Christmas/Holiday 2011 on the Wonder: 8 night Mexican Riviera 12/18/2011

[Silly Little Pixie]

Wow, these sound great! Are any of them for 6 year olds?? They sound perfect for my older DD but younger one is just turning 7 on the cruise so I am not sure if they would be too mature for her age! Katherine

The Sea Lion Encounter says 5 and up. On the Vallarta Adventures site it says that 5-10 need to be accompanied by an adult. On DCLs site it says height 4 feet 5 inches required, but that smaller children can be held by an adult? My DS is only 4'4" but he hopefully will be closer to 4' 5" by Christmas. LOL. He can only hope! I know its because you stand on some kind of platform in the water. I am not worried about it since the Vallarta Adventures site doesn't even have a height requirement. If he really is too short I am sure my DH can hold him up.

Sea Safari is for 12 and up. On the Vallarta Adventures site it says 10 and up but I guess DCL doesn't do that. So my DS couldn't do it even if he wanted to, which he doesn't! I know the snorkel is 5 and up.

 

[Dreemfinder]

Hello there! My name is Ron Schneider and this December 18th my family and I will be taking our first-ever Disney Cruise! (My Mother is a real cruise addict but my two eldest sisters won't sail aboard anything that doesn't offer gambling.)

My youngest sister, Suzy, is turning 50 so she and I have convinced Mom to spring for the 8 day MR cruise for her, her husband and two little girls as well as me, her Disney-obsessed big brother.

I've been writing and performing for Disney, Universal & Six Flags for 40 years, including understudying Wally Boag at DL's Golden Horseshoe Revue and 5 years as the original Dreamfinder at EPCOT Center '82 - '87. You can learn more about me at my Wordpress blog: 'From dreamer... to Dreamfinder'

I hope I can meet up with other Disney Fans to swap stories and explore the ship! See you in December...

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Welcome Ron!! You will love your first Disney cruise. How neat that you were the Dreamfinder! I remember that from "back in the day" as a teen at Epcot. And understudy to Wally Boag- how cool is that? He is hilarious!

I know we probably will have a Disboards meet on the first day. I can't remember if we had decided on a meet place and time. Anyone? In previous meets we have met in the Promenade Lounge, in case of bad weather. On one cruise we tried a meet on deck but never could "find" everyone so it was a bust. Where else have people met?

Christine

 

[Double Trouble]

I know we probably will have a Disboards meet on the first day. I can't remember if we had decided on a meet place and time. Anyone? In previous meets we have met in the Promenade Lounge, in case of bad weather. On one cruise we tried a meet on deck but never could "find" everyone so it was a bust. Where else have people met?

Christine

I don't think we've settled on a time/place, but Promenade lounge at around 3 o'clock for a quick meet and greet has seemed to work well in the past...easy to find, out of any weather, plenty of room, and just before the lifeboat drill. I'm always up for something new if anyone has any ideas though...??

Ditto on the Welcome Ron!

 

[SanDeeKath]

I don't think we've settled on a time/place, but Promenade lounge at around 3 o'clock for a quick meet and greet has seemed to work well in the past...easy to find, out of any weather, plenty of room, and just before the lifeboat drill. I'm always up for something new if anyone has any ideas though...??

Ditto on the Welcome Ron!

When is the lifeboat drill? 4pm? I know they start making announcements about 15min ahead of time and then it becomes hard to concentrate, let alone talk above the PA. How about 2:30 perhaps? Will you all be on board by then? I think we will aim to arrive at the pier around noon. That has worked well in the past (not too crowded and the rooms are open so you can go in and throw stuff down). Is 2:30 too early?

Oh, forgot to add that we filled out the kids club registrations today on line. I love how they do that on line now. I am surprised they didn't ask for any medical info though. They ALWAYS have asked on every other ship what sort of meds the kids may need (ie my DD's inhaler). Hmmmm. Anyway, it's done so I am glad to avoid one more line.

Welcome Ron to the cruise. I hope we have wonderful weather and smooth sailing! We are really starting to count down now. Speaking of countdowns --

3 months till we sail!


