3 Night Wish - Oct 14 2022 - Completed

[ukintheus]

I think those bird glasses were different when we were on in Sept. They didn’t have the long legs . I could be wrong but I do know the bartender said they didn’t have many left people walked off with them.

I was a bit nervous of knocking it over as the legs were thin compared to the actual glass part. I never think about taking anything like that as a "souvenir".

What is with places and lipstick on glasses lately! Seems like everywhere I go since the beginning of the year it happens and it’s a toss up in terms of reaction.


All this food looks divine and my diet is going to go right out a ding dang window (I’ve lost 14 pounds since the beginning of the year-thankfully the land portion of our trip is after the cruise so I can walk that all off).

It's not very pleasant to have someone else's lipstick on a glass that's for sure, and while it's not the end of the world, we weren't exactly in a dive bar somewhere asking for a cocktail Those suckers were somewhere between $15 and $20 and it was more the reaction of the server, who really wasn't even planning on bringing clean glass!

We thought the food was good overall so pack your stretchy pants for your cruise!

 

[ukintheus]

Sunday, October 16th – Castaway Cay​

I'll start with the bad for today, and that was that flippin' mouse with the hammer that was busy again off and on all night. This time both of us were awake several times in the night with what sounded like someone banging on a pipe somewhere. It would go for a few minutes and then stop for 20-30 minutes and then start up again for a few minutes. It was random and it was definitely loud enough that it would wake us up when it was happening. We did go down to GS that morning before leaving the ship to at least make them aware of it. I suppose I don't really know what I expected them to do about it, but they said there wasn't any maintenance being done so they didn't know what could be causing it. Their answer was for us to call maintenance in the night while it was going on and they would come and check it out. Ummm....yeah, so we were not super motivated to spend the last night of our cruise trying to assist DCL by spending half the night awake and with them in our cabin. Call me crazy, but didn't sound appealing.

Getting back to the good for today. We slept in a bit this morning and we were already docking by the time I pulled myself out of bed to take some photos.





The weather looked like it was going to be awesome and so we decided to get the day rolling with some room service while we got ready.



Such a great way to start the day, sitting on your backside enjoying the view while someone else does all the work of breakfast.



We had been patiently waiting to try the AquaMouse and decided to hit that up first thing after breakfast. We got there about 10:15 am and there were a few people in line ahead of us.



They were still running the morning tests but the CM told us it should just be a few minutes. About 20 minutes later he announced that they had issues and that we should probably go and find a comfy place to hang out until they got it up and running so we took a walk around and got some photos of the ever-beautiful island.



The moon was still out and it looked really cool against the bright blue sky. I'm shocked but pleasantly surprised that this photo came out as well as it did.





We parked ourselves in the shade around the other side of the ship from the AquaMouse but we could see the tube from our seat so we could see when they were running water through it.



The water trikes looked like a lot of work, these people were all over by the breaker and I wondered how difficult it would be to get yourself all the way back to the beach. Too much like work for me, and I imagine it's fairly warm as you aren't actually in the water.



By now it was almost 11:15 am and we were starting to get bored with waiting. They would run water and then stop it and there were no rafts going down it. Plus the bars weren't open.



This CM gave us something to watch as he was trying to scoop what appeared to be a huge amount of water out of this trash can. It was taking him forever, and he kept radioing (I assume to get help) before going back to bailing out the trash can. We ended up asking him why it had so much water in it and he said because the design of the ship has water pouring off the area above when it rains and it all goes into this trash can because of the placement of it. I think I'd rather deal with a mouse with a hammer than have to have his job of bailing out nasty water that the trash is all now floating in. Poor guy!!



The banana boat excursion came back and it was now 11:30 am.



We decided to give up waiting for the ride to open, and we weren't able to experience it this trip, despite giving it a good old try! We hit up Goofy's Grill to see how the chicken tenders were. We've found it to be a bit hit and miss but these were really good.



And I got my first (and last) ice cream of the cruise.



We took our time working our way down to Deck 1 and got even more photos of the atrium.











The cute slide that goes down to the kid's clubs. Much easier to get photos today.



We worked our way forward.



Someone was getting married in The Bayou. I think it was someone from our cruise group but we didn't want it to look like we were gate crashing.



Finally got to the front! Time to head to the island as it was just gone noon and we had beverages to find!!

