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

[Captain_Oblivious]

Wow, you really blew threw the updates on this TR. More lovely sunrise pictures, and some great meals (I think. I mean, it's not all stuff I would eat, but it sounds like you enjoyed it). Looks like it was a nice relaxing cruise!

 

[skier_pete]

Geez - I go away for the holiday and you blow through your whole trip! Looks like lots of good food and a fun time!

 

[jedijill]

Holy cow I was behind! Love all the food porn! I missing having any cruises booked but Australia will make up for that! The last day is soooo sad but it sounds like getting off and home were pretty easy!

Jill in CO

 

[Steppesister]

Glad I could swing by here one last time and see your final pix before I go AWOL again with the Term. Lovely TR that I thoroughly enjoyed! Thanks for sharing it all! Please!! If you start a new thread, let me know via PM or better yet, on my thread! I will probably not know otherwise!

 

[EJ4Disney]

Thanks so much Alison for taking us along with you. What a fun trip report.

 

[IowaTater]

Haha! That last picture of Fran is cracking me up. She is a talented driver. I would have crashed into a wall hauling all that.

What a great trip!!

 

[dhorner233]

Great trip report Alison! Thanks for letting us tag along!

 

[rramsr]

What an awesome trip report. Loved all the pictures and the costumes. We are doing a 5 day Magic March 2017 and really want to do the Palo Brunch if they have it. 2 sea days, Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay.

Have only done the 3 day Dream and note enough time for sure

 

[franandaj]

I seem to remember reading/seeing something about Walt not wanting to be seen on TV with a cigarette.
Could be wrong about that.

Yeah, I remember reading or hearing that somewhere too.

Nah. Just bring 'em along.
Oh. Wait.... I suppose a ship that's owned by a mouse wouldn't allow cats.

I don't think they'd like the litter box in the stateroom either. Hmmmm, I wonder what they do for assistance dogs.

Oh, sure. My Dad always has extra from his little garden that he gives me.
My girls don't care for tomatoes so I get them all.
When they're fresh, I like toasted tomato sandwiches or open face on rye.
I'm thinking I'll have to look up the recipe for a salad. Can't be that hard.
I think the hard part might be sourcing some really good mozzarella.
Hmmm... I wonder if Bocconcini would be better?

I always buy the Mozzarella fresh the day I plan to make them. I don't like the Bocconcini as they are too small, remind me of cherry tomatoes (which Fran's mother referred to as "red bugs", puts a bad taste in your mouth and weird picture in your head.) I prefer the Ovoline and I slice it into slices about the same size as the tomato.

There is, a house, in New Orleans.
They call, the Rising Sun.....
Whoops! Sorry about that.

I'm going to kill you for this one. I've had this tune as an ear worm for the last I don't know how many days!

Nope. I'm on holidays ya know.

But yet you will be in the lobby at 2:45AM for a bus?????

My drive would be slightly longer... by about 10 times.

You might consider flying.

I saw the picture of Fran first and assumed that was all your luggage.

Ha! Us pack light!

I wonder what it will be!!! Wait! I already know!
Thanks for the TR, Alison!

You're welcome!

So the Wyndham is just across the road? We have a room there before our PC cruise and I was thinking of taking a taxi to the port. Will we need one?

It's very close. Not directly across but say like walking from Jellyrolls at the Boardwalk to the Lobby, maybe even a little shorter. There is a busy street, two lanes in each direction to cross, but there is a crosswalk with a light.

Getting of the ship is NO fun what so ever. And that last "get off my ship" breakfast is no fun either. You are so lucky to live so close to SD and be able to be home in a such a short time. Envy here!
Thanks for sharing, Alison. It was a really fun cruise that you took us all on.

I'll tell you, San Pedro was even better! We were home within 20 minutes of getting off the ship! I'm glad you enjoyed the TR. Final thoughts still coming up!

Over so soon! Boo hoo. Breakfast looks yummy. Just adore those cinnamon rolls. Oh my we discovered at SSR they do these cinnamon buns that are warm and covered in a hot sticky messy adorable icing. It's divine. Makes the other cinnamon buns look as naked as Jim.

