Trip Report for Our B2SB Cruises - Completed!

[winotracy]

So we haven't left yet and it's not a back to back cruise, but it will be a back to sorta back cruise :teeth: Tomorrow at this time we will be waiting at the airport for our flight :cheer2:

Who are we: DH, Bill and me, Tracy

We booked the 11 day Southern Caribbean on the Wonder back in August 2005, the day reservations opened. We had planned on going on the double dip in October and transferred the ressies to the September date. We've never been on the Wonder so this would be a new experience for me. I have always told Bill I want to go to the Southern Caribbean but Disney doesn't go there. I should say didn't go there because we will be there soon!!

While on the August Panama Canal cruise, we talked about doing the 10 and 11 night cruises, but thought that was too much time off of work (3 weeks plus any time before or after). I told Bill that I was disappointed that we would not be on the Magic and see the changes after dry dock until 2007. So we decided to add the Magic right before the 11 day cruise!! This way we would only be off 3 weeks, including time before or after the cruise. We decided not to have a pre-cruise stay and just one after the 11 day.

We'll have a Category 11 on the 7 night Western cruise and a Category 5 on the 11 night Southern cruise. Have never done less than a Category 7 so it will be interesting. We are in cabin 7629 so just a hop, skip and a jump away from secret deck 7 :woohoo: :woohoo:

I will do live reports from the 7 day cruise because we'll have more time. We'll see what happens with the 11 day. This will be an interesting experience for a couple reason. Going on both ships within a day of eachother! and the first DISer group is fairly small, but the second group is large! On the seven day we have two meets planned on the first day. That's all that's planned. Bill and I plan to catch up on sleep, reading, pool time, and Rainforest room time on the 7 day. On the 11 night cruise, we will party a lot more!! Lots planned with the DISers on that cruise. Even as far as excursions go we have one planned on the 7 day, but something planned in every port on the 11 day.

Any questions, I'll be happy to answer or try to get the answer for you :) I better get some laundry and housework done so we can get out of here :lmao:

Tracy

[RoyalVizier]

Wow! :eek:

What a vacation! Amazing! :worship:

Can't wait to hear about that one! Have a ball!!

[seaulater]

Thanks Tracy! I've got you bookmarked!

[winotracy]

Finally enough time to post over here. The flight down was uneventful. The crew were very helpful. I need to have water when I fly and they got me some on both flights before takeoff and before landing. So nice! I think I even convinced a flight attendant to book a DCL cruise for her family :thumbsup2

We arrived in Orlando at 11:05. After getting off the plane it was 11:10. I wanted to get on the shuttle/monorail to the terminal before 11:15 so we could hope to see the space shuttle launch. We made it! I figured out where north/south was and then spotted the shuttle go up! Got a few pictures.

We boarded without any problem. Weren't handing out boarding numbers (we got to the port at 12:30). Kinda wierd on this sailing. There are only 5 groups in the dining room. There are three on main seating but only two for late seating. I guess we don't have a full boat.

The buffet was outstanding as usual! We missed the shrimp though as they moved it to the back (not on the first line you go through). We then got in our room and our sailaway wine made it! Then we checked out the spa and got our rainforest pass. Tomorrow AM we will be there, then over to Palo for brunch before we make our way down Duval Street! Linda, I'm not sure when and where we'll find a webcam. Sorry!

We then got together with 2canadians, S and JM. Very nice people! Except they think highly of Peter :lmao: :teeth: Just kidding! Met a bunch of DISers at our 3:00 meet and I got pictures of everyone. Not many made it to the sailaway meet, but we still had a blast!!

Bill and I went into the hot tub for a while instead of going to the welcome aboard show. In just a bit we'll be going to Parrot Cay. Because of our rotation (PLA) we needed to change our Palo ressies for dinner. We are now going on Monday night. That's better so we don't have to eat at Palo twice in one day.

All for tonight!

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Tracy....Hope you and Bill have a very relaxing week....glad you were able to see the shuttle launch.

Please say hi to Sharon and Jean-Marc for me....

[dan and scott]

Thanks Tracy for the update!

Wow not many people on the ship-that is great!

See ya soon
Dan

[Scott H]

Thanks Tracy, one Question, Have those people every met Peter :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Hey I love ya man :thumbsup2

[tjeagle]

Anxious to hear the rest of your trip experiences! Have a great time! :cool1:

[winotracy]

We skipped the Welcome Aboard show. Not a good thing to do it turns out. Instead we sat in the hot tub, took in the sunset, relaxed! David DiMuzio and Gary Delana are on our cruise. We got to dinner in Parrot Cay and it was unusual. We had a couple on their honeymoon with us who have never cruised. Another couple who has cruised a few times and then two empty seats. Finally someone showed up and he said he was a friend of one of the dancers. The dancer would be showing up late each night (because he had a show). Turns out he is Simba in the Golden Mickeys! He is in all the productions so we will keep an eye out for Antwoin. Also David DiMuzio was at our table. He asked what we thought of his show. We had to admit we didn't see it :guilty: but promised we would go to the show in Rockin' Bar D tonight. He'll be here until Tuesday. It seems we could have any number of people in those last two seats. Kinda neat!

We had an interesting night for the first time in a cat 11. Didn't know when to wake up. I got up a couple times in the night for the bathroom, but never checked the time. Finally the last time I was feeling pretty well rested so I checked and I thought the clock said almost 7 am. Sure enough! Got up and ran to secret deck 7 to catch the end of the sunrise. Also caught a couple rainbows on film! Then hit the Rainforest Room. The heavy steam room wasn't working right. I hope it is fairly soon! The rainforest shower is really neat now -- it's rose water scented. Bill's first time there.

All for now.. we are off to Palo for brunch in a bit then to Key West!!! sorry Bob :guilty:

[BobandLee]

This thread is a keeper Trace.
Will check on it everyday.

Yeah, yeah. Bet ya feel real bad being in Key West without me. :lmao:

Have a great trip. See you and Bill in 7 days. :cool1:

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Scott H]

KEWL Deal on your table mates...

[papa]

Great reports Tracy see you in 7 days. Mike

[glindamood]

Have a great time Tracy and Bill! Enjoy the sunset tonight. Hope you have smooth seas and sunny skies for the rest of the week. See you Saturday!

[sweetsue]

Christina has packed her drawings for you. :love: Unfortunately, they are the only thing that got packed today. :crazy:

Thanks for keeping us posted on your trip - it's a lot of fun to start thinking ahead! We're all living vicariously through you... I can't wait to try a rainforest shower. I haven't yet been. I keep saying next cruise, next cruise....

Sweet Sue

[sweetsue]

So we haven't left yet and it's not a back to back cruise, but it will be a back to sorta back cruise :teeth:

And I always thought B2SB meant Back to Saturday Back! :rotfl2:

[GOS]

More please Tracy to keep up all going till the end of the week.

Heather

[winotracy]

Ok, I just typed a huge report and forgot to copy it before I got logged out :badpc: :badpc:

I'll type more later because the sun is waiting for me.

Key West was fun! We didn't do a whole lot, except go to Margaritaville, Willie Ts and the Green Parrot. Did a bit of shopping too. Dinner in Lumiere's was really good, but the creme brulee was not. We'll try again in a day or two.

[DenverVal]

Someone should warn your server that you are a creme brulee connoisseur...

I'm glad you're enjoying the trip. Hope you're planning on Stingray City, it was cooler than CC.

Joe & Rachel have a couple of burning questions they hope you can answer:
1. Is Jean from Macedonia still on the ship and/or will he be on the repo? He's a very "excellent!" server. If he's there, tell him that we say hi! He'll recognize our last name.

2. Is Travis from Australia still on the crew?

And can you do a favor for me? In one of the shops onboard, the one that sells the pins, they had a keychain with a miniature version of the message fish clip that's outside every stateroom. On the reverse side is a compass rose. If you can find it, can you pick up one for me? You know I'm good for it! It's about $6. TIA, I hope!

Enjoy!

[pahrumpgirl]

Tracy,

Love the reports but am verrrry jealous. :guilty: Anxious to meet you next Saturday at the wine and cheese meet. :cheer2: :cheer2:

Carol and Doug

[seaulater]

Tracy-glad you are having a great time!

IF you see Daniel (the head-head dining room guy) tell him table 23 (the table of 12 that gave him his pirate name) on the westbound repo says hi and that he better make sure he is on the repo to the med next May!

He is very, very, handsome! His pirate name we got him was Quadrupped John Sparrow!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/seaulater/disney/PanamaCanal3199.jpg

[sourmug]

Tracy,
Great reports! There are many web cams in Key West but the most popular is the one in front of Sloppy Joes at Duval Street. I must admit that I have called my friends to wave at them on-line.
I look forward to meeting you in a few days.
Martha

[winotracy]

Val, I will check. I have one of those keychains so I'll pick one up for you. I do know that Captain Tom will be the captain for the crossing and all of the med cruises except the last one and the crossing back. Linda, I will be meeting Daniel tomorrow night. Wanted to tell him that we'll be doing the PJ breakfast with more cruisers next week! Haven't seen Travis, if he's who I think he is. Was he one of the cruise staff? Haven't really seen any of the cruise staff that I know.

[winotracy]

Ok, here we try again.

Good Morning (now afternoon) from the Beautiful Disney Magic!! :sunny: :sunny:

This has been a weird cruise. We have never been on a cruise where we had a port on the first day. Today is our first day at sea, but since we have already been in port, it feels like the middle of the week. Can't believe it's only day two!! We have been glad to meet some of the DISers cruising with us. We'll be joining some of them for the Martini tasting this afternoon, then it's the Captain's reception and then Palo!! The Golden Mickey's are Tonight!!

After I posted yesterday we went to Palo for brunch. The food was great!! Luckily we didn't over eat, but we did eat a lot. They are doing the desserts differently so we tried more than usual. Little individual serving sizes. Works great!! Tiramisou, White chocolate mousse, dark chocolate mousse, chocolate petite du pot, orange cheesecake, I could go on and on... but I won't torture you :lmao:

We waited behind Christink and her mom (Chris and Pat) and they asked us to join them for the brunch. Great company!! This made brunch even nicer. Also we had a beautiful view of the Magic pulling into Key West :love:

After brunch we realized we all had the same plans for Key West so we went together. While waiting for Chris and Pat, we talked to some of the entertainment staff (who wished to be unnamed). They informed us that Disney was blocking Skype from the computers used on the ship. That means you cannot call home from your laptop on the ship anymore! This really sucks!

We got off the ship and started down Duval Street. Before we knew it, we were walking into Margaritaville! Had a drink there and then started on down the block. We saw a Walgreens and I had to stop there for a surprise later in the week. Chris and Pat waited outside and ran into Seedoken and Boozgirl on their Duval Krawl. We all joined them at Willie T's for another drink then they continued back toward the ship on their Krawl and we continued down Duval Street towards the Southernmost point. I was told that the Green Parrot was close to the Southernmost point so we went there first and started back on Whitehead. Let me tell you, the Green Parrot is NO WHERE NEAR THE SOUTHERNMOST POINT. Good thing they make a killer Rum Runner! While we were at the Green Parrot, the Trolley came by and who was on it but Sarangel and her DH (Sara and Mike). Bill ran out and said hi while they were stopped. After spending some quality time at the Green Parrot, we made our way back to Duval Street and Margaritaville to shop, then the Harley store. After that, Chris and Pat needed to get back to the ship for early dining. We went to get our Key Lime Pie on a Stick and some wine at the Key West Winery shop. Once back onboard we hit the pool again!!

We skipped the show again last night. It was Gary DeLena. Have seen him many times before and just didn't want to spend the time. Took some pictures of the sunset and then headed to dinner in Lumieres. That is my favorite restaurant but the creme brulee was lumpy! and the topping was very thin and almost non-existant. I did say something to the server and head server. Since I haven't said it before, our serving staff is Zaldy, Sonia and Ronald. They told me that on Tuesday, since we'll be at Palo tonight, they will get us another creme brulee :love: :love:

When David DiMuzio joined us for dinner last night, he told me that he called a friend in New York, which reminded me to tell him that I was supposed to say hello from New York from WebmasterRegina's DD. What a small world! :goodvibes

We promised David we would come to his show at 10:45. We were laughing so hard at times it hurt!! Not long after that, we went to bed. Luckily we set the clocks back so it was only 11:30 :teeth:

Got up at 7 am and missed the sunrise. I'm a little disappointed with the Cat 11. I like to keep things organized and I don't have nearly enough space for that. I was going to ask Bill if we could change our next cruise to a cat 10 at least and he said he prefers the balcony. Don't know if that will happen, but we'll see.

