4-Day Disney Wonder cruises 10/27/02
Cast: Myself 41
DH 41
DS 15
DS 12
Some background info: We previously sailed on the Disney Magic in December 2000 loved it and we knew we would be returning. When our neighbors across the street said they were booked for a 3-day land/4day cruise on the Wonder we decided to join them. We booked our own hotel at Disney for 3nights and booked the 4-day cruise with Dreams Unlimited. A big plus of going with someone, our kids each had an immediate playmate.
A lot of you ask if you can ever enjoy a short cruise once you have done the 7 day and the answer is YES! Although both cruises went by fast, the advantage of knowing the ship layout made it easy to settle in on immediately on the 4 day. On the first cruise, we hadnt felt settled in until about day 3. We knew a lot about what we wanted to do so it was a little easier to make choices about what to do, see etc. Would we go again? We have already booked the 7-day Western for March 2004.
We left from our Disney resort hotel at about 10:30 and arrived at Port Canaveral around 11:30 or so. My husband went to check us in, while I got in the line to board. Quite a few people were in line already. My sons looked around the terminal and checked out the model. Mickey, Minnie and Goofy were out for pictures. Neither of my sons would wait in line for a pic though. Oh well, I had gotten them last time so I let it go. While we were in line my son came over and said he had asked what time boarding would start and was told about 1 pm. He then began to complain about why did you make us come so early,
I looked at him and said trust me, boarding will start between 12:15 and 12:30 (thanks to barb for sailing so many times!) Lo and behold at exactly 12:15 boarding started. I have to say I really loved being able to say, I told you so to my son! The line moves very quickly, and then we heard our name announced and had our embarkation photo taken.
Day One-
We headed right to the buffet and had some of those delicious jumbo shrimp. As an aside, I am on Weight Watchers and had received my 50 lb. Weight lost magnet the week before leaving on this cruise. For those of you interested, I ended up gaining 5 lbs for the week (3 days at Disney, 4 on cruise) it didnt go quite as well as I had intended! Those konk coolers and chocolates soufflés eventually add up. Anyway, we knew exactly what needed to be done so after lunch my husband headed to make the Palo reservation and I headed to the spa to make those reservations. We had absolutely no trouble getting what we wanted. We chose Palo at 6:30 for our 4th night when we would have repeated.
We booked side-by-side half body massages for our day at sea. Afterwards we headed to our room and unpacked a little, put on our suits and headed to the pools and whirlpools.
It was basically still dead up on deck 9 and we had it to ourselves for quite a while. This was so much more relaxing than our first trip, as we had lost our kids before sail away! (LOL) We met up with our friends and were all on deck for the sail away, which was an absolute blast! (I still forgot to look and see if they were waving with their Mickey hands
Though! Next time!) I was too busy dancing and jumping around. Made sure to get the horn on videotape. It brought tears to my eyes once again. My kids also had a blast showing their friends around where common grounds was, the arcade, how to get pizza, etc. Oh and yes, we bought 2 of the free refill mugs for our kids. Definitely worth it for us as we are all soda drinkers. We had early dinner so off to the room to get ready. We had tritons the first night and so this was the night we dressed up. My husband and sons both had black suits with tie, and I wore a short black cocktail dress. We headed down and had our picture take in 2 different backdrops. Our server was Das from India and assistant server was Eszter from Hungary, our headwaiter was Arturo. Das was very nice and went out of his way to please the boys and make sure they got what they wanted. My older son was quite adventurouous and even tried sea bass one night. Estzer was extremely polite and had the cutest habit of saying thank you. If she asked you what you wanted to drink she would politely say, thank you maam Its kind of hard to describe but it was really cute when she did it. We ended up tipping over the recommended amount for both servers and tipped the recommended amount for Arturo. He did come over and introduce himself the first night and did stop by to chat briefly every night. My husband enjoys wine with dinner so we did purchase the basic wine package, which was one bottle every night with dinner. If you didnt finish it, they would rotate it to the next restaurant you were at. We finished 3 bottles and ended up taking the 4th home with us.
