Travelers: Me (40), DH (41), DS (6)
Disney Land/Sea Package 6/19/2003 thru 6/26/2003
Days 6, 7 and 8: Castaway Cay, Day at Sea, Debarkation
Day 6: Castaway Cay
We woke up as we were approaching the docks at Castaway Cay. The weather was .. Sunny (yippee!). We went to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast today they had the usual fare as well as breakfast sandwiches and made to order omelets (all vegetables for me yummy) We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the sunshine while we ate. Then back to the room for quick pit stops and to lotion up etc
Remember you will need your key to the world and your photo ID to get off the ship (DH had to make a quick trip back to the room to get our passports). Its a fairly long walk from the ship to the family beach. There is a tram available if you prefer (we made use of this on the way back). Walking along to the beach, the water was absolutely beautiful, as was the landscaping (or natural greenery?) Anyway, Great island. We had an early start, so after dropping DS off (at his request) at scuttles cove (Kids club area on the island) with instructions to page us when he was ready to swim, we had a fairly good selection of lounge chairs with or without an umbrella in the family area. Note: This selection DID NOT last for long. For any of you from the New Jersey area before long this beach looked like Seaside Heights on a Holiday weekend (translation: crowded body to body seating ). But the sun was shining, and we were in the closest available thing to paradise as far as I was concerned at the time. We rented a raft, but the water was still cold so we just enjoyed some quiet time on the lounge chairs until DS paged to be picked up. DS and I did some time out in the water on the raft still a little cool when the sun went behind the clouds. At about 11:45/ 12:00 we headed over to Cookies and had lunch. I wasnt expecting much here but it was very good. There was a stand, just before you enter the main area that had all kinds of fresh fruit then for lunch they had hamburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, lobster burgers, ribs, corn on the cob, coleslaw, potato salad, chips.. probably a few other choices that I cant remember. Any way everything we sampled was good.
After lunch there were some clouds, and DS and DH had had enough beach time so we headed back to the ship (via the tram this time). This was a VERY good MOVE. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in a VERY un-crowded pool area. For quite a while DS and I had the goofy pool all to ourselves. This worked out very well for us best of both worlds.
DS wanted to do dinner with the club tonight, so we dropped him off around 4:30, and then enjoyed a little quiet time and got ourselves ready for dinner Animators Palate this night. I dont think I mentioned in earlier trip reports, but we were seated at our own table but we had another table through the rotations that was very near our table (a grandmother, mother and son about DSs age) so we chatted a little with them between courses. This also was the best of both worlds for me. Tonight DH had the lobster and shrimp wrapper, and I had the duck and goat cheese flatbread, we both had the chilled gazpacho. I had the roasted chicken breast, DH had the grilled sirloin for dessert the cheese cake and the double-fudge chocolate cake. All good but my favorite part of the meal was the large portion of veggies with my chicken!
After dinner we checked up on DS who still wasnt ready to leave the club so we went to see Hercules the Musical by ourselves. I thought it was really cute and well done. We really enjoyed it. Picked up DS and to bed for the night.
Day 7: Day at Sea
Decided to try something different this morning, and hit Parrot Cay for breakfast. We really enjoyed it here. The buffet just seemed better organized than BB, plus you are taken care of a little more (someone gets your OJ, and coffee, toasts a bagel for you ), and it also seemed much easier to go up and get seconds of something than it seemed for me at BB. Anyway same type of food offered, but also pancakes here.
After breakfast, we were all ready to enjoy our day at sea. All I can say now, is that we were lucky that DS wanted to go to the kids club. The family areas were excruciatingly crowded this day. Luckily we could escape to the adults only area where peace, tranquility and space to sit were waiting. We enjoyed most of the morning in the adult pool area (OK we had to get a chair on deck 10, but we could see the pool and if we walked downstairs there was space for us to get in the pool ) As usual DS paged at 11:15 to be picked up (just as I was on my way to hear the important Debarkation talk Note: the talk runs on your TV all day, so if you dont catch it here you can see it later.) So dragged DS to the talk with me and he was not a happy camper. Following the talk we put his swimsuit on and went up to let him have a swim. Unfortunately by that time he couldnt have fit in the pool with a shoe horn, and the arcade was equally as crowded. Now DS had his first meltdown of the trip freaking out about how crowded everything was! I took him downstairs and found some quiet places to look at things etc.. and he eventually calmed down (had tried to take him back to the room but they were cleaning it at the time my timing was not great with this for most of the cruise). Anyway eventually everyone was calm and we went to lunch at BB very nice Asian buffet also the usual kids stuff.
