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 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!
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
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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