WONDERful Alaskan Adventure May 21-28 w Navigators and pictures

[remlap]

Hi fellow DIS Boarders. Below will be my recap of our fantastic Alaskan adventure. I will scan Navigators at work tomorrow and maybe even go back and add a pic or two. (no promises, I have 2000+ pictures I need to wade thru)

Our cruise started in January 2011. The Disney Wonder had just come through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles. They announced a 2 night "Cruise to No where." We booked on the first day, when it was cheap and before it sold out and prices sky rocketed. (I think it originally was planned to be a travel agent / press cruise before it almost instantly sold out.) On Board, we booked a 7 night Mexican Riviera out of LA, that is 20 minutes from Long Beach (Home) (the on board booking savings made the 2 night cruise free)

However, soon things went south in Mexico. Cruise lines pulling out of LA, those that stayed, dropping ports. We had a discussion, why are we going to Mexico. If the only thing we want to see was the Wonder, why not go to Alaska instead.

More important back story, in August 2011, for my 40th birthday, I was given a "bucket list" item of a trip on the Amtrak Coast Starlight. (we were still going to Mexico at the time) However, to maximize daylight hours, we had decided to hold off on the train until May/June.

It didn't a rocket scientist to figure out that if we had planned to take the train north from LA to Seattle and we were now cruising out of Vancouver, that we should combine the two.

Lastly, which cruise. That became an easy decision. I wanted to sail between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada. With the majority of the cruises out of Seattle, only the first and last cruise of the year that went from / to Vancouver did this. Also bonus, for a Monday to Monday cruise, it ended on Memorial Day, only requiring 5 vacation day from work.

So, we moved our Amtrak Coast Starlight to depart on Saturday, May 19th and moved our Wonder cruise from Mexico to a Vancouver departure of Monday 21st.

Links to Posts by Day




Questions, feel free to ask or PM.

 

[remlap]

Here's the post that I'll try to keep brief until i get to the part you care about, the Disney Wonder.

Friend and Neighbor drives us to Los Angeles Union Station. Made famous in TV and Movies and every train station in the US as well as random banks and government offices. (It really is a sight to see)

Check in drama. They can't guarantee that in Seattle, our luggage will make our connection to Vancouver, BC. However, we're in a Sleeper Car and on the lower level of each car they have luggage storage for people traveling to/from stations w/o luggage service. Honestly, this ended up being easier that having to find our luggage in Seattle.

Sleeper car passengers have access to the Traxx 1st Class Lounge. Otherwise known later in the day as the bar in Union Station. They have juice, coffee, an Amtrak person, along with a comfortable place to sit.

About 9:30, they announce they train is ready for boarding for sleeping car passengers. We head off to the tracks. They let our friend board with us and we give her a tour. How to make a cruiseline stateroom look huge. Compare it to a train bedroom.

The Amtrak Coast Starlight is the ONLY remaining Amtrak line with a 1st Class Pullman Parlor Car, for use of the sleeping car passengers.

It had comfy seats, dinning options with different choices than the dining car, a bar, daily wine and cheese tasting and huge windows to watch the world roll by.

This is a cruise board, so I'll just sum up. Trip was beautiful. I'm glad I did it. Don't need to do it again. I'm not sure I could have survived w/o the Parlor car. Also the Coast Starlight lived up (or down) to it's nickname, the Coast Star LATE. Earlier on the morning of the 19th different Northbound Surfliner train hit and killed someone. We had a two hour delay stopped at Simi Valley Amtrak station. (still in Los Angeles). Which led to additional delays (we met the southbound Coast Starlight trains at the wrong places). We never made up the time, and woke up the morning of the 20th, 3 hours behind schedule. That evening, we pulled into Seattle, still 3 hours behind schedule.

Every cloud has a silver lining. Instead of sleeping thru it, we got to see as we rolled thru Lake Shasta and gorgeous views of snow covered Mt. Shasta.

When you board a sleeper, you are offered a split bottle of either champagne or cider. Due to our running hours late the entire trip, the champagne and cider was kept flowing the entire trip.

37 hours after departing LA, we rolled into Seattle. (should have been 34)

Feel free to reply or PM if you have any questions on the Coast Starlight.

Now, only the part you all care about.

 

[remlap]

While in a perfect world, we'd take the Amtrak Cascades up from Seattle to Vancouver the morning of the cruise. However, Amtrak has history of running late, so we decide to take the guaranteed bus connections with our Coast Starlight.

Amtrak Coast Starlight arrived 3 hours late at Seattle at midnight.

After about 20 minutes, we take off towards the 5 N, close eyes and wake up as we pull into Canadian Boarder crossing. Quick in and out for most of us.

