April 3 - 6 on the Wonder - 3-nights trip report with PICTURES

[Hypermommy]

Crème brulee cheesecake!!!! That just sounds soooo yummy!!! What is it -- cheesecake where the custard part would be? Or custard on top of cheesecake with that yummy glazed top? Whatever it is, I know I'll be having some.

Nice to know about the sports deck. I might just let the boys believe there are cameras everywhere. They already know they have to behave at Disney becuase there's security everywhere

Oh, and thanks for the knowledge about the cashing a check. I expect we'll be able to use the credit cards in most ports but it might be helpful to know that this is an option if necessary.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Crème brulee cheesecake!!!! That just sounds soooo yummy!!! What is it -- cheesecake where the custard part would be? Or custard on top of cheesecake with that yummy glazed top? Whatever it is, I know I'll be having some.

You got it... cheesecake on the bottom (but flavored with the creme brulee flavor) and the glazy stuff on top. Parrot Cay serves it on their themed night, and the nice thing is if you really like it, you can get it from the buffet (or ask your server to bring it to you) on another night.

And speaking of desserts (peeking ahead to our Saturday evening dinner in Animator's Palate), the strawberry shortcake is good, but be sure to ask for a scoop of vanilla ice cream to go with it! It's more like a shortbread than a shortcake, but either way, it is a fitting end to the AP meal.

 

[Deb T.]

I must agree with Cindy on it being a small world! Ness2289 and I were surprised to learn that we both work for the same school system! We were fortunate enough to meet and get to know each other prior to sailing and also spent quite a bit of time together during the cruise, too!

I wanted to mention my motion sickness preventative routine for those of you who are worried about not getting your sea legs in time for dinner the first night. First of all, let me preface this by telling you that I can't even ride as a passenger in a stick-shift car because the forward-backward motion has me urping very quickly. I used the Transderm Scop patch on my first two cruises and, although I didn't feel sick to my stomach during the cruise, I did feel ill after removing the patch once back on land, as well as having very dry eyes and extreme thirst. On my last four cruises, I've found that a combination of Bonine (generic name is meclizine) and ginger pills is very effective, with no side effects! I take one Bonine tablet and two ginger pills every 12 hours, beginning the night before the cruise and feel totally fine the entire time!

While Cindy and Zachary were watching Toy Story, I was at dinner. I had late seating (8:30pm) and was on the same dining rotation that Cindy and Ness2289 had at 6:00: PLA. We've always been lucky enough to be assigned with wonderful dinner tablemates, so I was really looking forward to meeting new people tonight, especially since I was cruising alone this trip. As mentioned previously, I even changed my dining assignment because I had originally been placed as a "filler" at a table with one family and I didn't want them to wonder why this random person was sitting with them. So, with great anticipation, I arrived at Parrot Cay and was led to Table 78, which was beautifully set for six people. No one else had been seated there yet, so I sat and waited as all the tables around me began to fill up and the servers and assistant servers tended to those guests. And I waited. And I waited. And no one else ever came. Boy did I feel awkward, and embarrassed, and ALONE! Realizing eventually that no one else was coming, the assistant server finally took my drink order while I told him how I was feeling. I told the server, too. And the head server, Ali. I told all three of them multiple times that I was feeling very out-of-place and sad and uncomfortable, and all three really couldn't have cared less. It was very disconcerting and I had a difficult time even eating because of how alone I was feeling. Several tables around me had empty places that I could have easily joined for just that one night if my head server would have allowed me to do so, but evidently he did not consider that an option, which ended up making me as mad as I was sad. There would definitely be no tip for Ali on Saturday night!!! As I was leaving the restaurant, I passed by Simone (the head waiter in another section who had helped me change my dining earlier that day ~ in hindsight, be careful what you wish for, right?!?!) and he asked how everything turned out. When I told him I had to eat alone tonight, he was VERY apologetic and said he wish he'd known because he would have moved me to another table. Darn that Ali - I KNEW he could have moved me if he'd wanted to!!!! Simone immediately wanted to change my seating assignment again, but I told him that I was still hoping my tablemates would show up the next night and not to change anything until then. Definitely a tip was in Simone's future, just for caring! By the way, the banana bread is absolutely delicious!!! The Caesar salad was good, the beef tenderloin I had was dry and tasteless (and I don't think it was entirely due to my feeling awkward), the green beans were excellent, and the double baked potato was small but good. If you like Lemon Meringue pie, ask for two, or better yet ask for three because it is teeny tiny!!! I'd be willing to bet there's less than 2T of filling in it. It's tasty, but only three bites and you're done!