Katherine

 

[Double Trouble]

When is the lifeboat drill? 4pm? I know they start making announcements about 15min ahead of time and then it becomes hard to concentrate, let alone talk above the PA. How about 2:30 perhaps? Will you all be on board by then? I think we will aim to arrive at the pier around noon. That has worked well in the past (not too crowded and the rooms are open so you can go in and throw stuff down). Is 2:30 too early?

Katherine

Here's what we saw on our last two MR cruises (and from reading other Navigators) regarding the post-boarding activities and the lifeboat drill...

1. Food is available until 2:30 in Parrot Cay, 3:15 in Beach Blanket Buffet, and 3:30 at Goofy's, Pinocchio's, and Pluto's up by the pools.

2. Cabins are supposed to be available at 2:00 (although they were about 15-20 minutes late on our last trip).

3. The kids facilities and Vista Spa are open until 3:15 for signup and open house.

4. All ships services are closed from 3:30-4:30 as the majority of the crew need to get prepared and positioned for the lifeboat drill (which is officially at 4:00, and the announcements do start a bit earlier as you mentioned).

NOTE: If you haven't cruised for a while, you no longer need to bring your life jackets to the drill. Just show up with your whole family and your Key to the World (KTTW) cards!

5. The "Adventures Away" Party starts at 4:15 at the Goofy pool deck. Head to sea during or shortly thereafter.

6. All luggage is supposed to be delivered by 5:30.

7. Early/Main dining at 5:45, Late at 8:15.

Regarding a meetup time, we like closer to 3:00 as it allows us time to board, eat, get the kids' wristbands (takes way too long in the terminal...just a couple of minutes on the ship), take care of any other business, swim(?), get into our cabins when they open around 2:00ish, and get settled just a bit beforehand. Then we do the meetup, go straight to the drill (without lifejackets!), and then straight to the pool deck for the sail away party (with a quick cabin stop thrown in as required).

However, I understand everyone's schedule is different (for example, we're early diners); so, we are extremely flexible and are happy to go with whatever works for the group...you pick the time and we'll be there. I would think starting a meetup anywhere from 2:30 to 3:00 would be fine.

Lest I forget to mention...we might have a drink or two somewhere in there as well!

 

[Double Trouble]

I called DCL today and got the following info regarding our cruise. Many things (like menus for each night) were not yet available.

DINING:
Night 2 is Formal night.
Night 7 is Semi-Formal night.
Night 6 is Pirate Night (first Cabo Day...not what I hoped for).
Nights 1,3,4,5, & 8 are Cruise Casual.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES/NOTES:
- A Rabbi will be aboard all DCL ships from 20-28 December for Hanukkah activities.
- A Priest and non-denominational Christian minister will be aboard for Christmas activities including midnight mass and Christmas services.
- On days to be determined, they will have special holiday events to include a tree lighting (supposedly complete with "snow"!), international caroling, gingerbread house making, and special story times.
- No word yet on any special Christmas dinner.
- Kwanzaa does not start this year until the last day of our trip (December 26).
- La Posada (or, Las Posadas) is widely celebrated in Mexico from 16-24 December; and, DCL advises on December 22 (our day in PV), a lot of shops may be closed in the city. As a side note, we were in Cabo last Easter week and all motorized watersports were unavailable the whole week due to the "holiday" (no jets ski rentals, parasailing, etc.) so I'm guessing we might see more of the same this trip(???). Just a "heads up" for that possibility. Everything else appeared to be running normally.

Hope that helps in your planning. If anyone else gets any updates, please post them.

 

[SanDeeKath]

Thank you so much for the great info, DoubleT!!!

Only one formal night. HURRRAAAAY. I hate having to dress up twice. I just took a survey from Princess asking how we felt about having 2 formal nights versus 1 versus 0. I voted for 1 formal and 1 semi-formal/nice. I like dressing up but refuse to pack for 2 nightsworth of dresses for me and the kids.

I didn't realize our rooms are not available till 2pm? Wow, that's really late.

If anyone takes the time to call Disney again, could you ask what the Cabo hours are? I heard that some lines are now staying overnight in Cabo instead of pulling out of the harbor. That means the tenders are running till 9 or 10pm and then the ship just sits there while you party on board (or you can stay ashore). To me that would be much better than 2 short days given that the tenders are pretty darn slow to begin with. I know Disney doesn't have a casino so it would be great if they didn't feel compelled to shut down the tenders in the midafternoon.

