"All I Ask Is A Tall Ship"
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me - Disney Husband/Father, Disney Commando - Twice Decorated. Disney Codename: DOPEY
Disney Wife/Mom - Beautiful, patient, loving. Disney Codename: CINDERELLA
Disney Son - 9 years old. Roller-Coaster Ranger. Disney Codename: GOOFY
I spent months planning this cruise. I put up maps of the Atlantic on the wall along with photos of the Wonder and a calendar. My wife thought that I was going a little overboard.
"Dear, this is a family cruise, not the Normandy Invasion."
She scaled me back to one binder. I did tab it with colored tabs, though.
We turned in our rental car and called Happy Limo for final coordination for our pickup. Happy Limo was great to work with. They sent us two confirmation notices and were always friendly and helpful. Ron arrived about 10 minutes later with a beautiful black stretch limo that was only two months old. We were on our way to the Wonder! The limo had two TVs and a cool light show in the interior.
We were soon at Port Canaveral in a pouring rain. The clouds were so low that you couldn't see the ship. Ron let us off at the drop-off point across the street from the Disney terminal. We put on our 89 cent rain jackets and ran to the terminal. We arrived at about 10:50am and there were already quite a few people going through security. The security people were fast and efficient and we were soon on the escalators to the main floor. What a beautiful room! Cool blue with a wavy glass ceiling. Two CMs immediately grabbed us and went through our documents to make sure we had everything ready. I noticed that several people were already in line to get on the ship. A nice lady waved us over to her counter and we finished all of the paperwork. We went and sat on one of the couches and watched some old Disney cartoons. One of the documents said that we were boarding one hour earlier at noon. The line was fairly long by noon so I didn't see exactly when they started boarding. It was a fairly quick process and we were soon going through the ears and across the gangway. Our friends boarded ahead of us and videotaped us walking onto the Wonder. The tape clearly shows our jaws dropping as we entered the atrium on Deck 3.
We went to Parrot Cay for our welcoming buffet. What a beautiful room! The buffet was tremendous! We ate and did some looking around until 1:30pm when we could go to our cabin. We had a category six cabin on Deck 6. We met Ajay, our Room Steward. He did a tremendous job. He is one of the hardest working people I've ever met. We walked onto our verandah and looked out over the port. The rain had stopped and the clouds were lifting. We loved our verandah. I know that there's a lot of discussion about the verandahs, and I'm strongly for getting a cabin with one. It is a tremendous feeling to stand on your verandah at night and look out at the dark sea with another ship's lights twinkling in the distance.
We checked our son into the Oceaneer's Lab and received our beeper so that he could page us. We took our son out to the swimming pools and let him swim. The kids pool is really clever and fun to see.
We went to our mandatory life boat drill at 4:00pm. Our lifeboat boss was the same guy who plays Hades in the Hercules show. He was a lot of fun as well as being extremely talented. We went to Deck 10 to save a place for the Sail-Away Celebration. We ordered the drink-of-the-day. I think it was called "Something Cold and Fruity". I think that was the name for every drink-of-the-day. I got up to throw away a napkin and came back to our table to find a Japanese lady grabbing my chair. I grabbed it too, but she must have known Chair-Jitsu or some other fancy martial art because she soon had the chair and plunked her daughter into it and slammed it against the rail in one smooth and quick motion. What could I do? I gave her a bow to acknowledge her superior skills and backed-away smiling.
The Celebration was a blast and our 9-year-old son was boogeying like crazy. The horn blew and we were on our way! I have a little problem with motion sickness, but I was never seasick throughout the entire trip. Not even in the 13 foot waves on our last night. After a few of those Cold and Fruity drinks, you feel like you can sail a toaster on a tidal-wave singing "It's a small world after all!!!"
We went back to our room to change for dinner. Our dining rotation was Animators Pallette-Parrot Cay-Tritons-Animators Pallette. We had the 6:00pm seating. We met our servers for the cruise. Trevis was our Head Server and Anthony was our Assistant Server. They treated us like royalty. I don't remember everything I ate during the cruise. All I will tell you is "Wow!" I thought that the show at dinner was clever.
