Back from 4 day Wonder 3/18 - 3/22

[kkgunn]

It was our 1st cruise, so I don't have anything else to compare it with, but we all enjoyed it very much and wouln't hesitate to cruise again with Disney.

My kids are 17 (son) and 14 (daughter). I was worried they may be too old for the Disney stuff, but they enjoyed the shows very much. They did NOT want to go to the teen scene thing which was fine, they were happy to stay with us and we were happy to have them.

Stayed and the Country INn and suites the night before and left our car in the parking lot. Took the shuttle bus over in the morning. There is a lot of waiting around to "fill the bus", but we have time... plenty of time.

Got boarding #21. This is just fine with me... already have Palo reservations and don't intend on needing to change them.

stafety drill is quick. Sail away party is lively and even though the little kids and parents are down on the stage and deck 9, we watch from deck 10 and dance around a little. there looks like plenty of people onboard, but it's not as crowded as I thought.

all pools are terribly small.. are they that small on all cruise lines?? my husband and I hung around the adult pool for about 2hrs on 4th "at sea" day.
we participated in adult syncronized swimming contest and both teams got a free "drink of the day" from the bar.

kids orderd room service several times and loved it. We were too full most of the time to eat any more.

stage shows are top notch.. I cannot understand why they don't make fresh popcorn on the ship for the shows. We were craving it badly and would have purchased it at any cost!!! kids bought candy before shows.. I brought in a drink from drink station...

Nassau was not as scary as I thought it would be. People are nice and they are also slow. Personal taxi ride is fastest.. we took the city bus $1 to cable beach and you wait until the bus fills up. we took a water taxis to Atlantis and you wait until the boat fills up before you leave.

There is A LOT of walking if you go to Atlantis on water taxi.

Atlantis is cool, like a nice big Las Vegas hotel, but I wouldn't spend the money to stay there or rent a room for the day. I'm sure the beach is nice, but so is Cable beach for $1 transportation on #10 bus. If you need a water park, go to Typhoon Lagoon back in Orlando and save $300.

Castaway CAy is a perfect beach island. Our family was happy to play in the water and sit in a beach chair halfway in the waves. We brought some of our own snorkel gear to do that. I would not pay $25 per/person to rent snorkel stuff. mostly looking at weeds and a few fish. we had to see the sunken mickey though because I read about it before hand.

They have these wheelchairs that can go in the sand. I thought that was awsome for those who needed it. Those who use a wheelchair are not left out.

Went to a couple late night movies in the theater.. that was nice. we all were pretty tired and went to bed around 12-1 am. We slept through breakfast mostly.. got fruit from deck 9 and coffee from drink station.

Dinners were good and I liked that my kids ordered off a real menu. My son tried and ate some new an interesting things... my daughter tried some new items, but she is more fussy and usually ordered mac and cheese from room service later on. Everyone ate desert.

Dinner servers were nice and not over doing it. I don't like it when wait persons hover around and like to talk to you a lot. We were at a table with a family of 3 with adult daughter who was in a wheelchair and had difficulty communicating. I was impressed with the way the servers treated her. They did not simply ignore her and refer to her mother for dinner selections. They explained the menu just like they had to us, called her by name, and made an effort to understand her response. They did not just give up and ask her parents what she wanted for dinner.

We had table #47, which was in a corner for pretty much every restraunt. I know someone has to be in the corner, but they should switch it up so that the same tables are stuck in the corners every night. At Tritons I was 5 feet from the back wall for dinner... the next night (pirate night) at Tritons I sat on the other side of the table (3 on one side, one on the other) since we had three open seats are our table.

The boat had quite a bit of motion the last evening... I didn't sleep as well, but did not get sick.

breakfast is too early on the last morning, but what can you do???

spent NO money at shutters... we just didn't have any formal photo taken and we were in a hurry to get to this show or that dinner or activity. I'm good with that, I took about 150 with my camera.

we tiped the recomended amount, rounded up a few bucks. The stateroom hostess is the hardest worker IMO. room was cleaned twice a day with fresh towels and ice etc.... Since I am in charge of keeping things clean at home I really appreciate all the work she did.

wonderful trip, would recomend 4 day to anyone of any age.

