Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder 2021 - The ups & downs of travelling during covid!

[CJK]

Okay, I'm not even a cruiser and I had goosebumps seeing the 2 ships side by side!!! Has the Magic sailed out of Vancouver? I'm fairly sure we saw it in port last time we were there. I remember seeing Goofy!

OF COURSE Kira learned to walk while on a cruise!!! Those pictures are soo precious!!

 

[cntkg1]

Beautiful sight with the two ships together!

Loved seeing Kira’s pics back from our KK cruise. Always a treat for her “auntie”.

We ate breakfast in the MDR’s also this last cruise. What a treat THAT was. We’ll always do that from now on.

 

[ukintheus]

First off, you are charging on with your trip report and making me feel very "behind" on mine. Kudos for getting so much done! We have had a couple of times when we've been in port with another DCL ship - it's so awesome and the crew get really excited to see familiar faces, even if they wave from a distance - it's really cool. We found the food in Cabanas to be on the cool side as well, it wasn't awful, but just not as good as in the past. We just have an issue with getting moving early enough to make it to the MDRs as we like to drink coffee in our cabin first.

 

[Timon]

December 23rd, Part 2

The only plan we had for today was to get off the ship so we could take photos of both ships together. There was no hurry but checking the app, it looked like you still had to use the virtual queue. I got us in and it said only 6 groups ahead of us so we chilled and watched a movie I think. I checked the app thirty minutes later and it didn't really move so we just headed down anyway. There was no one there, so you can't always trust that VQ!

I took a few photos.

This is my fave though.

Kira was apparently done and wanted to go back already.

I can never get over the colour of the water here in Cozumel.

I asked Kira if she wanted to show us around Vibe and she said sure!

We got to chat with one of Kira's counselors, she was from Quebec and we chatted about where we grew up. Kira went to grab some food I think and Rob and I explored deck 10 to get some photos.

This one was my favourite! Isn't that so cool? Rob mentioned that the people on the Magic couldn't get a shot like this.

We took a peek at the food offerings on deck 9...they still had the shawarma here.

And you could still get everything at Pete's, the only difference was the toppings bar was inside and you had to ask them for your toppings and condiments.

Over to Daisy's now...

Met Kira back in the room, she got some cookies for breakfast. Gotta love vacations.

Rob grabbed some tenders and I grabbed some tenders and a hot dog. The chicken tenders were weird this trip. They definitely tasted different, mostly decent and some were just bad.

These one were pretty decent.

After some lunch, Rob and I did a couple loads of laundry. This was a good day to do it, not too busy.

I'm going to end this chapter with a very interesting pic. This is the hallway, from the aft elevators to our room. Do you see how it's warped?

What the heck?

That whole section from elevator bank to our room is like that. I wasn't sure if it would come across well on camera but we would literally go up and down walking down this corridor.

I think it might be time for a refurb.

 

[bcwife76]

Huh, that's giving me 'drunk at sea vibes' I'd be tripping on that floor for sure haha

My husband will be VERY happy to hear Shawarma is still available on the Wonder, he's up there every dang day for one

So two Disney ships in port is fairly rare but two SISTER Disney ships in port?? How often does that happen? LOVE IT!!!

 

[ukintheus]

You got some great pictures of the two sisters together. It's weird you mention the floor because I thought it was just me, there were some definite rolls going on with it. And, YES, OMG the chicken strips!! I had forgotten about that! We had one lot that were similar to before and one lot that were like pressed chicken as opposed to a "real" piece of chicken. I wasn't a fan.

 

[dcassetta]

Love the sister ship pics!

 

[tkd lisa]

I'm really enjoying this. I joined dis for the cruise reports but I wasn't cruising when you started posting. We're going on the 2022 fantasy Christmas cruise so I hopped back on the boards to find this awesome treat! Love the side by sides! Looking forward to more.

 

[Calantha]

Those pictures from the top deck are phenomenal!

 

[Timon]

If you're paying attention to the photos, there's a couple DCL Trivia question answers shown in this thread

It is rare. There are currently only 10 in the next 14 months - https://disneycruiselineblog.com/cruise-planning/itineraries/disney-cruise-ship-port-meet-sailings/

And it is usually a classic and a Dream class, so the 2 classics together is even rarer. Love the ship photos and the baby pictures!

Hoping to hear about a horn battle!

Oh wow, 10, that's more than I thought! I wonder how many will be right next to each other?

Sadly, no horn battle! I think we were all waiting for it too.

