Galveston to San Juan....or somewhere else. Jan 4th 2016 Wonder-Completed

[ukintheus]

Welcome to anyone that comes to visit and join in as we sail across the Gulf of Mexico again on the Disney Wonder from Galveston. This cruise was a repositioning cruise to San Juan before the Wonder started its Southern Caribbean itineraries. It also continued our tradition of trying to take a cruise with my Mum and sister once a year, AND it would also make Mum a Gold CC member, so bonuses all the way around. The itinerary was a dreamy 6 nights, with 3 at sea days, St. Thomas/St. John, Tortola - which was new for us - and then San Juan.

Here we are all in St. John - this was taken last year when we were on the Fantasy and apparently I was a little windswept.


The timing of this cruise worked out perfectly for us all, and it was (relatively) inexpensive for DCL. Mum and Maureen drove in from Tennessee over the New Year holiday and we were all set and ready to go. Bye bye cold winter - the warm Caribbean awaited us!

 

[ukintheus]

Day 1 - Embarkation from Galveston.




We were all up pretty early and had breakfast before we were picked up by the car service I had booked at 9:15 am. It was a pretty quick drive down to Galveston given that it was a Monday and there is usually awful rush hour traffic. This is a horrible selfie photo but it's the only one I've got of us on our way - believe it or not everyone knew a photo was being taken. Mum is notorious for looking at the camera for a split second and then looking away again. Ha ha.



We got to the port at about 10:50 am and everything went extremely smoothly as we were through security, checked in and sitting down waiting to board by 11:15 am.



The obligatory photo of the very industrial Galveston cruise terminal.



The family of the day was called just a little before 11:45 am and the boarding groups were called about every 5 minutes after that. We boarded with group 3, skipped the photo line and were soon walking up to board our happy place. All the Christmas decorations had just been taken down and were sitting outside on the dock.




Mum and Maureen chose the name we were going to give for our announcement, I don't remember what they went with but I have a feeling it was pretty much one of our last names! We aren't very creative like that!



We decided to go to Parrot Cay for lunch and skip the usually more crowded Beach Blanket Buffet. It was very quiet in there when we got there and our server for lunch told us that we were going to have Nenad for our server in the evenings. We had met Nenad and had him as our server on our last cruise, and I had requested him but it was nice to know that we had been assigned to him. We also saw Onika, a server from our previous cruises at the buffet and said a quick hello to her. Her partner in crime, Maggie, had just got off the ship that morning for vacation.

We each had a couple of plates for lunch, somehow it's hard to have just one despite all the good intentions. Scott was determined he was going to try and eat more healthily this cruise, didn't last long - LOL!

My haul from the buffet.



And Scott's....



We left Parrot Cay and waited for an elevator, which surprisingly weren't that busy.



New cruise terminal going in....I wonder if they will buy anything other than grey paint for this one.



It was a lovely day and we went and sat in a nice sunny spot up at Cove pool on deck 9 and the first drinks of the cruise were acquired. For anyone that's read one of my other trip reports you'll know that there are weird Texas liquor laws, and sure enough they had everything all messed up again so there was no draft beer. Scott had a Shiner Bock but bottled, but the drink of the day, Mai Tai was very good and a much better option that the Bahama Mama they try to make without having all the right ingredients, which is an issue going out of Galveston. Mo had a Pina colada and said it was good.



Cove area was nice and quiet and we enjoyed sitting there for a while.



It was now about 1:50 pm and our cabins are ready so we went down to check them out. Scott and I were in 6090 which we had been in for our last cruise so it felt like home away from home. I wished I had left something hidden to see if it was still there - should have thought of that! Next time. Mum and Mo were next door in 6088 and their cabin was nice too.





I really like the platinum bag, it's definitely something I will use.



THE pillow...I can never justify the price of these in the gift shop.



We unpacked our carry on and got the Disney cruise app working on our iPads etc. by this time Mum and Mo had both of their suitcases delivered and so they unpacked. We hung out on the verandah for a little while.





Refuelling was still going on.



While we were looking outside to see the channel our neighbors were out, and, lucky us they were smoking. Scott said no way were we putting up with it again this time and we made a plan as to how we were going to deal with it.....which was all for nothing because they were never outside smoking again! We got one suitcase by 3 pm but the other one took a bit longer to arrive.