We made it to the Rainforest Room again and the pool but had to go get changed for the Castaway Clubhouse party at 11. It was ok, some kind of neat things that they did, but nothing spectacular (and no free alcohol). We did convince the Assistant Cruise director to give us something special though ;)

Had a little lunch, now Bill is sleeping. So I'm catching up on work and the boards :teeth: We have martini tasting in a couple hours, so maybe I better rest :lmao:

[Disneygrl36]

subscribing so I can live vicariously through your trip......... :cool1:

[Hygiene99]

Subscribing :lmao: :love:

Peter

[seaulater]

I'm a little disappointed with the Cat 11. I like to keep things organized and I don't have nearly enough space for that. I was going to ask Bill if we could change our next cruise to a cat 10 at least and he said he prefers the balcony. Don't know if that will happen, but we'll see.



Tracy-ask your stateroom host to put down the upper bunk (if you have one) for the rest of your cruise. We used the unused bunk bed for storage. It works great and gave us more room.

[dletz]

Got up at 7 am and missed the sunrise. I'm a little disappointed with the Cat 11. I like to keep things organized and I don't have nearly enough space for that. I was going to ask Bill if we could change our next cruise to a cat 10 at least and he said he prefers the balcony. Don't know if that will happen, but we'll see.

Don't tell me that. I finally had myself convinced we might do okay in a cat 11 for the repo. Don't forget my pictures :love:

[xo pixie dust ox]

sounds like fun especially meeting the preformer :dance3:

[BobandLee]

Great report Tracy. Heard about a certain call from the Parrot. :rotfl2:

Willie T's. That is where they have the Key Lime Wine isn't it?

[winotracy]

Tracy-ask your stateroom host to put down the upper bunk (if you have one) for the rest of your cruise. We used the unused bunk bed for storage. It works great and gave us more room.

No upper bunk. We are not using the couch as everything is gathering there. :rolleyes: :lmao:

[winotracy]

Sorry, today was an early day and I had lots to catch up on with work so I'll post tomorrow with the report.

[Hygiene99]

Don't tell me that. I finally had myself convinced we might do okay in a cat 11 for the repo. Don't forget my pictures :love:
I think you will be fine !!
We have been! :goodvibes

[Hygiene99]

Sorry, today was an early day and I had lots to catch up on with work so I'll post tomorrow with the report.

Horse Puckeys!! :lmao:

[BobandLee]

Sorry, today was an early day and I had lots to catch up on with work so I'll post tomorrow with the report.
What a slacker! Did you Swim with the Stingrays , go to the Turtle Farm or just go to Hell? (that's a place on the island)

[DiaLady]

Hi there --

Great start. We've been thinking about doing a back to back as well. I'm excited to hear about your experiences :)

Have super time!

Theresa 8-)

[winotracy]

Ok, back to the Martini Tasting. We met up with Foxxboys (David and Will) for the martini tasting. We did have a great time. Tried the gin, dirty, appeltini, Cosmo, and chocolate. Our instructor was Christina from PALO. We stayed after and talked with Will and David for a while then had to rush to get ready for formal night. It was also the Captain's Gala so we grabbed a Cosmo on our way to the room to get ready.

Palo was wonderful!! We ate tons of food, but again we didn't over eat, spaced it out well. Christina made us a couple new martinis that were fabulous!!! She's going to give me her recipe for Vanilla Martinis on Friday.

We then changed and met up with Will and David in Sessions and they were meeting with Vicki and her husband. Chris and Pat joined us later.

So far we have had very smooth sailing!! described as wavelets!

The next day (yesterday) we needed to get up early. We set the new room clocks and called for a wake up call. The new clock plays "When you Wish Upon a Star". Then Mickey called.

Realized I had a few too many martinis the night before. We met up with Sarangel (Sara and Mike) to go snorkeling by the shipwreck. Our first site was on cheeseburger reef, named after the world famous restaurant on shore just in front of the reef -- Burger King. The snorkeling was cool, but there were Jellyfish in the water. Not a ton, but they were there. The fish were great!! Saw quite a few schools of Dory. Then we reinacted the scene from Nemo when Dory and Nemo go through the jellyfish. Actually, while I was getting back on the ship, the jellies drifted into me. I got stung in about 4-5 different locations. The one on my underarm still is noticable today.

When we finished up the snorkeling, it rained...no, it poured...no, it was a monsoon!!!! Fortunately we were sitting at Paradise for lunch. Then we did a bit of shopping then went back to the ship to warm up and dry off in the rainforest room. Took a nap in there until someone woke us up!

Then we went back to the room and Bill took a nap and I did some work. Our toilet broke and it took 3 calls to get it fixed. Finally by 5:30 we could use it again.

Went to Twiced Charmed. There was a misbehaving child behind us so we moved just before the show started. Ended up by Will, David, Maryann and Tom. Had a great time and the show was wonderful!!

Dinner was the Master Chefs menu, but I decided to make it a Tomato Theme dinner. Everything I ate had tomatoes in it LOL. Our dinner took forever so Ronald offered all of us a free drink! After dinner it was straight to bed. We slept for nearly 9 hours!! Really needed that so we can stay up for Pirates night tonight!! Will see POC on the Dumbotron!!

Now it's time to go off to Cozumel!! Until later!!

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Tracy...I hope you got some pictures of the Dory's.....sorry to hear about your jellyfish sting...hope you're doing better today. Did you tell Daniel about our PJ Breakfast next week???

[winotracy]

Tracy...I hope you got some pictures of the Dory's.....sorry to hear about your jellyfish sting...hope you're doing better today. Did you tell Daniel about our PJ Breakfast next week???

Haven't talked to Daniel yet. Hoping today was the day, but it's not looking good for that either. Maybe tomorrow. I did get pictures of the Dory's. :goodvibes

[dan and scott]

Sorry to hear about the jellyfish!
Hope you are all better soon!

Dan

[Scott H]

Tracy, Try some Adolph's Meat Tenderizer or vinager, on the sting. Might be too late for that, then some benaydhryl (SP?) or an antihistamine.

[WDWLVR]

Tracy - sounds like you are having a great time. Next time you see David and Will tell them I said Hi!

[winotracy]

Scott, I did use vinegar and it did help. I planned to use hydrocortizone later, but to be honest, I pretty much forgot about them. The spots are still there today on three of the areas (was much more than one sting per area), but they don't hurt at all.

Mary, you and your DH's names came up the other night with Will and David ;) I will tell them you said hello, unless they give me grief again for being online!!

Good news today, my secretary was out sick so no work to do!!

[Hygiene99]

Mary, you and your DH's names came up the other night with Will and David ;) I will tell them you said hello, unless they give me grief again for being online!!

Good Guys in my book!! :teeth: :teeth:
ok it will be our turn next week, will do a better Job! :teeth:

Was going to share a cabin with them! Work always gets in the way! :lmao:

Knew I liked them for a reason!

Tell them, I said Hi ! :rotfl2: :blush:

[GOS]

Tracy-ask your stateroom host to put down the upper bunk (if you have one) for the rest of your cruise. We used the unused bunk bed for storage. It works great and gave us more room.

Now I know that might be like stating the obvious, but here's a tip that a learnt from my Passporter book.

Store your suitcases under the bed! Now if like me, you've already tried this and failled, the tip was...lift the bed up!!! :rotfl2:

Didn't think about this, just gave up when I couldn't slip the cases under the bed.

Heather

[winotracy]

Now I know that might be like stating the obvious, but here's a tip that a learnt from my Passporter book.

Store your suitcases under the bed! Now if like me, you've already tried this and failled, the tip was...lift the bed up!!! :rotfl2:

Didn't think about this, just gave up when I couldn't slip the cases under the bed.

Heather

I'm doing that already. I am using every inch available in the drawers, closet, bathroom, under the bed. You name it, it's got stuff there. Will be checking on the price for the Cat 10 for the Med cruise. I'll do my report later. The sun is calling me :)

[Kborn]

Glad to hear you guys are having fun....look forward to meeting you next week on the 11 day. Don't forget to flip, Oh wait, It might be fun to meet LOBSTER Winotracy. :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:

[Hygiene99]

I'm doing that already. I am using every inch available in the drawers, closet, bathroom, under the bed. You name it, it's got stuff there. Will be checking on the price for the Cat 10 for the Med cruise. I'll do my report later. The sun is calling me :)

Sounds like, you packed for an 11 day cruise instead of 7 :lmao:

[WDWLVR]

Mary, you and your DH's names came up the other night with Will and David ;) I will tell them you said hello, unless they give me grief again for being online!!



Good things I hope! :goodvibes

[mississaugamom]

There's a BIG difference in space between the Cat 11 and the Cat 10's. (We did a Cat 11 the first time around). Most of the 10's have the steamer trunk for storage as well as the split bath.

Worth the upgrade for the Med Cruise! :)

[Hygiene99]

Our group of gals fly out tomorrow morning, and should all be at the hotel by 4 pm.

To say that we're excited would be a major understatement!!

Maybe this will help !!! :lmao:

Live shots from the Magic Sorta!

Pj & the desserts :thumbsup2 Palo CM
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid215/p27eed0d17efdaa226f01865f9648f591/ecf6ee0a.jpg



Tracy & Bill
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid215/p5bbfe82f94dbf9881e46891e7c6bb338/ecf6eded.jpg

Sharon and JM - 2canadianfans
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid215/p4bc22942576cacb2eea99656849faa31/ecf6edeb.jpg

[winotracy]

Here is my last post from the beautiful Disney Magic :sunny: They will be forcing us off the ship in 1 1/2 hours. Getting excited to see the Wonder tomorrow! It has been so much fun meeting so many people -- cast, crew and guests as well.

Back to Pirate Night. Went to Palo to see if we could get the private room for dinner on Thursday or Friday, but no, it was full. But PJ asked us to come for one drink before we went to Topsiders for dinner. We did, but no one gave Christina the bartender the memo. Three later, we were stumbling over to Topsiders. The food was the same as the dining room. The mood was much different than during the day. We enjoyed the company too. Kris and Pat (Kristink) were there so we joined them. Afterwards was the Pirate Deck Party. The party has changed from the last time we saw it. Basically the same idea, but different characters doing the stunts pirate: Will leave it at that.

We stayed after and had a bite to eat at the buffet and watch POC. They had POC on the Dumbotron and POC II in the Walt Disney Theater. We didn't last too long because it got awfully windy on Deck 10. So then we called it a night. But it was amazing to sit there with the wind blowing on our faces and watching them with their wind on their faces on the pirate ship!!

Thursday we did nothing. Ok, actually we went to the pool, then the rainforest room, then the pool, then the seafood buffet, then the pool. Then got ready for dinner. I was checking e-mail in the Cove Cafe when I heard Mike's voice (sarangl's DH). They were talking with someone, but I stopped to say hello. Turns out they were talking with WebmasterPete! He asked me to sit down too, so we all chatted for a bit. It was really nice to meet him and thank him for the boards. By the time we were done chatting, Disney Dreams had started so we opted to wait until next week to see it.

We were walking on deck 10 taking photos of the sunset when Bill spotted dolphins. We moved back to the back of the ship but didn't get a good picture of them. We did get a picture (many pictures) of the sunset. PJ came out of Palo to check out the sunset and asked us to come in for one drink. It ended up being two, but we did make it to dinner in time. LOBSTER NIGHT!!!! Very good!! Then we ended up in Sessions.

I got my picture taken with the friend of Tarzan, after setting up a scene with him to make Will and David jealous :teeth:

Friday was Castaway Cay! The island was beautiful!!! We spent the day with Sara and Mike. We swam the snorkeling trail backwards and then went to Heads Up Bar. Two things I have never done on the island. Got a picture with Mickey underwater!! After our first Konk Kooler, we headed to Serenity Beach. There we sat for a while. Then snorkeled out to the first wreck. That was KEWL!!! Lots of fish!! Then we sat in the shade. Yes, I am not lobster Winotracy :lmao:

We started packing when we returned and then we had a couple visitors. Sharon stopped by and then Sara and Mike came by. It's so hard to say goodbye!! We reminded everyone that we were having drinks in Palo again at 7 and they should come up. Marianne and Thom, Vicki and Clint, Sara and Mike, Sharon and JM all stopped up. We exchanged contact info and headed down to Parrot Cay for dinner.

