Our Wonderful “Very, Very Lovely” Seattle & 9 Night Alaskan Cruise including Sitka & Hubbard Glacier! ~ with pics ~ July 2019 ~ Completed!

disneyfaninaz

It takes faith, trust & pixie dust!
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
We just returned yesterday from our 15 day vacation to the Pacific Northwest! We attended our neighbor’s daughter’s beautiful wedding on Vashon Island and revisited Alaska! Fortunately, I am not inundated with laundry :laundy: as we packed mostly cool weather clothes and its 110 degrees here so 🌡🔥. . . I don’t need them right away! I am however, downloading a couple thousand pictures! :surfweb:

Seattle, Vancouver and Alaska were beautiful, however, I fear that the drought situation in Alaska has affected the wildlife as salmon are late and bears are not as visible because of it yet. We also saw a noticeable decrease in whale and eagle sightings this trip. 😞

Otherwise we had a great time and enjoyed several aspects of our cruise, while being disappointed in others. On that note, let’s get started on my trip report. ☺

Cast of Characters:

The usual suspects will be sailing with us (give or take 1 or 2)

Me: Newly minted empty nester, retired, Disney addict and world traveler.
DH: Retired, Disney addiction enabler and indulgent world traveler.
DD: Just finished 1st year of college, hopeful future Disney College Program participant, Disney addict and world traveler.

Our dear neighbors, DNC, DNJ and DNM.

Background:

As usual, whenever DCL releases a new schedule, I peruse the offerings to see if anything looks good. Well, DCL released their Summer of 2019 schedule on March 1, 2018. As a Gold Castaway Club member I could book on Tuesday, March 6, 2018. The only itinerary that jumped out at me was the 9 night Alaskan cruise. Indulge me as I fill in some background here. In 2016, I booked the 9 night Alaskan cruise that went to Icy Strait and Hubbard Glacier (for the first time). Because of a scheduling conflict with my high school senior daughter’s band camp schedule, we cancelled the cruise and went to Aulani instead. Anyway, I discovered that DCL is going back to Icy Straight, Hubbard Glacier and Sitka (which we visited with DCL that last time they were there in 2014) in 2019. It is also stopping in Victoria, which I have been trying to get my family to since the last time we were in Canada in 2014.

I texted my neighbor and asked if she saw the new itinerary, she asked me what I was looking at. Since they have cruised to Alaska with DCL 3 times, including the cruise that we cancelled, I wasn’t sure if they would be interested in going. In the end, we decided to book the cruise as a place holder and decide later if we would keep it. One of the major factors about going on this cruise is that our neighbor’s daughter is getting married in Seattle, the weekend before this cruise. We would already be in that neck of the woods, so to speak, with an easy commute to Vancouver.

We went on the 10 Night Mediterranean cruise in July of 2018 as a graduation, 18th birthday, anniversary celebration cruise. Unfortunately, DD wasn’t 18 and missed out on Palo and other adult activities onboard. She will be 18 on the Alaska cruise and can’t wait to eat at Palo for the first time!

Planning:

I was up at 6:00 AM and on the phone with DCL on my cell. It took me another 20 minutes to get through busy signals before I got through on my land line. I had 2 phones on speaker with Disney hold music in stereo! Anyway, 2 hours and 20 minutes later, my land line was answered. I knew exactly what category I wanted, and was fortunate to get one of the 7A secret verandah rooms. Score! 🙌 It took me no more than 10 minutes to complete the reservation.

Since the newlyweds were heading out on their Costa Rican honeymoon on the Monday after the wedding, there was no need for our neighbors to stay in Seattle, so it was decided that we would keep our reservations and travel to Alaska together again!

As the months went on, we scheduled our flights, rental car and hotels for Seattle and Vancouver. I wasn’t able to get as good a rate as I had in 2014 for the Pan Pacific, but we booked there again anyway both pre and post cruise.

We booked our airline legs from PHX to SEA, SEA to YVR and YVR to PHX.

