Photo Trip Report – Panama Canal Cruise plus 3 days in DLR

[aan1701]

Maybe. No one directed me anywhere. Maybe because I was wearing my Platinum lanyard. I vaguely remember the CM just saying "you know the drill". So I never went to the stairs, and just walked to Studio Sea. I never even told the I was going there. Maybe they saw that gold room key and like you said wanted to get you to the reception.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

One of the first things I do onboard is begin writing postcards. We got two postcards in each stateroom and I promptly began filling them out in hopes of mailing them from Castaway Cay. I had never done this before and it was on my DCL bucket list.


These postcards have yet to arrive at their destinations. Ill let you know when they arrive!

While Im writing post cards, DSis is unpacking. She discovered right away that two of the drawers would not open. So she called Dad over to check it out. I left them and went to the Guest Services desk to mail my postcards.



Here I am in line at Guest Services. This line was pretty beastly that first afternoon. This is where you have to go to book things like the drink tastings and where I went to get some stamps for my postcards  see I didnt use my parents concierge  at least not all the time! (We did book all of our drink tastings and spa treatments through the concierge during our meeting in the Cadillac Lounge.)


Then DSis and I met at the spa/fitness center for the spa drawing. I have never been present (which you must be to win) during one of my previous cruises and so this was another bucket list item to cross off. I didnt win and I was pretty surprised that so many people turned up for this  the place was packed.


Then back to the room and I find Dad like this. He had taken out all of the drawers and found the problem were some broken screws that made the drawers get stuck off track. With his Swiss Army knife (no Duct Tape this time) our MacGyver Dad got all the drawers fixed.


Our stateroom also had a light on the desk that blinked on and off the first week and never came back on the second week and the bunk bed in the ceiling mysteriously fell down one day and one day we came back to the room to see a repairman leaving. There were some stains on the carpet, the couch had lost its firmness, and the countertop had a mark that looked like it said Castaway Cay in reverse stained onto it, but otherwise the stateroom was in pretty decent shape for being as old as it is. And our parents one-bedroom suite was in perfect condition. Their couch was VERY comfortable.

Next -
You all know the drill.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

For once I'm not wondering if this is my luggage.

appreciated seeing the security present

Is this gluten-free?



a little late, but they still caught us



feels like a cruise ship highway


No dolphins escorting us out of port today, but instead we believe these to be manatees.


or bubbling boulders.

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

We have the late seating for dinner and the rotation PTA so we head to the theater for the Welcome Aboard show.


Afterwards we run into some people from our hometown and also say hello to the very good cruise director, Jimmy.


And we do a little shopping.



They had very few Panama Canal t-shirts out on the shop floor and there was a major “run” on them. The cast members told some people that these were all that they had, which was not true – even on the last day of the cruise there were plenty of Panama Canal t-shirts and items available. I think they only stock or display so many at a time, so don’t worry if you are on the Westbound or another unique cruise like this, they have plenty of merchandise, even if they seem to “run out” the first night.

Next we go to the 10th Deck to see the sunset

 

[Flossbolna]

Jeg snakker lit norsk. min oldemor kom fra Norge, og jeg har søskenbarn som fortsatt bodde der. You are the first person to understand my screen name! Yeah!

Very proud to have deciphered your username!! I was an exchange student in Denmark when I was in high school and hence reading Norwegian is quite easy for me. But I would most likely not understand you if you spoke it.

I'm enjoying catching up on your trip report too. thanks for reading and I promise to have better photos soon!

Already amazed at how quickly you are moving with this TR! Lots of great pictures already. I came back from my vacation with 1650 pictures. And then I still regret not getting pictures of some things... You seem to have done a great job!

Love the pictures of your father with the Swiss Army knife! My father would be exactly the same way!!

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

Each night of the 14 night cruise was a different menu. We went to all the dinners except for Pirate Night, when we dined in Palo.

I have photos of the menus since I don't believe special menus are online somewhere else (I could be wrong though). A warning that flipping from "text" setting to "food" setting and snapping photos before our efficient and speedy server took the menu or my tablemates devoured their food was a constant challenge and not all the photos are so great. But I tried!



The second seating on our rotation was maybe 2/3 full and many of the tables near us were empty through the cruise. As another trip report from this cruise mentions, one of the restaurants was not in use second seating.




The Queen - Gin, Apricot Brandy, Bubbly








Prosciutto and Mozzarella Bruschetta - this was okay - tasted pretty salty but that comes with Prosciutto, but the paste was also what I think added to the saltiness.

Mom had the smoked salmon and enjoyed a lot of salmon on this trip.




The crab soup was rich and creamy as are many of their soups.






Mom had the seafood risotto


The rest of us had the Yachtsman steak. I would like to try this dish at the Yacht Club in WDW someday. This was good, but I'm sure not the same. A lot of the menu items were inspired by items at the WDW resort - coming from the mothership's test kitchen in Celebration we were told.