However, we see one person on our bus take their luggage into the back room.

We sit. After about 20 minutes, a guard comes out, our drivers closes up the bus and we take off. He just says, Canada has declined to grant them entry.

I think I nap again, but about 3:30 AM am finally dropped off at Vancouver Amtrak station. Cabs are there, we head to the hotel and check in at 4 AM.

The Sutton Place Hotel was a beautiful hotel. They offer us a late check out (we didn't actually use) and we go to bed.

Wake up about 10:30 AM, shower, and walk around the corner to Starbucks. Hotel had loaner umbrellas. It starts raining a bit harder on the way back, so we decide to cab to the port.

We are booked in an 11-C (will always be a 12 in my heart) and after checking in, we get in upgrade line. They quickly say no more suites or verandas. Boarding starts, but we stay in the line to see what a bit of daylight would cost us. We're thinking a couple hundred, Disney was thinking closer to $500, so we decide to stick with what we have.

We board and head to Parrot Cay for lunch. The stop us and say it's full and could we go to the buffet. We ask if we can wait. They ask if we could wait in the Promenade Lounge. We sit down and literally he comes over and tells us our table is ready.

Lunch was good and we see it's about 1:15 PM. We get a refill on our drinks and then it's time to head to our rooms at 1:30 PM. Our luggage is already there.

We then tour the ship taking lots of pictures..... before the DIS-meet

 

[bftrainer]

Thank you for sharing. We leave for the Alaska cruise next week.

 

[dismagiclover]

Can't wait for this report! We're taking the Alaskan cruise the end of July!

 

[Tikifamily]

Joining in. Can't wait to hear the details. We are on the frozen fireworks trip over the fourth of July

 

[Brocolina]

I'm looking forward to seeing your Navigators and reading more about your Alaskan adventures! I've been scouring the board for details from 2012 sailings and was thrilled to find your TR today. We sail in three weeks (can't wait!!).

Thanks so much for sharing your trip details with all of us.

- TJ

 

[jenf22]

Can't wait to read your report and see your Navigators!

 

[OC_stacylace]

Can't wait for the Navigators, also! Thanks for this great info.

We live in Orange County, and I've always wondered what it would be like to take the train up to Seattle. We have two kids, and the cost of a family sleeper car is so expensive. Do you think this trip would be doable in a non sleeper car?

 

[happenin2you]

We were on the same cruise! I can't wait to read yours and compare what we saw and did!

 

[DisSarahK]

Reading and following along! Can't wait to go to Alaska in August!

 

[remlap]

Sorry, Navigators went to work in my computer bag and stayed there the entire day. I'll make a point tomorrow since there are many requests.

We were wandering the ship, looking at the movie schedule, taking lots of photos. We purchased a couples length of stay Rain Forrest Pass. We were suckered into the hard sell of "with the colder Alaska temperatures, we probably will sell out and not offer Day Passes." They had them for sale every day.
We had a DIS Board meet in the promenade lounge. Everyone was very nice. Due to the Amtrak trip and luggage limitations, we didn't participate in the Fish Extender, but everyone was very nice and it was nice to put faces with names and bump into friendly faces around the ship.

The good thing about the 11-Cs is you get the best Life Boat Drill location. Sitting in the Walt Disney Theater. Here we were told the sail away party was moved into the Atrium. (we kind of assumed that anyway)

We actually wanted to see the ship sail away and asked an officer in the lobby what time the ship was actually leaving. He said 5 PM. The sail away party looses something inside, but it was still fun. The people up close seemed a bit packed in like sardines. However, we stood a bit back and had a fun time.

This was the only time during the entire trip I saw someone walking around with trays of "Drink of the Day" glasses. Up on deck, they always had the Alaskan coffee mug with something "adult" added to the coffee.

The confetti canons fired about 4:50, and we were ready to head up on deck. It had stopped raining, but there were only a few of us on deck as we pulled away from the dock.

As we backed out, we heard the famous horns for the first time. As we sailed under the Vancouver bridge, they went again. That was the only two times we heard them the entire trip.

I should say here that in addition to the previously mentioned 2 -Night, we have done a 4-Night to Nassau & Castaway Cay. We had only seen Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams....

So, eventually we made our way to the beverage station and then to the theater for the "All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin" show. It was like two unrelated mini shows. The first was with the Disney entertainment team. Then Christian (Cruise Director) comes and talks for a bit, and then they brought out a ventriloquist, Michael Harrison. Who did one skit. He was very funny. He also did an adult's cabaret show the next day and then a full evening show one of the nights.

