disneychic
DIS Veteran
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- Aug 2, 2001
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Disney Wonder 6/29- 7/3 Cruise w/ 2 stops at Castaway Cay!
THE CAST:
Me (36) this cruise is the 6th Disney Cruise I’ve taken
DH (32) this is his 6th Disney Cruise
Mom (55) this is my mom’s 3rd Disney Cruise
Mom’s Boyfriend (50 something) this is his 1st Disney Cruise – we’ll call him DMB for this TR
DM & DMB’s flight arrived in Orlando on Friday evening after sitting on the runway for about 3 hours in Atlantic City, NJ due to bad weather. DH and I are Florida residents, so we waited patiently for their flight to FINALLY arrive at 11:00 PM on Friday evening.
We spent quite a large portion of our day on Saturday over at Saratoga Springs. DH & I are DVC members (have been since 2000) and DM and DMB joined in May and decided to add on some more points. We arrived at SSR at 1:00 and left after 5:00 PM. We celebrated their new point add on at AKL by going out to dinner at the Turf Club at SSR.
Sunday Morning – we had a strict B.I.S. (butt in seat) rule in effect for 9:00 AM – we were on our way – until we passed Dunkin’ Donuts – had to make a coffee stop. Finally on our way to the Port! Yippee!
We arrived at Port Canaveral at about 10:20 or so. DH dropped us off with the luggage (we all over packed of course) and went to park the car. We headed over to the Castaway Club line and waited there for about 10 minutes. We received #3 for our boarding number. DH made his way up to us on the Castaway Club line and they called the two of us to check in. DM & DMB got called right after us. We got our Castaway Club lanyards and our Key to the World Cards and we were ready to go!---slight problem, it was 11:00 and we had an hour to go before boarding would begin. Counting down 60 minutes felt like 60 hours, but boarding finally began!
As I mentioned earlier, we had group 3 boarding. There were not many people in group 2 so before we knew it they called #3 and we were on our way onto the Wonder. After having our photos taken & being welcomed on board we were told to go to Parrot Cay for lunch. We all wanted to go up to Beach Blanket Buffet so we asked if we could go up to deck 9, and of course they said yes. We had a great lunch and then we gave DMB a tour of the ship (no need to make him wait until 2:00 for the walking ship tour when we’ve all cruised enough times to give him a tour our selves). We started on deck 10 and worked our way down to deck 3 – once he saw Diversions we couldn’t get him or my DH out of there! They sat there and watched soccer for 1/2 an hour! DMB was so amazed at the beauty of the ship. I love watching people experience how beautiful the ships are. Even though you tell people how classic the ship’s décor is they still envision a very “kiddie” looking ship. At 1:30 we went to check out our rooms. My DH & I were in Stateroom 6581. We had a Cat. 11 (Standard Inside Stateroom). It was in a great location, basically mid ship. We only went in for a few minutes to drop off our carry on bags (DH had been carrying a carryon with 24 bottles of water in it & he was getting cranky about it). We received our Castaway Club gift - a black tote bag with 2 Castaway Club sport bottles, a note book and pen and a red mesh beach bag. We were only in there for about 5 minutes when I asked my DH if he smelled something “vomity” ?? He said no. So, we left and went to Jana’s Discover Nassau Shopping Presentation in the Buena Vista Theatre. My DM and DMB met us there and I ended up winning a rum cake from the raffle, DH won a color changing tote bag from Del Sol and DM won a Del Sol Baseball cap. My DM and I each purchased the $25 preferred shopping book at the presentation. For $25 we were going to get over $2000 in coupons & gift cards, etc. I'll go into better detail about this on Part 3 of my TR. This was the 1st time in 6 cruises that I went to the shopping presentation & I never would have guessed that I would have plunked down $25 on a preffered shopping card - whatever that is.
