Monday, April 1, 2024

Cruising Alaska with Disney Cruise Line: A First-Timer's Guide

disney alaska cruise

Cruising with Disney to Alaska offers great views from the ship, but there’s nothing like getting out and having your own adventure. It’s, therefore, both a blessing and a curse that there are so many excursion options — nearly 200 at last count. To help you decide, here are our picks for the best Disney Cruise Excursions in Alaska. Besides your scheduled dinner rotation (more on this later), there’s the option for adults only to dine at Palo.

Why We Booked This Cruise

The Canada Place Cruise Ship Terminal is easily accessible by various modes of transportation, including Uber, taxi, public transit, and walking for those staying in nearby hotels. Overall, Vancouver’s ideal location and superb facilities make it the perfect starting point for an unforgettable Disney cruise to Alaska. Aside from the main port cities, Disney cruises to Alaska offer a number of less-frequented destinations and points of interest. The following is an overview of Disney’s Alaskan cruise ports of call and points of interest. First — and most importantly — Disney will wait, if necessary, to allow official excursions to return to the ship should they run late (or pay for you to catch up to the ship at the next port-of-call). This courtesy is not extended to unofficial tours, which risks leaving you stranded!

Book Excursions and On Board Activities

Views of Bald Eagles, a couple whales, and seals were all better with our binoculars. Pack important items like medications, all documents like passports and IDs, and any other essential items in your day pack. Every guest embarking Disney Wonder on an Alaska cruise must complete a health questionnaire before boarding. The lumberjack show was a hit with all ages in our group which encompassed a future Kindergartener, tween, teens, and adults. The riotous show demonstrated incredible lumberjack skills with most of the lumberjacks having serious competition credentials.

Alaska Disney Cruise Character Meet and Greets

The rest is just navigating through the details, like do you want to bring the black shoes or the red shoes, and how many evening gowns you might bring. Ok, ok, those probably aren’t the questions you’re scratching your head over. Follow our Disney Alaska Cruise planning timeline and tips to make the most of this unique and expensive Disney vacation. Fortunately the night before embarking I double checked the prohibited item list and discovered that steamers are not allowed. I knew our formal clothes would likely be wrinkled upon arrival. Irons are only available on-board in the laundry rooms for safety reasons.

After breakfast I swung by Cove Cafe to pick us up some cold brew. Drip coffee is free (but available in spots other than cove, like Cabanas and the beverage station outside Cabanas), but anything else—specialty lattes ($5.75), cold brew ($4)—costs extra. We did laundry twice (mostly because of my running clothes and Emily and Zoe’s swimsuits). Notifications are supposed to come through the app when your washer/dryer finishes.

The terminals across the entire port feature relatively limited facilities, but you can find several public restrooms and vending machines. Unfortunately, the port does not offer free Wi-Fi as of yet, but due to the port’s proximity to downtown Skagway, you shouldn’t have any problem finding an Internet connection if you need it. With that said, if you do depart from Skagway, the most popular way to travel to the town is to take a roughly 45-minute commuter flight from Juneau, Alaska.

Dates & Itineraries: Alaskan Disney Cruises

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Alison Meacham is the founder of EverythingMouse Disney Blog. For over 15 years she has shared her love of Disney Parks, Disney Cruises and Universal Orlando. In over 30 years of Disney Travel she has spent countless months in Disney Parks and has sailed on over 45 cruises. A British native and now a United States resident she splits her time between California, Florida and the UK. She helps over 200,000 people per month follow their Disney travel dreams. If you’re unable to meet every character on the fjord cruise day (perhaps someone has a better strategy than us, but we found it to be impossible), they’ll appear inside on subsequent nights.

If you book basically any excursion for this day, it will include access to this gondola. This is a cannery museum, a few restaurants, and lots of stores. We were in the area of the South Sawyer Glacier for about 30 minutes.

During this excursion, you’re also apt to spot sea lions, harbor seals, and even bald eagles. No one disputes that airfare to Vancouver and the cost of the Disney Cruise itself are already significant expenses. So it’s understandable that some folks hesitate to add multiple high-cost shore excursions to their trip. But for Alaska, excursions really are the key to an amazing experience that you and your family will remember for the rest of your lives. I hadn’t preordered photos because I don’t usually meet tons of characters.

disney alaska cruise

From lavish entertainment (see Disney Cruise Line entertainment section below) to educational programs to fitness offerings, there really are tons of ways to stay busy during the days at sea. While I can't speak to the train portion (I hear it's worth doing), the dog sled demo and gold panning were quite enjoyable. And this was a perfect example of how in Alaska, nothing is set in stone. It is common for operators to make adjustments to excursions based on weather, safety concerns and other factors. Helicopter and small plane tours are especially likely to be canceled or adjusted.

Board a deluxe, waterjet-powered vessel to explore the wildlife of Sitka Sound. An onboard naturalist explains this remarkable ecosystem as you watch for sea otters, whales, sea lions, porpoises, harbor seals, brown bears, black-tailed deer, and marine birds. Along the way, you’ll learn about the remarkable recovery of the area’s sea otters, which had been brought almost to the brink of extinction in the early 1800s. You can choose the level of adventure — either stay toasty warm in the cabin (enclosed seating and large windows) or head topside to the open-air observation deck. This expedition guarantees you will observe sea otters, a whale, or a bear during the excursion.

That said, dining here does cost extra and is Not included in your Disney Cruise. However, this elegant dining experience is completely worth the $45 price tag. With a multi-course offering and the chance to order more of anything ( plus one drink free), the value here is better than even the most basic restaurants we’ve visited at Walt Disney World. Unlike Juneau, where some of the port is a little walking distance, the Disney Cruise Port at Ketchikan is right in the middle of town. With everything literally visible from the boat, and extremely walkable.

Active outdoor excursions, formal nights, daytime clothes, and an unbelievably wide range of weather means you really need to pack for every option. Also have everyone’s passport information and pictures of the documents ready which are required to complete online check-in. Once all the essential documents and photos are uploaded you can book your port arrival time. Want a dog sled experience without the risk of cancellation or the high price tag? We also considered the Dog Sledding Summer Camp port adventure which lets you play with puppies and ride on a cart through a forest. Steeped in Gold Rush history, Skagway is a small town with shops and cool National Park Service museums.

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