Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder??? Get the fog outta here!

[KarriTigger]

New to commenting on your report, but I think I've read everyone you've ever done! I like this one...and it's inspiring me to actually get off my butt and sign up for some TA courses. It's my dream job - something I've always wanted to do!
As a fellow Canadian (but an Ontarian...), I can fully understand your Disney love!
And...the picture of your daughter with the tray of cookies...that's exactly what my daughter would do!!

A potential TA question - are you with an agency or a home based agent? (exploring options here!!) Thank you!

 

[toony]

Oh my...what a confusion with Rob on Castaway Cay and too bad Kira was afraid of the water and couldn't have fun on the beach. At least something good came out of it and she found a nice friend back on the wonder.

 

[cntkg1]

Ohhhhhh, such sweetness!!!

 

[Timon]

Day 7 Part 3

It was now time for dinner at Tiana's again

Rob went to drink his water and the cup split in half. Aaron said that it happens sometimes when the dishes are hot from the dishwasher and then cools quickly when cold water is poured in.

Kira took a pic of us

And Rob got a new glass, which, I thought, was so pretty!

I got the sausage fritters as my appy and thought it was disgusting

Rob got the tomato soup and raved about it for days

The last time we were in Tiana's, I ordered the beef dish and shared it with Kira. She liked it so much she asked for steak tonight in lieu of her usual Caesar salad.

And in true amazing Aaron fashion, he even cut it up for her!

Sadly, she was expecting the same as the other night but this wasn't even close and she didn't care for it. I told her to order off the adult menu as the steak/beef is much better quality but what does her Mother know

She was super thrilled when Louis came around!

Sadly, she barely got in a quick hug and pic before tons of other kids from other tables came running up to him! I don't understand why parents allow this??? He comes to every single table, there is no need for your kids to go running up to him while other kids are having a turn

Rob's dinner

And MINE

This was my second favourite entree of the entire cruise! I wanted to lick my plate clean but I kept it classy

This was the BEST dessert menu

This is just a live photo but it gives you an idea of what it looks like...

BEIGNETS!!!

Tiana's was such a great restaurant, it really gave Animator's a run for its money The music was awesome and was played throughout most of the dinner.

My happy family!

I ordered the chocolate cake and it was THE FREAKING BOMB!!!!

Oh. My. Dog.

I might have abandoned all class and licked the plate for this one

Rob got this...

And I also ordered the beignets because you just gotta order the beignets at Tiana's!!!

I ordered one to share with Kira and Aaron brought out one all for herself

Oh.
My.
Dog.

I wasn't sure which was better, the beignets or that chocolate cake???

I saved one for Rob but he also got this...

Tiana came back for another visit

Then performed with the Crawfish Crooners

And then there was this awesome parade through the restaurant while they played Going down the Bayou, which is my favourite song from the movie) which Kira joined (and later, Rob).

It was so much fun!!

Sigh, I love Disney cruises

That was totally wicked

Kira didn't even leave to go to the Club

We tried to go swimming but the pool was already closed

Kira went to bed and I went down to Azure to watch the ventriloquist...with a dog!

It was weird and neat and cool and funny!!!

Tomorrow was an early day as we had to hit US Customs before we could leave the ship.

 

[bcwife76]

Oh wow Tiana's looks like so much fun!!! And so yummy!!! Cannot wait to experience it for ourselves later this year.

And yes....if he is coming up to every table for crying out loud, don't let your kids run around - it's still a RESTAURANT for cripes sake!! I swear, parenting goes OUT THE WINDOW for some people on these cruises. As much as I love Disney cruises, this has to be my biggest pet peeve: parents who DON'T PARENT!!! Drives me bonkers. Did ya leave your manners at the port?!

 

[Flossbolna]

Dinner sounds fabulous. The forced wake up time for customs not so much though... I know my boyfriend would hate this!

One thing I am wondering: You seemed to have had special menus both times you were in Tiana's. How does that work with the menus? So far it was always so that you had three nights on every cruise where every dining room had its special menu and then it was other menus that always were the same in all three dining rooms. If you are in Tiana's are you going to miss out on one of the menus that used to be in all the restaurants? They already do something similar with the abbreviated menu in AP on the Fantasy and the Magic for the Animation Magic Show night.

 

[jenseib]

Tiana's looks fabulous.
I never heard of presenting yourself for customs to go to Key West before. It's been a lot of years since I have been there on a cruise though.

 

[jenseib]

So Kira stopped for a smoke? hahahaha

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

So excited for Tiana's place on the WBPC this spring. The kids menu is so cute and I should get one when I go (I'll be 22 in May but I love collecting the kids menus). How exciting that Louis was there!! I've never met him before. Just an FYI if you go to Castaway Cay again. If you guys wear water shoes, you will NOT be allowed to wear them to Pelican's Plunge

 

[kid-at-heart]

I am having a major problem trying to post right now. I will try again in a few minutes with my comments.

Kate

 

[kid-at-heart]

She is such a cutie!

