February 13, 2011 - 7 Night Mexican Riviera Sailing on the Wonder

[flybone89]

We are on the plane to LA now (thank you inflight wifi and weather was perfect out of Cincinnati! The kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement. We are heading to the Santa Monica Pier today to enjoy LA sun, beach and some carnival rides. Couldn't squeeze in enough time time for Disneyland so hope those that did are having a great time. Dinner tonight is Duke's in Malibu. Heard good things. Wish all safe travels and see you on board.

 

[Purplejewel]

Just finished last minute packing - don't think I have forgotten to pack anything essential. - I hope Went to a Spa midday for a french manicure and pedicure - so relaxing and my nails will look great for all the dressing up I intend to do each evening for dinner. I thought about getting the manicure and pedicure on board but I decided I wanted those things done already and, besides, my DH and I have a couples massage booked for Day #2 which is expensive so I saved money by getting the manicure and pedicure done before the cruise. I'm going to try to get to bed at 7:00 p.m. tonight because I have to get up at midnight to leave at 1:30 p.m. for the Richmond Airport - my flight leaves at 5:30 a.m. I will try to sleep on the plane so I'm not totally exhaused when I finally get on the ship. If there are no delays, my flight gets in at 10:30 a.m. and I hope to be at the port, through customs and on the ship by noon. I always seem to find extra energy when I'm on vacation and enjoying myself so I'm sure no matter how tired I am, I will forget all about being tired, grab a fruity party drink and start my vacation off with a bang Hope everyone is getting as excited as I am. Hope to see some of you at Diversions at 3:00 p.m.

 

[Quimby]

Hello everyone!!

I hope everyone has safe travels home!!
We had a super de duper, fabulous time on our first Disney Cruise!!

Thank you for all of the wonderful fish exchange gifts...the great CD, homemade Disney tote bag, custom magnets, valentines goodies, pirate fun stuff....the mini tissue packages sure did come in handy with 3 of us catching colds on the trip, hand sanitizer, shower puffy (really helped with the low pressure water). The kids loved checking the FE for new surprises!!

Sorry we didn't get to meet any of you...we were on the go constantly...we finally found Diversions on the 2nd to last night...liked that change of atmosphere...

Thanks to all of the advice on this board,we did Tea with Alice, Galley Tour, Mixology, all the shows...Palo Brunch..we are exhausted...

Disembarkation was the only negative part of the trip, everything else was to our liking...sure some of the food was just ok or less, but some meals were great...

We would like to do another DCL trip in the future, in the Caribbean, if Disney offers another Kids Sail Free....Part of what made this trip so great was the cost, savings....we would have never been able to sail DCL otherwise.

Safe Travels!

Quimby 7000
Flores 6012

 

[disney 2010]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to take a minute to thank you all before real life returns! It is a Holiday here in most parts of Canada ( oh just realized in presidents day in the USA so most will have a holiday today!) glad we still have one more day! Thankfully as all the airports and our house still feel a little "afloat" our last cruise was a smooth 4 day and we did not experience this weird feeling!

Thank-you to everyone for finding us and bringing us fun gifts! As a person who is completely craft challenged I was especially impressed by all the handmade/special order items that had dates etc to help us always remember our vacation.

We had no complaints and really enjoyed everything about our vacation! The weather was excellent and the last day force us to do some indoor activities we had ignored to enjoy the sun.

Thank you all for adding to the "special" feel of our vacation. It was nice to get to meet some of you too.

 

[Smbertram]

What a great trip! I was a little concerned about the weather the first day, but then those worries slipped away as we slipped into vacation mode. This was the first time we did the fish extenders and to say my kids loved it would be an understatement. Everytime they woke up, came back to the room or even left the room then asked if we had any deliveries. It was very exciting for them and us.

I will agree that getting off the boat seemed a bit crazy, we were minnie tags and it seemed like it took forever for them to call us. Then when we got the airport our flight was delayed by 2.5 hours, and THEN about 2.5 hours into the flight two of my four kids were sick with the stomach bug. YUCK! We finally got back home at about 1:30am Monday Morning.

Even with all of the craziness of the travel home, we had a wonderful trip and we are looking forward to hitting the high seas in the next two years again when the kids are all out of the nursery.

