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Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

ElissaB
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby ElissaB » Fri Sep 18, 2015 11:42 am

Can't wait to hear all about it Keith!! Enjoy Aulani! We left there on Tuesday after a very relaxing week enjoying the Hawaiian sunshine! :D

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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 3:53 pm

That's awesome Elissa! Any recommendations on things we should do why we are here? We are hanging out at the resort tomorrow, but will probably head back to the Waikiki area on Saturday.

Anyway - I'm about to start posting journals - so hang on tight everyone. Each day will be a separate post. Hope you enjoy (the detail may be a bit sparse, but will be enhanced when I start posting photos when I get home!)
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 3:55 pm

Day 8 – 31 August 2015 (Vancouver/Disney Wonder)
We woke up this morning to very gloomy skies and consistent rain over Vancouver. Not too much of a problem for us though as we weren’t planning on going outside. Our hotel is located right above the cruise terminal so we wouldn’t get wet. We had our breakfast before returning to the room to finish packing. Our timing was pretty good as checkout time was 12noon and our boarding slot was 12:30!

We got all our bags sorted and tagged and about 11:45 headed downstairs and checked out. We then took the elevator down to the cruise terminal level and followed the signs to the bag drop off for the Wonder. There was also another ship departing the same time as us so there were plenty of people around but things worked smoothly and the cruise terminal was huge.

After drop off, we actually went through US Customs and Immigration which was unusual as we were in Canada! But you basically do your US arrival paperwork there (just like arriving in LAX) so that you don’t have to do it at any of the little Alaskan towns we visit along the way.

Once through there, you go through security screening which is pretty painless and then you get to the boarding area. A few photos with Pluto and then you are walking down the gangway. Again you stop to do your official boarding photo before being announced and welcomed aboard the ship by the crew. It was around 12:40pm now and we tried to go to our stateroom but they aren’t available until 1:30pm so we went for a walk around the ship for a bit to explore.

As soon as 1:30pm came, we dropped off our carry-on bags in our room and Maurice our stateroom host from Jamaica. We had purchased a Frozen makeover for our room and also discovered that Brian and Patti had bought it for us too – so we had two sets of everything which was awesome! They had also bought us champagne and chocolates! Our main suitcases hadn’t arrived yet, so we headed upstairs to get some food on deck 9 from the quick service eateries. We just grabbed some hot dogs and ate them back in our room.

We did some more exploring and ran into Brian and Patti and had a chat with them before heading to the lifeboat drill. After that, we went to the Sail Away party which was held in the main atrium due to the wet weather but was still a lot of fun. Immediately after that, we headed up on deck where amazingly the rain stopped and a bit of sun poked out just as they played the When You Wish Upon a Star ships horn and we began sailing out of port! We stayed on deck for an hour as we waved goodbye to Vancouver. We went back to our rooms and found our luggage had been delivered so we got ready for the night time show and dinner.

Next up, we headed to the Walt Disney theatre to watch the opening night’s show which was hosted by Clayton Lindsey the cruise director – Clayton was the same cruise director we had on the Fantasy back in 2013!

After the show, we did a quick walkaround of the shops before heading to dinner in Triton’s Restaurant which was French themed on this first night. Our server in Maurice from the Philippines and his assistant is Sudi from Indonesia and they are great fun. The head server in Kerry-Sean from Jamaica who has been on the Wonder since it launched in 1999! Della and I had deep fried Brie, followed by the beef course and then shared a dessert – it was all amazing food!

It was a great end to the first day.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 3:56 pm

Day 9 – 1 September 2015 (At Sea)
We got up this morning to a rocking and rolling Disney Wonder. We were out at sea pending travel along one of the inside channels. There was a bit of movement but I didn’t find it uncomfortable. After getting up, we headed firstly to the Animator’s Palette for a character breakfast with Brian and Patti. We got to meet up with Goofy, Pluto, Minnie and Captain Mickey. It was great fun and the food was good too.

After breakfast, Brian and Patti went to a nature talk while Della and I headed out to do part 1 of Anna’s chocolate challenge which is a treasure hunt game with clues in the daily Personal Navigator. We found the three clues after a little digging and will be back tomorrow for part 2.

