Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder - 2018. Third time's a charm!

[Timon]

December 26th, Part 1

Here's the Navs for today...

Today was the worst day when it came to weather and by worst...I mean the BEST!!!

Sorry, but we LOVE rain and storms so other than one letdown (which I will get to in the next post) this was a very awesome day! We didn't know this at the time but we were sailing into some very bad weather that was hitting a good portion of Texas.

When you're on a cruise, you are in this weird bubble...no news, no weather, you only hear what affects you and only during that moment. It's awesome but not awesome, all at the same time.

I remember our first Christmas cruise, the day we disembarked and got to the airport. I went to buy some water and saw the tabloids and realized that George Michael, Carrie Fisher and her mom Debbie Reynolds all died while we were on our cruise!

So yeah, you're very sheltered on a cruise so we had no idea that the weather we were hitting this afternoon and into the evening hours was affecting most of Texas and would be affecting our disembarkation day.

This is what we woke up to...

Well, this was shortly after we woke up when we headed for Cabanas for our last breakfast at sea.

The weather was actually perfect that morning but it got worse as the day went along. My last Cabanas breakfast

I forgot to mention that we typically buy the Christmas mugs on our Wonder cruises and if you remember my last two Christmas trippies, I wasn't impressed that they only had Christmas mugs from the parks, not any specific cruise mugs. Well, they outdid themselves this year as all they had to buy were the Halloween mugs!!

Good Lord!

It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't just purchased these suckers in September at Disney World. Oh well, I think I will set these aside for next year (crossing fingers there is a next xmas cruise ) and take them with us so we can just save ourselves $20!

After showering and getting ready, we hit up the Promenade Lounge for some Disney Pixar Trivia, just Rob and I.

And once again, we tied for 1st place!

This time though, they called for a tie-breaker question so they asked you to send up your best player to answer a question.

I hate that kind of stuff, I don't like ANY kind of attention so standing up in front of an entire room, competing with someone is soooo not my jam.

Oddly enough, the question was NOT Pixar related but I did know the answer

And I totally did not know that my hubby was recording the whole thing.

The family was very grateful and I was more than glad not to take home those medals. The only reason we even played trivia was because we saw (at the very first trivia we played) that they were giving away DCL Journals/Notebooks as prizes and well, I am a stationery QUEEN and wanted those journals. Sadly, the two times we won, they only had those Mickey Medals

I ducked in the store real quick to see if they had any more sizes for some pajama pants I was eyeing but, alas, they did not

I saw these on night one and would have bought them in a nanosecond but the only size they had was XXL. I had hoped that they would restock during the cruise with more sizes but I checked every single day and they either sold out super quick or never restocked

I will never understand this...it happens on every single cruise! We find something we like (which, with their weird selection of merchandise in the past few years, isn't easy!) and they don't have all the sizes!

I would have spent an additional $150 or more if they had an array of sizes!

I remember when we first started cruising, they had so much awesome merchandise, Rob and I wanted to buy everything in the dang store and now, we're hard-pressed to find something we like.

While we were in there, we saw our captain sign stuff...

And then we went back for another trivia in our same spot. This time we lost but only by two points. Meh, more Mickey medals

Then we ran up to D Lounge for Movie Quotes Trivia, which ended up being the most entertaining and fun trivia game we have ever played. The host, whose name escapes me at the moment, was SOOOOO funny! Oh my dog! We were all laughing the entire time! I'm calling it now, this guy is going to be cruise director one day!!!

This was also the busiest trivia we'd ever seen, the entire D Lounge was full!

This was very challenging as it was 25 quotes! However, Rob and I watch a lot of movies and we only got two wrong. It wasn't easy because you had to have both the movie AND the name of the actor who said the line.

There was one question where only me and one other guy knew the answer to and the quote was exactly one single word but if you love the movie as much as I do, you would get it instantly.

The "answer" was "Zihuatanejo", do YOU know what it's from?

Sadly, there was one guy who got all of them correct (the only other person who got the Zihuatanejo one) and he got a DCL calendar, which I was a little jealous of, not gonna lie


We headed down to Crown and Fin to get some loaded tater tots but found out that they no longer serve them

Looking out the window, you could tell we were getting closer to Texas

So, with no calendar and no tots...I cried all the way to Pete's and grabbed this...my last hot dog of the cruise!!

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

We brought it into Cabanas where Rob was finally able to eat lunch here! We just barely made it before they closed it down.

At our first table, we were seated next to an extended family with 3 little kids, I would say from about 1 to 4 years old and they were running around SCREAMING at the top of their lungs.

Oh my gosh! The screams were so loud and so high-pitched that they went directly into my spine!