Polly wanted a cracker

Bliss Sundae
(Mom in the background has a pretty big scoop of ice cream on her spoon - think she gave me a scoop of vanilla for my apple tartin)

Apple Tartin

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

Very proud to have deciphered your username!! I was an exchange student in Denmark when I was in high school and hence reading Norwegian is quite easy for me. But I would most likely not understand you if you spoke it.

Alcohol usually helps my fluency! I'm impressed you understood the screen name still.


Good luck with your photos and trip report!

 

[scottishwee35]

Thank you for your time to write and show lovely photos.

I enjoyed to read and see some photos and love sunset....

Scottishwee35

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

Thank you for your time to write and show lovely photos.

I enjoyed to read and see some photos and love sunset....

Scottishwee35

Thank you! We have friends from our first cruise (on the Magic two years ago) that live in Scotland. He looks like Mr. Incredible and she looks like the princess from Brave. Do you know them? Thanks again for posting!

 

[scottishwee35]

Thank you! We have friends from our first cruise (on the Magic two years ago) that live in Scotland. He looks like Mr. Incredible and she looks like the princess from Brave. Do you know them? Thanks again for posting!

hi

I try to think and I don't think so.

Just wonder how times you have been cruising with Disney?

Scottishwee35

 

[jegsnakkernorsk]

hi

I try to think and I don't think so.

Just wonder how times you have been cruising with Disney?

Scottishwee35

Only three cruises - Magic Western Caribbean January 2011; Fantasy Eastern Caribbean May 2012; and Wonder Panama Canal May 2013.

Many people on our Panama Canal cruise were wearing Platinum lanyards so we realize we are very new to DCL.

 

[speedo]

 

[moomy-san]

Looking through your pictures I momentarily got excited because saw someone I know... and then I realized it was the guy from the spa that gave my husband his massage during our couples massage. Oh well, not quite the same as seeing some one i actually know, but cool all the same. He was very nice and totally adorable.

Loving your pictures. It's killing me to know I won't be on the Wonder next year, but going on the Fantasy instead.

 

[speedo]

Looking through your pictures I momentarily got excited because saw someone I know... and then I realized it was the guy from the spa that gave my husband his massage during our couples massage. Oh well, not quite the same as seeing some one i actually know, but cool all the same. He was very nice and totally adorable.

Loving your pictures. It's killing me to know I won't be on the Wonder next year, but going on the Fantasy instead.

Too funny! Was it Mark from Spain that you recognized? He was adorable.

You'll enjoy the Fantasy though the spa is different from the Wonder/Magic. I actually liked the set up on the Magic and Wonder better - with the fitness area looking straight forward off the bow of the ship and with the rainforest room a dark, quiet, private place. I hope you get to do the Panama next year too. Thank you for posting!

 

[speedo]

Since many of you have traveled on the Wonder in the past you might be Wondering what cast members were traveling with us this cruise. Here's my list of folks we met:

Starting in the Spa since some friendly faces have already been spotted: Mark (Spain) was the one sent to book treatments for concierge guests during our meeting in the Cadillac Lounge. He got manicures for mom, DSis and me and we also booked rainforest room for 5 days starting later in the cruise for the three of us.
Tricia (Jamaica) was our manicurist. Mom gets regular manicures back home but always with just clear coat and we all were really impressed with how great Mom's nails looked after her manicure. I got Tricia next for my appointment a few days later and I really enjoyed talking to her about Jamaica. My dad and I are in Rotary and our club just had our sister club in Jamaica join us the week before. We held a fundraiser for them at our business and it was fun talking to Tricia about her home. DSis gets gel/shalack done on her nails and we convinced her to request Tricia as well. Tricia was getting off the Wonder in Los Angeles but hopefully she will be back in the fall - she was such a sweet person and very talented manicurist.
Irene and Vicki (both from South Africa) were often at the front desk and were friendly, smiling faces every morning when we signed in to use the rainforest room.

I made friends in some unlikely places - like the ship's stores. Probably my favorite person on the cruise was in merchandise: Shebaz (India - but I might not be remembering how to spell his name right). He was so friendly, I found myself stopping to talk to him both in the store outside the theater and on the 9th deck by the Mickey pool while on my way to get soft serve. Really a nice person. DSis and I also thought Fernando (Spain?) was very nice as well.

Our room hostess was Faydella from St. Vincent. She has a great sense of humor and a fun personality.

Our dining room server was at first Januar (Indonesia) and starting in Cartagena was Patryk (Poland/London). Our drink server was Kristina (Serbia) and her husband is Toni (Croatia) in Palo. Our head server was Geoffrey (the Don Johnson of the Philippines).

Already mentioned the concierge team were Rodrigo (Argentina) and Lynda (US).

