7 Night Alaskan Cruise Review on the Wonder
Finishing up a 7 night cruise on the Wonder and here’s my full review. AMA.
Embarkation Port- Vancouver
Ports of Call- Stikine Glacier, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchican
Lodging in Vancouver- we stayed at the Pinnacle Hotel Harborfront but were only there from 8pm-12pm. I wouldn’t recommend this hotel unless you just need a place to rest your head. It was walking distance to the port which was awesome, but the hotel was run down and there were stains on the carpet etc.
Glacier Viewing Day
This was the highlight of the cruise for me. The views are truly breathtaking (pics attached). It was pretty chilly this day (around 40 degrees F) so I recommend bringing layers (long sleeve tshirt, sweatshirt, waterproof jacket, gloves, hat, etc). I also recommend bringing binoculars because you’ll be able to see some wildlife! We spotted some whales 🐳.
Skagway
This was my least favorite port. We didn’t do an excursion here which we regretted because there is really nothing to do in town other than shop. It was also pouring all day when we docked. Unless you’re planning to stay on the ship this port, I’d recommend booking some sort of excursion. The train looked really awesome and we wish we did that.
Juneau
We did the dog sledding summer camp excursion which was truly awesome. We got to pet the dogs and meet a couple of puppies. They also took us on a ~15 min sled ride. Would definitely recommend this. They also had some awesome souvenirs here. If you’re stopping at Skagway first, hold off until Juneau for your souvenirs.. the prices were much better here.
Ketchican
We did a whale watch through Eagle One Enterprises (booked on Viator) and it was AWESOME. We saw Orcas, eagles, and seals. Our tour guides were phenomenal.. can’t recommend this tour enough. It was about 2.5 hours which was the perfect amount of time. The tour comes with blankets, drinks, snacks, and binoculars.
Ship
The Wonder is the second oldest Disney ship and although we didn’t feel it was any older than the Dream, sometimes the age shows in the features of the ship.
Dining
I am not a fan of the DCL dining options. I find it really frustrating they close virtually all the quick service options besides the burger/chicken tenders spot during dinner time and don’t have a buffet option. You’re also SOL if you get hungry after dinner and don’t want pizza. You can get room service of course, but their room service menu is also very limited.
The rotating restaurants are fine, but don’t warrant shutting down all other options IMO. They also claim to have different menus at the different restaurants, but we felt it was basically the same menu over again in different presentations (a steak option, a soup, a fish option, sometimes a chicken option)… I’d love to see them have more pasta dishes or some more casual options. After the first couple of nights I really didn’t want a 3 course meal.
Activities
We don’t have kids, so take this review as an adults only opinion as I’m sure the kids activities are vast.
We felt there was not much to do on the ship. We’ve been on a couple of other Disney cruises but never noticed this as much as we did on the Wonder since we always sailed somewhere warm and would just like hanging out on deck in the sun. When you’re sailing to Alaska, you NOTICE the lack of activities.
Like the food, I felt they had the same activities over and over again but just presented in a different theme (learn to draw but with different characters, trivia with different themes, and different movies). When you’re on the ship for 7 nights and only getting off at 3 ports and the weather is not great, we definitely felt like the activities were lacking.
I know Disney has a ton of activities in their kids clubs, but surely they don’t think the kids are sailing alone? 😂 compared to other ships, I feel like Disney needs to work on this. I’d love to see more adult activities during the day.
All in all, Alaska was a great experience and a once in a lifetime trip. The views were truly breathtaking.. but I think it’s a one and done for us as we prefer warmer climates. Another thing to note, I’m not sure I would bring toddlers on an Alaskan cruise unless you yourself really wanted to see Alaska. They’ll be cooped up inside most of the sailing and I don’t think many toddlers would appreciate being in Alaska the same way teens-adults would.
Feel free to AMA!