Me & My Mom on Deck 10 after lunch
After the shopping presentation we headed back to the rooms to get our life jackets for the mandatory boat drill. Again upon entering the room I asked DH if he smelled something “vomity” , he said “No” again. We attended the mandatory boat drill and headed back up to our Stateroom to drop off the life jackets and head up to the Sail Away Celebration. We went back into the room & DH went into the bathroom and before he shut the bathroom door came out and said “You were right, there is a vomit odor –it’s coming from the bathroom”. Great. I went in and he was right. I closed the door and there was red dots along the bottom half of the bathroom door. Being the clean freak I am, I took a wad of tissues and wet them with burning hot water and soap and wiped it off the door, then I went up to Guest Services and politely mentioned that “upon entering our Stateroom we noticed a vomit odor and then discovered some vomit stains on the bathroom door that I wiped off”. I asked if they could have someone clean/deodorize the bathroom. Of course they apologized and said they would make sure it was taken care of. Within 15 minutes or so they came down to clean the bathroom. No big deal. We met my DM and DMB up on deck 7 (their room was 7067, mid ship). We headed up to the sail away party. I was pleased to see that the weather held up. The sun was still shining and there was a nice breeze. We were up on deck 10 sitting at a table looking down on all the fun and my DMB wanted to go down to deck 9 and be right in the middle of it all. We went down the stairs and were handed some streamers that are on a wand (don’t remember getting those last year or the previous 5 years we’ve sailed) and we each got a “Bon Voyage” drink (a tradition for myself and my DH –that drink is the ½ pina colada ½ strawberry daiquiri---LOVE IT). We got our drinks just in time for the big count down. The horn blew and we were cruising! We stayed for a few minutes and then went back up to deck 10 to watch as we left the Port. It was about 5:15 – 5:20 now so we went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.
Me & DH getting Ready for the Mandatory Boat Drill
Me, DM & DMB at the Sail Away Celebration
We had the first dinner seating this time (the first time we’ve ever had the early seating. We’ve had the late seating the other 5 times we sailed). DH & I got changed and headed up to Parrot Cay –our dining rotation was Parrot Cay, Tritons, Tritons, Animators Palate. We had table #1. We were shown to our table DM and DMB were already seated and waiting for us. Rowena and Marianna were our servers. I had the Smoky Chicken, Vegetables and Cheddar Cheese Fritters, the Parrot Cay Salad and the Caribbean Roast Chicken for dinner. DH had the Baked Crab Martinique, the Caesar Salad and the Rib Eye for his dinner. DM & DMB had the same as my DH except they both had the Grouper as their main entrée. The food at Parrot Cay is my favorite. For Dessert I had the Banana Bread Pudding, DM had the Lemon Meringue Pie, DMB had the Ice Cream Sundae and DH had the Chocolate Smore Vanilla Cake. Everyone had a great meal.
Me & my DH at Parrot Cay
DM & DMB at Parrot Cay
After dinner DM and DMB went to the Cadillac Lounge and my DH and I went up to deck 10 and walked around the deck . We all met up in the theatre for the Golden Mickey’s. After the Golden Mickey's we did some shopping and then went down to Wavebands for Match Your Mate. My DH & I never miss the Match Your Mate game show. We got picked as the newlywed couple on our first cruise in 2001 and won. We’ve noticed that on every cruise we’ve been on the Newlyweds always win – too many experiences to pick from for the couples who’ve been married a long time. We hung around Wavebands for “One Hit Wonders” and then headed back to our room at around Midnight. DM and DMB stayed out until almost 2:00 AM!
Me and My DH on Route 66
My DM strutting her stuff during One Hit Wonders
Back in our room there was a bottle of sparkling cider and 2 champagne glasses with a note apologizing for the condition of the stateroom when we boarded. Disney has excellent customer service recovery. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. I wasn’t even upset about it, I just wanted the smell to go away! Our towel animal was an elephant wearing my sunglasses, and we received a gift from the DVC -- it was a book --like a memory book that had DVC lanyards and point charts, etc.
Our Towel Elephant and DVC Book
Well, it was a long day & we were tired. Tomorrow…CASTAWAY CAY!
THE CAST:
Me (36) this cruise is the 6th Disney Cruise I’ve taken
DH (32) this is his 6th Disney Cruise
Mom (55) this is my mom’s 3rd Disney Cruise
Mom’s Boyfriend (50 something) this is his 1st Disney Cruise – we’ll call him DMB for this TR
DM & DMB’s flight arrived in Orlando on Friday evening after sitting on the runway for about 3 hours in Atlantic City, NJ due to bad weather. DH and I are Florida residents, so we waited patiently for their flight to FINALLY arrive at 11:00 PM on Friday evening.
We spent quite a large portion of our day on Saturday over at Saratoga Springs. DH & I are DVC members (have been since 2000) and DM and DMB joined in May and decided to add on some more points. We arrived at SSR at 1:00 and left after 5:00 PM. We celebrated their new point add on at AKL by going out to dinner at the Turf Club at SSR.