Katherine

 

[Tinkerbellll]

DT - Thank you so much for the updates. Reading about the schedule of events makes it all seem real!

We are driving in from Santa Barbabra the morning of the cruise, and I am a bit unsure about the parking garage. Do we look for signs? Is there more than one parking garage?

Last night, I sat down with my oldest and asked him if he was looking forward to the trip, and he said yes!! This absolutely made my night. I even showed him our FE and explained what it was and how it worked. He smiled and said it sounded like a lot of fun. So, I now have EVERYONE in my family "onboard" with my plans. It really does make a difference knowing that all of the kids are excited to go.

Looking forward to meeting everyone, and we too will meet at whatever time is decided. I really liked reading what DT and his family do because it helped me get an idea of how to plan our time that first day.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences. Having an idea of what to expect helps.

 

[betsy918]

Thank you so much for all the updates. As first time cruisers, I wouldn't even have known what questions to ask the cruiseline about, but here are two of mine for the group:
Pirate night: I've convinced DD to be a pirate for Halloween this year, so she'll have the perfect outfit for the night. How "piratey" do the adults get?

Formal/Semiformal: What's the real difference for men, women, and children?

As for meeting times, we're good with anything. We are early diners.
Thanks!
Betsy

Oh! My daughter's 8th birthday is the 23rd. Has anybody ever ordered the birthday package on line with the cake, banners, etc.? Is it worth it? Can I pick the day to have it delivered, or is it in the room when we get there? Thanks

 

[betsy918]

Hi Again, just thought of another question. Will the cabins be decorated at all for the holidays? We're bringing our stockings, and perhaps a string or two of lights. I was disappointed to see they have halloween packages to purchase, but no Christmas package! Has anyone been on a Christmas cruise before? I know the ship will be completely decked out, but what do we do to make our cabins more festive?
Betsy

 

[SanDeeKath]

Hi Again, just thought of another question. Will the cabins be decorated at all for the holidays? We're bringing our stockings, and perhaps a string or two of lights. I was disappointed to see they have halloween packages to purchase, but no Christmas package! Has anyone been on a Christmas cruise before? I know the ship will be completely decked out, but what do we do to make our cabins more festive?
Betsy

Great question. I just emailed the concierge and asked about options for decorating our room. Taking lights is a good idea although I would be worried about potential fires if everyone brought their own electronics! Don't Christmas trees burn down houses every year?? I'll let you all know what they say.

Tinkerbell, I am shocked that your oldest admitted to being excited! It would make my day too. But I know my kids and my soon to be 12 year old has been "playing it cool" lately with activities. I have learned to ignore her nonchalant attitude because I know that by the time we get to the actual activity, she has a blast and smiles all day.

Recently we went to Legoland. SHe didn't want to go and was kinda quiet in the car on the way up. She brought a book along "just in case I get bored." Well, we got to the park and she had a blast with her younger sister on the rides as well as the waterpark. HA! She smiled all day. And was in a really great mood when we got home.

I just don't ask anymore what they think about things. I just do them anyway and see how it goes. 99% of the time they love it (but would never actualy admit to it).

Ah, those teenage years.

 

[Tinkerbellll]

Believe it or not, I am loving the teenage years with my kids (so far). They have their moments, don't get me wrong, but for the most part it has been a lot of fun. As for the cruise, my daughter is looking forward to everything, but the whole VIBE thing is really intriguing to her. I think she is most excited about being in the same club as her older brother. Since this is our first cruise, I don't know what to expect. I broached the idea of booking another cruise while on this cruise to my husband this morning, and he laughed and said, "Let's cross that bridge when we gt to it." He didn't say no, so I am thinking it may be a possibility. Hahahahaha!

Have a great week everyone.

 

[Double Trouble]

DT - Thank you so much for the updates. Reading about the schedule of events makes it all seem real!

We are driving in from Santa Barbabra the morning of the cruise, and I am a bit unsure about the parking garage. Do we look for signs? Is there more than one parking garage?

