Trip Report: May 21, 2018 7 Night Alaska Cruise – Day 1

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Day 1: Vancouver

If you don’t have time to read the whole trip report, you can view the video that I made for this trip here.

Today was all about one cruise ending and another beginning.  We had been on the ship for 5 nights already, beginning in San Diego, and today marked the beginning of the Alaska sailing.  You can read the trip report for the previous 5 nights by clicking here.

The day before, we received this letter informing us about the back-to-back process:

We were in 2 interior staterooms on the previous cruise, and for this cruise, we were swapping out one of the rooms (6143) for the verandah room across the hall (6144).  So, one of our rooms (6145) was staying the same and we were able to put all of our belongings in that room for the morning.

Since we were planning to go ashore in Vancouver, per the letter we needed to leave the ship by 9:30 am.  I woke up at 8:00 am and went up to deck 9 to get some coffee.  I brought back some pastries from Cabanas as well since I wasn’t sure what time Cabanas closed.

We were all ready to go, and had moved all of our stuff out of room 6143 and into room 6145, by 9:00.  We went up to deck 10 to see Vancouver and get some photos.  It was cool outside, but not cold.

I didn’t know it at the time, but a reader has since told me that this was the broadcast center for the Vancouver Olympics:

Since there were hardly any guests on the ship at this point, they were doing some maintenance by the pool and it appeared as though they were doing some prep for the “Freezing the Night Away” deck party.

In this photo you can see the entrance to FlyOver Canada, which is a Soarin’ type ride except with images of Canada.  It was our reason for getting off the ship today.

Here’s a closeup of FlyOver Canada that I took from deck 10.  The tent in the center of the photo is where you buy tickets, then you walk up the stairs and enter the ride from the area on the right, just under the sign.

By this time it was about 9:15, so we went to went to Azure, where the back-to-backers who wanted to leave and return to the ship as a group were meeting.  We wanted to ask Kenney & Bunny, and Harry & Meghan if they wanted to go with us to FlyOver Canada.  We didn’t see Kenney & Bunny, but Harry & Meghan were there and we chatted with them for a few minutes.  It was at this time that they let us in on a little secret.  They were related to an important crew member on board, but they were keeping it on the down low so they asked us to keep it a secret too.  So because of that, as well as the fact that I didn’t ask their permission to include them on my blog (they don’t even know about the blog), I am not using their real names.  Okay, back to Vancouver.  Harry & Meghan had other plans in town, so we said our goodbyes and disembarked on deck 4 in the atrium right at 9:30.

We walked through the terminal building and asked an employee how to get to FlyOver Canada.  She directed us to a nearby escalator and told us we would find it right at the top.  At the bottom of the escalator, we ran into Tom and Kelly who were flying home that day.  They asked us what our plans were for the day, and we told them about FlyOver Canada and invited them to join us (they had a late flight and were wanting to do something during the day).  They said that they wanted to go check out Granville Island first, but they might come back and do it later in the day.  So, we said goodbye to them and went up the escalator, where we found ourselves right in between the Wonder and Canada Place.

It was neat being so close to the Wonder at such a high level instead of down low like when you’re getting on/off on deck 1 in ports of call.

We continued to walk towards FlyOver Canada.  It opened at 10:00 am and it was just a few minutes before that.  I think we were the first ones there.  We went up these stairs and bought our tickets.  You can buy them online in advance, but I didn’t want to in case we decided not to go for some reason.  It was no problem to just buy them when we arrived.

After we bought the tickets, we walked up to yet another level which gave us an even higher view of the Wonder.

We had a great view of the bridge:

We only had to wait a few minutes, and then we were in the first group to enter the ride.  On the way in, they took a group photo in front of a green screen that you could purchase at the end.

The ride is pretty much exactly like Soarin’.  Here we are waiting to begin.

The ride was spectacular and I highly recommend it.  I think I like it even better than Soarin’ because Canada has such spectacular scenery and landscapes.  There were moments that took my breath away.  After it was over, we stopped by the photo table to buy our photo:

Next, we walked back towards the Wonder.  We watched for a few minutes while they lifted this blue cage thing up and onto the ship:

Next, we walked down the pathway towards the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Here we had a great view of the Navigator’s Verandahs on the starboard side of the ship (the rooms with the oval shaped openings).  This is the room category that we had reserved for the Alaska sailing and would be seeing for the first time later that day.  They are cheaper than the standard verandah rooms, and in my opinion was just as good.