Sunday Morning – we had a strict B.I.S. (butt in seat) rule in effect for 9:00 AM – we were on our way – until we passed Dunkin’ Donuts – had to make a coffee stop. Finally on our way to the Port! Yippee!
We arrived at Port Canaveral at about 10:20 or so. DH dropped us off with the luggage (we all over packed of course) and went to park the car. We headed over to the Castaway Club line and waited there for about 10 minutes. We received #3 for our boarding number. DH made his way up to us on the Castaway Club line and they called the two of us to check in. DM & DMB got called right after us. We got our Castaway Club lanyards and our Key to the World Cards and we were ready to go!---slight problem, it was 11:00 and we had an hour to go before boarding would begin. Counting down 60 minutes felt like 60 hours, but boarding finally began!
As I mentioned earlier, we had group 3 boarding. There were not many people in group 2 so before we knew it they called #3 and we were on our way onto the Wonder. After having our photos taken & being welcomed on board we were told to go to Parrot Cay for lunch. We all wanted to go up to Beach Blanket Buffet so we asked if we could go up to deck 9, and of course they said yes. We had a great lunch and then we gave DMB a tour of the ship (no need to make him wait until 2:00 for the walking ship tour when we’ve all cruised enough times to give him a tour our selves). We started on deck 10 and worked our way down to deck 3 – once he saw Diversions we couldn’t get him or my DH out of there! They sat there and watched soccer for 1/2 an hour! DMB was so amazed at the beauty of the ship. I love watching people experience how beautiful the ships are. Even though you tell people how classic the ship’s décor is they still envision a very “kiddie” looking ship. At 1:30 we went to check out our rooms. My DH & I were in Stateroom 6581. We had a Cat. 11 (Standard Inside Stateroom). It was in a great location, basically mid ship. We only went in for a few minutes to drop off our carry on bags (DH had been carrying a carryon with 24 bottles of water in it & he was getting cranky about it). We received our Castaway Club gift - a black tote bag with 2 Castaway Club sport bottles, a note book and pen and a red mesh beach bag. We were only in there for about 5 minutes when I asked my DH if he smelled something “vomity” ?? He said no. So, we left and went to Jana’s Discover Nassau Shopping Presentation in the Buena Vista Theatre. My DM and DMB met us there and I ended up winning a rum cake from the raffle, DH won a color changing tote bag from Del Sol and DM won a Del Sol Baseball cap. My DM and I each purchased the $25 preferred shopping book at the presentation. For $25 we were going to get over $2000 in coupons & gift cards, etc. I'll go into better detail about this on Part 3 of my TR. This was the 1st time in 6 cruises that I went to the shopping presentation & I never would have guessed that I would have plunked down $25 on a preffered shopping card - whatever that is.
Me & My Mom on Deck 10 after lunch
After the shopping presentation we headed back to the rooms to get our life jackets for the mandatory boat drill. Again upon entering the room I asked DH if he smelled something “vomity” , he said “No” again. We attended the mandatory boat drill and headed back up to our Stateroom to drop off the life jackets and head up to the Sail Away Celebration. We went back into the room & DH went into the bathroom and before he shut the bathroom door came out and said “You were right, there is a vomit odor –it’s coming from the bathroom”. Great. I went in and he was right. I closed the door and there was red dots along the bottom half of the bathroom door. Being the clean freak I am, I took a wad of tissues and wet them with burning hot water and soap and wiped it off the door, then I went up to Guest Services and politely mentioned that “upon entering our Stateroom we noticed a vomit odor and then discovered some vomit stains on the bathroom door that I wiped off”. I asked if they could have someone clean/deodorize the bathroom. Of course they apologized and said they would make sure it was taken care of. Within 15 minutes or so they came down to clean the bathroom. No big deal. We met my DM and DMB up on deck 7 (their room was 7067, mid ship). We headed up to the sail away party. I was pleased to see that the weather held up. The sun was still shining and there was a nice breeze. We were up on deck 10 sitting at a table looking down on all the fun and my DMB wanted to go down to deck 9 and be right in the middle of it all. We went down the stairs and were handed some streamers that are on a wand (don’t remember getting those last year or the previous 5 years we’ve sailed) and we each got a “Bon Voyage” drink (a tradition for myself and my DH –that drink is the ½ pina colada ½ strawberry daiquiri---LOVE IT). We got our drinks just in time for the big count down. The horn blew and we were cruising! We stayed for a few minutes and then went back up to deck 10 to watch as we left the Port. It was about 5:15 – 5:20 now so we went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.