At dinner, we exchanged e-mails with our tablemates, had a great meal again, and said our preliminary goodbyes. I found out that night that WebmasterPete had been at the table right next to us all week :rotfl2: :lmao: After dinner we went back to the room and finished packing then off to Sessions to say goodbye to everyone again. Finished up in the Internet Cafe at nearly 12 o'clock and said goodbye to some of the entertainment this week, Don and Tommie. Ran into Kris and said goodbye to her. We're hoping to see a few of the DISers at our wine and cheese meet tonight and looking forward to seeing them again in the future.

I will not have unlimited access next week, so my posts will be limited. Part One of the cruise has been outstanding!!

[KristinK]

Wino/Rummo/Martini-o Tracy - Mom and I are off the ship and back at her house, :sad: and I just got my first chance to read thru your trip report!! Great report and I can't wait to be reading your 11-day report...

It was wonderful to meet you and Bill, and so many GREAT folks on our first (definitely not last!) cruise - SaraAngel & hubby, SeaDooken & wife, Foxboys, etc., You guys just took us right under your wings and showed us how it's done! A great experience became a phenomenal one because of our new DIS friends!

Mom and I will be posting a trip report here also - hopefully I'll get started today once the shaking stops from the alcohol withdrawl... :p I'm off to find a buffet around here for lunch, but my dad says I'm going to have to "MAKE MY OWN?!?!" What's up with that??

Hopefully we'll see you all tomorrow, but if not, have a WONDERFUL cruise!!

KrisTink

[captchris]

I just read your TR. It was great, as I was totally able to relate being on the ship with you. Sorry I wasn't able to meet, but with all the people on the ship, my chances were slim!

It was a great cruise!

PS I hope my kids weren't the ones misbehaving! LOL

[winotracy]

Kris, we had a great time with you and Pat. Chris, I wish we could have met you. There were a lot of DISers we didn't meet.

This week has been incredible. Yesterday, we got a call from Andy and Ray on the Magic! It was really cool :thumbsup2

Today we are in St. Lucia. We arrive in about 4 hours. Can't wait!! Yesterday we were snorkeling in St. Johns at practically a deserted beach. It was fantastic!! Today is also the Castaway Clubhouse party. Rumors are floating around that we will be able to go in the kids club one of these days and that there will be a crew talent show.

[DMMarla07860]

would someone find out if travis will be on the ship in march or if he is on there now?

[winotracy]

We're back! Laundry is done. Most of the packing is done. Went and got Carson today. We missed him dearly. I will start to finish my trip report in the next few days.

[Dancind]

Tracey, looking forward to reading your report on the 11 day. Particularly, how did the creme brulee compare? :rotfl: I thought the Wonder food was exceptionally good, the first night's meal was truly impressive. I ate so much, and I usually quit eating on cruises!

Loved the Wonder cruise staff too, it was so much fun to see Ian again. Do you remember him from the Oct. '02 Magic cruise? He was the Bingo caller!

[winotracy]

The creme brulee was much, much better!! :love: No lumps! And a nice coating on top.

I do remember Ian from 2002 and also again in 2005. He was always in the pool last year and again this year. What a riot!!

I started writing my report when I get free moments and hope to start typing in the first day (actually Saturday and Sunday) tonight.

[winotracy]

On Saturday we went to breakfast and said our goodbyes. We all exchanged e-mail addresses and hugged our servers. We left and found Michael the porter to help us with our bags. The location for car rental pick up has changed and is now closer to the port terminal. We waited just a minute or two and the Avis bus picked us up.

Once we got the car, it was off to Orlando to pick up Peter and Jenn (Hygiene99). We knew we would be late as we didn't get the car until 9:30 and their plane would be in at 10:00. Jenn called us when we were about 20 miles away. In no time we were at the airport and picked them up. It was great to see them again. We decided to go check in a Old Key West. Our room was linked with Scott's (ScottH) and it was not ready. If we wanted another room, we could have gotten one right away, but decided it was best to wait. We parked the car in the lot where our room was and were going to head over to DTD by boat. When we got out of the car, Scott and Lynn were walking to the parking lot! I recognized Scott immediately from his grass skirt picture with Bob. They were going to DTD too so we all went together. We had lunch at Earl of Sandwich. This was our first time there and the food was great! After lunch we stopped at Goofy's Candy Store and I called twin Leslie to arrange for delivery of the cheese for the wine and cheese party. Leslie and Elaine would get there around 3:00. We decided to head back to OKW and swim. I was trying to limit the sun exposure because I got a bit too much at Castaway Cay on Friday. Scott let us use his room to change because ours wasn't ready. We did notice cleaning supplies outside of the one bedroom next door so Peter tried our keys there and they worked!! Good thing we waited for our room to be ready! It wasn't ready yet, but we knew which room it would be.

After swimming, we started bringing stuff to the room and it still wasn't ready, but almost so housekeeping let us bring our stuff in. After she left, I started sorting laundry. Shortly after, people starting arriving at Scott's. It was so much fun meeting so many people that I had corresponded with over the previous year. I kept running between our room and Scott's party to do laundry, but in no time the laundry was done. Leslie offered to keep some stuff at her MouseHouse until we got back. This was great so I didn't have to make room for stuff we wouldn't be using on the second cruise. After everyone left, we went to a place for burgers at OKW (by the boat dock - don't remember the name of the place). Then I finished repacking and getting everything ready for morning.

Sunday:

We didn't sleep well, we were too excited to sleep!! We were up early and often. I heard Peter leave the room about 6:15 and I got up and got moving. I don't recall what time we left but it must have been by 7:30. We returned the car and got to the port to find we were the fifth group in line. Tigger24 was first. She said they got there by 7:30. We met more people waiting for the port to open and then at 10:00 they let us in the terminal. Shortly after that, we had our key to the world cards and boarding group number 3. This appeared to be the first general boarding group. We found a place to park ourselves by the Mickey Ears to the ship. We met a lot of people in the terminal. It was so much fun. I really enjoyed finally meeting Christina and had an interesting conversation with Haley (krdisneybound's niece?). She was wondering why Mickey was wearing a funny outfit. Christie told her it was because he was the Captain. She was wondering if Mickey would let her drive the boat. I told her to ask him if she could. Don't know how that all ended up LOL.

More later!!

[winotracy]

Sunday continued:

We finally met Sue and Christina (SweetSue). christina was so excited to meet me. She seemed a bit confused in the beginning though and I think she thought I was going to be a kid. Just a big kid! By the time we were ready to go onboard I had met everyone from our table except Bob and Lee.

We walked onboard when boarding number three was called. It was a little different in the atrium, but to be honest, I'm not sure what it was (other than of course Tritons and Ariel). It seems to me the color of the carpet is different, but I'm not certain (will have to check photos). We made our way to lunch at Parrot Cay. This was a first for us as we usually go to Topsiders. We had lunch at our table - Table 23. The buffet was good, but there were NO SHRIMP!!!!!!!! We were assured there would be shrimp on the cruise, just not on this buffet. As it turned out, they had shrimp at Beach Blanket Buffet.

After lunch we were leaving Parrot Cay and I heard my name. I turned and it was Bob and Lee! Finally I got to meet them! We went up to Deck 9 and got a Coke, then went to Quiet Cove. There were two people in the pool already so we changed into our suits and got in the pool. Due to the sun I got in the past few days, I tried to sit in shady areas or put a towel around my back. The people in the pool said we obviously have cruised before since we packed swimsuits in our carryon. They had cruised 30 and 34 times. The joys of living in Florida!!

Once our room was ready, we went down to get rid of our carryon. We were in 7614, category 5. I loved our room location, very close to the aft lifts, but then I realized we were right across from the CM access and lifts (where they bring in the luggage, etc.). It was very noisy on the first day and I noticed it first thing the next morning, but after that, never noticed any noise. It actually turned out to be great on Friday night when they took our luggage. I put one bag to hold our door open and started to bring the luggage out and a CM came in and took all of it for us and put it in the piles in the room. I had less to do!! :)

Back to Sunday. Our bags kept arriving and I kept unpacking. I felt so much better this cruise as I could put things together in one place rather than spreading it all out. One time when I looked outside for more luggage, I noticed that the CMs were using one of my bags to hold their door open :rotfl: I said I can see why my bags aren't coming and they gave me that one :teeth: It was the bag with the over the door shoe holder so I really needed it. When we left for the 3:00 DIS meet, all bags had arrived but one. Met quite a few more people, including WebmasterRegina who I had spoken to many times before, but never met. It was weird meeting some of the people that I felt I totally knew, but had no idea who they were until I saw their nametags.

After the meet we went back to our room to get our life jackets. I saw our last bag in the room across the hall and our cabin steward Nerine gave it to me. We were hoping that we wouldn't be outside for the muster drill and we weren't!! We were again in Topsiders. The only time we've been outside was when we were in 6590 on the PC cruise.

After the drill we dropped off the life jackets and Bill got on his grass skirt. We went up to the sailaway party. Hollywood was up there and talking to some of the DISers. He kept mentioning the DISboards which got a rise from our group. Not long after the sailaway, we were talking with Bob and Cheryl and Bob and Lee. They asked us if we wanted to play Pub Quest with them. We said we would.

We then went back to the room and got dressed for dinner and the show. We went to the show with Peter and Jenn and then to Pub Quest after. I think the usual comedians that DCL uses are getting boring to me. I didn't laugh nearly as much as I did before, though some of it was funny. I think they need to work on their acts and freshen it up. The other thing I was thankful for is that we didn't go to many of the cabaret acts and first and last shows on the Magic so it wasn't a repeat for us.

We went to Diversions after the show and could not find Bob, Cheryl, Bob or Lee. In fact there weren't many people there. We looked a little lost I'm sure and then turned and saw Rich Purpura. We said hello and told him we saw the show. Then I noticed he was chatting with Tom McAlpin. I gave Tom my 11 days in Paradise pin. We talked about being on the Magic the previous week. Shortly, the Diversions landlord Rich asked if we were there for Pub Quest. We said we were but couldn't find the rest of our team. After chatting about Wisconsin and cheese curds with Rich P. and Tom, Rich (landlord) named our team the Cheese Curds. We had to play foozball with the Garbage Plates, fellow DISers. Bill and I squeaked out a win.

It was then off to dinner in Animator's Palate. This was the rotation we requested. I think what the Wonder did with dining rotations was much smarter than the Magic. On the Magic we had 2147 guests and they eliminated one rotation - LAP for late dining. On the Wonder we had 1900 and some guests and they spread out the guests more. We had quite a few empty tables on our rotation. This has the potential to make service faster because the kitchen is not working with a crowded restaurant and the servers have less tables. However, this did not turn out to be the case. We were one of the last tables to leave every night. This was probably due to having 12 people at our table, which we found out later is difficult because the server can't put all of our entrees on the tray at once. We met Charlie (server) and Chris (asst server). Chris was fairly new. I had a different opinion of Chris than others on our table. I think he was trying really hard to be fun that the service was lacking. I think it is more important to get the service down first and then have more fun. I think everyone's opinion of Charlie suffered because he was covering for Chris so often getting us water, etc. in the first part of the week. We also met Michelle our head server. Let me say Michelle was the best head server we have ever had. At first I thought she wasn't going to be very friendly, but after a couple days, she was great! Every time we saw her we made a point of stopping to say hi.

After dinner we went to WaveBands for the Match your Mate game show. We got there a bit late and the couples had already been selected. The middle couple was tde1969 (Bill and Tim) from the DISboards. I think this may have been the first time the Wonder had ever had a gay couple in this show. We did note that Tom McAlpin was in the audience. Between Bill and Tim and the couple that had been married 34 years (I think), we were laughing so hard!

After the show, it was time for bed.

[AskAGeek]

Um, what else did we do? I'm dying to hear... Are you going to post some more, or has the vacation 'magic' faded already?
:confused3

[BobandLee]

Um, what else did we do? I'm dying to hear... Are you going to post some more, or has the vacation 'magic' faded already?
:confused3
She's just resting up. What has been written has been good. Nice report so far Trace.

