Cruise to Neverland: Cuz we ain't see'n land! Jan 21-23 on the Wonder

[JOANNEL]

Great trip report, we will be on her in August!!

 

[dsnydaddy]

LMAO we are in some of your pictures!!!

That is funny!

Great report and pics! Very grateful for details on the cruise center.

No Problem. I figured that the Cruise Center details would be interesting to those who have not yet cruised through the Port of LA

Great trip report, we will be on her in August!!

I'd love to do that Alaskan Cruise. But its just not in the cards for a while.

 

[Timon]

Great report Steve

They really have a lot of tables set up near the Mickey Pool here:

I've never seen them do that before!! Is that a Wonder thing??? Only ever been on the Magic.



This is sooooo cool! I would have loved to be walking on that deck with that kind of weather!!

That is too funny....what your friend's child said I don't really blame her....I cry too when we have to leave the ship

 

[Dyerneeds]

So here is Laura and I:

Laura and I.

I knew it!! "Romance in the Pacific".

 

[Dyerneeds]

Now, a bit of history. On our first DCL cruise in 2007 my son realized that all he had to do was walk up to a counter and ask and Pizza would be magically delivered into his hands. He spent the rest of the cruise and the one after that offering to be our personal waiter. This cruise was no different. He kept us stocked on Pizza and soda.

your own personal pizza deliver boy! i'm surprised he didnt try to charge you guys a delivery fee.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Great report Steve

They really have a lot of tables set up near the Mickey Pool here:

I've never seen them do that before!! Is that a Wonder thing??? Only ever been on the Magic.



This is sooooo cool! I would have loved to be walking on that deck with that kind of weather!!

That is too funny....what your friend's child said I don't really blame her....I cry too when we have to leave the ship

I noticed that too! It was kinda nice if you scored one of those tables, but otherwise, It limited the amount of seating.

Stuart almost did the tears third time in a row, he caught himself though.

I knew it!! "Romance in the Pacific".

You better believe it!

your own personal pizza deliver boy! i'm surprised he didnt try to charge you guys a delivery fee.

If he thought I'd let him get away with it, he'd have tried it.

 

[SanDeeKath]

Great pix. You must have been up super early to have the ship be so deserted. We had nothing but CROWDS and lines everywhere. Here are my 2 pool shots...





The 22 lounge chairs were enough for about 1% of the passengers. There was absolutely nowhere to sit or even rest. Buffets were only open from 12 to 2pm! It was totally crazy.

I hope the 7n cruises are waaay better organized (and hopefully less packed).

Katherine

 

[anewmac]

a 2 day sounds relaxing, and a nice quick get away, by the time i found out about it it was sold out. Looks like you all had a great time! Sucks about the dinning rotation Animators is the best but i can understand why.

San Dee Kath- the 7days are very nice. but depends on when you go and how many kids are around, spring break and holidays will be packed. Plus this 2day'er fell on a weekend so more people took advantage of it.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Great pix. You must have been up super early to have the ship be so deserted. We had nothing but CROWDS and lines everywhere. Here are my 2 pool shots...





The 22 lounge chairs were enough for about 1% of the passengers. There was absolutely nowhere to sit or even rest. Buffets were only open from 12 to 2pm! It was totally crazy.

I hope the 7n cruises are waaay better organized (and hopefully less packed).

Katherine

Katherine,
On 7 Day Cruises the ship is crowded on "At Sea" days. But, I love those days because it allows me plenty of time all day to do the things that I want to do. However, my favorite times is when we come back early from the excursions (or don't go ashore at all) and find the ship empty. Lines are not nearly as long because people have more time to do what they want to do. On this cruise, you only had a very short window to get that picture with Mickey (Or your favorite Princess) so it was stand in line or go without. The Pool was more crowded for much the same reason. Kids run in and out of the Kids Clubs and as a result rotate about a bit. On this short cruise, it was swim Saturday afternoon or not at all.

I agree with you about the Lounge Chairs. On the Magic there are no tables near to the pool. It's about 3 or 4 rows of Lounge Chairs. (Still hard to get one if you're not early or lucky)

 

[disgrits]

Great report, Steve! Your children are growing up so fast. They're beautiful!

Y'all take care!

 

[dsnydaddy]

Great report, Steve! Your children are growing up so fast. They're beautiful!

Y'all take care!

Thanks! Yeah, they are getting big! The Boy is almost as tall as my mom!

 

[Karen Mouse]

Great piccies Steve,...cant wait for October!

 

[dsnydaddy]

Great piccies Steve,...cant wait for October!

