Alaska: The Final Frontier updated 7/31/2015 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I have visit the passporter forum as a silent reader for years! But this time I've decided that it is time to be more active and add a little bit. After all, I have taken so many good ideas from here. it is time to give back. Also, I found that there are not so many Alaska reviews....so it is time to start changing that as well....here is the clan:
ME (Sharma) - 35 (36 on the cruise) geek, Photographer, Fan Girl, Bookworm, Coffee lover, CM - This is my birthday gift
DH (Obi - yes like the Jedi)- 33 geek, engineer, video gamer, best friend
DBFF (Laura) - PhD student, geek, bookworm, whovian.
DF (Eric) - Laura's hubby. Geek, video gamer and the other birthday at the cruise!:bday:
This is us all together!
We have done multiple vacations together(mostly driving through FL or Atlanta), but this will be the first one this big. Hopefully we will still like each other at the end...
When:
We depart Tampa, FL via Alaska Airlines to Seattle on Friday, August 28th. Get into the Disney Wonder on Monday, August 31st - Sept 7th
Plans:
Friday August 28th - We plan to arrived at Seattle. Get Car. Check In Days Inn Seatac Airport.
Saturday August 29th - visit Pike Market and the needle and head driving to Vancouver Maybe, stop at the duty free and get some bottles of wine for the cruise. Check In at YWCA Vancouver.
Sunday August 30th - Visit Vancouver. We want to visit Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and the Winter Olympics site. Also, we want to take the ferry to Victoria Island.
Monday August 31st - Return Car. Get into the Ship. Make sure to go and check if we can add people to the Palo Brunch reservation and Mixology. Enjoy the Cruise!!!
Monday Sept 7th - Get car and drive back to Seattle. Check In at Red Roof near airport.
Tues Sept 8th - Return Car and fly home :sad:
We got private tour companies for 2 out of the 4 tours we are doing. In Skagway, we got the Glacier by Helicopter with Temsco for $65pp cheaper than with port Adventures. We are doing the Mush Camp same day in the afternoon but with Port Adventures. I found the difference in Price for this one was like $10 so we kept it with DCL.
In Juneau, we book a private Whale Watching Tour with rumrunners. This is in the morning so maybe we will tour the port in the afternoon.
In Ketchickan, there was nothing that got our attention (like the glacier and Whale Watching) so we got the DCL Lumberjack Show. It is $5 difference that doing directly to them so we kept it with DCL for now.
Palo Brunch, Mixology and long hours with coffee and blankets are planned. And tons of pics...And Laura and Obi plan on eating as many crab legs they can!
Laura and Eric have been in the Wonder before. Us only the Fantasy, but non of us as been in Alaska...so we are very excited! Let's see how it goes...
48 days!!!
Last edited by duck addict; 08-01-2015 at 07:02 PM..
Sounds like a really fun time ahead! The Wonder is a beautiful ship! It may feel small to you after being on the Fantasy, but small in a good way, I hope.
Sounds like a really fun time ahead! The Wonder is a beautiful ship! It may feel small to you after being on the Fantasy, but small in a good way, I hope.
I loved that fantasy but I don't mind small! It will easy to get every where for sure! We are looking forward to this adventure. I am a photographer...now the problem is deciding which equipment to take!
Enjoy the cruise! My husband and I have lived in Alaska for 44-45 years- we will be on the Fantasy at those dates on our 25th anniversary trip (7 night Eastern Carribean cruise). All of the locations you are visiting in AK are beautiful- my MIL used to live in Haines, which is a short boat ride from Skagway. When would visit her, we would take the ferry to Skagway for the day, we loved all the shops and places to explore. The train ride up the mountain is great too!
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As beautiful as Southeast is (which is what you will see on a Disney cruise), please remember that is just the tip of the iceberg (pun intended) to Alaska!!!
There is soooo much more to see if you make it into Anchorage and farther north towards Denali and Fairbanks!!!
I am so happy that you are going to come see my home...and I hope that you some day get to see more!!!
__________________
Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
Enjoy the cruise! My husband and I have lived in Alaska for 44-45 years- we will be on the Fantasy at those dates on our 25th anniversary trip (7 night Eastern Carribean cruise). All of the locations you are visiting in AK are beautiful- my MIL used to live in Haines, which is a short boat ride from Skagway. When would visit her, we would take the ferry to Skagway for the day, we loved all the shops and places to explore. The train ride up the mountain is great too!
We are trading places! Enjoy your Anniversary Cruise! The Fantasy is such a great ship and the Caribbean is a treat!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenifermg0
As beautiful as Southeast is (which is what you will see on a Disney cruise), please remember that is just the tip of the iceberg (pun intended) to Alaska!!!
There is soooo much more to see if you make it into Anchorage and farther north towards Denali and Fairbanks!!!
I am so happy that you are going to come see my home...and I hope that you some day get to see more!!!
I know! I am from the Caribbean(Puerto Rico) and I totally understand! In a Cruise you barely touch what the place can offer. It's like a sample. It is nice taste...hopefully nice enough to make u come back! I know I will! Other than the "tours" we usually like to try local restaurants/breweries/places so any recommendation send it our way!
