Disney Wonder 8/31/08....

[Monte Cristo]

Let me know if anyone recognizes us from seeing us around on the boat.

One warning, I am not a good trip report writer so please bear with me! One post and a 4 night cruise is done!

We flew down Saturday night and went to visit a friend of mine in Orlando who was having his son's first birthday party that day. It was great, got to see him, his family and be at the party. After leaving, we went to the Country Inn and Suites for the night. Nice, clean room, nice staff, good shuttle to port, nice hot breakfast. I thought bottom line of $177 was a little high for one night, but it's vacation so oh well.

To be perfectly honest, we didn't love cruising. The boat and the staff were great, we just didn't love it. The food was good, not great, but good. Sorry all you die hards! Don't hate me!

I did MUCH better then I anticipated with the whole big boat phobia. I started off with massive issues at the port, and the gang plank...almost couldn't go on the gang plank, but once I was onboard, I was OK. On Sunday I couldn't get near the railing, by Wednesday night I was leaning on the rail taking the sunset picture. Maybe I got a little help from Mr. Xanax!

Our daughter couldn't get comfortable with the nursery. It had NOTHING to do with the staff there, they were great, I think it's her age. She wanted to be with us! Every time we dropped her off, the pager was buzzing within 30 minutes.

Our tablemates were good. They were from Montreal and the husband was a big hockey fan like me so that was good.

Wife is a big sleeper and someone had to stay in the room with our daughter, so she let me go out each night. I gave her EVERY opportunity to take a turn and go out but she wouldn't do it....so Clynt the bartender in Diversions, and I quickly became friends at the bar. He was great.

I caught a good portion of Pirates of the Carribean on the big screen on deck 9 so that was cool.

Castaway Cay was very nice. I plopped my beach chair in the water while wife and daughter waded in the water and I played lifeguard. Only downside was that it was very crowded....we were right on that rope between the snorkle area and the swim area so it got really crowded. Nothing a bucket of beer couldn't solve.

We didn't get off the boat at Nassau so don't really have much to say there. We hung out at the pool for a little while, and then the kiddie pool for a little while and then before we knew it, it was nap time.

The room was nice, small, but that's to be expected on a cruise. We just felt confined...and honestly, since our daughter couldn't catch onto the nursery, there wasn't a ton for us to do. You can only hang out at the pool for so long with a toddler...

Hopefully these all post good....

Nice view for breakfast!!!!!

I don't know how to make the sideways pictures appear upright. I tried to rotate, but it didn't work.

Enjoy!

Another day closer to WDW in January!


MC

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Your family are gorgeous and so are your photos.

 

[SAGE]

Your photos are so nice!!
Thanks for sharing.
S

 

[rhondamccollough@hot]

I'm sorry y'all didn't enjoy the cruise as much as the rest of us....for the money you spend on it it just doesn't seem fair if it doesn't seem worth it!!

Your pics are great...do you mind if I ask what kind of camera you have???

Your daughter is a doll...one of the reasons we have waited so long to go is so our kids would be a little bit bigger...we had to drag them kicking and screaming from the clubs!ROFL

 

[jenseib]

The pictures are wonderufl. The report was nice, but way to short! LOL! But glad you reported your version.How old is your DD? Did you watch any of the shows? Did you, or she like them?

 

[Monte Cristo]

The pictures are wonderufl. The report was nice, but way to short! LOL! But glad you reported your version.How old is your DD? Did you watch any of the shows? Did you, or she like them?

She's 2 and a half this week. We pushed her late one night and went to the 8:30 Toy Story show. We thought ahead and brought her dressed in her PJ's knowing she was going to bed late and might fall asleep. She loved it, but about 2/3 through, she said 'Ok, I'm done now.' So cute, but she was tired so we went back to the room and put her to bed. Then on the last night, we RUSHED through dinner and when I say rushed I mean inhaled prime rib to get to the 6:15 show....didn't get there til about 6:25, but apparently it started a little late. She loved that one too. We all liked the shows, it's funny to be watching a show and have the boat rockin' a bit. I get more enjoyment looking at her face to see how much she was enjoying it.

She hadn't seen Ariel until the show, and when she came out, she freaked out and started screaming Ariel, Ariel, Ariel. Cute.

I told you I wasn't good at writing the TR's!

 

[Monte Cristo]

I'm sorry y'all didn't enjoy the cruise as much as the rest of us....for the money you spend on it it just doesn't seem fair if it doesn't seem worth it!!

Your pics are great...do you mind if I ask what kind of camera you have???

Your daughter is a doll...one of the reasons we have waited so long to go is so our kids would be a little bit bigger...we had to drag them kicking and screaming from the clubs!ROFL

You're right, it was a lot of money too.

I use a Canon Rebel XT DSLR with a Sigma zoom lense. All of the pictures are untouched by photoshop. They come out of the camera that good. Except Cinderella, she's the ONLY person in all of the pics that have red eye. All her pics were like that, maybe it's the color of her eyes or something.

Thanks for the words about our daughter, she is a doll and really is a good girl. She's pretty attached to us which isn't a great thing some times. We need to get her in an environment with children her age more. I think that would help with her independence. We did the playhouse Disney sing a long they had in the lounge one morning. It was great, but she didn't want to participate in the dancing and stuff even though at home she loves the songs and dances all over the living room singing the songs!

It would also help us in that we can have some mom and dad time just chilling out for a little while!

 

[jenseib]

I have a Caonon DSLR too. I love it. I have the Rebel XTi. Great camera.
Usually red eye happens from a flash, so may that one is the only one you got with the flash or the others were angled differently.
Did you find it a pain to lug it around? I am pretty sure we wil lbring ours if we go, but I think I may bring my Point and shoot as well for the shores. I just don;t want to lug all the lenses, but I will most likely bring my camera backpack and lug it all with me to at least the ship.