 

[Mozart]

Stayed and the Country INn and suites the night before and left our car in the parking lot. Took the shuttle bus over in the morning. There is a lot of waiting around to "fill the bus", but we have time... plenty of time.

Got boarding #21. This is just fine with me... already have Palo reservations and don't intend on needing to change them.

Tell me more about Country Inn, as we're thinking about staying there. Do you know what time they start running shuttles over, and when they pick up to go back to the hotel? I want boarding #2, not #21.

 

[kkgunn]

they had a 10 am and 11 am shuttle. If it's important I would verify with them before hand though. Hotel is fairly new so it's not run down or anything. We reserved and paid for the "park and cruise" package. Many say they don't pay they extra (I think it's $20) for package and just leave there car there anyway. It's worth it to me to know my vehicle won't be towed while I'm gone... Also they give vouchers for the shuttle so it is no additional cost (other than a tip)

 

[B&Lmom]

What size and catagory stateroom did you have? I am thinking about booking the 4-day for spring break next March.... and trying to figure out if we need the Cat4 or two connecting rooms(like two Cat9). My kids will be about the same age as yours..... DS-16 and DD-13 next year....
Thanks for sharing about your trip!

 

[Disney owl]

thanks for sharing

 

[kkgunn]

We were on deck 7 (I don't know what category that is). with a verandah. We were able to find enough room for our luggage stowed away so we didn't have that to trip over. I had the room made up with the 2 twin beds instead of one queen. I am a wiggler and a night owl, my husband is very still and falls asleep instantly and early. My daughter is the smallest and lightest and she slept in the bed that comes down from the wall/ceiling. I thought we had enough room and I liked being together and talking at night (like the Waltons). If I had it to do over again I would definatly spend my $$ on the verandah and not another room. The verandah was wonderful. No smoking issues, no sea spray issues, no loud neighbors. Just sunshine, great views and a cool sea breaze at night.

 

[B&Lmom]

Thanks for your imput.... we have been on one other cruise and had a balcony. It was SO wonderful and made our room feel larger and open. I'm having a hard time seriously considering not having one... it spoils you!

About the pull down bed from the ceiling.... would it be ok for a tall 13 yr old? Or will she be up there with her feet hanging off!? Sorry to ask such weird questions! I'm trying to figure out how much room we really need.

My family sounds like yours... we don't mind squishing in and being together....

 

[B&Lmom]

By the way, do you have any pictures of the stateroom?
Thanks!!!!

 

[morningglory316]

Hi, just wanted to say I was on the same cruise. it was also our first and we had a great time. we didnt do as much as we would have liked to being we had gotten sick and we did this after doing a five day marathon in disney. But it was a great cruise and cant wait to book our next one for a longer cruise. I cant compare to any other cruise line but I tell people if you ever want to know how royalty or the rich is treated then you should do a disney cruise. They were all great and very helpful and the kids had a great time and loved having some independce. We were there with two other families and we all have 13 year old girls. and yes it definitely was a bumpy ride on the way back to port. We were midship on 2 and were fine with our rooms and there was no nosie. Thanks to everyone on this board for all there help in planning my trip. Fran

 

[kkgunn]

B&L mom, yes I do have a photo of the state room. I will try to figure out how to post it. the photo's of the room on disney.com are about right, the bed that pulls out of the ceiling/wall is not shown. I think the length of the bed is the same as the sofa bed, so you either fit in it or not. I'm not sure if they are the same as the queen/twin beds because they went in another direction and I couldn't really tell.. close though if not the same.

 

[kkgunn]

morningglory316, did you have the flu sick? Or, was it something else. We rode back to our car in a shuttle van with a family who's daughter had gotten the Norovirus sick... they told us she was in the med center with IV for awhile.

