He will be finished in May...First Cruise on the Wonder 1/3-7/2010

[flagfred]

We are your typical American family - you know us...your kids go to school with our kids....we are behind you in car line, or waiting for practice to get over. We are BUSY, we are STRESSED, and we are just like everyone else. I wanted to do a trip report so possible first time cruisers would get an idea of what to expect and honestly to give back to the DISboard - it was an amazing resource for me in planning our cruise.

The cast of this family is DH, Dave (40) DW me (40), DD 13 and DD 9. We live in Central Illinois, which as I type it is snowing like MAD. We try to take a family vacation once a year where we go away and rent a place and just hangout on a beach...or we load up the Tahoe and we drive west and take in our national parks....but the fact that DH is in his 3rd year of law school really has made it very hard to spend good quality time as a family outside of our scheduled vacations. The fall semester was becoming really tough on all of us and I decided we were going - no we needed - to take a holiday after Christmas to regroup and be ready to face DH's last semester of school. But I had no idea what to do...and more importantly what could we do that would be fun for all and get my 13 yr old away from texting every waking moment of the day.

I googled and trip advisored and various other things and finally settled on a cruise. It seemed to fit the bill for everyone, and most important it would be an mandatory cell phone free vacation.

We love Disney, not love like have a disney toaster or donald duck shower curtain (not that there is anything wrong with that), but we love that the quality of service with Disney is always top-notch. We stay on property when we go, and love the rooms and amenities...so a Disney cruise seemed like a perfect fit.

I made the reservations for two rooms (not adjoining) in a CAT 11. We had 6321 and 6323. We had no idea what any of that meant but hey, we had rooms and a conformation number....it was early November and January was a million miles away....

 

[flagfred]

Early November was you know late fall, not quite winter....Christmas would come but first Thanksgiving....and we had about a zillion swim meets before then and not to mention finals..and book reports, or what about putting the house on the market after the first of the year to capitalize on credit from the feds....

Needless to say Thanksgiving came and I had no plane tickets, transportation to the port or a room the night before....and I started to google and found DISboards...and bam I was hooked up.

I was crazed at the idea of spending 280 for transportation to the port. It is like 40 miles...I love easy peasy - and the disney transfers would be very easy, but that was the price of a plane ticket...for 40 miles....couldn't do it. So I rented a car and we did one-way for $42.00 with Budget and then one-way back to MCO for $62 with Hertz. That was way more like it! Now I had more money for fun. I was the most freaked out about the car rentals but it was super simple.

We are Hilton folks and found a hilton in Cocoa Beach for $120 a night and a breakfast. Look the planning was coming together quite nicely....

Fast-Forward...Finals....Christmas x4 or 5 with all the family fun....and then it was the 28th of December and I realized that children do grow and I should have my DD who is 9 try on a few things from the past summer and make sure she had shorts or capris or whatever....NOPE!!! NOTHING!!! She must have grown like 3 inches...her shorts were hoochie and her capris wouldn't button...ARHHHGHHH!!! Now I mentioned that we live in Central Illinois and let me tell you it is not the shopping mecca of the world, and the internet while it is my bFF for shopping, I was looking at no days for delivery with the 1st and a weekend looming...so we punted. Target had "yoga capris" and I bought three pairs and prayed that mickey would have a great gift shop with a few size 10s.

Bags get packed Happy New Year...and we are outa here.....by Central Illinois with its high of 7...off to sunny Fl where its highs of....38?

 

[ntmec]

Such a fun TR so far - thanks! (Laughed at the "hoochie shorts" comment!)

 

[flagfred]

We flew out with no problems, MCO is a great airport...luggage ready in nearly no time....Budget sent us right out to get our car and we are on vacation. The car we rented was rather small...clown carish...we each had a piece of luggage and then a small roll-around briefcase for the ship and a vera bradley duffle. The trunk could only hold three pieces of luggage which meant I had one on the floor in front of me, and the girls had one between them and DD had her Vera on her lap....but still we were in FL and on VACATION.

We caught our first glimpse of the Magic when we were driving over the causeway - none of us had ever really seen a cruise ship in real life...we were in awe! She is a beautiful ship and seemed larger than life.

Our hotel was really nice and not to far (maybe 20 minutes with all the lights) to the port. We passed right by where we would drop off the car in the morning, we were all good to go.

It was sunny and breezy, the breeze was chilly but we were coming from weather that was FREEZING so 40ish wasn't cold....it was balmy.