After dinner, I headed to Wavebands to see what WonderQuest was all about and to watch Match Your Mate, which is always hilarious! When I got to the doorway, David (in entertainment and the host of the shows tonight) politely asked about dinner. Poor guy, he had no idea what a loaded question that was! I demurely told him about my lonely experience and he genuinely felt bad. We joked about it a little, and he asked my name and said he'd be my friend this cruise. And what a friend he was - calling my name out every opportunity he had during WonderQuest! Really - I'm a fairly shy and quiet gal, so this was not exactly what I'd had in mind! I ended up winning this crazy, silly game where he called out various items that participants had to find and show to him, such as a sock with a hole in it, a straw, an ice cube, something red-white-blue, false teeth, a drink menu, etc. And, before you think I won because I had a hole in my sock and false teeth (because I didn't and I don't!), let me say that I am a "think out of the box" type of person AND I had a little help from Joseph the waiter. I won't spoil it with answers here but, if you're dying to know what items qualify, send me a PM and I'll clue you in.

Match Your Mate, once again, did not disappoint! It is a game based on the old Newlywed Show, but DCL chooses the most recently married couple, the longest married couple, and then a random enthusiastic couple. All three couples were treated to free drinks during their respective "sequestered" time in Diversions. As usually happens, the longest married couple won and the couple married the shortest length of time came in last (and hopefully they're still married despite the DH's answers!). The winning couple received a free Exotic Rasual spa treatment and the other couples received a free shore excursion on Castaway Cay just for participating!

After Match Your Mate is music and dancing so I headed up a deck to do a little shopping. I wanted to buy scrapbooking kits for a couple of friends who will be sailing soon. Start saving ladies, because there are four different packages to choose from (just pages and stickers, no album) and each was $15: a general 2008 DCL kit, a DCL kit that included stickers for all the ports the two ships visit (Eastern, Western, and Bahamas), a Pirates in the Caribbean kit, and a WDW 4-park kit. I also bought a $7 "fish" keychain for myself because I just couldn't resist! It's a tiny replica of the metal fish message-holder outside each cabin door.

I headed back to my stateroom where Willie had left me a beautiful swan towel animal (just like Cindy's), the next day's Navigator, and two chocolates. I took a long, hot shower (no water temperature issues in my cabin) and finally crawled into bed around 1am.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Before I went to sleep on Thursday, I looked through the Navigator and made a list of what I wanted to do on Friday.

1. Breakfast
2. Excursion (City Tour of Nassau through DCL)
3. Lunch at Triton's
4. Shopping (Del Sol)
5. Movie (College Road Trip)
6. Castaway Club meeting
7. Dinner at Triton's
8. Movie (Enchanted)
9. Pirate Party / Fireworks / Dessert Buffet

Friday morning I woke up at 6:30 and got up to take a peek outside to see where we were. The sun had not yet risen but was on its way. I went back to bed for about 1/2 hour and then decided to go ahead and get up. I got dressed quietly and then decided to go to Guest Services to cash a check so I wouldn't have to use my credit card for any shopping I planned to do (at Del Sol). I hadn't given a lot of thought ahead of time to how much cash I might actually want for Nassau beyond what I knew I'd want for tips for the excursion and some trinkets from the markets.

Cashing a check at Guest Services is pretty easy. You need your photo id (Driver's License) and your check. You make it out for the amount you want to get in cash (you can cash one personal check per cruise up to $100, so if you are planning to cash a check, you might as well do it for the entire $100), and then the CM will have to call to get it approved. I'm not sure who they call, but they read your routing number, account number and check number and get an approval number. Then you make out the check to Disney Cruise Line and they give you the cash in whatever way you want it.

When I returned to our cabin, Gary was up and ready to go for a run around Deck 4. Zachary was waking up and wanting to get ready for breakfast while Nathan pulled the covers up over his head for more zzzz's.

Zachary and I went up to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast. I had some fresh pineapple and then I was excited to see that they had grits on the hot line. I've often been through a buffet and thought they had grits only to find that it was cream of wheat. So seeing grits was like for me! I added a bowl of grits to my tray, and then moved on to eggs, bacon, and croissants. I also had a Mickey waffle. Zachary had a Mickey waffle, eggs, ham, and some other things. We found a place to sit that wasn't in the sun and enjoyed our breakfast together.

We walked around Deck 9, grabbed some Froot Loops for Nathan, and got a "breakfast soda" from the beverage station. (If you watched Biggest Loser this season, you'll get the breakfast-soda reference.) There was starting to be more people coming out for breakfast, so we headed back to the room. Nathan was just getting up and wanted to go to breakfast, so Zachary and I went back up with him so he wouldn't have to eat by himself. Gary got back from running and took a cool shower at some point, and then went to breakfast by himself. I used the time to work on my trip report from WDW and to download photos and charge the camera battery so we'd be ready for arrival into Nassau.

