bostonlass
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2004
- Messages
- 328
4/18 Wonder
Here's a short and sweet summary of our trip on the 4/18 Wonder: (also posted in cruise review section)
Who went - myself (single mom age 38) and my two daughters, ages 7 and 8.
How did we get there? - rented a car from Budget and drove from Orlando where we had stayed a few days prior to Port Canaveral.
Budget Rental - Confusing when I picked car up in Tampa (we drove from there to Orlando) but very organized at Port Canaveral. Nice shuttle driver from Budget to Port.
Embarkation - We got there at 11am and there was already a sizeable line formed. We opted not to stand in line and got on the ship at around 12:45pm. I had had enough of lines at the Magic Kingdom!!
Ressie Rush - Didn't even do it. Only thing we signed up for was the kids club after lunch. Looking back I think I really would have been stressed had I tried to get reservations for a massage since the kids were tired and hungry. I really wish these things could be booked ahead of time.
Lunch at Parrot Cay - Confusing for us and not fun for kids. I had to take the kids to the kid section of buffet and get them settled. By the time I finished that I had quite a long line ahead of me and my kids were upset that they had to sit alone with people they didn't know while I got my food. The food was good though.
Mickey Pool on first day - Hectic to say the least. No lounge chairs were left so I sat at a table instead. I actually preferred that and got a table each time we went to any of the pools but for the first day I wasn't happy since I was worried about seeing my kids while they played.
First Dinner - Ate alone since I never got my 6pm seating like I wanted and the kids' programs had parties at 8:30pm. The food was excellent and I ate with people from these boards so that was fun.
Nassau - Did the Atlantis excursion and would not do it again if you paid me. Lot of walking and all to see some hotel. Liked the aquarium but we have one in Boston. Ate lunch there and that was nice but the service was snotty. Didn't have that freindly feeling you get on the ship. Food was awesome though. Next time we'll stay on the ship and enjoy the lack of the crowds.
Second Dinner - Ate at Tritons and had to drag kids out of kids' club to do so. Food was excellent although whipped cream was the fake icky kind.
Castaway Cay - LOVED it!!!! Went to adult beach and basked in the silence. The lunch was delicous...had the barbequed chicken since the lobster burgers had shrimp in it and I'm allergic to shrimp. Konk Coolers were good too!!! Younger daughter paged me and I took her to have her hair braided. She loved it though it hurt a bit. Each time I saw her wince I told the lady to ease up a bit. Many many girls were in tears getting their braids done and I couldn't believe the moms/dads just watched this and didn't do anything to get the braiders to ease up.
Golden Mickey's - The show was good but my kids had a hard time seeing it through people's heads. I think they offered booster seats but my girls thought that was too babyish so they just tried to peak through any openings in people's heads that they could.
Animator's Palate - Food was good but the coloring of the restaurant didn't really do much for me. I thought that more things would be colored.
Room Service - Very prompt and friendly. I had read on these boards over and over again about the All Hands On Deck cheese platter so expected some breathtaking platter with cheese in the shape of Mickey Mouse or something. It was just about 10 normal crackers and a few slices of cheese. It was good but nothing that special in my opinion.
Day at Sea - Crowded but fun. Keep in mind that we had a full ship so of course there would be tons of people. Big snaffo for me that ruined my morning.....I had put in my debit card against my account and apparently I spent more than what was in my checking account . The snaffo was that they turned my account off so I had to go to guest services to ask them to turn it back on so that I could sign on to internet and transfer funds from my savings to checking. I spent about 20 minutes going from the internet area to guest services because although they insisted my account was turned back on the computer on the internet said that it was turned off. That really was embarassing and I know that it was my fault for not properly funding my account but I think they could have dealt with it in such a way so that I didn't have to have everyone at guest services know my predicament and so that i didn't have to shlep back and forth from guest services to the internet. Because of this we just made breakfast before it closed and didn't have much to choose from and felt rushed.
I also felt that on the day at Sea they should have had a general brunch. They stressed that it was our day to "sleep in" and yet if you didn't make it to breakfast before 11am you didn't get it.
Kid's club - Wonderful. Kids didn't want to leave most of the time. I do wish that they closed earlier since my kids were pretty cranky in the morning but there again it was my option to take them out earlier than I did. I just felt bad because they were having so much fun.
Disembarkation - Very smooth although felt rushed to get off ship. We were scheduled for 8am breakfast but had to get off ship by that time since our flight was before 12:30pm so we had to do Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast instead. As soon as we got off the ship there were tons of people willing to help with bags. I used a girl to help us and felt it was well worth the $3 tip I gave her since she made it less confusing to find bags, check in to Northwest counter and find our bus.
Northwest - We flew Northwest both ways and absolutely loved it. They apologized for any slight amount of turbulance, the seats were larger than I expected, luggage came out very quickly and connections were very easy to make. Would definitely fly them again!!!
Overall - The service was freindly and personable and that was great. The ship was very very crowded and felt it, though it was April vacation so that was to be expected. The food was excellent except for the whipped cream and the eggs which tasted like the powdered kind. The kids program was amazing but I needed to put my foot down on what time they came back and went to sleep. The ressie rush I could do without and that is one of the few times I really missed not having someone else with me to help out.
I would like to cruise again but not sure if it will be with Disney since by the end I had really had enough of all of those kids!!! Don't get me wrong...I love my children and I do love kids but sometimes it's a little much and you just want to be in a peaceful quiet place. The adult beach was probably the most quiet and controlled area where you could be with only adults and that was amazing.
So that is my 2 cents and please realize that the experience would probably be different had I travelled with another adult and if we hadn't gone during April vacation.
