It's a Wonder-ful Alaska!! May 30th-June 7th

Our Alaska cruise was finally here! We booked this cruise when it first came out over a year and a half ago! We waited soooo long!

When we first booked we weren't sure we would do it. It was so expensive! At $5000 for the four of us for an oceanview room, plus airfare to Vancouver, we weren't sure we should. Several times over the next few months I checked other cruise line rates.

Slight rant - People love to talk about how much more Disney is than other cruise lines, but that's just not always true. I never found a savings of more than a few hundred dollars on any other line. Sure you can find great specials on other lines at times, and you can find great specials on Disney at times. But comparing exact same date for date, the difference was not much if at all. Is Disney worth a few hundred more? You bet your bippy it is!

So we stuck with our current plans! Then when the kids sail free offer came out, our price dropped to $3000! Score! So glad we didn't jump ship so to speak!

Who:

We ended up with 7 cabins of friends and family on this one! It was awesome! Disney cruises are the perfect vacation for large groups with different ages and interests.

Now a disclaimer. I did a horrible job of getting a picture of everyone this time! I don’t know why! Everyone appeared in different pictures, just no good pictures of each family. So here’s a hodgepodge of photos of the group. I had to steal a few from my brother in laws facebook! We’ve got a great group picture of everyone, but unfortunately it was on the desktop which is now packed and on it’s way to Washington DC. Here’s the breakdown of who is who and then I will post pictures. This will also give you a preview of some of our activities during the week!

First - Us! I'm Tammy, Disney lover, travel agent. My Dh is Stephen, Air Force officer. Ds 16 is Chase and Dd 13 is Ally.

Next - My parents. My parents have been on most of our cruises and WDW trips, including the Med cruise last year.

Then - My inlaws. My inlaws have also been on several cruises with us. My parents love WDW and cruises, my inlaws, however, are Disney cruise addicts. Their favorite vacation, hands down. This time my brother in law got to join us again. It was his second Disney cruise.

Next up - my brother in law and fam. This is their third cruise with us. They have a Dd15 and Dd 12. You may recognize them from our Grand Villa vacation last October.

Then - Friends with twins! You may recognize these cuties from another cruise with us when they were littler. They are 3 now!

Next - More friends! This is my Ds's best friend. His sweet grandmother brought him.

Finally - More friends! These are two long time friends of my inlaws. We've known them for 20+ years.

Here’s the run down!

Dh and I –

Dad and Mom –

Inlaws and Uncle Scott – (Stole this picture!)

Brother in law and Sister in law –

Friends with Twins –

Long time friends –

Friend! – (Stole this picture!)

 

[Disneyfalcon]

DD on the left and my nieces –

Ds –

Friend of DS –

Twins! –

 

[rsoxguy]

You have a charming group of family and friends. I have wanted to take an Alaskan cruise for a long time, and even more so now that Disney is involved. I can never seem to work it out with my schedule, but one day I will clear a week or two and do it. Is it wrong that I envy you at this moment?
When the time is right, I will be contacting you for all of the reservations and advice. I'm enjoying the report thus far.

 

[HollyBelle]

I'm a cruise lover, obviously, but I don't know if I'd go for an Alaska sailing, I'm more of an island girl... give me margaritas, sun, and sand and I'm in heaven! That being said, I'm excited to see if you'll change my mind. I can't wait for more!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm a cruise lover, obviously, but I don't know if I'd go for an Alaska sailing, I'm more of an island girl... give me margaritas, sun, and sand and I'm in heaven! That being said, I'm excited to see if you'll change my mind. I can't wait for more!

You mean Donald in flannel doesn't change your mind?! Just think of what Daisy is wearing!!! :lol:




Soooo excited to see the report on it's way up, Tammy! I've been waiting and wondering trying really hard to flex my new patience muscle. :lol:

What a group! Can't wait to see the adventures unfold for all of you! :sohappy:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

You have a charming group of family and friends. I have wanted to take an Alaskan cruise for a long time, and even more so now that Disney is involved. I can never seem to work it out with my schedule, but one day I will clear a week or two and do it. Is it wrong that I envy you at this moment?
When the time is right, I will be contacting you for all of the reservations and advice. I'm enjoying the report thus far.

Woo hoo!! Not wrong to envy! I'd love to help when you're ready!

I'm a cruise lover, obviously, but I don't know if I'd go for an Alaska sailing, I'm more of an island girl... give me margaritas, sun, and sand and I'm in heaven! That being said, I'm excited to see if you'll change my mind. I can't wait for more!