We went down to muster drill at about 3:50 pm. It took a while for them to get to the announcement part but it was over at 4:20. It was pretty chilly in the shade so we were happy to be at the back of the line. We went to say hello to Susana, our friend who works in Palo, who was at the next station and chatted to her for a short time before we went back to our cabin. Unfortunately our last bag hadn't been delivered yet but we got a card that our excursion in Tortola was cancelled so Scott and I went down to the excursion desk to book something else and Mum and Maureen went up to deck 9 to watch us pull out of port. Scott snapped these of the mural behind the elevators, Deck 6 mid-ship. So cute!





We started moving just before 4:45 pm.



We walked up towards the front and stood for a bit as we sailed out of the ship channel.





The usual cargo vessels were along the channel.





Happy, smiling faces that we are back on another cruise.







The Bolivar ferry runs from the Bolivar Peninsular to Galveston Island....you can usually see a lot of dolphins if you get out of your vehicle and stand and watch.

 

[ukintheus]

By this time we were all pretty chilly from the breeze so we ended up inside Outlook and I got a cup of coffee. We were hoping for one of their specialty coffees, but those were also nixed from the Texas alcohol laws.





We moved from one side to the other to see the sunset.



Scott braved the chilly wind and went outside to get photos, I stayed warm and toasty inside and took photos through the glass.

We were treated to a really beautiful sunset tonight....such a great way to see Galveston disappearing from view.







Seeing as we still had over 2 hours until dinner we went and grabbed a sandwich from Goofys and took it back to our cabins.



Our bag had been delivered, so we unpacked it and then sat and I caught up with my trip report while Scott tried to figure out how my camera worked. I knew that I had problems with it on our last cruise, and then time got away from me and I never did look into it. Thankfully he is way more tech-savvy than me.

 

[bcwife76]

Yay! Joining in again! Looking forward to another WONDER-filled TR Looks like a good start (cancelled excursion not withstanding) Now let's see what trouble you 4 get up to

 

[luvpooh]

So excited to see this! I just read your B2B report and loved it, I was sad when it ended, so this is great!

 

[ukintheus]

Yay! Joining in again! Looking forward to another WONDER-filled TR Looks like a good start (cancelled excursion not withstanding) Now let's see what trouble you 4 get up to

We won't disappoint you in getting into trouble! Thanks for following along.

So excited to see this! I just read your B2B report and loved it, I was sad when it ended, so this is great!

Thank you for following along, and for reading all my nonsense.

 

[cruisehopeful]

We were treated to a really beautiful sunset tonight....such a great way to see Galveston disappearing from view.

Gorgeous sunset photos!

Itinerary sounds great. I can't wait to read all about it. You have me thinking about that...... add a couple nights in San Juan...hmmm...

 

[mandymouse]

Yay !! You've made a start Lovely pics Jenny, I look forward to hearing all about your latest adventure

 

[ukintheus]

Gorgeous sunset photos!

Itinerary sounds great. I can't wait to read all about it. You have me thinking about that...... add a couple nights in San Juan...hmmm...

Old San Juan is really lovely. We stopped there for the day on the Fantasy last year, and it made me want to go back.

Yay !! You've made a start Lovely pics Jenny, I look forward to hearing all about your latest adventure

Thanks for following along Mandy - better late than never!

 

[ukintheus]

Seeing as we were all unpacked and ready to do something, but had time to kill before dinner at 8:15 pm, we decided to go to the movie quotes trivia session in Diversions at 7:30 pm.

This was the note from guest services cancelling our excursion. When I booked a new one, I just picked something else that sounded similar and hoped for the best.



Our stateroom host, Cho, knocked while we were getting ready and introduced himself. At 7:20 we all went down to Diversions. Not a great photo - issues with my camera - again!!



As you can see, it was pretty empty and it didn't look like they were set up for trivia. We ordered a drink, Stella on draft for Scott and a glass of sparkling wine for me, and then we saw the CM Jonathan, who usually does trivia, and apparently we were in the wrong place! Good start!! He told us that Wavebands was the place we needed to be and sure enough when we got over there it was fairly full! LOL.



Photo of Jonathan, again not a great photo.



Even with the addition of Mum and Maureen on the trivia team, we were horrible as usual, We obviously don't watch many movies, and we obviously don't really remember those that we do! A dismal 14 out of 50 was our final score, but it's fun and it is a good excuse to go somewhere that they are serving drinks. Here is our triva sheet, we decided to make our default answer "Tupac" for anything we didn't know. Obviously that didn't get us anwhere!