We also saw them loading food onto the ship.  I love seeing behind the scenes stuff like this.

Here, we had reached the end of the walkway between the ship and Canada Place.  The Pan Pacific Hotel is on the left:

This is the main entrance to the Pan Pacific:

I wanted to see the inside of the Pan Pacific, so we walked over to the street entrance.  There was a lot of luggage on the curb.  I am wondering if this is the luggage being transported from the hotel to the ship for those cruise guests staying at the Pan Pacific the previous night.

We didn’t know how long the check-in process would take, so we decided to go through the hotel/convention center to the cruise terminal and start the re-boarding process.  Here is the lobby of the convention center:

In the lobby we saw this sign and walked down the stairs:

We ended up here:

I stopped taking pictures here, but it was very easy walk to the check-in area and we had no trouble finding it.  We got into the line, which was fairly long at this point.  We probably waited about 20 minutes before it was our turn at the counter.  We had brought our passports off the ship as instructed, so we had to show those and before we knew it, we were all checked in with new KTTW cards.  We also got the Navigator:

(You can see this day’s full Navigator by clicking here.)

I noticed that there was a new-to-DCL show that night from a group called the Beverly Belles, which I was excited about.  It always feels special to get to be in the first group of people to see something.

After the check-in line, we went to a different room for customs, then security, and then there was another room where people were waiting for boarding to begin.  It doesn’t happen all in the same room like at Port Canaveral.  Note that we had to show our passports 3-4 times as we went through this entire process.  I kept putting them away, only to have to get them out again.  So, don’t put yours away until you get to the waiting area.

Once we arrived at the waiting area, there were lots of people there.  It was about 11:00 am at this point.  Because we were back-to-backers, we had received orange tickets with our re-boarding instructions and by showing these tickets, we were able to walk back on the ship right then, before general boarding began.

It was strange walking back into the atrium before boarding had started and not having our name announced and the CMs clapping.  Right as we walked in, we ran into Simone, one of the cruise staff CMs who we had gotten to know on the previous cruise, mainly because she often hosted family karaoke.  We had said goodbye to her the night before, not telling her we would be on the next sailing so as to surprise her, and that we did.  We were like, “We’re baaaaaack!” and we laughed and hugged.

We quickly went back to our one room that we were keeping from the previous cruise in order to drop off our stuff.  Holesman had already cleaned it which was nice.  The Promenade Lounge was open from 10:30-12:00 for back-to-backers with snacks & refreshments, so next we went there to relax.  The Cove Cafe was offering free specialty coffees for back-to-back guests as well.

The girls and I wore lots of LuLaRoe Disney leggings on this trip.  They are perfect for cool weather cruises!  Also, take note of the socks below, which we bought in Victoria at Butchart Gardens.  I will be mentioning them later.

Boarding began about 12:00 pm, and we decided to walk around a bit.  We checked out the views from deck 4.  The weather had cleared up since this morning so now we had views with clear blue skies.

Another view of the Olympics broadcast center:

We saw them doing something with a lifeboat:

I also used this time to take care of some housekeeping.  First, I went to the Port Adventures desk to book an excursion for debarkation day.  Our flight did not leave Vancouver until 6:00 pm, so we wanted something to do during the day.  DCL offers a port adventure called “Northwest Exploration & Capilano Suspension Bridge – Debarkation Day – Onboard Bookings Only (VC01)“.  When researching things to do this day, I stumbled across this sort of by chance.  On the DCL website, I accidentally chose Vancouver when searching for port adventures and it was listed there.  I think that most people don’t ever choose to look at Vancouver port adventures since that’s the day you get on/off the ship, so I think a lot of people never know about this.  Note, however, that it cannot be booked in advance and must be booked after you board.  They also need a minimum number of people in order for it to happen, and your flight must be after a certain time (no earlier than 3:00 pm).  I suppose you could go visit Stanley Park and Capilano Suspension Bridge on your own, but booking this through DCL solves the problem of what to do with your luggage.  There is a luggage storage facility at Canada Place, and I think you can pay extra to get them to transfer it to the airport for you, but booking through DCL just seemed simpler so that’s what we did.  This bus tour gives you a city tour, a 15 minute stop at Stanley Park, a 1.5 hour stop at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, and ends at the airport at 1:15 pm.

