I had made reservations for a character breakfast for our first day at sea.  The only time available was 7:45, which seemed early.  However, our group has many early risers, so it worked out fine.  The breakfast was located at Animator’s Palate, the same restaurant we had eaten at the night before.

The waiters made us napkin hats to wear on our heads.

Not everyone seemed especially pleased.

Here are some of k’s thoughts about the breakfast:

Since we had a character breakfast, there were Disney characters that took pictures with us.  We also got hats made out of cloth napkins to wear.  I ate scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and a mini chocolate croissant.  Since it was breakfast, and not dinner, our server’s name was Charlie.  Daddy found out that he was a Christian.

The menu featured breakfast basics that you could choose from to make your own plate.  I had a Denver omelet, bacon, grilled tomato and Mickey waffle.  There were also various muffins and croissants being passed around by the servers.

My youngest sister actually was not feeling too well at this point and had to excuse herself back to her room.  I am glad that I was able to take this picture before she left.  She ended up feeling better later on, so all was well.  I was afraid I would feel seasick (as I do on smaller boats), but I took Bonine every night, including the night before I even boarded the ship.  I also wore Seabands.  I am not sure if I would have been sick without these preventative measures, but our days at sea were the only days I could really feel any movement.

My tip for the character breakfasts would be to sit on the same side of the table with the people you want to take the most pictures with.  n was on the other side of the table from us, but you are not supposed to get up from your seat once the characters start coming by.

After breakfast, we went to the kids club open house.  There were two clubs for kids age 3-12.  The first is the Oceaneer Club, which was geared for younger kids and, and featured storytelling and imagination.  The Oceaneer Lab had more of the hands on activities, including cooking and science experiments.

I appreciated these handwashing stations that every child had to use before entering the kids areas.  Our kids stayed healthy during the entire trip!

This Marvel-themed area looked really cool, but I think it needed some more interactive features.

There was also an area based on Andy’s bedroom from Toy Story.

After the exploring the Oceaneer Club, we checked the kids into the Lab.  k’s thoughts:

In the Oceaneer Lab, we did a program called “Gasses in Action”.  The program was science-based.  We got to do experiments like putting Mentos through a tube and having it land in a Coca-Cola bottle.  It ended up exploding on the ceiling, so it was good that there was paper on the ceiling. 

The kids were able to check themselves in and out of the club using their bracelets.  n just made the cut-off for this privilege since he is eight years old.  By the second day, I felt comfortable letting the kids go by themselves to different places on the ship, as long as they stayed together.

While the kids were in the Lab, D and I checked out the Cove Café.  It was a nice, quiet, adults-only space to relax.

After that we went to an educational seminar presented by Doug Jones, a naturalist.  He gave an introduction about the Alaskan Wilderness.  I thought it was informative, but in hindsight we should have just had it on the television in our stateroom while enjoying the scenery from our verandah since they played his talks on a continuous loop.  After that, I went to a port shopping seminar that promised some free gifts.  I returned empty-handed, but did have some coupons that I was able to redeem later on in Skagway.

Next, it was time for lunch.  We wanted to check out the offerings at Cabanas, which is the only buffet onboard.

It was kind of crowded inside, so we opted for an outside table even though it was chilly.

There was quite an array of food.  I took a little bit of a lot of things.  Sorry, I did not arrange my plate to look appetizing!  This was one of the two meals on the whole cruise where D over-stuffed himself.  He had a full plate of food and had missed the whole seafood section, so he went back for another plate.  Then the kids said they wanted to try the Mexican food section, but they did not eat much of it.  So, D took it upon himself to finish it!

Of course, there is always room for dessert–tiramisu parfait.

And, we could not pass up the mango and pina colada soft serve being offered that day!

The sun was out and the scenery was constantly changing.

That morning, we had received our first Fish Extender gifts, and they were amazing.  I will write a separate post explaining Fish Extenders later.  The kids were eager to deliver our Fish Extenders to the other people in our group in the early afternoon.

At 2:00, the kids joined us for another talk by Doug Jones.  This time it was about whales.  At 3:00, I took the kids to make a Disney ship 3D paper craft.

I found their matching Mickey shirts at Uniqlo the week before we left for the cruise.  I liked that they were kind of nautical and gender-neutral!

The Adventures Away party began at  4:30 p.m.  We chose to watch it from Deck 10 so that the kids could have a better view, and because our family is not big on participating in dance parties.

This was our cruise director, Trent Hitchcock.  He was from Australia and had a charming Australian accent.  Trent was funny and a bit corny, but not in an annoying way.  You could not help but like him.  He was perfect for the job!

