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

[Timon]

To all who come to this trippie....



A few caveats before we begin, methinks?

This is a review of MY vacation, based on MY views and opinions of MY personal experience on the Disney Wonder, sailing out of Galveston on December 23rd, 2016.

If you have read my previous trippies then you will know that I tell it like it is, good, bad and ugly so if you're the kind of person that views anything Disney like this

and prefers not to hear anything negative, then you can just back the truck up now and go read something else

Okay, let's get this party started, shall we?

It all began on October 17th, 2016 when I checked the special rates for Disney Cruises on a whim.

I can't remember the last time I checked them, there's usually no discounts for any cruises that I can actually take, only the longer sailings that would require my kid to miss two weeks of school. So I think it was kismet that I checked them that day because there it was on my computer screen, staring right at me...Christmas sailing on the Disney Wonder!

I casually mentioned it to hubby (we both work from home) and he seemed interested. We had a lunch date planned that day because it just so happened to be our 18th wedding anniversary so we talked it over at lunch and an hour later, I had it booked!

I was a bit nervous at first, to tell you the truth. I am a planner and normally we book a cruise 1-2 years out! This was just a little over two months away so it was slightly overwhelming but super freaking exciting!!!

I am soooo not a Christmas person. I often wish I could jump from December 1st all the way to January 1st in the blink of an eye. I lost my Mom at Christmas back in 1996 and although I have tried REALLY hard to find my xmas spirit, I just can't

It all just reminds me of losing my Mom. You ever hear the saying "Time heals all wounds"?

Yeah, well that's just a total load of CRAP!!!

When you lose your Mom, you lose a part of you, forever! At least, that's what it feels like to me. She was a good, kind person, who loved and adored her family. She was taken from us at the very young age of 57 and although it has been 19 years, it still hurts my heart so much, sometimes I can't bear to think about it.

I tried reaaaaaaaaalllly hard to find the spirit and magic of Christmas, especially after my daughter was born and honestly, I put on a pretty good face but inside I just want to crawl into bed and not come out until Christmas is over!

I have always wanted to just take off somewhere warm and just do something different but it's so expensive to go anywhere over the Christmas Holiday. We had been saving for the past year to go to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando in February, so we decided to use that money and go on the Wonder instead

I hadn't been so excited about Christmas in 20 years!!!

And since Kira's birthday was only a few weeks away, we decided that we would surprise her with the cruise as one of her gifts.

I found a neat graphic online, which I customized and printed out to give to her.

This is her opening it...

Needless to say, she was THRILLED

So, we started her countdown calendar (that I had made for her 2009 WDW trip) at day 27 and we counted down the days!

I needed to plan for Christmas at home and Christmas on the ship. I ordered the DCL Christmas room decor package because I thought it would make it seem more Christmassy and it was a good deal

The decor package came with two stockings and I bought the third one so we would have a place for Santa gifts. I explained to Kira that Santa would make two stops, one on the ship for some small presents and then the second stop at our house for a few more, bigger gifts

I am happy to say that the time just flew by and before we knew it, it was December 21st!

I like to fly in at least two days before a cruise because you just never know what can happen, especially coming from cold weather. We had a brutal, two-week long cold snap here in Calgary but it warmed up nicely just in time for us to leave so thankfully no delays.

Okay, I think that just about wraps up the intro, it's getting a little too long so I will end it here and then start Chapter 1 and add chapter links in the next post as I write them


Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy our little adventure, please leave me a reply to let me know you're following along

UPDATED TO ADD:

I also wanted to mention that after I booked, I joined our Facebook Cruise Group. I signed up for the Fish Extender Group and ended up in one of the many FE groups. Nicole did a fantastic job organizing it all. I also loved that it wasn't overwhelming, like previous cruises with 20 or more FE gifts to do. Each group had 11 staterooms in it so you only needed to give 10 gifts, which seemed to be the perfect amount. More about it all later in the trippie



----------------------------------------------------------------------

Check out my other trip reports

2011 DCL Second sailing of the Dream
2013 October WDW & DCL Fantasy
2015 Disneyland

2016 Christmas on the Wonder
2017 Universal & DCL 10-Night Southern Caribbean Fantasy

2017 Christmas on the Wonder
2018 Summer WDW & Universal

2018 Christmas on the Wonder
2019 Disneyland
2019 Universal Orlando
2019 Christmas on the Wonder
2020 Galaxy's Edge

2021 Christmas on the Wonder
2022 UO & DCL Fantasy
2022 Alaska Wonder Cruise

 

