The 'Wonder'ful Mexican Riviera with a nut (allergy) Full report w/pics!
- Thread starter Stinkerbe11
- Start date
IndianaPrincess
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2008
Thank you!!! I love all your details and tips!
Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report. (We leave on the 20th!)I know that the "tea" is cookies and juice and is free. You just need to go to guest services and get tickets. Sounds like they go quickly though.
wideeyedwonder
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2008
Looking forward to hearing more! Thanks for writing a trip report...we are excited about our Sept 25 MR cruise on The Wonder!
Stinkerbe11
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2010
Thanks For the encouragement, I had a great time and it is disturbing to see all of these negative threads popping up. My experience was completely opposite from what these people are saying. I could post on all of their threads but I'm not an argumentative person. Instead, I will post my experience along with pictures and offer a detailed and honest review of our cruise. I do think that the service team can make or break a large portion of your cruise, luckily we had a wonderful team. We had early seating and were always finished before 7:30, but our server has been on the Wonder for 6 years. In my report of day 2 I describe an encounter with a terrible server who's mistake could have killed my son...so stay tuned, it gets exciting
thanks 
Thanks For the encouragement, I had a great time and it is disturbing to see all of these negative threads popping up. My experience was completely opposite from what these people are saying. I could post on all of their threads but I'm not an argumentative person. Instead, I will post my experience along with pictures and offer a detailed and honest review of our cruise. I do think that the service team can make or break a large portion of your cruise, luckily we had a wonderful team. We had early seating and were always finished before 7:30, but our server has been on the Wonder for 6 years. In my report of day 2 I describe an encounter with a terrible server who's mistake could have killed my son...so stay tuned, it gets exciting
What a great trip report so far! I like the dramatic lead in for tomorrow too. It makes me feel like I was there. No, wait I was there but you reminded me of some of the things that happened that first night. I didn't even know about the Tea Party so I guess I missed that one. I did read in the navigator about the galley tour free tickets so we got those and took the tour on saturday. Did you do that one? Thanks for organizing the FE exchange, my kids really enjoyed it even when it was things that were for younger kids, they liked all of the surprises and brought some stuff home too for their younger nephews.
Stinkerbe11
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2010
DH dropped me off at 9:45, a porter immediately came over to get the bags and he showed me where to enter the building. There was a security guard at the door who asked for my i.d. and cruise documents, then a CM handed me a navigator and directed me to the escalator. On the second floor CMs led me to the health questionnaire and then straight up to the check-in desk. After getting my picture and KTTWC, I walked to the security check point where I was given a boarding card and then I waited until 11:45 to board.
There were no lines at all outside or inside the building. The only line I ever saw was for the child registration but I didn't have to wait in that one either.
I don't know anything about an online check-in time...what is that?
Stinkerbe11
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2010
I apologize for the delay, I had a dentist appointment this morning.
Day 2 at sea: We never got to experience the Mickey wake up call because GG was always up around 6:30 every morning and today was no exception. First thing on the agenda:
(I borrowed these from Platinum Castaway club.com, but the menu was the same)
Breakfast: We were cautioned to eat our meals in the sit-down restaurants because of BASS’s food allergy, which is ironic because this is the only place that we came close to having an issue. I can understand why some people had a bad dining experience based on their service team. We always had our dedicated serving team in the evenings, but for breakfast and lunch, you get random servers based on where you are seated. I have to say that 99% of the time these other servers were significantly slower than our regular team and not nearly as competent. Case-in-point when we ordered any food at any meal we always reminded the server of BASS’s allergy, even though the head server assured us that they are always on top of it, I never take a chance with this-it’s just not worth it. The normal procedure is that when you enter the dining rooms, a CM asks your room number and the computer prints out a ticket with any pertinent information on it i.e. allergies, requests, etc...this is given to the server and I believe the kitchen also receives a copy as well. This day Divot was interested in the Muesli, but I was skeptical because this type of food usually has nuts in it, and even though the ingredients were listed on the menu I had doubts. We then informed the serving team of BASS’s allergies and asked if the muesli had nuts, the server (who should know what he is serving) said he didn’t know and would check with the chef. We adamantly stated that if it did have nuts NOT to bring it to the table. The server returns with the muesli, sits it down and tells us that he checked and it’s nut free. You can probably guess what happened-yep, Divot took a bite and it was chock full of walnuts (this is the one nut that is particularly lethal to BASS btw). I didn’t freak out because it didn’t go to BASS, however my faith in the Disney allergy dining system was greatly diminished. I spoke to the head server Anil and he did freak out. Apparently the server didn’t run the order by Anil mistake #1, then he asked a “cook” not the head “chef” mistake #2, the nuts had been added to the dish without being listed on the menu mistake#3. Later Anil told me that they held a special meeting with all the servers to go over the allergy plan again and the muesli was supposed to be taken off the menu until they can list nuts as an ingredient. I just hope we prevented someone else from having a incident and I’m glad BASS didn’t have any issues, whew! The kids did have a (safe) breakfast of Mickey waffles, eggs, potatoes, and bacon. Divot and I ended up not eating after the muesli incident and we had Palo brunch at 10:30 anyway.