 

[ukintheus]

Scott wanted to get some photos of the ship and he got a couple of good ones. The day was warming up but there was a nice breeze. The ship seemed really long, but maybe because we have been on the Classics much more than the Dream class.





The art work on the back of the ship is always cool to see. They do a good job making sure they stay shiny and bright.





Proof we actually did something today other than our typical sitting about.





But then we promptly got on the tram and let them drive us rather than walk.



A quick change of tram at the tram stop to get us to our final destination of Serenity Bay.



Ahhh....Castaway Air bar deck. How we have missed you!



We got our drinks, Blue Moon for him (obviously) but...what am I drinking??? Any guesses?? To be honest, even now looking at it, it's still strange to me that this was a Konk Cooler. They served it on ice and didn't blend it, he even shook it in a cocktail shaker! I decided to give it a try, but, alas, that mixture over ice rather than blended with ice is just a big fat nope for me. So much anticipation. So much disappointment.



We hung out for a while. There were quite a few people from the UK there and one guy I spoke to was from Essex, but not associated with the family of the day. The beach is still really narrow at Serenity Bay with a steep ledge of sand that they have the chairs on. It's nowhere near as inviting to hang out as it used to be.



It was 1:15 pm and we took a look at the BBQ to see what they had to offer. Neither of us were hungry and yet we still managed to shovel in some food.



We caught the next tram down to Pelican Point and ambled over to the Heads Up bar. They were about to have some sort of tasting so there were a few people there. I wish when the activities open up for booking you could see ahead of time where the tastings are going to be held as it's nice to have it on the island, but I don't want to commit to something that may have me heading back to the ship early. Maybe they are always on the island if it's in the afternoon and I just haven't figured that out.



Ahhh....now that's much better. Konk Cooler as it should be.



There were quite a few people snorkeling and we got a seat with a view.



We didn't hang out too long though. It was warm and we had seen enough to feel happy that we had set foot again on the island. At about 2:15 pm we headed back to the ship.



There were no lines to get on and we went back to the cabin to shower and get out of our bathing suits. We took a nap (no hammering during the day ) and hung out watching TV between having our eyes closed. After a couple of hours it was almost 4:30 pm and we decided to rip the band aid off and get our packing out of the way. To make that a tad more inviting, I put in an order for room service.



We watched the towel dance from the verandah. So many towels.





Time to get serious about sitting out on the verandah for sail away and the food and drink came with us. Well, except for the chicken wings...they didn't make it that long. Apparently neither did half of the cheese plate.



Cheers!



I couldn't do this I don't think. I'm not good (scaredy ) with heights so I wouldn't want this job either! So count me out for trash can bailing and gangplank walking.



We left right on time and were treated to a gorgeous sunset.



Tonight was the Mouse-Querade party for the Halloween on the High Seas. It began at 7:30 pm so we went to check it out. Lots of people wore costumes, and a lot didn't. We didn't feel out of place not dressed up. But I forgot that I made us T-Shirts for this! LOL No photos so I didn't remember it until now.





You can see it's about half and half, and some people were clever enough to just pack an accessory that made them more festive.



I love Halloween and I really enjoyed the party. This is the second one we've done on DCL and they are so much fun with the Disney music and the characters all in costume.

 

[ukintheus]

Right as the party ended we hustled our way down to dinner. Tonight we were in 1923 and I *think* we were in the Roy dining room but I really don't remember. It was the one on the left of the atrium.





Yummy bread.



I had the Hyperion Four-Cheese Tri-Color Tortellini and Scott got the Kingswell Duck Confit Pastilla.





Then I had the Split Napa Baby Romaine Lettuce and I think Scott got the same thing, but without the cheese.



For our main course we split the Italian Flat Parsley and Rosemary-crusted Rack of Lamb, and the 1923 Peppered Filet Mignon. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap photos before we had already split it.



Seeing as we had stuffed ourselves silly today we decided to skip dessert. We also decided to skip going to any of the drinking establishments and be sensible and go to bed. Why we did that is now beyond me. It seems like such a waste!! Ugg. Anyway, we were back to our cabin before 10:00 pm and found our towel animal waiting for us.


Coming up: Get off day.

 

[ukintheus]

Monday, October 17th – Debarkation aka Get Off!!​

So, interestingly, there was no hammering during the night. Who knows why but it was a nice peaceful night.