Next up, we did some more shopping in the retail area before heading to the Atrium for the Princess Gathering. We got there and saw Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel and Cinderella. They were all awesome and Della flashed her ring to each one and which impressed them all – especially Ariel!

We then grabbed some sandwiches and ate them in our room for lunch. After lunch, we caught up with Brian and Patti and headed to the 3pm Art of the Theme Show tour of the ship which was hosted by Chad. The tour started at Palo’s and was fun as it went all around the ship looking at the design elements

As soon as it was over, we headed back to our room to change for formal night. After getting changed, we found Mickey in the Atrium in his own tuxedo waiting for photos, so we jumped on the line before heading to the Golden Mickey’s. The Golden Mickey’s had some similar scenes as the Hong Kong version but it was a different storyline.

After the show, we went to dinner in the Animator’s Palette. This Is a great restaurant that begins in black and white and ends in colour as the walls change and the servers even change their clothes.

After dinner, Della and I went to the Cadillac Lounge to list to the on=board pianist playing a selection of tunes and providing commentary on the history of each song – it was a great experience and we’ll be heading back there later in the cruise. Around 11:30pm, we called it a night and went back to our room.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:18 pm

Day 10 – 2 September 2015 (Tracey Arm)
I am sitting here typing this sitting on or stateroom couch with the balcony door open, watching the magnificent cliffs of Tracey Arm glide past with icebergs in the water drift backwards towards the stern. Today was a magnificent day of sunshine, blue skies, multi-coloured ice, glaciers, forests and water.

But let’s got back a bit. We woke up this morning to sunshine coming through the curtains. I tried looking out onto our veranda but it was so bright I could hardly see! We got out of bed and headed firstly to Parrot Cove for the buffet breakfast which was great. We then went to Shutters to have a look at our photo collection before returning to our stateroom and getting our cold weather gear on so we can sit out on deck most of the day.

It was almost cloudless outside with clear blue skies and mountains with snowy peaks in the direction of where we were headed. We headed to the very front of the ship on deck 10 and stood there for quite some time watching the mountains get closer and closer. We sent a ship text to Brian and Patti and they came and joined up with us. We chatted for an hour up the front watching the scenery slide past – there are no words to describe what we saw – so it will need our pictures to really convey the majesty of the Alaskan wilderness. We checked our personal navigator and discovered Donald Duck was due on deck, so Della and I headed over to see him.

While we were in line waiting for Donald, I spotted a whale of the port side and soon everyone was taking photos! It was great to see the whale’s tail slamming into the water and I got some good photos. We caught up with Donald and then decided we should get some food as we headed towards the narrow passage of Tracey Arm. We went aft to the outdoor BBQ that was occurring and had a brilliant BBQ lunch of venison, chicken, steak and salmon, all followed by amazing desserts! And while eating lunch in the sun (we were lucky to jag a table), the mountains rose higher and higher and closer to the ship by the minute! We started seeing lots of sea-ice as we went further and further up Tracey Arm until eventually we came right up to the glacier which was magnificent!

The ship stopped at the bottom of the glacier amongst the icebergs and then did a full 180 turn. We spent time both up on deck, and running between our stateroom and Brian and Patti’s depending on the angle of the ship to the glacier. We were also trying to spot the local mountain goats that inhabited the area (and eventually saw a couple of them!)

Eventually, we began heading back out of Tracey Arm and we went to prepare for tonight’s dinner at Palo. For dinner we had four courses ending in a magnificent chocolate soufflé that we had to order at the beginning of the meal so it could be ready on time to eat at the end of the meal. It was a great meal. Afterwards, we retired to our rooms for the night – tomorrow, we hit the town of Skagway, our most northern port in Alaska.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:19 pm

Day 11 – 3 September 2015 (Skagway)
We awoke to another glorious day here in Alaska! We opened the curtains to discover that we had docked sometime in the night at Skagway. Skagway is a small town at the northern end of the inland passage which was the drop off point for prospectors heading up to Canada for the Yukon-Klondike goldrush. It only has 800 residents and only 80 of them stay during the winter months. The town now survives from the cruise ship patronage, with over 10,000 people arriving every couple of days.