I'm glad I didn't know this when we were on the last trip. I wouldn't have been able to get Fran out of the lobby!

That is a cute little scooter Fran has got. Is it a little travel one? I admire her skills with the luggage! That is so neat driving home no flights. What a bonus! Enjoyed your TR. thank you for it.

That's her regular scooter and it's actually bigger than the last few she has had. It's the GoGo Sport and it has a slightly higher weight capacity, headlight, and can be charged on the tiller in addition to down below where the battery connects. Like all the others, it splits into four pieces for easy transport.

If you are staying at the Wyndham on the harbor, you don't need a taxi. You literally just need to cross the street. You may need to walk a block to a crossing light. I cannot remember, but it was right across the street from the port.

Thanks for answering this, it took me a while to get to replies!

Yes, we are staying at the Wyndham at the harbour. Thank you for the quick reply. Makes planning a lot easier now!

You can arrange to drop of your rental car once you check into the hotel, if that helps any.

 

[dizneeat]

Yes, thank you. That is what we decided on doing. Drive to hotel, drop off things and then drop off the car and explore on foot. Great thing I can get all that info just from reading your TR.

 

[franandaj]

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading along.

Those pictures are really dramatic even if it was not quite a sunrise. I love them.

I hate the breakfast the last morning.

I am glad that things went quite smoothly with disembarkation.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading along. I love it that I wake up early on cruises, because I certainly don't do it at home! I did look out my back window this morning and confirmed that I can not see the sun rise from my yard. Nothing better than a smooth disembarkation!

For me, this would be two weeks. However, if all goes well my love for cruising will be put to a test with 23 consecutive nights on a ship.

Yikes! I couldn't handle being gone that long. 10-11 days is just enough, I'm starting to miss home and ready to go back no matter how much fun I'm having.

Another fabulous TR, thank you so much for sharing!

Palo dinner, and then brunch, oh my! everything looked so delicious

We really like the last sit down breakfast, make the cruise last as long as possible.

You're welcome! It always seems to work out that way. Since we're avoiding the Pirate night menu, it works that way. I don't mind the last breakfast so much. I do like that you can get eggs over easy, that's pretty much my favorite way other then eggs benedict.

Wow! That was one heck of a TR. And I loved that you didn't set foot in Mexico at all! If anything, that makes it a truly relaxing vacay.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, it did make for a very relaxing trip, which is more than I can say for this next one. Not that it wasn't fun, but I didn't some home feeling relaxed!

Hmmm... I'm starting to understand the power issues you've had with that scooter. She's hauling more cargo than a moving van!

Ha! ha! We didn't load her down on the ship like that, but now you have reminded me to add in something I overlooked on the way home. I'll put that in front of the "overall thoughts" which should be coming up either today or tomorrow.

 

[franandaj]

Wow, you really blew threw the updates on this TR. More lovely sunrise pictures, and some great meals (I think. I mean, it's not all stuff I would eat, but it sounds like you enjoyed it). Looks like it was a nice relaxing cruise!

Well, I had that other TR screaming in my mind, "Start me! Start me!" This one was finished by the time I got home from the WDW trip, all I needed to do was the wrap up which is the next post. Besides we had pretty much nothing going on over Christmas and New Years. No family in town. All our friends were busy. We did work on the old house a little, but while Fran was sleeping, I just got busy on the DIS! I tried not to post them all at one time and I did give folks a small window to comment. But it's not like I have a contest going.

Geez - I go away for the holiday and you blow through your whole trip! Looks like lots of good food and a fun time!

See that's the key you had somewhere to go for the holiday. We just sat at home with our cats, TV, and a couple roasts (ham & rib). It was too cold to go outside, and the parks were mobbed and shutting down because of reaching capacity. There wasn't much else to do other than wrap this puppy up and get started on the next one!

Holy cow I was behind! Love all the food porn! I missing having any cruises booked but Australia will make up for that! The last day is soooo sad but it sounds like getting off and home were pretty easy!

Jill in CO

Yeah, I would say Australia makes up for that! It was an easy trip home. I'm looking forward to when they release the summer 2017 itineraries.