Our original plan was to spend the Wednesday and Thursday after debarking the Wonder touring Vancouver until our late afternoon flight home on Thursday. On March 3, 2019 we were notified that our flight from Vancouver to Phoenix at 5:45 PM was cancelled and we were put on the 8:15 AM direct flight to Phoenix the same day. After looking at other options, which were far and few between, we decided to forego a day of sightseeing in Vancouver and keep the early morning flight. Ugh! 😠

DNC worked diligently on getting some private tours in Alaska. DD will be flying with them over Misty Fjord in Ketchikan and we will all have excursions together in Icy Strait and Juneau. DH and I booked a DCL tour in Ketchikan. We have no excursions planned for Sitka and Victoria.

Itinerary:


Day 1 - Wednesday, July 3, 2019 – Travel Day, Seattle🛫
Day 2 – Thursday, July 4, 2019 - Seattle
Day 3 – Friday – July 5, 2019 – Vashon Island
Day 4 - Saturday - July 6, 2019 - Vashon Island
Day 5 - Sunday – July 7, 2019 - Travel Day, Vancouver 🛫
Day 6 - Monday, July 8, 2019 - Embarkation, Vancouver 🛳
Day 7 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - Sea Day 1
Day 8 – Wednesday, July 10, 2019 – Ketchikan
Day 9 – Thursday, July 11, 2019 – Icy Strait Point
Day 10 – Friday, July 12, 2019 – Juneau
Day 11 – Saturday, July 13, 2019 – Hubbard Glacier
Day 12 – Sunday, July 14, 2019 – Sitka
Day 13 – Monday, July 15, 2019 – Sea Day 2
Day 14 – Tuesday, July 16, 2019 – Victoria, BC
Day 15 – Wednesday, July 17, 2019 – Debarkation, Vancouver
Day 16 – Thursday, July 18, 2019 – Travel Day 🛬
 
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Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Travel Day – Seattle

After over a year of anticipation, the weekend that we had all been waiting for had arrived! Our neighbor (DDC) was getting married!! 👰 DD had been asked to be a bridesmaid by DDC, she was very honored. She spent the year in communication with DDC on bridesmaid’s dresses and other stuff.

DDC went to the University of Puget Sound for grad school to get a doctorate in Physical Therapy, while there, she met the love her life, Will. DDC loves the outdoors and wanted to get married in Seattle in the outdoors. They found a wonderful little resort on Vashon Island and booked it for the entire weekend of July 5-7.

I booked a flight with Southwest Airlines from PHX to SEA for 7:55 AM. Fortunately, it was the one flight I booked with SWA for this summer that wasn’t changed because of the 800MAX issue. I arranged for a driver to pick us up at 5:40 AM to take us to the airport. We arrived at the airport within plenty of time and we needed it. First, DD has Type 1 diabetes and opts out of the Scattogram (X-Ray) because she wears a pump and CGM device. She also has to have her CGM sensors hand checked by TSA. Unfortunately, she usually has to wait a few minutes for a female agent to pat her down before we can proceed. This usually takes an additional 10-15 minutes. After getting through TSA, DD wanted to stop at Starbucks, so we waited another 20 minutes for pastries and her tea. We got to our gate and were soon boarding in the A group. I love Early Bird Check-In! We found a row of 3 seats behind the wing. We had a full flight and it took a while for everybody to find an empty seat. We took off and actually arrived in Seattle 20 minutes before our expected time of 11:05 AM. Along the way we caught a glimpse of Mount Rainier. I love how the top peaks through the clouds! 📷DD



Unfortunately, our gate wasn’t ready yet when we landed, so we had to wait on the tarmac until our scheduled time of arrival anyway. It was overcast and cool!☁ I know, surprise, surprise, we’re in Seattle! But, there was no rain.

We have been to Seattle before and have done all of the touristy stuff downtown (see trip report below), so we weren’t going to spend any time downtown this trip.

As far as plans today, DD had to be in Kirkland (just north of Seattle) at 5:00 PM for a bridesmaid get together at a local cookie place, Lady Yum's. DH wanted to visit the Museum of Flight just north of the airport and I wanted to eat at Duke’s Chowderhouse for lunch. We got our rental car and headed to Duke’s. It was in Tukwila and a short drive from the airport.





We had a delicious lunch and then went to the museum.





They had a special exhibit for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, but since our time was short we didn’t pay the extra to see it.









We had visited the museum in 2014, but improvements had been made to the outside pavilion which housed a Concorde, a 747, a 787 Dreamliner and an Air Force One and many other planes. Some planes were open to walk through.