[Timon]

Chapter Links

December 21st, 2016

Day 1 Part 1 - Leaving Calgary
Day 1 Part 2 - Landing in Houston, Driving to Galveston
Day 1 Part 3 - Hilton & Rainforest Cafe
Day 1 Part 4 - RFC, Ride & Pool Time

December 22nd, 2016

Day 2 Part 1 - Waffle House, Shopping & Beach
Day 2 Part 2 - Beach, Pool, Bubba Gump
Day 2 Part 3 - Pool and a snack


December 23rd, 2016

Day 3 Part 1 - Fog, WH, First port arrival, RFC
Day 3 Part 2 - Second port arrival, going mad, boarding
Day 3 Part 3 - Room 6578
Day 3 Part 4 - Life drill, food, Xmas tree, Tiana's Dinner
Day 3 Part 5 - Dessert, Club, bed

December 24th, 2016

Day 4 Part 1 - Sunrise, Cabanas & FE's
Day 4 Part 2 - FE gifts, lunch, stuff & slide
Day 4 Part 3 - Sunset, formal night, Triton's Dinner & DCL gifts

December 25th, 2016

Day 5 Part 1 - Xmas morning, Cabanas & Santa
Day 5 Part 2 - Club, Frozen & lunch
Day 5 Part 3 - Lab, sunset, Stitch, AP Xmas Dinner, pool


December 26th, 2016

Day 6 Part 1 - Cabanas & Nassau
Day 6 Part 2 - Club, movie & lunch
Day 6 Part 3 - Pirates and a Palate, Animator's, that is!
Day 6 Part 4 - Dessert and a food baby


December 27th, 2016

Day 7 Part 1 - Castaway Cay
Day 7 Part 2 - Lunch, pool & a buddy
Day 7 Part 3 -Dinner and a dog


December 28th, 2016

Day 8 Part 1 - Key West
Day 8 Part 2 - Sailaway, shopping and ship stuff
Day 8 Part 3 - BBB and dinner


December 29th, 2016

Day 9 Part 1 - Sun rise, breakfast and a great cup
Day 9 Part 2 - Cabanas food pics and a 'Marvel'ous morning
Day 9 Part 3 - After Hours and my first lunch
Day 9 Part 4 - Princesses, windiness and second lunches
Day 9 Part 5 - Dinner and... NADA!!!


December 30th, 2016

Day 10 Part 1 - Getting off the ship, driving to IAH
Day 10 Part 2 - Home


Trip Videos

 

[MABrentwood]

Following! Love your style!

 

[Kontos]

I'll be following as well. Doing an Alaska cruise in August

Is there anything different for a Christmas sailing other than Christmas decorations etc

 

[Kari0180]

Following! Always enjoy reading your reports, we leave on the Wonder in 12 days, excited to see everything decorated for Christmas!

 

[Timon]

Day 1 Part 1

I had brought our dog Boo over to my brother's house the evening before we left. He just got a new puppy and I was a little worried about how everything would be over there but other than some food issues, they did just fine

Thanks to my brother and his roomie Darrin, Boo was safe and taken care of so we could go and have some fun!

Piper on the left and ma Boo on the right, during a rare quiet moment

With her countdown calendar complete, it was time to go! We used our Avion points for our flights to Houston so we only had to pay for the flight taxes, which were about $450 CDN total. That saved us a ton! We always try to fly Westjet and they had a direct to Houston that left at 10:30am, so that is what we booked!

She ended up adding stickers 28 and 32 because of who the characters were

I got up at 5am, showered and got ready. Rob did the same right after me and then I woke up the princess!

Finished packing up the last minute items and made some toast for Kira and then off we went!

The Calgary airport just opened their brand new USA/International terminal so I was excited to see it and experience it for myself. It has gotten some pretty terrible reviews so I was a little worried.

Rob dropped us and our luggage off and then took the car to Park2Go, which we have used the last few times we have flown. They are pretty awesome actually and when you return, they have your vehicle started, warmed up and at the gate, ready for you when you arrive on their shuttle. With our AMA discount it was $93 for 10 days, so not too shabby at all and we didn't have to bother anyone in the early hours of the morning to take us to the airport.

New terminal!

I had checked in online the day before and grabbed seats and printed boarding passes so all we had to do was drop our bags off. The great thing about the new terminal is that you no longer have to carry your checked luggage through customs so Kira and I dealt with the luggage before Rob got back from dropping off the car.

Westjet staff were out and helping everyone with their drop offs.

