Hawaiian Inaugural Wonder Cruise

[RaglanRoad]

I decided this cruise to finally write a trip report. This was a trip I was lucky to be able to take with my mom and I really enjoyed experiencing this trip with her.

You can view my full report on my blog www.dis-n-that.blogspot.com
My blog goes day by day and I have included photos and some video.

I would give my trip an overall grade of A! There was nothing unexpected that I would catagorize as a negative. We enjoyed the service, the views, the sea days and just the vacation in general.

We live about 20 minutes from the port so there were no flights involved but I would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have about the trip.
We had a veranda room and used it even on the sea days.

On the Big Island (Hilo), Maui & Kauai we took Disney sponsored tours even though I have been to Hilo & Maui before. On Maui we also did the alternate luau which we thoroughly enjoyed.
On Oahu we rented a Jeep and visited Aulani and circled the island in the Jeep for the day.

We also did Palo High Tea, Brunch and Dinner in which we enjoyed all 3.

This was a Wonderful trip that we both enjoyed and the memories we made will last forever.

 

[tinkerbellerina]

Thank you so much for writing your blog and the "wonder"ful pictures you included. We are going on the October cruise and your information was very helpful to us as we decide which excursions to do.

I was wondering if the shops you visited on the pier in Ensenada were within walking distance from the ship and if you felt safe walking in that area?

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[Saratoga75]

RaglanRoad, I really enjoyed your trip report as well!

I was wondering how were the sea days coming back from Hawaii? Pretty cool? I deciding between the Oct Hawaiian cruise & the Panama Canal cruise in Dec. . . . .leaning towards the later at the moment because the weather will probably be more tolerable on deck. (I enjoy sea days at the quiet cove pool!) However Hawaii is Hawaii and being from LA it will not involve any air travel.

 

[RaglanRoad]

Thank you so much for writing your blog and the "wonder"ful pictures you included. We are going on the October cruise and your information was very helpful to us as we decide which excursions to do.

I was wondering if the shops you visited on the pier in Ensenada were within walking distance from the ship and if you felt safe walking in that area?

Thanks again for sharing!

thank you and I enjoyed writing the blog, it was the first one I have done and now I realize I should have done this sooner lol

In Ensenada they had some pricey souvenir shops right at the terminal area of the ship but they had a nice walk way where you could walk right into the town area. For the most part it felt safe and I think if you just dont go off the beaten path sort of speak you would feel comfortable. Just keep your senses with you about your belongings and you should be fine. As far as the little shops at the terminal they were literally where you exit the ship. Dont forget to bargain down prices wherever you may go in Ensenada.

Enjoy your October cruise, we will be getting of the Wonder when you are boarding. We are doing the California Coastal that week before your Hawaii trip.

 

[RaglanRoad]

RaglanRoad, I really enjoyed your trip report as well!

I was wondering how were the sea days coming back from Hawaii? Pretty cool? I deciding between the Oct Hawaiian cruise & the Panama Canal cruise in Dec. . . . .leaning towards the later at the moment because the weather will probably be more tolerable on deck. (I enjoy sea days at the quiet cove pool!) However Hawaii is Hawaii and being from LA it will not involve any air travel.

Thank you for reading my trip report
It was very nice not having to fly!
I knew from reading other trip reports to expect bumpy seas and cool weather on the sea days so I was prepared. The waves and movement didnt bother me and really didnt take away from my enjoyment of the cruise at all. There were some cool days and I think once or twice I wore a light sweater I brought. That was another nice thing about just driving since you will be from So Cal is you dont have to worry about over packing lol
I really enjoyed the sea days and I did spend time just reading or hanging out around the ship and the Outlook cafe a lot.
Ive not done the Panama Canal but I'm sure which ever you choose you will enjoy.

 

[tinkerbellerina]

thank you and I enjoyed writing the blog, it was the first one I have done and now I realize I should have done this sooner lol

In Ensenada they had some pricey souvenir shops right at the terminal area of the ship but they had a nice walk way where you could walk right into the town area. For the most part it felt safe and I think if you just dont go off the beaten path sort of speak you would feel comfortable. Just keep your senses with you about your belongings and you should be fine. As far as the little shops at the terminal they were literally where you exit the ship. Dont forget to bargain down prices wherever you may go in Ensenada.

Enjoy your October cruise, we will be getting of the Wonder when you are boarding. We are doing the California Coastal that week before your Hawaii trip.

We have 2 dd's (12 and 6), is the walk into town too long for them? We don't see any excursions that interest us but we would like to say we stepped foot in Ensenada since we are there. I'm thinking maybe the shops right off the pier would be enough unless town is close....