We had ordered room service for today so we could get an early start and after eating, we left the ship to wander around Skagway township. It was a very pretty town with some quirky shops (it also had a lot of jewellery shops like St Thomas but we avoided those where we could as they seemed a bit scammy…) Della picked up a nice jacket which was very cheap (cruise ship season ends soon so most shops were selling off stock cheap).

About 10:30 we headed back to the ship so that we could meet in Wavebands for our scheduled steam train port adventure at 11:15. We checked in and were soon lead off the ship again to our waiting steam train that was right beside our dock! It looked great and we hopped on board for the trip up to Whitepass Summit. The train was great and climbed through some of the most amazing mountain passes and scenery you’ll ever likely see. Lucky for us it was a see-for-miles day!

We went up winding passes and across trestle bridges until we got to the summit of Whitepass. Once there, we made a toast to friendship while the train took on more water. We then went around a rail loop and headed back down the mountain to Skagway. The whole trip took about four hours and was one of the best trips we’d ever taken. We also bought a book, baseball cap and DVD on board for $20 total!

After the trip, we went back into Skagway for some more shopping before boarding the ship around 5:30pm. Once on board, we headed to Studio Sea where we had tickets for the frozen meet and greet with Anna, Elsa and Olaf. After that, we returned to playing the Anna chocolate treasure hunt around the ship before getting ready for dinner in Triton’s again. Tonight it is a Frozen themed menu because the Frozen deck party is on tonight.

We headed down to Triton’s restaurant and met up with Brian and Patti. We discovered tonight that although we had an eight person table, the other four people had changed to the earlier dining session so we would be alone for the rest of the cruise. We had another tasty dinner and were given light-up snow flakes to wear at the Frozen deck party at 9:30.

Straight after dinner, we grabbed our cold weather gear and headed up on deck for a fun show featuring songs from Frozen and hosted by Anna with Olaf of the Funnel-Vision. Eventually Queen Elsa turns up and we all sang Let it Go as it snowed all over the deck – quite amazing!

Della and I headed back to our stateroom to dump the cold weather gear as we planned on going to the nightclub for the Frozen after-party. However while we were getting changed, Brian sent us a message that the Northern Lights were blazing tonight, so we ran up to the outside balcony behind Palo to watch the sky show which was amazing and green and pink ribbons of light danced across the night sky!

About 30 minutes later, we headed down to the after-party but it was winding up, so Della went back to the room, while Brian and I met up for the midnight launch of the new Star Wars merchandise. We didn’t end up buying anything but at least we got to see some of it. I finally got to bed around 12:45am – another great day. Tomorrow is dog sledding on the glacier in Juneau!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:20 pm

Day 12 – 4 September 2015 (Juneau)
Another port adventure day and this time with an earlier start. We set the alarm for 6am, and when we woke up, the ship was still moving although we were just a mile from the port of Juneau. Breakfast was delivered at 7am and by 8am, we were in Wavebands waiting for registration on today’s port adventure – dog sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier with our friends Brian and Patti.

We followed our guide out of the Wonder and onto the dock. Again it was a nice day but the clear skies of sunrise had been replaced with overcast which kept the temperature down. We got to our bus but before getting on, we had to declare our weight which they then used for working out who sits where on the helicopter up to the glacier.

The bus ride to the airport took about 15 minutes and once there, we were given glacier shoes which slipped over our normal shoes. We were assigned to our helicopter (Della and I plus Brian and Patti and another lady went together) and lead out to the helicopter after watching a safety video. The flight up to the glacier took 15 minutes and was unbelievable. The views were sensational and flying over the snow and ice and rocky peaks was great. Eventually we spotted the dog sled camp and landed on the ice and met our guide Jess. The camp had around 200 dogs and eight puppies. We got onto the sled and each of us had a turn of standing at the rear and working the brake and we scooted across the glacier. It was an amazing experience and the dogs were great!

When we got back to the camp, we got to meet the puppies who were 11 weeks old and we spent some time with them until our helicopter returned to take us back to Juneau Airport. We did some souvenir shopping there before heading back to the ship for lunch. We then went into Juneau shopping district for a look around for a couple of hours. Today we had to be back on board by 4:45pm, but we’d finished shopping by 2:30, so Della and I decided to walk all the way back to the ship – about 2 kilometres. Once on board, we got a hot chocolate and cookie and came back to the room by 3:30pm.

