Disney Cruising- Get Ready For Your Cruise

 Things To Do To Prepare For Your Upcoming Cruise

1.  30 days before your trip, make sure to check in online!  You can start checking in at midnight.  At this point, you will need to input flight info, passport info, and a credit card for incidentals onboard so have that all handy when you begin the process.  This is when you will choose a port arrival time.  Once you have checked in, you will have a paper to print off to show at port arrival.

2.  Keep your eye out for your luggage tags.  You should receive mail from Disney Cruise Line about three weeks prior to your cruise.  It will have your luggage tags included.  You will want to make sure to take these with you on your trip.  You will attach these to your bag prior to boarding the ship that morning.  If you don't get them in time or you forget them at home, no worries!  You can get blank ones from the porters at the ship.

3. When packing- don't forget to pack your passports, your print out from when you checked in online, prescription medication, and anything else that you need to keep with you in your carryon bag.  When you get to the ship, your bags will be taken by the porters and you won't see them until sometime later that day.  We usually haven't gotten ours until around 5pm, so if you are wanting to lay out around the pool, you might consider wearing your swimsuit under your clothes or packing it in your carryon.  You can also bring bottled water onboard, but you have to have it in your carryon.  2 bottles of wine or a six pack of beer are allowed to brough onboard with Disney, but you have to consume them in your room, and you have to bring them on in your carryon.

4. Before your cruise, make sure to download the Disney Cruise Line app on your phone.  You will use it a lot on the ship!  It is where you will find the navigator which lists all the activities for the day, the port for the day, drink of the day, and food menus.  You can also use it to message each other on the ship (I didn't feel like this worked super great, but maybe it has improved!)

5.  Make sure to have cash on hand because you will want to tip people handling your bags.   Also remember that if you did not prepay your gratuities, they will be added on at the end of the cruise.  We always found we liked to tip a little more than automatically charged because these people are AMAZING and they deserved more.  We always took extra money for the tip envelopes as well.

6.  Make sure you remember to book any transportation to and from the port beforehand.  We were getting ready to board one time and realized that we didn't have transportation booked to the airport when we got off the ship.  There are always plenty of taxis but I did learn from that experience to not forget to book transportation both ways before and after the cruise.

7. If you think you might get motion sick, make sure to purchase things for that prior to the trip.  You can buy Dramamine before or get patches to put behind your ears.  I also really like the Sea Bands.  I swear by them!  I usually am fine on the ship, but the day I get off the ship, my body is swaying!

8. Enjoy EVERY minute of the trip.  You will have so much fun and make so many memories as a family!  

Alaskan Cruise

 Alaskan Cruise- Royal Caribbean

Our cruise was sailing out of Seattle, Washington so we headed there a day early to get a chance to walk around the city.  We stayed at a really neat hotel called The Inn at Pike Place.  This was the view right outside the hotel.  We walked around the Public Market, ate pizza for lunch at the Alibi Room, right by the gum wall, and watched the sunset from the rooftop of our hotel.  The next morning we got up early and got an Uber to the port.  It was a quick 15 minute ride from the hotel.

We added The Key on so we got to be one of the first to board the ship.  We were able to have a nice sit down restaurant lunch from the Chops Grille menu (a Key perk) and also give our carryon bags to the crew to send to our rooms.  The Key was not cheap but it was nice to avoid the crowds at the Windjammer since that is where everyone else goes.  Another perk of The Key is that you will have a letter in your room welcoming you and showing times for activities around the ship (Flowrider, North Star, etc...) that are hour increments that are only for Key holders.

Once finished with lunch, it was time to explore the ship.  This is a picture of my kids and I on the ship deck with Seattle behind us.

We also got to try out the North Star.  It goes us and give you a wonderful, high up view of whatever place you are in.  We did this while still docked at Seattle, but in hindsight, I wish I had gotten to do this the day we were near the Glacier.  I tend to get a little claustrophobic and was worried I would stress out in here, but I actually really enjoyed it!

    

Here is a picture of my kids' room.  We had two adjoining rooms.  I loved it because that meant two bathrooms!  I also loved how our balconies connected so we were able to take the divider down and have one bigger balcony.  You can have the two beds apart, like in this picture, or pushed together to make one bigger bed.  Some rooms also have a sofa couch which would allow for one more bed.

Our ship, Quantum of the Seas, had so many fun things to do on board.  There was a Flowrider, where you could learn to surf.  The iFly was an air tube where it simulated sky diving.  All four of us did that activity and enjoyed it.  There were pool tables, Bingo, a Casino, Scavenger Hunts, a skating rink, foosball, air hockey, games, and so much more!

Max and Dave playing pool

Emma getting ready to roller skate!

Cruising in Alaska was incredibly beautiful.  Pictures do not even do justice to how it was in person.  This is on deck overlooking the water.  When you cruise in the straits, there are huge ice capped mountains on either side of the ship.  The blue chunks of ice are so colorful and we saw whales breaching several times.

Train in Skagway

Our ports were Icy Strait, Skagway, Juno, and Victoria (British Columbia).  Our first full day was a day at sea and around noon the captain announced there was a medical emergency and asked for blood donors.  Around 4pm, he came back over the intercom and announced that we had to go back towards British Columbia because a passenger had to be airlifted off the ship.  Because of this, we lost time and were not able to port at Icy Strait.  It was interesting watching a helicopter circle above the ship as they airlifted the passenger off.  This is why I will ALWAYS cruise with a passport.  Generally, on closed looped cruises when you originally leave from a US port and end your sailing at the same US port, you can use a birth certificate.  However, if there are any issues in other countries you are visiting, you would be in a world of trouble.  I HIGHLY recommend a passport whenever cruising.

Cruising the straits, ice chunks in the water.

Musher Camp in Juneau

The town of Skagway

Totem Pole in Victoria

We absolutely loved our Alaskan Cruise and plan to cruise again with Royal Caribbean soon.  We are HUGE Disney Cruise Line travelers, but we did enjoy trying out a Royal Caribbean ship.  Though it doesn't have all the magic Disney does, it still was a solid choice when cruising with teenagers!  There was so much for them to do and see.