Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder??? Get the fog outta here!

[Timon]

Day 8 Part 2

Rob and Kira stopped at Del Sol for some shopping. He bought a shirt for himself and a shirt and nail polish for Kira. I personally think Del Sol is super overrated and ridiculously expensive

Now it was back onto the glorious ship for food and air conditioning

Since I hadn't had breakfast, I was in dire need of some sustenance!

It was DEAD at Pete's!

My usual

While I had my salad, Rob took Kira to the pool so that she could play with E. I think he ended up talking to E's Mom & Dad for a bit.

The girls were wanting to hit up the Club so off they went and we enjoyed some FREEDOM

And Rob ate.

Who looks that happy eating fruit?? He does

Back to the room to cool down.

Oh look, his shirt went from Black and White in the shade to ummm, a tiny amount of colour in the sun

We watched the pier as the All Aboard time approached. I am so glad we came back early, I would not do well in that huge line in that heat!

I think Rob might have took a nap right about now.

I headed to deck 4 to watch as ONE couple held up our sail away time, they didn't even run

I stuck around to watch us sail away from Key West. I noticed this little boat with a dog on it.

He kept circling around on the boat, so patient! I was surprised he didn't just jump off the boat to cool down in the water, good boy

He watched closely while his daddy got off his boat to untie our lines when we were finally ready to go.

We headed down to the shops, Rob said he wanted to buy me something because he didn't get a chance to get me anything for Christmas. The dude is SUPER busy lately and I told him that I didn't want anything, that being on a cruise WAS my present and I loved it


Okay, so almost no Christmas merchandise on this Christmas cruise, selling WDW stuff all over the ship and now they have this stuff taking up shelf space??? I wasn't thrilled



Don't get me wrong, I actually loved the logo but would have preferred to see some more 2016 stuff, considering it was, after all, still 2016

With some gentle persuading, I spotted something that caught my eye

We grabbed a snack and took it back to the room to chill for a bit. Kira came back and wanted some more pool time so Rob kindly went up to deck 9 with her while I went and ordered the two prints that I bought.

Then I wandered around the ship, trying to get some pics of stuff that I didn't get a chance to yet.

This is the aft-located staircase that doesn't show up on any deck plans. It is super convenient to get around when you are staying at the very aft of the ship, it leads to another set of stairs that you can take up to Cabanas.

But it's our secret okay?

I walked down deck 8 to find these two lovely doors

To be continued...

 

[bcwife76]

Now wouldn't that just be the ultimate Christmas present, to spend Christmas in the Walt or Roy suite?

Next time

Love the necklace! Think I was eyeing something very similar on the Fantasy but didn't get it as I had already purchased the Pandora charm I wanted this trip. Something to think about next cruise

Ugh, I like coming back early from the port days, love an empty ship AND not standing in a long line to reboard. People coming back past the all ashore time (or even AT the all ashore time) and dawdling? Naughty, naughty, naughty!

 

[Timon]

I looked at my Navigator and you are right. How do I not remember this. I know it wasn't like that on any other cruise I have taken, even the 2 others on the Magic. I wonder when it changed.

I don't know but I am glad they did because a lot of kiddos couldn't stay up until 10 or whenever they used to go off

Wow. That's almost TEN years. Can you believe that!? She was such a cute potato back then!!! And now she is a young and pretty lady.
I totally thought you've forgotten that.
I still have that Key West Hard Rock Shirt and I often wear it while working out. It's one of my T's that lighten up my mood, while I overcome my weaker self and do sports...

Of course I remember

You know, we never even bought shirts that day, so weird of us!

That was Kira's first and only HRC so far. She stayed in her stroller the whole time I think

We were in the store in Nassau but we didn't go into the actual Cafe!

Poor Kira. You are such a mean mom! Claire would have skipped along and sang happy songs....NOT! She would be grumbling too and so would Skip. They would be searching for a bus or taxi.

I know, right?

Funny you mention that because the entire way back she was questioning why weren't on a bus or taxi or motorcycle! She wanted me to rent those little cars...umm, we would have to return it kiddo

Is that a Banyan tree?


Is that a Banyan tree? More comments later, back to read now.


