Who Needs Toes Anyway? A 2016 EBPC Trip Report *COMPLETE*

[arielmomma]

Hello fellow Disney lovers! Welcome to my 2016 East-Bound Panama Canal trip report. After years of indulging-in and learning from the many fantastic trip reports shared here on the Dis, I've finally decided to write one myself. So, get cozy, grab a tub of popcorn, and join me as I recount our WONDERful adventure from coast to coast.

Let me begin by introducing the primary characters of this tale:


First off, there's me, Joy. I'm currently a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom and the planner for all of our vacations. Next to me is my husband, James. By day, he's a mild-mannered automotive engineer. By night, he's a fellow Disney addict who uses his powers of persuasion to convince me to take more vacations. (Not that it takes much convincing.) Then there are our children, Jimmy and Emily. Jimmy is twelve years old and is all about sports and video games. Emily is nine. She loves art, princesses, and making friends with pretty much every kid she encounters. And of course, if you couldn't tell by the photo above, we are huge Superman fans. You may be asking yourselves, "Why would you wear Superman shirts on a Disney cruise?" It's our own little message to Disney that they should buy the rights to DC comics as well as Marvel. Yes, I'm aware that our fantasy of Disney one day making a movie about our favorite hero is highly, HIGHLY unrealistic, but Disney is all about making dreams come true, right?

This cruise was a spontaneous booking. We had the 2017 WBPC booked for next April, but when DCL released the GT rates for this cruise and we discovered that we could go this year for less than we'd booked next year's cruise, we decided to go for it! So, 12 1/2 weeks prior to sailing, we bit the bullet. We'd never booked a cruise this close to sailing before, but we'd taken vacations with as little as an hour's warning prior to leaving. So, for us, one might think, "three months to prepare, nothing to stress over." Not exactly.

While this would be our 5th DCL cruise (our 6th total), we'd only ever cruised closed-loop cruises before. We'd never needed passports, so the kids and I didn't have them. Prior to booking, I looked up how long it would take to get a passport. I discovered it should take about 6 weeks to get a passport the traditional way, but could take as long as 12 weeks. This had me worrying my bottom lip, but we opted not to have them expedited.

All was well at first. Our passports appeared on the tracking website. Then three weeks in, the site showed that it had no record of having received any of our documents. Eek! My anxiety level hiked up a notch. I did a little research and discovered that such a message was not uncommon and that I was not to try to contact anyone in the passport office until the 12 week mark or 2 weeks prior to our trip. This was not particularly comforting except for the fact that the site had previously showed that our passports were being processed. I chose to believe that everything was fine (while silently popping Tums like candy). Needless to say, our passports arrived 7 weeks in advance. We were good to go!

While waiting for our passports to arrive, DCL decided to start letting future passengers book their character meet & greets and character meals in advance online. After 4 previous cruises and visiting WDW 2-3 times a year their entire lives, my kids have met nearly all the characters numerous times and don't have much interest in meeting them again. Character meals, however, are another story. They love them! So I booked a character breakfast at 9:30am on 9/1. Once our passports arrived, I could finally finish checking in for the cruise. At this point, the earliest PAT available was 12:30pm, so I took it.

Now it was time to let my fellow cruisers on disboards and social media fuel my excitement. Oh, and plan on how to tell the kids they weren't going to have to wait until next year to cruise again. Did I forget to mention this cruise was a surprise?



Up next...Let our vacation begin!

 

[arielmomma]

On the morning of Wednesday 8/24, Jimmy and Emily woke to find the following message taped to the bathroom mirror:

They embarked on a scavenger hunt to prove that they were worthy to go on the ultimate adventure. The hunt tested the following attributes:

• Bravery - By embarking on the quest
• Survival Skills - By preparing a crock pot meal for the family
• Physical Fitness - By completing a variety of exercises in the yard
• Responsibility - By straightening the house
• Intelligence - By presenting on a real-life adventurer
• Creativity - By making a poster of what they dream of as their ultimate adventure; and
• Respect - By serving James and I the meal they prepared

James had worked a half day. He got home just in time for a late lunch. At the end of the quest, the children were rewarded with a recording of DCL's infamous horn song. Needless to say, the kids went crazy! They screamed so loud and sharply my ears took a while to recover, but it was totally worth it!

After straightening up after lunch, I pulled the suitcases out of my room that I'd secretly managed to pack while the kids were at soccer day camp three weeks earlier and we were off to Detroit!