Okay, I'm not even a cruiser and I had goosebumps seeing the 2 ships side by side!!! Has the Magic sailed out of Vancouver? I'm fairly sure we saw it in port last time we were there. I remember seeing Goofy!

OF COURSE Kira learned to walk while on a cruise!!! Those pictures are soo precious!!

It's always the Wonder that goes on the west coast. I don't think the Magic has ever been in Vancouver

Yup, a moment I will remember my entire life!

Beautiful sight with the two ships together!

Loved seeing Kira’s pics back from our KK cruise. Always a treat for her “auntie”.

We ate breakfast in the MDR’s also this last cruise. What a treat THAT was. We’ll always do that from now on.

Oh, the memories, eh?

Until Cabanas gets its act together, we will too.

First off, you are charging on with your trip report and making me feel very "behind" on mine. Kudos for getting so much done! We have had a couple of times when we've been in port with another DCL ship - it's so awesome and the crew get really excited to see familiar faces, even if they wave from a distance - it's really cool. We found the food in Cabanas to be on the cool side as well, it wasn't awful, but just not as good as in the past. We just have an issue with getting moving early enough to make it to the MDRs as we like to drink coffee in our cabin first.

Hahaha, don't feel behind! I have another trip coming up very soon and I'm trying to get as much done as possible.

Nice, I love seeing other Disney ships! I've seen them a couple times while I was on another cruise line and well, that sucked.

Good thing I don't drink coffee then.

Huh, that's giving me 'drunk at sea vibes' I'd be tripping on that floor for sure haha

My husband will be VERY happy to hear Shawarma is still available on the Wonder, he's up there every dang day for one

So two Disney ships in port is fairly rare but two SISTER Disney ships in port?? How often does that happen? LOVE IT!!!

Oh, I tripped over that many times.

When is your next sailing???

Right? Sister ships AND next to each other! I will always remember that!

You got some great pictures of the two sisters together. It's weird you mention the floor because I thought it was just me, there were some definite rolls going on with it. And, YES, OMG the chicken strips!! I had forgotten about that! We had one lot that were similar to before and one lot that were like pressed chicken as opposed to a "real" piece of chicken. I wasn't a fan.

There was even a small "pot hole" on deck 5, just outside of the nursery! I stepped in it on the last day and was like...WHAT!!!?????

Some were so gross! Jen got one at Cabanas one day that was utterly disgusting!

Love the sister ship pics!

Gorgeous right??? They looked good together.

I'm really enjoying this. I joined dis for the cruise reports but I wasn't cruising when you started posting. We're going on the 2022 fantasy Christmas cruise so I hopped back on the boards to find this awesome treat! Love the side by sides! Looking forward to more.

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it! More to come soon

Those pictures from the top deck are phenomenal!

It was so neat having the Magic in the background for all of them!

 

[Timon]

December 23rd, Part 3

Rob got some reading done on the verandah this afternoon and then we went to watch sail away on deck 4.

Look at that water!

Just before our scheduled departure, we saw an ambulance coming.

Oh no, that's never good.

We headed over to the other side to see what was going on....

We thought they were picking someone up but thankfully, they were dropping someone off! There was a little girl on the stretcher and when she got off the stretcher and walked onto our ship, everyone cheered. Poor family must have had a rough day in Cozumel.

Aquadunk, something we don't have!

It was so neat because tons of CM's kept coming out onto deck 4 and waving, shouting to their friends on the other ship. Our server told us that they had really switched up the cast members on all of the ships.

Since the sun was now on the other side of the Magic, you could really see into the windows.

We all thought that the Magic would be leaving before us since she arrived first but our gang planks were removed and we sailed away.

We all awaited a glorious horn battle but sadly, there wasn't one. I'm even fairly certain that the regular horn was used here, no When You Wish Upon A Star but I could be wrong.

We watched the entire thing, waving our good-byes to the Magic.

I walked over to the other side to capture a few last pics....

And then grabbed this shot. A guy was watching me and when I left, he said "Great idea!" and then took the same shot.

It was now time for dinner at Animator's Palate. It was Pirate Night but there was no Pirate Show on deck 9 and no fireworks tonight. But we got the Pirate Menu, which we've never had on any of our Christmas cruises before!

At one point, some pirates raided the room and danced around a bit to some music.

I've had the macadamia nut caramel tart before and it was always just okay but this one was AMAZING!

It was a mickey ice cream bar night.

Back to the room to check out our monkey and get ready for the pool. Kira headed straight to Vibe after dinner and we didn't see her again until it closed.

Rob took a photo of a happy Cass in the hot tub.