As we started pulling into Nassau, here's what we saw:
Port side:

Starboard side:

 

[solgent]

I'm really enjoying the double trip report!

Just curious, why did you skip the embarkation photo?

 

[nzdisneymom]

I'm really enjoying the double trip report!

Just curious, why did you skip the embarkation photo?

thanks for reading!

We skipped the embarkation photo because we knew we weren't going to buy it, and my guys really don't enjoy getting their photos made like that - AND the line was pretty long waiting for photos. We did one on our first cruise but after that experience agreed as a family that we just didn't want to do them.

 

[Deb T.]

I'm really enjoying the double trip report!

I'm trying to keep my perspective of the trip in alignment with Cindy's. So, here's my Nassau morning! I slept in a little - as much as the creaking in my cabin would allow. Of the six cabins we've been in, this one has the loudest and most persistant creaking! In other cabins, I've been able to wedge a piece of folded cardboard into the offending crevices, but that did not work in this cabin. Thank goodness I travel with earplugs, or this light sleeper would not have had a wink of sleep during the night.

I headed off to Beach Blanket for the morning buffet. I'd taken the Nassau navigator to read through while eating alone, but it turns out that wasn't necessary because I ran into Ness2289 and her DD already seated and eating their breakfast. They graciously allowed me to joint them with my ham steak, bacon, fried potatoes, fresh pineapple, and watermelon. It was fun to hear all about their first day's experience on the ship since this was their very first cruise. This is also when I learned that she had been randomly assigned to the same early dining table as Cindy and her family. Wow! Talk about good luck!

After breakfast, Ness2289 and her DD headed off for a boat tour around Nassau and I headed to the spa for a Well-being massage, compliments of my absent DH. I arrived about ten minutes early and had to fill out a basic health concern questionnaire, then was led to the ladies' locker room to slip into a robe and slippers. (You are given a locker and key to keep your clothing and valuables in during your treatment.) I was soon called by the massage therapist and led to one of the couples' Alone Time rooms. I'd done that massage last July on the Magic's Mediterranean cruise so I was familiar with the room and balcony and it was nice to see it again. However, it was a bit sad since it's clearly a room for two which again highlighted the fact that I was sailing solo. I was asked what type of massage I wanted and told her that I usually opted for deep tissue at home. She left the room while I crawled under the heavy warm towels in anticipation. For such a small girl, she sure had FIRM pressure, so I was a bit jumpy at first (especially when she pushed down quick and hard several times to make my bones crack!) and after a couple of minutes politely told her that she could ease up just a little and maybe make this more of a relaxation massage! She complied and the rest of the 50 minues were pure heaven. Afterward, I asked about using the Rainforest Room for the day and was told there'd be a $9 charge. I was surprised because I'd always heard that the Rainforest Room was complimentary on the day of a massage. Oh well. I headed back to the locker room to change, but at the last minute decided to grab a large towel nearby and try out one of the showers we hear so often about on the DIS. There were two in the locker room: the one on the right looked like it was a waterfall-type spigot and the one on the left had a huge multi-spray nozzle. I'll take door number two, Monty! The spray did not disappoint and the shampoo, conditioner, and body soap in the dispenser were all just fine. The only thing missing was a washcloth, but that really wasn't needed since I was there really to just experience the shower. I headed back to where my locker of clothes were, changed, and then meandered to Cove Cafe to pull a little treat out of their glass case before heading down to my cabin to relax on the verandah, where I promply fell asleep for a little while!

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Deb, I kinda hate hearing about your Parrot Cay experience. After the first night, we were alone at a six-top the other two nights, which wasn't too bad, since there were three of us. But I can imagine you felt lost, planted at that big ol' table by yourself.

Guess I'll wait to see how the other evenings went, huh?

 

[Deb T.]

Deb, I kinda hate hearing about your Parrot Cay experience. After the first night, we were alone at a six-top the other two nights, which wasn't too bad, since there were three of us. But I can imagine you felt lost, planted at that big ol' table by yourself.

Guess I'll wait to see how the other evenings went, huh?

Thanks for your empathy. You are very kind! If DH had been along on the cruise, it wouldn't have bothered me in the least. But, I just felt so insignificant and awkward sitting there for nearly two hours all by myself, especially when I felt strongly that alternate arrangements could have been made for me by the head waiter (Ali) for just that one night. I won't spoil the upcoming TR installments, but I can tell you that the other two nights were great, but not for the reasons you might anticipate...

