Cruise Newbs take on ALASKA! May 22-29, 2017

st0nehedge

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Hi DISboard Friends!

This is a trip report about a couple "Cruise Newbs" sailing to Alaska over May 22-29, 2017!

We booked the cruise over opening release days for the 2017 Alaska season, and booked it via the DCL website ourselves. We knew we wanted a verandah room, based off of what everyone suggested via the DISboards, and having our own little escape from potential crowds during the wonderful sight seeing was a plus. The room we booked was 7062.

We were so happy that we planned to visit Vancouver, BC, for a few days before sail away. Vancouver is beautiful! The first few post entries will be about our hotel and our adventures in Vancouver!


We have myself, Meredith (st0nehedge), and my mom, Susan (Arteleha) on this trip. :stitch2::smickey:

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(^selfies at the Vancouver Airport. It is so BEAUTIFUL here compared to LAX... and clean.)



{Here are some pictures from our trip from LAX to Vancouver.}

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^LAX exit sign! Yeeesss, almost to the AIRPORT!

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^In the middle of this picture, you can see Half Dome! Amazing!

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^Patchwork of the Northern California/Central California countryside.


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^We must have been delirious when we saw this, because both my mom and I were like, "woah, a snow covered volcano! INSANE!" :rotfl:It was confirmed later that this was Mount Rainier. It peeked above the cloud line.


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^Off the plane and taking in the sights! Welcome to CANADA!!


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^This airport is gorgeous! Behind this carved art was a rock waterfall.


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^Going down the stairs to customs.

This was our first trip with real book passports. At the airport, they had several automated machines for checking your passport and taking your picture at customs. Directly to the left of this picture, under the stairs, is a restroom if needed before you enter the customs line. The line went pretty fast! :thumbsup2

After clearing customs, we went to the exchange counter to exchange some USD to CAD. We had considered using the Skytrain, but it was down for maintenance! So, we queued up in the taxi line and waited our turn to head to the hotel!


 
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Arrived in Vancouver, BC.
Going to our hotel!

So, we snagged a taxi at the airport and had a WILD ride to downtown/Davie Village, Vancouver. I kid you not, I was *NOT* expecting to feel sick in a taxi ride. But, this was a big holiday weekend for Canada (Victoria Day Weekend) and there was a lot of traffic. Our taxi driver had no fear and zoomed in and out of lanes to get us to our hotel ASAP.

We stayed at the Sunset Inn & Suites, of which did not have many mentioned on the DISboards, but the hotel was at an excellent price, online reviews were wonderful, and there was free breakfast, free wifi, (free parking if needed), and not too far from the port. I'd suggest taking a taxi to the port because it is not walking distance away, but the cost is about $15 CAD from this hotel to Canada Place.

(we both agreed that with future visits to Vancouver, that we would both stay here!)

The first views of the city were lovely. The buildings all looked so BIG and the water surrounding breathtaking.


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We arrived at the hotel, checked in and headed up to our room. We got the most basic style room, which was HUGE.

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^Bedroom with two twin-sized beds and closets if needed.

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^Bathroom, with tub and AMAZING shower (great water pressure!), complete with a rubber duck.

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^Ducky the duck.

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^Living room area had a couch, TV with DVD player (movies were downstairs if desired), desk with nice chair, and other seating shown here.

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^Dining area - this is where we would bring our breakfasts from the lobby back to and enjoy.

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^Kitchen with full sized fridge, stove, oven, microwave, coffee maker. Dishes, cookware, cleaning supplies were all included with the kitchen area!

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^Balcony area outside. Love the green trees with moss growing on them!

We decided to head out to visit the town and find something for dinner. We spotted these tasty jelly beans on our way!!

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^Jelly Beans and little cups to put them in. I still don't like the licorice ones.

Since everyone swore that we needed to try Tim Horton's, we tried to find one near by. Google maps said it was just down the road, and when we found it - they only had doughnuts (or appeared to only have doughnuts) and we needed something more hearty than that for dinner.

We ended up at Freshslice Pizza. It was good, for pizza. (And when you are super hungry!!) :drinking:
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Walking back from the hotel, we toured the area a bit and fell in love with this community garden. So nice to see this open, thriving space in the middle of a very urban area.

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We walked to a Starbucks and ordered a couple drinks to take back to the hotel. On our way out, we ran into these lovely ladies who were sweet enough to take a picture with me.

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I also met a very friendly pup friend outside of Starbucks. His owner is a regular at this Starbucks!

We stopped at a drugstore across the street to grab some snacks for the hotel room and saw this Kraft Dinner. We chuckled that the same thing at home was called Mac & Cheese.