Glad I could swing by here one last time and see your final pix before I go AWOL again with the Term. Lovely TR that I thoroughly enjoyed! Thanks for sharing it all! Please!! If you start a new thread, let me know via PM or better yet, on my thread! I will probably not know otherwise!

You're all ready subbed into the new thread but I'll head over to your thread and let you know there are updates!

Thanks so much Alison for taking us along with you. What a fun trip report.

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Haha! That last picture of Fran is cracking me up. She is a talented driver. I would have crashed into a wall hauling all that.

What a great trip!!

We always load her up like that for cruises, boarding and disembarking! She is a talented driver!

What an awesome trip report. Loved all the pictures and the costumes. We are doing a 5 day Magic March 2017 and really want to do the Palo Brunch if they have it. 2 sea days, Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay.

Have only done the 3 day Dream and note enough time for sure

I'm glad you delurked at the end. 3 days is not enough. The days at sea are totally the best!

Yes, thank you. That is what we decided on doing. Drive to hotel, drop off things and then drop off the car and explore on foot. Great thing I can get all that info just from reading your TR.

And vice versa. Your "get off the ship" report really helped me and sold me on the B2B idea!

 

[franandaj]

Before I get to my final thoughts, Andy reminded me of something that we did on the way home that I completely forgot about. The scooter store where we purchased Fran’s scooter is located in Laguna Hills. That’s about half and hour to and hour south of Long Beach depending on traffic. The place is right off the freeway and totally on the way home from the Port of San Diego. Since we weren't going to need the scooter for a while we decided to stop by there and see if they could repair it. It turns out, that it wasn’t anything at all. Every year or so, we replace the battery cells inside the battery pack. We get the batteries from a local battery store where they cost about $65 per battery, or about $130 total. There are two inside the battery compartment. I’m pretty sure we replaced Fran’s over the summer, but we’ll have to wait until we dig out all the receipts to do the 2015 taxes to find out exactly when we did replace them. I don’t know if they sold us used batteries or what, but her batteries had worn out so much that they simply were no longer holding a charge.

The guy at the scooter store offered to replace the batteries for $240. Um no thanks, I know you’ll unscrew the eight screws, and four washers to install the batteries, but I think we’ll do that for $110. So we went on our merry way home and ended up getting her new batteries at some point a couple weeks later, and we’ve had pretty much no problems since then.

Final thoughts on the Cruise

It’s been over two months since this cruise wrapped up, and we’ve even been on another Disney cruise since completing this one. Without giving away too much of my next Trip Report, I can for sure say that the Wonder is by far my favorite Disney Cruise ship. Much like my views on the two US Castle parks, the original is far superior to the newcomer. I realize that the Magic was technically the first Disney Cruise ship, but both the Magic and Wonder were imagineered under very similar principles. Since the Wonder was launched after the Magic, they were able to make a few improvements to the second ship before launch, but they are still rather similar due to the size and configuration.

I love the fact that the Wonder has so many nooks and crannies where you can escape from everyone, if you want to. I really like the size and layout of the adult areas, and how they seem very private. The shops are cheerful and Disney store like, they carry just enough merchandise for souvenirs from your trip. I like it that most everything on the ship is included in your voyage. Obviously they are going to charge your for alcohol, and it would be nice if beverages in the Cove Café were included, but I can live with that. Palo is worth every bit of the upcharge you pay, but beyond that, everything else on the ship is included in your voyage and that is a very nice feeling.

The dining rooms are all fantastic spaces for a lovely meal. Triton’s is by far my most favorite cruise ship restaurant (outside of Palo), and after having dined in other restaurants on three of the Disney ships, I have to say that Parrot Cay has grown on me quite a bit as well as the Wonder’s version of Animator’s Palate.

I love that the movies run on loops on the TV, and all you have to do is click around to be entertained (if you couldn’t tell by my running commentary of the movies we had on in the background). Making choices for me is sometimes difficult, especially when there are many, and a lot of times I like to be given a few options and pick the best of the lot.