 

[mkmommy]

I am enjoying you report. I am doing a solo cruise in December so it is interesting to read about one, I have gotten late dining so I am thinking of skipping the dining rooms as I would hate to be at a table in the dining room all alone.

 

[nzdisneymom]

While we had read that many folks either do Nassau on their own or skip the town altogether, this was Gary and the boys' first visit to Nassau, so Gary wanted to see the area, and obviously we were not going to allow the boys to miss the opportunity to see a new place. I have to preface our excursion by saying that when we cruised the Med last summer, we did excursions every day, often with early departure times. The kids were troopers but wer exhausted, so the mention of an excursion was met with some hesitancy on their part. Also Nathan is a bit of a worrier, so whenever we book excursions, we always do them through the cruise line because of the guarantee that they will "hold the ship" for us if we were back late from an excursion.

Of course doing a mid-morning 2-hour excursion in Nassau, we didn't have to worry about getting back late but it's a comfort thing for Nathan, so that's just what we do. When I had sailed on a different cruise line in late 2006 to Nassau, my SIL and I just did a taxi-tour from one of the licensed guys at the end of the pier.

So we opted for the City Historical tour that would take us to Fort Fincastle, the Queen's Staircase, and Fort Charlotte, as well as a bit of a driving tour around Nassau. Our meeting time was 9:45 in the Promenade Lounge. It seemed that many excursions were leaving from there as we arrived early and one group was heading out.

While we were waiting for our time to check in, we had another 'It's a Small World' moment. Gary saw a family and said he thought he recognized the man as one of our former neighbors. I wasn't sure as they had moved a few years ago, but when I saw the woman, I thought it might be them, so I went over to talk to them -- and sure enough, it was! And not only that, they had just moved a couple of streets over and their DD is in Zachary's grade in the same school. They had gone to preschool together which I had forgotten. It was their first Disney cruise (maybe even their first cruise) and they were having a great time. We spent a little time catching up before we got checked in.

Having had a lot of excursions previously, we found the check-in process to be easy as well as the disembarking process. While we were going to Deck 1 to exit the ship, there was a family ahead of us with a son about Nathan's age who was complaining about his wristband from the Lab. Nathan hates wearing one and generally removes his after a day and just gets a new one if he decides to go back to the Lab. The kid was really bothered by it and the dad was telling him to pretty much deal with it... I quietly mentioned to him that if his son took it off, the Lab would just give him a new one later and that's what we do. The dad didn't say anything, but about 5 minutes later, I noticed that the son didn't have his wristband any more. I do know that the Lab doesn't like to have to do it, but if it's really annoying, then I say do whatever to make your kid more comfortable. As for Zachary, he wore his wristband from the Med for about 6 weeks after we got back, and he's still wearing his wristband from last week now.

So our coordinator took us to the end of the pier and walked us through the Terminal and out to meet the drivers.

We went in a nice air conditioned van that seated 12, but we had 13 passengers because one family's children were really small. It was us four, two ladies together, and then the family of seven. It was a great group because everyone was attentive to the time.

Our driver took us through the town and over to Fort Fincastle where we stopped for about 20 minutes.

We got some pictures from the fort of the Wonder and of the Water Tower.

There was another couple on the top of the fort that asked if I would take their picture for them, and in return, they took a family picture for us.

There was a guide at the Fort who talked about the area and provided information about what we saw as well as the history of the fort. Because I had been before, I knew to take some dollars to tip the guy at the fort, but most people didn't.

 

[Deb T.]

I am enjoying you report. I am doing a solo cruise in December so it is interesting to read about one, I have gotten late dining so I am thinking of skipping the dining rooms as I would hate to be at a table in the dining room all alone.

Hi mkmommy - based on my experience, I would highly encourage you to just show up at the dining room a little late, that way you could see who's sitting at your table and then decide whether or not to eat there. I don't know if you've cruised DCL before, but the dining rooms are gorgeous and the food is great, so I'd hate for you to completely miss out on that part of the cruise experience. You especially don't want to miss Animator's Palette! I think that next time, knowing now that I really COULD have been moved, I would be more assertive and actually demand to be moved to another table with the understanding that it would be just for that one night.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Around Fort Fincastle, you'll find several booths set up by locals selling their wares - plenty of souvenirs similar to what you will find at the straw market. If you aren't planning to go to the Straw Market or you want to do a little shopping without the craziness, there is enough of a selection here to at least get your basic Bahamian souvenirs.

Right in the same area of Fort Fincastle is the Queen's Staircase. There are 65 (used to be 66) hand-carved steps cut from the limestone by slaves. You may enter at the top or bottom, although most people come in from the top and then meet their tour guide at the bottom.

