June 19 - 22 Wonder Cruise! FI's birthday and first cruise!!!!!

[Brena]

Pre-Trip Report

I've been reading through all the trip reports here and they've really helped me out in planning our 3 day Wonder cruise in June. I figured that I'd repay the favor!!!!

THE CAST

Me (28) - always been a Disney fan, but my obsession is increasing since I joined the DIS! Princesses are my favorite and I've grown up to be one. I love to plan and organize, for a day job I'm a software project manager.

FI (24) - my fiance' will be turning 25 on June 19th, the day we set sail on the Wonder! He doesn't like crowds so we'll be trying to find a quiet place to enjoy the parties. This is his first cruise.

Together - we're both very silly and goofy. Both of us are a little ADHD and OCD (his vice is cleanliness, mine is overplanning with a side of anxiety). We're both engineers and don't live very far from Disney!

TRIP HISTORY

My 28th birthday was in the beginning of May and we took an amazing trip to Savannah, GA. I really wanted to do something special for FI's birthday in June. As I mentioned, I'm a princess so I LOVE a day that celebrates me and I wanted him to have the same thing. However, FI doesn't really want a big birthday celebration. But in the car one day I spontaneously said "Do you want to go on a cruise for your birthday?" FI surprised me by saying that he wants to go on a Disney cruise, his parents have taken a few and they love it. Of course I agree and find a 3 day Wonder cruise to the Bahamas that leaves on his birthday. Perfect!!!!!!!!

PLANNING

I found the DIS while reading another cruise review forum and I've never gone back! I love love love everyone's trip reports and they've inspired us to go to WDW more than usual. The last adventure was to Beaches and Cream to get a No Way Jose' that I'd seen in a food review!

Since it's FI's birthday I ordered the birthday package for our room. I'm excited to see the look on his face when we enter our room. I've also put together my own cruise gift basket for him that includes swim trunks, shorts, swim sandals, sunscreen, Dramamine, and stateroom entertainment!

FI's parents have taken a couple of Disney cruises before so they will be taking us to the port and picking us up. I'm not really sure what time we should be picked up but his parents may have a better idea. I need to make his dad's favorite banana bread this weekend and pick up a GC as a thank you for being our transportation. They'll also be watching our two cats!

DIS MEET

I found the thread for our cruise and we're planning on a short meet and a fish extender exchange! We'll probably head to downtown Disney this weekend (I'm thinking Sunday afternoon so that we can have lunch at Earl of Sandwich) and get some small gifts. I'd also like to find a pair of Pirate Mickey ears for the Pirate Party.

Only 6 days until we set sail!!!!!!!!!! :cool1:

[ears4all!]

Awesome.....sooooo excited for you. We are going on our first cruise this October. You will have a blast.

[CapnJackGroupie]

:goodvibes You'll have to tell us all about your cruise. So excited for you!!!

[wilma-bride]

Sounds great - I hope you have a brilliant time and your fiance has a great Birthday on board the Disney Wonder :)

[Brena]

Awesome.....sooooo excited for you. We are going on our first cruise this October. You will have a blast.

:goodvibes You'll have to tell us all about your cruise. So excited for you!!!

Sounds great - I hope you have a brilliant time and your fiance has a great Birthday on board the Disney Wonder :)

Thanks everyone! We're soooo excited. Now we're into counting hours instead of days! Less than 68 hours until we're on our way to Port Canaveral! :yay:

So, I think I may have just had a brilliant idea. I'm hoping it's brilliant anyways.

Last night FI's parents asked me to bring them back a picture of us on formal night. We are not having have formal engagement pictures taken and they would like to have more pictures of us around the house. Now I think that FI and I should really get dressed up for Formal night and use the cruise pics as our engagement pictures! Maybe I could even get my hair done on board. I'll ask FI's mother to bring over his suit along with the suitcase she's going to loan us this afternoon (he hates the suit so much that it still resides at his parent's house).

Can anyone give me a ballpark price of what the pictures run? I'd like to be prepared so that I can hide my "sticker shock" face!!!!