Sorry for bailing out on the PubQuest. You guys probably did better without us. :rotfl2:

[Hygiene99]

Waxing up the snow shovel??? :sunny:

[winotracy]

To be honest, I need my notes. Vacation was so long I don't remember everything. :confused3 Maybe tonight... :thumbsup2

[mississaugamom]

Tonight?? :) I'm enjoying the vicarious crusing so far!

[winotracy]

ok, ok...

On Monday we woke up with the sunlight. Ah, it was so nice to have the window and balcony. We went up to Beach Blanket for breakfast. We had a message the night before that the Scrapbook Meet would now be at 9:45 in Cadillac Lounge and that worked out great!

I got down there just as the meet was starting. I grabbed a seat. Just then Leslie and Elaine told me that I needed to go up to Preludes to get my wristband to get pins. I was hoping to find Bill too so he could get one. Just as I walked out, Bill was coming to find me :rotfl2: He wanted to know if I wanted to go to the DVC party with Jenn and Peter after the scrapbooking. I dragged him up to Preludes and we decided to go. The guy giving out the wristbands told me we had to buy the pin by 10 p.m. or we couldn't get it. I asked him if I gave him a pin if he would make sure I got one :lmao:

The Scrapbook meet was really fun. Seaulater (Linda) made up all the pieces and instructions for either a booklet or and accordian card. I was pretty quick at it so I helped others. I helped Annrae and DisneyPinDiva with their scrapbooks.

Gail (glindamood) called me aside because Lynn (ScottH) asked her about the Secret Mickey gifts she was getting. She wanted to make sure they weren't put there by mistake. Gail knew what was going on (but more on that later).

After the scrapbooking we went to the DVC party. They packed Diversions. After the DVC party, a bunch of us went to Tritons for lunch. We were at a table for 6 and then more came so we moved to a table for 8. AS a result, I was running behind. I had told the Four Wonderful Wine Women that I would help open bottles. The party was about to begin and we didn't have food yet. I asked our server to serve me everything at once and I ran up to Deck 8 to let them know. Yes, I ran up there. By the time I got up there I was exhausted! They weren't quite ready for people yet so it worked out ok. I ran back down to eat. I saw Rich Purpura by Guest Services so I ran out to talk to him. He had told me if there was someone I wanted him to pull up on stage to let him know so I went out there to tell him to pull up Peter. He said that he would I just needed to point him out.

After lunch, I went to the room to get our wine and change into my "wine chick" shirt.

The Wine Tasting was a lot of fun! Lots of people, lots of wine. It did get really warm in there though. The cheese and fruit were really good and the truffles -- OMG!!!!!!!

I don't really remember what all we did after the wine tasting, but I know we got our pins at some point. We had ressies at Palo for 6:00 so we needed to get ready for that. We went with Peter and Jenn. The meal was fabulous!!

Compared to Palo on Wonder, I did notice some differences. The food was presented different in some cases. The after dinner lemon drinks were different, though the recipe was the same. The drink was frothy. I recognized the servers and the Maitre D on the Magic. Even servers that I have never had. But not on the Wonder so I got a different feel in the room. I felt like the Maitre D was a little on the cold side. He definitely wasn't as friendly as PJ. Also, I had stopped up there on the first night to see if I could change our ressies to tables for 4. They got the dinner right but not the brunch.

After dinner we stopped in Parrot Cay to see our tablemates. We made it in time for the show. We got our morocas (sp)!

All day I was trying to get people to come to the late Cabaret show to see Rich pull Peter up on the stage. A lot of people said they were coming. As a result, they ended up having the show in Diversions as well. I talked to Rich and he said the room was too full he wasn't sure if he could pull up Peter. We ended up sitting very close to the front on the far side. He never picked on Peter. That was pretty disappointing.

After the show we went to bed.

Highlights to come....

PJ Breakfast, Trivia, Golden Mickeys, last day at sea before five days in port....

[winotracy]

I forgot to mention, we did Secret Mickeys on this cruise like we did on the August Repo cruise. Kind of a Secret Santa. I ended up with someone we cruised with in August, eeorelvr10 (Laura). She was original on Deck 7 like us but got an upgrade to Deck 8. As it turned out, this was a great location. She was fairly close to the stairway so I could drop something off and get back to the stairs. Peter decided to give Scott stuff even though he didn't sign up for the Secret Mickeys. This caused a lot of suspicion from Scott. Peter let everyone at our dinner table in on what he was doing and a few of them picked up some gifts for Scott and Lynn too. Now understand, the gifts were supposed to be bad gifts, but somehow they were viewed differently by Scott and Lynn. Back to the trip report.

Tuesday was Jammie Breakfast, hosted by Elaine (Mickey&JoshNut). We had over 100 DISers scheduled to have breakfast in Tritons in our Pjs. The whole back end of Tritons was filled with DISers, this was KEWL!

While we were waiting to get in to Tritons, Laura (eeorelvr10) gave me a gift but told me not to open it in front of everyone because she gave one to her Secret Mickey too. I asked Bill to take it back to the room because he was going to get our camera and deliver another Secret Mickey gift because she wouldn't know who it was because we were at the PJ breakfast with her when a gift arrived. Leslie got caught in the hall (I believe she was delivering a Secret Mickey gift to Lynn and Scott at the time) by an officer who said “Your late for the pajama breakfast in Tritons”. It's amazing what they all knew we were doing.

After breakfast we went back to the room and changed for the day. At 11 was Tom McAlpin's speech. After last year, we knew we needed to get there early to get a good seat. A number of the things he spoke about we had heard in previous speeches, press releases, etc., but some of it was new and interesting. Mr. McAlpin mentioned the changes to the Castaway Club, starting with the reception to make it more interactive. The lanyards and pins were meant to be a gift for each repeat cruiser, regardless of how many were in the room, rather than one gift of a towel or bag that people had to agree who would get. The gift they are giving in the room has a bunch of things in it so that everyone can get a little something. We liked the new gift a lot as it had some mesh bags, sunscreen (for faces!), a note pad, a magnet and a lot of other things. He was asked about an announcement for 2008 and he said in the same time frame as the Med cruises were announced (March-April). He was also asked about a new ship, but didn't answer the question with the usual response about the cost of the Euro vs. the dollar. We had heard some rumors about space for two ships opening at Fincantari (sp?) and a deal to offer the space for the dollar rather than the Euro. The funniest thing happened when Mr. McAlpin said if we wanted to know what was happening with DCL to check the DISboards. That got a roar from the crowd. At one point, he couldn't answer a question someone asked and said that they should leave their cabin number and he would get an answer to them. He said if anyone else wanted the answer to also let Guest Services know and someone said “Just post it on the DISboards!”. He laughed!

After the presentation, Regina (WebmasterRegina) wanted to introduce me to someone so I hung around. She introduced me to Donna from Dreams Unlimited Travel. It was really nice to meet her and her husband, but I didn't have long to talk because we were planning to go to the DVC presentation starting about 5 minutes before that time! We ran into Donna a Joe a number of times over the course of the cruise.

Next we went over to the DVC presentation in Diversions. There were a bunch of DISers in one of the corners. I ended up sitting on the floor with Leslie, Elaine and Elizabeth (MyFairyGodmother). During the presentation, a child (probably around 8-10) started playing a video game with the sound on. When his parents tried to take it away, he threw a fit! So what did they do? They let him continue to play. This was about 1/2 way into the presentation. A number of us were about ready to go say something to the parents. Finally, just before the presentation was over, they left. We cheered. I can't understand parents who let their children disrupt everyone else. It was very distracting. We decided that the time is not right for us to buy DVC, but may do so in the near future. After the presentation, we got some lunch. Today was also the Bobs' Cigars & Scotch get together. We had lunch at Pluto's Dog House. I got a brat because I had heard that they were good the last time on the Magic. That was wrong! It was the worst thing I had eaten on both cruises combined (and that includes the lumpy creme brulee). It was so bad that when I was trying to describe to Bill what it tasted like, I figured it would be better to try it again, but I just couldn't. We swam for a while. Then we decided to go to the Cruisin' Trivia. We joined Stephen (Corwin17) in the Promenade Lounge and played as a team. We ended up tying for first place!! We won a DCL logo backpack thingy. And of course Pub Points! The sports trivia started 1/2 hour after the Cruisin' Trivia started so at the end while we were scoring our trivia, Bill left to get to Diversions for the Sports Trivia. By the time I arrived, it was done and we did very badly at that! Regina and Gary's team won! It was all about baseball and Bill, Bob and Cheryl aren't baseball diehards.

After this, it was time to get ready for the Golden Mickeys and formal night. It was also the Captain's Gala. We left Diversions and grabbed a cocktail in the Atrium. We got dressed for the show and found out that the tuxedo shirt that I borrowed from Leslie's Joe did not fit Bill (sleeves were too short), so he went back to wearing the same shirt he wore on the Magic. We just made it to the Golden Mickeys before it started. The show was as good as usual. After the Golden Mickeys we went down to Diversions for what then became our nightly ritual of Pub Quest and veggies and dip and guacamole! I think this night was the full contact thumb wrestling, or maybe it was the random card number game, but I know it wasn't the cup stacking game (that was on the next formal night). It may have been connect four, full contact of course. No wait, it was full contact Uno.

We had dinner that night in Tritons. I think I like Lumieres atmosphere better than Tritons. When they dimmed the lights in the room and increased the blue lights, I thought it made my food look weird and everyone looked weird because of the coloring. This was the night that we decided to celebrate my birthday. Turns out on the first night when Charlie was going around asking about celebrations, he made it sound like we could pick a date to celebrate anything so I chose Tuesday in Tritons for my birthday celebration since it was only 3 weeks prior. I had told Bob (BobandLee) that I would get him a Key Lime Pie like we did on the Magic last year so I told our head server Michelle on the first night I would like one for Tuesday night. In the meantime, Leslie and Elaine were planning a party for me. They had hats and horns and Elaine had them on the table when we arrived. We had lots of fun with the horns, even though they didn't make a sound, and the hats (right Leslie and Jenn?). They brought out two Key Lime Pies. Two couples were not there for dessert so we ended up only using one of the pies and saved the other for the next night. Elaine gave me a gift with some scrapbooking stuff and a couple little bottles of Ice Wine!!!! Thank you Elaine!!!

After dinner we went to the end of the balloon drop. We were there after the balloons dropped, but before the confetti. We were dancing in the atrium. I took off my shoes and my feet got plastered with the gold confetti. After the show, we went to bed.

[Mackey Mouse]

Hey.....is there any more of this trip report to come????

[winotracy]

Hey.....is there any more of this trip report to come????

of course there is... I just need to write it :teeth: :goodvibes

[winotracy]

One thing I haven't mentioned so far is that we like having the balcony because we do spend time out there and spend more time in our room. I enjoy waking up with the sunrise. Every evening we would go into the room and open the outside curtain so the morning light would come in. The problem was our neighbor's light had a problem and would start blinking, as if they were sending morse code. So we had to keep our drapes closed.

We got up early on Wednesday as we were heading into dock. I just love how the deep blue water looks with the black mountains extending out of the water up towards the sky and the sun coming up on the other side. So different from the afternoon, but yet just as beautiful! I stood on the verandah taking a few pictures when our neighbor came out. I mentioned to them that I wasn't sure if they knew but their verandah light was on all night long. Turns out they noticed the blinking and figured they would leave it on all night rather than it blinking on and off. I mentioned that they should tell guest services and maybe it would be fixed. They said they would. We went up on deck and had a little something to eat.

We got our stuff together for a day on St. Thomas and then met up with Peter & Jenn. They hadn't gone up for breakfast yet so we joined them and had a little bit more. After we ate it was time to head ashore! Our plan was to take the ferry to St. John's and rent a car. The ferry from Charlotte Amalie left at 9:00 and it was still fairly early so we decided to take a taxi to Red Hook and the ferry from there. The price worked out to be the same. We found a taxi driver fairly quick but she said we wouldn't make the next ferry as it was too soon so she wanted to wait for more riders. That was fine with us. Shortly, a family of three came and joined us. It was Celeste, Robb and Noah!! (icunurse_celeste). They were going to St. Johns and going snorkeling at Trunk Bay on their own. We chatted with them on the ride to Trunk Bay and then while we waited for the ferry and then on the ride to St. Johns. When we got to St. Johns, we picked up a car and decided that Peter could drive. Jenn, Bill and I didn't want to. We drove around the island, by Trunk Bay and on further around, stopping along the way for pictures. We saw a deer in the road at one point.