Here's a short and sweet summary of our trip on the 4/18 Wonder: (also posted in cruise review section)
Who went - myself (single mom age 38) and my two daughters, ages 7 and 8.
How did we get there? - rented a car from Budget and drove from Orlando where we had stayed a few days prior to Port Canaveral.
Budget Rental - Confusing when I picked car up in Tampa (we drove from there to Orlando) but very organized at Port Canaveral. Nice shuttle driver from Budget to Port.
Embarkation - We got there at 11am and there was already a sizeable line formed. We opted not to stand in line and got on the ship at around 12:45pm. I had had enough of lines at the Magic Kingdom!!
Ressie Rush - Didn't even do it. Only thing we signed up for was the kids club after lunch. Looking back I think I really would have been stressed had I tried to get reservations for a massage since the kids were tired and hungry. I really wish these things could be booked ahead of time.
Lunch at Parrot Cay - Confusing for us and not fun for kids. I had to take the kids to the kid section of buffet and get them settled. By the time I finished that I had quite a long line ahead of me and my kids were upset that they had to sit alone with people they didn't know while I got my food. The food was good though.
Mickey Pool on first day - Hectic to say the least. No lounge chairs were left so I sat at a table instead. I actually preferred that and got a table each time we went to any of the pools but for the first day I wasn't happy since I was worried about seeing my kids while they played.
First Dinner - Ate alone since I never got my 6pm seating like I wanted and the kids' programs had parties at 8:30pm. The food was excellent and I ate with people from these boards so that was fun.
Nassau - Did the Atlantis excursion and would not do it again if you paid me. Lot of walking and all to see some hotel. Liked the aquarium but we have one in Boston. Ate lunch there and that was nice but the service was snotty. Didn't have that freindly feeling you get on the ship. Food was awesome though. Next time we'll stay on the ship and enjoy the lack of the crowds.
Second Dinner - Ate at Tritons and had to drag kids out of kids' club to do so. Food was excellent although whipped cream was the fake icky kind.
Castaway Cay - LOVED it!!!! Went to adult beach and basked in the silence. The lunch was delicous...had the barbequed chicken since the lobster burgers had shrimp in it and I'm allergic to shrimp. Konk Coolers were good too!!! Younger daughter paged me and I took her to have her hair braided. She loved it though it hurt a bit. Each time I saw her wince I told the lady to ease up a bit. Many many girls were in tears getting their braids done and I couldn't believe the moms/dads just watched this and didn't do anything to get the braiders to ease up.
Golden Mickey's - The show was good but my kids had a hard time seeing it through people's heads. I think they offered booster seats but my girls thought that was too babyish so they just tried to peak through any openings in people's heads that they could.
Animator's Palate - Food was good but the coloring of the restaurant didn't really do much for me. I thought that more things would be colored.
Room Service - Very prompt and friendly. I had read on these boards over and over again about the All Hands On Deck cheese platter so expected some breathtaking platter with cheese in the shape of Mickey Mouse or something. It was just about 10 normal crackers and a few slices of cheese. It was good but nothing that special in my opinion.
Day at Sea - Crowded but fun. Keep in mind that we had a full ship so of course there would be tons of people. Big snaffo for me that ruined my morning.....I had put in my debit card against my account and apparently I spent more than what was in my checking account . The snaffo was that they turned my account off so I had to go to guest services to ask them to turn it back on so that I could sign on to internet and transfer funds from my savings to checking. I spent about 20 minutes going from the internet area to guest services because although they insisted my account was turned back on the computer on the internet said that it was turned off. That really was embarassing and I know that it was my fault for not properly funding my account but I think they could have dealt with it in such a way so that I didn't have to have everyone at guest services know my predicament and so that i didn't have to shlep back and forth from guest services to the internet. Because of this we just made breakfast before it closed and didn't have much to choose from and felt rushed.
I also felt that on the day at Sea they should have had a general brunch. They stressed that it was our day to "sleep in" and yet if you didn't make it to breakfast before 11am you didn't get it.
Kid's club - Wonderful. Kids didn't want to leave most of the time. I do wish that they closed earlier since my kids were pretty cranky in the morning but there again it was my option to take them out earlier than I did. I just felt bad because they were having so much fun.
Disembarkation - Very smooth although felt rushed to get off ship. We were scheduled for 8am breakfast but had to get off ship by that time since our flight was before 12:30pm so we had to do Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast instead. As soon as we got off the ship there were tons of people willing to help with bags. I used a girl to help us and felt it was well worth the $3 tip I gave her since she made it less confusing to find bags, check in to Northwest counter and find our bus.
Northwest - We flew Northwest both ways and absolutely loved it. They apologized for any slight amount of turbulance, the seats were larger than I expected, luggage came out very quickly and connections were very easy to make. Would definitely fly them again!!!
Overall - The service was freindly and personable and that was great. The ship was very very crowded and felt it, though it was April vacation so that was to be expected. The food was excellent except for the whipped cream and the eggs which tasted like the powdered kind. The kids program was amazing but I needed to put my foot down on what time they came back and went to sleep. The ressie rush I could do without and that is one of the few times I really missed not having someone else with me to help out.
I would like to cruise again but not sure if it will be with Disney since by the end I had really had enough of all of those kids!!! Don't get me wrong...I love my children and I do love kids but sometimes it's a little much and you just want to be in a peaceful quiet place. The adult beach was probably the most quiet and controlled area where you could be with only adults and that was amazing.
So that is my 2 cents and please realize that the experience would probably be different had I travelled with another adult and if we hadn't gone during April vacation.
so we'll see if I might just try this again with him and his two sons.