Here's the new E terminal...

And then Rob joined us! Kira and I had gotten our Nexus cards about a year ago but Rob had some issues getting his. He ended up getting approved just before the trip, just in time

The other difference in this new terminal is that security is first and then customs, which is the opposite of what it used to be.

A lot of people complain about the CATSA plus system, which is implemented here only in Calgary so far, the first one in Canada but we had no issues and it was very quick for us. My only complaint (and people are furious about this!) is that there is no dedicated Nexus line. There is a separate entrance for us yes, but then it just dumps you into the regular line.

Now, the problem with this is that Nexus members (Nexus is the Canadian version of Global Entry, but if you have Nexus, you also have Global Entry but not the other way around) go to great lengths to get their cards and one of the perks is to use the Nexus/GE dedicated security lines, which they now have at all major North American airports, (except Calgary!) so you don't have to take out laptops, or take off shoes/jackets, belts and you can leave your liquids in the bag.

Because Calgary has changed their security to CATSA plus, there is no longer an actual Nexus line so everything had to be taken out and off.

Pain in the butt but the lines were short and we got through pretty quickly, even with Rob's two laptops.

Rob and Kira used the Nexus kiosks for the first time and Rob was selected for additional screening at Customs.

This freaked out Rob and Kira a little but once they did their checks on their computer, we were on our way. Another reason to always get to the airport early, like I always say

As a plus, I got to see the Customs area, like the ones you see on Border Security TV show that I love

Coming out of USA Customs, we are now technically in the States

The new terminal dumps you right into the Duty Free shops, which people loathe but it didn't bother me. Like I told Kira, it's just like Disney Parks, you ride and then you get dumped into a store


The new terminal is beautiful, huge and so clean

The problems that people are having are primarily with the new call-to-gate procedure...

People have major issues with change and they are just so used to going to the airport, customs/security and then plopping themselves at their gate and waiting until they announce the boarding.

This isn't much different, just you have to wait at the central area until it's boarding time instead of walking down to the gates.

The only thing I will say is that they really do need some more seating down at the gates. I understand that they want to prevent people from waiting there but they need to understand that flights are delayed, gates are changed and TONS of people are complaining about the lack of seating at the actual gate area. And I have to agree. If I walk down to my gate and it's delayed/changed/rescheduled, I don't want to walk back to the main area. And I am not handicapped or elderly or in a wheelchair, so I can imagine how others may feel about it too! It took about 6 minutes to walk from the main waiting area to the furthest gate and the one small moving walkway was closed (as it has been most of the time since the opening).

Rob and I were starving so we planned on eating at the brand new restaurant by Wolfgang Puck!

We've loved every WP location we've been to and this was no different! The only let down was the fact that they had no waffles, which I was hoping to surprise Kira and Rob with as they LOVE their waffles

Kira wasn't all that hungry so I just shared mine with her and Rob had the oatmeal.

We were past security/customs and our trip was just beginning, look at the happiness

Mine was sooooo delicious!!!

It was doubly delicious because I have been eating low-carb for 6 weeks now and I LOVE carbs!! I mean, loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove carbs

So even though I have done remarkably well with my low-carb diet, I was really looking forward to a bit of a break this trip. And I will tell ya now, no carb was safe around me this vacation

Kira and Rob got settled in the waiting area and I decided to explore.

The terminal was huge and beautiful but I think it could use some art or more decor or something

I went back to get Kira because I knew she would like to see a certain store...

Let me just say now that this kid is stuffy CRAZY!!! If there is a stuffed animal to be found, she will find it and want it!!!

I am almost embarrassed to tell you how many stuffies she has at home but it's all she ever wants and all she asks for (other than Minecraft stuff) and she buys most of them with her own money from birthdays and Christmases.

So when she saw the back wall, she almost had a heart attack (in a good way!)

She wanted them all but I was a horrible Mom and didn't get any!

However, I did buy her a new Christmas-themed Beanie Boo named Mac that I gave to her upon our arrival at the airport, which has become a little tradition for her and I You can see Mac in the settled-in pic above, right next to the love of her life, a stuffed bear named Louise.

We explored the airport a little, saw three dogs (she's also a huge dog lover like her momma!) and then it was time to head down to our gate.

Even though the screens did not say our flight was boarding yet, by the time we got down there and had a quick pit stop in the bathroom, half the plane had boarded!

When we got to the back of the plane, two people were in our seats. I politely said "I think you're in our seats" and they said "Ummm, nope, we're in OUR seats!"