We ended up over at Great Salt Pond. The sign said it was 2 miles to the water from the parking lot. It wasn't. We were the only ones at the beach! It was beautiful. We set our stuff down and Bill and I grabbed our snorkel equipment and went in the water. There wasn't much to see. Jenn walked down the beach. Peter swam. I started to follow Jenn down the beach, though I was in the water and snorkeling and I started to find some fish and other sea creatures. All of a sudden, I saw some sea turtles!! There must have been 3 or more there. I was swimming toward them, a little cautious because I wasn't sure if they would bite or be aggressive. I happened upon a lot of coral and a lot more sea life! It was beautiful!! We lost the sea turtles, but I still got a lot of good pictures!

Soon there was another couple on the beach snorkeling on the other side of the bay. I walked over and saw the Great Sea Pond. Nothing much, just water. Then I went over to where the couple had been snorkeling because they said they saw a stingray. I didn't find the stingray, but found a lot of interesting sealife. Then I came back closer to Bill, Peter and Jenn and found a small area with coral and fish. I found one that had turquoise blue on him and Peter said his name was "cousin Vinny" so I started talking to him through my snorkel. Then another fish came along. He was white with some tan stripes. Peter said his name was Jack. So I talked to Jack as well. Jack was looking at my toes with the Mickey on the big toe nails! So now we figured, I talk to fish and Jenn talks to cows LOL. We hiked back up to the car and made our way back around the island. On the way back to Cruz Bay we saw many animals. First there was goats. Then a single cow. Then a cow and a bull, uh, in an intimate moment and then around the corner there was a calf. We figured it was a pictorial of the bird and the bees LOL. Then we saw a huge pig! We dropped off the car and we went to check out the ferry dock to see if we could get our tickets. We had a bit of a scary moment. The ferry times were not listed anywhere that we could find. The only thing listed was changes to the schedule, which made it sound like the only ferry left that day was 3:45!! We needed to be onboard by 4:00!! There was no way we were going to make it! On top of it, we were short on cash. Good thing Jenn had a credit card and knew the PIN number so she could get money. Bill and I had enough to get back on the ferry, but not the taxi after that. We had gotten the taxi there so Peter and Jenn got it home. And we bought a round of drinks -- BBCs and Bushwackers!! Yummy!! We knew it was getting close to ferry time so we asked for the drinks in To Go cups. The game them to us that way without a problem. We paid and left. Shortly after getting our tickets, the ferry was there for us and we proceeded to get on. Only one problem. We couldn't take our drinks with us. So we had to quickly drink our frozen drinks before going back. We ended up on a taxi with a family that was on the Mariner of the Seas. We told them how great Disney was and they thought about trying Disney in the future. We got off by the Royal Caribbean ship because it was closest to the shopping. Bill and I wanted to go to Al Cohen's for rum. After getting the rum and my charms at Diamonds International, we pretty much headed back to the ship. We ran into Celeste, Robb and Noah again.

After back onboard, we went to our room to drop off our snorkel gear. We had a message on our voice mail. It was so weird I had to listen to it twice. It was Andy and Ray from the Magic (cruise director and assistant cruise director), calling to wish us a magical cruise on the Disney Wonder!! It was so funny that I recorded it on my camera. That was so sweet for them to do that! We got something to eat at Pluto's Dog House and then went in the water for a while. It was nearly time to sailaway and I had not seen a rainbow yet. For those that know me, there is a significance to me seeing a rainbow in St. Thomas. It has always happened since the day I had to get off the Magic in St. Thomas and fly home when my dad passed away. Well this time the weather was perfect. There was no way we were going to have a rainbow. I was talking to Scott and Lynn and Scott said "no rainbow today". About 1/2 hour later as we were pulling out, I looked to the port side of the ship and there was a faint rainbow!! I got out my camera and took pictures. The further we went, the more pronounced the rainbow!! We stood around with Scott and Lynn and Leslie and Elaine for a while and chatted while having the drink of the day, a Tropical Depression. It was cool because it was purple!

We did make it to the show that night, which was On the Nose. This game show may have potential, but I didn't really care for it the way it was organized. They divided the theater in six parts, basically by where you were seated. My group was the Happy group. We were not encouraged to sit near each other or anything. We had to pick one person from our group to be on stage and answer the questions. We had a CM who was asking us for the answers to relay them to the person on the stage. This really worked poorly. Our group was very spread out (middle section front). It was hard on the CM, our person on stage couldn't hear us and just didn't work well. I can imaging that the ones in the back had a much harder time. They also had the people on stage answer in the same order each time so theoretically, the ones answering last got the benefit of everyone's answer. It didn't end up that way, but it was weird. Of course then we went to Pub Quest with Bob and Cheryl. I think pretty much Bill and I made it to all remaining Pub Quests. We had a hard time making the early one, but always made the 7:30, except the night we were at Palo.

Dinner that night was in Animator's Palate. As usual, it was freezing in there! Of the three restaurants, Animators gets used the least and it is definitely the coldest!! I don't care for the menu in Animators, but I like the show. At the end of dinner, Michelle said she would have a surprise for us in the days to come. Then she brought us out a tray of mini creme puffs, chocolate dipped strawberries and other treats. But this wasn't our treat! After dinner, we pretty much called it a night. Once again, our neighbor's light was blinking and then on all night.

[winotracy]

I woke up extra early this morning and decided to do laundry. Bill was sleeping soundly. I got things started and then roamed around the ship. I stopped down by Guest Services and told them about our neighbor's light. I gave them the room number and they said they would check it out. A little later, there was a knock next door and it was maintenance. I went up to Deck 10 and was walking around and ran into Scott and a little later Bob (BobandLee). It was such a nice morning! Scott said that he and Lynn were going diving in St. Lucia. Our excursion had been cancelled so we didn't know what we were going to do.

At 9:30 DCL had the Castaway Club. By the time Bill and I got there, it was packed. We found Leslie, Elaine, Bob and Harry (Harry from MI). We stood by them and filled out our cards and turned in the entries for the drawing. They showed the films and we just chatted. Captain Henry talked about where DCL has been, will be and talked about the future, without giving anything away of course! Then they did the drawing for the clocks. After it was over, we followed Leslie and Elaine to the Steerage Bar. We had Strawberry Daiquiris and chatted for a while. Before we knew it, we were pulling into St. Lucia!!! We all went up on deck 10. We sat up there as others joined us. We ran into Jenn and Peter up there and all decided to go get some lunch before heading out. We figured we would just go into town and shop.

We ate at Beach Blanket Buffet and then decided it would be a great time to put a poster in Scott's room from his "secret mickey". Jenn autographed it from Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and then wrote in the middle "From you Secret Mickey". As we were putting it on his verandah door, I started thinking about Scott being an investigator and wondered if he would save the tape which now had my fingerprint on it.

We then headed out to St. Lucia. We stopped at Diamonds International and I got my charms. Then we got a cab to go to town. It was only going to be a couple bucks each. As we were leaving, the driver said how about a tour of town and the outlying area for $60 total. So we said ok, since we had nothing planned. Turns out this was the "shopping tour". We kept stopping to see scenic things and there were always locals there ready to sell their goods. We did go up to the highest spot in Castries from which we had beautiful views! As we were coming back to downtown, we decided just to go back to the port. It was hot and we were worn out. We shopped at the port. I bought a couple t-shirts for Bill and my DS Deb since it was her birthday next week. I found a linen and glass place and stopped in because Deb collects colored glass items. I found a really pretty candy dish that had an octopus under it. They had it in a number of colors. I'm not good at negotiating for a better price so I asked Peter to help me. They wouldn't budge on the $59 price. I just thought that was way too much for a candy dish so we left.

Scott had said that it would be difficult to see the Southern Cross on the cruise because it would be visible only at around sundown at the horizon. We went to the pool for a while, but then at sundown we walked up on Deck 10. We got some nice pictures of the sunset, but did not see the Southern Cross is it was too cloudy near the horizon where it would be.

Tonight's show was Hercules!!! I love Hercules!! I was sad to see it go. I did mention to a DCL entertainment from Celebratin that I met in St. Kitts that I wish they could do Hercules AND Twice Charmed. The big problem is the space they need for all the sets. It's not possible to do 4 big productions like they do. He said they are seeing if there is a way to do a scaled down version of Hercules without all the set props. I thought that would be cool!

While we were waiting for the show to begin, I asked Peter and Jenn (loud enough so Scott could hear) that I was wondering when the Secret Mickey reveal party was going to be. Scott started saying how he was getting stuff and didn't know why. He told us about the poster and said he found a fingerprint. He said he could run it through AFIS. OMG! I was trying to hard not to laugh! Good thing I have never been fingerprinted!

That night was also Tropical night! We were in Parrot Cay for dinner. Peter made hats for all of us out of our napkins. Leslie and Elaine had straw hats. We all looked festive!

After dinner we went to get Bill's grass skirt for the deck party. He hated his grass skirt because it stunk like flame retardant or kerosene, even after hanging it outside on the verandah for 4 days! He wore it nevertheless. We also brought a bottle of Caramel Baileys. They were selling these in Wisconsin during the summer as a trial market and supposed to release them to the general public in the fall. Let me tell you, it was yummy!!! Bill didn't last too long in the grass skirt though because Peter came up to him with a lighter and said "how about a little fire Scarecrow?" ROFL! Hollywood came up on Deck 10 at one point and Bill quickly volunteered his skirt for Hollywood.

Bill and I went to get online and see if I kept my instructions for the excursion in Barbados, but I hadn't. When we got back, everyone had left. We decided to call it a night anyway.

[winotracy]

When we got up this morning we were approaching Barbados. OMG what a beautiful island! We planned to do the Thriller Snorkel with the Turtles. Peter, Jenn, Bill and I signed up quite a while ago. When Ivan (Let's Go Steelers) saw we had signed up for a snorkel with the turtles, he asked me about it. His family of five signed up and they changed our time to noon instead of 11:30. We didn't think this would work out very well because we wanted to go to the Malibu Rum Distillary. Ivan asked the tour operator how many spots he had left on his boat. We needed to get 6 more to join us and then we could pick our own time! We got Gail and David (Glindamood), Vicki & Stephen (Kitster & Corwin17), Leslie (DisneyPinDiva) and Elaine (Mickey&JoshNut) -- Yes, I did say Elaine!! This would be her first snorkeling experience. I got a hold of Ivan and he had the directions with him. We met everyone at the Promenade Lounge and left as a group. It cost us $2 per person to go to where the boat would pick us up. We took two cabs there and met up with Stephen from Thriller. We all paid and then got on the boat. We had soda, water, beer and after the snorkeling rum punch. That was the best Rum Punch we had all cruise!

Because some of us wanted to be dropped off at Malibu at the end, we did the tour in a different order. We started at 9:30. This worked great! First we went to a site of a couple shipwrecks. One was almost 100 years old, the other only 4-5 years old. We saw a lot of a fish that I had also seen in St. Thomas -- a needle fish. It was really neat. They swim near the surface of the water and look like baby swordfish. As I was getting in the boat, I noticed a baracuda under the boat. I made sure I didn't tell Elaine until she was in the boat too.

From there we went over to a site where we could swim with sea turtles! On the way we passed Malibu. All you could smell on the way was RUM!!! YUMMY!!! They were incredible. We got some great pictures of the turtles while our guide fed them. There were a number of boats around and this is where we ran into Scott and Lynn who were on a diving excursion. We also thought that Adrienne and Tony (aphoenix) were on the Disney excursion doing the same thing as us so everytime we came to a boat with a lot of people on it, we screamed "Adrienne!! Tony!!", but no one looked. Later, they said they never heard us and their boat wasn't near other boats. LOL.

From the turtles we went to another site where we could look at coral and fish. This was really neat too. Saw lots of schools of Dorys. Saw Trumpet Fish. It was starting to cloud up so the snorkeling wasn't as nice. We got in the boat and the rain started! Good thing we were already wet! The rain passed in no time and we were off to our beach break. Talk about a beautiful site!! I've never seen sand whiter and water and sky bluer. Incredible!! We also got our rum punch when the rain started. When we got to the beach, we were anchored a little ways away from shore. We learned quickly how to get in the water without getting ocean in our rum punch. The snacks we had were chips and salsa. We spent quite a while on the beach and in the water. Jenn collected shells while Leslie pretended to be Ariel on one of the rocks.