We noticed a little motion of the ship while eating dinner but nothing big. (I am the only one who takes bonine) Everyone else in the family was fine without anything. The rest of the trip had NO MOTION; I actually missed the rocking of the ship at night from the first trip. I continued to take bonine just in case. We headed back to our room to change before the show. Tonight was Hercules and although we had seen it before we decided to go again. (I wont do this on the western, two times is enough)? I probably dont get this show as much as most people due to the fact that I havent seen the movie! I felt like I was nodding off and wasnt sure if it was boring me or if it was the motion of the ship and / or the bonine. Didnt seem to make me sleepy last trip so didnt think it was that.
Checked out the shops and walked around the ship. Went to listen to some music and had a drink. We ended up going to bed quite early. Just too much excitement for the first day and we were all pooped. Even the teen went to bed by midnight.
Day 2
Headed to the buffet for some breakfast. Standard fare, bacon, eggs, etc. Food was fine.
Got off the ship and went shopping in Nassau for a while. This just isnt on par with the stops on the 7 day, I like St. Maarten etc. a lot better than Nassau. After shopping headed back to the ship for a day of swimming and sunning on deck. Had a few konk coolers.
Went back to the room for a nap and got dressed for dinner. Headed down for pictures, this night boys wore khakis and polos, as did my husband. I wore black silk pants and a dressy top. Dinner was in Parrot Cay, and we had our favorite appetizer, the coconut shrimp, my son asked for seconds and they were brought no problem. Tonights entertainment was comedian Gary Delena and I must say I found him so darn funny, must just of connected with my sense of humor because I really enjoyed this show. He also played the guitar and made up funny songs. My sides hurt from laughing. Went to Karaoke later that night and yes I even got up the nerve to sing! There was a little girl who sang a yodeling song and oh my goodness what a voice! Amazing to hear that kind of voice in a child so young (11). My son had talked to her in the club later and found out how old she was and that she had made her own cd. (Think he had a little crush on her)
Went to shutters and bought pictures. I ended up spending too much on pictures, but I do love them and when else would I get so many good ones with my family. I bought the 6x8 package of 10 for $89 and then ended up buying 5 of the 8x 10s. If you bought 5-8 x 10s you received a free picture holder with a picture of the wonder. So I spent too much on photos again, but I dont regret it at all. Sail away party was awesome with the dancers and characters all out a deck.
Day 3- Castaway Cay
Waking up and looking out the window to see Castaway Cay is awesome. We hurried up on deck had some breakfast and then headed out. We were on the beach by 9:30 and had no problem getting a hammock and umbrellas right on the beginning of the family beach.
We lay in the sun, swam and drank exotic drinks until it was time for the banana boat adventure. Which turned into exactly that. For those who havent been on one it really looks somewhat like two bananas right next to each other with a small space in the middle. There are little things to hold on to and you sit directly in front of each other and straddle across the banana and holding on. So off we go and slowly we are building speed and now we are kind of bouncing and the salt water is spraying in yr face and now my neighbors daughter was bouncing so high she looked like she would fall off, and Im trying to hang on and laughing so hard, I thought I would let go and fall. But suddenly she pops up in the air and comes down on my husbands knee. (Old injury) He starts yelling and trying to get her off and hang on at the same time. Finally we raise our hands
(Thats to signal to them to stop the boat). We get resettled and my husband insists he is fine and off we go again. Again we start building up speed, we were told a max of 15 mph but it feels a lot faster. Now in back is my neighbors husband and he starts making funny noises. We turned around and find out that one of the bounces up has taken his back out (also an old injury). We raise our hands and they stop the boat and take him ashore. They took us out again to finish the ride. Yes we finished without any further injury. I still think it was fun, but the consensus is that it is a little rougher than we thought. I would do it again. Just be careful if you have any old injuries that may be aggravated. Our boys asked if anyone ever falls off and they replied yes, we just turn the boat around and come back for you. The kids had a good time. We went back to the beach to check on my neighbors husband and see how his back was doing. He was ok, but still hurting. We rented some floaties and enjoyed the water for a while and then headed to cookies barbeque. The food was delicious as I remembered from last time. Quite a feast. Hamburgers, salmon burgers, hot dogs, corn, potatoes etc.