We grabbed a snack and then got ready for this evening’s show – Toy Story the Musical. We didn’t really know what to expect as we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre, but we were blown away by it. It was an hour long musical retelling of Toy Story and it was a brilliant production. It is a must see if it is on your next voyage.

After the show, we got a photo with Remy the Rat followed by a few professional photographs with the ship’s photographers before heading to dinner in The Animator’s Palette. The menu tonight was Toy Story themed! It was another amazing meal and afterwards, we went to Shutter’s briefly to find some missing photos, and then joined in the Pixar Pals Dance Party in the main atrium which was fun. By then it was after 11pm and we have another port day tomorrow, so we headed to our room for the evening.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:21 pm

Day 13 – 5 September 2015 (Ketchikan)
Today is our last port day of the Alaskan cruise. We woke up this morning as we were still travelling up the passage towards Ketchikan. It is a mid-sized town surviving on the cruise ship and salmon industry. We headed firstly to breakfast in the Parrot Cay downstairs before getting our gear together for our port adventure to the Rainforest Wildlife Centre and Raptor Sanctuary.

We checked in at Wavebands and followed our guide off the ship to the bus that took us out to the centre about 20 minutes south of the town. Our guide at the centre was Krystal who took us on a one hour walk through the rainforest. She pointed out plants and animals and told us of the black bears. As we walked along the trail, we came to a creek where we could smell rotting salmon that bears had discarded after eating the good stuff out of them. While we were looking around, we saw a black bear come out of the bushes and climb onto a log where it lay down and went to sleep! We continued our walk further along the waterway and were able to see leaping salmon being chased by seagulls.

We eventually came to a former timber yard and looked at the old equipment before entering the raptor centre where they care for injured birds such as falcons and owls. Best of all, were two giant bald headed eagles that were in their permanent care because of injury or in one case, a slight deformity (bent beak) which meant it was hard for her to hunt. They were awesome birds!

Next up we saw a totem pole carver at work before we finished in the gift shop. After a quick hot chocolate, we got on the bus and returned to the pier. The rest of the after was me following Della around all the shops of Ketchikan.

The show tonight is a variety act which we are going to skip to enable to get some admin completed for when we get to Vancouver. Apparently Disney will move our luggage to our new stateroom for us, but we have to prepare that with new luggage tags etc. We also plan on having Brian and Patti around later so they can see some of our photos from our wedding. Tonight’s dinner is in Parrot Cay and is themed to Alaskan produce.

After dinner, Brian and Patti came to our room and we shared a bottle of champagne while looking at photos from the wedding, Della’s birthday and Brian’s graduation. They stayed until midnight when we hit the sack. Tomorrow is an at sea day which means finalising packing and enjoying the sights of the Canadian coastline as we head back to Vancouver.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:22 pm

Day 14 – 6 September 2015 (At Sea)
A lazy start to the day and we missed breakfast so we headed up on deck and got a toasted sandwich from Goofy’s before doing some whale watching as we sailed along. We went to Shutters to collect and order a bunch of photos and took them back to the room as we continued our packing. As we weren’t leaving the ship, we just had to collect everything together and tag it because when we dock tomorrow, they will just move as bags straight to our new stateroom without having to take them off the boat. All we need to do is get of the ship for a short time to clear US Customs again.

Around 3pm, we headed down to Wavebands to play the final Bingo Jackpot of the cruise. That was great fun as always and although we didn’t win, we were just one number short at the end. Three people shared the prize of over $4,500 – not bad!

After Bingo it was back to finalising packing and getting our clothes ready for tomorrow – we lost track of time while doing this and realised there was only half hour to the final show of the cruise – Disney Dreams – An Enchanted Classic. We finished packing and rushed to the theatre where we met Brian and Patti. The show was brilliant too – similar in the to “Believe” on the Fantasy and we really enjoyed it.

After the show, it was dinner in Triton’s where we had a lot of fun with our servers. Luckily we will be staying with them again for the Hawaiian cruise so we are happy with that. After dinner, we headed to the Atrium for the ‘Til we Meet Again party where all the characters and performers from the cruise ship come out for a final meet and greet and then goodbye (or “seeya real soon”). We then spent some time with Brian and Patti walking around the ship before saying goodnight and heading to bed. Tomorrow is disembarkation day – but not for us!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:23 pm

Day 15 – 7 September 2015 (At Sea)
The final day of the Alaskan cruise today and as the alarm went off, I opened the blinds to see the ship sliding under the Lion Gate Bridge and into Vancouver Harbour. We had an 8:15 breakfast time for Triton’s so headed down there after ensuring all our bags were tagged for the transport to our new stateroom.

