One of my favorite itineraries that I’ve ever sailed with Disney Cruise Line is the Pacific coast repositioning cruise from San Diego to Vancouver with stops in San Francisco and Victoria, BC. This is such a unique itinerary that I highly recommend, and I got to experience it with my mom on one of our mother-daughter trips.

We flew into San Diego on a very early flight the day before embarkation. We wanted a little time to see San Diego without having to stay an extra night. For our day in San Diego, I booked a private 4-hour tour for us. Our guide picked us up from our hotel in a large SUV and drove us around to several spots in a highlight tour. We went to Coronado, the Gaslamp Quarter, Embarcadero, and Balboa Park. We also went to the top of Mt. Soledad and then to La Jolla to see the seals and pelicans.

The next day was embarkation day, and we were lucky enough to see the Wonder pulling into port that morning! We were sailing in Concierge, so we did not need a specific port arrival time, but we like to have as much time on board as possible, so we headed out from our room around 10 am with our luggage. Right at 10:30, they allowed us to enter, drop off our luggage, and wait in the waiting area until time to board. There’s nothing like stepping onto the ship for the first day of your cruise! We went straight to Triton’s for the concierge lunch. I always celebrate being on the ship with a glass of champagne at the concierge lunch (it’s included!).

At 3pm we had scheduled a champagne tasting in the Cadillac lounge. I highly recommend the liquor tastings on Disney Cruises.  We learned so much and really enjoyed the champagnes.Immediately following the tasting, we headed up and outside to watch the Sail A Wave party. We don’t always watch the Sail A Wave party, but there’s no doubt it’s great at getting you pumped up for your cruise. Lots of energy and excitement in this deck party! Our dinner that night was in Tiana’s Place, and we were seated at one of the best tables in the house – right next to the stage.

The next day was our first sea day and we decided to join the Art of the Ship tour, which is for adults-only and details the design, art, and theme choices throughout the ship. We loved it. We also had a Palo Bruch scheduled for this day and we thoroughly enjoyed that. The concierge lounge and a trivia session rounded out our activities for the afternoon. Dinner that night was in Triton’s dining room, and we took advantage of concierge advanced seating selection in the show that night for The Golden Mickey’s. We also had fireworks at sea that night on the pool deck – yes, even on a pacific coast cruise!

For our port day in San Francisco, the concierge hosts told us to be up on the concierge sun deck by 6am to watch the ship sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. I honestly underestimated just how cool this experience would be. It was gorgeous and very peaceful. The hosts brought us coffee and hot chocolate to sip while we entered the bay.

For our day in the city, my mom and I booked another private tour by car – a convertible! Our driver and tour guide met us at the port and zipped us all around San Francisco, hitting the highlights we requested. First, we drove over to the Muir Woods and spent about an hour and a half exploring there. We stopped at several spots with different views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge for photos. We also hit Fisherman’s Wharf, the Painted Ladies, Lombard Street, China Town, and more! Leaving port that evening, we were treated to a fantastic view of Alcatraz right from our balcony. We had dinner scheduled in Palo that evening and we watched as we passed under the Golden Gate bridge again from the 180 degree views in the restaurant.

On our next day, a sea day, we did a spa treatment and a lot of relaxing around the ship. We ended our day at Animator’s Palate for dinner and Frozen, A Musical Spectacular in the theater.

For our final port day, we spent the day in Victoria, British Columbia. This is such a beautiful port. We took a cab to Butchardt Gardens for a self-tour. We really enjoyed walking around at our own pace, taking photos, and admiring all the flowers and plants. We had our cab return for us to take us back into the port area for tea at the Empress Hotel. What an experience! Our tea service was accompanied by a glass of champagne and live piano music. And we had the most beautiful tea tray full of goodies! In fact, we knew we would be so full from tea that we had already asked our servers if we could switch to the later seating for dinner that night. They accommodated our request, and we had our last dinner in Tiana’s after catching the Disney Dreams show. We debarked in Vancouver the next morning and caught our flight home. I just love this itinerary and would not hesitate to sail it again.

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