You're a cruise lover?:lol:

I hear you, I love those warm soak up the sun cruises. But new itineraries really excite me and Alaska did not disappoint! The scenery was to die for. Every time I went up on the top deck there was something different to see.

And the pools, as you'll see later, were like giant bath tubs. The perfect temperature. They were awesome!!

Our family is split on their favorite itinerary so far. My ds said Alaska, hands down. My dd said Caribbean. I would go with the Mediterranean.

I wouldn't give up the other itineraries, but Alaska was amazing and I am so glad we did it!!

 

[HollyBelle]

You mean Donald in flannel doesn't change your mind?! Just think of what Daisy is wearing!!! :lol:

You make an exceptionally valid point, Kelly! :lol:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

You mean Donald in flannel doesn't change your mind?! Just think of what Daisy is wearing!!! :lol:




Soooo excited to see the report on it's way up, Tammy! I've been waiting and wondering trying really hard to flex my new patience muscle. :lol:

What a group! Can't wait to see the adventures unfold for all of you! :sohappy:

Seriously!! How can Holly turn down these costumes!! Wait until you see Minnies!!

Thank you, Kelly! I'm trying to get a lot done today. We are smack dab in the middle of moving to Washington DC, but I actually have a somewhat free day!:sohappy:

 

[eagles]

yay, can't wait for more. i don't think you had to point out your daughter in that one pic. LOL she is a smaller you. but wow, they are all growing so much.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

yay, can't wait for more. i don't think you had to point out your daughter in that one pic. LOL she is a smaller you. but wow, they are all growing so much.

Louella! She is a mini me!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

May 30th - Departure Day!

Finally! Mercy this was a long time to wait for our vacation! To make it even more painful, a few families went a day or two early, and we didn't fly out until the afternoon, so we were the last to arrive! I hate that! They were testing me with tales of the beauty of Vancouver and our hotel. I HATE THAT!

No, I was happy for them. Really. :lookaroun

I had been packed for days so we had nothing to do this morning! Longest morning of my life!

We finally left the house at noon and ate at Chick Fil A with friends. Then we killed some time at Target and they dropped us off at the airport. Woo hoo!!!

A little backstory here. We always arrive for cruises the day before. We are not taking any chances! If your flight is delayed a day on your way to WDW, you start your vacation a day late. If your flight is delayed a day for a cruise? You have missed your vacation. And no amount of trip insurance in the world cures that disappointment.

A month or two before we left I read a trip report from someone who was flying in to Orlando from NYC (I think) the day before their cruise. It was a busy weekend and flights were full. Their flight had mechanical difficulties and was cancelled. They literally could not get another flight that would get them to Port Canaveral before that ship sailed - the NEXT day!! They couldn't even drive in time.

Well that scared me to death. I always felt we were safe with one whole day to play with. Well no longer! I was seriously worried.

I tried several times to change our flights but there was nothing (with miles) that was earlier. Not even the day before. Shoot, I forgot it was Memorial Day Weekend!

One thing working in our favor - it was practically a direct flight. We had a short 30 minute flight to Denver, and than direct to Vancouver from there.

We checked in and I heard those dreaded words. Flight delay. Apparently Denver had some high winds and they were canceling and delaying flights. Mercy. If the problem was in Colorado Springs, we would have jumped in the car and gone to Denver! But the problem was in Denver! Arrrrghhhhh!

We settled in.

Our flight was pushed back 3 times. My word.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We boarded 45 minutes late. The doors closed.

And reopened again 5 minutes later. The plane weighed too much (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the 7 suitcases we checked:lookaroun) and they needed volunteers to get off. $400 a person for 4 volunteers!!! Oh how tempting and totally not. Four people volunteered, got off and they shut the doors again...

And opened them 5 minutes later. :brick: We had actually taxied this time. And then we went back to the gate and opened the doors. Now we were deplaning. Weather was too bad in Denver. We were over an hour late now.

Seriously. Can. Not. Breathe. Now.

Oh and guess what? We are right next to the people who took the $400! So wrong.

We spent our time in the terminal looking for alternate flights.

Well some of us did. Some of us just read our Kindles like nothing was happening:

There was nothing. Nada. Not even the next day!

My worst nightmare was coming true. When dh started talking about what our insurance would cover I almost cried.

Check out this very small section of the very long line of happy people waiting to talk to the agent:

2 hours and 30 minutes after our flight was supposed to have left we were given the all clear to board again. This time hallelujah, we actually took off!

The question was whether our flight to Vancouver would still be there when we landed.

And the answer is - No! Wahhhhhh! I almost burst into tears yet again.

