Guest Trip Report: 9 Night Alaska Cruise on the Disney Wonder, Days 9 & 10

In case you missed it, I just started a new guest trip report.  Deann recently sailed on the July 9, 2018 9 night Alaska itinerary and was kind enough to share her adventures with us.  You can start this trip report from the beginning right here.

Day: 9 – At Sea

Tuesday, July 17

We woke up to a wonderful last day at sea! The Navigator said it was to be partly cloudy with a high of 56, but it should have said mostly sunny with high around 60. This was a lazy day that consisted of sleeping in, having lunch from Daisy’s Delights out on deck in the Quite Cove, relaxing in the hot tub, swimming and just soaking in the sun. That is, until a fog bank rolled in with a 15 degree temperature drop and misty clouds everywhere. This was a good time to pack!

We also went to our first beverage seminar on the ship. I thought we signed up for “Cocktails and Chocolate”, but when we got there it was “Wine and Chocolate”. I’m not a wine drinker, so my sister got mine, and I was happy with the chocolates. It was nice, but not being a wine drinker, it was not my scene. The chocolates, we were told, were $90 a pound. Boy they were good! The cheese was good too, and it came from Palo.

We finished the day back up on deck. The fog horn blowing was a new experience. We finally got out of the fog bank and it was again a beautiful, but cooler day. As you have seen, we experienced all kinds of weather on this trip, even for July.

We checked in for our flight and discovered that our departure time had been moved up to before noon. We had already decided to do express walk off, but we didn’t know now if we would have time for breakfast. On the last morning, you are assigned to eat breakfast in the same restaurant you ate dinner in the night before. Debarkation was scheduled to begin at 7:30 AM, and we knew with this new flight time we would need to get on the first bus to the airport. We talked to our servers at dinner and they said it would not be a problem, to come to breakfast as planned, and we would be taken care of and still make the first bus to the airport.

We attended the “Till We Meet Again” show in the atrium and then hit the hay. We didn’t have to put our bags out by 10:30 PM since we were doing express walk off. We went to bed early, as we had to be at breakfast by 7:00 AM and then quickly leave on the Disney transportation to the airport.

Day: 10 – Going Home

Wednesday, July 18

Our servers were true to their word. We were at our table in Triton’s at 7:00 AM for breakfast and by 7:03 AM we had our hot breakfasts in front of us. Since we had cruised before, we knew to order the Route 66 breakfast. It is the fastest served breakfast and covers all the bases: eggs, breakfast meats, and toast. We finished eating, said our last goodbyes, and were out the restaurant door by 7:25AM. Express walk off began at 7:35 AM and there wasn’t much of a line. We grabbed our bags, scanned our Key to the World card for the last time and went to find the bus (remember to keep your Key to the World card handy, they have to check it when you get on the bus). We walked down the gangway and back into the Vancouver cruise terminal. So long Mickey!

We continued on through the terminal and got on the first Disney bus leaving the terminal. On the bus, a Disney rep counted us, said a heartfelt goodbye and we were off. FYI, for those who have never taken the bus back to the airport in Vancouver, it is a bit different than in Port Canaveral. The bus has to make a stop in a parking lot outside of the airport. A uniformed officer with a clipboard checks the bus, counts us again, nods to the driver and then we continue to the airport. It is part of the process and has happened each time we have returned to the Vancouver airport via the Disney bus. It adds time to the trip back, hence the concern with our outbound flight change. Not to worry, we got to the airport in plenty of time. We had about 3 hours and 30 minutes, which was plenty of time to find our check in desk and hit the restrooms. Checking in at Vancouver is a little different too. You have to take your passport to a kiosk to get your luggage tags. Once your tags are on your bags you then go to the desk where they weigh them (we always bring a portable scale with us to be sure all our bags are underweight). Then, you have to take your own bags and get into another line behind the desk. At the end of the line you load them yourself onto the conveyor belt that takes your bags away. From there, you continue in the line through security. Something else to remember:  there is no TSA pre-check here (since it’s in Canada), but they do have a Global Entry/NEXUS line.

Once through this security check point we then had to have our passports out again to go through Customs, and then we entered the gate area. There are plenty of restaurants and shops in this area. There is also an indoor playground for the kids. It can be a very busy airport so when they say be there 3 hours ahead, they mean it. You’ll need your passport one more time to show as you get on the plane. As we made our way home, we talked about our trip, recalling all the great memories we created. That is what it is all about anyway, isn’t it? As Mickey says, “See ya real soon!”

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Thank you so much Deann for your guest trip report!  We loved following along on this unique itinerary!  Stay tuned for more guest trip reports coming soon, as well as one of my own!