 

[nenner1]

kkgunn: Thank you for your report! We were also on the cruise with you, deck 7 too. Those were really some rough seas! The first night was bad, but the last night was the WORST. I really did not get much sleep. Of course that is not enough of a deterrent to stop me from booking again. We had such a great time, for us it was our first cruise also. I agree with what you said about the pools being small, especially the Goofy pool- you'd think the family pool would be the biggest. Of course I only went in briefly- the cool air and high winds made it a bit too nippy for me. I plan on writing a full length trip report...as soon as I get around to it !! ha ha!!

b&lmom: As far as the staterooms go- I was *shocked* at how small they were. After all of the talk about them being "larger than industry standards" and such. We had a REALLY hard time maneuvering in our room (2 adults, 2 kids). Of course we were only in a category 11, which is the smallest, but I did see into many of the verandah rooms and I can tell you they sure aren't much bigger. I will not book a cat 11 or 12 again, as we need at least the extra half bath. As far as the bunk beds- the sofa convertible and the pull down, they are not as long as a twin bed. A 13 yr old will probably not fit comfortably. It was a nice size bed for my son, but he's 7 and only 4 feet tall. If finances permit I would advise adjoining staterooms or a suite...it will be a tight fit in a standard or even deluxe stateroom. Make sure to pack light and keep in mind thick/tall girth suitcases will not fit under the bed and will clutter up the room even more (we had that problem)...
Hope that helps!!

 

[B&Lmom]

b&lmom: As far as the staterooms go- I was *shocked* at how small they were. After all of the talk about them being "larger than industry standards" and such. We had a REALLY hard time maneuvering in our room (2 adults, 2 kids). Of course we were only in a category 11, which is the smallest, but I did see into many of the verandah rooms and I can tell you they sure aren't much bigger. I will not book a cat 11 or 12 again, as we need at least the extra half bath. As far as the bunk beds- the sofa convertible and the pull down, they are not as long as a twin bed. A 13 yr old will probably not fit comfortably. It was a nice size bed for my son, but he's 7 and only 4 feet tall. If finances permit I would advise adjoining staterooms or a suite...it will be a tight fit in a standard or even deluxe stateroom. Make sure to pack light and keep in mind thick/tall girth suitcases will not fit under the bed and will clutter up the room even more (we had that problem)...
Hope that helps!!

Thanks for the imput. My kids are pretty tall for their age and who knows how much they will grow before next March!!! My DS will be 16 and is pushing 6ft now and my DD will be almost 14 at the time and is almost my height at 5'8"! I don't know if the pull down ceiling bed would be good for ANY of us!

 

[1sttimecruz]

Nice trip report. You got on the ship as we got off.

We had the same experience regarding rough seas. The first night was rocky, but not too bad. The last night was an amusement park ride! It happened late though (middle of the night), so it was a minor thing to us (though I did take a Less-Drowsy Dramamine as a precaution). Everyone else in our room slept through it.

 

[kkgunn]

I think one the reasons the ship was so rocky that last night was that it was windy in Florida and we were traveling back near the coastline, having gone further south for better weather. I woke up on the last day to see grey skies and it was rather chilly out. Rather than trol around in the water near Cape Canaveral, we sailed further south looking for better weather which we found, and which I very much appreciated. I noticed by showtime WEd. night we were moving pretty fast in the water again back to Port.

 

[Minniespal]

Thanx for sharing.

 

[NCardella]

We were on the same cruise! We had a great time, see "My SuperShort Trip Report" and read how I pouted that they made me get off the ship, the meanies.

I think it was B&L who was looking for some pics of the room in Cat9. We stayed on deck 2, cat9, room 2532. She was asking if the pulldown bed would be comfortable for her 13yr old. keep in mind the weight limit is 250 and it's about a regular size twin bed, so i'm sure it would be fine.

here are 2 pics of our category 9 room:

our first time with a steamer trunk, we loved it. We were in the room right next door, 2534, last year and it didn't have one.

 

[B&Lmom]

THANKS for posting your room pics! That's a big help to me while I'm trying to decide what to put my deposit down on.....
Looks like the american girl doll came crusing with you! I so remember those days. My DD would always want to "pack" her own suitcase.... well, let's just say that the doll had more outfits picked out than she had for herself!! She's almost 13 and still packs her holiday beanie babies!!

 

[morningglory316]

dear kkgunn, I was sick before i got on the ship. I was better by the time I had gotten on the ship but I had just a regualr virus. my husband who had been sick had gotten worse and he is now home with pnemonia. But I think it was just a bug that he had never really gotten rid ofnad went into pnemonia. I dont know what kind of bug that little girl had. I have never heard of that flu you mentioned. What is it? Thank you, Fran (morningglory316)

 

[Paigee10]

im surprised your teens did not hang out in the stack i think they would have a blast, ive made friends for a life time!