321GO - The Alternative West Coast PTR

[Chilly80]

Welcome to my PTR for my latest adventure. I'm very excited about the holiday which we only booked at the end of January which is very unusual for us as I love to plan but real life got in the way with getting something booked and now it seems very close and nothing is sorted. What makes me extra nervous about it being so close and having nothing organised is that DH is planning this holiday not me, I promised him back in 2010 that he could pick where we went this year but I said he couldn't pick and then leave me to do all the hard work. I cannot help interfering here and there though and have to keep proding him to research stuff. So at Christmas we decided enough was enough we were booking a holiday, I sat DH down with the laptop and told him to pick somewhere. Three days later he says to me i've got 3 options, I nearly cried when he told me because they all contained a bit of Disney and I was having serious Disney blues. I was happy with all 3 options so let him pick the one he liked best. We've mulled it over these last 3 weeks and as I said finally booked part of it yesterday so the plan is, drumroll please...

4 nights in Vancouver
7 night Disney Wonder Cruise to Alaska
2 nights in Seattle
3 nights in San Diego

So very excited to be doing a Disney cruise again. Although its ironic that when we did our honeymoon cruise it was January and rather cold we said we'd do a cruise again in hot weather and we've ended up on a cold cruise again. Also happy to be finally seeing San Diego after missing it out on both of our West Coast Trips in 2005 and 2010.

We've booked the cruise with Dreams and the flights with BA inc an internal flight with AA through Expedia. We had hoped to fly Virgin and use our airmiles to go PE but they only start flying to Vancouver a week after we fly! The hotels are booked through lots of different websites. On the cruise we're just in a inside cabin to save on money and on the honeymoon we never used our balconey.

[Chilly80]

Well to start with it feels like a race to get everything booked, researched and organised and we're in the starting blocks now. But it also symbolises the different bits of the trip...

3 flights - 2 countries - 1 cruise

3 states - 2 new to us - 1 we've been to before

3 ports on the cruise - 2 days at sea - 1 cruising day

i've got some more but they're a bit of a stretch so i'll leave it there!

[Chilly80]

I am so excited for the cruise for various reasons. Number 1, it will be a nice reminder of the honeymoon, number 2, the food esp Palo, number 3 it'll be fairly relaxing with lots of down time, and number 4, i'm very excited to go to Alaska. This is the itinerary, I like that we board in one port but return to a different one:

7-Night Alaskan Cruise on Disney Wonder - Itinerary C
May 21 to May 28

1 Vancouver, Canada onboard 4:00 p.m.
2 At Sea
3 Tracy Arm, Alaska Cruising Day
4 Skagway, Alaska docks 7:15 a.m. onboard 7:30 p.m.
5 Juneau, Alaska docks 7:45 a.m. onboard 5:30 p.m.
6 Ketchikan, Alaska docks 11:15 a.m. onboard 4:30 p.m.
7 At Sea
8 Seattle, Washington 9:00 a.m. end of cruise

None of the ports are very big so we will probably book excursions in each one. Booking day for Palo and excursions is Tuesday so i'll be updating then what we've gone for as at the moment we've still not decided. We've opted for an inside cabin to save money and have cabin 7619 which is right by our honeymoon cabin so happy with that. We're by the secret deck so that might be a good spot for the Tracey Arm day if the main decks are busy and i've heard that other than that day the decks remain pretty empty because of the cold.

[Chilly80]

I logged on to the BA website to pick our seats but when I saw you had to pay I deicded against it, I'll just have to hope when I do online check in the day before I can get some ok seats. We won't be staying at the airport the night before and i'll leave booking our transport to the airport till nearer the time just in case we've moved so that's way down on the to do list, we'll be hiring a car in San Diego so that's still to sort.

For hotels in Vancouver we've opted for Blue Horizen for 2 reasons, 1 its location and 2 it's supposed to have good views.



