Cruise Trip Report - warning long

[katiesue]

Trip Report – Alaska June 21-28th

Participants – Katie (44), Maddie (15), Aunt Liz (60ish), Cousin Lisa (39)

We flew into Vancouver a few days early. Maddie and I arrived around 5 on Sunday the 19th. We had no lines for customs or baggage claim and were headed to the city in a towncar in no time. We looked into taking the Skytrain but with all the luggage a car just seemed easier. It ended up being a $42 flat fee to the hotel which didn’t seem bad at all to me. It was about a 25 min drive.



Liz and Lisa had already checked in ahead of us. We stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Canada Place. The location is perfect. It’s literally the upper stories of the cruise ship building. So you can just take an elevator down to the right level to get on the boat. The bellmen will also come take your bags and check them through. It was a very nice hotel. We had two rooms. Liz had found some great deal on them, she paid for the rooms so I don’t know the exact amount.

So we checked in and then went to find some dinner. Liz had already interrogated the concierge so we had some nearby options. We picked Steamworks which was a pub a few blocks from the hotel in Gastown. I can’t even remember what we had, nothing was bad but nothing was beyond wonderful. Then we walked around Gastown for a bit in some of the tourist shops then back to the hotel.



Monday we got up early and had a quick breakfast at the food court across the street. Maddie had McDonalds and the rest of us went to Tim Hortons. All the tour busses stop directly in front of the hotel so we went out and got tickets to go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was about a 20 minute bus ride out to the location. It’s a beautiful setting and besides the bridge there is also a cliff walk and a treetop walk. Definitely worth the trip. We grabbed a few souvenirs and headed back to the hotel. Once there we grabbed another bus tour that took you all around the city and through Stanley Park. It was a hop on/off tour. We just took it round trip and ended up back at the hotel around 1.





We then headed back to Gastown for another concierge recommendation, Rogue Kitchen, which was very good, for lunch. We then took a short walk past the convention center to the Olympic Flame sight which was pretty cool looking. We then walked around and found a grocery store and got some snacks and a liquor store for some booze for the ship.

After that we walked down Robson Street, one of their shopping districts, most of the stores were the standards, Gap etc. And then back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and a dip in the Jacuzzi.

We decided to try the hotel restaurant for dinner. The food was fine but the waiter wasn’t the nicest. He seemed a bit put out by having to wait on us at all. Lisa ordered a steak and he gave her the choice of two sauces. She asked if she could get both since she hadn’t tried either. He seemed like this was some MASSIVE deal but agreed to give her both. Our food came and only one sauce. She asked about the other and again he seemed massively put out but brought it. He then made the comment leaving the table that normally he’d have to charge for that. Which honestly he could have said at the start and it was a very expensive dinner, I think you could throw in an extra sauce. That all left us with a bit of a bad taste.

Tuesday morning we looked out the window and the Wonder was already docked. It looked very small from our room. We hit the food court again for a quick breakfast then just walked around for a bit. We came back to the hotel and had the bellman take our bags. Then we took the elevators down to the cruise dock level. Checking in and customs went pretty smoothly and we didn’t have to wait horribly long to board the ship.

[katiesue]

Once you stepped on board they asked your name and announced it over a loud speaker. A REALLY REALLY LOUD loudspeaker which the person was apparently also shouting into. It literally hurt your ears. So we vacated the area quickly and went up to deck 9 to Beach Blanket Bingo for the buffet. We grabbed some lunch and found a nice spot out on deck to eat. Then we wandered around a little. We found Vibe, the teen club, and took Maddie up to check it out. It’s a very cool loftish space.



Our rooms were finally ready and some of the luggage was there so we went and quickly unpacked. The room was small but functional. There was plenty of room for the two of us, I’m not sure how crowded it would have been with a family of 4. The bathroom is split. One room with a sink and toilet, the other with a sink and shower/tub which was nice. We also had a verandah which was a nice size. Plenty of room to sit out without feeling cramped. Liz and Lisa’s room was on the other side of the ship so we had views on either side. The wave phones provided were awesome for keeping in touch. Especially with the invisible teenager.



We liked the restaurants. If they keep doing Alaska they need to either re-do or do an overlay for Parrot Cay. It really seems out of place when you see icebergs floating by the windows. We liked Animators Palette and Tritons. The food was overall pretty good. I don’t think any of us tried anything that was totally disappointing. You keep the same servers but rotate dining rooms nightly. The servers were fine, ours seemed a bit slow as we were almost always the last to leave the dining room and spent a lot of time between courses waiting. And maybe it was just me but all lot of the servers “banter” seemed forced to me. It seemed like they were just trying to make you remember them so you’d tip more. Now this could just be me.



We did Palo one night and the food and service were outstanding as advertised. My only issue was we couldn’t get a reservation for 3 people at all pre-boarding. We went to the reservations table first thing when we boarded and were able to get a reservation for 3 but he made it seem like there weren’t many spaces. We had an 8 PM reservation and there was only one couple waiting ahead of us to be seated. The restaurant seemed half full or less and only one table turned over the whole time we were there. So not sure if there were a lot of cancellations or what but it seemed odd given the difficulty in getting a table at all.