Also, does anyone know if the ship offers special spa prices towards the end of the cruise?

[ears4all!]

That's a great idea. :)

And with the prices......I have no clue, since I am going on our first cruise this October. (Note to self: Need to start a pre-trip report soon):cool1:

Not much longer........:banana:

[ears4all!]

Tomorrow's the big day!

[CapnJackGroupie]

:goodvibes Hope you both have a WONDERful cruise!!! Tell us all about it when you get back!

[Brena]

The morning of embarkation we had a small birthday breakfast for FI, and finished packing our suitcases (presents and toiletries). FI's parents drove us to Port Canaveral. They have been on 3 DCL cruises before so they gave us tips and told stories of their trips. Only 40 minutes in the car and then we got our first glance at the Disney Wonder! FI was having the best birthday ever!!!!

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FI and his birthday doughnut

The parents dropped us off in front of the terminal and took several
pictures of us. Then they left and we were on our own! We entered the terminal, quickly got through the bag x-rays, and rode the escalator to the check-in area. We had arrived at the cruise terminal around 12:45 and there weren't any lines. We were ushered to the first check-in desk and handed
over our birth certificates and license. FI was worried about my birth certificate (it's a sealed copy from 1987 so the seal is kinda worn down) but our CM barely glanced at it. She was having issues with checking us in. She called another CM over. I started worrying... would they let us on the boat???

Turns out the CM was confused by the computer. It kept telling her to wish FI a happy birthday. She didn't understand why... until the other CM pointed out that TODAY was June 19th! So they wished FI a happy birthday, printed out our KTTW cards, and wished us bon voyage. :cool1:

We stopped at the cruise model in the check-in lobby and FI took a couple of pics. They're on FI's camera or else I'd show them to you. Then we passed through the ears and had our embarkation pictures taken. They turned out to be the best of the cruise I thought, but we didn't purchase them. I had a strict photo allowance and both our parents wanted formal night pictures.

They announced our family name and we passed into the lobby. It's so beautiful!!!!! I love the Chihuly glass sculpture and the doors to Triton.

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The crew started guiding us towards Parrot Cay and Beach Blanket Buffet. I knew that I wanted to eat in Parrot Cay and not at Beach Blanket so when the CM who was in front of Parrot Cay guided us towards the elevator I asked if we could eat in Parrot Cay instead. She said "Oh yeah, sure!" which was kind of funny because 2 seconds before she had said "You must go up the elevators to Deck 9 for lunch".

We sanitized our hands (I want to put handiwipes at strategic locations in the house now) and walked into Parrot Cay. It was so tropical and vacation feeling. We were practically jumping up and down. WE WERE ON VACATION!!!!!!!!!! We were on the boat!!!! My shady birth certificate had held up to not-so-scrutinizing scrutiny!!!!!! :rotfl2:

The peel and eat shrimp were really yummy and we tried rice and pasta salads and potatoes and deserts as well. Everything was delicious. Our service was fantastic. FI cleared his plate well.

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We had also grabbed a Navigator from guest services and highlighted the activities that we wanted to do that day. They included attending the ship tour, Sail Away, The Golden Mickeys, and National Treasure 2.

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We finished lunch right around 1:30 PM so we headed off to find our stateroom, #6521. I had read a review on allearsnet that suggested that our stateroom would be noisy. This was not the case for us. We only heard fellow cruisers that were running and yelling in the hallway and I don't think that was due to our room. We sleep heavily and didn't mind any of the noises.

When we arrived at our stateroom we noticed that our luggage was already there! Perfect! FI openned the door to find a little birthday surprise... I had ordered a cake and decorations. We shared a mushy moment :hug: and then dragged our bags inside. I unpacked while FI played with a new birthday present (I was determined that he do as little as possible on his birthday!).

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We booked our cruise in late April and in May I discovered the DIS boards. I researched and read threads and made lists and tried to plan the best vacations ever. However there were a few tips from the DIS boards that I did not use and I really should have. One of those was

TAKE AN OVER THE DOOR SHOE HOLDER FOR TOILETRIES

I thought that the holder would not be useful since there were only 2 of us for 3 nights. However it would've been used greatly. We were always searching for sunscreen, toothbrushes, and medications.