At breakfast, we caught up with Brian and Patti for the last time which was a little sad. We plan to meet up again in Tokyo in 2017 as they have never been there. I guess I’d better start researching that now! As soon as breakfast was over, they headed down the gangway waving madly.

We decided to go straight to the Cadillac Lounge which was the meeting place for the back-to-back cruisers heading to Hawaii. Around 9:45, a ship’s officer came and took our old Key to the World cards away to check us off the ship. At 10am he came back to lead us as a group off the ship but as he began leading us out, the ship began testing the water tight doors so our group got split in two. It was very funny and also cool to see how the doors worked. After being trapped for 10 minutes, we were finally released and lead off the ship.

We just had a priority walkthrough of the Customs area, getting processed for the US again before checking in to the new cruise and getting new Key to the World cards. We came back on board and went straight up onto deck 9 where we sat at the Quiet Cove bar to update this journal. Della grabbed a ham and cheese toasted sandwich before heading to the spa to get her nails done and I remained in the bar until about 1:40pm when our new stateroom became available.

I headed down to the new room and found all our bags and wine had been transferred from the old stateroom. While waiting for Della, I fixed up our room so it looked just like the old one, including reapplying the Frozen overlay. Della eventually arrived around 2:30 talking all about the spa and she had a raffle ticket she wanted to drop off back there to win a prize. So we headed back upstairs and did a tour of the spa including the rainforest room which was quite amazing. We didn’t win the raffle, so we headed out to get a hot dog and an ice cream.

We returned to the room and discovered that we’d received tickets to the galley tour that we had sought from Guest Services. The tour is for tomorrow afternoon. We spent some more time sorting out the room before getting ready for the show and dinner. We went to the “All Aboard, Let the Magic Begin” show which we enjoy as it sets the tone for the cruise and introduces some of the variety acts too.

After the show, we headed up onto deck 9 to watch the Tihati Dancers from Hawaii performing on the Goofy Pool Stage. While we were watching, a kid next to us yelled and pointed and right beside the ship was a killer whale popping in and out of the water – it was a pretty special sight. After the dancers, we went to dinner in Tritons and met up with our old servers and our new table mates. There were Patricia and Mike from Montreal and Diane and Brad from Dallas. They all seemed very nice and dinner was a lot of fun.

Straight after dinner, we chatted with our servers for a while before going back to our room. Tomorrow is a full sea day – the first of five straight days.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:25 pm

Day 16 – 8 September 2015 (At Sea)
Another slow start to today, although we did have breakfast delivered at 8:30am. This is our first proper daytime at sea day since the cruise began where we would be completely out of sight of land. We began the day by gathering all our washing and heading to the onboard launderette. We met two other Australian parties there too – one from Perth and the other from Brisbane who were also on extended trips and were taking advantage of the first sea day to clean clothes. The launderette was controlled by the Key to the World card so it was pretty easy to get going. Between cycles, we headed out to do Anna’s Chocolate Challenge again and check out the shops for new Hawaiian cruise merchandise before going back to collect our clothes.

Once washing was finished, it was back to having fun, so headed up on deck firstly for lunch where Della had a hamburger and I got chicken strips and we sat and ate them while watching the dolphins swim alongside the ship – leaping in and out of our bow-wave.

After lunch, we headed back to the shops so Della could buy some more jewellery that had come aboard for this cruise before going on a tour of the ship’s galleys. This tour was awesome and began in Triton’s restaurant. We were lead through the doors into the galley to see where all the food is prepared and cooked. We were lead right through the galley and into Parrot Cay’s galley which is adjoining. They also showed the segregated area for food allergy preparation. Each restaurant on board has a separate galley. We also got a freshly baked cookie as part of the tour.