I ran up to the cabin to grab a gift we had bought for Nenad and then we went on to Parrot Cay for dinner. Who should be handing out the sanitizer wipes, but Nenad so we had hugs and laughs and said hello and made our way inside.

We were at table 33, the same table we had sat at last cruise. The shimmy at the back of the ship was fairly noticeable as we were obviously heading out at a faster than normal speed for the first night.



Nenad and our our assistant server, Pradip (thanks to my sister for remember his name!)



We had a lovely dinner and it was really fun to catch up with everything that Nenad had been up to.

Yummy bread rolls....


Mum insisted on buying our wine package, which was super nice of her, but now meant that I had to figure out a way to pay her back. We happily consumed this one tonight.




Maureen had a Pina Colada and Mum had the Nojito, which was the alcohol free cocktail off the menu. The Pina Colada (with the alcohol) won hands down.

I don't have photos of Mum and Mo's food, but I 'm listing it here so that they can remember. I had the asparagus soup and so did Mum, Maureen had the spicy tomato soup. Scott had the ahi tuna and avocado.





Scott had one of the salads although I don't remember which one, but here's the photo.



For main course, I had the pork chop and so did Scott. Mum had the pearl barley vegetarian dish and Mo had the prime rib.



For dessert I had the sundae and Scott had the sticky date pudding and Maureen had the sugar free chocolate mousse.





After lots of laughs with Nenad, we finished dinner at about 9:45 pm. We all decided to have a fairly early night and this little cutie was waiting for us on the bed along with our navigator for tomorrow and the notice that the Gold & Platinum reception was going to be held the next morning.



Somehow Scott and I then got hooked on watching the original version of Cinderella.

The horizon was full of lights tonight as we went past all the oil rigs. We got close enough to this one that we got a decent photo. This is zoomed in though.



We were already making good progress across the Gulf according to the map on the TV.



So with day 1 in the books, we went to bed at about 11:15. The ship had some gentle rocking which was absolutely perfect for a good night of sleep.

 

[tennesseemo]

Yay! Wish we were quietly rolling with the waves today

 

[ukintheus]

Day 2 - At Sea



We had a good night of sleep, there was a bit of creaking in the cabin that disturbed us off and on but not too bad and the ship rocked gently all night. It was perfect! I woke up at about 8 am. I got a message from Mo shortly after that they were up and going for breakfast. We were lazy and got up at about 8:30 am and decided to go to Outlook for coffee. We met Cho on our way out and he asked us if we would like bath robes, we said we didn't need them, but he said he would leave them anyway.

The temperature had warmed up a bit and it wasn't as cold as it had been the night before. The sky was a bit overcast though and it was breezy. We met Stephanie From Australia who was working in Outlook and chatted to her for a bit while we got our coffees. We decided to go to Beach Blanket for breakfast.

Scott continued his wierd latest tradition of cold cuts and hot stuff all mixed together. I think it's an English thing - we don't like to mix hot and cold food very much!



He also got an egg white omelette, which of course stands to reason because if you remember he's on a diet.



I got a mix of stuff and also some muesli and then a warm croissant jumped on my plate while I wasn't looking.




We went back to the cabin for a little while. Cho had not only left us bathrobes but also the extra amenities the concierge get, he also left them for Mum and Mo.



The robes were really nice and we used them quite a bit seeing as we had them. We talked to Mum and Mo before getting ready to go to the gold and platinum reception in Diversions at 11:30. This time it really was in Diversions too.

We both got a drink. I had a prosecco and Scott had a mimosa. We didn't eat anything as we had just finished breakfast a little while earlier but they had some fresh fruit, shrimp and cheese. I don't remember what else they had to offer, but basically it all comes from Palo.





We also got to see Mickey, who had been absent at our last reception so we had our photo taken with him.



We saw Deniece from guest services, and so were able to thank her for the lithograph she had sent to our cabin on our last cruise. We chatted with her for a while - how they remember people is amazing considering how many people they see on a daily basis. After about an hour we left and wandered through the gift shops and I bought some Christmas ornaments. About 50% of my Christmas ornament collection had met its demise a few weeks earlier due to circumstances that involved at least one, if not possibly all three of my cats.



We went back to the cabin to drop the ornaments off and met Mum and Maureen and we all went to Tritons for lunch. We had told Nenad we would try and go as he complained that Scott and I never go and eat lunch when he is serving. You'd think he'd be fed up with us after seeing us every night! It was a good excuse to go and eat on a sea day anyway.