The steps are narrow and steep but there are handrails to help you walk safely down. It is cool and there is a waterfall in the canyon. Here we are on our way down.

And looking back up:

There are restrooms at the top and at the bottom of the Queen's Staircase, and there are a couple of tables of souvenirs at the bottom in case you missed something you wanted at the top.

Our tour guide drove to the bottom to pick us up:

 

[nzdisneymom]

From Fort Fincastle, our driver took us through some residential areas of Nassau while explaining that the Bahamas are made of over 700 islands and have just over 300,000 residents, with 200,000 of them living in Nassau. We passed several schools along the way and he was telling us about how the students wear uniforms.

Our next destination was Fort Charlotte which is really three forts altogether.

As we arrived, we noticed there were a lot of school groups there so we got to see some of the various uniforms.

It was Heritage Days in Nassau for the weekend (April 4 - 6) so we had to go into the Fort a different way than the tour guides usually take their groups. There were school bands performing in the Fort as part of the festival.

As we had found at Fort Fincastle, there was a Guide for Fort Charlotte who worked for tips. He was very entertaining and informative.

Following our tour of Fort Charlotte, we headed back for the pier, stopping along the way at a beach area for some photos. We drove through the shopping area so I was able to get my bearings for our afternoon shopping adventure.

We returned to the pier right at noon. It was busy at the terminal with other ships' passengers making their way into Nassau after a later arrival than the Wonder. There were women along the way chatting up women (and particularly moms) for hair braiding.

The boys were ready to get back on the ship, and Gary and I were ready for a rest, so we boarded and headed for lunch. We told the boys we would meet them in the cabin after we had lunch at Triton's. They went up to Deck 9 and then back to the cabin for their lunch while we had a quiet, peaceful lunch.

I enjoy having lunch at Lumieres/Tritons because it feels elegant. We ended up both ordering the same thing (chips and salsa for appetizer and the meatloaf for our entree), and our waiter commented that the couple sitting next to us had done the same thing (both ordered the same, although not the same as we ordered). I had thought about getting the hamburger as I knew it would be good, but I decided to try the meatloaf which ended up being the better choice as it was plentiful but didn't leave me feeling heavy. Of course since I had pretty much not eaten dinner the night before, I felt like it would be ok anyway. It was meatloaf, smashed potatoes, and vegetables (green beans and carrots). The chips and salsa came out with sour cream and guacamole, too.

 

[nzdisneymom]

When we had returned to the ship, our cabin had not yet been cleaned, so we told the boys that if Nonoy came to take care of the cabin that they needed to clear out.

After lunch, I wanted to go shopping, particularly to the Del Sol store to get t-shirts for the boys. I had bought them shirts twice before at Del Sol - once in Huntington Beach, CA, and the other time in Key West. They have outgrown those (funny thing about kids, eh?) so I wanted to get new shirts for them. The quality of the t-shirts has been excellent as well as the color-changing has lasted as advertised.

So Gary and I trekked back through the terminal, past the hair braiders, and up a block to the shopping street. Del Sol was easy to find; the hard part was deciding which shirts to get the children. We wanted ones that said Nassau on them which most did. Zachary was pretty easy because he likes dolphins, but Nathan was a bit harder. We found a nice pirate shirt that had a bit of a pirate on the front and then the big "picture" was on the back. We ended up getting adult size small t-shirts rather than children's x-large because they are so close in size. I got some color-changing nail polish for me, and Gary found a shirt for him. I was glad I had cashed that check earlier in the morning because we spent most of it at Del Sol. The t-shirts were $25 each.

From Del Sol, we headed down toward the Straw Market. I hadn't planned to buy anything - I just wanted to look. But Nathan collects thimbles, so I thought if I found one, I would get it for him. So we entered and weaved our way through the booths. We didn't find the sellers to be pushy; if anything, they were non-attentive compared to what I had read before.

Anyway, at one point I did find some thimbles and as I stopped to look, the woman said $5 but I can let you have it for $4. So I looked at them, decided which one I wanted and offered $3 which she accepted and was within the range of what Nathan usually pays for his thimbles (between $3 - $6). I had not explained to Gary on the way in that it was "like Mexico" for bargaining so he was wondering what I was doing.

We made it through the rest of the Straw Market without buying anything and came out on the pier side by Senor Frogs. We had a leisurely stroll back to the ship in time for ice cream and a rest. The boys were gone when we got back because Nonoy had come in and cleaned the room. It was immaculate - he did a great job! I saw him later in the week in another room and he was out on the verandah wiping down the verandah floor with a towel.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Ok, let's check the list.