So I pulled out our boarding passes to show them just as they blurted out "WE are in 21!!!" to which I replied "Well then you're in the wrong seats because this is row 22!"

So, I sit down, remind Kira not to touch anything and I hose down our seats! Okay, well, I used Lysol wipes on everything, not a hose I have to do this every time as I have an auto-immune disease and get sick super easily and when I do get sick, it lasts a month!

All sanitized and settled...selfie time! This is a tradition that goes wayyyyyy back, before the term selfie was coined. It was MUCH harder to do when you had a film camera but we still did it

I have to end it here because the DIS will only allow so many pics per post and I am at my quota

 

[tinkerbell60]

Following!

 

[NYCMommy]

Following - I LOVE the announcement sign you made, that's fabulous! Where did you find that?

 

[TestingH2O]

I can't wait to see what you think of the Wonder. I really appreciate balanced reviews.

 

[Joyce T. Powell]

Following! This sounds so exciting!

 

[Michelle2]

I love it! Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Love it!!

 

[jenseib]

woohoo. You don't waste any time.

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh!! I love your cruise trip reports and am so excited that you went on a spontaneous cruise so that there is now an unexpected trip report from you!!

The system at the terminal is quite common in some European airports (I know that London Heathrow and Copenhagen have it and have also encountered it at other airports). I am in the camp of people who hate it, exactly for the reason you mention: There are never enough seats at the gates and it gets horribly crowded before they finally board your plane. Also, when your flight is delayed, you can never relax as you keep constantly checking those screens if the gate has finally been announced. With the other system you can just sit at your gate and wait without being afraid of missing out on the news.

I really liked the stationary bike charging station!! I would actually love to use that on a long travel day.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Following! I'm ready to hear about the updated Wonder and hear the good the bad and the ugly. So far I have only been on the Dream, but we're looking at taking the family to Alaska in 2018 on the Wonder. Also excited for a few days in Canada.

 

[Timon]

Following! Love your style!

Why thank you

I'll be following as well. Doing an Alaska cruise in August

Is there anything different for a Christmas sailing other than Christmas decorations etc

Thanks for reading along

Other than the decorations, there are specific activities that are Christmas oriented and it seemed like they played varying types of Christmas music all over the ship instead of the usual Disney arrangements.

Following! Always enjoy reading your reports, we leave on the Wonder in 12 days, excited to see everything decorated for Christmas!

Glad you're here They were taking the decorations down before we even got off the ship, I took some pics

Following!

Yay

Following - I LOVE the announcement sign you made, that's fabulous! Where did you find that?

Hmm, I think I did a Google search for Disney surprise and found it

I can't wait to see what you think of the Wonder. I really appreciate balanced reviews.

Thanks! In a nut shell, I loved it

Following! This sounds so exciting!

Thanks! I don't know about exciting but it sure was fun

I love it! Can't wait to hear more!!

Thanks for being here Michelle

Love it!!

Thanks Nikki! I just watched your video again, it brought back so many memories for me when we took Kira around that age. Did you do a trip report for that one? I don't recall reading one

woohoo. You don't waste any time.

HAHAHAHA, nope! This brain is getting old and I don't take notes so I need to write it down before I lose it all

Oh!! I love your cruise trip reports and am so excited that you went on a spontaneous cruise so that there is now an unexpected trip report from you!!

The system at the terminal is quite common in some European airports (I know that London Heathrow and Copenhagen have it and have also encountered it at other airports). I am in the camp of people who hate it, exactly for the reason you mention: There are never enough seats at the gates and it gets horribly crowded before they finally board your plane. Also, when your flight is delayed, you can never relax as you keep constantly checking those screens if the gate has finally been announced. With the other system you can just sit at your gate and wait without being afraid of missing out on the news.

I really liked the stationary bike charging station!! I would actually love to use that on a long travel day.

Yup, that is what the airport people keep telling everyone who complains about it This system is used around the world! People just don't like change! I think it would be just fine if they just put more seats closer to the gates. They have the room for it, it won't kill them to do it and then people will stop complaining!

Kira enjoyed using the bike, I got my 10K steps just walking the airport

 

[lorimay]

Wow! A last minute Christmas cruise....Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[Timon]

Day 1 Part 2

See you in 10 days Calgary!

