December 17, 2006 4-Night Wonder Cruise

[kath1210]

I did not see a thread for this one yet. Anyone else on this cruise??

 

[kath1210]

BUMP!! I know it's early, but we are very excited about this December 2006 Christmas-time cruise!!

I looked at the rate for a December 2005 4-day cruise and this one is almost $2000 less! I guess I'll just have patience.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi! I found this thread buried deep We just got off a 7-day Magic and have rebooked for the 4-night Wonder for Dec. 17th, 2006.

Anyone else?????

 

[nzdisneymom]

Kathy - we're already counting down the weeks til cruising again. My guys wlll be 10 and 9 when we sail, and we're looking forward to seeing the Wonder.

Anyone else cruising with us?

 

[Stinasmom]

Yes!!
I, too have been looking for this thread and thought about starting it. Didn't know if there were any others who plan so far out...(I booked this cruise a year ago---Yes! 2 years in advance!)

This will be our second cruise and second Disney cruise as we sailed on the June 11, 2005 West coast to Mexico trip too.

Kath1210, have you sailed DCL before?
nzdisneymom, did you just have the best time on your recent Christmas cruise?? What did the ship look like?

We will have a DD10 (2 weeks shy actually) and a DS5 at the time.
Very much looking forward to WDW and DCL....at least it is 2006 now!

Marcy

 

[kath1210]

Yes!!
I, too have been looking for this thread and thought about starting it. Didn't know if there were any others who plan so far out...(I booked this cruise a year ago---Yes! 2 years in advance!)

This will be our second cruise and second Disney cruise as we sailed on the June 11, 2005 West coast to Mexico trip too.

Kath1210, have you sailed DCL before?
nzdisneymom, did you just have the best time on your recent Christmas cruise?? What did the ship look like?

We will have a DD10 (2 weeks shy actually) and a DS5 at the time.
Very much looking forward to WDW and DCL....at least it is 2006 now!

Marcy

Hi Marcy! Welcome aboard! This will be our 2nd cruise, and we can't wait. We did a 4-night in May 2005. It was our best family vacation ever!

Is Stina your DD? I have a niece named Kristina and we call her Stina for short. Her father is Swedish, and I hear Stina is a common nickname there.

My DD will be 12 when we sail and my DS will be 15.

It seems so long now, but it's nice to have something to look forward to.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi Marcy, and welcome! YAY! That makes 3 DISBoard Families on the Wonder!

Our Magic cruise was so wonderful - it's hard to believe we've been home 10 days already. We've only sailed once but decided it's definitely our preferred means of travel for now!

 

[Stinasmom]

Hi Kathy & Cindy!

Sounds like this will be the second cruise for all of us. We had a big DIS group for our first cruise, wonder if that will happen for this one?
I still keep in touch with a couple families, in fact we will likely visit with one of them in March as they live in Hawaii and we are going for Spring Vacation.

Kathy- Yes, my DD9's name is Christina but we actually don't call her stina...yet. I am leaving it up to her to shorten to a nickname if she wants. Since she will be close enough to 10 yrs old she is looking forward to the new Ocean Quest as she didn't really take to the Lab. I am assuming that they will put it on the Wonder during it's October dry dock this year like they did the Magic last year?
My DS4 (will be 5) absolutely loved his Club. He was in paradise each day if he got to swim in the Mickey pool, have chicken strips then spend the rest of his time there!

Cindy- Welcome home! I still remember every minute of our trip. I loved it all (except for the occasionally grumpy DH...but that is another story.) I relive it all throught the pictues, albums and scrapbook from the trip. Did you get any kind of break by rebooking on board? I thought the discounts were only for rebooking 7-nighters so I had booked this 4-nighter way before even sailing the first time!
Looks like you either live near WDW or go there a lot! My SIL tried to get into that half marathon but didn't enter in time. She is going anyway...alone, I think as her mother is no longer in good enough health to go. And Spring break there too?! Yeah! ("PO" is Port Orleans, right??)

So, we have several months to correspond...I won't go on too much more now!
Nice to meet 'cha both!

Marcy

 

[nzdisneymom]

Marcy - I heard that the Wonder will get the Ocean Quest during dry dock, so I really hope it happens as I think that's where Nathan will spend a lot of his time. He liked the free time in the Lab but wasn't too keen on the more organized activities. He'll be 10 1/2 and Zachary will be 9 1/4 when we go. Nathan is in 4th grade this year and Zachary is a 2nd grader. What grade is your DD in?

Yes, we got 10% off plus a $100 onboard credit for rebooking while onboard. For a 7-night, it would be 10% plus a $200 credit. I had our TA check their group rate for the same cruise and I come out about $20 cheaper doing it through DCL than through the TA.

And yes, we're in north FL. DH wants to do the whole marathon next year; we're looking forward to him doing the 1/2 this year and then spending two days in the parks. PO - Port Orleans We've not stayed at French Quarter before, but we have been at Riverside once before. We prefer staying at the Wilderness Lodge, but decided we REALLY prefer cruising so staying moderate and saving a few $ per night is fine. The children are excited about the pool at PO-R for spring break. We're also trying to cram in as many WDW trips as possible before Nathan turns 10 and becomes an "adult" price-wise.

 

[Stinasmom]

Hi Cindy-
My DD is currently in the 3rd grade. I am most excited about the DS starting Kindergarten in Sept. as it is full day here!!! I am a stay-at-home mom so I am considering next fall my "sabbatical!"

