Just Relaxin’ on the Wonder – Nowhere, Nothing, Nada. - Complete! and Final Thoughts

franandaj

I'm so happy, I could BOUNCE!
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Welcome to another franandaj trip report!

To my longtime readers welcome back, you know the drill.

To the newbies out there, :welcome: Glad to have you!

To the lurkers out there, well come on in and join the party! Sit back, kick your feet up and comment, its an interactive forum so come on and interact! There are enough of you out there and I know you're there because you say "hi" to us in the parks, on the cruises, and at D23 events. I'm no longer taken off guard when random people approach us and say "Hi, I read your trip report!", so lets go from being strangers now and get to know each other!

You may “wonder” about the title of this report. Well the first part is pretty obvious. We relaxed on our cruise that’s about it. The second part should be obvious, we went on a cruise to “nowhere”. In fact the last ever Disney Cruise to Nowhere. Technically cruises to nowhere have been illegal since the mid 1800’s, but just recently the US Government decided to enforce that rule, something to do with ship’s registry and nationality of the workers on the ship, but you’re not here for a history lesson. The Nothing and Nada parts, well you’ll just have to stick around and see what that is all about!

First let clarify a few things:

1) This is a cruise only Trip Report. I will be detailing our B2B cruises on the CA coast. As I mentioned earlier, we were on the last ever Disney Cruise to nowhere on the Wonder, followed by a 5 night Mexican Riviera cruise. If you're interested in my escapades at Disneyland check this link (http://www.disboards.com/threads/sh...s-dl-diamond-anniversary-see-ya-soon.3383483/). If you want WDW, wait a couple months and I'll have one for you.

2) If you're looking for exotic ports of call, thrilling excursions, and visits to indigenous peoples, you won't find it here.

3) What you will get is a look at a relaxed, indulgent cruise vacation with plenty of good food and drink and sunrise photos. In addition we tend to enjoy some of the different activities available on the ship which are more adult oriented and less kids and family related.

So with these guidelines, if you're interested in coming along on this journey I invite you to read along, join in and enjoy the fun.

Let me introduce us. Alison and Fran. This is us last summer at Disneyland's 60th Birthday celebration.



But our love for Disney goes way back from before we met over 20 years ago. And our love of Disney cruising goes back to the early days of the Wonder.



Before we get this started I'll give you a brief background on how this trip came about. Originally we booked the 5 night Mexican Riviera cruise to be with friends already booked on the trip,. But due to a number of reasons the two of us ended up being the only ones onboard. We had only planned on the one cruise as earlier this year we thought this would have been on three other cruises by the end of May.

However that all changed last Friday the 13th in March. Fran had a fall, fracturing her leg in two places. The cruise in April was out of he question as she would still be unable to bear weight on the leg. And though by mid May, she would be starting to bear weight on her leg once again, she didn't think going on a B2B cruise would be much fun at that stage of recovery. So with three cruises canceled so far only one quarter of the way through the year, the idea of turning the 5 night cruise into a back to back seemed like a pretty good idea. The only catch would be, was our same stateroom still available on the two nighter? Well, it was. And so there's how this whole trip came to be.

So now you know the who, the why, and I would tell you the where but in all honesty, that's not going to be important. All you need to know for now is that we're going on a Disney Cruise and we're going to relax and have fun. If that's not enough to make you want to join in, well then go find another trip report, but I bet it won't have as good of food porn and not nearly as many Drinks of the Day!

I'll give you a little time to think about it.
















Well I'm glad to see that you stuck around. It was the drinks of the Day that got you right?

Can I get a round for everyone bartender?

Well I'm getting a little ahead of myself. First we need to get on the ship!

So anyone who has been around will know that while I have my outfits picked out and in the suitcase weeks before its time to leave. But when it's mere days before its time to go, all Fran has picked out is one measly polo shirt. After much coercing and complaining she picked out enough clothes two days before we leave, and I could finally pack the suitcases.

The day before we left we had a full morning of appointments and then lunch with our friend Pam. She was supposed to join us on the cruise but instead she enjoyed her time at Disneyland. Here we are after our lunch and about to bid our goodbyes.



Still we weren't finished for the day. There were at least half a dozen tasks or errands to be completed and I still had the silly notion that I could fix us French dip sandwiches for dinner. When we finally got back home at 7PM the sandwich stuff went in the freezer and frozen pot pies went in the oven.

There was still more packing. All the stuff we picked up on our errands, and then the carry on. Mine was already packed. It weighed a ton. It was full of Mtn Dew bottles, bottled water, and wine for in room consumption. It was HEAVY! I also had our daily medication, my jewelry, and overshirts. For those not native or transplanted to Southern California, we rarely actually need jackets. They are mostly worn as a fashion statement and usually cause excessive heat. Sensible people lacking a fashion conscience normally wear a flannel or denim shirt for the correct amount of warmth in evening and winter.

But I digress. I don't know what time it was when the suitcases were finally loaded into the car and the cats were fed, but it was close to midnight and I was dead tired. Pretty much fell into bed. This beats my previous trips because I actually got to visit the bed, albeit for a very short period of time.


Next: We actually do take this trip!!!!!!!
 
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Boarding the Ship - Page 2
Lunch and our Stateroom - Page 3
Getting Settled in - Page 4
Dinner and Fireworks - Page 6
Some Serious Eating & Drinking - Page 6
The Nothing Part - Page 8
B2B Day - Page 9
Settling in for realz - Page 10
First Port Day - Page 11
Wrapping up our Day in Port - Page 12
A Day at Sea - Page 14
Donald Throws a Fit - Page 15
Chillin in Cabo, Navigators - Page 16
Dinner in Palo - Page 17
Another Sunrise - Page 17
Another Brunch in Palo - Page 18
Last Night on the ship - Page 18
Going Home - Page 19
 
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Nice! We were either on the same cruise or similar... the cruise to nowhere concept is so much fun, isn't it? I had no idea it was technically illegal! Haha, wow! Glad to hear the logistics worked out for you two to take this cruise. Can't wait to hear all about the food.
 
Looking forward to reading your report. I was on the last 2 day cruise to nowhere, too. I had no idea it was the last one until I read your post.
 


Looking forward to hearing all about the cruise! Hope this page fills up fast!
 
I'm sorry, I just posted on your other thread as you were posting to come over here. I can hardly keep track of all the fun trips! Looking forward to seeing the pictures on this trip report :yay: Glad Fran felt up to going on the cruise :)
 
Here! :teeth:

Glad you had fun with Pam and sorry we missed the cruise. Sounds like you relaxed which is fabulous! :woohoo:
 


I am here! Will add some comments later, but wanted to help getting the first page full as quickly as possible!
 
I'm in! Cruise to nowhere is my utopia what a shame it's the last one. Never mind any cruse can be made so by just not getting off the ship and enjoying a new view with less people on board! Like Nassau days..

I am excited to read this. Love the photo of you and my dear friend Pam. I adore that older photo of you and Fran I wanted to hear more about how you guys meet. Am I greedy for history!
 
To the newbies out there, :welcome: Glad to have you!

I'm gonna say this applies to me.

But due to a number of reasons the two of us ended up being the only ones onboard.

Wow! You had an entire cruise ship all to yourself!


:rolleyes1

If that's not enough to make you want to join in, well then go find another trip report, but I bet it won't have as good of food porn and not nearly as many Drinks of the Day!

This I gotta see.
 
I'm here!! I can't wait to read all about it. You and Fran SO deserved this trip!
 
I'm in! Looking forward to reading about your cruises! Sounds like it must have been a nice, relaxing trip.
 

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