I finished quickly and we explored the ship a bit on our own. It was very windy!!!!!

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We then headed to meet for the ship tour. I don't recommend this tour. We basically just walked around the decks while a CM pointed out what we were passing. I guess I was hoping for more of a galley tour. Or at least some fun facts about the ship. But nada... :(

We arrived at our stateroom in time to don our life jackets and snap a picture. You'll see lots of self-taken couple pictures from us. We've gotten pretty decent at it.

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The muster drill went quickly. We were at the deck 4, E station. Man, they can crowd a lot of people on that deck!!!!! FI said that he'll just eat so much he'll get bloated and then I can use him as a flotation device. :lmao:

After the drill we headed up to Deck 10 to glimpse at the Sail Away party. It was crazy!!!!!!!!

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We grabbed me a drink of the day (Bahama Mama) from Signals and settled down on deck 10 to watch the sail. The "When You Wish Upon a Star" horn sounded and man is it loud!!!! And awesome. Unfortunately we did not settle down on the side of the Wonder that faced Jetty Park. The parents had gone to eat at Dixie Crossroads and then to Jetty Park to watch us sail off. Maybe it's best that we didn't see them as I might have started crying. They do so much more for me than anyone I know (excluding FI of course!).

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Next up: The Golden Mickeys and we meet our tablemates!!!!!

[okwminnie]

Great report and love the pics! Cant wait for the next installment!popcorn::

[MouseLovinMom]

Enjoying your report. Sounds like a great trip! Do you have any Navigators that you could post? Thanks!

[MagicMe]

Enjoying your report! It's always so much fun to read a newbie report!!!! Getting a fresh take on the cruise is interesting! Can't wait to read the rest.

[RLccweems]

I'm really enjoying your TR and pics! I can't wait to hear more....:listen:

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Great first day! Keep writing.

[frdeb1999]

Great TR so far!! Can't wait to hear the rest!! :)

[disneychic]

Great Trip Report so far! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post Navigators for us ;)

[Trishde]

By any chance do you know who did Bingo, who was the cruise director & was Millie at the bar in the Promenade lounge.
Brent the cruise director and Leslie the Bingo Queen followed us last year from the Wonder to the Magic and we wondered if they were back on the Wonder.
How much fun did you have? July 13th will be cruise #4 since 2006.
We are so hooked!!
Can't wait to read more of your trip report!!

[Brena]

Unfortunatly I left our navigators back in our room (all neatly packaged in a manilla envelope to go home with me) so I can't share them. :( But if you have any questions about what was going on I may be able to answer them.

By any chance do you know who did Bingo, who was the cruise director & was Millie at the bar in the Promenade lounge.
Brent the cruise director and Leslie the Bingo Queen followed us last year from the Wonder to the Magic and we wondered if they were back on the Wonder.
How much fun did you have? July 13th will be cruise #4 since 2006.
We are so hooked!!
Can't wait to read more of your trip report!!

We had an amazing amount of fun! The 3 day was way too short for us because we didn't have enough time to cram in everything that I wanted to do, including Bingo. We did have a drink in the Promenade lounge but we had a male server. Our cruise director was Clayton, he was fantastic and did a funny dance that is reminiscent of Carlton on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air! :banana:

[Brena]

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We enjoyed being on deck while leaving Port Canaveral, but definitely wanted to make the Golden Mickeys. We got there about 10 minutes before the show started and got fantastic seats (I'm sure this had something to do with our only-2 seat requirement). The show was wonderful and the perfect amount of time. I love villains so I had a very good time cheering for all the bad guys! I think that villains are just misunderstood...

Afterwards we went to Treasures Ketch and Mickey's Mates but they were very very crowded of course. So we just bummed around the ship and took pictures until our dining time. Our rotation was PTA so we were in Parrot Cay that night.

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I really like this picture because it looks like we're outside, but we're in the Promenade lounge in front of a porthole.