Here's a view of the top of our hotel standing from the Starbucks just down the street.
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After snagging a treat at Starbucks, we headed back to the room and crashed for the night. Travel can really take it out of you!!

Next up: Stanley Island, Vancouver Aquarium and Bike Rides!
 
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I'm signing on for this! I'm going to Alaska in June but not with Disney. I still love hearing and seeing all the wonderful pics/tips!
 


I'm along for the ride. We were on the May 29 last year and had such a great time. I can't wait to do this trip again in a few years, so i enjoy reading what other's experienced for my next trip.
 


Very nice!! Can't wait to read more. We will be leaving out of LAX for our Alaskan Cruise in September. :)
:welcome:Thank you!! The flight to Vancouver wasn't too bad! LAX is craaaaazy, but, that's to be expected right?

I'm signing on for this! I'm going to Alaska in June but not with Disney. I still love hearing and seeing all the wonderful pics/tips!
:welcome: I've read on the boards visiting Alaska is a must, no matter how to get there! I will try to post more pics/tips etc soon.

Looking forward to hearing more!
:welcome:Thank you for reading!! :)

I'm along for the ride. We were on the May 29 last year and had such a great time. I can't wait to do this trip again in a few years, so i enjoy reading what other's experienced for my next trip.
:welcome:I heard that your cruise had a ton of rain? We didn't have much at all. I'd loooooove to go back and bring the whole fam bam with me next time.


Can't wait to read more! We're planning for Alaska in May 2019!
:welcome:You will LOOOVE your cruise! Planning the trip is a ton of fun too. Those booking dates should be opening soon! We booked this trip on opening day-ish. :)
 
I'm working on resizing pictures for the Trip Report, but STAY TUNED! We have literally thousands I'm going through, and then have to resize for the DISboards, and then will upload. Thank you for your patience! :thumbsup2
 
Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium and Bike Riding Day! :flower:

Part 1: Breakfast, going to Stanley Park, and a real awakening that this park is HUGE.

We woke up knowing we had wanted to visit Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium, but this was our first trip to Vancouver, we didn't really know what to expect. We knew that there were Totem Poles, and had read that the aquarium was either hit or miss, depending on what you are comparing it to.

We had read about a couple restaurants on Stanley Park, but one was closed at the time and the other seemed a bit pricey. We planned ahead at breakfast and snagged some extra food to pack on our outing.

In the lobby of the Sunset Inn, there are a couple waffle makers, along with syrup (and cups to put syrup in), blueberry topping and powdered sugar to doctor up your waffles. There is also a selection of fruit, breads, muffins, cereals, juice, coffee, tea and hot cocoa. We snagged our selections and returned to our rooms. (The room provided a carrying tray for this reason! Bring a couple dishes down with the tray, fill 'em up, and return to your room! Easy!)

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After breakfast, we had the front desk call a cab to drop us off at Stanley Park. We really had no idea what to expect (ie how BIG this park was!). The cab driver suggested dropping us off at the aquarium.

The ride was short, but we noticed pretty quickly that the aquarium was *not* open yet. Here are a few pics we took right after being dropped off.

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^Caption reads, "The octopus is the ninja of the sea. He's got like 9 brains, 2 jetpacks, and a MILLION suction cups... he shoots out BLACK INK like a PUFF of SMOKE" - Josh, age 8.


We walked down the hill from the aquarium to find an information booth on Stanley Park that we saw as we drove into the park. The park is so green, beautiful and nothing like Southern California. Gorgeous.

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^selfies with the greenery!

We saw these beauties growing from a pot near the information booth.

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After getting a couple touristy pamplets, and having no idea exactly how LONG the walk was around the outer edge of the park along the water, we tried to walk a bit. It was quickly figured out that we could not walk around this whole thing. But there were a ton of people on bikes. Hmm... Lets go rent some bikes. We looked up the closest rental place to Stanley Park, and started our way over.

Here are some pictures of the marina.

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^loved this storm drain. Fancy, AND educational.

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^We think it was low tide?

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^Someone thought they'd give their opinion on Toy Story 2 on this park bench walking to the bike rental shop. HA!

{Day 1 Continued in next post - fixing pictures and I now have a picture limit!}
 
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Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium and Bike Riding Day! :flower:

Part 1: Breakfast, going to Stanley Park, and a real awakening that this park is HUGE.

We woke up knowing we had wanted to visit Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium, but this was our first trip to Vancouver, we didn't really know what to expect. We knew that there were Totem Poles, and had read that the aquarium was either hit or miss, depending on what you are comparing it to.

We had read about a couple restaurants on Stanley Island, but one was closed at the time and the other seemed a bit pricey. We planned ahead at breakfast and snagged some extra food to pack on our outing.