We finally headed back to our room to change for Formal Night. After getting changed, we headed to the Atrium where we got photos with Chip and Dale in the tuxedos and then a formal photo on the Atrium staircase. After that, we went down to the Cadillac Lounge to listen to a lady pianist play different music while we sipped on pomegranate martinis! We were there while Golden Mickeys were on, but we didn’t need to see that show again. Around 7:15, we headed back to the Atrium to meet the ship’s Captain, Captain Robert. We had a good chat with him and then ran into another friend of ours, Victoria who is another officer who we’ve chatted with since the cruise to Alaska began and got a photo with her too.

It was getting close to dinner, and as we were standing in the Atrium, we noticed Rapunzel all by herself, so I went over to her and got a selfie with her. We then headed to the Animator’s Palette for dinner and the colour-change show. We caught up with our tablemates and had a good chat about the day’s activities.

After dinner, we headed on down to Wavebands to see the Michael Harrison ventriloquist act which was hilarious. He does stand-up and ventriloquism and was a runner up on America’s Got Talent. We were only staying for that show, but immediately afterwards was Match Your Mate – the cruise line’s version of the Newlyweds Game and it was hilarious, so we sat and watched that too. Once it was over, we headed back to the room for bed. We put our clocks back tonight so an extra hour sleep tomorrow.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Location: Peakhurst Heights, NSW

Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:27 pm

Day 17 – 9 September 2015 (At Sea)
Another slow start made even better by the turn back of our clocks by one hour. We headed first to breakfast around 10am up at the Beach Blanket Buffet – our first breakfast experience up there since the cruise began nine days ago!

Della was keen to do the hula dancing lessons, so I had to go along too but I sat and watched from the seats in Wavebands and the Tihati dancers taught the crowd a whole routine. Della had a lots of fun and everyone seemed to get it okay. Straight after that was a 45 minutes class teaching the Cha Cha Cha dance and it was hosted by two finalists from So You Think You Can Dance US. I had to go to that too as Della needed a partner. I wasn’t very good but happy wife = happy life and Della seemed happy.

After the dancing, we headed up on deck for a while as it was a nice sunny day with views to the horizon. We grabbed some drinks before attending the Disney Music Trivia in the Promenade Lounge. They had a pianist play a small song portion and you had to name the song and movie and answer a bonus question about the movie. We got 43 of 45 correct, so we were happy with that. Unfortunately, two teams got them all right!

We went back and did some journal updates before getting ready for tonight’s variety act which was Kyle Knight and Mistie – a magic show which was totally brilliant! They normally perform at Las Vegas but are on this cruise and we had no idea how they did any of the illusions they performed – they were very very good.

After their show, we headed up on to deck 10 to watch the Freezing the Night Away with Anna and Elsa. We saw this during the Alaska cruise but it was freezing that night – this week it was on at 7:30pm and in a much warmer climate! It was still cool out but we were able to watch an amazing sunset before the show and we also had a great position to watch it from so we could see all the action. It was a good fun night.

After that, we headed to Animator’s Palette again for dinner with the Frozen menu. The food was excellent as always and we then headed to Wavebands for the Frozen after party which was fairly typical cruise-line dancing with the ability to win free drinks. We hung around for 30 minutes before going to bed. Tomorrow morning early (7:45) we have a character breakfast in Animator’s Palette.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Posts: 6082
Joined: Sun May 29, 2005 10:28 am
Location: Peakhurst Heights, NSW

Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:28 pm

Day 18 – 10 September 2015 (At Sea)
We had an early start this morning (although we got one hour back from the time zone change). We had a character breakfast booked for 7:45am, so we got up and headed straight to the Animator’s Palette. We were sat with another couple from South Carolina (James and Michelle) who were huge Disney fans and we got along really well. We chatted as we waited for the characters to appear. Neither had been to Hawaii before and they’d only done one previous Disney cruise on the Dream.

Eventually the characters began to appear beginning with Pluto, the Goofy, Minnie and Mickey. We had great fun with them but it was over too soon. Straight after the breakfast, we headed to the Atrium where Tinker Bell was making an early morning appearance. We got in line with James and Michelle – the line was nearly all adults! We finally got to meet Tink and more photos were taken. Today was also the launch day for the DCL Hawaiian Cruise 2015 pin! So we headed down to Preludes and joined a long line for their release. There was a limited of two pins per guest so we were able to buy four.

