LittleTuna12
Member
Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing!!!
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2018 The Wonder of Alaskan Cruise
- Thread starter ZapperZ
- Start date
joanna71985
Well-Known Member
I agree about Palo! Ate there twice on my last cruise, and just love it
OK, here's another video fresh of my video-editing software (and freshly-published on YouTube). This is our Alaska Canopy Adventure that we took in Ketchikan. It was such a fun activity, even though I was freaking out on the rope bridges.
Don't miss the bears!
At the completion of the adventure, we each received a medal!
Looks like the same company runs something similar in Juneau. I may just have to try it there next time... and there will be a next time, I am sure of that!
Zz.
Don't miss the bears!
At the completion of the adventure, we each received a medal!
Looks like the same company runs something similar in Juneau. I may just have to try it there next time... and there will be a next time, I am sure of that!
Zz.
I'm calling this series of photos as "The Disney Wonder in Alaska". The photos show the ship within its surroundings during this cruise.
We start with the Disney Wonder as it was docked at Canada Place in Vancouver.
This was our first port-of-call: Icy Strait Point.
We then moved on to Skagway.
cont.....
We start with the Disney Wonder as it was docked at Canada Place in Vancouver.
This was our first port-of-call: Icy Strait Point.
We then moved on to Skagway.
cont.....
.... cont.
Still in Skagway.
This is one of my most favorite shot of the ship against the backdrop of the tall mountains of the fjords.
Next stop was the state capital, Juneau.
In Juneau, we did the Mt. Roberts tram. So this is a series of ever-ascending photos of the ship as we climbed.
cont.....
Still in Skagway.
This is one of my most favorite shot of the ship against the backdrop of the tall mountains of the fjords.
Next stop was the state capital, Juneau.
In Juneau, we did the Mt. Roberts tram. So this is a series of ever-ascending photos of the ship as we climbed.
cont.....
So I'm going to call this post as a brief report on my "minor disappointments" during this cruise. First of all, these are really minor complaints, and truly, I didn't expect everything to be fine throughout my entire journey. A few of these were due to my own "choosing", but I wish I had known a bit more and not make that choice if given more information. But on others, I am truly puzzled why it happened.
1. I already mentioned my disappointing first excursion when we stopped at Icy Strait Point. It is not that this is not what they should offer, but rather, they should have clearly stated what it involves, and that the "tribal dance" may not be at the level that most people expected.
2. The second one was my puzzlement on where the Disney Wonder placed a smoking section on their ship. I wrote about this in my earlier "rant". The one on Deck 9 was placed towards the front of the ship. It meant that when the ship is in motion, and the wind would generally be going from front to back, many areas on Deck 10 will be downwind from the smoke coming from below. It ruined the experience for us, especially after we settled on an almost perfect viewing spot on Deck 10. It was bad enough that we gave up our spot, and moved to the other side of the ship and settled for a less-than-ideal viewing location.
3. When we did our Western Caribbean cruise in 2016, the big show at the end of the cruise, See Ya Real Soon, was heart-warming and a very nice and simple production. It was worth waiting for. On this cruise, they offered one show called "Till We Meet Again", at 10:00 pm, on the final night of the cruise. I waited eagerly for it, camera and camcorder in hand, and picked my spot. It was a major disappointment and nowhere near the production of See Ya Real Soon. It was simply an introduction to various characters and princesses, a meet-and-greet, and then they left one by one. There was no production of any kind. By the end of it, all I could think of was "And I stayed up for this?" I don't think I even want to edit the video of this "show". It was that big of a let-down and a waste of time.
4. This was puzzling, and it happened throughout the entire cruise. We had our breakfast and lunch each day in the Cabanas. Here's what I don't understand. In the entire restaurant, there was not a single half-and-half dispenser, or creamer, to be found! Oh sure, they had those flavor-creamer pods, but you could not find a plain half-and-half in there to save your life! I asked! When I asked the server where the cream or half-and-half were, they pointed to the flavor-creamer, of which I told them that they were and not what I asked for. They were apologetic, and offered to bring me some from "outside". "Outside?" I said the first time one of the server said this to me. It turned out that just outside the entrance to the Cabanas (in the outdoor area), there were drinks dispensers for soda, hot water, and coffee. And guess what, folks? There is a huge half-and-half dispenser there! So there's one there, but none could be found within the Cabanas itself! How nutty was that? I ended up grabbing carton of whole milk to add to my coffee each time I ate at the Cabanas. And oh, btw, I wasn't the only one who asked for the plain half-and-half. I heard several other guests asking for it.
