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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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DH and I are considering taking an Alaska cruise next summer, just the two of us. We have an opportunity through a friend at my work to get an awesome friends & family rate on Princess. If any of you have been on an Alaska cruise, what type of stateroom did you have? DH thinks that a verandah is a necessity but I'm trying to do this as inexpensively as possible so I'm willing to consider an inside cabin. I just can't imagine using the verandah as much as we did on our Caribbean cruises.
Any other information you might have on Alaska cruises would be welcomed since I've never been that far north. I'm just happy we won't have to pay for airfare!
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We've done 3 Alaska cruises, each time with an aft-facing balcony cabin (suites twice). We spent a lot of time on the balcony because Alaska is so gorgeous. We saw whales, dolphins, eagles hunting, Hubbard Glacier, Inside Passage. Just watching the sun "set" is fabulous. If there's any way you can swing it, get a balcony cabin. An Alaska cruise is something you'll never forget - Alaska is one of God's museums
When we did an Alaskan cruise 10 years ago, we had a porthole, and it was fine. That said, if we'd had a balcony, I'm sure we would have given it a lot of use, because as the previous poster pointed out, the scenery is gorgeous. (Alaska was much greener than I had envisioned, although we saw plenty of glaciers too.)
I would go for at least a porthole if you can, although of course there are outdoor decks where you can sit if you do have an inside cabin.
We took the Dawn Princess to Alaska last summer, and I would almost say that a balcony is a neccessity for their itineraries. Almost all of their ships sail into Tracy Arm, this absolutely gorgeous fjord, and they do it really, really early in the morning. If you have a balcony, you can get a special room service breakfast served on the balcony and I was jealous, jealous, jealous of everyone who got to do this on Tracy Arm day. Although, I was travelling with my Dad, sister, and Zack, so the romance factor would have been kind of lost on us! Plus, the Princess staterooms are SMALL! The extra space and light from the balcony would have been very, very welcome.
I'd also recommend finding a cruise that sails into Glacier Bay. There is something about watching the glaciers calving; hearing them, that just can't be described. The Inland Passage was like a lake when we sailed it, and the ship is close enough to the shore that you can see bears, sheep, and moose from the boat. Plus, we had absolutely incredible experiences with whales and dolphins that would have been phenomenal from our own personal balcony.
One note of caution on the Princess itineraries, make sure that you talk very carefully with an agent to insure that you are cruising in the Inland Passage for the entirety of your cruise. We had sort of a funky itinerary (we were roundtripping from San Francisco) so we sailed in the open ocean between Alaska and Victoria, B.C. On that front, I've heard that the ships sailing from Vancouver are the way to go because those departing from Seattle similarly sail on the open Pacific. We had a very rough time of it for a few days out on the open sea! I actually found the Princess forums at Cruise Critic to be indispensible when planning our cruise. Although watch out, discussions about tipping and formal dress can turn UGLY there! Cruise Critic - Cruises, Cruise Reviews, Cruise Lines Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you and have fun planning your cruise!
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Karen, aka Zack's Mom - Lover of all Things Disney and the San Francisco Giants!
DH and I have also done the Alaskan cruise on Princess. Princess is actually our favorite cruise line. I would definately go for the "balcony cabin" if you can swing it. The views are amazing, and sometimes it's just nice to be able to take it all in from your own space. If you can't do a balcony, definately book an outside cabin versus and inside cabin. I did an inside cabin once, and had a hard time not knowing what was going on outside. Also, unless you kept your bathroom light on at night or kept your TV on the "web cam" channel, it was really dark all the time in the cabin. If you look carefully at the Princess pricing, sometimes there is not a big difference money wise between the inside and outside and outside to a balcony. Personally, if you want to splurge a little (I know you said you were trying to save money) go for a mini-suite! You get more room, and a bathtub/shower combo rather than a little stall type shower. Good Luck with your choices.
We've done 3 Alaska cruises, each time with an aft-facing balcony cabin (suites twice). We spent a lot of time on the balcony because Alaska is so gorgeous. We saw whales, dolphins, eagles hunting, Hubbard Glacier, Inside Passage. Just watching the sun "set" is fabulous. If there's any way you can swing it, get a balcony cabin. An Alaska cruise is something you'll never forget - Alaska is one of God's museums
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We've done 3 Alaska cruises, each time with an aft-facing balcony cabin (suites twice). We spent a lot of time on the balcony because Alaska is so gorgeous. We saw whales, dolphins, eagles hunting, Hubbard Glacier, Inside Passage. Just watching the sun "set" is fabulous. If there's any way you can swing it, get a balcony cabin. An Alaska cruise is something you'll never forget - Alaska is one of God's museums
Everyone else has mentioned Princess, what Cruise line or lines did you use? If you've used more than one, which did you prefer?
I'm also wondering what time of year or month is best for an Alaskan cruise?
The next best option for Alaska after Princess is Holland America. Peak times are June & July so you will pay more for those months but if you plan ahead it will be worth it!
The next best option for Alaska after Princess is Holland America. Peak times are June & July so you will pay more for those months but if you plan ahead it will be worth it!
With June and July being the best options, what about August? Is there much difference?
I just returned from my Alaskan Cruise ysterday. It was unbelievable!! I completely agree with what everyone said above. We did an Inside Passage Princess Cruise and went into Glacier Bay. Only 2 cruise ships a day are allowed in. It was beautiful! I took over 800 pictures. If you have any specific questions- feel free to ask as everything is still so fresh in my mind. We had a balcony too and I would say if you can swing it it is definitely the way to go. There was nothing like sitting on my balcony and watching the glaciers calve. I can't even put it into words.
June and July are the best months but August would not be too bad. September is considered a shoulder season. It would definitely be more inexpensive but also much colder and unpredictable.
How awesome Marisa! Any chance of you writing a trip report, as it would certainly help me - and I'm sure other PassPorters to plan their Alaskan cruises?
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How awesome Marisa! Any chance of you writing a trip report, as it would certainly help me - and I'm sure other PassPorters to plan their Alaskan cruises?
Funny! I was going to mention that my plan was to write a trip reprt but my life has been so ridiculously busy recently that I didn't want anyone to hold me to it . I will definitely try though! And if anyone has any questions in the meantime-- feel free to ask or send me a PM. I
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Plus, the Princess staterooms are SMALL! The extra space and light from the balcony would have been very, very welcome. 
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Any chance of you writing a trip report, as it would certainly help me - and I'm sure other PassPorters to plan their Alaskan cruises? 
. I will definitely try though! And if anyone has any questions in the meantime-- feel free to ask or send me a PM. I
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