Next morning we were up, packed, passports, paperwork...swim suits (right sure)...off we went to drop off the car. THe drop off took less than 10 minutes. We were at the port within 30 minutes of leaving the hotel. The girls were so excited I think my 13 yo took 50 pictures before we even got inside. We wore zip up sweatshirts and I had on a fleece......

The terminal was easy we checked in got our boarding number #4 and got my 9yo checked in for her club - she got her GPS (that is what she called it), which is really a rather big clunky thing...and then we waited....

While waiting we stepped outside to get a few photos and the wind was whipping around and was sooo bitter cold that our eyes started watering....we should have known at that point that this would no longer be the He will be finished in May cruise but the NorthFace cruise.

Boarding started and moved very quickly and before we knew it we were ready and they welcomed us onto the the ship!

 

[flagfred]

They Welcomed us on to the ship and we were like the biggest bunch of "hay-seeds" you have ever seen....I swear we had our jaws hanging open....I had seen pictures and the girls and I had watched the dvd and the media they have on the disney cruise line website, but it really is very very elegant and unship-like...it was like a very nice hotel on Michigan Ave in Chicago

We sorta walked around and found ourselves in the Aft and decided to head up to the buffet. Staff was all over the place and they were all smiling, directing folks and welcoming everyone aboard. The buffet was nice, my dh kept asking what we had to pay for and what we didn't....he was having a hard time understanding that the food was really part of the price of the cruise...not just the dinners....at first we thought we would sit outside (we are in FL afterall) and went out with our trays and the breeze (winds) were soo cold that it would have been nearly impossible to enjoy yourself outside. Many people tried but almost everyone came back in.

After lunch we took a stroll and explored and decided we would most likely be lost for the next four days...we stumbled upon Aloft which would be where my 13yo would live for the next 4 evenings/nights. Please note that there are signs all over the place that say "TEENS ONLY NO ADULTS ALLOWED" I am good with the fact that this is their space, infact I love that they have a space, BUT for the first day when you might have a baby-teen (13) who wants more than anything to go, but NOT by herself....please feel free to walk up with them. I did, and the counselors were great, I stayed and chatted with one while another took my daughter on a tour and told her when to come back for the fun....she would have NEVER EVER gone up those stairs by herself...or another option would be to have a counselor at the bottom of the stairs welcoming and showing them up the stairs.....it is really rather intimidating.

After we found Aloft we decided to find the 9yo's club and off we went and we got there without getting lost even a little bit. My 9yo is very brave and she walked right in and checked the place out and decided she was going to be spending alot of time in there.

1:30 had arrived we could now go find our rooms....and we got lost...our rooms were right behind the forward elevators, so we found the elevators, got to the 6th floor and took a wrong turn. We started over and found them. They were are the end of a hallway where there was a cast door (the luggage is taken in/out thru the door and maybe laundry)...it was a very very busy hallway during the time they were delivering the luggage....our rooms were great! We couldn't have picked better...the hall traffic was completely gone after luggage was delivered and we felt like we had the hall to ourselves.

Our luggage was to our rooms by 2:30 and we unpacked and hung out enjoying the space. We decided to take the tour of the ship at 3:00 which was a great idea...it was super informative and gave hints...told the kids where they could go and hangout and where they couldn't. After the tour it was time for the muster drill and then the sail away party....and we needed to go back to our rooms and find some hats...it was way to cold for just a sweatshirt.

 

[*disgal*]

I hope you don't think you need a break yet. You need to type this report!! Come on, come on...........I need more.

 

[flagfred]

Muster drill....yada, yada yada...I was expecting more of a "if we are sinking this is what you need to do...women and children first" but you just sorta squeeze together and listen to folks talk about coming to this spot....but luckily we had our tour and we could find the spot .

Sail away was fun (freezing and windy and blustery) but we had a great time. The girls were so embarrassed that I would even think to "dance" or even tap my toe...it really does suck to be as uncool as me.....so DH and I stood like stone pillars and listened to the fun . We watched from Deck 10 which was a great place to see the fun, but we really were watching not really participating. My 9yo would have been in the mix if we were down on the 9th deck....note to self, need to participate more observe less.....

We had late seating so we were not sure what we should be doing next, my 9yo was just itching to go to the club so we set her free as soon as it was open. 13yo not so much....they said fun will start at 10:00 so she wasn't going up until 10...so we went to change and relax in the room for a while.

The weather was bad, not ice storm, blizzard or hurricane but not ideal and we were flying thru the water. It was windy, but the report from the bridge said that we had calm seas...but we were rocking, we all felt fine, no woozieness but for calm seas I was quite anxious to experience any rough seas....yikes.