Thanks to all for making our cruise as wonderful as it was.

Shawn

 

[skylynx]

I posted a really long-winded trip report here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=40041039#post40041039

We got some amazing photos of whales, dolphins and sea lions on our Facebook album here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52659&id=1826323270&l=ae6956a611

Would love to see other folks' pictures!

 

[TaniaU]

Back at work now, but wishing I was still onboard We had a fabulous time and it was so much fun to be invoved in the FE exchange. Thank you so much to everyone who participated.

 

[disney 2010]

Once again Tania thanks so much for organizing it and making sure everyone found us

 

[gfyjny]

Back at work now, but wishing I was still onboard We had a fabulous time and it was so much fun to be invoved in the FE exchange. Thank you so much to everyone who participated.

Yes Tania, thank you so much for working on the list, it made it so much easier. Thank you everyone for such wonderful gifts, you guys are truly talented with all the home made goodies. We had a great time too. Our first Disney Cruise and would like to plan another one in a year or two. Did anyone sign up for a future cruise while onboard? How was the deal?

 

[Quimby]

Yes Tania, thank you so much for working on the list, it made it so much easier. Thank you everyone for such wonderful gifts, you guys are truly talented with all the home made goodies. We had a great time too. Our first Disney Cruise and would like to plan another one in a year or two. Did anyone sign up for a future cruise while onboard? How was the deal?

We rebooked on board for June 2012, for 4 nite Dream.
More of a dummy booking...10% off plus $100 shipboard credit.
We are really hoping for a kids sail free promo so we can see the caribbean or bahamas.

 

[gfyjny]

I guess 10% and $100 shipboard credit are not bad, since I don't think we are going to see kids sail for free deals on the new ships. We were debating whether to book a future cruise or buy more DVC points and use the points for our future cruises. We ended up buying 160 points at Aulani. Just booking a future cruise would have been cheaper. LOL

 

[Quimby]

I guess 10% and $100 shipboard credit are not bad, since I don't think we are going to see kids sail for free deals on the new ships. We were debating whether to book a future cruise or buy more DVC points and use the points for our future cruises. We ended up buying 160 points at Aulani. Just booking a future cruise would have been cheaper. LOL

The shipboard credit increases to $200 if we change to a 7 nighter.

 

[disney 2010]

Yes we booked a dummy cruise for the latest possible date on the fantasy. We booked a low cat for 1 person and the deposit was $180 as you also get 50% off the deposit.

When we choose a real date we will get 10% off for all members of our party+ the $200 on board credit.
Should we decide not to cruise again the deposit is fully refundable

We also got a 10% friends and family discount so that any friends or family that want to join us ( it has to be with us) can get a discount

 

[gfyjny]

That doesn't sound bad at all. I guess too late to think about it now. We just couldn't see ourselves cruising for another couple of years and didn't think to book a dummy one just to reserve the discount. I guess we should look at how much if it would be if we decide to use our DVC points to book our next cruise to see if the price is comparable to the discounted rate.

 

[allison k]

We had rebooked onboard 5 years ago. We just kept pushing it out everytime we got the final payment due reminder. We ended up not using it because the kids sail free was a better deal. Had we not used the KSF, we would have finally used the onboard booking a full 5 years later!!

I know we'll be going again sometime in the future, so I had no problem booking. The agent is the one who suggested only booking for 2 adults so the deposit would be low. I didn't think about only one adult, man I could have put less down! Oh well!

 

[Purplejewel]

