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 1: Boarding the Disney Wonder
Monday, July 9
We woke up early again. The weather report was a high in the 70s with afternoon showers. As instructed when we checked in, we called bell services at 7:00 AM for them to come pick up our bags to be taken to the ship. We had to be present in the room during pick up. We took off all of the airport tags and applied the Disney Wonder luggage tags on each piece of luggage and within 20 minutes the bellman arrived. The service to transfer the bags to the ship is included with the room price at the Pan Pacific, but it is customary to tip $2.00 a bag for pick up. After the bags were picked up, we went to the Pan Pacific sun deck and watched the Wonder sail in, then went to breakfast. Next, we picked up our carry-on bags (of course with swimwear for the hot tub) and were off to the Canada Place Convention Center space (parallel to the ship but inside the windowed walkway) to wait for the check-in to open.
The Disney check-in opened at 10:30 AM, the same time customs opened downstairs. We got there about 9:45 AM because we wanted to visit the small, but really great digital friendly museum one door past the Disney check-in entry. This is a free Canada Place museum that tells the history of the port and cruise center through interactive displays. Try not to miss it. Inside the Disney check-in space, there were chairs to sit on while you waited for the 20 plus stations to open.
They divided them into three groups: new guests, Silver & Gold, and Platinum/Concierge with ropes and stanchions separating the groups. Once checked in, we received our boarding group number and our Key to the World cards were issued. Next, we were guided down an escalator by an attendant with Mickey gloves singing “Hey there…hi there… ho there we’re as happy as can be”, so we joined in. We were then guided to a Disney only line and quickly went through customs (remember to have your passports open and ready). We were then guided to another wait area to sit until our boarding group was called. Even though we were in the first group of 20 to check in, we were issued group #4. There were a lot of Concierge and Platinum guests on this trip so I think they filled up the first three groups. While waiting, we met a lot of people from our Bear Breakfast who got off the mountain earlier than us and also went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. Oh well, can’t do it all. At about 11:20 AM, our group was called and off we went. We had our picture taken, went aboard and got waved at by Mickey and the crew.
After being announced, it was off to Triton’s for lunch. In my opinion, it is much nicer in Triton’s than the busy buffet at Cabanas. We weren’t too hungry so we ordered our meal from the kid’s menu – yes you can do that! It was fun to get a Mickey shaped plate with our mac and cheese and it hit the spot. At 1:30 PM, the rope dropped to get into the rooms and soon all of our bags were there and we were unpacked before 2:30 PM. We then took advantage of the open house and went to see (and play) in the kids area. By the time we got on deck 4 for the safety drill, it was starting to rain. It was still raining at the Sail Away party, but since we had been here before, we knew where to go to get undercover. The countdown finished, up went the confetti, but we didn’t start moving. The ship didn’t start sailing away for about 30 to 40 minutes. I don’t know why, except the a capella singing group, The Edge Effect, that was the entertainment act that night said during the show that they were late getting to the ship and their luggage didn’t make it. Maybe that was it.
Anyway, we went to dinner at Animator’s Palate and met our great tablemates. They would turn out to be one of our best, fun loving groups ever. There were two different people traveling single, a group of 3 women who had been long time friends (and of these, two were from Canada and on their first Disney cruise), and the three of us. This was the menu:
I really liked the a cappella group, The Edge Effect, who were the first night’s entertainment. The place was hopping after the show with a character dance party in the atrium. Donald and Daisy Duck were really going to town.
After a few dance moves, we went back to the stateroom and were met by our first towel animal, a wiener dog, and of course chocolates. A perfect end to Day 1!
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Up next: Day 2 – At Sea
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