Kate

Sure is! There were tons of them down there

Hi Cass! I am all caught up and loving your cruise report! We sailed on the Wonder several years ago, but it looks like alot has changed. I have been tempted, since we live in Texas but the Galveston sailings are on the wrong dates for us. I love your comparisons to memories of Kira's earlier cruises. So sweet how she plays with the little ones. Too bad there were so many dissappointing meals.

Glad you are caught up

That's too bad about the dates, super close for you! I think most of our ship were Texans

Sorry, Im having some issues with posting.

Sorry

I would've absolutely loved that weather heading into Key West too! That's called Heaven on Earth. LOL

Did you stop for any cheesecake at the Blond Giraffe?

I showed Kai your picture of Kai Kai and he said: "Hey, that's my name. Lets go there"! To which I replied, "OK, Let's go"!

Yes, yes it is!

Too cute about Kai

Nope, we didn't stop anywhere, other than Kino's, a couple stores near Kino's and Del Sol

Now wouldn't that just be the ultimate Christmas present, to spend Christmas in the Walt or Roy suite?

Next time

Love the necklace! Think I was eyeing something very similar on the Fantasy but didn't get it as I had already purchased the Pandora charm I wanted this trip. Something to think about next cruise

Ugh, I like coming back early from the port days, love an empty ship AND not standing in a long line to reboard. People coming back past the all ashore time (or even AT the all ashore time) and dawdling? Naughty, naughty, naughty!

HA! Can you just imagine the price on that room over xmas???

Me too!!! I like seeing the ports but really, I cruise for the ship

Yup! There's always one Except in Castaway Cay but that's probably because they kick people off the beach at a certain time

 

[Timon]

Day 8 Part 3

Let's continue to wander, shall we?

Oh look what I found and how cool is this entrance????

A quick visit to the Outlook Cafe...

Look, you can see where the Magic is!

The super secret space on board

The next little bit is a blur...I think we all just chilled in the room until the show!

Kira wasn't too interested in going to the show until I told her that there was a dog involved! Well, she will do almost anything if there is a dog involved

Todd Oliver and his dog Irving was doing a family show in the TWD tonight. I told her that I had seen him the other night and I knew she would love it.

Boy, did she ever!!!!

I have never seen her laugh and smile more at anything!!!! I enjoyed watching her more than watching the show

Here she is, playing Tiny Death Star on her daddy's phone before the show, as usual.

Back to the room...

Tonight was semi-formal night and she said she didn't want to join us at dinner this evening. She went to the club before we even got to Triton's.

We were early but amazingly, there was almost no line! Our table was the first one you see as you walk through the side entrance, which was weird because it was way on the other side of the room at Tiana's and Animator's.

Rob and I were looking forward to our "romantic date night" since we were kidless

We had JUST started to read the menu and look who showed up...

So much for the romance

She said that the Club was boring (E was on the early rotation so she was at her show right now) and she looked on her key card to figure out where our dinner was so she thought she would join us. Well, kudos for her using her brain

Tonight was Captain's Gala Menu night, which meant seafood and no beef, other than venison

Capt's Gala is my least favourite menu, always has been! There is not a single thing on the menu that I like (except the dessert menu)

I had actually planned to skip this night completely and just eat at either Cabanas or Pete's but Rob convinced me to come to dinner and he had talked to Aaron about my dislike for the menu. He didn't want to miss out on Aaron and Maria's service because they were so good so Aaron asked me the night before what I would like for dinner. I told him that I was a meat and potatoes girl and he said he would order me a filet and would figure out some potatoes.

When I got there and he noticed that I didn't want any appetizers either, he asked if there was something else he could bring me. I had checked the app and noticed that Tiana's was having their second menu tonight (not CG), the one we had the night before and I knew that Triton's shared kitchens with Tiana's so I asked him if I could order from Tiana's and he said, of course!

Told ya he was awesome

So, I had me some tomato soup, which I thought was even better than the night before, as I had tasted Rob's

Kira went back to her usual...

Rob had...

And then mine came...

Holy meat, Batman! He brought me TWO filets!!!

With some yummy mashed potatoes and there was even two vegetables that I actually like!

It kind of worked out because one was cooked perfectly and the other was too rare. I felt bad for not eating it but really, it was WAY too much food if I had eaten it all

Aaron helped Rob with his lobster...