We were quite stuffed and headed back to the beach to rest up and drink more konk coolers. The kids were burying each other in the sand. Time seems to go so much faster on castaway cay, before we knew it; it was almost time to go. My neighbor and I headed back to the ship while my husband took the boys to go parasailing. (Im way to chicken to ever do it) We made it back to the ship just in time to video tape them. We had given them walkies talkies to they could tell us when they were going up. You can see them pretty clearly from the ship. My husband the daredevil took the video camera up with him and video taped while he did it. Awesome looking but just confirms that I would never do it. Our 2 boys went up together and my husband taped that too. I kind of missed doing the bike trail ride that we had done last time as a family, but it is so hard to do it all. You really need 2 days on Castaway Cay. (Are you listening Disney?) We rested up on ship and then headed to the room to get ready for dinner. Dinner was in Animators Palate and that was just as much fun to watch as the first time. Love when the waiters come out in color too. Food was delicious as usual. Tonights entertainment was Who wants to be a Mousketeer and we all enjoyed it. Wished I could have been picked, I knew most of the answers. One person got pretty far, I cant remember but I think it was like a $600 room credit or something like that. Definitely would have paid for a few of those konk coolers.
Once again went to karaoke and checked out a little nightlife.
Day 4- Day at Sea
Had breakfast at Tritons a cut above the buffet, so try it at least once. My husband said the eggs benedict was really good. Today was a real relaxing day. We put on our suits and lay in the sun, had a few drinks. Watched the fun by the pool, they play games and contests there sometimes. Today was also our side-by-side massages at the spa. You havent lived till you have done this! I had several treatment last cruise, but this was my husbands first massage and he really enjoyed it. We both left there too too relaxed. We both felt the need to tip well as it was such a good treatment. We were asked if we wished to buy any of the products they used, but not given a hard sell and they let it go quickly when we said we werent interested. (My neighbor ended up buying too much; I forgot to warn about the possible sales pitch) All in all a wonderful day, of course it went by too fast and it was our last day. I was starting to get the sad feeling already. Tonight was our dinner at Palo, but we went to the regular dining room with our kids at 6:00, we just had a drink while they started having dinner. We had told Das the night before that we would be eating at Palos. At about 6:25 we headed over to Palo. I love Palos. Excellent service. I
Feel bad that I cant remember our waiters name. I had the lamb and have course the chocolate soufflé. The chocolate soufflé tasted even better than I remembered from the first cruise. After a lovely dinner, we headed to shutters to buy even more pictures, then on to the room to change for the show. Our last night and it was Disney Dreams time. Yes its as wonderful as everyone says and I enjoyed it more this time than last. My cynical 15 years old even admitted how good it was and how much he enjoyed it.
After the show, it was back to the room to start packing. Oh how I hate the last night and having to pack. We got it all out in the hall in time and headed out to check out the clubs for the last time.
Time to Go Home
We woke very early did the early seating breakfast, walked the deck for the last time and headed down to guest services to ask if someone was available to help us book a cruise before we left. We had missed her the night before. Colleen came out immediately took our information and deposit and we were done. Off the ship and in the town car by 8:30. We had an American Airlines flight at 11:30 and were a little nervous about making that. We had no problem at all and still ended up sitting at the airport for over an hour. I probably wouldnt it make it any earlier though, in case something doesnt go smoothly.
General thoughts on the cruise:
We had another wonderful cruise, made even more wonderful by enjoying it with some friends. We hope to convince them to sail with us on the 7 day Western in March 2004.
Weather was beautiful, ship was beautiful. Service was wonderful, had not one single bad experience on board this wonderful ship. Kids loved being able to get pizza and burgers by themselves at lunch. Forgot to mention that we went to the castaway club gathering, free drinks and got to meet the captain, also received our pins and towel in our cabin.