Me & DH getting Ready for the Mandatory Boat Drill
Me, DM & DMB at the Sail Away Celebration
We had the first dinner seating this time (the first time we’ve ever had the early seating. We’ve had the late seating the other 5 times we sailed). DH & I got changed and headed up to Parrot Cay –our dining rotation was Parrot Cay, Tritons, Tritons, Animators Palate. We had table #1. We were shown to our table DM and DMB were already seated and waiting for us. Rowena and Marianna were our servers. I had the Smoky Chicken, Vegetables and Cheddar Cheese Fritters, the Parrot Cay Salad and the Caribbean Roast Chicken for dinner. DH had the Baked Crab Martinique, the Caesar Salad and the Rib Eye for his dinner. DM & DMB had the same as my DH except they both had the Grouper as their main entrée. The food at Parrot Cay is my favorite. For Dessert I had the Banana Bread Pudding, DM had the Lemon Meringue Pie, DMB had the Ice Cream Sundae and DH had the Chocolate Smore Vanilla Cake. Everyone had a great meal.
Me & my DH at Parrot Cay
DM & DMB at Parrot Cay
After dinner DM and DMB went to the Cadillac Lounge and my DH and I went up to deck 10 and walked around the deck . We all met up in the theatre for the Golden Mickey’s. After the Golden Mickey's we did some shopping and then went down to Wavebands for Match Your Mate. My DH & I never miss the Match Your Mate game show. We got picked as the newlywed couple on our first cruise in 2001 and won. We’ve noticed that on every cruise we’ve been on the Newlyweds always win – too many experiences to pick from for the couples who’ve been married a long time. We hung around Wavebands for “One Hit Wonders” and then headed back to our room at around Midnight. DM and DMB stayed out until almost 2:00 AM!
Me and My DH on Route 66
My DM strutting her stuff during One Hit Wonders
Back in our room there was a bottle of sparkling cider and 2 champagne glasses with a note apologizing for the condition of the stateroom when we boarded. Disney has excellent customer service recovery. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. I wasn’t even upset about it, I just wanted the smell to go away! Our towel animal was an elephant wearing my sunglasses, and we received a gift from the DVC -- it was a book --like a memory book that had DVC lanyards and point charts, etc.
Our Towel Elephant and DVC Book
Well, it was a long day & we were tired. Tomorrow…CASTAWAY CAY!
this is exciting as my family & I will be on July 27 Double Dip
After being pampered a bit I went back down to my State Room to get ready for dinner. DH was not in there ---no note? Where did he go? I figured he went to get something to eat and I started to get ready for dinner. DH came back and said he was walking by the DVC desk and Lisa (DVC Cast Member we met at the DVC Member Celebration) asked him if he wanted to go in for the DVC Group Presentation that was about to begin. She said there weren’t many people in there yet (due to the fact that the weather cleared up) and that it might be nice for a member to attend. So, he felt bad and went in. There were 5 people in Studio Sea for the DVC Group Presentation. DH said he went in, got himself some chocolate chip cookies and soda. He said that he filled out a raffle ticket when he first went in and didn’t think about it again until the end of the event when they said they were raffling off a Ship Board Credit. Ooooh…….Yep he won it! YEAY! A $300 ship board credit! I did NOT believe him (he jokes around A LOT). But it was true. How cool! There would be shopping tonight! 
I really enjoy the food at AP. I had the Wild Mushroom Risotto appetizer, the Confetti Tomato Salad, and the Lemon Peppered Oven Baked Chicken. All very good. DH had the Filet Mignon & DM & DMB had the Salmon. For dessert I had the Strawberry Shortcake, DH had the Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pie & DM & DMB shared the Chocolate Cake. DH & I gave our servers their tip envelopes, and said our goodbyes –(there was NO way we’d be getting up to have breakfast at AP at 6:30 in the morning). Then DH & I went to the Captains Signing so that we could get Captain John to sign one of our many souveniers. DM & DMB stayed back at AP to finish their dessert and watch the little “show” the wait staff does at AP.