We did some more exploring after dinner and I think we went to Shutters, the photo shop on the ship. We signed up for one of the packages. It was for 10 4 x 6 photos, I think. The nice thing is that you are credited back at the end of the cruise for any of the 10 photos that you don't use. So don't be afraid to sign up. We went to the 8:30pm showing of Hercules and it was great. They really have some great performers! They are serious about no flash-photography during the show, though. I had taken to carrying my camera with the loop around my wrist so that the camera was available for instant use. I was re-positioning myself in my seat during the show and accidentally hit the camera button and the flash went off. I got a strange photo of the guy's head in front of me (his bald-spot looked like Minnesota) and a CM gave me a slip of paper saying I had to appear before "The Captain's Mast" at 10pm. I guess that's some kind of sea-court thing. I showed up at Captain Henry's office right at 10 prepared to explain everything. He asked me if my flash went off during the show and I said "Well, technically...yes" and tried to explain the circumstances. He told me about the safety of the performers and courtesy to my fellow-cruisers and then said I was guilty and he'd decide my punishment. I thought, well, what's he going to do, give me a harsh scolding and no "seconds" on desserts? Well, um, he gave me, um,...a wedgie. And he must work out a lot because he's really strong. Pulled the old Fruit-Of-The-Looms clear up over the back of my head! I found out from a sailor friend that Captains really like the wedgie-punishment because then they can fly the special "Wedgie-Flag" on their ship. It's an easy flag to spot. It's white with a brown stripe down the middle. No flash photography during the shows.
We checked out some more of the ship after the show. I don't remember if we went to the shops before or after the show. Bring lots of money. They have lots of exclusive DCL merchandise. We bought lots of shirts. They do have a sale area and I found a shirt for 1/2 price. We went back to the room and ordered the cheese tray from room service. They delivered it quickly and it was good. I drifted off to sleep dreaming I was Captain Henry standing confidently on the bridge barking out orders. "Turn the steering-thingy so we can go to the left! Hit the brakes! Hoist the Wedgie-Flag! Bring me another Cold and Fruity drink!" Oh well, I guess that's why Captain Henry is the Captain and I'm just a landlubber.
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me - Disney Husband/Father, Disney Commando - Twice Decorated. Disney Codename: DOPEY
Disney Wife/Mom - Beautiful, patient, loving. Disney Codename: CINDERELLA
Disney Son - 9 years old. Roller-Coaster Ranger. Disney Codename: GOOFY
I spent months planning this cruise. I put up maps of the Atlantic on the wall along with photos of the Wonder and a calendar. My wife thought that I was going a little overboard.
"Dear, this is a family cruise, not the Normandy Invasion."
She scaled me back to one binder. I did tab it with colored tabs, though.
We turned in our rental car and called Happy Limo for final coordination for our pickup. Happy Limo was great to work with. They sent us two confirmation notices and were always friendly and helpful. Ron arrived about 10 minutes later with a beautiful black stretch limo that was only two months old. We were on our way to the Wonder! The limo had two TVs and a cool light show in the interior.
We were soon at Port Canaveral in a pouring rain. The clouds were so low that you couldn't see the ship. Ron let us off at the drop-off point across the street from the Disney terminal. We put on our 89 cent rain jackets and ran to the terminal. We arrived at about 10:50am and there were already quite a few people going through security. The security people were fast and efficient and we were soon on the escalators to the main floor. What a beautiful room! Cool blue with a wavy glass ceiling. Two CMs immediately grabbed us and went through our documents to make sure we had everything ready. I noticed that several people were already in line to get on the ship. A nice lady waved us over to her counter and we finished all of the paperwork. We went and sat on one of the couches and watched some old Disney cartoons. One of the documents said that we were boarding one hour earlier at noon. The line was fairly long by noon so I didn't see exactly when they started boarding. It was a fairly quick process and we were soon going through the ears and across the gangway. Our friends boarded ahead of us and videotaped us walking onto the Wonder. The tape clearly shows our jaws dropping as we entered the atrium on Deck 3.
