Disney Wonder review: What to expect on the Disney Cruise Line ship with the coolest itineraries

Table Of Content

• Read more about the Oceaneer Club and the Other Disney Wonder Kids’ Clubs
• Are Disney Excursions Necessary on a Disney Alaska Cruise?
• Night Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver
• Our Alaska Disney Cruise Itinerary
• Read More In Our Quick Guide to Meeting Characters on the Disney Wonder
• Travel
• Follow Smart Mouse Travel

We used all of these money-saving tricks — and the Alaska vacation was still very expensive. We happened upon Belle while eating some ice cream inside on Deck 5. She stopped to take pictures with a few people (not us, because of the toddler holding the ice cream).

Read more about the Oceaneer Club and the Other Disney Wonder Kids’ Clubs

We’re sharing all our experiences in the posts on this blog to help you get the most out of your Disney Alaska Cruise. If you need to do that from your room, book the verandah if possible. Additionally, on truly exceptional viewing days, you probably don't want to be confined to the specific angle you can get from your cabin. Better to embrace the 360-degree view from out on the top deck. It was fun to look out the window and see where we were, but honestly, I'd happily sail in an interior room if it meant we got to do the cruise all over again.

Are Disney Excursions Necessary on a Disney Alaska Cruise?

A relatively new addition to Icy Strait Point is the gondola which gives spectacular views of the area. This is an amazing experience and is often the highlight of a Disney Alaskan cruise. Each of these experiences has something different to offer.

Night Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver

Mind you, if you’re bringing small children, consider the toll that 4.5 hours of talking  grown-ups and natural landscapes may do. For adults, this can be heaven, but for kids- well we saw quite a few asleep by the time we got on the train. Included in this Disney Excursion are the Skagway Alaska Street Car Tour, the Klondike Highway Drive and Talk, and the White Pass Railroad Train Ride. Again, depending on your cruise, these activities may be done in reverse.

We then headed to the Embassy Suites Hotel, which is located right next door to the King Street Station. This is where we grabbed the Amtrak Cascades Train and headed for Vancouver. Disney Cruise Line does not depart from Seattle, as they depart from Vancouver, Canada.

Alaska Cruise Prices for 4 guests on a Disney Cruise to Alaska range from $5000- $11,000 depending on the length of trip and time of year you visit. While Disney Alaska Cruise Prices don’t include Alaska shore excursions, there are ways you can save money on your trip. Check out the Alaska Cruise Specials and ways to get them in our How to Save Money on a Disney Cruise to Alaska post. If you’re looking for great pizza in Vancouver, then the Pacifico Pizzeria and Ristorante is what you’re looking for.

Disney Cruise Line recommends $14.50 in gratuities per guest per night; this is the amount auto-applied to your onboard bill unless you request to increase or decrease it. The gratuities are split among your dining room server, assistant server, head server and cabin host. To do a weeklong Alaska sailing with a family of four, prices will start at $5,100 for an inside cabin in the early or late season. Prime summer sailing dates from June to August cost a couple of thousand dollars more for that same interior cabin and thousands more still for a balcony cabin. However, some of the best character interactions will be the ones that aren't announced or planned. You may see a character on the promenade waving goodbye to land as you sail away from a port or "sleep-walking" in their pajamas at night when no one else is around.

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Alaska is a checkmark for about three-quarters of all passengers headed there, according to the Alaska Tourism Industry Association, and the same can be said for two ships this season. “This magical corner of the world has so much to offer beyond being a checkmark on people’s bucket lists,” she said. Disney Wonder has been the setting for family vacations for about 25 years, and it doesn't show any signs of hanging up its waterslide anytime soon. In port, you may wish to carry cash in a local currency or a credit card to buy snacks and souvenirs or to tip your tour guide.

Disney Cruise Line Offers Worldwide Adventures to Europe, Alaska, The Bahamas and Caribbean in Summer 2025 - PR Newswire

Disney Cruise Line Offers Worldwide Adventures to Europe, Alaska, The Bahamas and Caribbean in Summer 2025.

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This is a cannery museum, a few restaurants, and lots of stores. A guide provided some information about the glaciers for much of the tours. You could also use a cup of glacier ice for your beverage. They accepted card and cash, but you cannot charge back to your room (the tour is run by a third party, remember). We were in the area of the South Sawyer Glacier for about 30 minutes. The Wonder didn’t itself visit the North Sawyer Glacier, though to be fair the South Sawyer Glacier is more fun to look at.