In the lobby of the Sunset Inn, there are a couple waffle makers, along with syrup (and cups to put syrup in), blueberry topping and powdered sugar to doctor up your waffles. There is also a selection of fruit, breads, muffins, cereals, juice, coffee, tea and hot cocoa. We snagged our selections and returned to our rooms. (The room provided a carrying tray for this reason! Bring a couple dishes down with the tray, fill 'em up, and return to your room! Easy!)

full


After breakfast, we had the front desk call a cab to drop us off at Stanley Park. We really had no idea what to expect (ie how BIG this park was!). The cab driver suggested dropping us off at the aquarium.

The ride was short, but we noticed pretty quickly that the aquarium was *not* open yet. Here are a few pics we took right after being dropped off.

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^Caption reads, "The octopus is the ninja of the sea. He's got like 9 brains, 2 jetpacks, and a MILLION suction cups... he shoots out BLACK INK like a PUFF of SMOKE" - Josh, age 8.


We walked down the hill from the aquarium to find an information booth on Stanley Park that we saw as we drove into the park. The park is so green, beautiful and nothing like Southern California. Gorgeous.

full

^selfies with the greenery!

We saw these beauties growing from a pot near the information booth.

full


After getting a couple touristy pamplets, and having no idea exactly how LONG the walk was around the outer edge of the park along the water, we tried to walk a bit. It was quickly figured out that we could not walk around this whole thing. But there were a ton of people on bikes. Hmm... Lets go rent some bikes. We looked up the closest rental place to Stanley Park, and started our way over.

Here are some pictures of the marina.

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^loved this storm drain. Fancy, AND educational.

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^We think it was low tide?

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^Someone thought they'd give their opinion on Toy Story 2 on this park bench walking to the bike rental shop. HA!

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^Artwork we passed by.

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^Vancouver is so beautiful. By this time, we had left Stanley Park and were almost to the bike rental shop.

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^More Artwork.

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^Happy faces! We got our bikes, helmets and baskets for the front of the bikes. We were ready to go!

{to be continued}

Can't see ANY of the images in this second post - is it just me?
 
Yay! Your trip report!
(testing to see how I uploaded pics)
 

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{Day 1 Continued}

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^Artwork we passed by.

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^Vancouver is so beautiful. By this time, we had left Stanley Park and were almost to the bike rental shop.

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^More Artwork.

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^Happy faces! We got our bikes, helmets and baskets for the front of the bikes. We were ready to go!

We rented bikes from Spokes (http://www.spokesbicyclerentals.com/). Why? Because they were the first one we went to. There were people handing out coupons for other bike places on the corner before we crossed the street, but we were just ready to get a bike and get back to the park!

{to be continued}
 
{Day 1 Continued}

With bikes in tow, our speed/endurance adventure around Stanley Park was now so much better.

For anyone thinking about going to Stanley Park, and going around the parks perimeter, be forewarned: The trek around the sea wall is 9 km! (5.59 miles). Bikes are your friend. The official statement on the Stanley Park website states, "The 9 km portion around Stanley Park takes two to three hours to walk, or one hour to cycle." (http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/seawall.aspx). There is a printable map on this site if you're wanting to be prepared! Around Stanley Park specifically, it is one-way directional flow. Many parts of the path are narrow and I can completely understand why there is this need for one-way traffic. (If you're ambitious, the entire waterfront path is 28 km long, which starts around Canada Place and ends somewhere we didn't go to... :) )

Along our ride, we passed several statues, the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, and came upon the Totem Poles!! Yes! Super exciting!

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^I probably should have kept both hands on the handlebars - I hadn't ridden a bike in YEARS. :rolleyes1

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^Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. It was a little windy.

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^We found the Totem Poles! :love:

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There were a few benches around the totem poles, away from the "front" of where everyone gathered to get a good look at them. We found one in the shade and decided to just sit and take in the fact that we were in Vancouver, a beautiful and green city in Canada, and sitting right next to Totem Poles. Seemed like a good time for lunch! I mean, who can say that they eat lunch sitting alongside Totem Poles? This was a nice relaxing moment. We enjoyed sandwiches, fruit, these snacky lentil bean things and some lemonade while reading up about what else was in store for us at Stanley Park. :cloud9:

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{To be Continued...}
 
Yey! I can see the photos now. Hoping to book Alaska Summer 2019 - some other lines have better pricing and itineraries (new Bliss looks awesome) but I really want to sail from Vancouver and not Seattle... Looks amazing.
 
Joining in on your reports. Great coverage of Vancouver. We also like Stanley Park and the totem poles on our early summer cruise in 2011. Getting ready for our next Alaskan cruise on the Disney Wonder in September 2018.
 
Yay! The photos are working out! I'm looking in the background, because I think we were out on bikes at close to the same time. :)
 

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