We were seated at an 8-top table near the back of the room. Our tablemates were 3 groups of 2: a couple from Michigan celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary, a couple from Yorkshire, and a mother and young daughter! Our dinner was off to a late start because the mother and daughter did not speak English so our servers had to find a CM who spoke Spanish. Our server was Donovan and our assistant server was Alvan. Donovan was very robotic and unpersonable. Alvan was much more personable and did tricks and joked a lot. I don't think that I saw Donovan smile once.

We loved talking to our tablemates from the UK we learned so much from them and they were very funny. We saw them throughout the cruise and at one point it seemed like they were following us. :rotfl:

I wish that one of us had spoken Spanish so that our other tablemates could've felt more included. What happened to FI's years of high school Spanish? All he can remember is "My father is green." which doesn't even make any sense! We tried to communicate through body language and I think we did a pretty good job.

I started out with the Island Jerk Conch and Tuna Ceviche. It was ok, a little more citrusy than I expected it to be. FI got the Chicken, cheese and corn fritters (or something like that) and they were delicious! I also had the cold cream of mango and papaya soup and it was absolutely delicious! I should've ordered seconds! And then one to go with me to my room!!!!

For the main course we both had the Island Roasted Rib-Eye of Beef. It was cooked perfectly to order and had fried onion strings with it. Yummy!!!! And the rib-eye was huge! :thumbsup2

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For dessert I had French Toast Banana Bread Pudding which was superb and FI got the Ice Cream Sundae which he quickly demolished.

We bid farewell to our table mates and headed back to our room for a bit. We wanted to see National Treasure 2 but we were both exhausted. We decided to get some drinks from Cove Cafe' (Italian Cocoa was yummy and sleep inducing) and grabbed some goodies from a table in front of Cadillac lounge (fruit and chocolate covered strawberries). We fell asleep full and content, ready to be in the Bahamas!!!!!!!!

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Next Up: Nassau, Atlantis, and seasickness

[disneyfan551]

Looking forward to more!! Thanks for sharing with us!! :goodvibes

[kvaday]

Love your TR so far! Sounds like you had an amazing first day. Cant wait to read more!:thumbsup2 popcorn::

[Brena]

I woke up around 7:30 am and showered and straightened the stateroom before waking FI up. We were in the Bahamas!!!! This is FI's first time out of the country so we kinda made a big deal about it. FI quickly showered and dressed and we headed to Triton's for breakfast. We each got a small fruit plate FI got the Little Mermaid's Morning which is two Belgian waffles stuffed with dulce de leche and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. He said that it was good, but he wished there was less dulce de leche. I got a mushroom and cheese omelet with bacon and a hash brown. Everything was good.

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While we were eating breakfast we heard the announcement that the Wonder had docked in Nassau and that we were free to leave the boat. We stopped by our room for quick sunscreen spray and then we headed down to deck 1 to disembark. We were parked next to a Carnival ship and there were people everywhere! We headed down the pier and saw a postcard-like photo op.

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We offered to take another couple's picture in exchange for them taking ours. This worked well throughout our trip.

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After taking the pictures we headed off towards the entrance to the city. They cleverly (and annoyingly) guide you into a building that you are forced to walk through to enter the city. I'm not sure if it's like that at all of the cruise destinations. Like I said, FI has never been out of the USA before so he was very shocked by the amount of people trying to get our attention to get my hair braided, rent a scooter, get a taxi, etc. I do wish that we would've taken a horse-drawn carriage ride through the streets, but after FI's reaction to Nassau it may have been for the best.

We set out in search of souvenir. I thought that the Queen's staircase was much closer than it is and tried to find it. I realized that FI was not having fun. He was very nervous and it was a complete shock to him. Seeing how uncomfortable he was (and it was very hot!) I quickly found the Del Sol store where I had wanted to buy my cousin a color-changing bracelet. It was really really cool and something I think a teenage girl will love.

After I bought the bracelet I asked FI if he wanted to keep shopping or go back to the ship? FI said "whatever you want." but I could tell that he wanted to go back to the ship. And I really didn't have much more shopping to do. So I said "Let's go back to the ship."