After our railway tour we still had a chance to walk around the town. We stopped at a Christmas shop and enjoyed chatting with the owners who turned out to spend winter in San Diego, California. This is a must stop for your day in Skagway that you'll find on one of the side streets. The film can be found in the National Parks building at the end of the street closest to the cruise ship slips. For research sake I compared prices between the offering from Disney Cruise Line and booking some experiences on our own. The pricing was often the same or only slightly more when purchasing from Disney when I could find it.

It is a spectacularly beautiful place and most guests enjoy the views from the ship. You will only visit Hubbard Glacier on a Disney Alaska Cruise if you are sailing on the 9-night itinerary. This 75-minute flight will have you flying over spectacular scenery and enjoying a view of the surrounding fjords, waterfalls, and lakes. The cost is $499 for adults and $409 for children aged 2 to 9. However, you will most likely want to combine your visit to Skagway with some Disney cruise excursions to make the most of your time there. These Disney Alaskan cruise costs are shown as correct if you were booking on November 27, 2022.

For our itinerary, there were two times for the Glacier Explorer excursion, an early time and a late time. If you have the earlier time, you’ll transfer from the Wonder to a smaller boat that goes ahead of the Wonder to visit the glacier. Then once the Wonder catches up you get back on the Wonder. At that point, the people with the later time get on the smaller boats.

Personal Navigators: Disney Wonder 7-Night Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver July 17, 2023

Table Of Content

• Day 3 – July 19, 2023 – Glacier Viewing (Stikine Icecap), Alaska
• Do any Disney Alaska Cruises leave from Seattle?
• Choose the late dinner
• Book Your Disney Alaska Cruise
• Disney Alaska Cruise Shore Excursions
• Amtrak Cascade Train from Seattle to Vancouver

Rochelle Mariah is a writer, designer and photographer with an MLIS in Information Science and a B.S. Determined to make Planning a DIY Disney Vacation easier she makes lots of lists and drinks lots of coffee. When not designing apparel at Polka Dot Pixie Shop, she's watching old movies and planning the holidays. The biggest costs you didn’t see coming are the Tips You Need for Disney Port Excursions.

Day 3 – July 19, 2023 – Glacier Viewing (Stikine Icecap), Alaska

You can head to the Public Market for a winding array of places to eat, grab a coffee, and buy treats. And if you climb to the Castaway Club Ranks of Platinum or Pearl, you get a dining experience at Palo on the house. Brunch here included breakfast foods like eggs and waffles, as well as chicken parmesan, calzones, and pizza. Everything you’d expect to find at an upscale Italian restaurant.

Do any Disney Alaska Cruises leave from Seattle?

And at the top of the totem pole is Princess Cruises, which is celebrating its 55th year in these waters with seven premium ships sharing 158 departures. It's not the newest, flashiest or most modern ship in Disney's fleet, but it makes us smile every time we step on board. There's more than enough to do to stay busy on your sailing, and it's still a compact enough ship that you don't spend half your cruise figuring out where everything is. These beverages must be packed in carry-on (not checked) bags or luggage.

Choose the late dinner

Well, alongside the gratuity envelopes is a tearable sheet with strips of paper outlining the tip amounts. If you want to give these in the envelopes to the designated people, you can. If you want to provide extra cash in the envelopes, you can.

Be sure to stop off at the Juneau Visitors Center for a port map, and to ask questions. The Alaska Excursion we were most excited about was the White Pass Railroad and Skagway Street Car City Highlights Excursion. Running  4 hours and 30 min, at a rate of $179 per person, we felt this cost to be absolutely worth it.

Book Your Disney Alaska Cruise

It’s a fun skill to learn, and perfect for kids and adults alike. After the Raptor Center Visit, we walked next door to the Totem Park located at the Herring Bay Lumber Company Sawmill. Claiming fame as the first Tsimshian totem pole park, this was somewhere we would have liked more time to explore. With placards telling the Native American history of each pole, the museum pieces inside the Sawmill, and the gift shop, there was much to do here.

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Disney Cruise Line unveils plans for summer 2025.