At last, we were on our way!

Bon Voyage!

It was windy, as you can see.

We stayed on Deck 10 until we passed under Lions Gate Bridge.

There were some people on the bridge who waved to us.

Then we headed back to our room.  Our luggage was delivered right before we had left for the pool, so we were able to do some unpacking.

Well, I did some unpacking.  The kids mostly watched some Zootopia.  The television had Disney movies running 24/7.

I also decorated our door with magnets I had made from Perler beads.  I am not sure if this is the case with other cruise lines, but decorating your door is definitely a thing on Disney cruises.  It did help make finding our room easier in the long corridor.  Plus, it is just cute,  don’t you think?  Here is the sign I made in Word, if you want to make one for yourself!

Before we knew it, it was time dinnertime.  We had the early seating (5:45 p.m.), and our first assigned restaurant was Animator’s Palate.

The restaurant is surrounded by screens that showed different sketches of Disney cartoons that changed throughout the meal.

We had our own table for ten, which was nice.

This was the first time that we met our servers that would be with us for every dinner: Shahrang and Julie.

Clockwise: Garlic & Herb Focaccia (The theming of this restaurant is so cute–paintbrush knives!); Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes (so yummy!); Spinach and Arugula Leaves; Ginger Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin (one of my favorite main courses!); Grilled Tuna Steak; Creamy Butternut Squash Soup (only disappointment–much too salty).

The servers totally spoiled us.  They cut our kids’ meat for them!

The kids had their own menu every night, but many nights our kids ordered off of the adult menu.

There was a special guest at the end of dinner!

Warm Sticky Date Pudding and Blueberry Tart

When we returned to our stateroom, Francis had done his magic.  There was a towel animal (lobster?) on our bed, and Ghiradelli chocolates.

The couch area had been transformed to a bunk bed.  The kids were so excited.  n screamed and then said “I just HAD to scream!”.  Haha!  They worked out a deal where n could sleep on the top four times if k could choose which three times she slept on the top.  She chose the first night–haha.

Francis even arranged our slippers (which had been strewn about the floor), by size.

Finally, we went to the Be Our Guest Stage show at 8:30 p.m., which featured an introduction by Trent, as well as previews of the Disney productions that we would see later that week.

All of the musical acts were excellent, but pictures were not allowed.  There was also a juggler who was pretty entertaining, and a ventriloquist who I was not too crazy about.

This sunset picture (along with the crescent moon) was taken from our verandah after the show.

We all fell asleep quite easily that first night!

As soon as we entered the ship at the beautiful lobby on the third deck, we received the Disney welcome as our family name was announced.

We headed straight to Triton’s for lunch, which is just off of the lobby.

Ariel greets all of the guests.

I think most guests head straight to the buffet, but I had read beforehand that Triton’s was open for lunch.  It was nice to be seated all together and be served for our first meal.

We used part of that time to link up our phones on the Disney Cruise app so that we could communicate on the ship, even while on airplane mode.

As soon as we were seated, our waiter asked about the kids’ nut allergies since they were already listed in the computer system.  We learned that Disney takes allergies VERY seriously.  Our waiter was quite stern about it and it became apparent that they would not allow our kids to eat certain foods even if we thought it was ok, like bread.  I can understand how this would be really helpful in certain circumstances.  However, since we wanted to be more in control of what our kids could eat, we ended up telling them that there were no allergies.  We read the menu carefully, avoided all food that listed nuts, and never had one issue the whole week with any cross-contamination.

Loved the plastic mickey cups for the kids!

(Clockwise): Beef Empanada; Seafood & Chicken Gumbo with Cornbread; Macaroni and Cheese; Grilled Salmon Salad.  A nice way to start off our cruise!

(Clockwise):  Chocolate Marquise Bombe (rich chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce); Mickey Bars for the kids; Cookies ‘n Cream Cheesecake; Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese.

When lunch was over, we headed quickly towards the Walt Disney Theater so we could take a walking tour of the ship at 1:45.  This gave us a quick overview and helped us get our bearings of the huge ship.  (The Wonder is actually one of the smaller Disney ships, but it felt huge to us).

The staterooms were supposed to be ready by 1:30, so we were eager to checks ours out.

The hallways were long!  Fun fact: if you look at the world map on the carpet in the hallways, north points to the forward part of the ship, and south points to the aft.  Once we reached our room, we saw that our door was open and there was a maintenance person.  Our stateroom host explained that he was fixing a flickering light.  It only took a couple of minutes, and then we were free  to go inside.