Breakfast - done
Excursion - done
Lunch at Tritons - done
Shopping at Del Sol - done...

What's next? Oh yes, the movie! College Road Trip was showing at 3 p.m. and the boys and I wanted to see it. I had not yet been to a movie in the Buena Vista Theater on our previous cruises so this was my NEW thing for the day. And the boys had wanted to see the movie, so we figured we saved about $30 by seeing it on the ship and bringing our own snacks Speaking of snacks, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Pluto's had bags of regular Lay's potato chips up on the counter to just get, so we each got a bag of chips and a drink from Deck 9 for the movie.

We enjoyed the movie although Nathan had a bad headache come on him so I ended up missing the last couple of minutes to take him back to the cabin for some tylenol, but that's ok because Zachary filled me in on what I missed (which wasn't much). It was nice having the boys of an age and familiarity with the ship that we could let them have some freedom.

After the movie was the Castaway Club meeting. We were early but that's ok because we got our pens and entry forms for the drawings. Zachary came with us while Nathan rested. They had a pretty good spread of snacks - cookies and my favorite - Rice Krispie treats shaped like Mickey -- both plain and chocolate-dipped. I don't care for the chocolate dipped ones, but I made sure to get a couple of the plain ones to "take back for Nathan" (ok, really for me!). And they had bottles of Evian water as well, so I had one to drink then and one for later.

Rachel hosted the party and got us 'mingling.' Gary didn't want to stay for it, so after he had his snacks, he left, but as he was leaving, Deb T. was coming in, so she sat with me and Zachary. One of the ships' officers came over (Cheri) and asked Zachary if he would like to be one of the kids who helped with the drawings for the prizes, so he agreed.

While we were waiting for the video clips and drawings, Deb and I were talking and I found out about her awful dinner experience. I told her how Ness and her DD were sitting with us and then had a brilliant idea --- I knew that Gary and Nathan were not planning to join us for dinner because they neither one wanted to get "dressed" to go to Tritons, so I suggested that Deb join us as there would be room at the table. I figured it didn't matter because with Gary and Nathan gone, there would be two empty seats so she could take one of theirs. And since Ness and her DD were at our same table, it just made perfect sense to me! So after multiple assurances that it was absolutely fine and I was absolutely sure that Gary and Nathan would not change their minds about dinner, I wrote down our time and table number for her.

Then it was time for prize drawings. Zachary, little stinker, didn't pull his mother's name nor his new friend Deb's name... but he got a cool little beach hat from the Oceaneer's Club (Oh the horrors for a 10 year old -- but we passed it on to GoofyJJ's 7 y.o. son by way of their fish extender and he was delighted).

The CC party ended about 5:30, just in time to go get ready for our Triton's dinner. Zachary was going to come with me, so we went to get changed. It was Pirate night, so I let him wear his khaki shorts with his pirate t-shirt to dinner. Gary and Nathan got their own dinner and enjoyed the quiet and watching the folks come back on board. They also took a ton of pictures from Deck 10 (which I haven't yet uploaded to photobucket so I guess that means I stop here for now!).

 

[DisneyCrazyMom22]

I must agree with Cindy on it being a small world!
After dinner, I headed to Wavebands to see what WonderQuest was all about and to watch Match Your Mate, which is always hilarious! When I got to the doorway, David (in entertainment and the host of the shows tonight) politely asked about dinner. Poor guy, he had no idea what a loaded question that was! I demurely told him about my lonely experience and he genuinely felt bad. We joked about it a little, and he asked my name and said he'd be my friend this cruise. And what a friend he was - calling my name out every opportunity he had during WonderQuest! Really - I'm a fairly shy and quiet gal, so this was not exactly what I'd had in mind! I ended up winning this crazy, silly game where he called out various items that participants had to find and show to him, such as a sock with a hole in it, a straw, an ice cube, something red-white-blue, false teeth, a drink menu, etc. And, before you think I won because I had a hole in my sock and false teeth (because I didn't and I don't!), let me say that I am a "think out of the box" type of person AND I had a little help from Joseph the waiter. I won't spoil it with answers here but, if you're dying to know what items qualify, send me a PM and I'll clue you in.

Match Your Mate, once again, did not disappoint! It is a game based on the old Newlywed Show, but DCL chooses the most recently married couple, the longest married couple, and then a random enthusiastic couple. All three couples were treated to free drinks during their respective "sequestered" time in Diversions. As usually happens, the longest married couple won and the couple married the shortest length of time came in last (and hopefully they're still married despite the DH's answers!). The winning couple received a free Exotic Rasual spa treatment and the other couples received a free shore excursion on Castaway Cay just for participating!