Kate

 

[Timon]

So did the fireworks go off early..before dinner? Was that because of it being a Christmas cruise or is that how the Wonder does it?
I totally am cracking up over Rob's dessert.

Hmmm, they went off before our dinner on the Magic too

Just got caught up - great pictures and updates! I am completely with you on the pool closing times and definitely think people would use them if they stayed open later!

Absolutely!!!!!

Ahhhhh, that picture of Rob sitting on the verandah reminds me of one my favorite things to do on a cruise. Usually, our last sea day is spent out there…..all day!


Pretzels!! They had the pretzels! Yes, I jumped the gun but those things are worth jumping for. Was there any dipping cheese for those? I can’t remember if I had that or mustard on mine, but yes, those things were awesome!


Love the pic of Kira in Nassau in front of the Wonder with her arms outstretched. She looks like a little movie star with those sun glasses. LOL


Ooooooh, Black Truffle Pursiettes! My favorite from our cruise besides the Sea Bass! I think I got a lot more than you did though. Maybe because I ordered them as my dinner instead?? Will you order them again in the future?

I always think of you when I go out on my verandah...I can only handle maybe 10 minutes

YES! Those pretzels were deelish!! No cheese that I saw but I didn't ask

Yes, they probably gave you a double order

Hmmm, I probably would

Finally catching up with your report as we just got back from our Fantasy cruise on Saturday.

Stitch is my absolute favourite too - we watched the movie twice on Funnel Vision on this cruise and I bought a Stitch stuffie for myself Your daughter has good taste ;-)

But mom.....how could you NOT LOVE truffle pursiettes?! Oh. My. GAWD. ALL the yum. teehee

Christmas looked lovely, what a way to spend it! Heavenly

So all that garbage in the streets in Nassau was from the parade? Or does it always look like that?

Well I hope Rob was ok on CC day, guess we shall see....

Oooooh!!! How was your cruise?????? I want to go back on the Fantasy soooo bad!!!

Who doesn't love Stitch, right?

The garbage was from the parade but it really wasn't clean the last time I was there either, in February, just not like that

Poor guy had a tough day but he did get better

Happy to catch up with your report, we just got off the Wonder on Friday and got to experience the fog delay for ourselves, but we still had a great time and reading your report is helping to relive our trip!

Ohhh were you on the sailing that didn't leave until about 7:30? I was reading that and felt so bad for you guys!

Glad you had a great cruise though

New to commenting on your report, but I think I've read everyone you've ever done! I like this one...and it's inspiring me to actually get off my butt and sign up for some TA courses. It's my dream job - something I've always wanted to do!
As a fellow Canadian (but an Ontarian...), I can fully understand your Disney love!
And...the picture of your daughter with the tray of cookies...that's exactly what my daughter would do!!

Oh my...what a confusion with Rob on Castaway Cay and too bad Kira was afraid of the water and couldn't have fun on the beach. At least something good came out of it and she found a nice friend back on the wonder.

Yup, if we had stayed on the island longer, she might not have met E

Ohhhhhh, such sweetness!!!

LOL, she loves her cookies

Oh wow Tiana's looks like so much fun!!! And so yummy!!! Cannot wait to experience it for ourselves later this year.

And yes....if he is coming up to every table for crying out loud, don't let your kids run around - it's still a RESTAURANT for cripes sake!! I swear, parenting goes OUT THE WINDOW for some people on these cruises. As much as I love Disney cruises, this has to be my biggest pet peeve: parents who DON'T PARENT!!! Drives me bonkers. Did ya leave your manners at the port?!

I can't agree with you more!! So many kids and little ones too, all alone all over the ship with no parents

You will love it

Dinner sounds fabulous. The forced wake up time for customs not so much though... I know my boyfriend would hate this!

One thing I am wondering: You seemed to have had special menus both times you were in Tiana's. How does that work with the menus? So far it was always so that you had three nights on every cruise where every dining room had its special menu and then it was other menus that always were the same in all three dining rooms. If you are in Tiana's are you going to miss out on one of the menus that used to be in all the restaurants? They already do something similar with the abbreviated menu in AP on the Fantasy and the Magic for the Animation Magic Show night.

Every cruise is different but every sailing will have the rotational menus for one night and the secondary menu, all depends on the rotation on what you get. We had Christmas in there, so that changed things up a bit, probably why we didn't have a pirate menu.

You won't miss out on anything though as you all go to each restaurant twice

Tiana's looks fabulous.
I never heard of presenting yourself for customs to go to Key West before. It's been a lot of years since I have been there on a cruise though.

Yup, it happens on sailings when you go to a foreign port first and then go to a USA port. It used to happen all the time on Eastern cruises...going to St. Maarten first and then to St. Thomas. It used to be worse for us when they took our passports at check-in, we used to have to get up even earlier to get our passports, then customs and then another line to return our passports

I was so glad when they changed that rule!

So Kira stopped for a smoke? hahahaha

HAHAH!