And to digress a bit, Disney Cruises online website SUCKS EGGS. It’s very difficult to find any information you’re looking for even with a search it doesn’t turn up. Things aren’t in any sort of logical order and booking excursions and such are done in a very roundabout way.

Maddie spent almost all her time at Vibe, the teen club, or hanging around the ship with the friends she made. There was something for them to do almost all the time. They did game shows, had a homecoming dance, made T-Shirts, all kinds of stuff. The wave phones were wonderful for keeping in touch and checking on her every once in a while. I think there were 15 in her group. They’ve now set up a facebook group to keep in touch which I think is pretty cool. Vibe closed at 2AM and I rarely saw her come in before that.



We did a few of the scheduled activities. Bingo was ok but the cheapest buy in was $30. The place was packed. It was ok but we didn’t feel the need to do It again. We also did a Martini Tasting. This was an additional $15 each and it was ok. The bartender in charge had a very very heavy accent and was difficult to understand. And I’m not sure I subscribe to his assertion that any drink served in a Martini glass is a Martini. The other people in the group were fun but I don’t think we really got much out of it.
We did a couple of the live shows which were really well done and enjoyable. We skipped the comics, magicians and such. Lisa and Maddie both went to see the latest Pirates Movie and Madz went to the Cars II premiere.



Liz went to the spa for an emergency toenail polish re-do and ended up with $130 of products which she claims she didn’t ask for (we weren’t with her so who knows). She also did a massage one day and enjoyed it. The prices to me seemed very high and I’m not much of a Spa person anyway so I skipped it.

There are a lot of nice public areas on the ship and lounges to hang out in. It wasn’t horribly great weather so sitting out on deck for long periods of time wasn’t very comfortable.



Other complaint – Pirate Night was kind of out of place and it was out on deck at night when it wasn’t very warm. We had Palo that night so arrived late but there wasn’t much going on, I think most people had gotten cold and gone in.

[katiesue]

We booked excursions in every port. Warning if you’re doing an Alaska cruise the excursions are really expensive. They were amazing but very pricey. And besides excursions most of the towns we visited were just a conglomeration of jewelry stores and souvenir stores. Apparently Tanzanite (a blue stone with violet overtones more rare than diamonds per the commercials) is the big seller. Skagway especially isn’t much more than just the tourist shops.

In Skagway we did the White Pass Railway and Kayak excursion. We went up on the train. Unfortunately our excursion had exclusive use of the first car. Which meant we got to suck diesel exhaust the whole way. And the noise was so much we couldn’t hear any of the canned narration. But it’s a beautiful trip and you get to see lots of amazing scenery. Once we crossed into Canada the train stops and goes back. We got off there and met our guides for Kayaking. The lake we were kayaking on is next to the train station so we literally just walked across the parking lot.





The guides were great and got us all set with equipment and into the kayaks. Unfortunately for Madz I’m not in the best kayaking shape so she ended up doing most of the work. She still enjoyed it but I’m betting she’ll never get in a kayak with me again. We went around the lake for about an hour then came back. It was really beautiful and quiet. Then we took a bus ride back down to the ship. One of the kayak guides who’s a year round local went back with us and gave us a lot of history and such which was very nice. They made a stop in town for anyone who wanted to shop more then back to the ships.





Juneau we all did different excursions. I did the helicopter glacier walk. They picked us up and we drove to the airport, the bus driver pointed things out along the way. We then had a short training video and broke up into smaller groups and boarded the helicopters. We took a short ride to the Mendenhall Glacier. They flew us around a bit before we landed. We landed and they had guides already out on the glacier. We walked around for about a half hour, drank some glacier water and then the helicopters came back with the next group and we re-boarded. It was beautiful and absolutely worth the hefty pricetag. For me it was the perfect amount of time out on the glacier, it wasn’t very warm so about a half hour was just enough time.







Maddie did the Teen Only Helicopter Glacier Excursion. It was just for teenagers and a couple of the counselors from Vibe went along as chaperones. She had the best time ever she claims. They also took a bus to the airport and helicoptered out to the glacier but they landed in a different area and did a two hour hike. She got a lot of amazing photos and really did have a wonderful time.









Liz and Lisa did the Zipline and then a bus out to the glacier tour. They got picked up at the ship and drove to the ziplines, they said it was about a half hour drive. They loved the ziplines. Well Liz did, Lisa’s not great with heights but she lived. Then they took a bus out to the visitor center at the Glacier. I’m not sure how long they were out there and then came back to the ship.





Since my tour was shorter I got off the bus in “town” and walked around a bit. There were a lot more shops in Juneau that seemed more individually than corporate owned. I got a few things and had a quick lunch at Tracey’s Crab Shack, which was so amazingly good. I worked my way back to the Mt. Roberts Tram which is right near where the ships dock. It was kind of expensive, I want to say $25, but I rode up and it was an amazing view of Juneau. I’d been told that if you could see the top tram station from the ground to go but if not there would be no visibility up there so don’t. There were some trails and such up there but I was tired by then so I didn’t go far and then just came back down and went to the ship.