We found this on the window last night, but I didn't get a photo until today because of the reflection in the dark. It's the first time I've seen anything physically posted about not being able to access the verandah until 4 pm, and it wasn't there when we boarded. Who knows why.



We got the last few things chucked into our carry on bags. We had put our suitcase out last night so we didn't have to deal with it this morning. We were all finished up and ready to head down to breakfast by 8 am. The elevator lines were long and there were a couple of guests with mobility scooters ahead of us so we opted to just take the stairs.

Sigh...shame this isn't of the ocean rolling on by instead of the cruise terminal.



The menu didn't seem changed from the last time we sailed. It was the usual standard stuff for the last morning.



Scott got the staple of Eggs for the Road with a fried egg to avoid the weird scambled egg they serve.



I took a photo of the toast, because it's been a running joke that you don't always get it even when you ask for it.



I got the French Toast, which I think is a first. But I asked for it without any butter or cinnamon sugar as I like it with salt and maple syrup. So much yummier! I also got a muesli because I hadn't had it this trip and it's one of my cruise favorites.



A quick photo of Andre and Michera who had been great. They are so busy and on these short cruises it must be hard to get to know people but they did a good job.



We were off the ship really quickly, got our bag, sailed through immigration and by 9 am we were heading out to the bus to MCO.



By the time we got into our seats the bus was mostly full already.



Less than 10 minutes later we pulled away from the terminal. Cruises always go by fast, but this one seemed to just fly.



Sad photos of leaving her behind.



We got to MCO, got our bag checked in and headed to security. It was at this point that Scott realized he couldn't find his wallet or his passport. We got out of line and looked through all his pockets, turned the carry on bags inside out and still couldn't find them. We found someone from TSA and told them what had happened and they pulled us to one side. I had photos of both his drivers license and his passport and they did let us through using those. We were totally frazzled by now though and as soon as we got into the terminal from the train he went through everything again, and found them. Big relief that's for sure. We waited for a table at Ruby Tuesday's and got a table overlooking the gates. By now it was just gone 11 am.



Time for alcohol for sure!!



The rest of the journey home was uneventful and I didn't take any more photos, so I'm going to just wrap it up here with a few of our thoughts on the Wish.

Loved the ship overall. Lots of new things but with a feeling of the other ships so it had the DCL feel but with a touch of new. The Wonder still remains our favorite. I would definitely want to sail the Wish again, but, the price is more than we are willing to pay for a cruise to the Bahamas.

Food was good. We didn't think anything was better/worse than previous DCL cruises and it was really nice to have a change of menus.

Cabin was beautiful. If we just could have caught that mouse it would have been perfect.

All in all we had a great time and we enjoyed the challenge of navigating our way around a new ship and the fun of finding new things and laughing at how many times we made mistakes and ended up being nowhere near where we wanted to be. As with anything you could nit-pick it to death if you really tried, but why? It's vacation and we are so spoiled to be able to experience it.

As much as we love DCL I do think that our days of sailing the majority of our cruises with them are over. We are booked on the Wonder in September for an 8 night to Alaska because of the 50% off, and we are really looking forward to that, but we are booked with RCCL with my family next year out of Ft. Lauderdale to do a Southern Caribbean and we are looking forward to that one as well. Any vacation is a good vacation in my book (or my trip report, depending on how you look at it.)

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Great wrap up. Sorry about the unidentified noise in the middle of the night, not getting to ride the Aqua Mouse and the unappetizing Konk Cooler.

Loved your little farewell on the verandah, even if the cheese plate was weak. That's something we just haven't done before.

Overall a nice little cruise. Looking forward to hearing about more cruises soon.

 

[bcwife76]

Well I certainly enjoyed visiting the Wish with you all! Thanks for taking us along Sorry the Mouse decided to renovate overnight, not cool man. Stay in touch leading up to the Alaska cruise and be sure to pester me with any more questions you might have ;-)
After our Dream cruise in August we are taking a break from cruises for a bit though I would like to try the Treasure perhaps in 2025 depending on itineraries. And my oldest has already requested a Disney cruise (destination to be determined) in summer 2026 after she graduates high school, but yes, husband and I would like to branch out and try other lines, esp Virgin for the 18+ crowd

 

[cruisehopeful]

I just found this and read the whole thing. Very sorry about your mum. I know it takes a long time to feel normal after losing a mom like that.