I also went to the Promenade Lounge to change our Palo brunch reservation from 2 to 4 people.  My mother-in-law and her sister, Pat and Rita, were joining us on the Alaska cruise but being first time cruisers, were unable to get a brunch reservation.  So, I changed ours from 2 to 4 people with no trouble.

At about 1:15, Pat texted me and said that they were about to board.  We went to the atrium to wait for them.  After they boarded, we all wanted to eat lunch.  We walked over to Triton’s because Rita uses a walker and I thought it would be easier for her than Cabanas.  But, they told us they were full.  Boo!  So, Cabanas it was.  Because the midship elevators are always crowded at this time, we walked towards the aft elevators which would take us straight up to Cabanas.  As we were walking through the Promenade Lounge, there was a backup of people because part of the walkway was blocked off with some bar stools.  We got closer and could see that someone had puked.  I guess the cleaning crew hadn’t arrived yet and the bar stools were meant to keep people from walking through it.  Well, guess what our youngest did.  She WALKED RIGHT THROUGH THE PUKE!  And, this was especially distressing because SHE WAS ONLY WEARING SOCKS!  Remember those Canada socks I mentioned earlier?  Yep, mom had told the girls that it was not a good idea to walk around the ship without shoes on but nobody listened……and this is what happened.  Luckily, the puke was pretty dry so it could have been a lot worse.  I had her sit down, then I carefully pulled the socks off, turning them inside out in the process and only touching the top edges.  So, the others headed to Cabanas while she and I went back to the room to get shoes.

We took the stairs up to deck 6 and there was a crowd of people waiting at the rope drop for the staterooms to be ready.  It was 1:20 and the rooms were to be ready at 1:30.  Technically I think we could have ducked under the ropes since we were back-to-back guests and had been accessing our room all day, but there were a ton of people there and I was afraid that if we did that, then everyone else would follow and I didn’t want to do that to the room hosts who were trying to finish up at the last minute.  So, we stood there and waited for 10 minutes and it all worked out for the better because while we were waiting, I met a young woman and we ended up becoming friends and seeing each other a lot during the cruise.  Her name was Julia and she was so sweet.  She asked me if we were going to see the show that night and I said yes.  Then, I noticed that she was wearing a Beverly Belles shirt and sure enough, she was one of the Belles.  I started asking her about the group and during those 10 minutes, asked her a million questions and discovered that she used to be a main stage performer on DCL.  Some of the roles she played included Cruella and Ariel in the Golden Mickeys, and the Blue Fairy in Dreams.  She also told me about the Beverly Belles and that this was their first Disney Cruise appearance.  She was so kind and I’m now glad that the puke incident led to us meeting.  Also – spoiler alert – she is crazy talented and we ended up loving the Beverly Belles!

At 1:30 we rushed to the room to throw the socks in the laundry bag and grab some shoes, then headed to Cabanas.  The others already had their food and were sitting outside near Daisy’s De-Lites.  I went inside to get some food and was pleasantly surprised about how calm it was in there.  Cabanas on boarding day can be a scary and dangerous place in my opinion, but we must have been lucky and hit it at a slower time.  The few times I have been before were earlier, like in between 12:00 and 1:00.  This time we were there at 1:35, so maybe the crowds die down about then?  It’s worth considering if you want to try and avoid the crowds. We joined the others at the table outside and then Lito, our dining room server, walked up.  He was working at Cabanas that shift.  We introduced him to Pat and Rita and he kindly offered to get drinks for a few of us who hadn’t gotten them yet.  He took our drink orders and it felt like we were in the main dining room.  I really, really liked Lito.  He was so genuine, funny and easy to talk to.

After lunch, we went to check out the staterooms.  Pat and Rita were in room 7136, a category 6A handicap accessible room at the very back of the ship (full stateroom review here).  They had an amazing verandah:

It was huge!  They spent a lot of time out here.

We also went to look at our new room for this cruise – room 6144 which is a category 6A (full stateroom review here).

My husband and I moved our stuff from the girls’ room across the hall (room 6145) into the verandah room, which was going to be ours.  These 2 sailings were the first time that we had 2 rooms that didn’t have a connecting door, and it ended up being just fine.  The older 2 girls (ages 13 & 11) slept in the interior room, and my husband, our youngest (age 8), and myself slept in the other.  I thought I might feel nervous about the rooms not connecting, but I didn’t.