5. I knew this was going to be a hit-or-miss when I took it, but I was underwhelmed by what we got from the Art of the Theme tour of the ship. When I took this on The Dream, it was great the first time around, and lame the second time. When we took this on The Fantasy, it was fantastic. On this one, it was a yawner. I wish they had a lot more "show" to go along with the plenty of "tell". I don't know if it isn't that convenient to drag a group of people from one part of the ship to the next, but this tour could be elevated to so much more, considering how Disney prides itself on the details on each ship. When we were told about the decor of the atrium, etc., why couldn't we do that there and not in the waiting area of Palo? It would have been so much easier to actually see what were being described, and the things that we missed. And I always think that when they talked about the chosen colors for the ship, the emergency boats, etc., they should be done right there where the boats, etc. were. Like I said, I would have preferred there to have been more "show" to accompany the "tell".
6. When we did our first DVC Member Cruise a few years ago, we were among the early ones to have used the Navigator app. One of the things I wrote about in reviewing the app was that it would have been nice to be able to message other guests while on the ship. A few months after I wrote that, they actually added this feature. However, now they need to do a bit more. With regards to the app, they need to add a feature where you can text more than just one guest at a time! When you traveled with a group, like what we did, it was tedious to text one person at a time, rather than send it to the group just once. And oh, the text messages didn't actually get to the intended guest immediately each time. In fact, I've had guests who texted me in mid morning, and I only got it while we were having lunch together that afternoon. Just like the MyDisneyExperience app, there were a lot of flakiness with some of the features. It would also have been very useful to have the updated hours for various restaurants, especially the Cabanas, since on certain days, they were opened early to cater for guests with early excursion. Instead, we had to go ask, or look at the posted time at the entrance to the restaurant.
Other than that, we had a great cruise!
Zz.
1. I already mentioned my disappointing first excursion when we stopped at Icy Strait Point. It is not that this is not what they should offer, but rather, they should have clearly stated what it involves, and that the "tribal dance" may not be at the level that most people expected.
2. The second one was my puzzlement on where the Disney Wonder placed a smoking section on their ship. I wrote about this in my earlier "rant". The one on Deck 9 was placed towards the front of the ship. It meant that when the ship is in motion, and the wind would generally be going from front to back, many areas on Deck 10 will be downwind from the smoke coming from below. It ruined the experience for us, especially after we settled on an almost perfect viewing spot on Deck 10. It was bad enough that we gave up our spot, and moved to the other side of the ship and settled for a less-than-ideal viewing location.
3. When we did our Western Caribbean cruise in 2016, the big show at the end of the cruise, See Ya Real Soon, was heart-warming and a very nice and simple production. It was worth waiting for. On this cruise, they offered one show called "Till We Meet Again", at 10:00 pm, on the final night of the cruise. I waited eagerly for it, camera and camcorder in hand, and picked my spot. It was a major disappointment and nowhere near the production of See Ya Real Soon. It was simply an introduction to various characters and princesses, a meet-and-greet, and then they left one by one. There was no production of any kind. By the end of it, all I could think of was "And I stayed up for this?" I don't think I even want to edit the video of this "show". It was that big of a let-down and a waste of time.
4. This was puzzling, and it happened throughout the entire cruise. We had our breakfast and lunch each day in the Cabanas. Here's what I don't understand. In the entire restaurant, there was not a single half-and-half dispenser, or creamer, to be found! Oh sure, they had those flavor-creamer pods, but you could not find a plain half-and-half in there to save your life! I asked! When I asked the server where the cream or half-and-half were, they pointed to the flavor-creamer, of which I told them that they were and not what I asked for. They were apologetic, and offered to bring me some from "outside". "Outside?" I said the first time one of the server said this to me. It turned out that just outside the entrance to the Cabanas (in the outdoor area), there were drinks dispensers for soda, hot water, and coffee. And guess what, folks? There is a huge half-and-half dispenser there! So there's one there, but none could be found within the Cabanas itself! How nutty was that? I ended up grabbing carton of whole milk to add to my coffee each time I ate at the Cabanas. And oh, btw, I wasn't the only one who asked for the plain half-and-half. I heard several other guests asking for it.
5. I knew this was going to be a hit-or-miss when I took it, but I was underwhelmed by what we got from the Art of the Theme tour of the ship. When I took this on The Dream, it was great the first time around, and lame the second time. When we took this on The Fantasy, it was fantastic. On this one, it was a yawner. I wish they had a lot more "show" to go along with the plenty of "tell". I don't know if it isn't that convenient to drag a group of people from one part of the ship to the next, but this tour could be elevated to so much more, considering how Disney prides itself on the details on each ship. When we were told about the decor of the atrium, etc., why couldn't we do that there and not in the waiting area of Palo? It would have been so much easier to actually see what were being described, and the things that we missed. And I always think that when they talked about the chosen colors for the ship, the emergency boats, etc., they should be done right there where the boats, etc. were. Like I said, I would have preferred there to have been more "show" to accompany the "tell".