Bill discovered a new Olympic event while floating in the water. He learned to balance his glass of rum punch on his stomach! David then started to do it too. I tried too, but it was hard to do it on my stomach so I tried for the chest, but this was worse. LOL.

We got back in the boat and were off to Malibu!! Stephen brought the boat in as far as he could, but it was still deep. We needed to jump into the water and then they handed us our stuff. We swam in with everything above our heads until we could reach and walk in. From there we went up to Malibu! We rinsed off our feet and used the bathrooms then went into the visitor center. We saw Neal and Liz (Pappy) there. There were many cab drivers trying to get our business. We told them all we just got there and to leave us alone. In the Visitor's Center they had t-shirts and rum, plus a few other things. I looked at the prices for the tour. It was $10 and we only got one drink each. We could also get a beach chair, umbrella, etc, but we weren't going to do that. I asked if we could do something without the beach and they told me the price with just the beach. We decided again doing anything. The rum was not that cheap so we just got a couple shirts and left. We decided to walk back.

Now it depends who you ask, but I know we were walking a minimum of 45 minutes, probably more than that. It was very hot, and humid. We all were a little sore after that. Note to self, if you can barely see the ship, it is a long ways away!! Take a cab!

We went up to the pool when we got back. We didn't stay long in the pool because it was adult night in the kids club!! Bill decided to nap so I went by myself. I sat with Stephen, Vicki, Tony, Adrienne, Leslie, Elaine, Regina and Gary. Peter got picked on there and he ended up singing "I'm a Little Teapot" with the professor. We made flubber then!

The show tonight was a new one. It's called The Art of the Story. Now I liked this show for the most part, but I felt that the title didn't fit. In the beginning, Ducky Williams and someone else talked about taking a movie or a story and turning it into a show. Then they showed part of what would be a total picture by Ducky and had a one word title on it like SONG. Then there would be a performance on stage. The first one was from the Hunchback, then Mulan, Tarzan, Beauty & the Beast and then I think the Lion King. The performances were great, the music was great, but the story didn't make sense. I talked to the DCL CM from Celebration about this and he said they were going to put in voice overs when the one word titles came up on the screen. That I thought would make all the difference in the world. Just explain how the words and concepts go together to make the story.

Tonight we were in Tritons. This would be a similar menu to Lumiere's rotational menu so I was looking forward to it. The escargot was not as good as it was on the Magic, but the creme brulee was great!! I did mention to Charlie that I hoped there was a crust on the top and I don't know if he grabbed on that was better than the others or if they sprinkled more sugar and cooked it again, but it had a better crust (though it did have some sugar that was not carmelized on top too), but there were NO LUMPS!!!!!!!!!! We were entertained by Ariel, Sebastian and the turtles tonight. After dinner we were going to go to the late showing of The Art of the Story, but we were so tired we decided against it and went to bed early.

Tonight's towel "animal" was a leaning tower of pisa with a note that said that the Magic was going to the Med next year and there would be new towel animals too! I thought this was a very clever marketing tool!

[winotracy]

The next morning we arrived in Antigua. I was up early again and watched the sun come up, complete with another rainbow. I took lots of pictures around the ship today. I stopped by Guest Services again and told them again that our neighbor's light has been on continuously at night because if it's not on, it flashes on and off and drives them crazy. They said they would check it out. This time I think they got it right because we had no more problems the rest of the cruise. We did notice a light still on, but it was two rooms away so it didn't bother us as much. It was actually like being at home LOL.

Our excursion didn't leave until after noon so we met up with Peter and Jenn on Deck 10 and then decided to go into town and shop for a bit. There were many taxi operators asking if we needed to go to a beach. That kind of thing drives me crazy. I wish there was some way to let them know we have an excursion already, leave us alone! We finally got into the shop that Jenn wanted to go to for her perfume, but they didn't have it yet. Too early in the season. We didn't shop very long, but ran into Amber and Rob (Rob_b), Marsha and Tom (Mackey Mouse), Regina and Gary (WebmasterRegina), Dianna and Lamar (Tigger&Bubba) and Tim and Bill (TDE1969). We went back onboard and got ready for our excursion. We were doing the Seafari! This was on a rigid inflatable boat.

This boat was interesting because you straddled the seat. It was a fun excursion, but got rough for a while (when over in the Atlantic Ocean) and seemed to be too long. We started getting sore and tired. But we did get to see Hell's Gate and Devil's Bridge. We also saw Eric Clapton's and Oprah Winfrey's homes. I thought we would get off the boat at Nelson's Dockyard, but we didn't. I think a stop there would have made it a little more enjoyable on the second half of the trip and would have meant we would hurt a little less from the seats. We did get to stop at a deserted beach, snorkel, swim and have rum punch. Though there wasn't enough rum punch if you went snorkeling first.

At this stop I did see a clown fish!! Not the same as Nemo, but it was a clown fish! We got rained on when we were 3/4 of the way around the island but it was still very enjoyable. CM Ian and his friend Lucy were on the excursion with us. Ian admitted that the CMs do read the DISboards. When we got back to the ship, it was time to get ready for the show. Tonight was Muppets Ahoy! This was a different show from last year for the most part. It was a little weird because they showed the puppeteers. They did Manamana which ended up being sung many nights at dinner. The premise of the show was that Ms Piggy wasn't going to come and do her part of the show, she was having too much fun on the ship, and Kermit was trying to find acts to go on. Then Rudi Macaggi came on. I don't like being totally mean, but this was not a good choice. The things that Rudi can do and did do on America's Got Talent are amazing, but he doesn't have a good act. He needs more than just his comedy, because it wasn't funny. I was actually sad that we were sitting so close to the front because I would have left if we were in the back. Apparently, Rudi wanted to have a whole hour, but DCL said no. For the late show, they cut him back even more. The skit at the end with the Muppets running all over the ship is good and was the same as last year, but was very good. At one part in the show, they had CD Brent dress up as a chicken. This prompted days of everyone calling him Chicken Boy! That is, until the Crew Talent show, but more on that later!

Dinner was in Animator's Palate tonight. When we went in, Jenn gave Michele a t-shirt that she picked up in Antigua. I can't remember what the menu was though LOL. I do remember that we got our surprise from our head server! After dinner she brought us all Chocolate Souffles from Palo!! We were really stuffed after that!

We did make it to the second episode of Match your Mate. This was no where near as funny as the first one. They did change all the questions. Afterwards, we went to bed.

[winotracy]

The next morning we woke up approaching St. Kitts. What a pretty island!! Though this was the first time all vacation that we were outside sitting having breakfast and we had to get up and move so we didn't get wet. Any other time we were either inside or already wet so it didn't matter. Today we had planned to go on the railroad trip with the Brimstone Fort tour. The ship docks very close to town. They are building new shops by the port and it looks to be very nice in the near future.

Scott and Lynn were on the excursion with us. We met in the Promenade Lounge bright and early. After they were ready for us on the dock, we left. They had taxis waiting for us (basically minivans). Ours held six and it was Bill and I, Scott and Lynn and two other ladies. The taxi took us to the train. St. Kitts has a lot of sugar cane. That used to be their main source of income. Now they are trying to sell the sugar cane to an American company to try to make Ethanol out of it. Kind of interesting!

We got to the train and it was a double decker train with five cars for passengers. You could sit on the first level and be in airconditioned comfort or sit on top in the open air with a cover. Soon after we started moving, a waitress offered us pina coladas, rum punch, soda or water. I had a virgin colada to start with then a rum punch. It was only 8:30!! Bill and Scott had rum punch as well. Later they brought around sugar cane juice. I was not impressed by this. It was very sweet, but tasted weird. Then they gave us sugar cakes. Those were really good!! Coconut, sugar, sugar, and sugar!! Lynn got to hold a baby monkey before we got off the train.

It was on the train that I met the CM from Celebration. It was very interesting talking to him. His department is responsible for all of the entertainment on the cruises from the stage shows to the cruise staff to the music. We talked about the shows on the cruise thus far, the Panama Canal cruises and the Mediterranean cruises next year. He will be on the repo and the first Med.

After the train we got back in the same taxi and drove to the fort. The beaches on St. Kitts were so cool. They had black sand! We got over to the fort and immediately saw a couple monkeys! As we made our way up the mountain to the fort, we passed a taxi coming down. In the taxi was Bob and Cheryl! Scott rolled down the window and said hello to them. When we got up to the fort base and then had to walk up to the fort. What a climb! But it was well worth it!

Absolutely gorgeous view from there. We could see St. Eustatious (sp?) very well from there. I went down to the gift shop to buy a t-shirt for Bill, some rum and a sugar cake. They had a problem running my credit card. Luckily I had some cash, but Bill had it by the taxi. I had to run out and yell for him to come back with the money. Once back in the taxi, we continued the rest of the way around the island. When we got back to the port, we decided to do a little shopping. I still hadn't found something for Deb. Since it was Sunday, not many shops were open. We did find a glass place that was open. Turns out it was one of the few places open and it seems everyone went there! I found a cute dish shaped like a clam shell that had a dolphin in it. It was very pretty. I got it for Deb. We then went back on the ship, but first stopped at Diamonds International ;)

Once onboard we ate lunch and then went to the pool! Peter and Jenn went out shopping and Jenn finally found the ring that she wanted. She was so excited!!

That evening before the show we went to the kid's club again to paint Cells! That was a lot of fun! I sat at a table with Leslie, Elaine, Marsha, Tommy and two others who never spoke. Then another lady came and joined us. She was mean. She kept taking the picture for herself so we couldn't see the colors.

Bill took a nap again during the kids club. That night, the regular show was a movie. We did not go and see it. This was pirate night. Instead we took our time getting ready and then went to Pub Quest and then off to dinner in Parrot Cay. After dinner was the Pirate deck party. We did get up there in top for the show and it was great. We did a conga line around Deck 10. We just didn't get enough people so ours was pretty lame compared to the one on Deck 9. Right after the party we made our way to Wave Bands to see Taylor Mason. Taylor is still our favorite caberet act on the ships. His act was funny as usual. Afterwards, we went to bed.

[winotracy]

Another day at sea!! If there was one downside to this cruise it was the limited days at sea. I really enjoy days at sea. But the ports of call were outstanding! We had brunch scheduled for today. But this was also Character Breakfast. Bill and I went to the pool early and then went to get ready for brunch. We were ready early so we went to the end of character breakfast. We missed Mickey and the gang, but were there for Minnie.

We then went up to Palo for brunch. We took Peter and Jenn with us. This was also the DISers group brunch. A 1/2 hour after we got there, Scott, Lynn, Elaine and Leslie came for brunch and sat near us. This was one thing I didn't like on the Wonder. They made a point to make sure you got the same server for dinner and brunch. I don't like getting the same server unless they are superior and to be honest, I have really liked a lot of my servers at Palo, but there isn't anyone that I have insisted on having. I like having different servers because you get to know more people. On the Magic, we met a lot of the servers when we were sitting at the bar. Every night they all said hello. Brunch was good. It was different than the Magic. In some ways good, in others, not so good. They had menus. The desserts were larger on the Wonder. We had to order our free champagne drink rather than picking one up at the bar on the way in. This wasn't entirely clear that one was included.

Peter figured that this was a good time to deliver another Secret Mickey gift since we were all at brunch. I left to make a call and get Leslie, Elaine, Jenn and I signed up for the mixology seminar that afternoon. Peter made his way out too and had a poster delivered.

We asked about the dress code for tea since Jenn and I were going that day. We needed to dress up so I would wear the same dress again. After brunch, I went to the room and changed into my swimsuit. Then I was going to Guest Services to pick up our tickets and then to shop. I ran into Elaine and she told me Leslie was in their room. I had something to give to Leslie so I left and went to our room to pick it up and go down to her room. Elaine came with because the internet was down.