Now is a good as time as any to mention that we really really really really enjoyed the ship. More than either the Bahamas port or Castaway Cay. Blasphemy, I know!!!! The reason I think that we prefer the ship to Castaway Cay is because currently live 45 minutes from the beach and I grew up in a beach town. The ship was a novelty. Castaway Cay is pretty cool though. I think that if the weather was cooler than we would've enjoyed it more.

Back on the ship we went up to Deck 9. We hadn't checked out the Goofy pool area until now because it had been really crowded and the adult areas were more pleasant for us. After seeing all of deck 9 we went to the spa to make an appointment for a "pampering package" for me at 4:30.

We headed back to Tritons for lunch and had the most fantastic time. This is the experience I chose to write about on my DCL comment card. We were seated at a table with Agus as our server. Agus was super awesome. He was funny and seemed very interested in our day and our plans. The restaurant was very empty so we had his undivided attention. He offered to take our picture and teased me about taking pictures of our food.

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FI had chips and dips for a starter and half a roasted chicken for lunch. He loved the roasted chicken. I had the mushroom risotto which was really good, but I could only eat a little bit of it. I had a delicious Key Lime pie for desert and FI had his favorite desert of the trip, a pear-pineapple cobbler.

We stopped and I took a picture with Ariel in the atrium. Then we were off for a quick bathroom break and then on to Wavebands for our Discover Atlantis excursion. On the way to Wavebands FI told me that Agus was what he had pictured as the serving staff. I told him that Agus is what DCL strives for. I don't mean to give the impression that Donovan and Alvan did not do a good job serving us. Everything was timely and well prepared. We were never thirsty. It was on par (and sometimes above) with the service we get in really nice restaurants. But there was not a lot of fun or "magic" from our servers.

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We checked in at Wavebands and waited for the excursion preperations to begin. We were ready to discover Atlantis!!!!!!!!

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[Our2Girls&Disney]

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Mmmmmm that looks so good. Ok newbie here, what is wavebands?

[Brena]

Mmmmmm that looks so good. Ok newbie here, what is wavebands?

Wavebands is a nightclub on Route 66, which is adult-only after 9 pm. But until them I do believe they have family stuff and it's one of the meeting places for excursions.

[Brena]

Sorry about the break... wedding planning got in the way! :bride:

Ok... so we have just gotten to Wavebands. There are about 20 other people waiting in the room. Just as the clock struck 1:15 pm (the time on our excursion tickets) they told us to start queuing up for an Atlantis bracelet and a goofy sticker so that we could enter the Atlantis aquarium and they would know that we were with Disney.

After everyone was braceleted and stickered we followed our excursion coordinator down to the 1st deck and disembarked the boat. He then led us through the "Welcome to Nassau" craft building (but not through the shopping area, they opened a door for us!) and onto a bus. Our bus driver took us through a quick tour of the island. We had thought about booking the Island Tour when we first made our reservations but I'm glad we didn't. I'm pretty sure that this was the same thing.

We arrived at Atlantis safe and sound and eager to see sealife! They broke the bus into 2 tour groups. Our guide (it's an Atlantis guide, not a Disney guide) led us through the Atlantis mall and into the Atlantis casino. We got some pretty cool Chiluly glass sculpture pictures.

Here are some pictures of Atlantis ceiling...

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We were then led into the aquarium! It was a really neat experience, especially if you ignore their "atlantis was discovered here" story. I do wish that we would have gone through on our own however, because going with a group was a lot of waiting on everyone to be able to take pictures. We saw several sea tanks that included:

huge manta rays!

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creepy spiny lobsters

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huge grouper fish (not the kind we eat!)

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exotic jellyfish

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eels

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The tour was a bit longer than we would've liked so we ended up skipping out early. Besides, I had a spa appointment to make!

We left Atlantis to find a Disney bus just waiting for us outside the door! It was full pretty quickly and we headed back to the ship. We were fascinated by the driving in Nassau. It was crazy!!! :scared: And I saw several toddlers without car seats. It's just not something I'm used to.