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Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information. If I were to add an 11th thing you should know about sailing on an Alaska Disney cruise, it's that you're going to be really sad when it's over. Oh, and whatever you do, make a point to get the sweet fry bread in Skagway from the Klondike Doughboy. It's a 10-minute walk from the ship and worth every step and penny. With our cruising crew now off the ship and back home in the lower 48, here are 10 things to know before you set sail on a Disney Alaska cruise.

Just like most of the excursions on our Alaska trip, we just wouldn’t have gotten this level of detail or knowledge had we attempted these things on our own. Know that sometimes the cruise itinerary is in reverse, so depending on your itinerary this may be your last stop. By far our favorite Alaskan port, Skagway is home to the astounding history of the Gold Rush.

You will see folks in jeans and shorts on formal nights alongside passengers in dresses and suits. For the kids, princess dresses and other Disney-themed costumes are always appropriate. Those in the concierge level are charged $15.50 per person per night, with the additional going to the cabin assistant host, who helps with those accommodations. Tips for the concierge lounge team are neither included in that amount nor automatically added to your onboard statement. Disney recommends you tip $8 per person per night; you can do this in cash or ask to have it added to your folio toward the end of your cruise.

Extremely walkable, you can get a taste of Vancouver just by being in this area. So be sure to check out your details from the Disney Cruise Line Check-in Process for your Port Arrival Time. Disney Cruise Line’s current Alaska-designated ship is the Disney Wonder; one of our favorite ships. If you’ve never sailed on this boat, be sure to check out our posts for everything you need to know about the Disney Wonder to help you feel at home onboard.

As the capital city of Alaska, Juneau is very much a working city with suburbs, forests, activities, and more. And as a Cruise Port city, you can plan on having the amenities pretty close at hand, no matter what excursions you pick. Our Disney Cruise came in at the AJ dock in Juneau, which is typical for the Disney Wonder and is the farthest berth from town, about a 1-mile walk. If you’re taking any morning excursions, they will, however, drop you back in town so that everything is accessible for the rest of your day at Port.

These services can get busy during sea days on longer cruises, so plan accordingly. Also not included in the amounts above are tips at the bar, at the adults-only dining restaurants, at the spa and for room service; tipping is recommended for those services. Note that an 18% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine, deck service tabs and spa services. Citizens must check requirements based on destinations visited. Additionally, you will need to check in for your cruise online, fill out the appropriate information and select an arrival time for your embarkation day. The adults-only Rainforest Room features heated stone chairs, various shower experiences and steam rooms.

There is no easy answer to this – as pricing patterns have changed since sailings restarted. All the Disney Wonder Alaska Cruises sail from the port of Vancouver, Canada. Here we look at the Alaskan cruises that are available on the Disney Wonder, get an idea of pricing and find out more about what Disney Cruises have to offer. This was a virtual service where a proctor would watch you take your own approved at home COVID test and then sign off on the result. After you check in, you'll be directed to the ship where your room key will be waiting for you outside your door. To board the Disney Wonder in Canada we went through a number of different checks including US customs.

As I mentioned above, Wilderness Landing is also where you can catch the paid “Skyglider” gondola to Sky Peak. If you book basically any excursion for this day, it will include access to this gondola. As much research as I did about Icy Strait Point ahead of time, I was still a little confused about it.

Serving up pizza, burgers, salads, beer, and more, this restaurant is first come first serve…and you can expect a line. If you wait until later in the day, the crowds will be less heavy. And if you’ve ever wondered what an old-school brothel looks like, there is also a museum at this restaurant upstairs you can access for an extra charge. This stretch of our tour featured an amazing storyteller and previous National Park Ranger, Doug from the Skagway City and Summit Tour team.

It's also really fun at night to pop into the theater and see a new Disney movie that is still playing on land without worrying about the costs of tickets or pre-reserving good seats. One of the best restaurants in all of the Disney Cruise Line fleet is found only on Disney Wonder. Not only does Tiana's Place have great Cajun specialties (beignets, anyone?), but it's a fantastically fun party from appetizer to dessert. You'll only find Tiana's Place on Disney Wonder, so if you'd love to enjoy shrimp and grits with Tiana herself, this is your chance. But it has the pools, shows, kid clubs, games and itineraries to set the stage for a magical vacation. Upon embarkation you can see which restaurant you’ll dine at each night.