And then this was brought out...

Ummm, where is my Amaretto Cheesecake?????

It was the ONLY thing on that whole Captain's Gala menu that I actually enjoyed!

The only thing that helped me overcome my terrible cheesecake loss was the thought of eating this again...

Oh JOY!!! Oh JOY!!! Oh JOY!!!!

Oh...Rob got these...

It was soooooo good and I am sooooo glad my husband talked me into coming to dinner that night

We finished in good time and ran to the room to change into our swimsuits and get a little bit of pool time. The pool sadly was quite cold! Kira was not able to swim at all but we did enjoy some hot tub time while watching Ant Man on the big screen. Rob even joined us in the hot tub too

When they closed down the pool/hot tubs at 10:30, Kira went back to the room with Rob and I went over to the adult pool for many laps in order to make up for my dinner

I think Kira was asleep by the time I got back and then Rob and I snuggled while reflecting on our fantastic day

 

[JulieAnnCall]

I have enjoyed reading your story about your Merrytime cruise on the magic. We have booked our first cruise for family on the magic next Christmas! I feel I've gotten a lot of insight from you so thanks Plus I have an autoimmune disease so There has been some worry about taking a cruise because of the sunissue. Is a big no-no for me. It was interesting to me how you felt with the sun issue and has made me feel more comfortable that it seems to be manageable. If you have any other suggestions I would love to hear them.

I look forward to continuing reading your very entertaining posts!

 

[cntkg1]

My usual

While I had my salad, Rob took Kira to the pool so that she could play with E. I think he ended up talking to E's Mom & Dad for a bit.




To be continued...

I love your "salad". Looks like one of mine.

 

[cntkg1]

I have to tell you how impressed (and sad in a way) I am with how mature Kira is already. She's not a little girl anymore, is she? But it must make you and Rob feel so proud.

 

[Jillpie]

So how does one spend a very late night, and an entire half of the next day do you ask? Reading just about the best trip report author there is of course!!

HI CASS!!

I hardly ever go to trip reports these days, but happened upon THIS at about midnight last night. I think I plopped down to bed at 2:30 am , from Page 1 to page 9 an absolutely phenomenal job as always!! Seriously, you have a talent for taking us there, putting us right where you are, and making us feel it all. I don't want this book to end. Kira, wasn't it yesterday we were watching her as a toddler?? How grown up she is!! An amazing family. Loving everything, every day. Thank you!!

 

[Timon]

Day 9 Part 1

Wow! Our last day on the ship, how sad

Don't worry though, I took a billion pics so this day will have tons of chapters

Let's just put this here...

Well, you may not believe it but I FINALLY made it up to the top decks before sun rise

It was still dark out so I just wandered around taking some pics...

I wandered into Palo while waiting for the sun to come up...

There were about a dozen other people up there with me, which is the most people I have ever seen on my early mornings.

Cabana's wasn't open yet, so I did some more wandering

I loved this mirror...

And a couple more shots of an empty Atrium...

Cabana's was now open and I was looking forward to one last solo breakfast at the back of the ship.

This was one of those moments!

And the food was the best it had been all week. For the first time, the eggs weren't dry, they were perfectly moist

While I ate, the sun popped up over the horizon

And we all got our cameras/phones out

The phone doesn't zoom well but this one wasn't too bad...

I was sad to be going home tomorrow but sitting there, peacefully eating my breakfast that I didn't have to cook, on one of the most beautiful ships in the world, watching a gorgeous sun rise, I felt so very blessed.

This had been the best Christmas I've had in so many years. I wasn't sad, I wasn't miserable, I wasn't saying "Bah Humbug" in my head every five minutes, I didn't want to hide from the World.

Except for the whole boarding fiasco and Miss Crabby Pants, there was no stress at all this week. No cooking, no cleaning, no snow, no ice, no freezing temperatures. It actually wasn't too hot for me except maybe Key West. I got to spend a lot of time with my husband, who works like a crazy person to keep us all going and I watched my daughter have the best cruise she has ever had.

My cup, truly, runneth over

 

[cntkg1]

Ahhhhhhmazing pics, as usual, Cass!

