3 Day Wonder 10/16/08 with lots of pics and some advice

[brucechase]

This is my first try at a trip report of any kind. I actually spent most of the week back writing it offlline and hoping it pastes well into the boards. I will summarize my feelings and advice at the end (in case you don't want to read that part).

I will try to post it in parts over the next couple of days.

 

[brucechase]

Since this is our first ever cruise, I thought I would detail the trip from start to finish. There should be lots of pictures, good and bad things, and things I would do differently listed here. I am actually starting the trip report with 3 weeks to go because I am already packed and ready.

I guess I should start at the beginning. I booked the cruise on May 22, 2008 for our family on a 3 day Wonder cruise for October 16, 2008.

Since the cruise fell on the kid’s school fall break, I could do this without fear of them falling behind. There originally were 4 of us going, but my wife did invite her mother along. There was some hesitation on her part since I had just booked a Cat 11 and there were no windows or verandah. She finally said yes and I cancelled the Cat 11 and got 2 Cat 12 GTY. Now the cast of characters is me(43), my wife, Carolyn (41), MIL, Martha (65), DD, Victoria (11), and DD Erica (9). We asked for early dining but they put us in second seating. I received $25 each room on board credit (OBC) when I booked with the Travel Agent (TA) When I paid the balance in full later with my Disney Visa, I received an additional $50 OBC per room. That meant $150 for fun, fun, and more fun! In addition, I started charging everything on my Disney Visa and even signed up for a 5X promotion for Disney Reward Dollars (DRD). The bonus to this promotion is they credited my account with the additional DRD in Aug instead of Nov like they said. I think that was because I hit the maximum rewards available. I was to find out that this is beginning of many unexpected “BONUSES”.

Now, it started the months of waiting and reading all about cruising on the Disboards, making magnets, doing the meet thread, and planning the Fish Extender (FE).

For our big FE gift, I decided to do a personalized water bottle for each person. Now this meant about 36 water bottles would have to be brought on.

This was up to this point the most painful part of this whole ordeal. I read many trip reports about the fun everyone was having and just wondering when it would be our turn. Would everything work out as well as everyone else’s trip? Would we be treated anywhere near how well others said they were treated? To all those wanting the answer right away, everything turned out great!

We applied for passports for everyone on June 6, and received them in the mail 9 days later! Wow, I thought it would take weeks. This will be the first of many exciting FIRSTS for our family.

I also found out that a friend at work had heard me talking about it so much that he signed up for the same cruise. He had been on a Disney cruise before, but that was right before his 1 year tour in Iraq. He now wanted a relaxing time with his family. He never did get around to giving me his reservation number so we could link up for dinner. I figured with a ship this size we might never see him, but as you will read later, he was actually our table mate.

 

[brucechase]

On August 6, I logged into the DCL site and saw that we are now in Main seating. It never bothered me as to which seating to have, but the wife and MIL really wanted main seating. I’m not one to care when I get fed, as long as I get fed. My goal is to try as much of their food as I could. Maybe I should start to lose some weight now so I will have clothes to fit in when I get back. With so many choices of restaurants available, I figured we could make do any way that we can. Reflecting back, I don’t think it would have made much difference with either dining. The benefit for early dining for us is the cruise was short and that time matched our normal dining hour. The bad part is on the Nassau day, we had to be back early to make Parrot Cay. The ship didn’t leave port until 7:00pm on this day.

The 1 month ticker has sounded. Today is Sept 16 and our cruise 30 days away. Now should be the day to find out room assignments – according to everyone on the Disboard. I got up early (4:30 am) and checked, but was disappointed to find no change. I must have checked the website 20 times that morning and still saw no changed. Then at 10:30 am, something was different. YES!!!! There was a room number in the cabin number space. I little disappointment because it still said cat 12. I went to the stateroom link and looked up the room number and found that it was actually a Cat 9!! Now the MIL will be very happy that she can have a window instead of looking at me. Looking at the second reservation, I saw that it was right beside us. WOW!! Then I noticed that I was in a connecting room and the other room was on the other side. I called DCL and asked if they could switch. Come to find out, my friend was in the connecting room. DCL went ahead and swapped his room for my second room and now I have 2 connecting rooms! Might not be the best for some alone time with the wife (I was going to let both kids sleep in the same room as grandma), but this worked out much better than I had anticipated. This was a BONUS on top of a BONUS.