We spent a couple of hours there before making our way to Kirkland and checking in to the Marriott Courtyard there at 4:00 PM. Our room was ready so DD could change clothes and we could drop her off at her gathering at 5:00. We were meeting the bridal party and her parents at Little Brother (a local restaurant) at 6:00 PM.

We had an hour to kill, but parking is at a premium in downtown Kirkland, so we opted just to go to the restaurant and have a drink before everybody else arrived.
The restaurant wasn’t really set up with a bar for drinks so once our table of 14 was set up, we sat there and had some wine before other’s started trickling in. While this wasn’t a formal invite, word got around to the other family members who had arrived for the weekend and before we knew it, 28 people had invaded the small restaurant. Beyond the original 14, the restaurant staff was great in putting other tables together to accommodate a whole other party of 14 more people. The food and wine were excellent. It was great catching up with those that we knew and meeting those that we knew about but had never met. It was a fun night. It had been a long day, so we headed back to the hotel at about 9 and went to bed.

Next: Bao Buns, who knew?
 


Day 2
Thursday, July 4, 2019

Seattle

It was the 4th of July!

We had breakfast at the hotel, even though it was not included they had a small menu with egg dishes and Banana Nut French Toast to order from as well as Starbucks coffee & tea.

We didn’t have firm plans; however, DNC’s side of the family was going to Din Tai Fung for lunch in Bellevue.



Evidently this is a very popular restaurant. There were many people waiting when it opened at 11:00 AM. You can watch through the window while they make the Bao buns. It was fascinating, and they were very fast!





We just missed getting a big table for the 12 of us and had to eventually split up. DD sat with DNC’s sister and her family. She knows their sons (2 who are close in age) quite well from their visits out to Arizona and remains in touch through social media.

DNC had been here before so she made some recommendations. We had the Sweet & Sour Pork Baby Back Ribs, which were amazing. We also got the Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic, Noodles with Minced Kurobuta Pork Sauce and Bao Pork Buns. For dessert we got Chocolate & Mochi XiaoLongBao.





The food was incredibly good. I heard that this chain of restaurants is rated as one of the 10 best in the world! I can see why.

After an extremely satisfying lunch, we walked around the mall and spotted a Chihuly chandelier hanging in the mall.



We all agreed to drive out to Snoqualmie Falls. It was a beautiful drive with all the green lushness of the trees and hills.





When we arrived we were lucky to find a parking place in the upper lot. There was a very nice covered pedestrian walkway over the road to get to the falls.







The falls themselves plunge 270 feet, 10 stories higher than Niagara Falls. It has over 2 million visitors a year. It is a very nice facility with paved trails to get to viewpoints for the falls as well as nature trails down to the Snoqualmie River. There is also a resort and spa you can stay at.













This guy was out fishing.





To be continued . . .
 
Day 2 Continued

We probably stayed about an hour. We decided to drive into Snoqualmie and look around before heading back to Kirkland. It was quaint town with that All American town feel to it. It had once been a train stop.





























This was the mural on the local brewery.



We headed back to Kirkland. The bride and groom were hosting a 4th of July party at their house overlooking Juanita Beach Park starting at 6:00.

Their rented house is on the top of a very steep hill and parking is nightmarish. Fortunately, we rode with our neighbors and didn’t have to deal with parking. The view overlooking Lake Washington was breathtaking.







Starting at dusk we could see more than a dozen firework shows going on as far as the eye could see towards Seattle. Kirkland’s show was at 10:15 and was much closer to watch. Shortly thereafter, the party broke up and we went back to the hotel.



Next: Takin’ the ferry!
 
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Joining in! At the beginning stages of planning an Alaskan cruise so excited to read your report!

Jill in CO
 


Love this report, thanks for sharing! Xiao long bao are one of my favourite foods ever, but I didn't know there is a Din Tai Fung in Seattle - now I must go!
 
It's too bad you couldn't see the falls roaring. It's quite impressive, especially from down below, when the flow is heavy.

419466
 
Joining in! At the beginning stages of planning an Alaskan cruise so excited to read your report!

Jill in CO

Thanks for joining! Alaska is one of the easiest cruises to plan for. Hope my report helps.