The ship will be using Berth 93 at San Pedro. It looks like we're the only ship there on the 18th and 26th which is nice. The parking is in a fenced lot, not a garage like at Long Beach. It's easy to get to (405 to the 110 South) and signage is good. You can bypass the lot to drop the family and bags at the curb with the porters (just stay to the right when you enter...it's one-way counterclockwise all the way around past Berths 91/92 to our Berth 93), then circle back around into the lot to park afterwards (it's easy to figure out). It's an easy walk back to the terminal after that. If any of you are spending the night in a nearby hotel, some of them may include parking and provide a shuttle to the terminal so you may want to check.

Here is a link to the terminal website with details to help you get to the terminal and parking...

http://www.pcsterminals.com/

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Double Trouble]

Thank you so much for the great info, DoubleT!!!

Only one formal night. HURRRAAAAY. I hate having to dress up twice. I just took a survey from Princess asking how we felt about having 2 formal nights versus 1 versus 0. I voted for 1 formal and 1 semi-formal/nice. I like dressing up but refuse to pack for 2 nightsworth of dresses for me and the kids.

I didn't realize our rooms are not available till 2pm? Wow, that's really late.

If anyone takes the time to call Disney again, could you ask what the Cabo hours are? I heard that some lines are now staying overnight in Cabo instead of pulling out of the harbor. That means the tenders are running till 9 or 10pm and then the ship just sits there while you party on board (or you can stay ashore). To me that would be much better than 2 short days given that the tenders are pretty darn slow to begin with. I know Disney doesn't have a casino so it would be great if they didn't feel compelled to shut down the tenders in the midafternoon.

Katherine

Concur with having only one formal night...we get dressed, get some pictures, and then I'm usually "over it" by dinner. I wear a tie to work...I don't jump at the chance to wear one on vacation (that's just me).

Regarding rooms...maybe the conciege rooms might be available earlier, but they say 2pm in the navigators and I don't think I've seem them open much earlier than that. They actually put up "ropes" across the hallway entries from the elevator lobbies to the room corridors to keep you out until they're ready. We've learned to be thoughtful in packing our "carryons" to include all essentials (papers, meds, etc.) and things like bathing suits (swimming prior to departure) and jackets (cool sailing out of port) as you may not see your checked bags until just before dinner. The flip side is whatever you carry on, you've got to lug around until at least 2pm.

Regarding Cabo, the latest tender in/out times are 11:15/7:00 on day 1, and 7:15/1:30 on day 2. Last trip, the Captain extended day 1 until 10:00 pm, which was awesome, but he cut day 2 to noon (ouch!). With Pirate Night on Cabo day 1, I don't think he'll do it this time because I'm assuming they have to be out to "sea" to do the fireworks(?). I checked some other iteneraries this fall and it looks like Pirate Night on Cabo day 1 is kind of "standard", so we can probably get some feedback from some of those cruisers on what they're actually doing. I've got some friends on the Thanksgiving cruise, so I'll ask when they get back. I was hoping Pirate Night would be out of Manzanillo like our last "extended" cruise. Staying up late (for my family anyway) for Pirate Night means a short night with an early wakeup for Cabo day 2 if we're going to do anything substantial.

Anyway, I'm going to be the optimist and assume ("hope") they extend the tenders and do Pirate Night in calm of the bay! We'll know more soon when the Wonder makes it back to Mexico.

 

[Double Trouble]

Thank you so much for all the updates. As first time cruisers, I wouldn't even have known what questions to ask the cruiseline about, but here are two of mine for the group:
Pirate night: I've convinced DD to be a pirate for Halloween this year, so she'll have the perfect outfit for the night. How "piratey" do the adults get?

Formal/Semiformal: What's the real difference for men, women, and children?

As for meeting times, we're good with anything. We are early diners.
Thanks!
Betsy

Oh! My daughter's 8th birthday is the 23rd. Has anybody ever ordered the birthday package on line with the cake, banners, etc.? Is it worth it? Can I pick the day to have it delivered, or is it in the room when we get there? Thanks

Betsy,

PIRATES: It kind of surprised me on our first Disney cruise, but on Pirate Night some of the "adults" can get pretty dressed up...to the point of confusing them with cast members! I guess that's Disney for ya. It's certainly not everyone, but your family won't feel out of place if you look like members of Jack Sparrow's crew. And, you and your DD don't want to miss the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party, even though it doesn't start until 9:45 pm! It's worth staying up late for!