Of course, his tables were full so we ended up being with a different server anyway! He came and said hello, of course with a joke along the way. Scott is wondering why I am taking this photo....Nenad LOVES to hold up plates as ears.



Scott and I both had the steamed halibut and it was really good. Mum had they turkey panini and Mo had the fusili pasta.



Somehow we all managed to deny we wanted any dessert, and yet, order dessert. It's amazing how everyone automatically says "Oh, no, no..." and then someone goes, "I wonder what such-and-such is like"....and it's all downhill from there. Cheesecake and Key lime pie, which in all honestly, where just OK, and completely passable for next time.





We decided to go and watch the Disney innoventions presentation in Diversions afterwards that started at 2 pm.



I got a glass of prosecco and Maureen got a margarita, which she said was really good. I didn't put it in my notes, but I'm pretty sure Scott got a beer. It would definitely have been in my notes if he HADN'T!!



The presentation was a compilation of snippets that most Disney fanatics will have seen before but we enjoyed it and Anthony did a good job of presenting it. It did lead to us all feeling like we needed a nap though, so we went back to our cabins to continue the lazy day. Mr. Holmes was starting at 3 pm so we settled in to watch and Mum and Mo did the same thing in their cabin. Lazy vacation afternoon especially because the weather wasn't great. Here's a view from our verandah.

 

[ukintheus]

We were delivered our Platinum gift of prosecco while we were lazing about.



Scott went to deck 7 aft to get some sunset photos and I went to Mum and Mo's cabin to chat and see what big plans we could come up with. He got some really good photos though, so we all missed a lovely sunset. It didn't look like there was anything from our side of the ship.









The back of BBB, the other bonus to being down on deck 7 aft at that time of day is that you can smell them roasting the garlic in Palo and it smells delicious!



After chatting about what to do , we decided to go to the Golden Mickey's. We went down at just before 6 pm and got a seat. The show was fun, and Mum and Mo had obviously not seen it before as this was their first time on the Wonder.





They announced that they were changing pirate night from Thursday to Wednesday which messed up my Palo reservation plan but we decided to roll with it. We hurried back to our cabin to get a super quick shower for Scott and I and get ready. Cho had already been and had left us this.



We got ready in record time (15 mins) and went down to Wavebands to The Feud. The men won feud again despite not giving great answers! I really think it is fixed! LOL.



We chatted to Anthony for a little while afterwards and then went to dinner. Tonight we were in Tritons for optional dress up night.



It was really hot in the restaurant and Mo and I soon had to shuck our jumpers.
Nenad said he had a headache tonight but that didn't stop he and Scott from goofing around.





Before long we were all howling with laughter and we had a great night.







Wine of the night, courtesy of Mum (still haven't forgotten you paid for it Mum
)



We did also eat. I completely pigged out and had escargot and Brie for appetizers, then the French onion soup and then chateaubriand.







Scott had escargot (see photo above ), salad and chateaubriand, and then another one because Nenad ordered him two. He struggled to eat the second one though (being on a diet and all).





Mo and I got creme brûlée for dessert but I had to call uncle on this, no way could I manage any more.



The table next to us had a celebration and Nenad busted out the pepper grinder/plate cover banjo.



After lots of laughter we left and we're back in our cabins by 10. The clocks had to go forward an hour tonight. Boo!! We could hear all kinds of noise outside (very unusual on a Disney ship!) and went out onto the veranda. There was a group somewhere having a very fun time but it didn't take long before the noise died down. Anthony had told us that there were a lot of college kids on this cruise and it certainly was strange to hear loud laughter and fun from a non-kid crowd outside on a Disney ship. It's usually a very quiet ship after 10:30 pm. LOL. We stayed up watching National Treasure for the umpteenth time. It's so easy to get sucked into the movies on the ship I think . It was about 1 am when we turned off the TV.

 

[TigerTown]

Looks like you had a fun trip! What did you think of the French Onion soup? It looks like the same version we had on the Fantasy which was alright but the broth was really thick like gravy. I'm just wondering if it's this way on all of the ships.

 

[ukintheus]

Looks like you had a fun trip! What did you think of the French Onion soup? It looks like the same version we had on the Fantasy which was alright but the broth was really thick like gravy. I'm just wondering if it's this way on all of the ships.

I like the soup, but I don't think it was thick, but it isn't the really thin broth either. I only ate half of it because I was already full!

 

[DnA2010]

Yay! A little late to the party but I love your TRs! Can't wait to read more of the adventure!