We returned to our room to drop stuff off before heading up on deck for a photo with Minnie Mouse. She turned up in her Hawaiian outfit which got Della all excited and I have to say she did look pretty amazing! Shortly afterwards, Della headed to her next hula lesson while I got my camera out and did some photos around the ship.

Once the hula class finished, we both went to the Beach Blanket Buffet where they were hosting an outdoor BBQ like the one we had last week in Tracey Arm. I had spare ribs, chicken, salads and corn – all very nice. After lunch, we went back on deck to visit with Donald Duck who’s birthday was today. Donald was in a happy mood and we had fun with him.

After Donald, we went back down to Animator’s Palette to try our hand at Lei making. The courses have been very popular and we didn’t think we’d get in, but they a few extra inside including me and Della. It was a fun experience and now we have small leis on our fluffies. After the lei making, we came back to the room and I grabbed some hot chocolate and cookies for snacks.

Della fell asleep and I watched Pirates of the Caribbean on the TV until it was time to get ready for the show. This evening’s show was a tribute to Disney on Broadway and the two performers were husband and wife who were Belle and the Beast in Beauty and the Beast for many years! They were totally awesome. They’d also played in The Little Mermaid and Tarzan, and are now two of the characters in Disney’s Newsies.

After the show, we went to Diversions to try our hand at the ‘80s Music Trivia Challenge. As we went into the club, we ran into James and Michelle from breakfast and we decided to partner up for the competition. They played just a very brief 2-second intro for 25 songs and you had to state song name and artist. Remarkably, we got every question correct and during the answer stage, we managed to collect three bonus points for our dancing, singing and funny comments for a total score of 53. When they tallied the other teams, we were the winners by 1-point! Yay!!! So we got DCL Winners lanyards which we can now wear around the ship! We will team up again tonight with James and Michelle to do the 90s Music Trivia…

After the trivia, we went straight to dinner in Parrot Cay. Only Brad and Diane were there tonight as Mike and Pat were at Palo. It was another great feast and we ate too much again. Afterwards, we went to the Atrium to get some photos with Hawaiian Goofy and Mickey before calling it a night. Tomorrow is another sea day and we have a full program of events to go to!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Posts: 6082
Joined: Sun May 29, 2005 10:28 am
Location: Peakhurst Heights, NSW

Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:29 pm

Day 19 – 11 September 2015 (At Sea)
Here we are still out at sea and enjoying every minute of it! A glorious sunny morning greeted us and the temperature was already 24 by 7am, so we were definitely moving into warmer tropical weather at last. We had noticed it getting warmer each day, but it was especially noticeable this morning. We had ordered a room service breakfast for 8:30am before venturing out to Shutters to have a look at our photo collection.

At 10:30am, we went to the Walt Disney Theatre to join a behind the scenes look at the venue. It was a great tour taking us firstly into the control booth, then on to the audio booth, then down to the stage to see how the lighting, smoke and pyro worked. Next up, we went on stage to ride on the risers that take performers up and down off the stage during the shows. We then went backstage to look at the sets and visited with the costumer, before going further backstage to see the props department. After props, we met with the stage manager before being lead out the back door and into Diversions. It was a terrific tour and well worth doing if you happen to be on board a Disney ship.

After the tour, we headed up on deck to grab some lunch and watch the Tiharti dancers. It was such a nice day outside – sunshine, a breeze across the deck, Hawaiian music in the background. Della suggested we just book the return cruise onboard and keep sailing!

After lunch, we went to the Buena Vista Theatre to listen to Bob Zalk – an Imagineer who has worked on many projects including the cruise ships. Bob has been making presentations all week but this was the first we’d made it to. He was talking today about the cruise ships themselves and showed a lot of concept art from DCL before they settled on the current classic look. It was really interesting and tomorrow he is running a Q and A session with raffle prizes (I’ll be there!).

Following the Imagineering talk, we lined up again for Pirate Mickey, Captain Hook, Mr Smee and Pirate Minnie. It is Pirate Night tonight including the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party and fireworks display. After the characters, we went back to the room to get ready for the evening before heading to the Walt Disney Theatre for tonight’s variety act. When we got to our room, we found a plate of chocolate coated strawberries on our table from our friend Victoria in Guest Services! Tonight the variety act was Michael Harrison again with his ventriloquist act – and it was totally different from the adult night earlier in the week but just as funny.