Ketchican was our shortest stop. We didn’t get docked till 1:30 and left around 7ish. We did the St. George Inlet Lodge crab feed and floatplane tour. This one we did the bus ride first up to the Lodge. It was a nice ride and we saw a bear and some eagles along the way. When we got there they took our group to a private room where we had our crab feed. The crab was absolutely wonderful and it was all you can eat. The waitress was nice but we saw some other groups after who were having leg stacking contests and such, seemed like their waitresses were a bit more fun. After we stuffed ourselves we puttered around and waited for the planes. They landed with another group then we got on. It was about a 30 minute ride back to the airport. We saw some mountain goats and other wildlife from the plane. We landed at the airport and it was a very short, maybe 10 minute, van ride back to the cruise dock. We had about an hour or so to wander around a little. I would have liked to have had more time as a lot of the less touristy areas were just a little too far for us to get to. And when we arrived there were already 3 ships docked but all were gone by the time we got back. A lot of the shops had already closed by the time we got there.

[katiesue]

The ship drove (?) into Tracy Arm Fijord one of the days up to Sawyer Glacier. It was an absolutely amazing day with just wonderful vistas all day long. We spent a good part of the day on deck, but finally got cold and went down to our room. They had a BBQ out on deck and characters out there as well. We started in around 1 I think and got back out around 5. The ice flow wasn’t too bad so we were able to get in fairly close. Sometimes they can’t get in that far.











Everything on the ship itself was wonderful. The CM’s were all very helpful. We booked all our excursions through the ship and they were all very well organized getting you out and onto your excursions. The food was great. We ended up getting the refillable beer mugs which turned out to be a good value for us. They were $14.99 filled. After that they were 4.99/refill. When you were done for the day you could just take your glass back to a bar (they actually gave you a new clean glass every refill) and they gave you a card so you didn’t have to haul the empty glass around. The next time you wanted a beer you just took the card and paid for the refill. On the last day you just kept the glass and took it home.





You can BYOB it just has to be carried on in your hand luggage. I had a case of water delivered to the room. Maddie pretty much only drinks water and I drink a lot so this worked out pretty well for us. Room service is 24/7 and included in the price unless you order booze or sodas. The cheese plate makes a really nice snack and I ordered quite a few of them. Maddie had lunch in the room and dinner a couple of times.



The last day was a little sucky in that they get you up early to heard you off. We were in one of the later groups as we had later flights. They called our numbers but then there was a massive line for customs. It seemed like they were trying to crowd you out as soon as possible. I do understand that they need to flip all the rooms and such but it was definitely a cattle like situation.



Once we disembarked and found our luggage we went out into the terminal and found the Pan Pacific bellman. Since we had been guests on our way out they would hold our luggage for us until later in the afternoon. We took care of all that and went for a little walk along the SeaWalk at Canada Place. Maddie was thrashed from all the late nights so we didn’t go too far. Liz and Lisa walked along further.



We had arranged a car with the hotel before we left so we went back and grabbed our bags and took the car to the airport. This worked out great as we had a ton of luggage by that point, we way over packed, and we all comfortably fit in the car.

We had an absolutely wonderful time and I highly recommend it. Maddie can’t wait to do another cruise. Since this was our first cruise I can’t compare Disney to any other cruise line. I know that they are more expensive but since I’ve never done another I can’t say if it’s worth the difference. If you are planning an Alaska cruise just make sure you budget for all the extras (I wasn’t aware of all these when I booked). Excursions are a large expense, drinks weren’t outrageous and sodas are free, you’re expected to tip a minimum of $12/person/day so that can add up. Plus there are flights and most likely a hotel before/after depending on when you can get flights.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I'd wondered how the Alaska trips were.

[innerSpaceman]

Thanks for the trip report. And the cool pics. Ooooh, I wonder if I could talk my way into the Teen Glacier Trek. That sounds way up my alley!

I want to do an Alaska cruise with all the trimmins,' but unless i win the lottery ...

[Alex]

What did you think of the BBQ on the glacier day?

That was probably the biggest disappointment in terms of service for me. Just poorly organized, incredibly long wait for food, and then unless you got really lucky on the timing everything was way overcooked.

Curious if they've organized it better.

[katiesue]

My Aunt went and got some food from the BBQ so I don't know but she was complaining about everything so I'm sure she would have said if it was a mess. We all shared a steak which we all thought was very good so maybe they fixed that. Our waiter mentioned that they had to cancel it altogether on the cruise before us because of the weather.

[Not Afraid]

It looks lovely! Alaska is probably the only place I would cruise to. It seems more convenient than touring any other way. No whale sightings?

[Ghoulish Delight]

And much jealousy ensued. Looks delightful!