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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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Day Seven-Headed “home”
Slept in as long as my habits would allow. Despite staying up late, and moving clock forward an hour to return from Alaska time to Pacific time, I awakened about 6:00 am. I checked out my starboard side balcony and nothing but ocean in sight. (I later found out that the return route from Ketchikan to Seattle they took the route to the ocean side of Vancouver Island so only a few small islands off Vancouver Island would be seen). Headed down at 6:30 to get my morning mocha then topside to Windjammer to have some breakfast. Today I stood in the omelet line and got a bacon/cheese/onion omelet to go with my morning fruit. Today the shops opened at 9:00 with “Russian” merchandise (nesting dolls, lacquer boxes etc.) At 10 I went to the Centrum overlook on deck 6 and watched a towel folding demonstration. I watched a scrapbooking group, and moseyed over to the casino to ‘invest’ my final $10 dollar bill. Results $22.50 I would leave the ship having invested four $10 bills and gotten back $56.75. I had actually made a profit at a casino!
I took a nap, laid out the evening’s clothes, and started to pack my luggage. Since it was casual dining, I figured I could shower, etc. and use the same clothes for this evening as well as leave the ship in the morning. With both bags packed except for toiletries/drugs, I went up and used the remainder of internet time. The internet was up most of the time, cost me $28.00 for the time I was there. Tip envelopes in hand (I used the recommended amounts) I headed to dinner. Dinner tonight was a cabbage and shitake mushroom salad, fish baked on a cedar plank and apple cobbler. Off to the show at 9:00, which was a variety show from the cast and a guest act of “Los Pampas Gauchos” who sang and danced and smacked lariats on the stage making lots of noise.
Today’s pictures are more of the ship’s artwork
And todays sculptures.. mostly chocolate
Off to bed after putting my main bag outside the door. “Express departure” was also offered for those that just want to carry their own luggage off the ship.
Up on Friday morning I went up and got my ‘free’ mocha (from buy six get one)then up to the 9th deck for a final breakfast. Our group’s assigned waiting area was the theater where I saw the first news in a week+. Except for sports scores, I avoided the news channels in Vancouver and onboard. The were projecting it on the curtain while we waited. At 8:20 our “purple” group was called, and we let them scan our sea pass for the last time. Our departure groups were primarily based on that kind of connection you were taking. It took less than a minute to find mine, and departing the ship, getting my luggage and clearing customs took less than 5 minutes. Going upstairs, I was directed to a awaiting bus to SEATAC airport. Our driver (turns out he owns the company that was doing all the ship/airport transfers) gave us a nice verbal tour of Seattle as we journeyed there. We were dropped off at a single location (as required by the airport) and then pulled our luggage about 100 yards into the terminal. By now it was 9:30. I went to check in on Alaska airlines for the trip home, and it was all electronic kiosks. An attendant showed me how to check for an earlier flight. I really did not want to wait for a 4:30 in the afternoon flight : Lucky me! There was an 11:00 am flight! It cost me $25 to change flights and $15 to check my luggage. After clearing security I headed to the gate. Of course it was at the end of the terminal I had just passed on the way in. Then down to a tram that took us out to our terminal. The plane boarded on time, and by 1:15 I was landing in Sacramento (over three hours before I was originally scheduled to depart Seattle.) My luggage was among the first off, and after waiting 15 minutes for a parking lot shuttle, I and my luggage made their way to my car. Giving them my $90 for parking. By getting home early I was able to ransom my mail from the post office (if I had not taken the early flight I would have had to wait until Monday) and I was home letting my cat chew me out long before I was originally was to take off.
Final Thoughts:
Would I do it again.. in a heartbeat!
Would I take Royal Caribbean again? I signed up for the Crown and Anchor club as soon as I got home.
Comparison of RCL and Disney:
Ship size: Comparable to Wonder and Magic
People on board: Much older crowd. You did not see kids except at dinner. There were not that many (then again schools were still in session) and they stayed for the most part in the kids areas. I must admit I would love to see more kids. Watching them keeps me young.