After Match Your Mate is music and dancing so I headed up a deck to do a little shopping. I wanted to buy scrapbooking kits for a couple of friends who will be sailing soon. Start saving ladies, because there are four different packages to choose from (just pages and stickers, no album) and each was $15: a general 2008 DCL kit, a DCL kit that included stickers for all the ports the two ships visit (Eastern, Western, and Bahamas), a Pirates in the Caribbean kit, and a WDW 4-park kit. I also bought a $7 "fish" keychain for myself because I just couldn't resist! It's a tiny replica of the metal fish message-holder outside each cabin door.

I headed back to my stateroom where Willie had left me a beautiful swan towel animal (just like Cindy's), the next day's Navigator, and two chocolates. I took a long, hot shower (no water temperature issues in my cabin) and finally crawled into bed around 1am.

Ok, it's time for me to chime in with "It's a Small World......"! My family was also on your cruise--Me, DH, DS8, DS11. I'm so sorry I did not participate in the meets. Deb T invited me, but it was close to sail time and I was so overwhelmed by everything as it was our first cruise ever!

Now for my small world moment. My husband and I were also at WonderQuest and Match Your Mate the first night! We saw DebT win! DH and I were sitting front and center. The couple sitting right behind us was the last couple in MYM. Those poor newlyweds--I hope they were able to enjoy the rest of the cruise after those answers!

 

[Deb T.]

Ok, it's time for me to chime in with "It's a Small World......"! My family was also on your cruise--Me, DH, DS8, DS11. I'm so sorry I did not participate in the meets. Deb T invited me, but it was close to sail time and I was so overwhelmed by everything as it was our first cruise ever!

Now for my small world moment. My husband and I were also at WonderQuest and Match Your Mate the first night! We saw DebT win! DH and I were sitting front and center. The couple sitting right behind us was the last couple in MYM. Those poor newlyweds--I hope they were able to enjoy the rest of the cruise after those answers!

That is so cool, DisneyCrazyMom22! I sure wish you'd caught me and introduced yourselves! I would have loved to meet you!

 

[Deb T.]

Deb T.'s Day 2 continued...

After my short nap on my verandah , I headed back up to Beach Blanket for the lunch buffet. I ate outside near the railing with a great view of the island. I had already decided pre-cruise that I wasn't going to get off the ship today since this was my 5th time at Nassau. Been there, done that.

I thought I might join in on the Art of the Theme Show Ship Tour that was meeting outside of Palo at 1:45pm, but then decided not to. Instead, I sat outside of Beach Blanket and continued to relax... until I finally got bored and went to check out the Pirate Trivia game in the Promenade Lounge at 2:00pm. You know my theme of this cruise experience, right? A-l-o-n-e. Well, it was just my luck that I was the only one who showed up to play this game. The host, Neville (from entertainment and was the sound person for David's games the night before), recognized me from winning WonderQuest! How do these guys remember people and names when the Wonder turns over 3,000 guests every 3&4 days?!?!?! So, I joked with him that I won the Pirate Trivia by default! Just as we were beginning to play anyway, up walked two familiar faces: Cindy's boys! They were passing by and saw me sitting there, so they stopped to see what was going on. I learned that their parents had gone back into Nassau to shop, so I encouraged them to stay and join me in playing the game, which they did, and we had a fun time making fun of the easy questions and stressing over the difficult ones . The questions and answer choices were shown on a large TV screen, and we marked our answers on a blank sheet of paper. I offered to help the boys with answers I was sure of, but they wanted to guess their answers on their own, fair and square. Those two are really sweet and all about honesty! Around question number 16 (out of 25), people began arriving to check in for an afternoon excursion, so Neville invited more and more to join in on the trivia game, already in progress, just to help pass the time. After all the questions were answered, we were told to switch papers in order to fairly grade them. Well, wasn't it amazing that, after Neville determined I had the high score of 18, a lady and a man who said they didn't know each other prior to the game and who arrived in the Promenade Lounge after question number 16, announced they worked as a team for the trivia game and had 20 questions correct! Things that make you go, hmmmmmmm? It takes all kinds, doesn't it! The boys and I had a quizzical conversation that went something like, "Wait. What? How did? They got HOW many right?" and then laughter.

After the trivia game, the boys asked what was I going to do next. Awwww. See, I DID have friends on the ship after all! Like I said earlier, they are really sweet! I told them I'd actually planned to head back to my cabin for a little while so we parted ways... for now.