Thanks, we're getting excited for that cruise as well. Stuart especially. He enjoyed this two night cruise, but he's real excited about seeing old friends on board too. On this one Leah had our friends daughter to hang with but Stuart couldn't really connect with anyone on such a short cruise.

 

[lucky1]

Wondering how disembarking worked for the Wonder now that it is in LA... Was it similar to PC disembarkment? I thought I saw someone mentioned that you are called by groups in LA.

 

[toocherie]

Wondering how disembarking worked for the Wonder now that it is in LA... Was it similar to PC disembarkment? I thought I saw someone mentioned that you are called by groups in LA.

You were called by luggage tag "character" (we had Pluto). But if you carried off your luggage and didn't have them take it the night before you could leave anytime once the ship was cleared (which was around 7:30 a.m.)

 

[dsnydaddy]

I did leave that part off. Since we sent our Luggage out the night before we didn't have much. We also never ported so the whole Customs thing was more of a formality than anything else. I heard that some thought disembarking was confusing but I really didn't find it so. As we left Tritons there was a line down the hall that I assumed was the line to disembark, but turns out it was the next wave of diners for Tritons. We had hung about in the dining room until they called our character and then left. It was quick off ship but people stacked up at the port where they were swiping families off the ship. I thought they would need all of our KTTW cards but turns out they only need one from each cabin. then they would do a head count to make sure that if there were 4 people in the cabin, then 4 people left. We then were guided to the luggage holding rooms. As with the embarkation process, there were plenty of castmembers to guide you every step of the way. Once we claimed our luggage we reported to the Port Authorities and they asked us the typical questions re: declarations and then off we went to find our car. I thought it was easy.

 

[Zoom]

Great trip Report and nice pics Steve!!! Glad your family and friends had a wonderful time! Congrats on re-booking onboard for MR in 2012.... so how much was the deposit, discount and OBC? I'm thinking maybe we should rebook when we go to our MED cruise in June. I'm hoping deposits are not $250/pp. If that's the case i need to save more $$$ before June...excursions for MED is realllly expensive.
Well, it was nice meeting you and i'm glad your wife liked the Calendar Magnet. I know you're not in the FE list, but i made sure to give you one just to thank you for making the logo.
Hope we'll be in the same cruise some other time.... Hoping for Aulani next year and if the rumor is true that DCL will be in Hawaii......... But then I'm also hoping for Fantasy next year...

 

[dsnydaddy]

Great trip Report and nice pics Steve!!! Glad your family and friends had a wonderful time! Congrats on re-booking onboard for MR in 2012.... so how much was the deposit, discount and OBC? I'm thinking maybe we should rebook when we go to our MED cruise in June. I'm hoping deposits are not $250/pp. If that's the case i need to save more $$$ before June...excursions for MED is realllly expensive.
Well, it was nice meeting you and i'm glad your wife liked the Calendar Magnet. I know you're not in the FE list, but i made sure to give you one just to thank you for making the logo.
Hope we'll be in the same cruise some other time.... Hoping for Aulani next year and if the rumor is true that DCL will be in Hawaii......... But then I'm also hoping for Fantasy next year...

Thanks for the compliment!

This is the deal we got for rebooking onboard. first off, the cruise was inexpensive. About $2500 for the four of us in a Cat 11B (same cabin as the CtN We really liked that Sideways 11B) Down payment for Disney cruises is now 20% but when you rebook onboard it is half that! That's a great deal! So I only had to put down $230. That was for everyone. considerably cheaper than the $200 pp that DCL used to require! I got 10% off plus a $200 OBC (however since by the time we sail I'll be Gold status I think that OBC will really be $250) Add to the fact that now I don't have to fly to take a Disney cruise and this will be, by far, one of the cheapest vacations I've taken in years! It works out to be about $80 per person per day. I'm happy!

I'm looking at Aulani in 2012. I'll be turning 50 and I really want to celebrate. However, I am also thinking that I'd like to do the Fantasy in 2012 since a lot of my friends are planning on it that year. Or something that I've been wanting to do for some years now, Christmas in WDW. Decisions, Decisions!

 

[krazy4crusing]

Hi Steve!!

Thanks for the awesome trip report!! Your info and pictures are fantastic. We will be heading out on the Wonder in March and your report has really helped clear things up especially your port report.

It's been great seeing all of the Bobers posting here too! Going though all the FE gifts from the Bob Cruise as we prepare for this trip.... and reminiscing about all our good times has been a blast!

Thanks too for the rebooking info. Now I know how much to budget for rebooking!

THanks again!
Jennifer

 

[Zoom]

Yes, that was a good deal! But is it also possible to transfer booking to a TA then get both DCL's OBC and TA's? Do you know how that works? Thanks!