I seriously looked into changing our Hawaiin cruise to the Pixar cruise you are on. We LOVE all things Pixar. The family decided to stick with Hawaii even though it may be a high number of adults and not many kids. We noticed that many of the movies being shown on the cruise you were on were not age appropriate for my dd's and funnel vision might be a bit chilly. If they miss out on movies, that's ok, as long as they have plenty of other family and kid activities going on. I hope they continue with some of the Pixar fun during our cruise.

I haven't had a spicy chicken sandwich on the cruise and now I must try one after reading your description.

 

[RaglanRoad]

The spicy chicken sandwich was very good! It was nice to not have something fried or breaded and it was actually really juicy, not like rubber

There is a walkway that goes along side the water in Ensenada. If you can see the pictures it walks past the other terminal building (yellow building) then along the water to the bridge. It takes you over to the plaza where the big flag is. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes I guess depending how fast you walk. I will walk there when I go in October on the Pixar Pacific Coast Cruise.

There were a lot of movies available but some adult also. They did have blankets available for watching the movies on funnel vision. If you stayed on deck 9 it wasnt too bad.

We didnt have any children with us on this trip so I cant really tell you anymore about that but I can say the kids we saw doing activites seemed to be having alot of fun.

 

[Debbje]

I just red your trip report and it is amazing.
Was the weather that bad on the sea days? Could you swim on those days?

 

[RaglanRoad]

I just red your trip report and it is amazing.
Was the weather that bad on the sea days? Could you swim on those days?

Some days the weather was cooler than others but there were times the seas were too rough and they closed the pools. On those days we watched the water sloshing around like a wave pool. For the most part it wasnt so bad for me personally, I just look at it when it was too cool it just gave me an opportunity to try something new or something inside.
I enjoyed the sea days and the Hawaii days pretty equally. Overall it was a really great trip
Thank you for reading my trip report!

 

[Rebecca 27690]

Loved your trip report.
Going on Wonder Oct 2012 Would like to know how and where you booked the Luau at Hyatt. Thanks Kittie

 

[RaglanRoad]

Loved your trip report.
Going on Wonder Oct 2012 Would like to know how and where you booked the Luau at Hyatt. Thanks Kittie

The Luau was a group through the Disboards. SanDiegoSteph from the dis here put together the luau. She did a great job and we enjoyed it very much. I know she was able to get a group rate on the vip package and also had chartered busses to take us to and from port.

You may want to contact her to get the information she used.
It was worth it and I didnt hear from anyone that they didnt enjoy it.

 

[Rebecca 27690]

thanks for the information. I am going to check to see if anyone from disboards organizing one for October Cruise.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Thanks for the information! Great job on the blog!

 

[RaglanRoad]

Thanks for the information! Great job on the blog!

thank you so much for reading. I am also slowly including different things to do if you are staying in the Disneyland area on my blog. I live close to Disneyland so anytime I do or see something that I think is interesting for those visiting Disneyland I will include it. Its actually been kinda fun

Enjoy your trip

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

No more high tea?

 

[RaglanRoad]

No more high tea?

I know this was sad news. I enjoyed the High Tea and so did my family. I guess the reasoning for this was the expansion of hours for the Brunch. I like the brunch too but I will miss not having the High Tea on those sea days.

 

[padisneyfan]

Thanks for the great trip report. I am on the Oct Hawaii cruise so the information was very helpful. I do have one question regarding what time you returned to the port and were you able to disembark early. I want to take an 11:50am flight home. I can do either DCL transfer or private towncar to get me to LAX.

Thanks.

 

[RaglanRoad]

Thanks for the great trip report. I am on the Oct Hawaii cruise so the information was very helpful. I do have one question regarding what time you returned to the port and were you able to disembark early. I want to take an 11:50am flight home. I can do either DCL transfer or private towncar to get me to LAX.

Thanks.

I dont think you would have any trouble making an 11:50am flight barring any unforeseen circumstances.
We had late breakfast and were the 3rd group called off in the morning. We had just finished with breakfast when they called our group so we just walked off the ship. I drove, so we picked up our luggage and went straight to the car. There was a detour on the way home and we stopped at Starbucks but it still only took just under 1/2 hour and I live by Disneyland. I was home in my house before 10am!
I dont think you would have a problem and remember to ask for early disembarkation. We were 3rd group off and there were 2 groups much earlier than ours.

You will love the trip and I hope you have a great time!

 

[padisneyfan]

Thanks for your prompt reply. I figured if we got early disembarkment we should be ok. The 11:50am flight was the only non stop back to Baltimore and got us home at a reasonable time instead of after midnight if I have to change planes.


Nancy