Looks like a decent time and I was wondering if you would go back on the Wonder soon. You'll love touring Alaska on the Wonder. Before Covid, I took a weekend cruise on Princess and as an adult cruising without children, I did actually enjoy Princess more (especially the food) than DCL. I think you will love branching out on other brands. Looking forward to seeing a report for Alaska.

 

[ukintheus]

Great wrap up. Sorry about the unidentified noise in the middle of the night, not getting to ride the Aqua Mouse and the unappetizing Konk Cooler.

Loved your little farewell on the verandah, even if the cheese plate was weak. That's something we just haven't done before.

Overall a nice little cruise. Looking forward to hearing about more cruises soon.

The noise was just a nuisance really, but the Wish is kinda pricey and so you would hope to not experience issues that we have from time to time on the older ships. They said it wasn't maintenance so all we can think is there was something running during the night that caused the pipes to vibrate where they "knocked". Still beats a day at the office! I need to go and catch up with your TR, it's been good to follow along.

 

[ukintheus]

Well I certainly enjoyed visiting the Wish with you all! Thanks for taking us along Sorry the Mouse decided to renovate overnight, not cool man. Stay in touch leading up to the Alaska cruise and be sure to pester me with any more questions you might have ;-)
After our Dream cruise in August we are taking a break from cruises for a bit though I would like to try the Treasure perhaps in 2025 depending on itineraries. And my oldest has already requested a Disney cruise (destination to be determined) in summer 2026 after she graduates high school, but yes, husband and I would like to branch out and try other lines, esp Virgin for the 18+ crowd

I will have more questions about Alaska as we get closer that's for sure. I'm looking forward to hearing about your Dream cruise in a few weeks. I hope you do a TR. I've been on the fence about Virgin, as I wonder what the demographic is like. I need to do a bit more research. I'd hate to be part of the "older" crowd which I suspect I might be. We are looking forward to CocoCay and seeing what that's all about, plus we can get a southern itinerary out of FL instead of San Juan, so no brainer to try something else.

 

[ukintheus]

I just found this and read the whole thing. Very sorry about your mum. I know it takes a long time to feel normal after losing a mom like that.

Looks like a decent time and I was wondering if you would go back on the Wonder soon. You'll love touring Alaska on the Wonder. Before Covid, I took a weekend cruise on Princess and as an adult cruising without children, I did actually enjoy Princess more (especially the food) than DCL. I think you will love branching out on other brands. Looking forward to seeing a report for Alaska.

Thank you. Outliving your parents is something all of us face, or the consequences of that are not favorable either!

We had a good time and glad that we went and saw the Wish. I'd looked at Princess out of Galveston but the ship (I don't remember which one now) didn't get great reviews as I think it was a older. Good to know you enjoyed it, we will have to try Princess as well just to get a good comparison.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

I am so sorry to hear about your Mum. Even when you think you are ready for them to leave, you are not. I lost my mum in February and while she lived to be 96, it was not long enough.
_______________________________________

"At one point I had wandered a deck above Scott and took this of him busily taking photograph 956 of the atrium. "

I do that also, take photos of my photographer husband when he is busy "working"...

Off to feed the critters, then back to continue reading. Thanks for sharing your adventure!

 

[KarriWTiggerFan]

I'm a long time TR Reader and lurker..and I've loved your cruise reports. I am sorry to read of the loss of your Mum. It was very evident and clear to anyone reading your reports how much your Mum loved cruising with you and your sister and family. Thank you for sharing your trips and I hope you continue to do so.

 

[ukintheus]

I am so sorry to hear about your Mum. Even when you think you are ready for them to leave, you are not. I lost my mum in February and while she lived to be 96, it was not long enough.
_______________________________________

"At one point I had wandered a deck above Scott and took this of him busily taking photograph 956 of the atrium. "

I do that also, take photos of my photographer husband when he is busy "working"...

Off to feed the critters, then back to continue reading. Thanks for sharing your adventure!

Thank you, and yes, there would never have been a time when I was ready. I'm so sorry that you have gone through losing your Mum as well this year. I try hard to be positive about all the time we had her as I know that is how she wanted it, and how she dealt with things herself in life but there are days when it's not so easy.