We dropped my camera off in the room, took some Dramamine, FI grabbed his DS and we headed up to deck 9. I had scheduled a pampering package that included a back massage, scalp massage, foot massage, a facial, an hour in the sauna and Rainforest room, and strawberries and champagne!

One of the spa assistants led me into the locker room where I changed out of my comfy spa dress into a thin white waffle robe. I was very uncomfortable because the robe was slightly see-through so I hurried to my spa room. It reminded me of a doctors office with the cabinets and a table to lay on. There was a window that looked onto deck 9, but the shades were down (thank goodness!) I was told to take off my robe and crawl underneath the cover on the table and lay on my tummy.

The back massage was heaven! I was asked if the pressure was comfortable for me a couple of times but it was just right! I love facials so that was a treat. It was nice to completely unwind. My appointment started at 4:30 and the ship started to leave port at 5. I could really feel the movement of the ship. FI said that he could see the land dipping above and below the window (I think he was right outside the spa). But I was laying down so I felt fine.

Before my spa treatment I was asked to fill out a survey and one of the questions was "what is your biggest problem area?". I was honest and said my tummy. After my spa treatment was done my massagist left to let me get re-robed and to grab a detox program that she swore would "change your life and make your tummy nice and firm". I became really quesy and had a horrible headache. She came back and I tried to be polite and stay through the sales pitch. However after a few minutes I was surprised when my body decided it was going to "detoxify" itself! :sick:

She was very sweet and practically carried me back to my clothes. They told me I could come back another time for my sauna hour and I headed to FI. As soon as he saw me he knew something was wrong. We headed straight to the room where I took a nap and unfortunately missed Toy Story. Next time I'll take dramamine every 24 hours! I thought that since we would be in port most of the time I'd be ok. Here we are looking pitiful.

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After my nap I felt loads better so we got dressed for dinner. Tonight was Triton's. We took a walk down to deck 4 and headed to Shutters to see how our pictures were turning out. Of course, on the way there we passed by the cruise reservation desk. FI said why don't we just see what the cost is of a 7-night cruise.

We sat down and spoke to the nicest, least pushy woman alive. She simply found a western cruise for the month that we wanted, wrote the price on a form with her extension number on it, and let us go.

We walked around deck 4 and did that awkward thing where you want to say "I WANT THIS!!!!!" but feel like you have to talk about the logical side of things because this is not just my decision. Eventually (2 minutes into the convo) we both blurted out with that we really really want to do another cruise and FI loves the cruise more than anything.

We returned to the reservation desk 5 minutes after we'd left it :laughing: and booked a 7-night Western for February 21, 2009!!!!!!!! And the best part is that even with the fuel surplus it only cost us $200 more than what we paid for our 3 night!!!!!!!!!!! We booked another catagory 11. I was now ok with missing Toy Story.

We were in fantastic moods. We had booked our next cruise at a phenominal rate and we kept seeing little ones dressed as pirates. pirate: Life couldn't get better.

Oh, but it could. It was time for dinner and then the Pirates in the Carribean party!!!!!!!!

Tritons is beautiful!!!!! I love the windows to the lobby. I had delicious escargot (FI tried it and denied it) and the mixed greens salad to start. FI had the tomato-basil soup and it was sooo good. For the main course I tried the Coquilles St. Jacques but it was too rich for me. I sent it back to the kitchen and got the lamb shank instead. It was delicious. FI got the plain sirloin. We both ended with creme brulee but couldn't finish it. It was yummy but we were too full.

We decided to head to Deck 10 to catch the fireworks.

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We sat on a bench located above the adult pool. It allowed for perfect fireworks watching. The adult area was very quiet and uncrowded. Especially compared to the party at the Goofy pool!

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We tried out the "fireworks" setting on my new camera. It worked out pretty well I think.

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I had been chatting with our fireworks neighbors and they mentioned that it was a full moon. Of course we had to go check it out. It would've been very romantic except for their were teenagers next to us throwing hot dogs at each other. :rolleyes:

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I still wasn't feeling my bestest so we decided to skip the buffet and order cookies from room service. We grabbed some Italian cocoas from the Cove Cafe' and went to our home. We found a monkey waiting for us!