 

[chamberlain]

Beautiful sunrise and ship photos! I love walking around a quiet ship early in the morning too. I really enjoyed reading your trip report and am sad that it's almost over.

 

[bcwife76]

Love the sunrise photos! Can't believe it's your last full day already

 

[JenLovesMM]

Another canadian here... I rarely post but found your trip report recently. The WDW trip we were contemplating for this year has been pushed to next year and I've got to say that after reading through your amazing trip report, I think you've convinced me that our next trip should be a Disney cruise instead! Then today, I saw this at the bottom of your post: "No cooking, no cleaning, no snow, no ice, no freezing temperatures." Yup, those 5 awesome reasons combined with being on a Disney ship is a total winning combo!

 

[rndmr2]

Beautiful sunrise pictures!

 

[TestingH2O]

I definitely want to add breakfast outside to my list of things to do on this trip.

 

[nycdisneygal]

Loving your report!! The delayed boarding sounded awful but so glad the rest of the trip was great. Ah XMAS on DCL, heaven.
Will be on the Wonder in june so I am happy to see all of your pics!
My DD is 10 now, will turn 11 a couple days before cruise. Not the most responsible kid yet but now I am thinking I should give her check in/out privileges.. well, we will see....

 

[toony]

Beautiful pictures! I really wanna be on board now!!

No cooking, no cleaning, no snow, no ice, no freezing temperatures.

That's exactly why I LOVE vacations and especially Disney vacations! Hopefully great weather, zero grumpy kiddos and a lot of food that I don't need to cook!

I'm so glad you and your family had that great and special Disney Christmas. It's so much fun to witness the good times you had!

Btw I also have a HRC Nassau T-Shirt. The print on it is great, but the fitting not so much. I have 5 HRC Shirts and never tried them on before buying. So I'm lucky that it is just one out of five.

 

[krissy2803]

Thanks for another amazing trip report. I've been lurking on your reports for a veerrryyy long time. So much so that someday I hope to end up sailing with you guys. I think it would be a blast!

 

[Timon]

Day 9 Part 2

Once I finished eating, I went back to the buffet to take some pics of all of the breakfast offerings. They were pretty standard in their offerings every day, the only noticeable change was that I only personally saw Mickey waffles one day, every other day, it was just plain waffles, which, for a Disney ship, I thought was weird!

I wandered down to deck 5 and took some pics of the Buena Vista Theatre...

Notice how there's no drink holders? Disney wanted to really keep to the theming of the old classic theatres, which of course, did not have drink holders

Stupid old theatres!

Today was the last chance for the Marvel Meet & Greet characters. They were pretty early so I went back and woke up my family so they could get ready!

First up was Black Widow, which Rob took Kira to so I could shower.

Then it was Spidey right after...

Then Rob showered and then we all went to see Captain America. We had ran into E and asked her if she wanted to join us for Cap.

This is Kira's morning grumpy shot, it was a daily thing

This particular face was because I told her she had some major curls happening this morning

Chilling out while waiting for Cap...

It took forever because we had several huge groups in front of us and they all had autograph books as well as matte frames and then they all posed for photos too. One single family group took 20 minutes!

Prepare yourselves if you want Marvel characters to sign anything, it has to be on a blank page or item, it cannot have any other Disney signatures on the same page as what they are signing

This might save you some time and a huge hassle as people were not too happy about this!

 

[Timon]

Day 9 Part 3

After the meets, I dropped the girls off at the Club and went exploring a bit to get some missed photos.

The screens in Azure were creepy and totally looked like a Death Eater was coming out of them!

I took a whole whack of pics of the entire After Hours area since it was brand new....

They really should rename Sea Treasures to Star Wars Treasures

I bought that burgandy shirt and Rob bought the greyish blue one on the bottom (middle)

It's a great store but I wish they had more (and better) merchandise. Although, we all would have spent way more money if they did so....

Love this subtle nod to the old Route 66 here!

Back to the room to find these

Noooooooooooooo!!! You can't make me gooooooooo

And then an early lunch for me. I almost cried eating this because I knew it would be my last salad

I watched this channel while I packed up a bit. It was on every morning and it was kind of like a 'What's Happening Today' show with the cruise director and the assistant cruise director.

I will have to end this chapter here due to photo limits.