YKWIM?

So we grabbed our food and went wayyyyyy over to the other side of Cabanas.

Rob enjoyed his three course lunch which was then followed up by an ice cream cone. Sadly, they didn't have the coconut/pineapple one that day.

This is when we first noticed that it was raining. It was raining pretty good too actually so I suggested we go enjoy the weather from our balcony

We got back to our room to find these...we never did the Anna & Elsa hunt but we got the prize thanks to Darcy

We checked to see where we were...

Saw these....BAH, humbug!!

And then enjoyed some balcony time together.

The seas were getting rougher and the clouds were getting darker.

And the lights were on again...

On both sides but with this weather, nobody but us crazies ventured out onto their verandahs

Rob got cold quickly and went back into our room while I stayed and spotted some AT-AT's

Notice that I haven't even mentioned our daughter yet?

Tune in next to find out why

 

[MAeroGirl]

That looked like an amazing Christmas! I would not have expected QUITE that many festive PJs!

And now I’m wishing we’d found time for trivia on our cruise, because those medals look adorable (although I see why you didn’t need to bring home a whole fistful of them)!

 

[verleniahall]

I a, e joying your report! We will be going on our first cruise next swpt

 

[cmarsh31]

I've lurked before but this is the first time I've commented... because our FIRST DISNEY CRUISE is on the Wonder in 26 days! Only a 4-night to the Bahamas, but it won't be our last! You've got me totally wanting to do the Trivia games!

 

[jasmine_ash]

I've lurked before but this is the first time I've commented... because our FIRST DISNEY CRUISE is on the Wonder in 26 days! Only a 4-night to the Bahamas, but it won't be our last! You've got me totally wanting to do the Trivia games!

We’ll be on the same cruise!! Woo!!! Can’t wait!

 

[jasmine_ash]

Enjoying the TR, Cass!! So sad to know it’s almost to the end!

 

[belle2008]

Long time lurker on your TRs and am especially looking forward to reading this one as I will be on the Wonder later this year.

Then we ran up to D Lounge for Movie Quotes Trivia, which ended up being the most entertaining and fun trivia game we have ever played. The host, whose name escapes me at the moment, was SOOOOO funny! Oh my dog! We were all laughing the entire time! I'm calling it now, this guy is going to be cruise director one day!!!

But I actally posted because when I saw the picture I knew exactly who it was. I believe his name is Rodney. He was on my cruise on the Dream a few months ago doing most of the trivia and he was great. I actually got to talk to him a few times and he wants to be a comedian and on our Dream cruise they were actually letting him do a few comedy acts in the lounges during adult time late at night.

 

[bcwife76]

Awww, that was nice of you to give up the medals; I think what the host meant to say is Now that's what you call a GRACIOUS winner (not to say you aren't graceful as well! ) Sorry you didn't win any of the stationery, that's a bummer.

Wow, yes the seas are getting a bit rougher as you get closer......dun dun dun!

 

[jenseib]

And I totally did not know that my hubby was recording the whole thing.

I played the video and Claire is sitting nearby and says “who the heck would even know that?” And I replied. ... that was Cass!!!

The "answer" was "Zihuatanejo", do YOU know what it's from?

Ok I need that answer.., just in case!

Notice that I haven't even mentioned our daughter yet?

I did! Did she jump overboard?

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We also experienced weather in the Gulf on our last cruise! It was definitely something to behold.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but ever since I had Kira, this is what I do to all my meals before I start eating.

Well, not always but most of the time. I don't do it in Palo and I try not to do it in the MDR's but this is how I prefer to eat. Everything all ready to shove down my gullet

It probably helped too with the new braces!

I'm pretty sure today's attire is "Christmas Pajama Casual"

From breakfast to dinner, that is all we saw

I would have worn PJs all day on Christmas. But my mom made me change into something nicer!

 

[SweetSpot]

I totally agree with you about the turtles. I won't do excursions like that after the first one we did because I felt so bad for the poor animals. I've gotten so bad in my old age and although I use to love going to a zoo because I love animals the only thing close to a zoo I will go to is the safari in Animal Kingdom.

Also, we just got off the Magic. I gave in and tried to eat the egg off the benedict (not the best) and then asked the omelet station if they could make an egg over easy. Perfect, fresh, hot eggs every morning!

 

[lorimay]

Ohhhhh, don't like rainy weather when I'm in the middle of the ocean.

I had read about those DCL calendars last year and wanted one so badly.
This year I was on Ebay and saw one for sale and bought it and paid waayyyyyy too much for it. Of course after I paid too much, this seller had others they put up that didn't move and the price went wayyyyy down, my luck.
But I love looking at it everyday, I put it right on the fridge with some magnets and love looking at it and my countdowns......

