Hi fellow Texan, Deann!
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I am so excited for your upcoming
Alaskan adventure. My family cruised Alaska a few years ago and it was pure magic. We just loved it! And that was with a four month old and a seventeen month old in tow! So I can imagine yours will be even more magical and memorable!
I love that you are spending in a few days in Vancouver before hand. We did that and loved waking up on our Embarkation Day and seeing the Wonder from our hotel room!
My suggestion to you for hotel reservations is to go ahead and book a hotel on your own – but make sure it can be cancelled if you choose to do so. Disney Cruise Line does indeed take your name and put it on a wait list, but they have yet to be given their “allotted number” of hotel rooms for Guests, so unfortunately you are still on a wait list until you hear from them with the hotel and rate information. So, my recommendation would be to find something suitable for your travel party and if a room and rate become available that you want to take advantage of, you can do so at that time (assuming your reservation can be cancelled). Disney will contact you just as soon as they know their availability, but that information has not yet been given to them to book hotel rooms for cruise Guests.
You are in for an amazing adventure in Alaska. I do hope you've started checking out the excursions available through Port Adventures. We did the
Floatplane excursion and it was abolutely breathtaking! Whale watching was also simply amazing!
Wishing you a wonderful adventure!
Happy Sailing!
Stephanie