in May. Now, I have been on exactly ONE cruise – part of a land and sea vacation almost 7 years ago with Disney. I've always been hesitant, since I'm VERY prone to motion sickness, but that seemed like the best way possible to “test the waters”, as it were. After all, I could have fun in the parks and then drug myself senseless for the cruise portion if I really had to.

The three of us headed out to that vacation with mixed feelings. We knew we'd love the land portion at WDW, and were really looking forward to staying at Port Orleans for the first time. (Now our FAV resort!

) But Mim (10 at the time) wasn't sure she'd be able to find friends on the ship, I was worried about being seasick, and Tom and I were both concerned we wouldn't really be able to enjoy ourselves, since, 6 days before we left, we found out that Tom would be losing his job in a few months. Not the best of news just before spending all that money!

But the trip was already paid for, so onward we went, and had the best vacation of our lives! I was pretty ill the first night cruising, but I have the feeling that was due more to being overtired from the land portion than the actual motion sickness. Even DD was a bit woozy, and skipped dinner that night. But we were both up and at 'em the next day and the rest of the trip with no issues whatsoever. Let's hear it for Bonine!!!

So, fast forward to current time. I see this posting from Disney and, OF COURSE, click on it. Lo and behold, not only did it say that kids 17 and under cruise free, but the cruise was to ALASKA, the one place DH has always said he wanted to go. A little more reading uncovered that the cruise had to depart in May. A quick check of DD's school schedule revealed that she was done with school mid-May. (Being the ever-so-slightly smart and mature kid she is, she's not in regular high school. Got WAY too bored with the classes and even MORE tired of the “constant drama” -her words. Since Mn has this wonderful program called PSEO that allows qualified high schoolers to take courses at the local community colleges for high school credit – and the state pays the tuition - we took full advantage of it. So DH takes ALL her classes at the community college a few blocks from our house. Thus, she gets out several weeks earlier than the high schools. SCORE!)

I still wasn't totally convinced we'd be able to afford it, but I though “hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained” so I forwarded the post as a message to DH, keeper of the budgets. And promptly forgot about doing so. A few days later, DH asked me if I was serious about the message I had sent him. Having, of course, forgotten about it, I gave him a quizzical look.

DH: “The Alaska cruise?”
Me: “Oh, yeah. I just thought it was interesting and you might enjoy knowing about it. I didn't really think we could afford it”
DH: “Well, I looked into it and I think we could swing it”
Me:

And thus, our vacation was born. DD's first comment on hearing about it? “ALASKA?? Can't we go someplace WARM???” (This said as yet another snowstorm raged outside the windows. I think I heard that we got somewhere around 80+ inches of snow this year, the 7th snowiest winter on record. So her comment was understandable! :-) ) When we explained that this would probably be the only way we could afford a 7 night cruise, she came around.

So we contacted a travel agent and booked the cruise!!! Next, How the Heck Are We Getting There?.

B.M. · 03-20-2011, 01:53 PM

Great start!! We are sailing the week after you

Diannah · 03-20-2011, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B.M.

Great start!! We are sailing the week after you

Maybe we'll get to wave at you as we pass!

Diannah · 03-20-2011, 02:04 PM

Once the decision was made to take the cruise, my planning brain kicked into high gear. And was promptly frustrated.

This will be Disney's inaugural month for cruising to Alaska, so very little info was available.

I immediately started looking for my books from '04. I could have SWORN I got a Passporter Guide for the cruise, but could only find the one for WDW. And the new cruise Passporter won't be out until April. Grrrrrrr. What's a compulsive planner to do???

Go to the bookstore, of course, and pick up a general guide book on Alaska. Found many to choose from, and finally settled on one specific to Alaska cruising. (Knowing me I'll be back next paycheck for one or two more.... )

Now came the question of getting there. Options:

Flying into Vancouver
Flying into Seattle, catching a ferry to Vancouver
Flying into Seattle, renting a car and driving to Vancouver
Flying into Seattle, catching a shuttle to Vancouver
Flying into Seattle, catching Amtrak to Vancouver
Amtrak from Minneapolis to Vancouver
Driving from Bloomington to Vancouver

Each option had it's positive and negative points. Option 1 was the simplest and most convenient. Also the most expensive. Number 2 might work, but getting the schedules and prices of the various shuttles was proving very challenging, even before trying to coordinate them all. Option three would require either parking at the port or turning in the car and re-renting it for the return trip, but gave the most flexibility. Option 4 had the same issues as option 2. Option 5 was very tempting. The price was actually the lowest, but we were having trouble figuring out where the Amtrak station was in relation to the dock. Option 6 had the same issues as 5, plus added some significant travel time to the overall length of the trip. Option 7 also made the trip much longer. If we had the money and job flexibility, it would have been fun to make a 3 or 4 week time of it, adding lots of fun stuff on the trip out and back. But that's just too much to be able to do at this point.

