Alaska Wonder 25th Anniversary Cruise PTR About This Page:

[KSSteve]

Hey gang,

Been about 3 years since I did a trip report. We will be cruising the Disney Wonder to Alaska from Seattle this July. We will be celebrating 25 years of marriage on the Wonder.

Cast:
Me: Steve, 49 year old Disney fanatic, foodie, and amateur photographer.

Dw Pat, my wonderful wife. She got me hooked on all things Disney 26 years ago with my first trip to DisneyLand. I still remember her saying to me "You're 23 and you've never been to Disneyland? We'll fix that!"

We sailed on the Wonder the first time in November 2009 and originally booked an Alaskan cruise for July 2011 while on board. Life got in the way last year as we purchased a new home and sold our old home, so we postponed the trip for a year. It worked out, as this is the year we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. (I mentioned that before, right ?

We will be driving from AZ to Seattle to spend 3 days on in Seattle before boarding the Wonder. We have booked Palo for brunch on Tracey Arms day, and dinner on Saturday night, along with Liarsville in Skagway and the Lumberjack show in Ketchikan.

We are looking forward to our second trip on the Wonder and I will keep you posted as the time draws near for our cruise.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Steve!

[lauriep]

Great start! Tonight's my 90-day mark and I'm going to try for one Palo dinner, I think on Aug 4, the Ketchikan night. What do you have planned for Seattle? Today I bought the City Pass vouchers (Space Needle, Harbor Cruise, Zoo, Aquarium)-- a very good deal, if you're planning on doing these things. What's on your Seattle "must-do" list?

[KSSteve]

We are getting the Citi Pass books also. As a foodie, Pikes Market is on our must do list. We are also thinking about taking a ferry to Bainbridge Island.

[lauriep]

Yes, Bainbridge Island is on my list as well. I hope we have at least one sunny day there! I plan on eating most of my meals at Pike's Market as well. I got both of the excursions I wanted and also the Palo dinner. Just to see, I checked for Palo brunch on the sea days-- Nothing available. You were lucky to get that. I don't mind skipping the brunch on this cruise. I'm booked on the 14-night Panama Repo, which has LOTS of sea days, so I'll save brunch for that one!

[KSSteve]

Originally Posted by lauriep

Yes, Bainbridge Island is on my list as well. I hope we have at least one sunny day there! I plan on eating most of my meals at Pike's Market as well. I got both of the excursions I wanted and also the Palo dinner. Just to see, I checked for Palo brunch on the sea days-- Nothing available. You were lucky to get that. I don't mind skipping the brunch on this cruise. I'm booked on the 14-night Panama Repo, which has LOTS of sea days, so I'll save brunch for that one!

This will be our longest cruise. We cruised once on RCL for 4 days to Ensenada, then the 3 day on the Wonder. It will be interesting with sea days to see how we like a longer cruise.

[lauriep]

I LOVE sea days! The only thing I'm a bit nervous about for the Alaska cruise is how I'll like the cooler-weather and inability to use the lounging on deck, hot-tub, pool areas. In my mind a cruise means warm weather!

Are we the only ones cruising Alaska with DCL this year? I wish someone else would join in!

[Harrisonsmeme]

Looking forward to your trip reports. We are cruising Alaska in July 2013.

[KSSteve]

We really started planning for this trip in Dec 2011. Pat got me a Nikon D5100 camera for Christmas, so I have been busy learning how to use it for our trip. She also purchased me a down vest/jacket from Eddie Bauer that was on sale.

After Christmas, we went to clothing stores in the mall, as well as Bass Pro and Cabelas to buy winter clothing while it was in clearance or on sale.

Living in Arizona, people probably thought we were crazy buying jackets and fleece shirts when it was 60-70 degrees for the high. But no matter, we were determined to get the clothing we needed early.

Now that we have port adventures booked, I sit here impatiently waiting for 2 1/2 months to roll by to get going on this adventure.

[lauriep]

Steve, I can't wait to see your photos! I'll be taking pics as well, but am not a very good photographer and just have a point-and-shoot. I just added the Misty Fjords Wildlife tour for Ketchikan to my list!

[chezp]

Great start!

[num1DVCfan]

I look forward to reading about your trip! I've always wanted to do the Alaskan cruise, the area looks beautiful.

[Tonichelle]

I LOVE sea days! The only thing I'm a bit nervous about for the Alaska cruise is how I'll like the cooler-weather and inability to use the lounging on deck, hot-tub, pool areas. In my mind a cruise means warm weather!

It won't be humid, but Alaska is normally anywhere from mid-60s to upper-70s in teh summer for the region you'll be in. It IS a rainforest (the panhandle, and Seward areas, aka cruise ship central) so it will be wet, but it's not a sticky humidity that you're dealing with. It's perfect temps to me.

Hot tubs are not for just the warm weather. There's nothing like sitting in a hot tub at -20 and then jumping into the snow.

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by Tonichelle

Hot tubs are not for just the warm weather. There's nothing like sitting in a hot tub at -20 and then jumping into the snow.

I'll take your word for it! I think I'm expecting cold temps so that I'll be pleasantly surprised by warmer weather-- at least on the port days. I've crossed the Atlantic in summer when the air temps were in the 70's and it felt about 30 degrees colder out on deck. I know we won't be traveling as fast but I imagine the day at Tracy Arm will still be brisk.

[Tonichelle]

70* in AK is warmer than 70* further south... I don't know how that works, but it's true.