Dropped DS back at the club in time to practice for their show which was quick but cute, and he received a T-shirt for participating. We met up with him at the club after the show to see what his dining preferences would be tonight and he wanted to eat with us so back to the cabin to freshen up and change. Tonight back to Parrot Cay for the Master Chef menu. This was OK but probably my least favorite menu of the cruise. Appetizer (fried seafood platter) was good though. This night was the Disney Dreams Show which Ive heard is great.. but DS wanted to have one last night at the club, DH wasnt interested, and I had a ton of un-packing / re-packing to do, so unfortunately we missed it maybe next time.
Day 8: Debarkation
Since we had early seating dinner, we had very early breakfast that day. After breakfast we didnt have to wait in line very long at all to walk off the ship. The whole process was very painless and we were able to check in at Continental right there get on the bus to the airport and we were on our way.
Summary:
The cabins on the Wonder were great and spacious compared to any of my previous cruises.
The Disney transportation package worked out well for us. We checked our bags in NJ, and they found their way to out hotel, to our cabin on the Wonder and off again. We had someone help us with our bags through customs and he delivered them to the Continental Check in Counter at Port Canaveral didnt have to touch them again until we picked them up back home. We didnt get onboard the ship until almost 1:30 though, and I dont know how this would have worked if we were trying to get reservations for Palo or the Spa.
Going early to Castaway Cay, and returning to the ship after lunch allowed us the best of both worlds. I would highly advise this to get some un-crowded pool time (same plan for Nassau if you arent doing one of the tours).
If I were going to do the 4 day again, I might choose the trip with Freeport included instead of the day at sea just to get one more day when at least some of the people arent on the ship all day.
Disney Land/Sea Package 6/19/2003 thru 6/26/2003
Days 6, 7 and 8: Castaway Cay, Day at Sea, Debarkation
Day 6: Castaway Cay
We woke up as we were approaching the docks at Castaway Cay. The weather was .. Sunny (yippee!). We went to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast today they had the usual fare as well as breakfast sandwiches and made to order omelets (all vegetables for me yummy) We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the sunshine while we ate. Then back to the room for quick pit stops and to lotion up etc
Remember you will need your key to the world and your photo ID to get off the ship (DH had to make a quick trip back to the room to get our passports). Its a fairly long walk from the ship to the family beach. There is a tram available if you prefer (we made use of this on the way back). Walking along to the beach, the water was absolutely beautiful, as was the landscaping (or natural greenery?) Anyway, Great island. We had an early start, so after dropping DS off (at his request) at scuttles cove (Kids club area on the island) with instructions to page us when he was ready to swim, we had a fairly good selection of lounge chairs with or without an umbrella in the family area. Note: This selection DID NOT last for long. For any of you from the New Jersey area before long this beach looked like Seaside Heights on a Holiday weekend (translation: crowded body to body seating ). But the sun was shining, and we were in the closest available thing to paradise as far as I was concerned at the time. We rented a raft, but the water was still cold so we just enjoyed some quiet time on the lounge chairs until DS paged to be picked up. DS and I did some time out in the water on the raft still a little cool when the sun went behind the clouds. At about 11:45/ 12:00 we headed over to Cookies and had lunch. I wasnt expecting much here but it was very good. There was a stand, just before you enter the main area that had all kinds of fresh fruit then for lunch they had hamburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, lobster burgers, ribs, corn on the cob, coleslaw, potato salad, chips.. probably a few other choices that I cant remember. Any way everything we sampled was good.
After lunch there were some clouds, and DS and DH had had enough beach time so we headed back to the ship (via the tram this time). This was a VERY good MOVE. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in a VERY un-crowded pool area. For quite a while DS and I had the goofy pool all to ourselves. This worked out very well for us best of both worlds.