I didn't even notice that! We were just standing at the tram area!!

So excited for Tiana's place on the WBPC this spring. The kids menu is so cute and I should get one when I go (I'll be 22 in May but I love collecting the kids menus). How exciting that Louis was there!! I've never met him before. Just an FYI if you go to Castaway Cay again. If you guys wear water shoes, you will NOT be allowed to wear them to Pelican's Plunge

You will love it!!

Yeah, one of the reasons why we don't wear water shoes

I am having a major problem trying to post right now. I will try again in a few minutes with my comments.

Kate

I hate it when that happens

She is such a cutie!

Kate

Thanks, Kate

 

[jenseib]

Hmmm, they went off before our dinner on the Magic too

I looked at my Navigator and you are right. How do I not remember this. I know it wasn't like that on any other cruise I have taken, even the 2 others on the Magic. I wonder when it changed.

 

[Timon]

Day 8 Part 1

Let's start with the Nav for today...

I woke up early to watch us sail into Key West. This is when a verandah comes in handy

I pried my daughter out of bed...

Annnnnd five minutes later...

Rob joined me...

You can see the US Custom's officials waiting for us to dock.

We had to meet in Azure (but the line wrapped around and into the Crown & Fin) since we were Non-US Citizens. The US Citizens were meeting in the WDT and I heard from a fellow Canadian that the line was HUGE!!!

I want this little cutie's talent for falling asleep anywhere

It was pretty painless, they made you remove your hat for the whole thing so I had bad hat hair

Rob and Kira enjoyed some breakfast and then we were off!

The last time we were in Key West was on the Magic in 2007 on Kira's first cruise. She was 11 months old, taking a bath on the ship and she decided right there and right then that she would start walking

She had started taking a few steps before we left for vacation and we spent a week in Disney World prior but she never did more than two or three steps before returning to her butt or knees.

What a weird place to start walking but it was a great memory and we will never forget it


Also on that same trip, the main thing I had wanted to do at Key West is to stop at Kino's for some sandals. Turns out they had just closed so I missed out on the sandals, so that was priority one for me today Check out Kino's and walk to the Southernmost Point.

Sadly, all of their sandals were too narrow for my feet

Let me start by saying that the walk down to Southernmost Point was decently long and made MUCH longer by a whiney, complainey 10-year old

But I really enjoyed looking at all of the neat stores and building and chickens everywhere

Here's the Hard Rock Cafe, where we met some friends from Germany on our last stop here.

This reminded me of someone very small and very special

We finally made it! Kira almost died from the walk so she had to collapse on the beach

I loved the weather in the distance

I was hoping it would come closer because it was about a billion degrees that day

I knew the buoy photo op was nearby so we walked down a block to Whitehead Street, and found a HUGE line to take your photo

The actual southernmost point of continental USA is on a private island, ten miles away so really, this is just a touristy thing but it's still a fun photo op!

Rob and I actually went to the southernmost point of USA on the Big Island in Hawaii many years ago, so it was neat to be close to this version.

We decided to walk back on Whitehead Street for a different view...

The base of the Lighthouse....

I looked at Rob's photos just in case he got a shot of something that I didn't and they all looked similar to this...

Mine and Kira's butts

 

[toony]

The last time we were in Key West was on the Magic in 2007 on Kira's first cruise. She was 11 months old, taking a bath on the ship and she decided right there and right then that she would start walking

She had started taking a few steps before we left for vacation and we spent a week in Disney World prior but she never did more than two or three steps before returning to her butt or knees.

What a weird place to start walking but it was a great memory and we will never forget it

And of course, I scrapbooked it

Wow. That's almost TEN years. Can you believe that!? She was such a cute potato back then!!! And now she is a young and pretty lady.

Here's the Hard Rock Cafe, where we met some friends from Germany on our last stop here.

I totally thought you've forgotten that.
I still have that Key West Hard Rock Shirt and I often wear it while working out. It's one of my T's that lighten up my mood, while I overcome my weaker self and do sports...

 

[jenseib]

Poor Kira. You are such a mean mom! Claire would have skipped along and sang happy songs....NOT! She would be grumbling too and so would Skip. They would be searching for a bus or taxi.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Is that a Banyan tree?

Is that a Banyan tree? More comments later, back to read now.

Kate

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Cass! I am all caught up and loving your cruise report! We sailed on the Wonder several years ago, but it looks like alot has changed. I have been tempted, since we live in Texas but the Galveston sailings are on the wrong dates for us. I love your comparisons to memories of Kira's earlier cruises. So sweet how she plays with the little ones. Too bad there were so many dissappointing meals.

 

[cntkg1]

Sorry, Im having some issues with posting.

 

[cntkg1]

I would've absolutely loved that weather heading into Key West too! That's called Heaven on Earth. LOL

Did you stop for any cheesecake at the Blond Giraffe?

I showed Kai your picture of Kai Kai and he said: "Hey, that's my name. Lets go there"! To which I replied, "OK, Let's go"!