I ended up sitting down by Leslie and chatting for a long time.... Before I knew it, it was 2:50!! Tea was at 3:00!! I was down on 2 and needed to go up to 10, but it couldn't happen that easily. I was in my swimsuit! Also, Bill was going to the pool earlier, so I thought I better go check on him. I went all the way to the other end of the ship and up to 9. Bill wasn't there. I walked back to the aft and saw the end of Mouse 2.0, a new deck party. I really wanted to get an airbrush tattoo, but I missed it. I asked if there was any way to still get a tattoo, it was now 2:54. They said they could do it, but I would have to wait for one other person to finish. I waited a couple minutes and realized, I really had to go. I said sorry, I didn't have time and left. I went down to 7 and found Bill, napping. Then I changed and went up to 10. I got there just as they were going to sit. Tea was fun! It was Cheryl, Lee, Jenn and I. This was my first tea.

After tea, we had the mixology seminar. I had to change before going down, but I just made it. Bill was still napping LOL. I joined Jenn, Elaine and Leslie in the Promenade Lounge. We got to try BBCs, Cosmos, Long Beach Ice Teas and then they were looking for a volunteer. I shot my hand up and was chosen first. I had to go behind the bar and make a B52. They told me the wrong order to put the alcohols in so I had to do it twice. After I finished, they told me I had to drink the B52. Leslie did one next and drank hers too. After the seminar, we had a chance to ask questions. I asked if I had to drink the mistake that I made. They said yes!! LOL.

After the seminar, we sat there and had a martini. Bill joined us. I talked with one of the officers that I recognized from the Magic. Nick the Assitant Beverage Manager. He helped me get a hold of a bar tool that Leslie was interested in. Thanks Nick!

After that we decided we needed to find all the two for one drink specials. The Navigator said that it was at the Cadillac Lounge, but didn't say a time. So we went there and found out it was from 8:30 to 10:30. Right during dinner! We stopped to shop for a bit, but didn't buy anything. Then we went to see Susan Egan. Her show was great!! I really loved her last year and this year was the same story. After the show we went down to Diversions for Pub Quest. Today was putting. Elaine and Leslie were our cheerleaders! We made it to the finals, but lost. After Pub Quest, we went back to the Steerage Bar.

We had daiquiris again and then went up to Pluto's Dog House for dinner. After dinner, it was back down to the Cadillac Lounge for two for one martinis! We filled up our Castaway Club glasses with our martinis and went down to the Crew Talent Show.

We were at the first crew talent show on the Panama Canal cruise and now they were doing it on the Wonder! The performances were good and great. What was amazing is the talent that the maintenance workers, stateroom hosts, engine room guys, etc., etc. had. I think my favorite was Voltare from the engine room. As a finale, the cruise staff did the skit If I Were Not Upon the Sea. OMG!! We laughed, and laughed!! The best part was Brent, Cruise Director, was a ballerina! Complete with a pink tutu!!

After the show, it was time for bed. I decided to do laundry in the morning if I woke up early. So I got everything ready. Just as I was about to go to bed, I noticed something was put under our door. It was the MouseAdventure on the High Seas II: The Curse of the Mickey Bar! I started to read the scavenger hunt clues and decided I would work on that in the morning too. We could team up with one other room max.

[Minniespal]

Excellent ~ Thanx for sharing.

[Mackey Mouse]

Great reporting Tracy......we did have fun!!!!!

[mississaugamom]

Great report ~ looking forward to the rest of it!

Question: What are "pub points" and what can you do with them?

[winotracy]

Pub Points:

Pub Quest is something that they do in Diversions. Something to get people in there, playing games, interacting, etc. Pub Points are what you earn at Pub Quest and other interactive events -- though not drinking events :( We competed in a couple trivia things and got pub points for participating. Other events were in Diversions a couple times a day. We played Uno, golf, ring the bull, wango tango, just to name a few. It was a lot of fun! The pub points by themselves are just cards each worth one point. The team with the most points at the end of the cruise wins! Actually the top three teams win something. Don't know if I would do this again with so many ports. This is better when you have more days at sea. But we had a blast! The best part of it was meeting other cruisers (including one couple that also did the Back to Sorta Backs!) and the Landlord, Rich. Rich was the best!! We had so much fun interacting with him in Diversions and all around the ship.

[Hygiene99]

we went back to the Steerage Bar.

.

Where is the Steerage bar?



We ate at Beach Blanket Buffet and then decided it would be a great time to put a poster in Scott's room from his "secret mickey". Jenn autographed it from Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and then wrote in the middle "From you Secret Mickey". As we were putting it on his verandah door, I started thinking about Scott being an investigator and wondered if he would save the tape which now had my fingerprint on it.

Thanks to Scott's stateroom host!!

Once onboard we ate lunch and then went to the pool! Peter and Jenn went out shopping and Jenn finally found the ring that she wanted. She was so excited!! http://www.bluenile.com/assets/product_images/rings/AB15300300_200zoom.jpg

This island had not seen a cruise ship in several month's
this guy was ready to Deal.
When he whipped out his little calculator, we thought he had made a mistake!
But I still said the price was to high :rotfl2: and Got him to split the difference. :teeth:

Great job T.

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:
Here is the photo (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=14921449&postcount=95) of me doing little teapot..
Jenn and I sat in the back of the room furthest away!
Professor decide to pick that person!

[winotracy]

Steerage Bar = Leslie and Elaine's room. Complete with a blender! A lot cheaper to drink there :lmao:

The Steerage Bar got its name because Leslie commented that they were in steerage because their cabin was on Deck 2. So the "bar" was named the Steerage Bar. It was fun to see the looks on the CMs faces when we said we were going to the Steerage Bar :teeth:

[DenverVal]

Thanks for sharing this, more please!

Peter, the ring is beautiful! No wonder Jenn is excited :banana:

Tracy, you got another tag from the tag fairy?? Lucky you!

[winotracy]

Tracy, you got another tag from the tag fairy?? Lucky you!

Tonight I'll try to post more. Still got to write it :teeth:

Yes, I got another tag! There must have been a spy in the kid's club that day ;) My Mickey was pretty good, but not perfect...

[WeCantWait]

Where is the Steerage bar?





Thanks to Scott's stateroom host!!

http://www.bluenile.com/assets/product_images/rings/AB15300300_200zoom.jpg

This island had not seen a cruise ship in several month's
this guy was ready to Deal.
When he whipped out his little calculator, we thought he had made a mistake!
But I still said the price was to high :rotfl2: and Got him to split the difference. :teeth:

Great job T.

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:
Here is the photo (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=14921449&postcount=95) of me doing little teapot..
Jenn and I sat in the back of the room furthest away!
Professor decide to pick that person!

Wow! I have the same ring. It is my wedding band and I love it.

Loving the trip report Wino. We will be taking our first cruise 1/27.

[Hygiene99]

Thanks for sharing this, more please!

Peter, the ring is beautiful! No wonder Jenn is excited :banana:

Tracy, you got another tag from the tag fairy?? Lucky you!


TY DV....



I was Also excited, as we prchased a DVC add on of 150 SS Points.

Was an awesome Cruise!!

[winotracy]

Forgot to mention on Pirate Night Cheryl and Bob gave everyone at the table pirate goblets and we had Rosa Regale. We poured it in the hall so we wouldn't get charged for the corkage.

It's our last day at sea. I did wake up early so I got the laundry going. Then I started on the MouseAdventure. I went to Route 66 and started there. I wasn't sure about a couple answers but I guessed and I thought I figured it out. Then I went to find the rooms for the quiz. I ran into Bob (bobandlee) on Deck 2 and told him I was having a hard time figuring out where the clue was. He pulled the goofy magnet off the door and there it was! on the back of the magnet! I continued on with the hunt. After Deck 2, it took me to Deck 5 and Scott and Lynn's room. I wrote down the information (I needed to get my Mini Navigator to figure the answer) and started to leave. Just then, Scott and Lynn came out of their room. Scott immdiately searched his fish extender and door, trying to find out what I did. He then asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was working on the scavenger hunt and it took me to his room. We then discussed forming a team. We went and sat outside of the Buena Vista Theatre and went over our answers. Scott asked me if I knew who his Secret Mickey was and I lied. Later I acted dumbfounded and said "You think I'm your Secret Mickey, don't you? That's why you were acting so strange when you saw me outside your room". I don't know if he bought it.

The scavenger hunt was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! It took us all over the ship. We walked the halls looking for specific fish entenders. In between tasks I finished up my laundry. When Bill woke up, he joined us in Beach Blanket for breakfast. The hardest part was the paragraph that we had to decipher, but eventually, we figured out the pattern and in no time had the answer. The only question we had trouble with was the Route 66 question. So we all headed back down there and were working on it. I'm sure the Wonder crew had never seen so many people on Route 66 so early in the day! Just (seemingly) aimlessly walking back and forth! Captain Henry came out at one time and we stopped to chat with him. I should say, this was not unusual. We saw him all over the ship at least once a day. Once we figured out our answers, we were ready to turn it in. I said I'd take it to the drop off spot and checked my watch. It was already 11:30!!! We took our stuff back tot he room and then went to Parrot Cay for the DIS farewell luncheon. We talked to Stephen and explained that we turned in our answers and told him what we got on Route 66. He said it was wrong. I explained that the houseboat question was confusing because it asked for number of dolphins ON the houseboat and there weren't any on the houseboat, they were just in the picture. The MouseAdventure crew re-evaluated the questions and ended up giving credit for either answer. At the end of lunch we found out that Bev's daughter Lindsey was celebrating her 19th birthday so I talked to the head server and had him get a cake for her. All the DISers at lunch sang happy birthday to Lindsey.

After lunch was supposed to be the Secret Mickey reveal, but it got changed to 4:00 because of Ducky's presentation. I went to the pool instead. Bill joined Bob, Bob, Scott and Neal for more cigars and Scotch (the bourbon was gone by the time he got there LOL). The pianist for Susan Egan ended up joining the guys for a while. Captain Henry even stopped by and Bob (Webray) gave him a cigar. He turned down the offer of Scotch! I sat in the pool with Cheryl, Jenn, Linda and Peter and Adrienne and Tony stopped by to say hello. Before we knew it, it was time to change and get down to the reveal!! We all met in the Promenade Lounge. Scott and Lynn came too. Gail said she would pick someone and they would say who they are and then their Secret Mickey would say who they were. Then that persons Secret Mickey would reveal themself. She picked Laura first and I said "so we just say who we are if we are the Secret Mickey?" and Gail said yes so I said "Hi Laura!". She had figured it was probably me with my last gift. I was going to give it at the reveal, but decided not to. I gave her a little book on wine tasting since she said she didn't like wine but probably because she didn't know much about it. My Secret Mickey was Carol (Scrappy910). She did a great job!!! I got an inital bar of soap, Mickey soap, a journal and notepads with a Mickey pen, notepads saying "from the desk of Tracy", character clips, socks, wristbands and a towel... am I forgetting anything?

After everyone was done, Scott said they got gifts but didn't know who their Secret Mickey was and they weren't in the game. Peter revealed himself and we all confessed to our roles!! It was really funny! After the party, I sat and talked with Bob and Lee for a while, getting to know them a bit better. Finally we had to go because it was formal night and we needed to get ready. I met Bill back in the room and cleaned up. We were late for Disney Dreams, but that's ok, we didn't miss much. After the show, we went to Pub Quest. Tonight's event was cup stacking. Cheryl and I did the challenge and made it to the finals. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough in the finals and we lost.

After Pub Quest, we went to dinner at Animator's Palate. Tonight was Mickey Mouse Club night. We got pins that said Mickey Mouse Club and also said 11 night Southern Caribbean on them. After dinner we went to change and call it a night. Our towel animal was a puppy, so I put him on the floor in a corner. He looked so cute and stayed there until Wednesday night. I started to do a little packing. Mostly the gifts from the fish extender and stuff in the desk that I wouldn't use. As I was about to get into bed I noticed a piece of paper under our door. It was a certificate saying WE WON THE MOUSEADVENTURE!!!!!

[winotracy]

We woke up early and the sun was coming up. We were slowing down and figured we were close to Castaway Cay so we went up to Deck 10. As I rounded the corner and we saw an island in the distance, I said "Where is Scott with his GPS when you need him?". Just then, Scott came around the corner, GPS in hand! He confirmed that was Castaway Cay. It was interesting to see the island for the second time in a couple weeks and this time from the usual angle! We took many pictures of the sunrise and soon Lynn caught up with us. We moved to the front of the ship and watched as Castaway Cay became closer. After we docked, we met up with Peter and Jenn and had some breakfast then headed out to the island!

