20051123 - November 23, 2005 Thanksgiving Wonder Cruise

[thegales]

It is time to get this thread started!

I surprised my family with this cruise on Christmas, so I can now talk about it. There are four of us: myself, DW, DD9 and DD7.

The Ports of call:
Day 1 Depart Port Canaveral (Wednesday)
Day 2 Castaway Cay (Thursday)
Day 3 Nassau (Friday)
Day 4 Day at Sea (Saturday)
Day 5 Return to Port Canaveral (Sunday)

For those paying attention, you will notice that the Wonder switched the three and four day cruises for this week. And normally the four day has Nassau, CC, day at sea. However, that would put the Magic and Wonder both at CC on Friday, so they reversed the ports of call. I think Thanksgiving at Castaway Cay will be fun.

Anyone else spending Thanksgiving 2005 on Castaway Cay?

 

[genmasjoy]

Hello Gales, I bet your family were very happy with their Christmas gift of a Thanksgiving cruise on the Wonder. I like to do that too, this year I gave my DH a three day, two night package at Universal Studios for MLK weekend 2005, including the Portofino Bay Hotel. Anyway, today I booked us on the Wonder for Thanksgiving. You are right, Thanksgiving on Castaway Cay sounds idyllic. Have you cruised on the Disney Cruise Line before? I took the one week cruise back in 2000 and a 4 night in 2002 and just love it. I am glad you have a countdown clock....330 days sounds not TOO far off!

 

[hpscole]

Hello fellow cruisers,
We are cruising for the first time with DCL, November 26,2005. Excited to see the ship all done for the holidays. I have lots of research to do here so any helpful tips would be great! We are in a Category 4 room but I am thinking about going to the 3 Category because of the 2 bathrooms. I am going with DH, DS7, DS3, and my Mom. We are all in one room so I think the 3 would be better. Any advice?
Ok...how do I post my countdown????
Looking forward to replies!
HOLLY :jumping4: :jumping4:

 

[genmasjoy]

Hi, We are in a category six, but it's just DH and myself. If you can move up a category and get another bathroom, it's probably a good idea!

 

[BethC1952]

DH and I will be there! We'll be on our fifth cruise on Wonder, with our sixth already scheduled...for 11/27/2005! Yes, that's back-to-back four-nights! We're just two adults this time, leaving DS 30 and DDIL 25 and DGD 5 at home.

We'll be at WDW for two nights before (probably AKL) and for three nights after (probably WL) but we may change that and just stay at Pop Century both times and spend the extra money on the ship!

We're booked in a Cat. 10 room (2601). We've usually cruised in Cat. 11, but in December we tried a Cat. 7. The verandah was nice, but what we really loved was the split bath! This way, we aren't in each other's way when we're getting ready (and it seems to take us a lot of "getting ready" time to be ready to face the world these days!)

Beth

 

[thegales]

Hey BethC1952,
That is cool - back to back 4 day Wonder cruises. We had looked at doing back to back Wonder while the Magic was in California, but nothing worked out.

I wonder if yours is the first eight day cruise someone has taken? Does the second cruise end with Castaway Cay? First and last day of a cruise at Castaway Cay!

I miss the Countdown timers. I need to know how many more days!

 

[BethC1952]

Castaway Cay should be the third day of our second cruise. That works for me...two visits to CC in less than a week! I can handle it!

I don't know if anyone's done 8 nights before. I can't figure out if there have been other back-to-back four nights. I guess we'll have to find out. Maybe I'm making history? Maybe for that I should be upgraded to one of the suites, right? Then we could each have our own bathroom instead of just the split bath!

Beth

 

[BethC1952]

I'm going to bump this every Sunday until the rest of our fellow Thanksgiving cruisers decide to identify themselves! I know, we haven't even had Easter yet, but some of you must have booked this cruise already!

Beth

 

[thegales]

I'm going to bump this every Sunday until the rest of our fellow Thanksgiving cruisers decide to identify themselves!

LOL If you are going to do this, and since we don't have countdown timers any more, I think we need to do a manual countdown.

Trip begins in 262 days! (Please feel free to check my math)


By the way, we will be neighbors. We are in 2608.

 

[BethC1952]

I'm working on trying to set up a countdown timer on my computer and my Palm Pilot. If I can make it work, I'm going to change my signature every day so that the correct number of days will show.

As I've posted previously, we're adding a day or two before and a couple of days after, but the resorts will probably change, since DH just decided to surprise me with a long weekend at Wilderness Lodge for my birthday in May! (Of course, he's coming too!) I'll be adding another "pseudo-countdown" to my signature as soon as I settle the details for that trip.

Hopefully, we'll get to meet on the ship!

Beth

 

[thegales]

I just looked at DCL's website. Main seating is completely booked, so the ship is at least half full. No category 4, 8 or 9. Category 5 looks to only be available Forward or Aft. Category 6 is GTY only. I'm too lazy to look at the others.

So, we know there are others out there who have booked the Thanksgiving Wonder. Come, introduce yourselves.

37 weeks from today we will be boarding!!

 

[BethC1952]

On my way to work each morning, I can see the ocean. I was thinking the same thing this morning as I slogged through melting snow and slipped on the ice...in 37 weeks I will be on top of that water (well, more than a thousand miles south of here, but still the same ocean!), sailing into what will hopefully be lovely, warm weather!

DH surprised me last week with a birthday trip to WDW, so at least I don't have to wait eight months to get my Disney fix...it's only eight weeks!

Beth

 

[BethC1952]

Doing the "weekly bump"!

I know I said I'd do it on Sundays, but this way, people who only read the boards on the weekend (can you imagine such a thing? ) will see this.

We know that main dining is full, so where is everybody? Don't be shy!

Beth

 

[glindamood]

Count us in please! There will be 20 of us on a family reunion! This will be my second cruise on the Wonder and have cruised on the Magic 4 times. DCL is the best!

 

[BethC1952]

20 of you! WOW!! I planned a trip two years ago for nine of us, and it was quite a challenge!

These will be cruises 5 and 6 for us, all on Wonder. We've never cruised on any other line, and we're in the early planning stages of a late 2006 cruise on Magic for 12 people...10 of them in wheelchairs! That's taking an awful lot of organizing, and they're "volunteered" me to do the "leg work" as they put it.

Beth

 

[glindamood]

DSIL booked the cruise for us all so we are all linked for dinner etc. and our rooms are all in a row - very cool! We were already booked on the Magic for December so we are just going twice!

 

[thegales]

glindamood, any DD9 or DD7 going? Our DD's had fun corresponding with other girls before the cruise. It was also fun watching them interact whenever they saw each other on board.

 

[glindamood]

Our youngest is 18 months but the second youngest will be 15 by the time we sail. Our party is DGM, her 3 DS's and DD plus spouses (I am one of the spouses), our children, spouses for some of them and a daughter to one of those couples. Confused??? I am really looking forward to this trip as well as my trip on the Magic just a few short weeks after the Wonder.

Happy St. Patrick's day to everyone!

 

[BethC1952]

Weekly bump time!

Beth

 

[genmasjoy]

Hi, Glad to see we have a few more on this thread. My dh and I are taking a cruise in April on Celebrity, so I have been mostly focused on that trip. Once it's over, we will be starting to get excited about the Wonder. I sailed on the Magic on a 7 day cruise over Thanksgiving in 2000, and really enjoyed it. What a nice treat to have someone other than me doing the holiday cooking!