For Seattle again location was key as we aren't there for long but we decided to go for a slightly smaller hotel so we've picked the Monaco.





In San Diego I of course wanted to stay here...



but that was way out of the budget so we're staying nearby at the Glorietta Bay Inn.

[TinkTatoo]

It sounds like a brilliant trip which I'll be following closely. I'll be looking for info on SD for this trip and of course the rest for next year

Originally Posted by Chilly80

... We've opted for an inside cabin to save money and have cabin 7619 which is right by our honeymoon cabin so happy with that...

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We've got a 7a and an 11a directly across from it 7621 so we'll be just a few doors from you

[Chilly80]

Originally Posted by TinkTatoo

It sounds like a brilliant trip which I'll be following closely. I'll be looking for info on SD for this trip and of course the rest for next year

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If your interested in the west coast my trip last year included San Fan, the coast and Disneyland, link in sig, Golden Triangle TR.

Originally Posted by TinkTatoo

We've got a 7a and an 11a directly across from it 7621 so we'll be just a few doors from you

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We were 7122 on our honeymoon cruise so the opposite side.

[Chilly80]

Today was the day our booking window opened for Palo and excursions etc. As DH is planning this holiday I told him he had to get up to do it at 5am. He moaned a lot said will it really make a difference and to which I replied if we can't book Palo how will you feel, that shut him up. So the alarm went off at 4.45am this morning and he got up, I was already awake having woken at 4.20am, I tried to go back to sleep and managed to doze a bit but I kept thinking he would come in and ask me something but he didn't, I felt like one of the brides on Don't Tell the Bride who don't trust the grooms to plan the wedding.

Overall we were very successful. We got Palo Brunch on day 3, our cruising day, and Palo dinner on the last night, we din't bother with High Tea. We had decided on 2 excursions, we got 1 but had to book our 2nd choice for the other. Wonderful DH also booked me into the spa on day 2 for a hot stone massage, well I did drop enough hints.

So the excursions we've booked are, on day 4, Yukon Suspension Bridge, City and White Pass Railway - Board a vintage rail car for an approximate 95-minute, fully narrated trip aboard the historic White Pass & Yukon Route 3,292 feet above sea level. Next, visit the Yukon Suspension Bridge before continuing down the west side of the White Pass canyon. This was our 2nd choice as we had wanted to do the White Pass Railway with Glacier Lake Kayak but that wasn't available to book.







Then on day 5, Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest - Experience Alaska's premier attractions - glaciers and wildlife - by land and by sea. Enjoy a 3-hour whale watching and wildlife cruise aboard a deluxe catamaran, plus the opportunity to visit the world-famous Mendenhall Glacier. We also plan if the whether is good to go up the MT Roberts Tramway after our excursion. On day 6 we decided to save money and not book anything.







DH forgot to do the online check in but i've now completed that and picked the 1100>1130 port arrival time.

Next job decide what to do when we aren't on the cruise.

[TinkTatoo]

Glad you managed to get Palo and the two excursions. I'd like to do one that includes the White Pass Railway so I'll be interested to hear what you think of that one. I'd also love to do the Glacier / dog sled one but I've got a feeling it might be outside our price range and that it would also sell out with Platinum / Gold cruisers before we get a chance to book

[Chilly80]

Originally Posted by TinkTatoo

Glad you managed to get Palo and the two excursions. I'd like to do one that includes the White Pass Railway so I'll be interested to hear what you think of that one. I'd also love to do the Glacier / dog sled one but I've got a feeling it might be outside our price range and that it would also sell out with Platinum / Gold cruisers before we get a chance to book

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Yes the dog sled one does cost a fortune, i'd heard it was really popular as well but it was still available to book and we are Silver.

[TinkTatoo]

Originally Posted by Chilly80

Yes the dog sled one does cost a fortune, i'd heard it was really popular as well but it was still available to book and we are Silver.

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That's good to know, I'd better start saving then