I envy people who live in Florida until hurricane season...or the dog days of summer! I would be a regular at WDW if I could. But alas, we couldn't live further away in the US unless we moved to Alaska or Hawaii! And, unfortunatly my DH isn't as into Disney as me

We did get to spend some time last summer after our DCL-Mexico cruise at DL and DCA. Now I feel like I don't need to spend a whole day at the Magic Kingdom this time...except that I want to go to the "Very Merry Xmas" thing one evening. Have you done this? Is it worth it? Though you might be a good source of info about WDW... Do you make it there several times a year? I have been 5 times in the last 10 years or so. Once w/o kids and the other times at varying ages. It is so new to them each time as they are a different age. We went with our parents (yes, both sets of Grandparents!) last time (5/04).

TTFN!
Marcy

So

 

[kath1210]

Hey Cindy and Marcy - What is Ocean Quest?

We just got back from a Christmas trip to WDW. We went to the MVMCP on December 20 and LOVED it! I hope we get to go next year, but maybe not because of the dates of the cruise. WDW at Christmas is SO gorgeous - just magical!

I need to add a countdown to the cruise to my signature!

 

[Stinasmom]

Ocean Quest info on the following thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=948596
Hopefully that hyperlinks and is a help in understanding what the new hubbub about the new hubbub is all about!
Sounds like a great addition to keep the "tweens" interested.
I have to admit, I doubt I'd bring teenagers on a Disney Cruise unless they begged. Maybe for a shorter trip, but on our 7 nighter, it seemed like they really didn't have enough to do, especially if you can't afford to bring along their best friend!

Kath- so happy to hear that WDW at Xmas time is still wonderful. We went 10 years ago for the same week we are going this year---Dec 10-17th which is before kids are out of school and one of the least busy times of the whole year...so, very much looking forward to it again. And want to do MVMCP!
Hope you are all well!

Marcy

 

[nzdisneymom]

Marcy - so your DD is right between my boys school-wise. My younger has a sept birthday so he had to wait til he was nearly six to start K. I was a SAHM from just before my older son started K until my younger one started 1st grade. So I had a year at home with the younger, then a year with the younger in pre-school, then the fun year of the younger in K and I got to do pretty much whatever I wanted to do during the day - aaahhhh... it was nice.... and I worked at pinching our pennies so we could continue going to WDW. We live in FL so we get season passes and go at least twice a year - I often go more as I sometimes travel to Orlando for work and will go in the evenings.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Kathy - Welcome back! How fun to be at WDW over the holidays. We've been talking about whether to add some WDW days after we get back from the Dec. '06 cruise but just don't know.

 

[nzdisneymom]

I got my Castaway Cay membership pack yesterday! Woo-hoo! It came faster than I expected, and I went ahead and fwd'd it to our TA.

 

[Stinasmom]

Cindy-
Did you get the CD of music from Castaway Cay? It starts out with the ship's horn--which was soooo cool to share with family and friends who didn't get it when we tried to describe it! The rest of it is steel drum type music. It is great and makes me look forward to actually going to Castaway Cay!---That was a huge drawback of the west coast sailings.

I am also looking forward to whatever benefits our CC membership will afford! I know we get a different check in line, reception with drinks, and a small gift. Sounds good to me. I wonder if there are a lot fewer repeat cruisers on the shorter trips than the 7 nighters? And I wonder if there will be TONS of kids as it is Christmas break?
Actually, we were on the Magic in the summer (about a week before most kids got out of school) and there really were lots of kids, but it doesn't seem to be a big deal. Nice the way so many people distribute through out the ship....except for Pirate night! That was crowded.
We watched our cruise video twice this last weekend...Yeah, I think the whole family is more excited this time around. We will be at WDW the week before...anyone else? In past experience the week of Dec 10-16 has some of the lowest attendence numbers of the year...We hope this year is the same!
Yes, we are taking both kids out of school a week early...I feel it is worth it.

I realize that I am out of practice using the cute smilies in my DIS writing!
So here are some that make me smile too...

Marcy

 

[nzdisneymom]

Oh yeah -we got the CD and listened to it right away! It's so cool, and reminds me of the music that the band was playing on Pirate Night in the Atrium (steel drums). Wish I were at CC. Maybe we'll get lucky on the 4-night like one of the recent cruises did and get an extra day at CC.

We won't be going before or after to WDW - we get season passes and are blacked out the week before Christmas. YOu know, I'm not even sure when the kids get out of school for Christmas this year, so we may also be taking them out if it's not when I expect. Not a big deal as they are both still in elementary school and those days will likely be 1/2 days of parties anyway.

 

[kath1210]

Hey, Cindy and Nancy - I am sorry to say that our plans have changed and we won't be going on this cruise. The good news is that we got a great rate on the August 19, 2006 7-night Special Western Cruise, with two stops at Castaway Cay!!

I have been feeling like the wait will be just too long, and have been looking around for a summer cruise. I got an e-mail from my travel agent with a $1000 discount for this cruise. Such a deal!

I wish we could do both, but unless we win the lottery....

Have a great trip!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Kathy -
Pardon the pun, but I would "jump ship" too if I could go on a 7-night instead of the 4. Thanks for getting our thread started - hopefully we'll have some other DISers cruising with us - we're still pretty far out for a lot of folks to find us.

 

[nzdisneymom]

11 months out. Anyone else????