 

[Pumpkin1172]

I'm glad you had such a great Christmas Day. We tend to spend most of the day in our fancy pj's too, until extended family comes for Christmas dinner. I would love to go away for christmas...but I would need to make sure we had our kids along. We already have to share our dd with her fiance with his family, and it makes me sad to not have us all together. As we and the kids get older and have their significant others, we will have to share them. I don't wanna share them on holidays Maybe one day we can all be together on a holiday for chirstmas. It sure would be a great holiday!

Like you, we DEFINITELY miss my mil and both the hubby and I find the holidays hard without her around. It is just hard without them. I'm finding it hard to not have my mil around planning the dd wedding. She was such a huge part of all these things when our dd was growing up, so we are missing not having her presence. It is definitely an adjustment without them around.

Those seas look a little scary. How much was the ship rocking with those waves and skies. I know we had one rough night on our cruise...that glasses were walking off the tables that night. I had to go back to our room take some gravol and go to bed and hope it was better in the morning.

It's always sad when the trip comes to an end

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

I just love reading your Trip reports!!!

 

[Timon]

December 26th, Part 2

By late afternoon, the weather got pretty bad. Deck 9 was so wet, you couldn't walk on it very safely and we were swaying quite a bit now. Not as bad as you think we should have but definitely the worst day for the waves. I have good sea legs and love the swaying but I'm sure this was frustrating for many passengers.

With no more trivia left to play, Rob and I decided to order some snacks

He ate inside but I wanted to enjoy my verandah for as long as I could so I wrapped myself in a blanket (still in shorts, mind you) and took mine outside to enjoy this lovely view

You can kind of see the sunset

When I was done, I noticed a flash in the sky so I stood up to take a pic and got this beauty

Notice our neighbour's light still on?

When we saw Darcy later on, we asked him if he could turn both of those lights off for us and he did.

I came back in grudgingly and started to pack when our kid finally showed up

She had met and befriended a girl yesterday and they spent the entire day together. I ran into them briefly while getting my hot dog, they were both munching on ice creams

She barely had a moment to talk

Sadly, her friend had early dinner so she came back to the room in time to watch the end of a movie with her daddy.

When I was done packing, Rob and I tried to go sit out on deck 4 to watch the storm but both sides were closed

We headed up to deck 9 and saw that the family pool was closed due to lightning.

We headed over to Quiet Cove Pool and watched the lightning above and behind the stack. The adult pool was closed too but the lightning was lessening so I was still hoping to get some pool time in after dinner. I know from experience that the last night is the best time to swim because everyone else is too busy packing or doing last-minute stuff and most people don't want to pack a wet swimsuit in the morning. I made sure to pack ahead of time, have a ziploc handy for my swimsuit and obviously didn't care about swimming in this weather.

I took this pic of the stairs going up to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique because it looked kind of neat. Not many places on the ship where you can see this many stairs like this.

And then back to Tiana's for our final dinner.

I was making fun of these two and their buns eating frenzy. These two will eat 3 or 4 buns each before we even get our appetizers so if you want a bun with these two around, you gotta be fast

Rob's soup...

Kira ordered another kids meal And Chani helped her with some ketchup

My soup...

My meal...

Rob's meal...

Kira didn't care for her food (saw that coming!) so Rob was sharing his dish with her. She loves shrimp and some pasta so I asked the head server, who had just stopped by then, if he could possibly grab Kira one of these dishes. I figured why not finally make use of the head server, right?

So, a few minutes later she had one all to herself and she devoured it! (minus the veggies, of course)

I have been telling her all week to order off of the adult menu but she refuses as she reads the menu and is immediately turned-off because of how fancy it sounds. I told her that I would pick out some things that I know she would like but she has it in her mind she's not going to like it so she just orders a Caesar Salad or a safe sounding kids meal, like pizza.

I tried to explain to her that the kids meals are made for little kid's palates and while she is far from a normal 12-year old's tastes, there are many things on the menus that she would like if only she tried.

Dessert time where I spotted an old dish I used to love...the Amaretto Cheesecake! That used to be on the menu when we first started cruising and I have missed it soooo much!!!

Here's me and my cheesecake back in 2005, on our second Disney cruise...

Looks like we shared a few desserts...

And here's my Amaretto Cheesecake....

This was NOT the cheesecake that I drooled over back in the day, sadly

Wayan was adamant about getting Kira a dessert tonight because she kept running off before he could bring us the menus I told him she was happy with her billion ice creams and chocolate chip cookies she can get at all hours of the day.