But I didn't!

Dh got on the phone and we hightailed it to the first customer service counter we saw. I got in line. When we got to the front, we found out we had been rebooked to Seattle on a late night flight. Then we would fly to Vancouver in the morning.

That was such a relief!! I knew if we could at least make it to Seattle we could drive from there if we had to! Yay! :sohappy:

Then I realized we would be spending the night in the airport. And we wouldn't have our bags! Or clothes! Or toothbrushes!

This was going to be one scary boarding picture. But thank goodness - there would be a boarding picture!!

We had a gorgeous hotel in Vancouver booked for the night. The Wonder would have been right outside our window when we woke up! Check this out. I didn't take this, it's from their website:

I called and they very graciously let us cancel our night there without penalty, even though it was well after 6.

We had an uneventful flight to Seattle and made our way to the USO to get a few hours of sleep.

Unfortunately they were out of beds, (but not toothbrushes thank goodness!) so we started calling hotels. Found one! Finally in bed at 1:15. Wow. Long day.

 

[ChuckElias]

Friend! – (Stole this picture!)

I haven't even read the report yet, but just had to say:


PALO!!!!

You even got the cool mosaic room!!

 

[smk]

OH NO! I am hooked on your report and it ended! Please come back and finish....soon!

 

[maggiegrace1]

HURRY..packing and moving can wait!...Jeez woman!!!!!!!!


:lol:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I haven't even read the report yet, but just had to say:


PALO!!!!

You even got the cool mosaic room!!

Private room!! Twice!! Once for dinner and once for brunch!!:sohappy:

OH NO! I am hooked on your report and it ended! Please come back and finish....soon!

I'll try!!

HURRY..packing and moving can wait!...Jeez woman!!!!!!!!


:lol:

I know, where are my priorities? :lol:

 

[foreverbelle]

OMG you aren't even on board yet and I already want more. I think everyone on here is going on a Disney cruise. I so can't wait to hear about the Alaska one in particular. As much as I love me some sun heat and sand. My husband on the other hand leans more towards mountains, cool air and glaciers. So I know he secretly or not so, wants to take an Alaskan cruise.

I am so sorry to hear about your flight issues, what a bummer. You gave me something to think about when we start booking our own DCL vacation. Arriving a day before hand is something I would have never thought about.

I am so looking forward to reading the rest, though I hope it gets a little smoother from here on out.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

OMG you aren't even on board yet and I already want more. I think everyone on here is going on a Disney cruise. I so can't wait to hear about the Alaska one in particular. As much as I love me some sun heat and sand. My husband on the other hand leans more towards mountains, cool air and glaciers. So I know he secretly or not so, wants to take an Alaskan cruise.

I am so sorry to hear about your flight issues, what a bummer. You gave me something to think about when we start booking our own DCL vacation. Arriving a day before hand is something I would have never thought about.

I am so looking forward to reading the rest, though I hope it gets a little smoother from here on out.

It does - spoiler alert - we made it! :lol:

I think everyone should try an Alaskan cruise. That state is just amazing. My hubby lived there for a year on an unaccompanied assignment with the Air Force so we've been before, but a cruise is a great way to see parts of it.

Thank you for reading! I've got one more day done!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

May 31st - Boarding Day?

We got about five hours of sleep and woke up pretty easily! We were relieved that it was looking like we would make it!

Dh asked the night before how early I wanted up. I said wake me up about 5 minutes before we go. He was skeptical until I pointed out that I was sleeping in my clothes, had no makeup, curling irons, or a brush! What was I going to do if I woke up earlier?:lol:

We brushed our teeth :sohappy: and caught a shuttle to the airport.

Same clothes AND bed head. Yikes!

But we were gonna make it! And we were excited. At one point I was afraid this may be the shortest trip report ever.:lol:

Back at the airport:

This flight was, thankfully, uneventful. All four of us quietly cheered when we took off. Dh was humming "Oh Canada" most of the flight.

We landed in Vancouver at 9:45 and caught a taxi. All 7 of our bags made it! A miracle!

Vancouver is a beautiful city! Nestled right in the mountains.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I was a little sad to see our amazing hotel we didn't get to stay in. But again, so grateful we were there!

We gave the porter our bags and got in the security line around 10:45. It was moving and we saw most of our group up in line ahead. The line was super long but moved quickly. Here’s the line:

Then we entered the terminal and got boarding number 6. Not bad at all!

We got in the Castaway Club line. Mistake! The regular line was much shorter and faster!

This guy totally photo-bombed my picture:

Look there’s some of our family in line behind us!