We Now Resume This Trip Report in Progress: Our Wonder-ful 5 Day Cozumel Cruise

[tinkmom2]

We just got back from our trip two days ago. We went to Universal afterward. It was our first time there and I will go through all of that in another trip report. This was our 4th Disney cruise and our third time on the Wonder. We had done the Inaugural year on the Dream and quite honestly were looking forward to the smaller charm of the Wonder.
Let's get introductions out of the way: I am Christine. I am the one that does all the obsessing and planning over what we're doing and when:

This is my family: Pat my DH, Cassie my 15 year old DD, and Claire my 9 year old DD.

We have always had a verandah and pretty early on had to make the compromise of a longer cruise and a smaller room. Really it was ok because much like WDW we were hardly in the room anyway. We also knew we wanted to do excursions this time like parasailing on Castaway and the Tulum Ruins tour in Cozumel. I made sure to load up my shipboard account so we wouldn't have a huge surprise at the end. We had room 2110, a large porthole stateroom.

Let me backtrack a bit. We started our trip on March 27th on a drive from Milwaukee Wisconsin. My DH had to work 3rd the night before and I knew he wouldn't be much help driving. We rented a car from Budget and upgraded to a Ford Edge which I know was a smart decision. It had plenty of luggage and leg room. The worst part of driving was driving though the Tennessee mountains in pitch black darkness at 80MPH. We only made stops to eat and go to the bathroom. Atlanta was a 3 hour traffic jam and I experienced some of the worst driving from other people I have ever seen in my life. When we made it to Miami it was dark an the roads reminded me of something out of TRON. The roads were fluorescent lined and still 80MPH. There were a few renegade cyclists weaving in and out of traffic.

We stayed at the Hampton In Suites the night before the cruise. Rates were double because of Spring Break. Our room was right on the first level and we were so glad to see it! We ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut and settled into bed. We had arranged pickup at the hotel from All Star Transport. They were 15 minutes late! Our PAT was scheduled for 11AM. We did make it on time. The fee was $80.00 for the four of us not $15 PP as quoted. We were so excited to be at POM!

I hope you come aboard and read all about our cruise!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Great start! We're doing this itinerary on the Magic in November so I'll be following along.

 

[tinkmom2]

Back to POM. I was really worried because this was our first cruise out of POM but as soon as we drove up and I saw the Wonder, I knew everything would be ok! The porter expected to be tipped so I made sure to carry some bills with me. We went through security and then to check in. Before we knew it, we were checked in. The person that checked us in like my daughter's enthusiasm and gave us a number one boarding pass. A family in our Dismeet got to be family of the day. We were the second family aboard after them!

I went right away after we boarded and got the Elsa and Anna and Princess Meet and greet tickets. The Elsa and Anna was for the next day at 9AM. I liked this way much better because there were a limited number of people at each meet and greet and it seemed less stressful. All of the other character meet and greets should be like this. The other greets before dinner were oftentimes congested. Another pet peeve of mine is not watching your kids. I can't tell you how much bad behavior we saw on this cruise. Kids were running around the dining room and rolling on the floor. I am thankful to have my girls!

Next it was off to the buffet. We were the family carrying around a huge box. It had my daughters' dresses in it. We secured a beautiful spot right on the railing so we could see the beautiful POM. We packed our dishes like we hadn't eaten in weeks lol


Next it was to our room at 1:30PM. We had always had a verandah but opted for a deck 2 room 2110. It was pretty near the aft elevators which came in handy. We took the stairs to dining most of the time. Space wise, we only had trouble when we were all getting dressed.


Our Dismeet was in Diversions before the Muster drill and we were off! We watched a bit of the sail away party and it was back to our room to unpack. Our dining rotation was APPTA. I was excited to meet our new server since our friend Ganesh was no longer with DCL.

Up Next Dinner at AP

We get to AP and are led to our table. It's a table set for 12! I wasn't in the mood. I was still tired from our 28 hour car ride. This was the first time we were ever seated with other people in 4 cruises. I asked to see the head server. Lo and behold, it was a familiar face, Simone who was our head server on the Dream! He took care of it right away and sat us at table 51. Our server Manuel I recognized also from the Dream! My mood picked up right away!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Can't wait for more, we are a bit hesitant about the Wonder (sailed re-done Magic and Fantasy) but we want to try all the ships and I'm looking forward to seeing what Wonder is like through your TR

 

[tinkmom2]

The day we disembarked the crew was waiting for us to leave so they could refurbish the rooms. They are similar to what is on the Dream. I heard they may be adding a water feature like the lab onto the Wonder.

 

[tinkmom2]

The Wonder has a charm all it's own. I like that it's easier to navigate than the Dream. I actually like the pools better on the Wonder. I just wish it had the Aquaduck.

 

[tinkmom2]

I am missing my memory card from the first night at AP. Quite honestly, I much prefer the Crush turtle time on the Dream. We have seen the AP show three times on the Wonder and it's not nearly as fun as talking with Crush.
The next day was our sea day. I had scheduled Palo's brunch for the hubby and I. But first it was our scheduled meet and greet with Elsa and Anna. Anna was spot on. She reminds me of the one they have in the Parks videos. I think it was the lighting in AP, Elsa looked really washed out. My daughter had made a friend at POM and we found her at the meet.


We were only the third family in line. As I said before, I liked this way better. Some people tried to come before their time but were turned away.

 

[iheartbklyn]

Following. I am from Milwaukee too!!!!

 

[tinkmom2]

Welcome!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Following along!!! Our 1st was on Disney Wonder (she has my heart!) and 2nd was on Fantasy. We're booked for Wonder in October out of San Diego (no airfare since we will drive down from the LA area!).

Don't mind my ticker...I haven't had time to change it. We unfortunately had to cancel next month's cruise.