If you remember, one of the reasons we are on THIS cruise was I wanted to sail up between Vancouver Island. It was pointed out that you really can't see from any of the dining rooms, so, we booked Palo for the first night, and Requested to start our rotation in Parot Cay, our least favorite of the 3 rotational menus. Our request was granted.

We were given a window table and watched as we sailed up the inside passage. Dinner was great.

Tuna Carpaccio and Lemon Oil Dressing
Lobster and Mascarpone Ravioli (asked for 1/2 order)
Beef Tenderloin "Palo"
Chocolate Soufflé

The steak was cooked perfectly.The Souffle lived up to memory.

The view and dinner was great as we watched the sunset.

 

[remlap]

Woke Up and went to the fitness center.
Got a call to meet for breakfast at Tritons, a first.

DCL brings a USFS Naturalist on board. (actually two, but one was mostly in the kid clubs)

At 9:30, went to the Naturalist presentation in the theater. It was nice overview and glad I went. Overall, I saw 3 of the 4 presentations on the cruise.

At 11 AM, went to the DVC Member Celebration. It was fun. Much better than the watching the DVD they show for new members. Plus the drinks kept flowing.

I think we had a snack at the buffet for lunch and I know I went to the 2 PM Ranger talk, this one on Brown vs. Black Bears. Again, beautiful photos and glad I went.

Having seen the Golden Mickey's before, we skipped and went to the Rain Forest Room. We were in right place for the "Ice Ritual" It was free, but you had to sign up. We hadn't signed up, but there were some no shows, plus the guy said he'd just do it a second session for anyone else that wanted to join in.

Summary, they crank the main steam room. The host waves a hot moist towel at everyone and then you grab several handfuls of ice and rub them on yourself. They said it did lots of great things. I thought it was fun once, but didn't need to do it multiple times. I'm not doing it justice in the description, however, there still wasn't much too it. If you like steam rooms, I'd recommend it. If your ideal of bliss in the rain forest room is just to curl up on the tile loungers, you're not missing anything.

We then showered and changed and went to the lobby for the Captain's reception in the Atrium. The drinks were weak, but price was right.

On day 1, we had filled out a card for future cruise desk and they had left a reply in our room. There wasn't a line so we waited to speak with the cast member as they handed us drinks. Ultimately, we want a 2014 on the Dream, so we said, what's the furthest out you can book with the smallest deposit.
We are now booked on a 2013 October 3 Night Cruise on the Dream that we don't intend to sail. He did ask if it was a dummy date, we said yes and he typed something. I'm not sure what. However, for a $90 total deposit, we'll save 10% and get $100 OBC. We listed Dreams Unlimited again as our agent. I'd prefer to book direct, but if they want to give us money, I'm happy to list them. Plus our agent (Marla) was very responsive and helpful when we switched from Mexico to Alaska. Beyond that, I hope we're low maintenance.

Tonight's dinner menu, obviously the Golden Mickeys. We were looking forward to meeting out table mates. The dining room was at least 1/3 empty. Lots of empty tables. The two of us were at our own four top table. We would have actually preferred company, but it wasn't a big deal.

On our 4 night cruise, we had the SLOWEST waiters in dining room. This time, we were moving right along. One of our waiter's tables guests only came one night. (they had a baby) Plus with all of the empty tables, we had our food quick. It actually worked out well as we soon developed a schedule of dinner followed by jacuzzi. On the dinners with a "show" elements. Animators, Till We Meet Again, etc, we always had our dessert before the "show" and could leave after.

The head waiter introduced himself and told us about our character breakfast the next morning. (we hadn't paid attention, and was glad they told us about it) also, they told as they were having a deck BBQ at the buffet for Tracy Arm. Having been on cruises were we hadn't even met the head waiter until they came around the last night with their hand out, our head waiter was on this cruise was good. He stopped by every night and we ran into him at the buffet one morning at breakfast and he was chatting their too.

As said above, we were out of dinner by 9:15 most every night. We headed to the jacuzzi. We were joined by some of the entertainment staff who were very friendly and for the rest of the week, made a point to say HI when we happened to run into them around the ship. This is also the first night we realized that it was 10 PM and still very light out. We weren't in California.

We bailed out of the hot tub about 10:15. We wanted to go see the Adult Cabaret of Michael Harrison. The ventriloquist who was in the 1st night show. As part of his opening monologue, he made a joke that this wasn't his "Adult show" but his "show for adults." The act was very funny. Wavebands was packed. We enjoyed the show very much. (humor was only rated PG)

After the show, Wave Bands was doing "80s One Hit Wonders" for shots if you were the first person that could name the song and artist. The music was fun, but we soon left and called it a night. Tomorrow, Glaciers, but not the one we were supposed to see.