I helped time go by reading the Disboards and making magnets. After a few, I saw where someone said HomeDepot had paint chips in the shape of Mickey’s head. I thought I would peel a few and put a small magnet on the back.

These worked out great! I also personalize a Mickey head with everyone’s name to give out on the FE exchange. The only thing I would do differently here is to make more. There was a little boy across the hall who fell in love with these. I gave him about 5 different color Mickey heads and a couple of others. There were plenty of little children that I gave some to. By the end, I only had a few left, maybe 10 out of the 70 that I made. I would have gladly given out much more if I had them. So if you are going to make a simple magnet like this, make a lot more and give out to kids that walk by. It will definitely make their day.

We also decided at the last minute to make a couple of pillowcases for the girls to have signed by the character. We made iron-ons for each with their name and sailing date. We bought fabric markers and packed this all up in a gallon ziplock bag with a could of small bags of M&Ms for Mickey to munch on while signing.

 

[mommylovesdisneymore]

Wow great report can't wait to hear more but I will be leaving for the Wonder myself Wed. So hopefully I can read more before I leave!! Love the water bottles too.

 

[ctalley]

Yeah! More trip reports from the Wonder! We sail on the Wonder in December. It will be our DDs (8 &10) first cruise. I was able to reserve a SPH room for us. I did not think anyone else would be sailing with us. My MIL and FIL jumped at the chance to go on a cruise. They were not able to reserve a SPH room. However, they did get a room next to us. I have felt bad that I did not wait and try and get connecting rooms. It might end up being a good thing.

I am looking forward to hearing about your cruise.

 

[brucechase]

The drive to Florida was mostly uneventful. It was just 7 hours of anticipation and unrestrained energy in a small car. Thankfully the DVD player came in handy. We had reservations at the Radisson for a small 2 bed standard room. I had hoped for an upgrade (DCL has now spoiled me), but it didn’t happen. That left one of us on the roll-a-way. Since the MIL didn’t want to get kicked by any of the kids, she wanted the roll-a-way. The hotel is pretty nice, and I especially liked the ceiling fan in the room. The only thing that I would improve there is the pool (believe it or not). Even though it was big enough for Shamu (or should I say Bruce, the shark), it was dated and lacked a slide; although it might have had one in a time past. None of these things would keep me from staying there in the future, though. As soon as we arrived, the kids were begging to go swimming. A quick change into swim clothes and we were off to the pool. First thing there we met a family from the DISboards. At that time, Carolyn and her mother wanted to go do some shopping, so they left for Walmart while we had fun. By now a second DISboards family had joined us and all the kids got along great. Dinner time was fast approaching by the time my wife got back from shopping. While there, she picked up matching Disney shirts for us to wear on the first day. This was great since we never got a chance to make a shirt like we planned. Dinner consisted of some hot subs from Subway next door. This was perfect since the water felt like it was a just above freezing. Later that night, I made a quick trip to the local Dunkin donuts for some donut anti-holes (just to explain, the hole is actually in the donut so these Munchkins must be anti-holes). It was perfect to hold us over until we could eat on the ship.

 

[brucechase]

The next morning couldn’t arrive fast enough. We had the 10:00 shuttle so we could enjoy every minute of the trip. It was only a 10 minute drive to the terminal and using the shuttle was a great tip from the Boards. I never was nervous leaving our vehicle in the hotel parking lot. I would definitely suggest this for anyone who is staying the night before the cruise.

Arriving at the port just brought more excitement. I sure the driver is used to the hoots and hollering, but I did feel sorry for him. Next time I won’t scream quite so loud. The ship was huge. I have never been close to a cruise ship before, just seen them on the television. You definitely feel small when you pull up to this thing. After being dropped off, we walked right up to the security check-in, showed out passport and off we went. We were probably the 3rd or 4th family up the escalator so the place was empty.

Waiting to get onboard
I’ve read a few suggest to wait until closer to boarding time so you won’t waste time sitting in the terminal, but for us, this was the best way to start the cruise. We did get the coveted 2 boarding pass.

This is the highest that non-suite cruisers can get. The next several hours flew by.

We also saw a family from Victoria’s school, so our oldest had an immediate friend. Since we were all on a fall break, it was the perfect time to try out a cruise. We were able to check our kids in the kids club and get the pager right away. As soon as we finished, who would walk by but Mickey Mouse. We had to have a family boarding picture with him – and our matching shirts.