Love this report, thanks for sharing! Xiao long bao are one of my favourite foods ever, but I didn't know there is a Din Tai Fung in Seattle - now I must go!

Thanks for reading. Looks like you have 2 options now! 😆
It's too bad you couldn't see the falls roaring. It's quite impressive, especially from down below, when the flow is heavy.

View attachment 419466

Wow! 😲 That is amazing! Sorry I missed that!
 
Hello readers. I had all the intention of uploading an update today, but. . . . . I am out of town and failed to copy my document on the correct drive. 😞 I promise to update when I get home next week! Thanks for your patience.
 
Day 3
Friday, July 5, 2019
Vashon Island


We once again headed down to breakfast and ended up having a nice conversation with DNJ’s brother. They were headed over to Seattle for some more touring.

Our plan was to head to Vashon Island to do some sightseeing before we could check in at 3:00 PM. DD had to be at the wedding rehearsal at 4:30 PM.

We checked out and headed to Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal ⛴ which was about 40 minutes from the hotel. Our aim was to catch the 11:10 AM ferry. We arrived and paid our fare only to be called back as we pulled away from the booth because the attendant didn’t ask how many adults we had in total and she saw DD in the back, so we had to reverse and pay another $5.50 for her. We thought we were paying by car, not by car and number of passengers. Oops!



Anyway, we got in line to get on the ferry and who should pull up behind us, but our neighbors. They were going up early to help the bride and groom set things up.

We texted them about meeting for lunch so we met in the parking lot of The Lodges.





We walked over to the Vashon Brewing Community Pub.



They had games on the lawn and they made a wicked grilled cheese sandwich! Their ice tea was made with fresh mint.



One of the groomsmen and his parents as well as the maid of honor and the grandmother of the bride joined us. After lunch, DDC and Will had to meet with some people delivering tents and tables to the resort. The Maid of Honor and DD were taking DDC and Will’s dog for a walk so we decided to walk into town with them, which was literally right there at the end of the driveway of the lodge. Anyway, we found an ice cream shop that made their ice cream with fresh local ingredients.



I decided to have Mint Chocolate Chip. They made it with will mint leaves and it was definitely refreshing.

Once we got back to The Lodges, we had been cleared to get into our “lodge”. We were in Lodge 3. There is no “reception desk” at The Lodges. You receive an email with your door code and the code isn’t activated until 3:00 PM. However, since we had a private party, we were able to get ours activated early. Each room was an individual unit. They were very cute and roomy. We had one king bedroom on one end and DD had a twin loft bed on the other with a curtain to separate her room. The shower was to die for.











There was a patio area complete with a gas fireplace and ceiling heaters to congregate so we hung out there while the other family members arrived.





DD was going to the rehearsal dinner so DH and I made reservations at a local restaurant called “The Hardware Store.” It was literally a converted hardware store, but was very nice and popular. We started with a nice wine and I had fried chicken, but it was too much food to eat. We did order their brownie for dessert which got high praise from Will.







After dinner, we walked a bit more of downtown. The theater was showing American Graffiti and several car enthusiasts brought their old cars to show.







We saw a deer and some old buildings on the way back. It is a very quaint island with a definite hippy vibe.







After the bridal party got back from the rehearsal dinner, games were put out on the lawn, corn hole and Kubb (a Swedish lawn game where you knock over wooden blocks by throwing a wooden baton at them). It ended up being very popular with the bridal party and the kids! We also built a fire and made S’mores. It was a great night of fun!

Next: Going to the chapel, so to speak.
 
Day 4
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Vashon Island


The bridal party was up at 9:00 AM and commandeered to help set up tables and linens for the wedding reception. DNC provided trays of breakfast danishes and fruit from the local supermarket for breakfast in the Common Room so we went and had a quick breakfast.

We weren’t really needed so we drove to the lower end of the island to the Point Robinson Light House. It was just a small lighthouse. It was a park, so we had to drive and hike down a trail to the actual lighthouse. The lower parking lot was closed as they were setting up for a festival of some sorts. It was a nice hike through beautiful lichen covered trees, ferns and flowers.









The spit of land that the light house was on was beautiful. There was a lot of driftwood on the beaches.





The lighthouse itself was very small, compared to the ones we had seen on Hatteras Island last month.