Met our stateroom host, Roger, he was great! We explained that the girls were in one room and that we were in the other...and that they would like to have the couch made up so they would each have a bed. He assured us that when we came back from dinner our rooms would be ready.

When it was time for our dinner seating we collected the 9yo from the club and headed to Tritons. It so seamless, we were met at the door, taken to our table, met our servers and had an amazing meal. Now, FYI, I have picky girls. The 9yo doesn't eat much variety and the 13yo wants to order off of the adult menu but really would be much happier with a kid's choice. When DD9 ordered she asked for fruit with her dinner....I was impressed....our server actually asked what kind of fruit she wanted to which she replied bananas and apples....he brought us a dinner sized plate of bananas and apples every night forward. They were waiting on the table when we were seated. It was so nice, late seating is indeed late, and the girls were hungry and to have healthy fruit was such a great option...our servers did rock!

On to dinner on the high seas....we were really aware of the movement of the ship in Tritons and the table right next to us had a young adult (maybe 18ish) who spent the entire meal with her head on the table...and she was about the color or glue....not easy to enjoy yourself when you are anxious that one table over is gonna blow...ya know?

The food was amazing, and I swore I would remember what I ate, how could I forget right...no clue...the only thing I remember was DH's dessert....toffee bread pudding....it was sinful.

The bathrooms between Parrot Cay and Triton (I think I am remembering this correctly) were lovely and had two attendants in them...cleaning the whole time I was waiting....and then I heard it, and then I heard it again - two poor ladies were sick, I felt so awful for them. The attendants were very good about helping in anyway they could....what a terrible way to start your cruise....I hope they felt better or at least got something to make them feel better.

Dinner was over and it was time for DD13 to goto Aloft....it was the witching hour....we asked that she come back to the room when it closed (1:00) and call when she got home....We walked DD9 back to her club and we asked that they page us when she was leaving for the night....and then she was to call when she got in.....to think at home I won't let the 13yo go to the movies w friends and no adult and the 9yo can't stay home for more than 10 minutes by herself...

DH and went to Diversions and had a drink and then decided that we should go back to the room since we had no idea when the girls would be coming home and we wouldn't want to miss them....which was the last night we worried about that.

 

[pmama]

Enjoying your TR so far. We had not the best weather either in December. A couple of really windy days. In fact it was so rocky the first night the CMs were getting sick. However, we never really felt "cold".

 

[flagfred]

DH and I awoke to the darkest room I have ever encountered in my entire life...inside cabins I think would let you sleep your cruise away. I was so very excited about Nassau and the fact that it was supposed to be warmer...hey we were on a cruise....so even though it was 6:30 we got up and found coffee on deck 9 and realized that we were getting close to Nassau. We left the girls a note on our door and went up to watch us dock at Nassau.

Docking was amazing, we just sorta flipped around and slid in between Carnival and Costa ships....I would have never guessed that was where we were heading.

After watching us dock, we wondered down and woke our girls up and went to breakfast. Great breakfast, at the beach blanket, and then we went down to get ready for our day ashore. We had delayed making any excursion plans, I was so nervous about spending a ton of money and having 60 weather.....and amazingly enough I was spot on. The day was cloudy, windy with a "fresh breeze" which was cruise director speak for COLD.....we left the ship really just to be on international soil. And honestly, Nassau was really sorta a dreadful place. We just walked around the downtown area - and i know that we didn't do the city justice....but it was really like walking around in super-touristy areas of New Orleans. I love New Orleans but I stay away from the tourist-trap parts...and if I return to Nassau in the future I will make an effort to do the same.

We were there we did that...we were back on the ship in time for lunch....and a martini tasting

The girls went to the clubs and DH and I did the martini tasting at the new Outlook Bar on deck 10. It was $15 a person and it was the best $30 we have spent in a long time. We had 6 martinis varying from the traditional all the way to a chocolate martini...with many yummy stops along the way. It was a small group, only 12 or so, and we chatted, enjoyed each others company and had great drinks. We were able to make our own and the bartenders were great helping everyone mix their ideal concoctions.

The Captain made an announcement that the ship would be at sea the next day, and then head to castaway cay on the final full day at sea....the change was to allow everyone a good day of sun on the island and that we could chase the sun during our day at sea. The weather had been so blustery that was wonderful to think we will be able to have a sunny day on the island. I have to think that this was one of the perks of being on a Disney Cruise, they didn't have to make that change but they wanted the experience to be a good one and they were willing to do some switching to make that happen.