After the show, we headed down to Wavebands for the 1990’s music trivia where we teamed up again with James and Michelle from North Carolina. We didn’t win tonight, but came second by just 1 point but we were beaten by the team we beat the previous evening, so all is fair in the end!

Dinner was next in Triton’s and tonight was the Pirate Menu. I had the Jack Sparrow spare ribs which were delicious. After dinner of course was the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. We got there just as it began and found a spot on deck 10 looking down on the dance floor. We prefer the high point as we want to watch the fireworks. The show was the same as the when we were on the Fantasy, including Mickey ziplining in to save the day! The fireworks were excellent and I should make mention of the amazing costumes people were wearing – there were all sorts of pirates and wenches on board. We hit the pool deck dance floor for about an hour after the fireworks before heading to bed. Tomorrow is our last at sea day of the cruise!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Posts: 6082
Joined: Sun May 29, 2005 10:28 am
Location: Peakhurst Heights, NSW

Re: Keith and Della's Alaska/Hawaii Cruises - 2015

Postby KeithS » Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:30 pm

Day 20 – 12 September 2015 (At Sea)
Our final at sea day today and we got another room service breakfast delivered at 8:30am. First thing on our list to do today was the Pixar Pals meet and greet. We missed doing this on the Alaskan cruise so it was fun to join in it today. There was Woody and Jess, Dug and Russell, and Mike and Sulley all together. Once we were through with them, we headed on down to Wavebands for the final Jackpot Bingo of the cruise. Once again it was hosted by Skipper Steve but we had no luck – it was still lots of fun though and today there was a single winner of over $6,500!

As soon as bingo finished, Della headed up to deck 10 where Daisy Duck was doing a meet and greet. I followed soon after (I had to hand the bingo machine back) and met Della in the line. Fortunately, we were able to jump a lot of spots as most people in the line were waiting for our cruise director to be thrown fully clothed into the pool for losing the Wii Sports challenge to the Captain! So our wait for Daisy was very short.

After Daisy, we went and had a bite to eat by the pool. It was another sunny day and it is warm and humid here at sea now – around 28 degrees and very nice! We sat outside for quite some time until finally dropping some stuff off in our room and heading to the Buena Vista theatre to see Imagineer Bob Falk do his Q and A session which was very informative. We tried to get information out of him about future Disneyland projects but he said he couldn’t even tell his wife what he was working on but there are definitely big plans (beyond Star Wars) that are coming down the pipeline in future years. He also gave away a lot of Imagineering lucky door prizes including some pretty amazing pins, but we weren’t lucky enough to win anything.

After the talk, Della headed to the jewellery store again while I went down to Wavebands for a presentation by the ship’s watch officers on how the bridge operates and facts about the ship. Della came in just as it was about to begin (with more shopping bags) and we listened to the very interesting presentation by Barbara, one of the officers on board. She was later joined by the first officer and ship’s staff captain (who sat in the audience). It was interesting to note that the ship uses electric motors for propulsion. It has five diesel engines to generate electricity for the entire ship including the propulsion units. The ship travels faster at night because more electricity can be diverted from the hotel side of the ship to the engines when everyone is asleep!

Following the presentation, we headed back up on deck for a drink and were going to go to the Pixar Pals Party in the atrium, but it was so nice outside, we stayed there a lot longer and had icecream before heading back to our room to get ready for semi-formal night and the Toy Story Musical.

After getting dressed, we wandered down to the Walt Disney Theatre once again. Despite seeing the show just last week, we still had a wonderful time and if anything enjoyed it even more this week! Following the show, we grabbed some more photos before wandering down to Shutters to see our photobook. We caught up with James and Michelle again before heading down to Animator’s Palette for dinner and the Toy Story menu.

After dinner, we headed to the Atrium to watch the Pixar Pals Party. It had changed a bit since last week with some ropes going up to separate the cruise dancers from the audience and it made it work a lot better. The party was a lot of fun. Straight after the party, we headed back to our room as tomorrow is going to be our first port day since we were up in Ketchikan (I’m not counting Vancouver as we were only off the ship for an hour!).
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015


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