After spending some time there we drove back to the lodges. DD had waited so long for this day and was so excited to be included in the wedding. Unfortunately, Type 1 is unforgiving and decided that today of all days, it was going to kick DD in the butt. ☹ We came back to a crying DD in our lodge with very high blood sugars. She had the perfect storm of her pump inset falling out overnight, another inset kinking and too many emotions. She was not happy to be missing any of the events today. Fortunately, with a little rest and a very low carb, mostly protein lunch, her blood sugars were coming down enough for her to enjoy getting ready with the other bridesmaids and bride. Thankfully, by the time of the ceremony she was back to normal sugars and feeling great.

The wedding was beautiful. The weather was nice and cool with no rain for the entire day and the outdoor reception was wonderful. After dinner and the requisite toasts and dances, the entire wedding party went to the patio and continued the party with dessert and games.





We had to catch an early ferry in the morning so we called it a night around 10 PM and said our farewells.


Next: Vancouver here we come!
 
Day 5
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Vancouver


Well, the wedding weekend was over. It was time to switch gears to Cruise time!

We had just hours to go!



We were given Rainier Cherries as part of our welcome gift by DDC and Will. In addition, DH had bought some fresh blueberries at the farmers market, plus we had a few of the leftover danishes in our lodge for breakfast. We donated the uneaten cherries and blueberries to the rest of the crew as we couldn’t fly with them.

We were taking the bride’s grandmother to the airport with us as she was returning home and we were headed to Vancouver. 🛫 In exchange, DNC offered to take one of our pieces of luggage as they were driving to Vancouver. Of course, we gave them the heaviest one! We left the lodges at 8:15 AM to catch the 8:50 AM ferry back to the Fauntleroy terminal. It was another 30-40 minute drive to the airport. Google took us through surface streets rather than the 405, which was nice. We found a Fred Meyers and filled up our gas tank before returning our car.

We made it to the airport at about 9:45 AM. DNC’s mom’s flight was scheduled at noon and, of course, ours was international to Vancouver. We had to take a train 🚊over to the international N gates. We found Caffé D’arte Italian counter service and got a bite to eat.

Our flight loaded and left on time. It was a little less than an hour to get to Vancouver and we only had to wait a little bit for our gate to open up. Our plane was scheduled to land at 1:50 PM. We were walking off the plane at 1:40 PM! I love the Vancouver Terminal. I’ve arrived to airports in other countries where you walked down walled corridors to customs. Here, you walk over the gates and see cool Canadian and First People art.















It took 4 minutes to walk from the plane to customs where we did the self-serve kiosk thing and took awful pictures and then went to an agent. No stamps though. We retrieved our luggage, handed in our pieces of paper with our picture on them to the customs agent and went to find a cab. All in all it took about 25 minutes from our plane, through customs to our taxi.

We got a taxi to the Pan Pacific and arrived at about 2:50 PM.





We gave our bags to the bellman and went to check in. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we went to the bar and ordered a soft drink. We also had our first Poutine.



It was delicious. About an hour later, I got the call that our room was ready. I love how the Pan Pacific changes the carpet in the elevator to show the day of the week.



We were in room 1802 with a city view looking to the East. We got settled in and then set out for our quest to find the Disney Store in Vancouver. Google maps in hand, we headed up Granville Blvd. towards the store. It was in the mall. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any country specific Disney items like we have found in other countries. But DD found and bought a Duke Caboom plush, because she CAN-ada!.





We walked back to the Pan Pacific and walked around Canada Place for a little while. We watched the Holland America Noordam sail out of Vancouver, knowing that that would be us on the Disney Wonder the next afternoon!







Our neighbors arrived at about 6:00 PM. We retrieved our luggage and let them check in. DNJ’s brothers and their families were visiting Vancouver as well, so we tried to catch up with them for dinner. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get a table for all of us and they were there before we were ready, so we saw them at the Tap & Barrel, but we didn’t eat with them.



The food was good. It was around 9:00 PM when we finished. We walked back towards the hotel after dinner and saw the sun starting to set.







The mural on the wall of this walkway was so cool as it was getting darker.



We called it a night.



Next: Welcome Aboard!
 