Hope you enjoyed my long winded version of my cruise.
Cast: Myself 41
DH 41
DS 15
DS 12
Some background info: We previously sailed on the Disney Magic in December 2000 loved it and we knew we would be returning. When our neighbors across the street said they were booked for a 3-day land/4day cruise on the Wonder we decided to join them. We booked our own hotel at Disney for 3nights and booked the 4-day cruise with Dreams Unlimited. A big plus of going with someone, our kids each had an immediate playmate.
A lot of you ask if you can ever enjoy a short cruise once you have done the 7 day and the answer is YES! Although both cruises went by fast, the advantage of knowing the ship layout made it easy to settle in on immediately on the 4 day. On the first cruise, we hadnt felt settled in until about day 3. We knew a lot about what we wanted to do so it was a little easier to make choices about what to do, see etc. Would we go again? We have already booked the 7-day Western for March 2004.
We left from our Disney resort hotel at about 10:30 and arrived at Port Canaveral around 11:30 or so. My husband went to check us in, while I got in the line to board. Quite a few people were in line already. My sons looked around the terminal and checked out the model. Mickey, Minnie and Goofy were out for pictures. Neither of my sons would wait in line for a pic though. Oh well, I had gotten them last time so I let it go. While we were in line my son came over and said he had asked what time boarding would start and was told about 1 pm. He then began to complain about why did you make us come so early,
I looked at him and said trust me, boarding will start between 12:15 and 12:30 (thanks to barb for sailing so many times!) Lo and behold at exactly 12:15 boarding started. I have to say I really loved being able to say, I told you so to my son! The line moves very quickly, and then we heard our name announced and had our embarkation photo taken.
Day One-
We headed right to the buffet and had some of those delicious jumbo shrimp. As an aside, I am on Weight Watchers and had received my 50 lb. Weight lost magnet the week before leaving on this cruise. For those of you interested, I ended up gaining 5 lbs for the week (3 days at Disney, 4 on cruise) it didnt go quite as well as I had intended! Those konk coolers and chocolates soufflés eventually add up. Anyway, we knew exactly what needed to be done so after lunch my husband headed to make the Palo reservation and I headed to the spa to make those reservations. We had absolutely no trouble getting what we wanted. We chose Palo at 6:30 for our 4th night when we would have repeated.
We booked side-by-side half body massages for our day at sea. Afterwards we headed to our room and unpacked a little, put on our suits and headed to the pools and whirlpools.
It was basically still dead up on deck 9 and we had it to ourselves for quite a while. This was so much more relaxing than our first trip, as we had lost our kids before sail away! (LOL) We met up with our friends and were all on deck for the sail away, which was an absolute blast! (I still forgot to look and see if they were waving with their Mickey hands
Though! Next time!) I was too busy dancing and jumping around. Made sure to get the horn on videotape. It brought tears to my eyes once again. My kids also had a blast showing their friends around where common grounds was, the arcade, how to get pizza, etc. Oh and yes, we bought 2 of the free refill mugs for our kids. Definitely worth it for us as we are all soda drinkers. We had early dinner so off to the room to get ready. We had tritons the first night and so this was the night we dressed up. My husband and sons both had black suits with tie, and I wore a short black cocktail dress. We headed down and had our picture take in 2 different backdrops. Our server was Das from India and assistant server was Eszter from Hungary, our headwaiter was Arturo. Das was very nice and went out of his way to please the boys and make sure they got what they wanted. My older son was quite adventurouous and even tried sea bass one night. Estzer was extremely polite and had the cutest habit of saying thank you. If she asked you what you wanted to drink she would politely say, thank you maam Its kind of hard to describe but it was really cute when she did it. We ended up tipping over the recommended amount for both servers and tipped the recommended amount for Arturo. He did come over and introduce himself the first night and did stop by to chat briefly every night. My husband enjoys wine with dinner so we did purchase the basic wine package, which was one bottle every night with dinner. If you didnt finish it, they would rotate it to the next restaurant you were at. We finished 3 bottles and ended up taking the 4th home with us.
