5 Reasons Why You’ll Love a Disney Alaskan Cruise

If a trip to Alaska has been on your bucket list, here are 5 REASONS YOU’LL LOVE A DISNEY ALASKA CRUISE.

As someone who has spent most of her adult life loving and visiting Disney World, I didn’t think it could get any better than a week at Walt Disney World escaping reality for those few days and creating memories with my family. About 2 years ago I went on my first Disney Cruise and quickly realized how wrong I was. I never truly saw the appeal of being on a cruise ship for days at a time when I could be at the park re-living my childhood through my kids until I actually experienced it. Now I can’t get enough. Our latest cruising adventure took us on a Disney Alaska Cruise and it forever changed how I feel about travel.

I was hosted as a guest of Disney Cruise Line onboard the Disney Wonder to Alaska. All opinions of this magical trip are my own.  

I mean that in a good way! A cruise to Alaska has been a dream of mine for so long when the opportunity to take a Disney Cruise to Alaska I just knew I had to say yes. All of my other cruise experiences have been relatively short at just 3 days. Just as I was getting the hang of the ship, it was time to get off. While I enjoyed them immensely, I knew my next cruise had to be longer.

This Disney Alaska Cruise was 7 glorious days and if I’m being honest could have been longer. I’ve never seen seven days go by so fast.

One thing is for sure, those seven days were jam packed full of adventure. From seeing humpback whales up close to flying on a seaplane over the Taku Glacier and Juneau Ice Field, this trip was unlike any I’ve ever taken and has only fueled my desire for more adventurous travel further. Thank goodness there’s plenty of adventures awaiting outside of the Disney Parks thanks to Aulani and Adventures by Disney but more on those another day.

I cannot think of a better way to experience the beauty of this area than on a Disney Alaska Cruise.

WORLD CLASS FOOD

If you’ve never taken a Disney Cruise you’re in for seven days of amazing food. The minute you setoff, this will be one of the first things you miss. On the Disney Wonder your main dining locations are at Triton’s, Tiana’s Place and Animator’s Palace. All have an amazing array of dishes that even the pickiest eater will love. Each night of your cruise, you’ll rotate at each one of these locations.

Cabana’s is the buffet onboard the ship and is open for breakfast, lunch and they offer a sit down dinner dinner. Check your navigator for the hours each day.  While we haven’t had dinner here, the breakfast and lunch have always been delicious and since it’s a buffet, there’s something for everyone on the menu.

In addition to these sit down offerings, room service is available 24 hours a day as well as casual service locations like Daisy de-Lites and Pinocchio’s Pizza.

For adults looking for a little alone time or what to celebrate a special occasion, there’s Palo. Palo is the adults only dining location onboard the Disney Wonder and every other ship in the Disney fleet. The restaurant is open for brunch and dinner. I had the pleasure of trying both on this trip and only wished I had tried it sooner. Palo is not included in the cost of the cruise and is an additional $30 per person.

ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

Disney Cruise Line is known for it amazing line up of entertainment on board the ship. From Broadway caliber shows to the latest movies, you can pretty much guarantee you won’t run out of things to do on the ship. The latest movies are shown onboard at the Buena Vista Theater daily as well as the Frozen A Musical Spectacular, Dreams An Enchanted Classic and The Golden Mickeys.

In addition to the nightly shows, there are activities all day long including crafts, games, bingo, game shows.

For kids 3 -17 , entertainment is available all day long at The Oceaneer Club, Edge and Vibe. Both my toddler and teen had an amazing time at their respective kids club and didn’t want to leave!

WILD ADVENTURES

Excursions are part of the fun of cruising and while on some other itineraries it might be tempting to just stay onboard and enjoy the ship while everyone is off, in Alaska the excursions are part of the magic. There are no shortage of excursions throughout the cruise that will keep everyone in your family entertained. In the Port Adventures Guide, there are 13 pages of adventures awaiting.

One of the challenges of traveling with a toddler and a teen are finding things that will keep everyone entertaining and having a good time. But this cruise, every port adventure we did was perfect for everyone in my family. My toddler was wide-eyed at every experience taking it all in and my teen was beyond happy exploring his adventurous side.

On our cruise we did:

• The Whale and Marine Mammals Cruise in Icy Strait
• Liarsville Gold Rush Trail Camp & Salmon Bake Featuring the Exclusive Disney Character Experience in Skagway
• Enchanted Taku Glacier Lodge Flight & 5 Glacier Seaplane Discovery in Juneau
• Wilderness Exploration & The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan

Each excursion exceeded my expectations and brought us up close with bald eagles, humpback whales, orcas, amazing scenery, delicious food and memories that will last a lifetime.

THEMED PARTY NIGHTS

While there’s no Pirate Night on the Disney Alaska Cruise, there are two themed nights to look forward to, the Pixar Pals Party and Frozen Night. The Pixar Pals Party is your chance to get up close and personal with your favorite Pixar Characters for a fun dance party in the lobby atrium right in front Triton’s.  Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Remy and Emile from Ratatouille, Sulley, Joy, Kevin and Doug from Up and Jessie and Woody all come out and mingle with the crowd for an epic dance party. Each party lasts about 30 minutes.

The second is the Freezing the Night Away deck party. The night starts with a Frozen themed dinner then after you get dressed in your favorite Frozen Disney Bounding outfits, you head up to the deck party! Anna, Elsa, Olaf and Kristoff come out for a fun show with plenty of singing, dancing and SNOW! You may not see any real snow on your Alaskan cruise but on this night, Disney makes the magic happen and the kids loved it! Keep an eye on your stateroom for your light up snowflake necklaces to wear during the event.

CHARACTER EXPERIENCES

It wouldn’t be a Disney Cruise without the character experiences and there are plenty of ways to see some of your favorite characters onboard. From the princess meet and greets to everyone’s favorites Mickey and Minnie, there are plenty of opportunities to meet and get pictures with your favorite characters. You can schedule times to meet the princesses and Anna & Elsa right when you book your cruise activities online or when you’re on the ship (if there are any left for that day).

The daily Navigator will give you each’s days lineup of character appearances and where you can find them.

One of my favorite ways to meet the characters was at the VIP Character Breakfast onboard the Disney Wonder. While it said it was sold out prior to us setting sail, I was able to book tickets once we boarded the ship and it was amazing.

The breakfast was delicious as expected but the character interactions took it to another level. I love the character dining in the parks and book quite a few of them on each of our trips so we rarely wait in line to see characters so having this option on the cruise was something I loved.  I highly recommend scheduling this sought after meal. Don’t worry if you can’t get a reservations beforehand, just make sure once you board the ship, you go to guest services and see if there is any availability. Hopefully you’ll be able to get one then.

In the coming days, I’ll be sharing a complete guide to a Disney Alaska Cruise as well as detailed trip reports for each day. There’s just that much information to share. Until then, if you’ve been thinking of booking a Disney Cruise, visit DisneyCruiseLine.com to start planning your own Alaskan adventure.

Dawn