Oh that poutine looks yum!!! We have been to Canada a few times and we have yet to try poutine.
We stayed at The Pan Pacific, great Hotel, if things work out, we will be there again in 2020 after the 10 night Hawaii cruise.
 
Oh that poutine looks yum!!! We have been to Canada a few times and we have yet to try poutine.
We stayed at The Pan Pacific, great Hotel, if things work out, we will be there again in 2020 after the 10 night Hawaii cruise.

It was! 😋 I had to kind of gather my courage to try it. While I like all of the ingredients separately, I usually don't like them combined. But, this was really tasty with the gravy, brisket and melted curds!
 
Thank you for your patience folks, the day has finally arrived, we're getting on the ship!

Day 6
Monday, July 8, 2019
Vancouver – Embarkation




It was finally the day. I was up at 6:00 AM. I quickly got dressed, grabbed my camera and went out to the pier to watch the Wonder come in. There were literally 2 other guys out there. The Canadian Trail was closed.



As the time progressed you could see people start to come out on the hotel observation deck. Finally at about 6:23 AM I saw the stacks peaking up above Stanley Park. Here she comes. She is such a beautiful ship!













She started to make her swing to pull in Aft first.







I went back up to the room a little before 7 to take a shower and get packed up.



There is a Tim Horton’s just across the street, so DD and I did a Tim Horton’s run at around 8:30 AM.





Their donuts are so good! I had a Premium Maple donut with vanilla custard inside and maple frosting outside. It was delicious!





DH had stayed behind in the room to finish getting packed up. We took a couple of donuts and some juice up to DH before going out to explore a little after our bags were picked up by the hotel porters. That was such a nice perk staying at the Pan Pacific to have our bags picked up and delivered to the ship. 👍



When we last sailed with DCL to Alaska, it was the first trip out of Vancouver for the season. For some reason, the Wonder had docked at the Ballantine docks just east of Canada Place after the transition cruise. Our party had to get transportation for us to the pier from the Pan Pacific. This time, the Wonder docked at Canada Place and we literally just had to go down the elevator! I had an 11:00 AM PAT so we arranged to meet our neighbors by the totem pole inside the convention center at 10:45 AM.



We started down the hall to Exhibit Hall C to check in for our cruise.



The lines weren’t bad at all and we practically walked right up to an agent.







I hardly had time to fill out the “Have you been sick?” form when an agent opened up. The Welcome Aboard Navigators were at the counter.













To be continued . . .
 
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Day 6 Continued

Our neighbors actually had to wait a bit in the Platinum line. I guess that goes to show how many Platinum members are out there now and on our cruise. It took another approximately 20 minutes to go through the process, take the elevator down to security, as DNM is in a wheelchair, (no line there at all) and get to the waiting area. I don’t think it would have made a lot of difference, but the Wonder was the only cruise ship in the terminal, so there were no crowds to deal with from other cruise lines.



You could see the room filling up.



Our neighbors boarded with their Number 1 boarding group to grab a table for us at Cabanas. Our Boarding Group 3 was called very shortly thereafter and we went to board. We stopped to get our picture taken and who should we run into but Davvisen from our Med Cruise! He was the photographer that we had our pseudo private photo shoot with in Florence!

We were on the gang plank at 12:05 to board.





We went straight to Cabanas where our neighbors had a nice table outside for us.



It was a beautiful day and 65 degrees. Although it looked threatening, we had no rain. I was so excited to get my peel and eat shrimp, I forgot to take a picture of my plate before I started eating, but here it is afterwards.



We had visitors walking on the roof!



I knew Scott from the Disney Cruise Line Blog was going to be on our sailing and he wasn’t sitting too far from us at lunch. I would see him several times on the ship and in port, but never stopped to say hi. I didn’t want to intrude on his vacation.

At 1:30, DC and I went to Azure to fix our Palo reservations. We went by the Atrium to see Goofy greeting the new passengers.



DNC (being a platinum) was able to get all 3 of her party in one reservation, whereas I had to make 3 different reservations to get the same day and time for brunch. Funny thing was, we waited for about 20 minutes before we got to the Palo manager, only to be told that he already fixed them and we were set for 6 people on the first sea day at 12:30 PM. Next time, we’ll just check the Navigator App!

At 1:30 PM, we got into our room. Stateroom 7120 (Secret Verandah) would be our home for the next 9 nights.