He then snuck up to deck 10 and took a few shots from up there.

When I was all done, I took one of him

He ended up chatting with Mark again and got lots of reading done. This was that cozy corner that was nice and warm for him. It was another windy evening.

I stumbled across this and it came in handy later on as Rob and Kira watched some Daredevil together and they put it on the stateroom TV.

Out on the verandah, the moon was so bright and looked like a sunset!

I checked out the next day's activities on the app while Rob enjoyed some more reading on the verandah.

I sure missed having the paper Navigators

Once Kira was back from Vibe, we passed out.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

December 23rd, Part 3

Rob got some reading done on the verandah this afternoon and then we went to watch sail away on deck 4.

Look at that water!

Just before our scheduled departure, we saw an ambulance coming.

Oh no, that's never good.

We headed over to the other side to see what was going on....

We thought they were picking someone up but thankfully, they were dropping someone off! There was a little girl on the stretcher and when she got off the stretcher and walked onto our ship, everyone cheered. Poor family must have had a rough day in Cozumel.

Aquadunk, something we don't have!

It was so neat because tons of CM's kept coming out onto deck 4 and waving, shouting to their friends on the other ship. Our server told us that they had really switched up the cast members on all of the ships.

Since the sun was now on the other side of the Magic, you could really see into the windows now.

We all thought that the Magic would be leaving before us since she arrived first but our gang planks were removed and we sailed away.

We all awaited a glorious horn battle but sadly, there wasn't one. I'm even fairly certain that the regular horn was used here, no When You Wish Upon A Star but I could be wrong.

We watched the entire thing, waving our good-byes to the Magic.

I walked over to the other side to capture a few last pics....

And then grabbed this shot. A guy was watching me and when I left, he said "Great idea!" and then took the same shot.

It was now time for dinner at Animator's Palate. It was Pirate Night but there was no Pirate Show on deck 9 and no fireworks tonight. But we got the Pirate Menu, which we've never had on any of our Christmas cruises before!

At one point, some pirates raided the room and danced around a bit to some music.

I've had the macadamia nut caramel tart before and it was always just okay but this one was AMAZING!

It was a mickey ice cream bar night.

Back to the room to check our our monkey and get ready for the pool. Kira headed straight to Vibe after dinner and we didn't see her again until it closed.

Rob took a photo of a happy Cass in the hot tub.

He then snuck up to deck 10 and took a few shots from up there.

When I was all done, I took one of him

He ended up chatting with Mark again and got lots of reading done. This was that cozy corner that was nice and warm for him. It was another windy evening.

I stumbled across this and it came in handy later on as Rob and Kira watched some Daredevil together and they put it on the stateroom TV.

Out on the verandah, the moon was so bright and looked like a sunset!

I checked out the next day's activities on the app while Rob enjoyed some more reading on the verandah.

I sure missed having the paper Navigators

Once Kira was back from Vibe, we passed out.

The pirate night food looked amazing!

 

[CJK]

Ohh, it should be a rule to finish off all meals with a Mickey ice cream bar!

Considering how much you love finishing off your days with a hot tub and swim, you should frame those pics in your house! A daily reminder of your happy place!

 

[bcwife76]

Oh my goodness, hopefully that little girl was able to enjoy the rest of her cruise. Glad it was bringing someone back at least
No horn battle? Sadnoise

haha I love the sneaky pool photos of you and Rob looked so cozy reading this book, you guys are too cute

PS. our next cruise is end of July to Alaska (3rd time and a miracle I got my husband to agree to going to Alaska a 3rd time )

 

[Timon]

December 24th, Part 1

This Christmas eve, we got a special gift. We got to be the very first Disney ship to call on Progreso, Mexico as a port!

The pier here is 4 miles long! There's a decent shopping mall right where the ship docks but to get to the actual town and beach, you need to take a free bus shuttle. We had every intention of hopping on that shuttle and checking out the beach for a bit but in the end, we settled for just exploring the area right at the dock.

Way, way down there is the town...

This is where I spotted this little gem on the map on our verandah. Explosives dumping???

Rob, Jen and I went for breakfast at Triton's. Rob wore his Ice Cream Inspector DCL t-shirt that our friends, Nancy & Chuck got him

This time I requested my toast come with my meal.

Tiny pancakes

This is from later in the day...

And this is for tomorrow since I knew I would forget to take it the next day.

All five of us headed off the ship together. These guys looked pretty cool, they were all painted, even their feet.

Jen and I took some photos for each other at the sign.

Then we took some more pics with the ship...