Funny that you take photographs of your husband taking photographs as well. I admit to getting a bit impatient at times because my iphone takes a nano-second to take a photo and those fancy cameras, well, let's just say they do, but not when you are taking a million photos of something.

 

[ukintheus]

I'm a long time TR Reader and lurker..and I've loved your cruise reports. I am sorry to read of the loss of your Mum. It was very evident and clear to anyone reading your reports how much your Mum loved cruising with you and your sister and family. Thank you for sharing your trips and I hope you continue to do so.

Thank you, and, yes, she really enjoyed the cruises. We were so lucky to get to do as many as we did, and I'm so glad we did Panama Canal when we did because with Covid hitting the next year, and then her health not being great, that trip wouldn't have happened and it was one of our favorites.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

the approach into Nassau.

I am, by no means, caught up with your report but I am collecting too many "insert quotes".

The best part of Nassau is the approach, we no longer get off the ship. Rob will sneak off for a few minutes to grab a few photos of the ship, but I have no desire to deal the aggressive street vendors (spell check tried to input vultures ).

Unfortunately the glass they served his in had lipstick all around the rim. I know that lipstick can be hard to get off glassware, but we had to point it out to the guy and he acted like it wasn't a big deal. Umm...nasty...come on DCL you can do better than that!! We decided we were one and done there.

YUK! We enjoyed our visit to Hyperspace but if we had had a glass with someone else's lipstick then it would have been an one and done for us. I don't wear lipstick so if we ever receive glass with lipstick, we will know it belongs to someone else. Rob (spouse who I am conversing with about your experiences) says lipstick on a glass is as bad as hair in food. Plus, it makes you wonder if the glass was properly washed. Rob worked as a bartender during grad school and said one of the first things he was taught, was to always check for lipstick on glasses...

This photo captures everything I love about cruising. Sunsets with a drink on the verandah, so relaxing and just the perfect vacation moment.

Me too, my favorite part of cruising, sitting on the verandah enjoying a glass of wine or a coffee/tea.

Tonight we were in Arendelle for dinner and despite purposefully getting there a little later, we still had a bit of a queue to get in.

We had Palo on our Arendelle night, I was sad as I wanted to experience Arendelle and the menu.

Ewwww, drinking from a bird's butt! I wonder how they clean the glass????

This wasn't my cup of tea, while it looked cute, it was sweet and fruity.....plus you drink out of a bird butt.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

Funny that you take photographs of your husband taking photographs as well. I admit to getting a bit impatient at times because my iphone takes a nano-second to take a photo and those fancy cameras, well, let's just say they do, but not when you are taking a million photos of something.

I "snap and shoot" dozens of "phone" photos in the amount of time it takes Rob to set up and take "one" $ worthy shot .... but his photos are awesome and mine... not so much - but my photos do remind me of what/when/where something was happening. And, I get some cool photos of Rob in the process...

 

[T.wilkes]

Thank you for the wonderful report. I have always enjoyed all your reports. Love your sense of humor. I am sorry to read about your Mom, but I hope you take comfort in knowing she lived a full and exciting life.

Looking forward to your Alaska report!

 

[ukintheus]

I "snap and shoot" dozens of "phone" photos in the amount of time it takes Rob to set up and take "one" $ worthy shot .... but his photos are awesome and mine... not so much - but my photos do remind me of what/when/where something was happening. And, I get some cool photos of Rob in the process...

Thanks for following along so diligently with all the quotes. I don't have the patience for the photography that he does, but that's where ying and yang work out well.

I don't know why, but there were instances on this cruise where the typical DCL customer service just wasn't there. The lipstick on the glass was a prime example as the server was genuinely befuzzled by my insistence he replace the glass. Second was the noise issue and the "shrug" attitude of GS and the answer "call maintenance in the middle of the night". Just not the same service we have had in the past, but we don't do 3 night cruises either, so maybe that's the difference.

 

[ukintheus]

Thank you for the wonderful report. I have always enjoyed all your reports. Love your sense of humor. I am sorry to read about your Mom, but I hope you take comfort in knowing she lived a full and exciting life.

Looking forward to your Alaska report!

Thank you, and, yes, we are lucky to have so many wonderful memories. Alaska TR is going to be one I have to write notes to keep up with for sure.