On the way back to the seats, everyone wanted this great lanyard. These things are actually great to have, but I would suggest that you wait until you get on the ship and purchase at guest services because they were less expensive on the ship. The next thing I noticed is that Mickey was gone and Goofy was there for the pictures. I would never pass up an opportunity to get a picture with a long lost twin brother.

In what seems like only minutes, but was actually noon, they announced the honorary first family to board followed by all the 1 cards. Minutes later it was our turn to walk through those ears to board the ship.

Once up the gangplank, we were asked our family name and if we’ve cruised before. Then into the atrium and our name was called followed by applause.

The feeling was like we were royalty. We were directed to Parrot Cay for lunch, but once there I asked if we could go to Beach Blanket Buffet. Of course they directed to deck 9 for the start of some great food.

After stuffing ourselves with lunch, we wanted to tour the ship before it got crowded. Everywhere we went we were in awe. Everything was clean, neat and just begging for us to try it out. We played around a little while exploring only part of this magnificent ship.

 

[mommylovesdisneymore]

Awesome pics.

 

[ohanaMAMA]

more more more!!!

 

[Miscoehill]

Yes, more, more, more! Great TR!

 

[lawhit88]

Great report so far - love the pics. Your photos remind me of my trips - not much proof that I actually went because I am the one with the camera

 

[2beaprincess]

More More More!!! Love the report so far!

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

Great start!

My family and I got off the Wonder a couple hours before you reached the terminal. I hope we left it in good shape for you!

Congrats on the rooms! What a great set up.

 

[SunnyBunny08]

Can't wait to read and see more!!! I'm still trying to brainstorm some gift ideas for our fish extender exchange....love the magnet ideas!

We leave in a month and a week on the Wonder...our first DCL cruise.

 

[brucechase]

Can't wait to read and see more!!! I'm still trying to brainstorm some gift ideas for our fish extender exchange....love the magnet ideas!

We leave in a month and a week on the Wonder...our first DCL cruise.

If you make magnets, there will be plenty of kids who see them and would love to have some. If you can make a few extra for some of the non-Disers out there, you will be a hero in lots of kids eyes. Getting the magnetic tape and laminating the paper worked out great and was inexpensive.

 

[brucechase]

Great start!

My family and I got off the Wonder a couple hours before you reached the terminal. I hope we left it in good shape for you!

Congrats on the rooms! What a great set up.

It was perfect! Did you have the connecting rooms or did you go for a suite?

Oh, I see you have a trip report going too. I was the police-man in the YMCA show. It definately wasn't my singing or dancing that got me picked (or maybe it was).

 

[brucechase]

The room
At about 1:45, we walked by deck 2 and notice that the ropes were no longer up and we could go to our rooms.

The luggage hadn’t arrived yet so we could check out our room easily. There was the welcome note along with our Navigator for the plan of the day.

A Cat 9 room is very nice and the split bathroom came in handy on more than 1 occasion.

In addition, since we had connecting rooms, we opened the door between the 2 rooms and now had a large suite. The only down part is the doors did take up a lot of the walking path to the back of the room. I did bring bungee cords, but there were not needed and there was really no place to tie them off to either.

It was after 2:00 and the kids wanted to go swimming and Carolyn wanted to go to the Nassau shopping presentation. I wanted to go to Guest Services to put my Disney Reward Dollars on the account and pre-pay tips. The plan was to have the kids swim for 30 minutes and then everyone go to the Nassau shopping thing where I would meet them. When I gave my reward card to the CM, he said that the amount on it was only $25. This was bad because there should have been $285. He was nice enough to call Chase and let me try to straighten this out. This actually was the third time I’ve talk to them about this problem. After 45 minutes on the phone and talking to several supervisors, I finally got the correct credit on the card. Chase almost made a mess out of this. I also asked about a tour of the ship’s engine room and of course was told no. But when I explained that I was a nerdy engineer, the CM took my name and said that if there was time, he would have the ship’s electrical engineer call me and answer any questions I had. Lastly I tried to pre-pay the tips and the CM asked that I wait until I get the tip sheet and fill it out. I reluctantly agreed and off I went to find the shopping talk.