I think during this time I also signed up for our free 50 MB of internet, one for each room.

Next it was time for the safety drill, and although our 2 rooms had different stations this time, they were both in Animator’s Palate (just different sides of the room).  When it was done, we went straight to deck 9 for the Sail Away Party.

These next 2 pictures show Simone making the girls get up on the stage and dance:

We sailed under the Lion’s Gate Bridge which was really neat.  I didn’t take any pictures, but there is video of it on my Instagram highlights under “Alaska Part 1”.  You can also see it in my full trip video here.

Dinner that night was in Triton’s.  We had our same serving team of Faisal, Lito and Margaret.  Pat and Rita also joined us (we had linked our reservations for dining prior to the cruise).

I forgot to photograph the menu tonight.  It was the Triton’s Rotational Menu with Regional Inspirations, and was almost exactly the same as the standard rotational menu that we had on the previous cruise, but a few items had changed.  I remember the Deep Fried Brie was gone and had been switched with these Fried Pierogi (very good):

This was also a new addition – The Trio of Alaskan Smoked Salmon, Gravlax, and Salmon Canapés (good):

The Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak (excellent):

The Oven-Baked Alaskan Salmon Royale (excellent):

Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brûlée (don’t know how good this was as I don’t care for Creme Brûlée):

Grand Marnier Souffle (once again, I am not a souffle person so don’t know how good this was):

I can’t for the life of me figure out what this is:

Duo Chocolate Slice (excellent and one of my favorites):

During dinner I pulled out the Navigator to check something and noticed something that I had never heard of before – a photo raffle:

I’m not sure if this is new or if I have just never noticed it.  I had wondered why, on the first night of the previous cruise, there was a crowd gathered in Shutters at 10:00 pm even though it was closed.  Now I know!

After dinner, I went back to our room for some reason and found this:

Our room had a basket with 2 Minnies and a bottle of wine.  The girls’ room had the 2 Minnies with a bottle of sparkling grape juice.  We had not stayed with the group during the debarkation/embarkation process earlier that day.  I asked Kenney and Bunny later if they knew what happened and they said that there was some confusion amongst port staff about what they should do/where they should go, but it wasn’t terrible and nobody seemed mad about it.  It was nice of DCL to send a gesture of goodwill anyway.

Next, we went to the shops.  We had not bought much on the previous sailing because we were waiting for the Alaska merchandise.  I actually brought this book with me from home as I had read it during the months prior to the cruise.  It was interesting and provides a great map that allows you to (at least attempt) to follow the ship’s progress during the cruise.  You can see it on Amazon by clicking here.

We ended up buying quite a lot of Alaska merchandise (you can see it all in my post about our souvenir haul here).  Even after the shopping spree, we still had a negative balance on our account because we had started off with such a large onboard credit (click here to read my tips about how I do that).

Next it was time for the brand new to DCL show, the Beverly Belles.  They were extremely talented and put on a great show.  Their website describes them as “inspired by the music, look and feel of The Andrews Sisters and other 1930s, 40s, and 50s Vintage Girls’ Groups”.  They sang a lot of Disney songs and some non-Disney ones as well.

After the show, they had a meet & greet in Preludes.  Our 11 year old wanted to meet them.  I had told Julia about her earlier in the day and she remembered her name.  Our daughter’s dream is to one day perform on a Disney ship so being able to talk to someone who’s done it was very special for her.  All of the girls were so lovely.  We ran into them several times on the ship.

Next we stepped outside on deck 4 and noticed that even though it was 9:30 pm, the sun was still setting.  The water was the calmest I’ve ever seen and thus it was extremely quiet outside.  It was peaceful, eerie, beautiful and spectacular.  It was like nothing I’ve seen before.

One of the girls said that the water ripples looked like melted chocolate.

We spent some time out here enjoying the peace and scenery.

At this point our oldest went to bed, while the rest of us wanted to stay up for family karaoke.  While we waited for it to begin, we went to the Promenade Lounge to listen to music.  We ran into Harry and Meghan and chatted with them for a while.

At 10:15 we went to family karaoke in the D Lounge and then it was off to bed.  Our first day of cruise #2 had been fantastic and we were anxious to wake up in the morning and see the beauty of Alaska!

Up Next: Day 2 – At Sea

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You can read my other trip reports here.

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