Two and a half hours later, we arrived at the Hampton Inn & Suites - Belleville. I only have positive things to say about Hampton Inns in general. We stay in them frequently. Clean rooms, comfy beds, internet, friendly staff, and a hot breakfast - what more is there to ask for? James travels a lot for work, so we were able to stay at all of the hotels on this vacation on the points he'd earned. We paid to park our van in the Hampton Inn parking lot for the length of our cruise. This was the cheapest and most convenient parking in the area. We would take the hotel shuttle to the airport in the morning.

Once we got settled, James and the kids went swimming in the indoor pool, while I printed our boarding passes. We paid for the Early Bird check-in benefit on Southwest. This is the first time we'd paid for this benefit, and it was worth every penny! For those of you who aren't familiar with Southwest, they do not assign seats. You sit where you like when you board. The lower your boarding group, the more likely your family will be able to sit together. With Early Bird check-in, the airline checks you in 12 hrs before the general public gets to check in, practically guaranteeing you a low boarding number. Thus, no waking up before dawn 24 hrs before our flight to check in, praying that our slow, country DSL internet will land us, at best, in the low-number B boarding group. We were in the A boarding group with no real effort on our part. Travelling with kids, this gave me peace of mind that we would be able to sit together. Plus, we were flying on points, so other than $10 in fees, Early Bird check-in was the only expense on our flights.

Before long, it was time to wind down for the evening. We had to be up at 3am to make our flight Yikes! So we had some snacks and settled in for a movie. No surprise - Man of Steel.



Here's Jimmy posing as Superman with Superman on the screen.

Needless to say, after weeks of discretely training for the 3 hour time difference in San Diego, let alone our excitement, it was difficult to fall asleep early. Eventually, though, we managed a few hours of sweet Disney dreams.

Next up....California here we come!

 

[linetbo]

Following!!! We did Alaska cruise but I really want to do that one.

 

[adSimba]

Following too! I've been waiting for a panama trip report from this cruise! Thanks for doing it!!

 

[Rabb it]

Very cool so far!

 

[SnowWhite2]

We are booked on the Oct 2017 PC cruise so I'm anxiously awaiting your trip report!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am looking forward to your report! We did the Westbound PC cruise in 2014 and ever since I love reading other people's experiences on the canal.

I loved the way you revealed the surprise about the trip! Especially that they knew just from the horn signal what it was about.

The 3am getting up sounds really horrible though, not a great way to start your trip. But at least you did not have to worry about seats.

 

[franandaj]

I'm ((hopefully)) going to be on the 2017 version of this cruise, so I'm looking forward to hearing about this, although we don't travel as far as this year's cruise did.

 

[arielmomma]

On Thursday, 8/25, the front desk delivered our wake-up call at 3am. Ugh! pretty much summed up how I felt when the phone rang. The bury-my-face-in-the-pillow phase only lasted an instant, however. Once the neurons in my brain began firing, I remembered that I was heading to sunny California. So, I hopped out of bed and got my family moving. We were dressed, packed, and in the hotel lobby at 3:40am.

While we waited for the complimentary shuttle that would take us to Detroit Metro airport, James called the Hampton Inn San Diego-Downtown where we would be staying that night. I'd requested an early check in when I made the reservation since our plane would be landing at 9:05am PT (12:05pm ET). The hotel informed James that a room would be available, however, the room was alongside the train tracks. According to reviews on Trip Advisor, we did NOT want a room adjacent to the train. It could get VERY loud. James informed the hotel that we would prefer to wait for a quieter room. Normal check in was 3pm PT (6pm ET), though they would be happy to hold our luggage for us. So, we mentally prepared ourselves for a very long day. With any luck, the kids would catch a nap on the plane giving them enough energy to allow us to spend the day exploring San Diego.

The shuttle pulled up to the hotel a few minutes later. Only one other family took the shuttle with us so loading was quick and easy. There was also plenty of room to get comfortable. We were on the road by 4am. The ride to the airport took about 15 minutes.

Once at DTW, the process to check our bags and get through security was fairly quick and painless. By the time we found our way to our gate, we only had a 25 minute wait before the plane began to board. Just enough time to fill our water bottles, use the restroom, and eat the breakfast I'd packed from home since we'd left too early to take advantage of the one offered by the hotel.



Before we knew it, we were boarding the plane. Being in the low-A boarding group, we were onboard swiftly and easily found seats together near the front of the plane.