We noticed a little motion of the ship while eating dinner but nothing big. (I am the only one who takes bonine) Everyone else in the family was fine without anything. The rest of the trip had NO MOTION; I actually missed the rocking of the ship at night from the first trip. I continued to take bonine just in case. We headed back to our room to change before the show. Tonight was Hercules and although we had seen it before we decided to go again. (I wont do this on the western, two times is enough)? I probably dont get this show as much as most people due to the fact that I havent seen the movie! I felt like I was nodding off and wasnt sure if it was boring me or if it was the motion of the ship and / or the bonine. Didnt seem to make me sleepy last trip so didnt think it was that.
Checked out the shops and walked around the ship. Went to listen to some music and had a drink. We ended up going to bed quite early. Just too much excitement for the first day and we were all pooped. Even the teen went to bed by midnight.
Day 2
Headed to the buffet for some breakfast. Standard fare, bacon, eggs, etc. Food was fine.
Got off the ship and went shopping in Nassau for a while. This just isnt on par with the stops on the 7 day, I like St. Maarten etc. a lot better than Nassau. After shopping headed back to the ship for a day of swimming and sunning on deck. Had a few konk coolers.
Went back to the room for a nap and got dressed for dinner. Headed down for pictures, this night boys wore khakis and polos, as did my husband. I wore black silk pants and a dressy top. Dinner was in Parrot Cay, and we had our favorite appetizer, the coconut shrimp, my son asked for seconds and they were brought no problem. Tonights entertainment was comedian Gary Delena and I must say I found him so darn funny, must just of connected with my sense of humor because I really enjoyed this show. He also played the guitar and made up funny songs. My sides hurt from laughing. Went to Karaoke later that night and yes I even got up the nerve to sing! There was a little girl who sang a yodeling song and oh my goodness what a voice! Amazing to hear that kind of voice in a child so young (11). My son had talked to her in the club later and found out how old she was and that she had made her own cd. (Think he had a little crush on her)
Went to shutters and bought pictures. I ended up spending too much on pictures, but I do love them and when else would I get so many good ones with my family. I bought the 6x8 package of 10 for $89 and then ended up buying 5 of the 8x 10s. If you bought 5-8 x 10s you received a free picture holder with a picture of the wonder. So I spent too much on photos again, but I dont regret it at all. Sail away party was awesome with the dancers and characters all out a deck.
Day 3- Castaway Cay
Waking up and looking out the window to see Castaway Cay is awesome. We hurried up on deck had some breakfast and then headed out. We were on the beach by 9:30 and had no problem getting a hammock and umbrellas right on the beginning of the family beach.
We lay in the sun, swam and drank exotic drinks until it was time for the banana boat adventure. Which turned into exactly that. For those who havent been on one it really looks somewhat like two bananas right next to each other with a small space in the middle. There are little things to hold on to and you sit directly in front of each other and straddle across the banana and holding on. So off we go and slowly we are building speed and now we are kind of bouncing and the salt water is spraying in yr face and now my neighbors daughter was bouncing so high she looked like she would fall off, and Im trying to hang on and laughing so hard, I thought I would let go and fall. But suddenly she pops up in the air and comes down on my husbands knee. (Old injury) He starts yelling and trying to get her off and hang on at the same time. Finally we raise our hands
(Thats to signal to them to stop the boat). We get resettled and my husband insists he is fine and off we go again. Again we start building up speed, we were told a max of 15 mph but it feels a lot faster. Now in back is my neighbors husband and he starts making funny noises. We turned around and find out that one of the bounces up has taken his back out (also an old injury). We raise our hands and they stop the boat and take him ashore. They took us out again to finish the ride. Yes we finished without any further injury. I still think it was fun, but the consensus is that it is a little rougher than we thought. I would do it again. Just be careful if you have any old injuries that may be aggravated. Our boys asked if anyone ever falls off and they replied yes, we just turn the boat around and come back for you. The kids had a good time. We went back to the beach to check on my neighbors husband and see how his back was doing. He was ok, but still hurting. We rented some floaties and enjoyed the water for a while and then headed to cookies barbeque. The food was delicious as I remembered from last time. Quite a feast. Hamburgers, salmon burgers, hot dogs, corn, potatoes etc.