What to do, what to do???? We hashed over so many options and ideas so many times that our heads were spinning.

Then DD broke through all the chaos with one simple sentence. “Well, I don't know if this helps or not, but I think 2 of the colleges I might be interested in are in Seattle. Any chance we could check them out while we're there?” Combine vacation travel with visiting prospective colleges, thus saving us an extra trip in the summer or fall? Ding ding ding ding ding!! We had a winner!

And a way to more easily sort through what we would need. In order to most easily visit colleges, we'd need a car. In order to not add more than one day on either end of the trip (something we had planned to do anyway so that we didn't have to worry about missing the boat or plane due to unforeseen travel circumstances), we would need to fly. Thus, Option 3 it is.

DH booked flights a few days after the decision was made, and is (I think) currently looking into car rentals. DD is supposed to be letting us know soon what schools she wants to visit, and contacting them so that we can get that part all planned out. So we know we'll be staying at least one of our extra days in Seattle, seeing the city and visiting a college (or two). Once we know for certain how many Seattle schools Mim is interested in, then we'll decide if the other extra day will be spent there or in Vancouver. Our current flight plans put us in Seattle at 4:45pm local time on the 23rd, and leaving Seattle on June 1 at 5:45 local time. Hmmm. I thought DH had added another day on the end of the trip. Guess not. Not as much free time as I thought. Better check with him about that...

Next: Choosing (and Booking) Excursions

lauriep · 03-20-2011, 03:32 PM

Very exciting! When things all fall into place like that it means the trip was meant to be.

B.M. · 03-20-2011, 03:47 PM

Glad you got the transportation figured out!! We also considered flying into Seattle (as well as a few other options) but I ultimately decided to just fly directly into Vancouver.

nikkilovesmickey · 03-20-2011, 04:33 PM

Great news that you were able to afford the cruise but can also help dd with going to some schools while in the area.

I have friends that live in California that are going to be flying to Seattle and then renting a car and driving to Vancouver. They are picking my mom and myself up at the airport then having breakfast with us, and dropping us off at the port. Then they are spending a few days in Vancouver and Victoria, and then heading home.

Can't wait to see what shore excursions you book.

Diannah · 03-20-2011, 11:09 PM

I will now admit that it took me a little time to figure out how to use the Disney Cruise website to look up excursions, etc.

Once I figured out the difference between saving an excursion and booking one,

I got cracking. Then I got a good look at prices. Gulp!

DH had given me a budget for excursions, but from the prices I was finding, I began to think we would only be able to do an excursion at one port.

Still, there's always hope.

So I proceeded to print off every excursion that even remotely interested me that was $100/person or less, plus a couple that were slightly over, but I knew would be high on the wish list. DH prefers active excursions (to work off all that extra food

) and DD prefers excursions with fun learning to be had, but not simple history lessons.

One of my “must do's” is gold panning. I remember doing that on a vacation with my parents in Colorado many (many) years ago and loving it. My DD and I have visited dig-your-own crystal mines in Arkansas and had a blast, (along with bringing home over 100lbs of quartz crystals

). So I thought DD might actually get a kick out of gold panning. There were many gold panning excursions available, some with meals, some without, some with mine tours, some with Disney characters. I printed out all of the ones within our price range.

I would have loved to do whale watching, but all of those excursions were well out of reach for the three of us. I'm hoping we'll still get to see some from the ship. One thing I've never seen is a whale in the wild. Likewise, all of the dog sledding adventures were beyond our reach. But, I teach dog training for a living, so I'm not as sad about missing them. I printed out lots of walking tours, nature hikes and totem tours.

I also looked through each port we'd be visiting in my Alaska guide book,

picking up good tidbits, like the fact that a shuttle leaves the dock area in Juneau for the Mendenhall glacier for $5 per person. I collected all my notes for each port plus the printouts of available excursions. How to keep it all organized??

Target was nice enough to put several of their binders on clearance, including one with a vintage Mickey on the cover. Put a folder for each port and one for general info in it and, voila', instant trip organizer! (Did I mention I could be a little compulsive about planning?

) I was finally at the stage where I needed DH and DD to come on board and help decide.

I finally got DH to look at the printed excursions. After looking at prices, he decided we could open up the budget a bit, if we were careful about what we chose. He then marked each printed excursion with a minus or plus sign, based on how much he wanted to do it. A double plus sign meant a must do. Amazingly enough, DD was willing to look through them the same night. She used the same ranking system. Then it was time to decide.