The kids and James managed to nap during the first leg of the flight. Not me, though. I closed my eyes and listened to an audiobook. We had a 40 minute layover in Phoenix where we stayed on the plane. Again, we had just enough time to use the restroom and eat the lunch I’d packed. Now the kids were fully awake. We spent the short, second leg of our journey doing Mad Libs where I learned just how silly my kids truly are.

Finally, we landed in San Diego. Hurray! The weather was gorgeous – sunny and in the upper 60’s (degrees Fahrenheit). James called the hotel while we waited for our luggage. The front desk informed him that we’d received a complimentary room upgrade and that our room was ready for us. Hallelujah! As tired as I was, this was a real blessing. By the time we exited the airport, the hotel shuttle was already waiting for us. After a 5 min ride, we arrived at the Hampton Inn San Diego – Downtown.


Our upgrade was more than we could have hoped for. The standard double-queen room we’d reserved had become a huge 1-bedroom, 2-bathroom suite.


Here are a couple more photos from the pool area:

They were still serving breakfast, so we dropped off our bags in our room and grabbed some snacks. Bellies full, we took a 2 hour nap then headed out to explore San Diego.

 

[Flossbolna]

Being German I love Jimmy's hat!! Glad you made it to San Diego without problems and got such a nice upgrade!

 

[xavier2001]

Following, this trip is on our bucket list although probably not till 2018! Loving your report so far!!

 

[arielmomma]

This was our first visit to California so we were excited to get out and see what our surroundings had to offer. This was the view from our living room:

If you look closely, you can see that our hotel and the harbor are separated by a lovely park that the kids were jumping to visit. So, that's where we headed first.

The day was warming up. It was now in the low 70s. Absolutely gorgeous. There was plenty of playground equipment for the kids play on. They had to try everything.

 

[arielmomma]

Eventually, we pried our children from the playground equipment and headed toward the harbor where we ran into a few of our fellow EBPC cruisers who were out exploring like we were. We chatted a bit as we walked. There were a lot of things to do and see along the water's edge. We could have easily spent an entire day exploring the ships, sites, and museum, but we wanted to keep walking.

The Star of India


I'm unsure of the name of this ship. It is located alongside the maritime museum.


The USS Midway


A huge jellyfish alongside the USS Midway


A giant statue depicting the famous photograph "The Kiss"


A tribute to Bob Hope and the USO


After we left the harbor, we headed toward Little Italy, which was located just around the corner from our hotel. For some reason, I did not take any pictures while we were in Little Italy, but I can tell you this - it smelled wonderful! There were so many tempting restaurants. We’d originally intended to have dinner at Bencotto or Monello while in Little Italy. Both had fantastic reviews and the menus looked scrumptious. However, after the long day, none of us were interested in a heavy dinner. So, we kept walking. As the sun began to set, we headed back toward the water and the park. The kids wanted to play one more time.



Once it started to get dark, we coaxed the children from the park and crossed the street to our hotel. We settled into Mommy and Daddy’s bed to watch Green Lantern. (Yes, I know. Again, the wrong comic franchise.) Afterward, we put the kids to bed and settled in ourselves. Tomorrow was the big day. We were all SUPER excited!

Up next.....All Aboard!

 

[arielmomma]

On Friday, 8/26, I woke at about 6:30am to this amazing view from our bedroom window:



James woke up shortly after me. While the kids slept, we threw on our clothes from yesterday and went out to the pool area for a better look.



The morning was beautiful! The temperature was in the upper 50s/low 60s with a light breeze. Perfect in a sweater out on the pool deck. James and I stayed outside for a half hour or so enjoying the view then went back to our room to check on the kids. They woke shortly after our return anxious to walk down to the dock to getting a better look at the ship. Happy to oblige, we ate breakfast and headed out.



We certainly weren't the only ones who wanted a closer look at this beautiful lady. The dock was swarming with people and news crews reporting on the beginning of the fall cruise season in San Diego. This would be our 3rd cruise on the Wonder, but we were never able to get so close to her when we cruised out of Miami. It was a nice treat and pleasant way to spend our morning.

Once we got our fill, we cut back through the park and gave the kids a little play-time to wear off some of their excited energy. Then we headed back to our room to get cleaned up and ready for the day.

The hardest part of the day was waiting for our 12:30 PAT (port arrival time) to arrive. Jimmy and I took a few selfies to pass the time.



Finally, 12:30pm arrived and we headed back to the port. The hotel had a complimentary shuttle, but we preferred to walk. In case anyone is interested in the time difference between walking and taking the shuttle, a shuttle was finishing loading when we headed out with our three bags. We arrived at the port shortly before the shuttle. So, the time difference is negligible. Pick whichever option you prefer. It is a nice walk, though.