Pools: 2 regular pools both with spas/hot tubs. One outdoors which I am sure is nice when in warmer climates (the warmest day outside was 55 with wind, too. The indoor pool (in the solarium ) was nice –though I did not use it. If you used the right exit you could go directly to an elevator-indoors. If you used the wrong exit…it was out into the cold wind, and then enter the elevator lobby.
Nice features: Indoor seats on decks 4,5,6 to view the landscape going by and the Crown lounge with indoor seats to view from.
Stateroom: Mine was a balcony. It was a ton smaller than on Disney. Small enough that I had to back beside the bed to let the room attendant in to do anything. Single bathroom with shower only.
Food: Equal to Disney. They only had appetizer, entrée, and dessert (where Disney has appetizer, soup and salad, entrée and dessert. You had to pay extra for a coke card.($48 for the week for one though you did get a souvenier refillable mug) I got one of the typical menus to take home to compare. That night Starters were : Caprese Salad, Antipasti, Scallop Risotto; Roasted Garlic Soup, Minestrone, Strawberry Bisque, Caesar Salad, Mixed green salad. Entrees were Lamb Shank, Rigatoni Pasta (with sausage) , Garlic Shrimp, Chicken Marsala, Eggplant and Tomato bake, or Kaju Paneer DHansak (Curry with rice and other Indian dishes I don’t know what they were.) The last two were vegetarian. For dessert that night we were offered Warm Chocolate cake with pears, Raspberry Panna Cotta, Tiramis., Angel Food Cake with Grand Marnier marinated strawberries, Sugar free Chocolate Mint Cake and a choice of sugarfree and regular ice creams. In the buffet, there was a good variety of regular foods, labeled gluten free options, and plenty of fresh fruits as well as the other offerings. I did not discover the Pizza/hamburger/hot dog location in the solarium until the last sea day.. then again I was not looking for more food.
Entertainment. Variety acts were equal to those on Disney. Disney’s musical productions are far superior. Adult activities after hours were comparable to Disney’s adult areas.
Staff: Equally attentive and gracious. Kept the ship very clean.
Excursions: Comparable in quality and price that Disney offered (though in a different part of the world.) If you are taking a Disney Alaska cruise, I suspect the inventory will be similar. I saved the pdf file of the excursions and would be happy to send it to you if you want to preview what is done. Just send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send it to you..
Two ‘formal’ nights, but many wore slacks/shirts for men without ties! Not tightly enforced.
Price: about20% less than Disney.
Thanks for reading the report and your kind comments
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Great finish Don! Thank you so much for sharing this report with us - I've loved reading it and it's been a great help in planning for our Alaskan cruise next year.
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for a quick fix.
Waiting to eat with Goofy - DLR May 2010
PassPorter Guide Author
then topside to Windjammer to have some breakfast. Today I stood in the omelet line and got a bacon/cheese/onion omelet to go with my morning fruit. Today the shops opened at 9:00 with “Russian” merchandise (nesting dolls, lacquer boxes etc.) At 10 I went to the Centrum overlook on deck 6 and watched a towel folding demonstration. I watched a scrapbooking group, and moseyed over to the casino to ‘invest’ my final $10 dollar bill. Results $22.50 
after putting my main bag outside the door. “Express departure” was also offered for those that just want to carry their own luggage off the ship.
: Lucky me! 
for a parking lot shuttle, I and my luggage made their way to my car. Giving them my $90 for parking. By getting home early I was able to ransom my mail from the post office (if I had not taken the early flight I would have had to wait until Monday) and I was home letting my cat chew me out 
. Single bathroom with shower only.
for reading the report and your kind comments 
Thank you so much for sharing this report with us - I've loved reading it and it's been a great help in planning for our Alaskan cruise next year. 
Thanks so much for taking us along for the ride! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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