We were quite stuffed and headed back to the beach to rest up and drink more konk coolers. The kids were burying each other in the sand. Time seems to go so much faster on castaway cay, before we knew it; it was almost time to go. My neighbor and I headed back to the ship while my husband took the boys to go parasailing. (Im way to chicken to ever do it) We made it back to the ship just in time to video tape them. We had given them walkies talkies to they could tell us when they were going up. You can see them pretty clearly from the ship. My husband the daredevil took the video camera up with him and video taped while he did it. Awesome looking but just confirms that I would never do it. Our 2 boys went up together and my husband taped that too. I kind of missed doing the bike trail ride that we had done last time as a family, but it is so hard to do it all. You really need 2 days on Castaway Cay. (Are you listening Disney?) We rested up on ship and then headed to the room to get ready for dinner. Dinner was in Animators Palate and that was just as much fun to watch as the first time. Love when the waiters come out in color too. Food was delicious as usual. Tonights entertainment was Who wants to be a Mousketeer and we all enjoyed it. Wished I could have been picked, I knew most of the answers. One person got pretty far, I cant remember but I think it was like a $600 room credit or something like that. Definitely would have paid for a few of those konk coolers.
Once again went to karaoke and checked out a little nightlife.
Day 4- Day at Sea
Had breakfast at Tritons a cut above the buffet, so try it at least once. My husband said the eggs benedict was really good. Today was a real relaxing day. We put on our suits and lay in the sun, had a few drinks. Watched the fun by the pool, they play games and contests there sometimes. Today was also our side-by-side massages at the spa. You havent lived till you have done this! I had several treatment last cruise, but this was my husbands first massage and he really enjoyed it. We both left there too too relaxed. We both felt the need to tip well as it was such a good treatment. We were asked if we wished to buy any of the products they used, but not given a hard sell and they let it go quickly when we said we werent interested. (My neighbor ended up buying too much; I forgot to warn about the possible sales pitch) All in all a wonderful day, of course it went by too fast and it was our last day. I was starting to get the sad feeling already. Tonight was our dinner at Palo, but we went to the regular dining room with our kids at 6:00, we just had a drink while they started having dinner. We had told Das the night before that we would be eating at Palos. At about 6:25 we headed over to Palo. I love Palos. Excellent service. I
Feel bad that I cant remember our waiters name. I had the lamb and have course the chocolate soufflé. The chocolate soufflé tasted even better than I remembered from the first cruise. After a lovely dinner, we headed to shutters to buy even more pictures, then on to the room to change for the show. Our last night and it was Disney Dreams time. Yes its as wonderful as everyone says and I enjoyed it more this time than last. My cynical 15 years old even admitted how good it was and how much he enjoyed it.
After the show, it was back to the room to start packing. Oh how I hate the last night and having to pack. We got it all out in the hall in time and headed out to check out the clubs for the last time.
Time to Go Home
We woke very early did the early seating breakfast, walked the deck for the last time and headed down to guest services to ask if someone was available to help us book a cruise before we left. We had missed her the night before. Colleen came out immediately took our information and deposit and we were done. Off the ship and in the town car by 8:30. We had an American Airlines flight at 11:30 and were a little nervous about making that. We had no problem at all and still ended up sitting at the airport for over an hour. I probably wouldnt it make it any earlier though, in case something doesnt go smoothly.
General thoughts on the cruise:
We had another wonderful cruise, made even more wonderful by enjoying it with some friends. We hope to convince them to sail with us on the 7 day Western in March 2004.
Weather was beautiful, ship was beautiful. Service was wonderful, had not one single bad experience on board this wonderful ship. Kids loved being able to get pizza and burgers by themselves at lunch. Forgot to mention that we went to the castaway club gathering, free drinks and got to meet the captain, also received our pins and towel in our cabin.
Hope you enjoyed my long winded version of my cruise.