From the beverage team, we enjoyed getting to know Aleksander (might not be spelling this right I know there was some twist on the spelling) who worked down in Diversions and made the VERY BEST drinks. I loved his virgin strawberry daiquiris (I don't drink) and my family loved his mixed drinks. The daiquiris onboard were hit or miss - some were more like smoothies. The best were in Diversions and made by Aleksander. We also enjoyed getting to know Vedran (Croatia?) and Rahul (India?) both in the Cove Café - where I never bought anything but did stop in a few times and always had nice conversations with the servers there.

Cruise team was Jimmy, Lesley, Robbie, Sarah, Steven and Kalli. With the cruise having so many extra sea days we became familiar with the cruise team more as they often lead the onboard activities - emceeing the talks and leading the trivia challenges.

With so few kids onboard (185!) we used the family/goofy pool instead of the overcrowded adult pool and got to know Dwayne from Jamaica who worked really hard cleaning up after folks and keeping the pool deck spotless, and did so while singing and seemingly having a good time. The Disneyland Hotel pool could really use Dwayne!

We also remember Tai (from Australia) who worked the future sales desk and had one of the harder jobs on the ship in my opinion. We used his services a lot as DSis and I were torn on what, if anything to book.

In Palo, our server was always Sasha (Croatia) because Toni's section was all 2-tops. Sasha was amazing though. He really knows his wines and he is super sweet and polished. Dragan from Croatia was very friendly and on the floor a lot making sure everything was running smoothly.

I think that's all I can remember right now.

 

[iloverags2]

Enjoying your report and really looking forward to hearing all about this cruise!

 

[aan1701]

So many of the CM's mentioned in the above post I also loved. I so agree with you about Verdan. He was the nicest guy. I remember in the canal he was a little bummed because his camera was broken. So I told him to come out really quick and I took a pick of him with my iPad and emailed it to him. Tai was great as well. He helped me play a joke on a friend of mine. Can't thank him enough for that. We also really liked Shabaz and Fernando. My wife really liked Fernando cause the both love the 7 Dwarfs. We also really got to know Natasha in the stores. She was getting off in L.A. as well. I am with you on the cruise staff. All were great but one. I had a lot of fun with Sara. See I am a big L.A. Dodgers fan ( I know, we suck right now) and she is a big San Francisco Giants fan. So we would have very friendly, um how to put this, talks about baseball. She asked me of I was doing the duck derby. I said yup. I am going to have Dodger Duck. Well when it came time to submit our ducks for the derby, I had written on the tail of mine, Giants kiss this. Well to my surprise her duck had Dodgers kiss this. It was so cool. We have a pic of that. When I up to San Francisco to see friends of mine on the Wonder I saw her dressed up in Giants stuff as she was headed to their afternoon game. That got interesting. She was great. I am not going into the one I had a issue with. This had gone on long enough. Sorry about that. Oh one question. Why the server switch? Just wondering.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using DISBoards

 

[Flossbolna]

I was on the Wonder in late April and do recognize some of the names! Of course on a 5-night cruise you do not get to know the people as well as on such a long cruise as yours. But I do remember Sasha who was our server at Palo as well. I thought he was truly an excellent server. He told us that he was on the Maiden voyage of the Magic already and just transferred over to the Wonder to see Alaska. Dragan was very excited that I was from Germany as he speaks German and chatted quite a bit with me. I also remember Shebaz from the shop, he seemed very friendly! All in all, even though I do not remember so many names, I was truly amazed about the friendliness of all staff on board.

 

[speedo]

Why the server switch? Just wondering.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using DISBoards

Januar had a death in the family and had to fly home from Cartagena. Patryk was on board already but didn't have tables this cruise. Januar was very sweet and I was sad to hear of his loss. I was wondering if it was possible to send some note of condolence and thanks to him? I'm also not sure how his tip was handled. We just had Patryk on our tip form and gave Patryk his tip, but I hope Januar got his share too.

 

[speedo]

Let's wrap this first day up, shall we? With late dinner not starting until 8:15 and consisting of so many courses, we don't finish dinner until nearly 10pm. After dinner DSis convinces me to change into swimsuits (which we carried in our carry-on and then never even changed into today). We head up a deck to the adult hot tubs.


The two tubs both had occupants but the one only had one girl so we asked if we could join her. She turned out to be a very friendly cast member from England named Sophia who worked in the nursery/children's areas. We asked her if it was less busy with only 185 kids on board, she said she hadn't noticed there were fewer kids. She, like many, of the cast members seemed to be looking forward to some more time off and relaxing a little more on this repositioning cruise.

When we got back to the room, our parents had their information on the cabana for tomorrow


And this was out towel animal

This photo also shows how bright that clock is - I had to turn it towards the wall at night to keep it from blinding me.