 

[tlynk]

I love your trip report!

 

[tennesseemo]

I like the soup, but I don't think it was thick, but it isn't the really thin broth either. I only ate half of it because I was already full!

I loved the French onion soup. The broth wasn't thick, though wasn't watery either. It's one of my favorites. Maybe you just caught them on a bad night

 

[ukintheus]

Yay! A little late to the party but I love your TRs! Can't wait to read more of the adventure!

Thank you for following along!

I love your trip report!

Thank you!

 

[ukintheus]

Day 3 - At Sea



We woke up at about 8:30 am for another lazy day at sea . I got up to see what it looked like outside as we had been woken a couple of times in the night by the ship being jolted by waves. It was very grey and unpleasant looking outside and there was rain in the air.



Mum and Maureen were going to get some cereal from BBB and we went to Cove for coffee and a couple of pastries.



We had Palo brunch at 12:30 pm today so we were trying not to overdo it on breakfast but as I had booked the very last sitting available, of course we had to eat something before we starved to death!



It was nice a quiet in Outlook and so we decided to settle in there for a while.



The dreary weather was making it really, really easy to be lazy! Like we need much help with that!



Mum and Maureen came to meet us after their breakfast and we sat watching the waves and rain. They were doubling up on the tie downs on the chairs outside as the wind had picked up quite a lot. These guys got quite tickled that I was taking their photo while they were trying to tie stuff down in the crazy wind and were waving at us.



The Captain gave an announcement that we were going to have 52 ntm winds as we went through the cold front system that we were in and it would take about an hour. The pool was getting some pretty good wave action as the ship rolled around which was fun to watch.





We headed back to our cabins at about 11 am. Cho was in our cabin so we sat with Mum and Mo for a while. It didn't look like it was going to be a sunbathing type of day!



It was thundering and lightening outside but the wind was so noisy it was hard to hear the thunder. Here's a quick video from the verandah.



After Cho had finished Scott and I walked around deck 6 and delivered candy to all the stateroom hosts. I started doing this a couple of cruises ago. I pack a big bag of mixed chocolate candy and also some of those small gift bags and we just throw about 5 pieces in each bag, twist tie it and then walk around and leave it on the housekeeping carts. It was really quiet onboard with hardly anybody moving about.

As we were walking the Captain came on again to say that they had closed certain decks and asked people with verandah's not to not open their outer door. He anticipated the weather would continue for another couple of hours. We came upon a water leak (think, waterfall coming out of the ceiling ) by the mid ship elevators that was requiring quite a few officers and maintenance people to get under control, it appeared to be coming from the decks above but there was a LOT of water rolling around on verandahs and the upper decks. We got back to the cabin and sat for a little while before getting ready for Palo.

Pretty breezy out there!


By the time we left for brunch it seemed that everything was beginning to look a bit better. The rain had pretty much cleared out and it wasn't anywhere near as dark and gloomy.



We got to Palo right at 12:30 and were seated with Susana.

The plate picture, to prove it really was Palo.....in case all the food photos don't do it for you.


First round of drinks....we all looked like we were drunk before we even started these because of wobbling around with the seas rocking.



It's a tough life...


We got the tour of the yummy things on the buffet.

Meats, grilled vegetables and salad type stuff.


Cheeses


Another side table of cheese, this was new to us.


Pastries and the oh-so-good sticky buns.



Pizzas and hot entrees.



Dessert table



This is my plate. There are some marinated mushrooms, grilled scallop, cheeses and bread.


Scott got a big helping of salad...consistent with his diet (had you forgotten about that? ) Also some scallops, ahi tuna and grilled veggies.


Susana made us a pizza with artichokes, mushrooms, prosciutto, arugula and balsamic.


Then Scott got the veal, I got eggs Benedict, and Mum and Mo both got the eggs Julia.





Scott went and got a couple more items from the buffet.


And finally we all tried a few things from the dessert table.



This seating was just a tad bit too late (in my opinion) and they weren't replenishing things on the buffet so we asked for some of the chocolate covered strawberries thinking they would just have them sitting in the back. These came out freshly made and still gooey with melted chocolate - they were still delicious.



As usual it was a really lovely meal, and always even more so because we get to visit with Susana and hear all about her adventures. As we were getting to the end of our meal Susanna was told that she was needed to cover in the MDR that night and was going to be on the same rotation as us, so we all said goodbye and we teased her that we would see her in a pirate costume at dinner that night.