And then I finally got Wayan and Chani together

After a wonderful last dinner, we headed back to the room...and NO NEW NAVIGATORS!!!

Kira went off to Edge and I sadly did not get any swimming done that night. I didn't see any lightning but I guess they were being cautious

So, back to the room where we packed up the rest of our stuff and set our suitcases out in the hall. Thankfully the cut off was 10:30 and not 10pm like it used to be. This gives people on late dining time to pack up last-minute stuff after dinner.


Look at our naked door!! And there were no xmas lights in our room that night either

We checked to see our location and were very surprised to see how close to Galveston we were already!

I sat out on the balcony for a bit as both neighbour's lights were out finally

When Kira came back just after midnight, when Edge closed for the final time, we hit the sack.

Another wonderful day at sea! This might have been my favourite day. Either today or Christmas, I don't recall...they were equally fantastic and I was so happy that Kira had found a friend (two actually, she told me later) and really enjoyed the last part of the cruise the way I had hoped she would.

From how she described the Edge activities to me the next day, she had a blast and they were all right up her alley.


Tomorrow they would be kicking us off the ship....but we're not that easy to get rid of.

 

[bcwife76]

Wow, that's quite the wild weather for your last day!

I can't believe those people left their balcony lights on day and night very lame.

I know what happened to you on disembarkation morning (since I follow your travel agent page on FB) but won't say anything....

 

[jenseib]

Another wonderful day!
I am so glad Kira found a friend. I wish my daughter would socialize. She just observes all the time...and only if I am with her. A couple kids have been messaging back and forth before our upcoming cruise and she is part of the group but doesn't reply much and she already told me she won't hang out with them. (which I am glad about the one because she sounds a bit too wild for our liking). But one girl seems sweet and actually lives not too far from us...nope she is going to do her ritual of hanging with adults or hanging in the room. I guess if that is what she likes I can't complain, but I wish she would do more activities.

I hope Kira gets more adventurous with her food choices. I agree that many sound fancy but when it arrives it never seems to be like what was described.,..which I am grateful for.

 

[Timon]

That looked like an amazing Christmas! I would not have expected QUITE that many festive PJs!

And now I’m wishing we’d found time for trivia on our cruise, because those medals look adorable (although I see why you didn’t need to bring home a whole fistful of them)!

Yes, PJ's for days

They are a very cute souvenir but you only need one

I a, e joying your report! We will be going on our first cruise next swpt

Next week? Wow! How exciting Have fun!

I've lurked before but this is the first time I've commented... because our FIRST DISNEY CRUISE is on the Wonder in 26 days! Only a 4-night to the Bahamas, but it won't be our last! You've got me totally wanting to do the Trivia games!

Woooo hoooo! You're going to love it! Definitely try the trivia games, so much fun, even if you get them wrong

We’ll be on the same cruise!! Woo!!! Can’t wait!

It's a small world, after all

Enjoying the TR, Cass!! So sad to know it’s almost to the end!

Thanks

Still have a few days in Galveston but yeah, cruise is almost done

Long time lurker on your TRs and am especially looking forward to reading this one as I will be on the Wonder later this year.



But I actally posted because when I saw the picture I knew exactly who it was. I believe his name is Rodney. He was on my cruise on the Dream a few months ago doing most of the trivia and he was great. I actually got to talk to him a few times and he wants to be a comedian and on our Dream cruise they were actually letting him do a few comedy acts in the lounges during adult time late at night.

Thanks for posting

YES!!! Rodney!!! Thank you!!!

He was definitely funny! I hope he stays with DCL, they need people like him

Awww, that was nice of you to give up the medals; I think what the host meant to say is Now that's what you call a GRACIOUS winner (not to say you aren't graceful as well! ) Sorry you didn't win any of the stationery, that's a bummer.

Wow, yes the seas are getting a bit rougher as you get closer......dun dun dun!

Yes! Gracious for sure because I am FAR from graceful

Oh well, I will have to try again next cruise

I played the video and Claire is sitting nearby and says “who the heck would even know that?” And I replied. ... that was Cass!!!



Ok I need that answer.., just in case!



I did! Did she jump overboard?

LOL! Yup, this brain is chock-full of useless Disney trivia

Shawshank Redemption

We also experienced weather in the Gulf on our last cruise! It was definitely something to behold.

Ohhh, yup! Looks like the last day of our cruise

It probably helped too with the new braces!


I would have worn PJs all day on Christmas. But my mom made me change into something nicer!