6. When we did our first DVC Member Cruise a few years ago, we were among the early ones to have used the Navigator app. One of the things I wrote about in reviewing the app was that it would have been nice to be able to message other guests while on the ship. A few months after I wrote that, they actually added this feature. However, now they need to do a bit more. With regards to the app, they need to add a feature where you can text more than just one guest at a time! When you traveled with a group, like what we did, it was tedious to text one person at a time, rather than send it to the group just once. And oh, the text messages didn't actually get to the intended guest immediately each time. In fact, I've had guests who texted me in mid morning, and I only got it while we were having lunch together that afternoon. Just like the MyDisneyExperience app, there were a lot of flakiness with some of the features. It would also have been very useful to have the updated hours for various restaurants, especially the Cabanas, since on certain days, they were opened early to cater for guests with early excursion. Instead, we had to go ask, or look at the posted time at the entrance to the restaurant.
Other than that, we had a great cruise!
Zz.
Zipadeelady
Well-Known Member
This is the best ever!!!Going back to an earlier post, related to this, this was THE BEST T-SHIRT that I found during the entire trip!
View attachment 315623
And yes, I've worn it a couple of times already since we got home.
Zz.
LittleTuna12
Member
I just finished and loved your videos and pictures!
Quick question. My kids and wife are going on a zip line tour at a local zoo. Do you have any advise on where to attach our GoPro or do they just have to look to the side vs straight ahead? Thanks!
Quick question. My kids and wife are going on a zip line tour at a local zoo. Do you have any advise on where to attach our GoPro or do they just have to look to the side vs straight ahead? Thanks!
When you do a zipline, they typically will make you wear a helmet, and it has to be their helmet. Many of these operators have helmets that you can attach action cameras to, especially GoPro. The most common way to attach your GoPro to these helmets is this by having this type of attachment to your GoPro. If I recall correctly, this attachment comes standard with a GoPro.
So if you have this attached to your GoPro, it will attach easily to the helmets.
The only thing whoever is wearing it has to remember is that this is typically attached almost right above your forehead, so where you place your hands during the zipline may obscure the view (as you can see from my zipline videos). I should have just let go of the handbars and floated freely down the zipline. I probably would have made for a better scenery shot!
Zz.
LittleTuna12
Member
Don't mean to necropost in one of my old thread, but I'm just curious if love disney is still planning on doing an Alaska cruise this year for their 10 anniversary.
If you still are but can't go this year, we have booked for a Disney Alaska cruise in late July next year (2022), so if you don't mind postponing for another year, we can try to sync up!
Zz.
love disney
Active Member
We did indeed have to postpone after originally scheduling it for June of this year...we took the future cruise credit and (with some additional funds) were able to upgrade to a navigators verandah for June of next year. Hopefully things will work out and life will be at least close to back to normal by then! Enjoy late July!Don't mean to necropost in one of my old thread, but I'm just curious if love disney is still planning on doing an Alaska cruise this year for their 10 anniversary.
If you still are but can't go this year, we have booked for a Disney Alaska cruise in late July next year (2022), so if you don't mind postponing for another year, we can try to sync up!
Zz.
But will you still be going to Alaska? If I remember correctly, the July cruise that we will be taking will be only the 2nd trip of the season for the Wonder to Alaska in 2022. So where are you planning on going in June?
Zz.
love disney
Active Member
Yes, still going to Alaska. Looks like they are planning a full season of Alaska cruises in 2022..first one is May 16, we were able to get a good rate for mid-June, same itinerary as late-July. We can not wait and have already started figuring out all of our port excursions, I think all we have left to finalize is Ketchikan. Pretty sure we will just stroll through town that day and head out on our own (if allowed with Covid restrictions if there are any) to see totem poles in the area.
You can always do the zipline at Ketchikan, like we did!
Wonderful to hear that you'll get to do your Alaska cruise! And Happy Anniversary!
Zz.
Maelstrom Troll
Well-Known Member
Just finished your review and it brought back a lot of memories from our 2016 Alaskan cruise on the Wonder (Our favorite cruise to date). I think I like the ship better before the upgrade but it is still our favorite ship nonetheless. We had a return cruise scheduled for this past May but instead pushed it off for an E Caribb next year. Hoping to make it back though, maybe summer of 2023 
thank you for the memories and well done!
thank you for the memories and well done!
Just finished your review and it brought back a lot of memories from our 2016 Alaskan cruise on the Wonder (Our favorite cruise to date). I think I like the ship better before the upgrade but it is still our favorite ship nonetheless. We had a return cruise scheduled for this past May but instead pushed it off for an E Caribb next year. Hoping to make it back though, maybe summer of 2023
thank you for the memories and well done!
You're very welcome. Glad you found the report. We still look back at the cruise with very fond memories, and I watch the videos quite often to remind me what a terrific time we had, not just during the cruise, but also exploring Vancouver, BC. We are hoping to do this again next year, assuming that the COVID situation doesn't get worse than it is now.
We did the Western Caribbean a few years ago, and also had a blast there. We definitely want to do the Eastern Caribbean one of these days.
Zz.