Although the room was small, it was well laid out and did not feel cramped.

It was really helpful to have a split bathroom: one with toilet and sink, and the other with the shower and sink.

I immediately went to check out the verandah.  The fresh air was so nice!

Someone else enjoyed it too…

Our luggage had not arrived yet, but our day bags were prepared with our swimsuits for a quick dip in the pool.

D and the kids went down the slide a couple of times.  The weather in Vancouver was quite warm, and we knew we should take advantage of it.

Before we knew it, it was time to go back to our room so we could change for the mandatory emergency drill.

But first, we had to make a stop at the soft serve ice cream machine!

The emergency drill was all very well-organized and did not take too long.  The assigned crew member checked us off electronically and we listened to the emergency procedures.  It was finally time to set sail!

D and I installed the Disney Cruise app on our phones when my parents first booked the cruise.  There is a countdown feature, and the kids would often check it, announcing to us, “Only 278 more days!”.  Well, the day was finally here!

We ate breakfast in the concierge lounge.

We are not too picky–we enjoy the free breakfasts at places like Townplace Suites and the like.  However, there were two problems with this breakfast.  First, the sausage was room temperature, at best, even though it was in a chafing dish.  D talked to an employee about it.  She touched the sausage but did not acknowledge anything was wrong.  She did replace the sausage later (or maybe just warmed it up!)  Second, k took a bite of the salami and had to spit it out because she said it tasted so bad.  (n had already consumed a few bites of the salami at this point).  I was unable to discern if the salami was actually bad, or if it was just a different type that she was not used to.  D said to try it to see for ourselves, but I did not want to risk it.  Meanwhile, I was picturing two kids with food poisoning on our cruise, and that put a damper on the rest of breakfast.  Thankfully, the kids ended up being fine, so I am still not sure about k’s reaction.  OK, I did not mean to write an entire paragraph about our breakfast issues.  The rest of the food was just fine, and the hotel was nice enough to let us all eat there, so enough about that.

After breakfast, we had some time to kill, so we took another walk around Canada Place.  We stopped by the Olympic Cauldron that was used in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Also nearby is the Pixel Orca statue created by Douglad Coupland, the person who popularized the term “Generation X”.

The city was preparing for Canada Day on July 1, marking Canada’s 150th birthday.  I do not think that we appreciated the significance of this celebration as Americans.  This sign was cool, though!

We watched some float planes take off and land in the water.

Yes, that is a floating gas station.

We also had a sneak peak of the Disney Wonder, which had arrived in port earlier that morning.

I love the classic design of the Disney ships.  It was getting real.  We headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and meet up with my parents and sister.

Several weeks before our departure, we received luggage tags and information booklet in the mail.  After my parents’ luggage debacle at the airport, it was nice to have the tags ready to go.  If only airlines did this!

k was ready to go with a cute selection of Mickey and Minnie hair accessories that my mom had made for her.

Our check-in time was supposed to be at 11:30, but we were not quite sure if that meant we should begin the process at that time or if that was the time we could board.  We arrived just after 10:30 to be on the safe side.  I did not take pictures during the check-in since I was juggling luggage, the online check-in form, passports, etc.  However, there were basically three steps.  1. Drop off luggage with porters.  2. Go through customs and enter passports and information through the machines.  3. Check-in with the Disney cruise line (fill out short health form, obtain Key to the World cards, and kids’ club wristbands).  I was not sure how long this would take, but it all went very smoothly.  There was an abundance of signage as well as cast members directing and answering questions.  During this time we passed by my middle sister and her family, so we knew that everyone had made it.

After that we were directed to a large waiting room and waited for our boarding number to be called.

Here is Zaza helping my nephew with his kids club bracelet.  Also notice the lanyards she made for our Key to the World cards.  Someone asked her if there was somewhere she could buy them-ha!  The wait was not too bad, and there is a restroom, fyi.  We passed time by looking through the Navigator (cruise schedule) and took some pictures.

Our boarding number was six.  Once they started calling the numbers, it went pretty fast.  According to my camera, this picture was taken at 12:11 p.m.

We took a bus (using our Compass card) to Stanley Park and rented bicycles from Spokes.

Although the store was kind of crowded, we were fitted with bikes and helmets in about fifteen minutes.

D and I had bicycled the approximately four miles around Stanley Park during our 2005 visit.  I rarely bike and I remember being a little uneasy.  Doing the ride and watching out for a ten year old and an eight year old on a fairly crowded Sunday afternoon was even more nerve-wracking (for me, not the kids)!  D led the way, then k, then n, and I brought up the rear.