FORMAL ATTIRE: See Post 187 on page 13 of this thread for some thoughts.

BIRTHDAY PACKAGE: My twin DDs (the real "Double Trouble") turned 8 on our last cruise and we just did some things on our own. You can easily (and secretly) bring some balloons, ribbon, banners, etc, and decorate the cabin on your own while DD is out, if you choose. Regarding the "cake", if you discretely tell your server or head server ahead of time, you can have a surprise "special" dessert brought to your DD on the evening of your choice, complete with the obligatory "Happy Birthday" song. It's not a full birthday cake (they used to do that for free, but now they charge), but it's still very special...something like a slice of chocolate cake with a white chocolate "Happy Birthday" medallion just for her. Bottom line is it's up to you. Has anyone done the actual birthday package before??

Hope that helps.

 

[Double Trouble]

They can take a little bit of time to go through, but here are three DISBoard threads of trip reports from previous MR cruises. They are full of pictures (including food) and are great for answering a lot of questions as well as wetting your appetite as we move inside the 3 months to go timeframe. I'm not a big photographer, so these threads can give you a much better "picture" than I can on many things...just click on the links.

Disney Honu...good links to the Navigators and Menus
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2696045

Stinkerbell...A great writer and a detailed, entertaining read
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2653951

JDBlair...More pics of the ship and the food (if you're still hungry)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2683519

Can you tell I'm getting excited about the cruise? I'm a posting machine today!

 

[SanDeeKath]

Believe it or not, I am loving the teenage years with my kids (so far). They have their moments, don't get me wrong, but for the most part it has been a lot of fun. As for the cruise, my daughter is looking forward to everything, but the whole VIBE thing is really intriguing to her. I think she is most excited about being in the same club as her older brother. Since this is our first cruise, I don't know what to expect. I broached the idea of booking another cruise while on this cruise to my husband this morning, and he laughed and said, "Let's cross that bridge when we gt to it." He didn't say no, so I am thinking it may be a possibility. Hahahahaha!

Have a great week everyone.

Don't worry, DH will come around quick enough. You just have to train him (and the kids correctly). A few days ago older DD, almost 12, says at the dinner table, "Is it really true that we won't have a cruise between the Disney one in December and the Allure in March 2013? How is mom going to survive???" Soooooo, that lead to my DH suggesting that we take a Spring Break cruise in 2012 to "tide mom over." So we are booked on Carnival Splendor for April. Katherine

DoubleT, great advice about the port. The LA port is VERY user friendly with lots of parking (especially now that the Mariner and NCL have pulled out of MX). We usually try to arrive by noon and find that we never have to wait to get on the ship. We have sailed out of there about 10 times already and is our favorite of any port for ease and convenience (deduct one star for scenery because it aint pretty).

I am going to scope out the links you posted with pix. I like to leave some surprise so I am not going to look at the daily schedules. But I am curious about the pirate night and how dressed up people get....

I hope they extend Cabo! Katherine

 

[SanDeeKath]

By the way I am ready to buy our FEs on eBay. Are we definitely on for it??

Katherine

 

[chernabogfamily]

Just a little info on Christmas decorations:

You cannot bring strings of lights to put in your room. They are a fire hazard and will be taken down.

We are planning to bring stockings and shower curtain hooks to hang them from. I am also planning to bring either a mini tree or an inflatable tree (if I can find one at a party supply store) to put in the room, and definitely christmas pj's for everyone.

Regarding a birthday celebration. We have celebrated 2 birthdays on DCL cruises before, but have done it on our own and not purchased a package. I sent DCL an email stating that we were celebrating a birthday and on the 1st night of the cruise, our head server asked what night we wanted the cake and celebration. They sing "happy birthday" and bring an individual cake to the birthday recipient. It has been great both times. For our daughter, we went and bought a Disney birthday card for every day of our cruise, each with a different character, and signed each characters name. Every day a new card would be waiting for her outside the door (in our FE). She loved it.