We are booked in October for cabin 2114. I'm very curious about the foot traffic above you and the engine noise. Before We were inside starboard aft (a little closer to the back) & always heard the noise when the engines were started & getting in and out of port.

We really love aft because it's close to the MDR's and an easy ride up to the beverage station, BBB, pools, & Palo.

Can't wait to hear more!!! I'm definitely in!

 

[tinkmom2]

In 2110 down the hall we really didn't hear much foot traffic at all. Occasionally we did here kids running up and down the hall. It was central to the midship and aft elevators. I didn't hear any noise from above at all. The only time I heard any noise at all is when they were dropping anchor or messing with the lifeboats.

Welcome everyone!

 

[tinkmom2]

So day 2. Pretty much each morning we went to the buffet except for our last day. I loved watching the sunrise from the deck. I have some really pretty sunset pictures. This day we chose to do Palo brunch. We have done the dinner several times and I wanted to experience the brunch people rave about. We got there a bit early but were able to be seated right away. Our ressie was for 12:30PM. We are seated and here is another familiar face Judy from Barbados. She has been our server for our dinners. She was joking with us saying she was "new." We left an extra tip for her too. Get ready for the food porn!




She took us around to each table and showed us the plates you can order in addition to the buffet. I was excited to try the crab legs. They ended up being disappointing. You could tell they were thawed out. Other than that we stuffed ourselves until we couldn't move. lol We each ordered a pizza and oysters Oscar. There was 10 other things I wanted but had no room. We ended up cancelling our dinner at Palo set up for another sea day. It's just too much food.

grape and blue cheese pizza



special sugar free dessert for my hubby

 

[pepe3penelope]

In 2110 down the hall we really didn't hear much foot traffic at all. Occasionally we did here kids running up and down the hall. It was central to the midship and aft elevators. I didn't hear any noise from above at all. The only time I heard any noise at all is when they were dropping anchor or messing with the lifeboats.

Welcome everyone!

Thanks for the info...I feel better that you didn't get that much noise. Now I'll read your next update!

 

[pepe3penelope]

If given a choice, DH & I prefer Palo brunch over dinner. Although, the chocolate souffle at dinner is a definite must and favorite. DH and I love variety, seafood, & I particularly love dessert. Looking at your photos sure takes me back. DH's fave is the seared tuna and I remember the seared scallops were so delish! No matter how stuffed I am, I have to get at least 4-5 desserts!!! Ha, ha, ha!!! On our next cruise, we are doing 2 Palo brunches for the 2 sea days, but no Palo dinner. Can't wait to read more!

 

[kswright02]

I was the family of the day!!!! Wish I could've popped out of my elation bubble to notice anything or anyone around me!!!!:/
Our palo bruch was so good and I'm craving that pizza!! We had an awesome time! Almost 2wks later and it's still all I think about!

 

[tinkmom2]

Congrats! The POM was so busy! We didn't get any of the character pre cruise photos we normally do. I thought it looked super crowded. We still made our way to the front of the line though I thought the crowds would be controlled more with the PAT's. It wasn't a horrible experience though, just different than PC. I could kick myself for not rebooking but it will be our DD's choice for her senior trip. We would like to go to Jamaica. We will have to see if that is what she chooses.

 

[tinkmom2]

If given a choice, DH & I prefer Palo brunch over dinner. Although, the chocolate souffle at dinner is a definite must and favorite. DH and I love variety, seafood, & I particularly love dessert. Looking at your photos sure takes me back. DH's fave is the seared tuna and I remember the seared scallops were so delish! No matter how stuffed I am, I have to get at least 4-5 desserts!!! Ha, ha, ha!!! On our next cruise, we are doing 2 Palo brunches for the 2 sea days, but no Palo dinner. Can't wait to read more!

Dinner is good but my DD requested too that we all go to our MDR. I hate sitting at the MDR with a full stomach and watching my family eat too. Our ressie would have been for 6 PM so we probably could have made it to the MDR. Brunch was enough for us. Dessert was delicious. I didn't need to eat the whole day though! I hope someone on the waiting list got our ressie? This was our first time in 4 cruises snagging a ressie for brunch.

 

[xwewhisper]

Great start, can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[tinkmom2]

Well that's a lesson learned. Always save your drafts! IE just deleted my whole half hour of typing lol!
Short version. We were stuffed from Palos and went back to the room. Cassie came back from sun bathing and went and got Claire. We ended up going to the pool and having a sandwich at the new shop which also had salads and other healthy options. Claire ended up going up and down the [GALLERY=][/GALLERY]Mickey slide about 50 times!


We headed back to our room to prepare for Pirate night. I was the only one without a dramatic costume. I had ordered one but it was not one size fit all! I still had a pirate blouse and a bandana. We had Kyle Knight and Mistie for our act and really liked them. The pirate show got moved to 7:15PM which I really like. Clarie at ages 3 and 6 was exhausted by the time 10PM rolled around.

We made our way to deck 10 right away to secure our spot. Then rolls in this huge family. We were already by the hot tubs and our view was partially obstructed. The people were trying to gradually push it down. Sorry, I wasn't moving. I had Claire right in front of me and these kids were trying to push their way infront of us. I think I was still a bit crabby too from a full day and a bit of catching up from our 28 hr. driving ordeal. I got some really good shots of my Tinkerbell including this one I love!


You can see she got some sun!


The show was ok but I think I like the POTC one with Jack Sparrow better on the Dream. Claire liked it though! A nice lady stopped by and gave her a light up bracelet.



Up next, dinner at Parrot Cay for Pirate Night.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Subbing. I am considering a 5 day Western Caribbean on the Wonder next Spring Break. We have done the Fantasy and the Dream, and I just want to know that I'm not going to be disappointed.