So Anil was very apologetic and really wanted to fix the problem, but we were finished eating and didn’t need anything else, so I said no thanks and we were off again to explore the ship. Then I had an idea, there was a way that he could make up for it, can you guess what I asked for?????
Yes-tickets to the highly coveted, completely booked up Tea With Disney Friends! Anil was more than happy to accommodate my request and he gave me a hand written ticket for the four of us to go to the tea. I felt a tad guilty about asking for this, but they potentially put BASS’s life in danger, so I didn’t feel that bad.
After dropping the kids off at the club (we never had to wait more than 1-2 minutes to check in or out) we headed for brunch at Palo. I must have been distracted by the nut incident because I was a total discombobulated mess when we arrived at the restaurant. Divot decided that he needed to use the restroom, leaving me standing there, so I sat down on one of the benches in front of the maitre’d desk. The Palo servers were all lined up and standing there, so I decided to jump up and go with my server to the table instead of waiting for Divot. Well it turns out he was actually the server for the couple behind me and I caused a small but funny moment of chaos and confusion for everyone standing there. So, I did the appropriate thing and yelled out “could somebody just get me a drink?” This diminished the awkwardness and that’s when the lovely Judy stepped in...this woman is like a human valium, seriously people, if you are into Twilight, she is the equivalent of Jasper. She emulates calmness and even more amazing was her ability to have a mimosa in my hand before I could even blink-now that’s talent. I decided at that moment that the Palo service charge was a bargain and I needed to have another meal in this wonderful place. Divot arrived at the table blissfully unaware of his wife’s antics and we were whisked away to the buffet by our server. Again, I was distracted so I only have one picture from brunch but I remember seeing a pastry table, smoked salmon, caviar, cheeses, olives marinated sun-dried tomatoes and peppers, crab legs (already cracked), stone crab claws with a great dipping sauce, there were several pizzas to choose from (we tried 1/2 and 1/2 margherita and the one with grapes & blue cheese). We didn’t try any of the hot dishes, after the pizza and everything else, we were stuffed.
There was also a dessert table but we only tried the tiramisu and it was good, but not nearly as good as the tiramisu at dinner. Based on our experience, I would recommend Palo brunch and we will definitely do this again on our next cruise. I mentioned to our server that I should have made a dinner reservation and he told me to let Marco (the maitre’d) know and he would get us a time slot. TIP: If you can’t get a Palo ressie online, skip the long lines after boarding and show up when the restaurant opens to request a spot.
After brunch Divot found some time to read a great book called Hamlet's Blackberry, it's about unplugging in a digital world and this was the perfect place to do just that. I spent my quiet time at the quiet cove pool and after swimming, warmed up with an excellent latte from Cove Cafe.
We dragged the kids out of the club (they never wanted to leave) and they had lunch by the Mickey pool. they had pepperoni, sausage and veggie pizza from Pinocchio’s, crab claws from BBB and fresh fruit from Goofy’s. We also ran in to Captain Hook in the gazebo next to the Goofy pool.
After lunch we dropped them back at the club and Divot and I went to the Cadillac Lounge for the tequila tasting.
Tequila tasting: Now this is a subject that I know something about and I really only signed up out of curiosity, I figured there was nothing new to be learned about my favorite libation and Divot decided to humor me.
This was actually fun and we met a very nice couple while we waited (over half an hour for latecomers who didn’t have a reservation but got to participate anyway). I’m usually very laid back but it was getting late and this was formal night, we had early seating AND most importantly I had several shots of tequila sitting in front of me and I couldn’t drink them! Finally the session began-it was surprisingly informative and I learned quite a bit. The tasting included Patron silver, a rail tequila, a coffee infused tequila and 2 small margaritas. I generally view mixers as a waste of calories, but Damien can mix an excellent margarita and I recommend stopping by the cadillac to meet him next time you’re onboard.
Divot went to pick the kids up from the club and I went to the spa to take a shower and then it was off to the captain’s reception.
Servers were passing out several different complimentary drinks on trays (I don’t drink mixed drinks, so I’m not sure what they were..rum punch and appletini maybe?)
Anyway, there was no line for one of the backdrops, so we decided to get a family portrait. We posed as a family and to our surprise the captain (or some random man in a white suit) steps into the picture with us...totally caught us off guard, so we smiled, laughed about it and went to Triton’s for dinner.