There were plenty of sights to be had, such as the totem poles.

We also saw wedding photos being taken…

…and geese swimming in the waves.

We pulled over several times to take a break and let the faster riders pass us up.  The bicycle lanes and pedestrian lanes are separate, but there are parts where the bicycle lane is quite narrow.  Even so, some riders still tried to pass through.  Thankfully, there were no major accidents, but can I just say that people should not be riding bicycles while using their phones?!

Lions Gate Bridge

Since we did not have a real lunch, we were pretty hungry after our ride.  We ended up at Me-No Kura on nearby Robson Street for some authentic ramen.  Two bowls plus 2 servings of extra noodles filled us up.

Had to laugh at this sign in the bathroom.

Next we took the bus to Canada Place and experienced Flyover Canada.

I had reserved tickets online, so we saved some money and time.  The ride is very similar to Soarin’ Over California, except it features Canada, of course.  The kids have not been on Soarin’, (I know!), so they did not really know what to expect.  It was kind of expensive for what it was (even with the favorable Canadian exchange rate), but it was a fun and touristy thing to do.

We walked around Canada Place a little more, I bought my Vancouver Starbucks mug, and we headed back to the hotel.

We met up with my parents and sister at the concierge lounge.  They had eaten at a restaurant called Joey Restaurant and brought us some leftover chicken banh mi.

It was really good!  I think n ate most of it, even though it was a little spicy.

To D’s dismay, we had missed the free appetizers offered in the concierge lounge, but they did have this dessert:

I think it was supposed to be crème brulee, only it was not “bruleed” as there was no crunchy shell.  It was still tasty, though.

We then headed back to our room and prepared for bed.  There was a pretty sunset that night.

It was not difficult for us to fall asleep after that long day!

We are back from an incredible seven night Disney cruise to Alaska!  This trip was made possible by the amazing generosity of my parents, and we are SO thankful to them for this experience.  There were ten of us all together: My dad, mom, youngest sister, middle sister (along with her husband K and son j) , and us (D + L + k + n).  This trip introduced a lot of firsts for us: 1st time we have all vacationed together, 1st cruise, 1st time to Alaska, and 1st time going to another country (Canada) for k + n.  We took a lot of pictures, so be prepared for some long, detailed posts of our adventure.  My hope is that these posts will help preserve our memories for the future, as well as provide some tips for those who are planning a similar trip.  I also have grand plans of making a video and scrapbook, so we’ll see how that goes!

Our vacation started on Sunday, June 25, one day before our cruise departure.  We had a flight out of LAX to Vancouver at 10:45 a.m.  My parents and youngest sister were booked on the same flight.  We drove separately to the airport and saw them during the check-in process.  Our family then proceeded to security/customs.  Luckily, we were directed to an “express” line where we did not have to do all of the security rigamarole.  Once we reached what we thought was our gate, we realized we had to take a shuttle to another remote terminal.  Meanwhile, my parents and sister were still stuck at check-in because the computer would not print the tag needed for their one piece of checked luggage.  They had to wait in a super long line to talk to an agent.  Even though they had arrived at the airport over two and half hours before take-off, they barely made their flight!

We flew on a small American Airlines airplane that we booked through Alaska Airlines and was operated by Compass Airlines, or something confusing like that.  We sat in row 18 both coming and going.  The kids were excited and behaved pretty well during the three hour flight.

I came within one clue of solving the crossword puzzle in the airline magazine.  Doh!

It was a relief that we all made it (along with our luggage) to YVR.

D and I took a trip to Vancouver in 2005.  Sadly, that was pre-blog, so we do not have much record of it.  I think a lot has been added to the international terminal since then.

You could even hear bird sounds!

Going through customs was not too bad.  However, using machines for everything still feels strange.

From the airport we bought day passes for the Skytrain from the airport to the Waterfront Station via the Canada Line.  It was convenient, not too crowded, and reminded me of the BART.

After exiting the Skytrain, we walked to the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown hotel and checked in.

We picked this hotel since D was able to use his points for our stay.  Although it is fairly convenient to Canada Place (the cruise ship terminal), it was a bit of a walk from Waterfront Station.  n had some trouble managing his wheelie suitcase.

We were able to check out the concierge lounge due to D’s gold Marriott status.

Notice how the rooftop grass on the right of this picture contrasted against the sleek glass architecture and glassy water–nice!

By this time it was close to 4 p.m. and it was time to explore Stanley Park.