We prefer to take water bottles with us on excursions. I preordered water on the website and it was waiting for us in our room. Our luggage started arriving so we unpacked as it came in. DH’s was the last to be received before the muster drill.

DD and DH went to explore the ship while I unpacked. DD is a huge Marvel fan and wanted to check out the Marvel Academy in the Oceaneer’s Club. The club is open to all on embarkation day, so they went to check it out.





While she was there, she had to check out Andy’s room!









And Cousin Oaken’s Trading Post.



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We headed down to Animator’s Palate at 3:30 PM when we heard the alarm sound.



After the drill we went back up to our room and then to deck 9 for the new Sail-A-Wave Party. This is new since we sailed last year. I was glad to see that Jo was on board this cruise.





She is a blast! Before I knew it, I noticed that we were moving at 4:15 and Natalie (our cruise director) came out on the stage and did the count down, 5-4-3-2-1, and the wonderful Wonder horn blared.


To be continued. . .
 
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Day 6 Continued

By 4:20, I had my Mai Tai in the new Drink of the Day glass.



At 4:30, we were going under the Lions Gate Bridge on our way to Alaska!!















The shops opened at 5:30 PM. We had dinner at 5:45 PM. With my past history of special sailing souvenirs selling out, we went right to the shops when they opened. We found out that the Alaska merchandise was down on deck 3 at Sea Treasures.



We knew what we wanted and made our quick purchase.

Our dining rotation was TR-A-TP-TR-A-TP-TR-A-TP, so our first restaurant was Triton’s.





(Sorry for the blurry pic 😞)


Our servers were Mari from Poland and Orly from the Philippines. Our head server was Fasail from Indonesia. I have to admit, that while Mari was very sweet, this was not the best pair of servers we have had. They didn’t seem to jive with each other or work well together. Dinners ran consistently longer than usual and courses came out unevenly. We hardly saw Orly after our drinks were ordered. Often times, our meals were given to the wrong people at our table and we had to correct them a few times. While our wine was waiting on the table when we arrived, Orly seemed to always be late to our table for drink orders and DH poured his own wine most nights. After reading Scott’s blog, he experienced late service as well and surmised that it was more of a kitchen issue than a serving issue, but our servers never mentioned that there may have been a problem directly.

I also have to admit right now, that I was even worse than usual taking pictures of my food on this cruise. Sorry for those that like photos, but I’m sure all the food has been posted somewhere.

I had the Alaskan crab cake, clam chowder and pork tenderloin.






Dessert.







I got the Magical Express Sundae for dessert. We didn’t finish dinner until after 7:30 PM, which is what I usually expect for the first night.



None of us wanted to see Michael Harrison again (he has been on previous cruises), so we just walked around the ship. It was really empty during the time that people were at the show and dinner.

We caught a beautiful sunset





We noticed that the ping pong tables had been removed.





DD got a picture with Minnie Mouse.



Since this was DD’s first cruise as an “adult”, we encouraged her to go to the first 1820 Society meeting. This is for 18 to 20 year olds on the ship, or the “Betweeners” as we refer to them. They even have a “B” on their KTTW card. They are old enough to go to the adult places, but too old for The Vibe and too young to drink. The first meeting was at the Cove Café at 9:45 PM. She was a little reluctant, but went and didn’t come back to the room until close to 11 PM. She said that there were about 30 of them and the CM left after about 15 minutes. One girl had a Special Needs dog with her named Max that we saw several times and DD loved him.



We met our room steward earlier in the day. April was from the Philippines and she was one of the best stewards we have ever had. She provided ice for us every day and when I asked, she provided a printed navigator for me every night. Most mornings, she cleaned up our room while we were at breakfast and our room was always turned down by the time we came back from dinner.

Here was our first towel animal.



While the clouds looked threatening, and we got a few sprinkles on our way to the Disney store, the weather was absolutely perfect in Vancouver. We were so lucky that the sun came out for our Sail-A-Wave party! I missed going under the bridge on our last cruise because we left so late and we had main seating, so I was very happy to be able to watch us go under this time around without rushing to dinner. I had heard crazy things about checking in for the cruise at Canada Place, but I found it to be very easy and it wasn’t crowded at all, considering the number of people on the ship!


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