Shopping in Nassau Presentation
If you are someone who plans on buying jewelry while on the island, you must at least attend this talk once. I arrived at the end but learned enough to know that that had some beautiful stuff that started at prices close to 1 person’s cruise price. As soon as I got there, my wife got some Tortuga Rum cakes (chocolate and key lime) from a raffle. Then there was a drawing for a $500 diamond and sapphire necklace. When the number was called out, it was the mother-in-law’s number. The scream my wife let out scared the entire hall! By now the announcements started coming for the impending drill.





Muster
We all went back to the room to get our stylish and fashionable orange vests. Once on, we had to take the family photo and then go to our muster station.

The crew did an excellent job keeping us all entertained. Come to find out it was because someone felt like they didn’t have to participate and we all had to wait for them. Now another great hint is when they say that everyone must participate, that does mean everyone. This last person finally comes in but still complained about putting on the vest. Of course the wonderful crew member insisted that she wear it and then we could all be released.

 

[brucechase]

Adventures Away
On the way back to the room, we noticed that our luggage had arrived. We didn’t have much time to do anything because we were supposed to do a DISboard family meet before the Sail Away party. Unfortunately we never did make it there for that. After putting up our vests, we ran up to deck 9 to officially begin our cruise.

Now I am basically a shy person but I couldn’t resist getting out there dancing and singing. It wasn’t long before my crackling voice and 2 left feet attracted the attention of some CM.
Try to link to my dancing video

http://s472.photobucket.com/albums/rr87/bgchase1/?action=view&current=MVI_1244.flv

They asked me if I would go on stage and do the YMCA. How could I say no and deny the entire ship of the chance to see why I went to engineering school and not drama school.

Second one from the left

Another suggestion is for everyone to get out there and dance and sing to start off their vacation. If I can do it, then anyone can do it. Not long after making a fool of myself did we all hear those 7 magical notes. Just thinking about them still gives me goose bumps. We went to deck 10 to watch as we sailed out of the port. On the way we could see all kinds of Mickey Mouse hands waving at us from different places on the shore.

Within minutes we cleared the beach and again heard those 7 notes blasting on the ship’s horns.

For all those that have been, you know what it sounds like and for anyone who has yet to be on a Disney cruise, it’s hard to explain, but you will remember the feeling the first time you hear it.

 

[brucechase]

First Dinner
By now it was getting late and we had early dinner seat (Main dining). By the time we got back to our room, there really wasn’t enough time for us all to change into different clothes so it was off to the Animator’s Pallet with on shorts and t-shirts. My wife and my youngest daughter have had a history of motion sickness so we had brought stuff with us (Bonine, sea bands, ginger, and the patch), but we didn’t have a chance to use them yet. I was a little worried since the boat had a definite rocking motion that you could feel. The dinner was good and afterwards we had to make some time for the Golden Mickeys.

The only thing about the meal was my wife said the Fillet Mignon was a little tough. That was alright, we made up for it with the deserts.

Our 2 girls ordered the Mickey Mouse ice cream bar and I got the best desert of the cruise. After woofing down her ice cream, our oldest could not wait to go to the Oceaneer’s club, and our youngest went also, but with some prodding by her big sister.

Our wonderful server also made me a beautiful flower to give to my wife.

We took this time to walk around the ship to find more hidden surprises.

We all decided to meet back at the room at 8:00 so we could go to the Golden Mickeys together.

We all walked up to the theater but my youngest was still feeling a little queasy. I ran back to the room to get some of the kids Bonine that we brought with us. After giving her a couple of these, she felt so much better. I will remember next time to start these right away. The show was great and leaving there showed us just how tiring this first day could be. By now it was after 9:30 and my oldest wanted to go back to the club but my youngest just wanted to relax in the room. She had been begging to order room service since June and I thought she would now take the time to order something. Unfortunately, she wasn’t up to eating anything and fell asleep on the bed. We took this time to make our first FE (fish extender) gift giving run. We had made little bags with a couple of things in it to give to each person. It took close to an hour since we had no idea of what we were doing. This got easier later. We actually had a different gift for every night. We wanted to do the “How well do you know your mate” show but by the time we got up there it was too late. We did stay and watch it and realized that if we had been picked to participate, we could have won. I’m not sure if that was because we knew each other well or because it’s easy to play when you are sitting in the audience. I guess we’ll have to find out another time. Close to midnight our oldest daughter walks in the room telling us how great everything was. It didn’t take long for us all to fall asleep.

 

[mommylovesdisneymore]

Awesome can't wait for more!!!