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The cookies arrived quickly and were huge! We soon went to sleep after hanging a glow stick that had arrived in our fish extender on the bathroom door. I forgot to mention it, but the night before I had walked right past the bathroom and into the wall. And FI had stubbed his toe. The glow stick worked out great!

Tomorrow: Castaway Cay and more fish!!! And more seasickness and dehydration. We're a sorry bunch of travelers! :headache:

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Oh no, not sea sickness after the massage! Poor girl. I am very worried about that. I have never cruised before, but I went on a whale watch out at sea and someones personal boat when we were lobstering. I tossed my cookies both times and did not recover quickly. In fact I could not even eat the lobster or enjoy the whale watch. It is not pretty. Can't wait to hear about Castway Cay.

[HoosierFrog]

I love the pics at Atlantis. My DW and I are planning on doing the Discover Atlantis excurssion. Maybe we can just get there and make our own tour. I really just want to see it, but heard tickets at atlantis were now $35 for the Dig and with a $4 taxi ride both ways, you're best just going with the Disney Excurssion.

Can't wait to here about CC. Oh, and don't let wedding planning stress you out TOO much.

[Hollywoodhaha]

I love your photos!
Me & my sister are trying to convince my mom and dad to go on a 7 day next year and we almost have them convinced :D

[wilma-bride]

I am really enjoying your trip report - great pictures. So, would you recommend the Atlantis Aquarium excursion or not? Would my 5 year old be bored?

Looking forward to reading more and I hope you started to feel better. Good luck with the wedding planning :)

[Zoiebear]

It sounds awesome

[yazee1]

I am enjoying your report. I love TR's with pictures.

[natale1980]

Is your next cruise on the new ship?

-nat

[MandyMommytoReaghan]

Can't wait to hear more! Excellent TR so far. Loved the pics! :goodvibes

[Brena]

Oh no, not sea sickness after the massage! Poor girl. I am very worried about that. I have never cruised before, but I went on a whale watch out at sea and someones personal boat when we were lobstering. I tossed my cookies both times and did not recover quickly. In fact I could not even eat the lobster or enjoy the whale watch. It is not pretty. Can't wait to hear about Castway Cay.

I'm thinking that if I would've been vigilant about my Dramamine and kept hydrated that I may have been able to skip the seasickness!!!! FI's parents recommended that we go to the dr and get seasickness patches, they're supposed to work better.

[Brena]

I love the pics at Atlantis. My DW and I are planning on doing the Discover Atlantis excurssion. Maybe we can just get there and make our own tour. I really just want to see it, but heard tickets at atlantis were now $35 for the Dig and with a $4 taxi ride both ways, you're best just going with the Disney Excurssion.

Can't wait to here about CC. Oh, and don't let wedding planning stress you out TOO much.

I am really enjoying your trip report - great pictures. So, would you recommend the Atlantis Aquarium excursion or not? Would my 5 year old be bored?

Looking forward to reading more and I hope you started to feel better. Good luck with the wedding planning :)

I was a little worried about the Atlantis excursion but it was awesome! I don't think that your 5 year old will be bored because there are a lot of windows and a lot of fish activity. There's also a "touch tank" with starfish, sand dollars, sea slugs, etc. There were many kids in our Atlantis tour group and they only seemed bored when we had to wait for some of the group to use the bathroom.

Thanks for the wedding planning well wishes! So far it's been going really well. I have a great future mother-in-law. Today she accompanied us to a venue open house and gave me a binder that she decorated in my wedding colors. My FI's parents have been wonderful to us. :hug:

[Brena]

I am enjoying your report. I love TR's with pictures.

Me too! The TR's on this board really got us excited for our cruise.

[Brena]

Is your next cruise on the new ship?

-nat

I think that our next cruise is on the Magic. I'm so excited to see the new ships though. I also heard that they will be redesigning the cruise terminal for them!

[Brena]

Can't wait to hear more! Excellent TR so far. Loved the pics! :goodvibes

Ask and you shall receive!!!!!