We went to Parrot Cay for our welcoming buffet. What a beautiful room! The buffet was tremendous! We ate and did some looking around until 1:30pm when we could go to our cabin. We had a category six cabin on Deck 6. We met Ajay, our Room Steward. He did a tremendous job. He is one of the hardest working people I've ever met. We walked onto our verandah and looked out over the port. The rain had stopped and the clouds were lifting. We loved our verandah. I know that there's a lot of discussion about the verandahs, and I'm strongly for getting a cabin with one. It is a tremendous feeling to stand on your verandah at night and look out at the dark sea with another ship's lights twinkling in the distance.
We checked our son into the Oceaneer's Lab and received our beeper so that he could page us. We took our son out to the swimming pools and let him swim. The kids pool is really clever and fun to see.
We went to our mandatory life boat drill at 4:00pm. Our lifeboat boss was the same guy who plays Hades in the Hercules show. He was a lot of fun as well as being extremely talented. We went to Deck 10 to save a place for the Sail-Away Celebration. We ordered the drink-of-the-day. I think it was called "Something Cold and Fruity". I think that was the name for every drink-of-the-day. I got up to throw away a napkin and came back to our table to find a Japanese lady grabbing my chair. I grabbed it too, but she must have known Chair-Jitsu or some other fancy martial art because she soon had the chair and plunked her daughter into it and slammed it against the rail in one smooth and quick motion. What could I do? I gave her a bow to acknowledge her superior skills and backed-away smiling.
The Celebration was a blast and our 9-year-old son was boogeying like crazy. The horn blew and we were on our way! I have a little problem with motion sickness, but I was never seasick throughout the entire trip. Not even in the 13 foot waves on our last night. After a few of those Cold and Fruity drinks, you feel like you can sail a toaster on a tidal-wave singing "It's a small world after all!!!"
We went back to our room to change for dinner. Our dining rotation was Animators Pallette-Parrot Cay-Tritons-Animators Pallette. We had the 6:00pm seating. We met our servers for the cruise. Trevis was our Head Server and Anthony was our Assistant Server. They treated us like royalty. I don't remember everything I ate during the cruise. All I will tell you is "Wow!" I thought that the show at dinner was clever.
We did some more exploring after dinner and I think we went to Shutters, the photo shop on the ship. We signed up for one of the packages. It was for 10 4 x 6 photos, I think. The nice thing is that you are credited back at the end of the cruise for any of the 10 photos that you don't use. So don't be afraid to sign up. We went to the 8:30pm showing of Hercules and it was great. They really have some great performers! They are serious about no flash-photography during the show, though. I had taken to carrying my camera with the loop around my wrist so that the camera was available for instant use. I was re-positioning myself in my seat during the show and accidentally hit the camera button and the flash went off. I got a strange photo of the guy's head in front of me (his bald-spot looked like Minnesota) and a CM gave me a slip of paper saying I had to appear before "The Captain's Mast" at 10pm. I guess that's some kind of sea-court thing. I showed up at Captain Henry's office right at 10 prepared to explain everything. He asked me if my flash went off during the show and I said "Well, technically...yes" and tried to explain the circumstances. He told me about the safety of the performers and courtesy to my fellow-cruisers and then said I was guilty and he'd decide my punishment. I thought, well, what's he going to do, give me a harsh scolding and no "seconds" on desserts? Well, um, he gave me, um,...a wedgie. And he must work out a lot because he's really strong. Pulled the old Fruit-Of-The-Looms clear up over the back of my head! I found out from a sailor friend that Captains really like the wedgie-punishment because then they can fly the special "Wedgie-Flag" on their ship. It's an easy flag to spot. It's white with a brown stripe down the middle. No flash photography during the shows.
We checked out some more of the ship after the show. I don't remember if we went to the shops before or after the show. Bring lots of money. They have lots of exclusive DCL merchandise. We bought lots of shirts. They do have a sale area and I found a shirt for 1/2 price. We went back to the room and ordered the cheese tray from room service. They delivered it quickly and it was good. I drifted off to sleep dreaming I was Captain Henry standing confidently on the bridge barking out orders. "Turn the steering-thingy so we can go to the left! Hit the brakes! Hoist the Wedgie-Flag! Bring me another Cold and Fruity drink!" Oh well, I guess that's why Captain Henry is the Captain and I'm just a landlubber.