The line to drop off our luggage took about 15 minutes to get through then we headed into the port. The port itself certainly isn't the prettiest port we've been too. It's basically just a big warehouse, but its look didn't matter to us. It took us another twenty minutes to clear security and get our Key to the World cards. Then we got in line to board the Wonder.



We skipped the photo line so we got on pretty quickly. We decided to have ourselves announced as the Skywalker family. The CM who announced us laughed when we told her. We were greeted with loud cheers and mock lightsaber salutes. It was fun!

Once onboard we headed to Parrot Cay for lunch but were turned away because they were full. So, we headed to the alternate option:

 

[arielmomma]

Beach Blanket Buffet offered the typical DCL opening buffet fare - a nice selection of meats, salads, sandwich makings, and, of course, desserts. Here's what we chose:

This is my plate. The beef was actually for the children. They said it was good. The little chicken salad sandwiches, schnitzel, macaroni salad, and tomato salad were all delicious.



James' plate. He ate it all, so I assume it was good.



Emily's plate. She loved the macaroni salad and the cheesecake.



Jimmy's plates. He favored the chicken salad sandwiches (his favorite), the schnitzel, the carrot cake, the peach cobbler, and the cheesecake.

 

[arielmomma]

For the 1st time in our experience, DCL didn't give out navigators at the port so we headed to guest services to get a couple. While at guest services, I signed the kids up for the Coast to Coast Campout that would be taking place in the Oceaneer Lab/Club later in the cruise. I also found out that there would be no galley tours offered on this cruise. This made me a tad bummed, but there were so many other things to do on the cruise that I didn’t miss it. BTW, I learned about both the campout and the galley tours from previous trip reports on this site. Thank you to those of you who took the time to share! All of the information really added to our enjoyment of this and all of our cruises.

Here is the 1st navigator:

 

[arielmomma]

By the time we finished lunch, our cabin was ready. We booked an 11B IGT. After weeks of checking daily, our cabin was assigned seven days before the cruise. We received a sideways 11B cabin #5509. We definitely preferred the sideways room. Because you entered into the living area rather than a narrow hallway, it definitely felt bigger. Plus, we were able to store the table by the bathroom, which gave us more room to walk around.

We were a tad concerned about being this high and forward, though. James suffers from occasional sea sickness. So, we’ve always followed the advice of staying low and inside at the center of the ship near the fulcrum to minimalize movement. This has worked well for him in the past. However, because we booked this last minute, we didn’t get any say as to where we would end up. So, James started taking Bonine and hoped for the best. In the end, while yes, 5th floor forward was definitely rockier than the 2nd floor, it was manageable.

Here is our cabin:


While we were in the room, our 1st bag appeared outside the door. They appeared one at a time throughout the afternoon. The last one arrived just before dinner.

We brought our first bag inside then headed to the kids’ clubs to finish getting Jimmy and Emily signed up. We registered them online, but we needed to get their wristbands for the Oceaneer Club/Lab and Jimmy needed to get a sticker on his Key to the World Card for the Edge.

 

[arielmomma]

Here are some photos from the clubs, though they won’t look like this anymore the next time anyone cruises on the Wonder:

Oceaneer Club

 

[arielmomma]

Oceaneer Lab

The Edge.
Here it is on Deck 2. After drydock, the Edge will be on Deck 9 in place of Quartermaster’s Arcade.


James and Jimmy took in a quick game of chess.

 

[arielmomma]

We left The Edge in order to make the muster drill. We were to meet at station G, which was outside on Deck 4. While we waited, we spoke with a woman who had asked the staff of the Oceaneer Club how many children were onboard. The CM told her there were only 150 kids between the ages of 6 months and 17 years onboard. Wow! That’s less than I’d read in previous trip reports. It turned out to be a great thing. My kids received plenty of personalized attention throughout the cruise. Plus, you wouldn’t believe how much quieter the hallways and pool decks were!



After the muster drill, we headed to deck 9 to get a drink from the beverage station and then up to deck 10 to watch the Sail Away Party. Low and behold, but whose is the first voice we hear at the start of the party -- Brett. Brett has been our adult entertainment host for every cruise we’ve been on regardless of which ship we’ve sailed on. We’ve spent so much time together that despite this only being our fifth cruise, he recognized our entire family by name. We think he’s stalking us.




After the Sail Away Party, we had a celebrity siting. We had to pause and get a quick picture with the famous Golden Mickey.