 

[mrp4352]

Hi Fellow Mooskateer!!

As we backed out, we heard the famous horns for the first time. As we sailed under the Vancouver bridge, they went again. That was the only two times we heard them the entire trip.

You know - I had noticed that too. I wondered if it was because I was generally inside the ship when we left ports, so I just didn't notice the horns or if it was because we didn't sound them...

 

[happenin2you]

Hi Fellow Mooskateer!!



You know - I had noticed that too. I wondered if it was because I was generally inside the ship when we left ports, so I just didn't notice the horns or if it was because we didn't sound them...

We also noticed the lack of horn, but I know there are noise laws in Alaska. The day we were in Ketchikan, my husband and I were in the Quiet Cove hot tub for about an hour while we were leaving port and never heard it. We just chalked it up to Alaska noise laws.

 

[remlap]

Can't wait for the Navigators, also! Thanks for this great info.

We live in Orange County, and I've always wondered what it would be like to take the train up to Seattle. We have two kids, and the cost of a family sleeper car is so expensive. Do you think this trip would be doable in a non sleeper car?

Coach on Amtrak is like Business Class on an airplane. Lots of leg room, seats that recline (Not fully) with leg rest.

There is a shared observation car that's all windows.

That said, personally I wouldn't want to do it without a sleeper, as, I'm not sure how good of sleep I'd get. Plus the Pacific Parlor Car is what made the trip for us. (your mileage may very)

You'd need to make sure your kids will be happy on the train. 34 hours is a LONG trip. The "stretch and smoke breaks" at the major stations are few and far between. (I don't smoke, that's just what Amtrak called them)

Personally I might say leave the kids with Grandparents and go without and at least spring for the roomette. (however you know your family best)

And even the regular rooms are $$$$$. You have to want to take the train.

 

[remlap]

Why you should not scan things at 4:25 when your carpool is leaving at 4:30.

Attached are links to upside down Alaskan Navigator PDFs. However, it's a quick right click to right side up them. I'll rescan tomorrow and update this post.

Vancouver
http://remlaplbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/alaska-navigator-day-1-vancouver.pdf

Day At Sea
http://remlaplbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/alaska-navigator-day-2-at-sea.pdf

Tracy Arm (but not for us)
http://remlaplbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/alaska-navigator-day-3-tracy-arm.pdf

Skagway
http://remlaplbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/alaska-navigator-day-4-skagway.pdf

Juneau
http://remlaplbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/alaska-navigator-day-5-juneau.pdf

Ketchikan
http://remlaplbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/alaska-navigator-day-6-ketchikan.pdf

At Sea
http://remlaplbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/alaska-navigator-day-7-at-sea.pdf

 

[Linda67]

Loving your TR

We are going to be doing the Alaskan Cruise in June 2013 but it's never too early to get excited and plan right?

You mentioned that you stayed at the Sutton Place Hotel, how was it? is it very far to the port from the hotel?

We are going to be staying in Vancouver for a few nights pre-cruise as we have never visited before so want to do some sightseeing

Would you say it's a good location?

Sorry for so many questions!

 

[jenf22]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the Navigators. I'm printing them all right now, so upside-down doesn't matter!

 

[remlap]

Loving your TR

We are going to be doing the Alaskan Cruise in June 2013 but it's never too early to get excited and plan right?

You mentioned that you stayed at the Sutton Place Hotel, how was it? is it very far to the port from the hotel?

We are going to be staying in Vancouver for a few nights pre-cruise as we have never visited before so want to do some sightseeing

Would you say it's a good location?

Sorry for so many questions!

Sutton place is a fantastic location for the cruise. The hotel seemed very nice. We booked it on Hot Wire. (It's the 5 Star hotel on Hot Wire that says Indoor Pool)

It's 8 blocks to Canada Place and we had planned on just walking it. However, it was raining and walking 8 blocks in the rain, with luggage and an umbrella made a $10 cab ride seem easy decision.

Our room was beautiful, on the top floor. The bed was comfy and the shower was hot. That said, we arrived at 4 AM and left about 11:00, so we didn't spend too much time there. However, if Canada Place is walkable, so would GasTown area. I've only been there one time before as part of Ski trip, so this was my first summer visit and we didn't see much of the sights. But Vancouver is a beautiful city. Be sure to visit Grouse Mountain and take the tram up to the top of the mountain. (if it's clear out)

We had booked a "cancel-able back up hotel" and then about two weeks before started looking at Hotwire and Priceline. (We ruled out Priceline as if you look at the zone, it's a BIG area)

I hope this helps!