Finally had a break in my hectic life to get on DISboards and say what a FANTASTIC cruise this was - non-stop fun and relaxation . This was Cruise #4 for DH and I and it is my favorite of all four of them. Having 3 days at sea was fantastic. I loved both Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. Walked around briefly in Cabo on the 1st day there, bought a T-Shirt and a shot glass (I collect them), and unexpectedly got photos taken with baby tigers. Did the Dolphin Encounter on the 2nd day in Cabo and really enjoyed it - got some fantastic photos with the dolphins but it didn't come cheap. $99.00 for a CD with 10 photos of our choice but worth it because we may never do this again. I couldn't resist a T-shirt as well from the Dolphin Center which cost me another $23.00. Wasn't as impressed with Puerto Vallarta but this is probably because we didn't venture very far from the ship and I found out later that you had to take a taxi cab to get to the nicer areas. However, I managed to find the perfect gifts for my four daughters there - cute glass lizards that were hand-blown by a vendor in a booth directly outside the debarkation area of the ship. They only cost $10.00 each and they came in alot of different stripped colors. The vendor was not pushy at all and, in fact, did not even speak to us until we asked him a direct question. They wrapped the glass lizards very well and packed them in small cardboard boxes which survived being packed in our luggage and thrown around (and possibly run over) by the airport baggage handlers . They love their little lizards. We also purchased a hand-painted scene of the Mexican Riviera with the cruise ship in the background and Mickey and Minnie on the shore waving at the cruise ship which was on a nice piece of ceramic tile and surrounded by a white frame. We purchased it from a vendor who was also in a booth directly outside the debarkation area of the ship. This guy was amazing! He painted the entire scene using only his fingers - no brushes as all. We watched him doing one of them for awhile and he is truely talented. It only cost $30.00 but I would have willingly paid more for it because it is that nice. I can't wait to hang it in the house and I will always remember this trip whenever I see it. I have to mention that my overall cruise experience was made even better by the wonderful couple that we met on DISboards and ended up linking dining reservations with. We hit it off right away. They mentioned that while they were on-board they were rebooking another cruise for the week of Valentines Day next year (a 7-night Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Magic). They suggested that we book the same cruise because we were enjoying each others company so much and it didn't take any convincing at all to get my DH to agree to book the same cruise. I have already linked our dining reservations so we can eat dinner together each night of the cruise. So, for those of you who are hesitant about meeting new people on cruises or having to eat dinner with new people each night, we are a perfect example of what can happen when you keep your mind open to new experiences and take a chance. We have great new friends and we can't wait to see them again next year. As for service and entertainment, I can't say anything but "OUTSTANDING AS ALWAYS". I have no real complaints even worth mentioning. I hope everyone else enjoyed the cruise as much as I did. I can honestly say that I am really missing having hot coffee ready at any time of the day I want it . Can't wait to hear more trip reports from everyone else.

 

[skylynx]

Have to second Purplejewel's motion here...we were their dinner companions! One of the many, many benefits of Disboards and particularly the cruise meet threads is that you have lots of chances to make friends with people you may only get to enjoy for a short time, but also a chance to make friends you want to keep knowing beyond the cruise. Though I'm guessing we're a decade apart in age (gasp) we're both devoted parents of mixed families (that we left at home to go on this cruise). If that doesn't get the conversations rolling, I don't know what will! We looked forward each night to catching up with our pals, shared a table at Wavebands for the entertainment, and even had a cocktail soiree in our cabin before dinner one night. The excitement of our experiences during the day, whether it be holding baby tigers, or kissing dolphins, or spotting breaching whales was enjoyed all over again when we shared our stories at dinner. One obvious way to tell just how good the conversation is if you are always one of the last tables to leave the dining room!

 

[disney 2010]

I'm so jealous

I wish I would pull off an annual Valentines day without children

And to make friends to join you. How fun!

 

[rainnorsnow]

 

[Purplejewel]

Have to second Purplejewel's motion here...we were their dinner companions! One of the many, many benefits of Disboards and particularly the cruise meet threads is that you have lots of chances to make friends with people you may only get to enjoy for a short time, but also a chance to make friends you want to keep knowing beyond the cruise. Though I'm guessing we're a decade apart in age (gasp) we're both devoted parents of mixed families (that we left at home to go on this cruise). If that doesn't get the conversations rolling, I don't know what will! We looked forward each night to catching up with our pals, shared a table at Wavebands for the entertainment, and even had a cocktail soiree in our cabin before dinner one night. The excitement of our experiences during the day, whether it be holding baby tigers, or kissing dolphins, or spotting breaching whales was enjoyed all over again when we shared our stories at dinner. One obvious way to tell just how good the conversation is if you are always one of the last tables to leave the dining room!

Yeah, I think we were beginning to annoy our dining room servers since we were always one of the last tables they could clear in the entire dining room but they were so professional and never tried to rush us out which is a good thing because I didn't want to give up one minute of conversation with both of you - that's how much I enjoyed it. Can't wait to annoy the dining room servers on our next cruise together .