DS wanted to do dinner with the club tonight, so we dropped him off around 4:30, and then enjoyed a little quiet time and got ourselves ready for dinner Animators Palate this night. I dont think I mentioned in earlier trip reports, but we were seated at our own table but we had another table through the rotations that was very near our table (a grandmother, mother and son about DSs age) so we chatted a little with them between courses. This also was the best of both worlds for me. Tonight DH had the lobster and shrimp wrapper, and I had the duck and goat cheese flatbread, we both had the chilled gazpacho. I had the roasted chicken breast, DH had the grilled sirloin for dessert the cheese cake and the double-fudge chocolate cake. All good but my favorite part of the meal was the large portion of veggies with my chicken!
After dinner we checked up on DS who still wasnt ready to leave the club so we went to see Hercules the Musical by ourselves. I thought it was really cute and well done. We really enjoyed it. Picked up DS and to bed for the night.
Day 7: Day at Sea
Decided to try something different this morning, and hit Parrot Cay for breakfast. We really enjoyed it here. The buffet just seemed better organized than BB, plus you are taken care of a little more (someone gets your OJ, and coffee, toasts a bagel for you ), and it also seemed much easier to go up and get seconds of something than it seemed for me at BB. Anyway same type of food offered, but also pancakes here.
After breakfast, we were all ready to enjoy our day at sea. All I can say now, is that we were lucky that DS wanted to go to the kids club. The family areas were excruciatingly crowded this day. Luckily we could escape to the adults only area where peace, tranquility and space to sit were waiting. We enjoyed most of the morning in the adult pool area (OK we had to get a chair on deck 10, but we could see the pool and if we walked downstairs there was space for us to get in the pool ) As usual DS paged at 11:15 to be picked up (just as I was on my way to hear the important Debarkation talk Note: the talk runs on your TV all day, so if you dont catch it here you can see it later.) So dragged DS to the talk with me and he was not a happy camper. Following the talk we put his swimsuit on and went up to let him have a swim. Unfortunately by that time he couldnt have fit in the pool with a shoe horn, and the arcade was equally as crowded. Now DS had his first meltdown of the trip freaking out about how crowded everything was! I took him downstairs and found some quiet places to look at things etc.. and he eventually calmed down (had tried to take him back to the room but they were cleaning it at the time my timing was not great with this for most of the cruise). Anyway eventually everyone was calm and we went to lunch at BB very nice Asian buffet also the usual kids stuff.
Dropped DS back at the club in time to practice for their show which was quick but cute, and he received a T-shirt for participating. We met up with him at the club after the show to see what his dining preferences would be tonight and he wanted to eat with us so back to the cabin to freshen up and change. Tonight back to Parrot Cay for the Master Chef menu. This was OK but probably my least favorite menu of the cruise. Appetizer (fried seafood platter) was good though. This night was the Disney Dreams Show which Ive heard is great.. but DS wanted to have one last night at the club, DH wasnt interested, and I had a ton of un-packing / re-packing to do, so unfortunately we missed it maybe next time.
Day 8: Debarkation
Since we had early seating dinner, we had very early breakfast that day. After breakfast we didnt have to wait in line very long at all to walk off the ship. The whole process was very painless and we were able to check in at Continental right there get on the bus to the airport and we were on our way.
Summary:
The cabins on the Wonder were great and spacious compared to any of my previous cruises.
The Disney transportation package worked out well for us. We checked our bags in NJ, and they found their way to out hotel, to our cabin on the Wonder and off again. We had someone help us with our bags through customs and he delivered them to the Continental Check in Counter at Port Canaveral didnt have to touch them again until we picked them up back home. We didnt get onboard the ship until almost 1:30 though, and I dont know how this would have worked if we were trying to get reservations for Palo or the Spa.
Going early to Castaway Cay, and returning to the ship after lunch allowed us the best of both worlds. I would highly advise this to get some un-crowded pool time (same plan for Nassau if you arent doing one of the tours).
If I were going to do the 4 day again, I might choose the trip with Freeport included instead of the day at sea just to get one more day when at least some of the people arent on the ship all day.
