Disney Cruise Alaska Review: Day 0 – Before the Trip

Hello, friends!

As you know, I recently went on a Disney Cruise to Alaska in June. It was my first cruise ever! I don’t have anything to compare it, too, but we always knew Disney was the way to go whenever we decided to finally try a cruise and we knew Alaska was the place to go.

I must say we prolonged taking a cruise this long because of the price. It is expensive. We always ended up going to Disney World instead of using that money to go on a cruise.

Now that we finally sailed, I must say it was an interesting experience, and unlike WDW, I had no idea what to expect.

During these special Wednesday posts in July and August, I will attempt to write down my experience from a newbie point of view. I will talk about my particular situation, starting from everything I did to prepare for the last day of the cruise.

First of all, I have to say we didn’t travel alone. My 70-year-old parents joined us, as did our two children, ages 9 1/2 and 12. My husband and I are in our 40s and while I’m a teacher and was off that week, my husband needed to work during the cruise. I will comment more on the pros and cons of our situation and how we perceived the cruise during this series of posts.

CHOOSING A CABIN


We planned to sail June 10th, but we booked the cruise in October. Our first adventure was choosing the right stateroom.

The most important thing we considered was the noise. My husband is sensitive to noise, and so we researched online for the quietest cabin. We decided to book a room at the bottom of the ship: Deck 1. We even had to learn that Deck 1 meant bottom! 


We found good information about the Disney Wonder’s decks and room plans here and here.


We knew the Disney Cruise would be expensive, so we tried to find the cheapest stateroom, but since we also care about space, we booked the second to cheapest: Deluxe Interior. It’s basically just like the interior stateroom, but it has 30 additional square feet (which is 15% more space).

To be honest, I thought it would feel more claustrophobic, but the bed was BIG, bigger than a regular queen bed in a hotel room. We loved that! The bathroom was separated from the shower/bathtub and we also had two sinks, which was good for a family of four.

Now about the noise… The ship makes noises. There’s no escaping that. It cracks as it moves with the waves. My husband still could sleep without earplugs, which was fine.

Another thing we liked about Deck 1, is every time the elevator came, it was empty (or it emptied) by the time it came to our deck, which was nice. Sometimes the elevator would be full by the time the door opened in the other decks and the people had to wait for the next one. I like the perk of having the elevator to ourselves. Not everything was great. The first deck isn’t a full deck, and that meant that not all elevators got to our deck. We sometimes had to go to another deck and then walk to the elevator we needed. Although the ship wasn’t that big, it was planning we needed to do when going to some places.

One last thing I’ll say about the bottom deck is that we didn’t sway that much when the tide was strong. We felt it  A LOT in the upper decks, but not so much in ours. Still, my husband did experience a bit of motion sickness. The rest of our party was okay.

Don’t forget your Dramamine!

PACKING

I think the main thing I stressed about when packing was how different the weather could be like in an Alaskan cruise. This of course matters for all cruises in that area, not just Disney, but I still had to make decisions about what to wear.

Clearly not a big enough bag!

During our cruise week (June 10-17th), the weather ranged between 40 and 75 F. We’re from Texas, so 75 F is still a bit cold coming from the 90 F weather we experience during Texas summers. We also planned to stay a few days in Seattle visiting family, so we needed to pack for a wide range of weather for a total of two weeks.

There were three laundry rooms on the Disney Wonder; each had four washers and four dryers. Each load cost $3, so to use the washer and the dryer you would spend $6 (why the cost is different is beyond me, maybe if you needed to dry only? I don’t know). They also sell detergent and softener, but I brought my own pods and didn’t have to spend on that.

One thing that was on Disney’s packing list was waterproof boots. It rains a lot in Alaska and some activities can be in the snow, so waterproof footwear could be important. We all packed our ski jackets and boots, together with bathing suits (which we never used).

It turned out to be impossible for the adults to pack in a carry-on suitcase, so we paid to check in our bags. Fortunately, the kids were able to take their carry-ons.

Another thing that it’s important to note is that it is very important to take a bag or backpack to the ship. You will need it to pack your toiletries and pajamas the last day. Also, in your personal bag, you can carry your computer, laptop, etc… or passports. You will need your passports.

Finally, there is a formal, a semi-formal, and a Frozen night on the cruise. About half the passengers brought fancy clothes (heels, jewelry, coats… for the formal night) and Frozen costumes for the Frozen night. My husband is not a fan of dressing up. He was lucky because some people wore sweatpants or short no matter what night it was. We saw a bit of everything.

TRANSPORTATION

As far as I could tell, most of the passengers on the cruise had to fly over to Vancouver to board the Disney Wonder.

Embarkation opens around 11 a.m., and I read in several places online that it is recommended to arrive in Vancouver at least the day before.

I joined a Facebook group created for our cruise (Disney Wonder Alaska June 10-17), and I found people missed the cruise because there was a storm in Dallas-Fort Worth. That’s just an example. Things happen and if you’re going to spend the big bucks on the cruise, then the least you can do is ensure you will get there on time. Also, when you book the cruise, Disney offers travel insurance and if you decline it… well, you know where I’m going with this.

I learned a lot of people arrived in Vancouver since Saturday and spent the day visiting the city Sunday before boarding the Disney Wonder on Monday. This means paying for a hotel stay. Believe me, you want to spend this money instead of missing the ship.

We have family in Seattle, so we planned to fly there on Saturday, stay with family and then somehow get to Vancouver. Also, the flights to Seattle were cheaper than the flights to Vancouver.

We did some research on ways to get our party from Seattle to Vancouver the morning of embarkation day and this is what we found:

By train or bus. We liked the idea of going by train. Sounded fun. Unfortunately, the return times were few and most very early or very late and we didn’t want to stay in Vancouver after the cruise. We wanted to come home. The other alternative was by bus. You can find information on this on the Amtrak site. When we were looking at round trips, bus rides were about $45 per adult and $25 per child round trip.

Renting a car. We looked into this option, too, but renting a van to fit four adults and two children and a bunch of bags costs about $800 per day. We quickly forgot about this option, especially because if we rented the car the day before then they would charge us for two days, so we would need to rent it that morning and then return it before going to the port, etc… too much hassle.

Shuttle service. As another option, I looked at a shuttle service. My husband suggested it. I looked around a bit and found a company called Quick Shuttle. It had pickups at the Sea-Tac airport and at the Washington Convention Center. It was $69 per adult and $30 per child. We decided to book. The was worried at first, but the service was great. It was punctual, it took us about 10 minutes to cross the border (with all passengers going through immigration) and it parked right at the port, where Disney took our bags straight from the bus (with the luggage tags we got in the mail), and took them to our room. The service was just as great at the end of the cruise and it even had space for us to leave on an earlier bus when we came out of the ship a bit earlier than planned. I definitely recommend it.

Well, this concludes the first blog post out of nine on our Disney Cruise experience on this special Wednesday edition. Hope it helped someone out there. Next week: Day 1 – Embarkation Day!

Cheers!

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