Rob was happy because Westjet recently starting serving McCafe coffee

Kira was a little nervous about flying. My poor kid seems scared of everything and it only gets worse the older she gets! I hope she learns to relax more and not worry so much about everything because it's really going to impact her life if she doesn't

Just after takeoff, we hit some turbulence, one drop specifically was a little scary and she started sobbing

She was okay after that, thankfully and she watched movies either on her own or with her Daddy for the rest of the flight. We actually made good time and landed in Houston about 30 minutes early, which I was thinking was a great thing because I knew we would be hitting the start of rush hour.

We were some of the last people off the plane, which doesn't bother me at all, as I hate to be herded with the rest of the cattle

We made it to the luggage belt and there were already a few bags going around. About five minutes later, a car seat got stuck on the drop off belt and it jammed the belt. We waited, what seemed like 20 minutes before it was fixed. It seemed like a full eternity though

While I was waiting, I received a notification from my Hilton app that my digital key was ready. I am a techie kind of girl so this was super neat! I downloaded the Hilton Honors app before I left, added my reservation to it and I was able to check in the day before, choose my actual room!!!

As an OCD planner, this was a dream come true

I have dreamed of having this kind of power LOL!

I chose 937 the day before we left and the notification that I received said we actually ended up with the room next door, 936, which was totally okay in my book!

And then I was able to download my digital key, so we could go straight to the room

So far, this vacation ROCKS

Finally our bags arrive, all three right together and just as we were leaving, the luggage belt broke down again

We made our way out to door A115, crossed the median and waited for our rental car shuttle.

The weather was beautiful, not too hot, just nice and warm, perfect!

It was only about 5 minutes before our shuttle arrived.

Another fantastic feature we were using for the first time on this trip was Alamo Skip the Counter. I had checked us in online using a credit card which allows us to skip the counter at the rental car place and just head into the garage and pick our vehicle!

Is it crazy that I feel like everything should be like this?

I feel like I was born the be in the future. Like all of this technology was meant for me...crazy right?

I remember back in 2004, I was laying in bed, just relaxing, wasn't feeling too well and Rob asked me if I wanted him to bring me his brand-new, first ever laptop. This thing was huge and heavy! But I was bored and didn't feel like sitting at my computer but I wanted to surf the internet. I told him that I wanted a version of his laptop, one that was small and light, just a screen, no keyboard, no cords so that I could lie down sideways and just surf or watch a movie!



I feel like I created the iPad!

NO???



Okay, so anyway, we headed straight for the garage and found the SUV aisle.

We have never picked our own rental car before so this was new and so very neat to us!

Rob was overwhelmed, he didn't know what to pick. We had actually booked a Rav4 because that is what he drives at home but there wasn't any around. I quickly checked out the inside of three different vehicles and chose one because it looked best

He is a fantastic husband, in that he agrees with me almost all of the time so he agreed and we went with a silver Nissan Murano.

I liked it, it was very comfortable and he said it was nice to drive. It did really well for gas mileage and we were glad we picked it

Since I am an OCD planner, I had already Google Street Viewed our trip from IAH to Galveston and back again and did my research, adding to the fact that I am a great navigator with a good memory, I felt like I had already been there and back so it was easy for me to tell Rob where to go

I was really worried about traffic as it was now rush hour. We had blown that 30 minute early arrival waiting for our luggage and we were going right through downtown. Well, on a highway in downtown, which is just soooo weird to us!

Without traffic, it was supposed to be just over an hour, which is about as long as I can control my bladder and not need to pee RIGHT NOW!

Kira and Rob have these super bladders that don't need to be emptied for hours and hours and hours. What is wrong with them??? And how can I get one of those???

It was actually smooth sailing until we started to leave downtown and head onto the 45.

We hit the traffic and it slowed us down a lot. Honestly, it wasn't that bad and it could have been a LOT worse. Last time Rob was in Houston, he was in a hurry to get home to me and he hit morning rush hour and it took him HOURS to do what we just did.

It took about an hour and 30 minutes before we hit Galveston and my how gorgeous it was!!!

We got there just as the sun was setting so I could still see everything and I fell in love! It was palm trees and beaches and pink orangey sky, just a nice beach town feel, which I love.

There were some gorgeous homes along the water!

And then we turned right headed down 61st street, which is the main drag with all of the stores and we saw the funniest, strangest, weirdest thing....


To be continued

 

[Cousin Orville]

Cool! We were on the cruise with you. I'm excited to follow along and relive it!

 

[cntkg1]

Found my DIS password and I'm ready to follow along again.

Loving the pics already! Well, except the selfie of the three of you. Rob really must have that piece of square confetti removed from his right eye sooner rather than later. Seriously, you have an amazing little family there and we love you all to pieces!