Golden Mickey’s menu: For appetizers, we tried the crispy cheese ravioli (good), the bay scallops (not good-nasty rice, tasted fishy and swimming in oil). I had the oven roasted duckling (good) and Divot had jumbo shrimp & porcini mushroom tagliatelle (verdict: unsure, I didn’t try this one and can’t remember his opinion). BASS had chicken strips with peas and carrots, GG didn’t eat as she had passed out and was lying on two chairs pushed together to make a bed.
For dessert BASS had his usual Mickey bar, Divot had the trio of raspberry cheesecake (not good), creme brulee (very good) and chocolate Golden Mickey cake (good). I had apple pie with ice cream and it was ok, the coffee in the restaurants was better than on deck 9 but it was always decent.
After dinner we dropped the kids at the club for Goofy’s pajama party and we went to the Golden Mickeys. Afterwards, we picked the kids up and took them to deck 9 for pizza and Peter Pan on the big screen (they provide blankets so you don’t freeze up there).
At this point we were all tired from another fun-filled day and we went back to the room for some much needed rest.
As a side note: This is the movie schedule for the week
Stay tuned for day 3: Cabo, princess gathering, whale sightings, Minnie’s Fiesta Grande and dinner at Animator’s palate.
Day 2 at sea: We never got to experience the Mickey wake up call because GG was always up around 6:30 every morning and today was no exception. First thing on the agenda:
(I borrowed these from Platinum Castaway club.com, but the menu was the same)
Breakfast: We were cautioned to eat our meals in the sit-down restaurants because of BASS’s food allergy, which is ironic because this is the only place that we came close to having an issue. I can understand why some people had a bad dining experience based on their service team. We always had our dedicated serving team in the evenings, but for breakfast and lunch, you get random servers based on where you are seated. I have to say that 99% of the time these other servers were significantly slower than our regular team and not nearly as competent. Case-in-point when we ordered any food at any meal we always reminded the server of BASS’s allergy, even though the head server assured us that they are always on top of it, I never take a chance with this-it’s just not worth it. The normal procedure is that when you enter the dining rooms, a CM asks your room number and the computer prints out a ticket with any pertinent information on it i.e. allergies, requests, etc...this is given to the server and I believe the kitchen also receives a copy as well. This day Divot was interested in the Muesli, but I was skeptical because this type of food usually has nuts in it, and even though the ingredients were listed on the menu I had doubts. We then informed the serving team of BASS’s allergies and asked if the muesli had nuts, the server (who should know what he is serving) said he didn’t know and would check with the chef. We adamantly stated that if it did have nuts NOT to bring it to the table. The server returns with the muesli, sits it down and tells us that he checked and it’s nut free. You can probably guess what happened-yep, Divot took a bite and it was chock full of walnuts (this is the one nut that is particularly lethal to BASS btw). I didn’t freak out because it didn’t go to BASS, however my faith in the Disney allergy dining system was greatly diminished. I spoke to the head server Anil and he did freak out. Apparently the server didn’t run the order by Anil mistake #1, then he asked a “cook” not the head “chef” mistake #2, the nuts had been added to the dish without being listed on the menu mistake#3. Later Anil told me that they held a special meeting with all the servers to go over the allergy plan again and the muesli was supposed to be taken off the menu until they can list nuts as an ingredient. I just hope we prevented someone else from having a incident and I’m glad BASS didn’t have any issues, whew! The kids did have a (safe) breakfast of Mickey waffles, eggs, potatoes, and bacon. Divot and I ended up not eating after the muesli incident and we had Palo brunch at 10:30 anyway.
So Anil was very apologetic and really wanted to fix the problem, but we were finished eating and didn’t need anything else, so I said no thanks and we were off again to explore the ship. Then I had an idea, there was a way that he could make up for it, can you guess what I asked for?????
Yes-tickets to the highly coveted, completely booked up Tea With Disney Friends! Anil was more than happy to accommodate my request and he gave me a hand written ticket for the four of us to go to the tea. I felt a tad guilty about asking for this, but they potentially put BASS’s life in danger, so I didn’t feel that bad.
After dropping the kids off at the club (we never had to wait more than 1-2 minutes to check in or out) we headed for brunch at Palo. I must have been distracted by the nut incident because I was a total discombobulated mess when we arrived at the restaurant. Divot decided that he needed to use the restroom, leaving me standing there, so I sat down on one of the benches in front of the maitre’d desk. The Palo servers were all lined up and standing there, so I decided to jump up and go with my server to the table instead of waiting for Divot. Well it turns out he was actually the server for the couple behind me and I caused a small but funny moment of chaos and confusion for everyone standing there. So, I did the appropriate thing and yelled out “could somebody just get me a drink?” This diminished the awkwardness and that’s when the lovely Judy stepped in...this woman is like a human valium, seriously people, if you are into Twilight, she is the equivalent of Jasper. She emulates calmness and even more amazing was her ability to have a mimosa in my hand before I could even blink-now that’s talent. I decided at that moment that the Palo service charge was a bargain and I needed to have another meal in this wonderful place. Divot arrived at the table blissfully unaware of his wife’s antics and we were whisked away to the buffet by our server. Again, I was distracted so I only have one picture from brunch but I remember seeing a pastry table, smoked salmon, caviar, cheeses, olives marinated sun-dried tomatoes and peppers, crab legs (already cracked), stone crab claws with a great dipping sauce, there were several pizzas to choose from (we tried 1/2 and 1/2 margherita and the one with grapes & blue cheese). We didn’t try any of the hot dishes, after the pizza and everything else, we were stuffed.