We slept in a bit on our 3rd Day - Castaway Cay day!!!!!! We had another yummy breakfast in Tritons and then made our way down to Deck 1 so we could disembark the boat.

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The day was already hot so we decided to jump on the tram. Our goal was to take a look around Castaway Cay, buy a Christmas ornament, and find Marge's Barges so that we would know where to go at 1:30 for our glass-bottom boat tour. We went to She Sells Seashells Everything Else and got a cute Castaway Cay ornament. We toddled around and took some pictures (asking a CM to take a picture in front of the boat). After awhile we were roasting so we decided to head back to the boat for some lunch.

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We decided to hit Deck 9 for lunch. While I grabbed our lunches (salad and fruit from Goofy's Galley for me, chicken fingers and fries from Pluto's for my FI) my FI went up to Deck 10 to get some pictures of the amazingly clear water and Castaway Cay.

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We finished up our food and it was time for our glass bottom boat tour! We headed down to Marge's Barges and waited a short while until our excursion was called.

The boat is a regular-sized fishing boat with two small rectangular panes of glass. There are a couple of seats at the front of the boat (you can't see the glass to well from them) but most of the people had to stand. The glass panes were scratched and foggy but you could make out what was going on. We had much better luck looking over the side of the boat. The entire boat is shaded.

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The boat puttered along for about half an hour before we reached our destination. We were given handfuls of oats to throw for the fish. Man, did the fish love those oats!!!!! They were swimming over each other and fighting for them! FI found an "underwater" setting on our camera and got some great shots.

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After about 20 minutes we headed back towards Castaway Cay. The guides stopped to let us get some great shots of the beach (unfortunately FI was concentrating on getting some shots of a crab on the rocks so all we have is a bunch of rock closeups. With no crab.) We also got some great Flying Dutchman shots. The tour was fun. We didn't have to move much (gets a thumbs up from FI :thumbsup2 ) and we saw a lot of fish.

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After we returned we took a quick nap in our stateroom (now it was FI's turn to be a little seasick). We made sure to wake up in time to watch the boat pull away from Castaway Cay. We found some comfy lounge chairs outside of Cove Cafe' to watch Castaway Cay retreat.

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I really wasn't feeling very well and I realize now that I'd gotten seriously dehydrated. Normally I keep glasses of water nearby and sip throughout the day, but I had completely forgotten to drink ANY water since we'd been on the cruise. I hadn't had very much to drink at all.

We stayed up on Deck 9 for awhile, just relaxing and enjoying the breeze. Tonight was formal night and we'd promised our parents pictures of us all dressed up. We dragged ourselves back to our room and got ready.

We found the photo backdrop of the ship pretty quickly and had our pictures taken. We were in Animator's Palate for dinner that night so we lounged on the jogging deck until it was dinner time. This was FI's favorite thing on the entire cruise and he wished we weren't in our formal wear. Several people complimented us however!

We lined up for dinner and had strangers in line take our picture. Then we entered Animator's Palate.

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Ok, my only complaint about AP is the chairs. They're really hard to move and I was in a dress and heels! Eventually we got our chairs out and sat down. The food in Animator's Palate was our favorite of the entire cruise!!!!! I had the fillet mignon with scallops. The steak was made to look like a little boat with scallop smokestacks! FI got the Lemon Peppered Oven-baked Stuffed Chicken and he said it was outstanding!!!! For desserts FI got Strawberry Shortcake and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, I got Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie and a sundae. They were soooo delicious.

Our AP dinner seemed to take a lot longer than usual and we were really tired. Plus we had to pack up and put our bags out. We headed back to our room and I lacklusterly helped FI pack our bags. We openned the door to find the luggage cart right in front of us! Thank goodness we made it.

I arranged for a wake up call at 7 am (we had to be back in AP at 7:30 am) and we crawled into bed, falling asleep immediatly! I have never slept so well as I did on this cruise. It was amazing.

Next up: Disembarkation (boo!!!!!) and final thoughts

[natale1980]

amazing pictures!!! They looked better then the ones I got snorkeling.

-nat