Here I am with my gigantic sun hat.

Funny story...before leaving home, I told Kira to pick out a hat to wear for Progreso, in case we make it to the beach. She stole her dad's Aruba hat, from our 10-night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy back in 2017. So that morning, after breakfast I told her we had to find her Aruba hat. At the same time, I grabbed by big SPF-blocking hat and put it on the bed. She looked at it with utter disgust and said "Is that my Aruba hat?"

I replied "No, that is my Aruba hat!"

She looked at me with a huge sigh of relief and spit out "THANK GOD!!"

We noticed a big crowd on the other side of the fence and went to investigate. They were about to have a presentation with the mayor and the captain and some officers from the ship. It was a big deal since this was the first time Disney is visiting here. We hung around, in a shady spot, and watched the whole thing.

That's our captain speaking. We hadn't seen him yet.

The lovely CM who was handing everything, saw that we were watching and taking pics and she showed us everything that was being presented. Thank you Pau!

There was a drone flying about...

Once that was done, we decided to explore the shops...

I ended up getting some vanilla, a magnet and Kira almost bought a ring. There were tons of people outside the shops, trying to get you into the shops, just like Cozumel. Instead of one or two though, there were groups of them. I really wish they wouldn't do this. I wonder if they know that this makes it more likely that we won't go into the store? We walked all the way down and back and we ended up buying stuff from the only store that didn't have people in our face. Kira wanted to look at more rings but she was too intimidated and anxious to go to the stores with the people outside. I told her I would go with her but she didn't want to.

I am at my photo limit so I will continue in the next chapter tomorrow.

 

[bcwife76]

How very cool, to be on the first stop at a port! Nice little bonus! Those are some lovely temperatures, too (esp for December ). Nice walking around temps.

 

[lizzyb]

So nice to see another one of your reports! Joining in!

 

[Timon]

December 24th, Part 2

Let's continue with our stroll through the mall at the pier...

In all the Mexican ports, they have pharmacies, where you can get just about any kind of drug you want, no prescription needed.

And all the way at the end is where the free shuttles are if you want to head into town.

Is it just me or is Mickey flipping us off?

Back towards the ship...

Some weird and unique items for sale here, that's for sure!

I was trying to get a fancy shot but failed.

Rob took a photo of all the girls, it was very windy!

Kira asked me to come with her to grab some chicken strips, then we all met up in Cabanas for lunch.

I went to Pete's to grab a burger.

After a long, leisurely lunch, we went back to the room. I took a shower and Rob read on the verandah for awhile, then got a kick out of watching this guy work. Every time he made contact with the ship, he would gently swing away and had to wait until it swung back to the ship to continue his work.

Kira headed up to the Vibe for an animation class, she did the one on the left and her counselor made the one on the right for her.

Then we went to Pixar trivia in D Lounge.

Where we may or may not have won again.

We gave away our medallions again, my goal was to leave this ship medallion-free

Heading back to the room, I finally remembered to take a pic of the creepy baby tree. From afar, it didn't look too bad but up close, the ornaments looked kinda creepy. It didn't help that, instead of being outside of the nursery, this tree was located in Shutters.

 

[Timon]

The pirate night food looked amazing!

It was nice to have that menu again, it had been so long for us!

Ohh, it should be a rule to finish off all meals with a Mickey ice cream bar!

Considering how much you love finishing off your days with a hot tub and swim, you should frame those pics in your house! A daily reminder of your happy place!

Kira would agree with you on that new rule.

This cruise was definitely my favourite when it came to my pool time!!! I could live on that ship!

Oh my goodness, hopefully that little girl was able to enjoy the rest of her cruise. Glad it was bringing someone back at least
No horn battle? Sadnoise

haha I love the sneaky pool photos of you and Rob looked so cozy reading this book, you guys are too cute

PS. our next cruise is end of July to Alaska (3rd time and a miracle I got my husband to agree to going to Alaska a 3rd time )

Oh man, I am so jelly! We have been trying to do that cruise for sooooo long now and it just hasn't worked out. Exciting for you guys though!!

How very cool, to be on the first stop at a port! Nice little bonus! Those are some lovely temperatures, too (esp for December ). Nice walking around temps.

Yes, considering it was -34C at home almost every single day that we were gone! I was enjoying every second my face was not freezing off.

So nice to see another one of your reports! Joining in!

Awesome! Thanks for being here

 

[T.wilkes]

So nice to see Jen and Claire. I remember reading may of Jens reports. Hopefully she will be writing again soon. Please tell her we .iss her reports also!