We stopped at Gil's to rent fins. Jenn and Peter got all their snorkeling equipment there. Then we hopped on the tram and went to Serenity Beach. Jenn decided to walk. We found Scott and Lynn and sat at the first bunch of chairs. We swam for a little bit with Lynn and then sat for a while in the sun. Jenn got to the beach and was going to walk down to the end. I said I would walk part way with her. I walked all the way to the end of where the chairs were and back. Jenn went all the way to the end. When I got back to the chairs, I was getting my snorkeling gear ready and noticed that one of the fins had a tear in the back. I didn't want to go all the way back to Gil's. Linda mentioned to go to the rental place by the adult beach. They don't have fins, but they could get it for me. I walked over there and the CM noticed what was wrong on my way there. I told her I needed a new one within an hour because we were going out as a group. She asked where I was on the beach and said she'd bring it to me. A little while later, she stopped over and said that another pair should be here shortly.

Once we were all ready, we got in the water with our gear and being led by Scott and followed on the back by Lynn, we swam two by two out to find the shipwreck. Scott had it on GPS. We were close to high tide when we left. The wreck was .534 miles from shore. That's why Bill and I got fins. We all did pretty good until we got past the bouys and breakwater, then the current started getting stronger. I was watching the bottom of the ocean and at times we didn't move, even though we were paddling hard. We kept drifting further away. Finally, Scott was getting close, about .1 mile away when a CM on a waverunner came and told us to get back in. The problem with this is that he stayed there to make sure we went back in. He would shut off his waverunner and then start it up. I would stop swimming to see if there was something coming close to me only to find it was him. He actually made it harder to get in. He waited until we were well within the buoys before leaving. Even after we got back in the buoys, it was still hard to swim. So unfortunately, we did not see the wreck. But it was a lot of fun!

We had checked the Navigator in the morning and there was two for one drinks at the Conched Out Bar from 1-2 so our goal was to be back by then. We were hungry so we ate at the adult beach. They had many more choices than usual there. Rotisserie chicken!! BBQ Ribs!! Steak sandwiches, Mahi mahi steaks, burgers, hot dogs. And a more permanent salad bar. It also looks like they cleared more area for more benches there. Hopefully they will put some sort of structure there for seating like they have at Cookies. It gets pretty hot in the sun there eating. But the improvements so far are great! We had heard the only difference between Cookies and this place (at least this week) was that Cookies had Garlic Bread. So we hopped the tram and went to Cookies. Let me tell you, the garlic bread was not worth it. It was flat bread with a little garlic on it. Not worth the special trip. But the good news was that it was still before 2:00!! So we each got two drinks and sat down to drink for a bit. Peter and Jenn went to the family beach. We saw Michelle and she said they expected more people to eat at the adult beach, but that didn't happen. That's why they had so many choices there this week.

Bill and I did a little shopping and then we went back to the ship. I always look at the schedule and think why can't we spend more time at Castaway Cay, but only once have I been rushing back at the last minute. We are usually so exhausted we are glad to go back. We love the island, but it wears us out LOL!! We continued packing when we got back. I realized that since one of our bags ripped we wouldn't have enough space so I needed another bag. I went to the shops as soon as we were underway and picked up a piece of luggage and a couple other things. We went back to our cabin and finished packing. The only thing left to do was to put our dinner clothes in the luggage after dinner. We decided to skip the show. We went to Pub Quest early and turned in our points. We posed for pictures with Rich. He just goofed around so we ended up taking 4-5 pictures. Once Pub Quest started we found the final event to be weird! Rich drew a squiggle line on the paper and we had to make it into something in 5 or 10 minutes. He collected all our points and then said the winners would be announced at 10:45 at the Pub Night. None of our team were late night people so this would be interesting.

Dinner was in Parrot Cay. We handed out tips and watched the servers parade around the room to "It's a Small World". After dinner we went back to our room and changed into the clothes we were going to wear the next day, then put the rest of our stuff in the luggage, tagged it and went to put it out in the hall. Here again was a reason we were glad to be across from the crew elevator area. We opened our door and propped it open with one of the pieces of luggage while we got the rest. A CM came over and took all of our luggage right away and put it in the room by the elevators rather than out in the hall. We then rushed down to Diversions.

The room was packed!! We got a seat by Bob and Cheryl kind of in back. After a few skits and discussions, Landlord Rich got up and talked about Pub Quest. He explained what it was all about and said how much fun this cruise was with everyone. Then he called out the third place team, who's name escapes me. Then they called out the second place team, the Philly Peppers - This was Julie's (Chessa) team. And first place was the Cheese Curds!!! Yes that was our team, Tracy, Bill, Bob and Cheryl! We won laptop bags. This was really cool! Of course, to end Pub Night the cruise staff did the skit, If I Were Not Upon the Sea! Rich was the undertaker and Hollywood was the ballerina! We again were laughing so hard! After Pub Night was over, we said goodbye to Rich. We promised him we would send him pictures and keep in touch.

We went into the Atrium and found Stephen and Vicki. We collected some of the pixie dust in the Atrium. Stephen asked jokingly if he could have one of the laptop bags so I gave him one! We didn't need two (my laptop wouldn't fit in it) so why not?! We then called it a night and went to bed.

[winotracy]

We got up early again, but this was actually because we left the curtains open and we arrived at port. The lights from port came in the window and woke me up. We ended up getting up shortly after that. We got dressed and ready to leave the cabin. I went up on deck and got a Diet Coke and some coffee for Bill. Once we were all ready to go, we went down to Deck 3 and checked e-mail one last time. Once I was done, I let Bill check his since there was still about 60 minutes left on the package. I saw Marsha and Tommy and stopped to chat with them. Soon it was time to go into breakfast. Table 23 had it's last meal together. After breakfast we said goodbye to our servers and our friends that we wouldn't see at WDW. We hugged and then left. We pretty much walked off the ship. We again found Michael in the terminal and he helped with our luggage. Soon we were waiting on the curb for Avis to come get us. We saw Celeste and Robb and Noah and said goodbye to them.

Some general observations of the two cruises:

Captain Henry was great!! He was out and about on the ship many times over the course of the cruise.

I really liked the Beach Blanket Buffet and I thought the Quiet Cove pool were nicer on the Wonder. Other than that, I liked the Magic better. I liked that in Topsiders they alternate Oatmeal, Grits and Cream of Wheat. I forgot to mention I really like Cream of Wheat and they never had it in BBB. I mentioned this to Michele our head server and the next time she was in BBB when I was there, she got some for me! She had to go to Tritons to get it. Apparently in BBB they only have Oatmeal and Grits.

It was nice seeing familiar officers on the Wonder. I did not like Palo as well on the Wonder. Most of that has to do with familiarity.

Would I go on the Wonder again? Yes, if they had longer cruises again or if I had a specific purpose. I don't think I would plan to go on a three or four night cruise though for a vacation.

I am glad we did the 7 day before the 11 day, mainly because we knew many of the people we were cruising with while with the 7 day the DISer group really wasn't active so we thought we would just be taking it easy. I think going on the 7 night first made the time so much slower. After 11 days, I don't know if I would have been as excited to do a 7 day. This way I had a great time on both cruises!

[winotracy]

After we got the car, we drove to Celebration. This was Bill and my first visit there. What a nice community! We were going to look at model homes, but they didn't have any to look at, just condos. We drove by Disney Cruise Lines and joked about stopping in to let them know what we thought about the cruise.

We left Celebration and went to check in to the Beach Club. Peter and Jenn put us up in a studio there. Our rooms were not ready so we dropped off our luggage and took the bus over to Animal Kingdom. We wanted to ride on Expedition Everest. We also went on the safari and got the stamp I needed for VMK. We stopped and had some lunch and then went back to the Beach Club. I didn't bring the right luggage in and Bill did not have a swimsuit. He opted to take a nap and I went to the pool with Peter and Jenn. We swam and sat in the hot tub for a while. We ordered a drink and the server was from MA! He picked on me because I ordered one for Bill. He was wondering if Bill was just my imaginary friend.

After our swim, we went to see Kim and Bette (Bettemom) in their new home. We had spaghetti for dinner there and took a walk around the neighborhood. Then we went over to Leslie's Mouse House to pick up some of my stuff. We walked over to the nearby pond to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Soon after that, we went back to the Beach Club for the night.

The next morning we needed to get up early and head over to Sarasota Springs because Peter and Jenn needed to sign their new DVC contract. We went with them so that we could all go to Magic Kingdom together. We waited while they were in signing papers. I think we made the DVC people nervous because everyone kept coming to see if we were ok. After they were done, we got a ride to Magic Kingdom, armed with VIP fastpasses. We went to VMK Central and got our in park quests. We then went to Pirates, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion and then had some lunch. After lunch we did a little shopping and headed out to the monorail.

I mentioned to Peter that it would be cool to ride up in front. He asked and we got to!! It was so cool to ride in the front of the monorail! I took some cool pictures of the rail as we approached it. We all got co-pilot licenses after we got out at Epcot.

We tried to go to Turtle Talk with Crush, but the line was too long so we skipped it. After walking around a bit, Bill and Peter decided to go on Test Track. Jenn and I went to the Food & Wine Headquarters to shop. We ran into Marsha, Regina, Tom and Gary. We chatted with them for a bit and then went to find the guys. We started to walk around the world and stopped in Mexico for a margarita. The lines that we thought about going in were too long and by the time we got to the International Gateway, we were torn -- go on to Greece for dessert wine or go back to the Beach Club and go to pool. The pool won out because it was so hot!

We went and swam and then floated around the lazy river. We ordered another drink, this time our server could see Bill and know he wasn't my imaginary friend LOL. After our swim, we got ready for dinner. We had PS at Artist Point in Wilderness Lodge. We drove over there because we needed to be back by 8:00. Dinner was pretty good -- the sauces were good and everything else, but my steak was overdone. It wasn't horrible, but it could have been so much better. Still we had a great time!

After dinner we left the guys to pay the bill and Jenn and I checked out the gift shop. We got the car and while I was waiting for Jenn to get Peter and Bill, we ran into Regina, Marsha, Gary and Tom again :goodvibes

We all drove back over to the Beach Club. When we got there, we went and got the wine, champagne, glasses and snacks and went out to the dock to meet Marsha, Regina, Gary and Tom. We were joining them for an Illuminations Cruise in honor of Gary's birthday! This was our first cruise and while it was not as nice as the three previous weeks ships :lmao: it was a lot of fun!! We had Captain Ron for our sailing. He was very funny and made the cruise even more enjoyable. The fireworks from the boat were so cool!! That was a great way to see them! After the cruise we just sat in the Beach Club lobby and talked for a long time. Finally it was time to call it a night so we said our goodbyes.

The next morning we walked over to the Boardwalk Bakery and then headed out to the airport. It was a very long day and we were both so exhausted by the time we got home that we were in bed by 8:00!

This was a fabulous vacation!! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Was I ready to come home? Definitely! We missed our family and our parakeet Carson. Now that we're home for a couple weeks, we can't wait to go again!

Can't wait to see Bob and Cheryl in no time!

[DenverVal]

Thanks Tracy! It was nice to read about your sunny warm looooooong vacation - distracted me from the three inches of snow that fell today!

[seaulater]

Great trip report Tracy!

I got teary eyed reading about the "rainbow". I saw that rainbow and think we might have gotten a picture.

On the snorkeling on CC with Scott and Lynn I have dubbed it "the snorkeling to nowhere" trip!

Now, we just need to do a reunion cruise!

[curlybop]

Thanks so much for taking time to write out such a detailed report! I have really enjoyed reading all about your cruises. :)

[Disney Sweetie]

Loved the report Tracy.....Brought back many happy memories of my 1st cruise ever....the best 11 nights I have had on a vacation in a long time. Hope we can meet up with everyone again for another fun filled cruise!!!!

Pam

[mississaugamom]

Thanks for the rest of the report, Tracy! :goodvibes

Congrats on winning the Scavenger Hunt AND Pub Quest! :banana: :cheer2: :banana:

Arlene

[winotracy]

Thanks Arlene.

I almost forgot to add that on our third day at sea on the 11 night cruise, we saw a huge pod of dolphins!! There had to be a dozen or more. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me :(