There was also a dessert table but we only tried the tiramisu and it was good, but not nearly as good as the tiramisu at dinner. Based on our experience, I would recommend Palo brunch and we will definitely do this again on our next cruise. I mentioned to our server that I should have made a dinner reservation and he told me to let Marco (the maitre’d) know and he would get us a time slot. TIP: If you can’t get a Palo ressie online, skip the long lines after boarding and show up when the restaurant opens to request a spot.
After brunch Divot found some time to read a great book called Hamlet's Blackberry, it's about unplugging in a digital world and this was the perfect place to do just that. I spent my quiet time at the quiet cove pool and after swimming, warmed up with an excellent latte from Cove Cafe.
We dragged the kids out of the club (they never wanted to leave) and they had lunch by the Mickey pool. they had pepperoni, sausage and veggie pizza from Pinocchio’s, crab claws from BBB and fresh fruit from Goofy’s. We also ran in to Captain Hook in the gazebo next to the Goofy pool.
After lunch we dropped them back at the club and Divot and I went to the Cadillac Lounge for the tequila tasting.
Tequila tasting: Now this is a subject that I know something about and I really only signed up out of curiosity, I figured there was nothing new to be learned about my favorite libation and Divot decided to humor me.
This was actually fun and we met a very nice couple while we waited (over half an hour for latecomers who didn’t have a reservation but got to participate anyway). I’m usually very laid back but it was getting late and this was formal night, we had early seating AND most importantly I had several shots of tequila sitting in front of me and I couldn’t drink them! Finally the session began-it was surprisingly informative and I learned quite a bit. The tasting included Patron silver, a rail tequila, a coffee infused tequila and 2 small margaritas. I generally view mixers as a waste of calories, but Damien can mix an excellent margarita and I recommend stopping by the cadillac to meet him next time you’re onboard.
Divot went to pick the kids up from the club and I went to the spa to take a shower and then it was off to the captain’s reception.
Servers were passing out several different complimentary drinks on trays (I don’t drink mixed drinks, so I’m not sure what they were..rum punch and appletini maybe?)
Anyway, there was no line for one of the backdrops, so we decided to get a family portrait. We posed as a family and to our surprise the captain (or some random man in a white suit) steps into the picture with us...totally caught us off guard, so we smiled, laughed about it and went to Triton’s for dinner.
Golden Mickey’s menu: For appetizers, we tried the crispy cheese ravioli (good), the bay scallops (not good-nasty rice, tasted fishy and swimming in oil). I had the oven roasted duckling (good) and Divot had jumbo shrimp & porcini mushroom tagliatelle (verdict: unsure, I didn’t try this one and can’t remember his opinion). BASS had chicken strips with peas and carrots, GG didn’t eat as she had passed out and was lying on two chairs pushed together to make a bed.
For dessert BASS had his usual Mickey bar, Divot had the trio of raspberry cheesecake (not good), creme brulee (very good) and chocolate Golden Mickey cake (good). I had apple pie with ice cream and it was ok, the coffee in the restaurants was better than on deck 9 but it was always decent.
After dinner we dropped the kids at the club for Goofy’s pajama party and we went to the Golden Mickeys. Afterwards, we picked the kids up and took them to deck 9 for pizza and Peter Pan on the big screen (they provide blankets so you don’t freeze up there).
At this point we were all tired from another fun-filled day and we went back to the room for some much needed rest.
As a side note: This is the movie schedule for the week
Stay tuned for day 3: Cabo, princess gathering, whale sightings, Minnie’s Fiesta Grande and dinner at Animator’s palate.
Stinkerbe11
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2010
yes, you can call DCL and ask what the dining schedule will be and let the CM know your request. If you have a travel agent, they can put in the request for you.
inmanfamily
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2011
Thank you so much for taking the time to put together a report. The pictures are fantastic! We leave on the 27th of February and can't wait!
lucky1
Face Character
- Joined
- Aug 21, 1999
Was your Stateroom host Sanjay? Thanks for the picture of the room, we will be there in November. Wondering if we will miss the steamer trunk for storage. We had the room next door for our NYE trip.
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