One of the most frustrating things we found was that most of the really cool, affordable excursions occurred in Ketchikan, the one port we are only in for a half day. We could easily have spent two days there with all we wanted to do, but we had to pare it down. Juneau, by contrast, had only one excursion we were all interested in.

Our final picks? Here they are:

Skagway: Liarsville Gold Rush Trail Camp and Salmon Bake Featuring Exclusive Disney Character Experience. This seemed like the most fun of the panning adventures. It includes a little bit of everything, including a puppet show. What's not to like? (I think DD is mainly interested in the marshmallow roast!

) That runs from 8:45am to 11:45am. The guidebook says that this is one of the best ports for hiking, so I'm sure we'll be exploring the town and hiking trail after lunch.

Juneau: Mount Roberts Tramway. This can be done “at leisure”, so we'll have to decide at some point if we're doing this first and the glacier second, or the other way around. More hiking on the docket for this day.

Ketchikan: This was the hardest. Like I said, there were several excursions we would have liked to do, but just not enough time in port to do them! Our final choices: For DH and DD – Mountain Point Snorkeling Adventure. Give DD a chance to swim and she's going to take it, even in rather chilly waters. I would love to do this also, but have fibromyalgia. My muscles seize up in water less than 78 degrees, so the chances of my enjoying this would be very, very slim. So while they enjoy the waters, I'll be enjoying: Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary, Raptor Center and Totems. Yep, I'm a nature girl, and really look forward to seeing as much wildlife (at a safe distance!) as possible.

So those are our choices. And, miracle of miracles, we got every one of them!

Can't wait to see how it all pans out!

Oh, and in regards to my earlier post, it turns out we DO have an extra day at the end of the trip. For some reason I had convinced myself that we docked on June 1, but we actually dock May 31.

Sigh. One day maybe I really will learn how to read a calendar.....

Up next: Making the wait more bearable.

Diannah · 03-20-2011, 11:59 PM

So, pretty much all the major planning I can do at this point is done. Yet we still have over 60 days to wait!!! What to do, what to do??

How can we make the time go quicker??

Easy. Get into another show!

What, you say? Another show? Just what does THAT mean?

DD and I are active in the community theatre world here in the Twin Cities. And by active, I mean VERY active. In the past two years I think I have spent all of 6 weeks not involved in some show or other. And a week of that was spent recovering from surgery!

We just completed rehearsing and performing in Cross Community Players' production of “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown”. A fun production with a small but really great cast. DD played Marcie and Linus' dancing blanket, and I was puppet master, building and working Woodstock, the Kite-Eating Tree, and the Red Baron. (If you're familiar with the show, you may be thinking “Marcie? Woodstock? They're not in that show!” We had some additions to script for our production.

)

DD is a true “triple threat”, acting, singing and dancing. She keeps getting cast in featured dance roles despite having no formal dance training. I, on the other hand, am a good actress, decent chorus singer, and … well, let's just say that dancing's not my strong suit! I like to say that I can execute choreography, and then give it the full funeral rites it so richly deserves once I'm done with it!

I'm getting better, though. Even I have to admit that.

Right after deciding we could afford this cruise, DD and I were cast in Morris Park Players' production of “Grease”. DD is chorus and featured dancer (of course) and I'm Mrs. Lynch. Performances end Saturday, May 14, with strike the following Monday. DD's finals are that week, plus auditions for Lyric Arts' production of “Footloose”. Then we leave for the cruise. How perfect is that???

Between rehearsals, performances, and working full time, hopefully I can keep myself busy enough to not obsess TOO much about our upcoming cruise!

Next: Not really sure... will have to see what comes up!

**chezp** · 03-21-2011, 03:05 AM

Great plans!

B.M. · 03-21-2011, 09:14 AM

Great plans!!

nikkilovesmickey · 03-21-2011, 10:57 AM

Great way to keep all organized. I love all the shore excursions that your family is doing, and can't wait to hear all about them.

smcnaught · 03-22-2011, 09:18 AM

WOW!! What great plans! I'm so jealous! Alaska is on our must do list of family vacations! I can't wait to read all your posts about your trip! What type of cabin did you get on the ship?

pamcarey · 03-22-2011, 01:10 PM

Great start and great plans!

Diannah · 03-22-2011, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smcnaught

WOW!! What great plans! I'm so jealous! Alaska is on our must do list of family vacations! I can't wait to read all your posts about your trip! What type of cabin did you get on the ship?

Thanks! The "kids cruise free" package was limited to specific cabins. We took the Gty route, so we're guaranteed at least a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with either two small or one large porthole. We're very excited about that, because on our only other cruise, we had an inside stateroom. So this will be a new experience.

Ugg. We just got put under ANOTHER Winter Weather Advisery for snow and high winds until tomorrow night. Oh, well. At least it's not the blizzard warning they're getting north of us!