As far as the cruise itself, I think a week is the perfect amount of time for a cruise. Anything less and you are pretty much getting off the boat, just as you start to get into it. Since I have not been on a longer cruise and most likely will not go on one in the next two years, I can’t comment on that yet. Where destination is concerned, I’m not so sure that is all that important. We didn’t get off the ship at all, and I was totally OK with that. We had a totally relaxing time, eating, sleeping and entertaining ourselves with what the ship had to offer. I think that’s one of the ways that Disney excels. I’m not sure that I would be as entertained on another ship, although if they had a casino, that would be a whole different story. However, I can go to Vegas for that.

In less than three months I will have a non-Disney cruise experience and we’ll have to see how that one compares. For now, I’m looking forward to July when we get to revisit the Wonder in the cold and beautiful Alaskan countryside. And you better bet that we will be getting off the ship then!

And if you missed it the link to my next TR is right here. So far we just hit the sail away party and first night.

Click here for the link

 

[RedHatDisney]

Delurking to tell you how much I've enjoyed your trip report. It's been such fun following along.

 

[palenskec]

Loved your report! We are taking our first cruise in 2017 (originally booked on the Wonder, but then decided we wanted 7 nights so ended up on the Fantasy).

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Thanks Alison for the wrap up. Good idea to go DIY on battery! We may be disabled but we weren't born yesterday guys! I get that alot too. Come home ebay is my friend.

I am excited to read your next TR but really excited to read about Alaska cruise. This is one on our bucket list!

Following new link now thanks for that.

 

[skier_pete]

Nice wrap up. We did like the Wonder when we sailed last year, and agree that Triton's was the superior meal, though all the food was very good. Also agree with your comment that 7 days is probably the right length. We did 5 days and it was too short - though admittedly we weren't in love with the experience in general and are not in any hurry to do another cruise. (I am not good with the concept of "relaxing".)

I am curious to read about your upcoming Alaskan cruise trip. We talk about if we were ever to do the Disney Cruise again, we might be more likely to do the Alaska cruise - though not actually sure we could afford it.

 

[pkondz]

Yeah, I remember reading or hearing that somewhere too.

Oh good. So I'm not crazy.

Wait. Skip that last part.

Hmmmm, I wonder what they do for assistance dogs.

Now that is a darned good question!

I always buy the Mozzarella fresh the day I plan to make them. I don't like the Bocconcini as they are too small, remind me of cherry tomatoes (which Fran's mother referred to as "red bugs", puts a bad taste in your mouth and weird picture in your head.) I prefer the Ovoline and I slice it into slices about the same size as the tomato.

Um. First off... Ew.
Second off. I'm going to have to source a good mozzarella... but I have plenty of time to do it.

I'm going to kill you for this one. I've had this tune as an ear worm for the last I don't know how many days!

You're welcome!

But yet you will be in the lobby at 2:45AM for a bus?????

Well, that was forced on us.

You might consider flying.

Nah... Too fast.

Ha! Us pack light!

Apparently... not so much!

I don’t know if they sold us used batteries or what, but her batteries had worn out so much that they simply were no longer holding a charge.

Well, that's good. Provided the batteries have lasted as long as they're supposed to.
Makes for a (relatively) cheap fix.

The guy at the scooter store offered to replace the batteries for $240. Um no thanks, I know you’ll unscrew the eight screws, and four washers to install the batteries, but I think we’ll do that for $110.

Wow. Talk about highway robbery.

I love the fact that the Wonder has so many nooks and crannies where you can escape from everyone, if you want to. I really like the size and layout of the adult areas, and how they seem very private.

That would appeal to me as well.

I love that the movies run on loops on the TV, and all you have to do is click around to be entertained (if you couldn’t tell by my running commentary of the movies we had on in the background).

Noticed you did that a lot.

As far as the cruise itself, I think a week is the perfect amount of time for a cruise. Anything less and you are pretty much getting off the boat, just as you start to get into it.

Interesting. Having never done a cruise...

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am glad that the scooter just needed new batteries.

The Wonder will always have a special place in my heart, but I am also excited about getting to experience a new ship this year. I hope your non-Disney cruise experience will be as positive as ours was.

Corinna

 

[jedijill]

Great wrap up!

Let's coordinate on the 2017 cruises. I NEED to go on another cruise!

Less than 2 months to Australia!!!!

Jill in CO