DVC members on the cruise typically receive a welcome gift (currently it's a journal titled "Captain's Log", a really big and really cool "Welcome Home" magnet, and an invitation to the Member's Only gathering) in their cabin on the first day. You don't even have to book with points to get the gifts! We've only received DVC gifts automatically once out of six cruises even though we've been DVC members since 1995. So, each cruise, including this one, I usually have to remind the DVC staff several times to include us in on the goodies and member invitation. At least they're usually fun to talk with. I'd been assured the evening before to expect everything delivered to my cabin last night, and it wasn't, so I decided to stop by the 4pm general DVC information session in Diversions to remind them again. The DVC reps invited me to stay in case I could add an owner's perspective to their spiel, so I did. I have to admit that I was also tempted by the chance to win $300 in a drawing of everyone in attendance. The presentation was very informative and I was called upon several times to expand on a topic. That night, I received a phone call from one of the DVC reps thanking me for staying and letting me know how helpful I'd been.

As soon as it was over, I scooted next door to Wavebands for the Castaway Club reception, already in progress (4:45-5:30pm). On the way in, I ran into Cindy's husband who was on the way out, but first he pointed me in the direction of where Cindy and her youngest were sitting and invited me to take his spot. Cindy and I caught each other up on our respective morning activities and what we had planned for the rest of the day, and I also told her about my sad solo dining experience the night before. When she told me her DH and older son were not coming to dinner that night and invited me to come and eat with her and Ness2289 at the early seating I was, at first, hesitant because I didn't want to intrude on the possibility that her guys would change their minds and decide they wanted to come to dinner after all. I would have felt terrible if I ended up keeping them from eating together as a family. But, she assured me it would be fine and so obviously I was thrilled! I had still been hanging on to hope that the others at my table would show up, but I definitely would much rather eat with all my new friends! I am truly forever indebted to Cindy for her thoughtfulness!

After quickly changing clothes for dinner, I caught up with Cindy, her youngest son, Ness2289, and her DD at 6pm in line for dinner at Triton's. Ness2289 spotted Pryncesa and so we all had the opportunity to meet her and her two handsome boys! After we were seated, their server (Alfredo) seemed a bit uncomfortable that I had randomly shown up and, even though Cindy assured him that the two guys would be absent from that table tonight, he wanted to get it cleared with the head waiter - who of course happened to be Ali for their section. Darn! I asked, pleaded, implored, and begged him to instead check with Simone because I knew HE would okay the situation for tonight. Well, Simone did one better... he said he'd turn that table for six into a table for seven the next night so that I could eat there again, too! Yea Simone! You can bet I wrote a nice note about Simone on the comment card... and a not-so-nice comment about Ali. Dinner was awesome - and I truly had a wonderful time talking with Ness2289 and Cindy and their children. I don't even remember what I ordered because I was enjoying everyone's company so much! Cindy had a fun dessert experience that I'll let her tell you about first.

Cindy had mentioned earlier that she and her boys were skipping The Golden Mickeys to watch Enchanted in the Buena Vista Theatre at 8:30pm, which sounded like another great idea to me so we did that together, too! The movie ended just in time to head up to Deck 10 to watch the best parts of the Pirates in the Caribbean Party: Mickey rappelling down from the aft smokestack and the fireworks! Decks 9 & 10 were packed with people yet, without any preplanning, Cindy and her DH showed up exactly where I'd gone to watch the show! As soon as the fireworks were over, all three of us headed to check out the dessert buffet! Yum! We saw Ness2289 and her DD in the opposite line and also ran into GoofyJJ and his DS. All the tables by the Mickey pool were empty, so Cindy, Gary, and I sat there and enjoyed great conversation until after midnight! Then I headed to the Internet Cafe to briefly touch base with my landlocked family (which I'd also done the night before). I returned to my cabin and was greeted by a monkey towel animal, two pirate chocolate coins, the next day's Navigator, and the "recommended tips" information sheet. Another long hot shower and then it was off to dreamland.

Oh - and I ran into David (from entertainment) two times during the day and both times he greeted me with a cheery, "Hi Deb!" Again, how in the world do they remember so many names???? Amazing!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Ok, it's time for me to chime in with "It's a Small World......"! My family was also on your cruise--Me, DH, DS8, DS11. I'm so sorry I did not participate in the meets. Deb T invited me, but it was close to sail time and I was so overwhelmed by everything as it was our first cruise ever!

Now for my small world moment. My husband and I were also at WonderQuest and Match Your Mate the first night! We saw DebT win! DH and I were sitting front and center. The couple sitting right behind us was the last couple in MYM. Those poor newlyweds--I hope they were able to enjoy the rest of the cruise after those answers!

Ok, since you weren't able to participate in the meets, you HAVE to participate in the trip report!!! Please add your experiences and your pictures with as much or little detail as you want, especially as a first-time cruiser!!!!!!!!