HAHAHA! I would wear jammies all day long every day but definitely not on a cruise... at dinner But hey, to each their own

I totally agree with you about the turtles. I won't do excursions like that after the first one we did because I felt so bad for the poor animals. I've gotten so bad in my old age and although I use to love going to a zoo because I love animals the only thing close to a zoo I will go to is the safari in Animal Kingdom.

Also, we just got off the Magic. I gave in and tried to eat the egg off the benedict (not the best) and then asked the omelet station if they could make an egg over easy. Perfect, fresh, hot eggs every morning!

Yes, I used to go to zoos and the circus on a regular basis but not anymore

They will make them for you but every time I've gone, there's been 3 or 4 people waiting for eggs and I would prefer not to wait. I didn't mind the poached eggs so unless I get there super early before everyone else to get fresh over easy eggs, I will keep on eating them

Ohhhhh, don't like rainy weather when I'm in the middle of the ocean.

I had read about those DCL calendars last year and wanted one so badly.
This year I was on Ebay and saw one for sale and bought it and paid waayyyyyy too much for it. Of course after I paid too much, this seller had others they put up that didn't move and the price went wayyyyy down, my luck.
But I love looking at it everyday, I put it right on the fridge with some magnets and love looking at it and my countdowns......

They gave them out on our first Christmas cruise after visiting Santa! I was so wanting another one but oh well.

I wouldn't pay for it though, it's not the greatest calendar but I love the stickers that come with it! I actually found the date of the 2017 xmas cruise and put the Disney Wonder sticker on it

Turns out, it was a good premonition

I'm glad you had such a great Christmas Day. We tend to spend most of the day in our fancy pj's too, until extended family comes for Christmas dinner. I would love to go away for christmas...but I would need to make sure we had our kids along. We already have to share our dd with her fiance with his family, and it makes me sad to not have us all together. As we and the kids get older and have their significant others, we will have to share them. I don't wanna share them on holidays Maybe one day we can all be together on a holiday for chirstmas. It sure would be a great holiday!

Like you, we DEFINITELY miss my mil and both the hubby and I find the holidays hard without her around. It is just hard without them. I'm finding it hard to not have my mil around planning the dd wedding. She was such a huge part of all these things when our dd was growing up, so we are missing not having her presence. It is definitely an adjustment without them around.

Those seas look a little scary. How much was the ship rocking with those waves and skies. I know we had one rough night on our cruise...that glasses were walking off the tables that night. I had to go back to our room take some gravol and go to bed and hope it was better in the morning.

It's always sad when the trip comes to an end

It's amazing how much one person can change your entire life, huh? I lost my Mom just after Rob and I decided to get married and planning it without it her was just not going to happen so we decided to semi-elope and we got married in Vegas. We had friends and family come join us so not the traditional eloping but almost no planning

I'm so glad we are able to just pick up and go for Christmas, makes it so much easier than being at home.

We have been in way rougher seas so this was not that bad at all. Just no pools and no deck time really. Everything else was fine and just a few waves. I remember thinking that for the weather, we should be rocking way more than we were

I just love reading your Trip reports!!!

Awww, thanks

Wow, that's quite the wild weather for your last day!

I can't believe those people left their balcony lights on day and night very lame.

I know what happened to you on disembarkation morning (since I follow your travel agent page on FB) but won't say anything....

VERY lame, indeed!

LOL! Keep it secret, keep it safe

Another wonderful day!
I am so glad Kira found a friend. I wish my daughter would socialize. She just observes all the time...and only if I am with her. A couple kids have been messaging back and forth before our upcoming cruise and she is part of the group but doesn't reply much and she already told me she won't hang out with them. (which I am glad about the one because she sounds a bit too wild for our liking). But one girl seems sweet and actually lives not too far from us...nope she is going to do her ritual of hanging with adults or hanging in the room. I guess if that is what she likes I can't complain, but I wish she would do more activities.

I hope Kira gets more adventurous with her food choices. I agree that many sound fancy but when it arrives it never seems to be like what was described.,..which I am grateful for.

I'm sure one day Claire will get bored of being with the adults and will want to hang on her own.

I told Kira before we sailed that I didn't care what she did, she could stay in bed watching cartoons all day for all I cared. Then we got on the ship and all I would hear are those dang Mickey shorts and it drove me up the wall and said "I don't care what I said, I changed my mind, go find some friends and have some fun!"

Yes, the food is not as fancy as it sounds but I was told this cruise that I can no longer order for her so I have to find ways of making it sound like her idea.

You're leaving soon....and without me once again!

I'm going to have to put a stop to that

 

[verleniahall]

I WISH next week - stupid thumbs- Next September - cant wait till packages are released!