Other than the "tours" we usually like to try local restaurants/breweries/places so any recommendation send it our way!
I am not a beer drinker, but I hear really good things about the beer at Moose's Tooth (local pizza joint) and I do know that their root beer and cream soda totally rock!
Glacier Brewhouse is a great restaurant with it's own beer.
Seward has a brewery that seems to be doing good too. There is also a great zip line experience down that way!! Just did it myself about a month ago!! One of the zips is 1200 feet long!! It was amazing!!! This company as another zip tour up in Talkeetna...if it's half as fun, I'd say try it out too.
Totally recommend the Alaska Railroad...you get a completely different perspective of the land than from the road. And it's a great way to get to Denali for a stay in the park there.
Double Musky in Girdwood is AMAZING!!!! They don't take reservations and the line can be quite long....get there early!
That's all I can think for right this sec. Hope you enjoy your trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
__________________
Jennifer / Eeyore is my favorite!! OMG - He's sooooo grown up!!!! And an EAGLE SCOUT!! I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub! 2016 Reading Goal - 75 books
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Sounds awesome! Alaska is close to the top of my favorite places to visit. Make sure you meet Cheryl and Mark - they are the best! And since they have cruised to Alaska before they may have some tips on places to see and things to do. Also they spent some time in Vancouver and Seattle. Cheryl is, as you must know, the travel guru! Enjoy!
So jealous you'll be cruising with Mark and Cheryl, and that you'll be on the ship I left only yesterday!
If you are a coffee lover, definitely make friends with Gabriel in Cove Cafe. He makes the best lattes of anyone on board! And he's just a super nice, positive person! Tell him Colleen (skim latte, 2 Splendas) says hello!!!
Not sure you can do Victoria and Capilano in a day. We did Capilano - got on the free shuttle at 9 am, and finished up pretty close to 1 pm. Then still had the bus back to town. We looked at a Victoria trip, but it was 13 hours. I guess if you only ferry there and back it might work, but why go if you aren't spending time on Victoria? You'll see PLENTY of beautiful scenery on the cruise.
Mixology was great!!! As was the martini tasting.
Let me know if I can answer any questions - especially since I don't know how far I'll be in my TR before you head off.
Have a wonderful trip. You'll love Alaska. We've done 4 RCI Alaska cruises. We even got married in Alaska
That is so cool! AS a photographer, I am like dying...It looks like such a wonderful place, even though we only see so little!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenifermg0
I am not a beer drinker, but I hear really good things about the beer at Moose's Tooth (local pizza joint) and I do know that their root beer and cream soda totally rock!
Glacier Brewhouse is a great restaurant with it's own beer.
Seward has a brewery that seems to be doing good too. There is also a great zip line experience down that way!! Just did it myself about a month ago!! One of the zips is 1200 feet long!! It was amazing!!! This company as another zip tour up in Talkeetna...if it's half as fun, I'd say try it out too.
Totally recommend the Alaska Railroad...you get a completely different perspective of the land than from the road. And it's a great way to get to Denali for a stay in the park there.
Double Musky in Girdwood is AMAZING!!!! They don't take reservations and the line can be quite long....get there early!
That's all I can think for right this sec. Hope you enjoy your trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS!!!!!!! Adding those to my notes! We had so much fun when we try to go out the "turisty" flare and sit down where the real food is...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grammy Grumpy
Sounds awesome! Alaska is close to the top of my favorite places to visit. Make sure you meet Cheryl and Mark - they are the best! And since they have cruised to Alaska before they may have some tips on places to see and things to do. Also they spent some time in Vancouver and Seattle. Cheryl is, as you must know, the travel guru! Enjoy!
She told they Are!!! I hope we can meet! I feel I know them through her reports and articles...definitely a great guru!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
So jealous you'll be cruising with Mark and Cheryl, and that you'll be on the ship I left only yesterday!
If you are a coffee lover, definitely make friends with Gabriel in Cove Cafe. He makes the best lattes of anyone on board! And he's just a super nice, positive person! Tell him Colleen (skim latte, 2 Splendas) says hello!!!
Not sure you can do Victoria and Capilano in a day. We did Capilano - got on the free shuttle at 9 am, and finished up pretty close to 1 pm. Then still had the bus back to town. We looked at a Victoria trip, but it was 13 hours. I guess if you only ferry there and back it might work, but why go if you aren't spending time on Victoria? You'll see PLENTY of beautiful scenery on the cruise.
Mixology was great!!! As was the martini tasting.
Let me know if I can answer any questions - especially since I don't know how far I'll be in my TR before you head off.
OMG! I am waiting for TR!!! I was following your pre and Vancouver part...(How cool you got to see the Women World Cup Final THERE!!!)
I AM A COFFEE PERSON! Both my granddads were coffee farmers back home, so I know my coffee! LOL so I'll definitely will look for Gabriel! I tell him hi from you!
About Victoria, yeah, i heard that...but that means we will need to be back in Vancouver! LOL!
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Maybe, stop at the duty free and get some bottles of wine for the cruise. Check In at YWCA Vancouver.
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Both my granddads were coffee farmers back home, so I know my coffee! LOL so I'll definitely will look for Gabriel! I tell him hi from you! 
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