The girls were going to go to dinner alone, we had told our servers the night before that we had Palo ressies and that they would like to have dinner in the dining room. The servers assured us that it would be fine and the girls were game and so we went to Palo and off they went to Animators Palate. Our dinner was amazing, it really was a wonderful meal. I think though if we do another 4 day cruise we will probably skip Palo and enjoy dinner as a family....a 7 or longer I don't think it would be as big a deal, we just really enjoyed our time as a family at dinner. Who would have known when planning that they girls would have been off having fun allowing DH and I some much needed and appreciated alone time. Lessons learned.

The after dinner we went to our rooms to check on the girls and to see how their dinner was, we saw clothes and signs that they had been back to the room....and then we saw the note that they were in their clubs and would be home when they closed. DH and I headed down to Diversions for a drink and some fun. We had a great time and this time we didn't head up early to wait for our girls

 

[flagfred]

Everyone slept in the next morning, we were getting used to life at sea, and the girls even slept so late they missed breakfast. It was our day at sea and once we stepped onto the deck I was so glad we weren't going to be at Castaway Cay. It was cold, like NorthFace and a coffee, cold. DH and I wanted to attend the DVC presentation and DD9 and I were going to play Bingo...that was really the plans for the day. Big Day at Sea

The girls rolled out at around 11 or so and we debriefed them regarding their evening without mom and dad. It seems that the dinner was great, they both ordered off the adult menu and Jackie (one of the servers) cut up DD9's meat without her even asking. The show was really cool and they did a dance at the end. They were late getting to the clubs and DD9 missed out on some activity that they were planning but the CM assured her they would do it during the day at sea. DD13 had a great time in Aloft and didn't get in until after 2...she called but I must have slept thru the call...good thing daddy is a light sleeper.

We did an early lunch and then DH and I did the DVC presentation. Which wasn't really a waste of time but we did chose not to purchase at this time....

DD13 went back to the room and veg, she isn't much of a night owl and her actions we catching up with her and DD9 went to the club to make cookies. We had a date for bingo later in the afternoon. DH and I wondered the shops and enjoyed an amazingly quiet and relaxing afternoon. It might sound boring but really it wasn't....and please note we really didn't ever go outside during our day at sea, it was just not pleasant. We found plenty to do inside.

Bingo - now I played bingo last at my dad's company picnic when I was dd9's age. It has come along way baby. We opted for the active game cards vs. the passive computer dealeebob. We had a great time, we won nothing but had a good time. Then we sat in the window port holes and watched the ocean pass-by.

DD9 and I went to see the Princess and the Frog.....Dinner was at Animator's Palate again, great again and then everyone off to the clubs...it really was a perfect day at sea.

 

[cissy]

I am anxious to hear all about the rest of your trip! Thanks for this posting

 

[Pikester]

I'm hoping to do a 2012 Disney Dream cruise and as a first timer I can't wait to hear all about your trip. I'll need all the help I can get!

 

[skyman8963]

really enjoying this, as a first time cruiser in a few months Ive enjoyed reading your posts. You and Your DH sound alot like us, busy most of the time and dont have alot of time just to breathe. Sounds like your days are what we are looking for, relaxation and enjoying the boat. TO bad you passed on DVC so far we are really enjoying it. Went 3 times on DVC points before we bought last year.

 

[Eshlyn]

Loving this TR. Thanks for sharing.

 

[papertraveller]

Thanks - really enjoyed sharing your adventure!

Nassau is a funny (odd) place. We were there years ago, and would walk over to the Straw Market area and look at the cruise ships as they came in. The place seemed to get crazy when they came in, then return to a more laid back ambiance once the big ships departed.

 

[mmmears]

I'm really enjoying your TR so far!!! Keep it coming!

 

[flagfred]

sorry folks, it has been a crazy few weeks....more to come, promise.

 

[flagfred]

When we woke up in our cave...or stateroom, which did I mention is really really dark, we were already docked at Castaway Cay. Now I had read about how wonderful and amazing the island was. How folks would rather do all three days at Castaway than Nassau or even a day at sea....I wasn't sure anything could be live up to those expectations. But it did. It was beautiful. The water as such an amazing color, and the landscape was exactly what an island in the ocean should look like.....

DD13 had a reservation for the Wild Side excursion with her new besties from Aloft so we had to get her to Aloft to meet with the counselors early. So we hit the breakfast and sent her on her way. Now this is important for first timers....make a plan as to when/where you will meet up on the island or back on the ship. We mentioned in passing that we would see her back on the ship after her excursion was over (3ish)...and that was the last time we saw her we didn't run into her and her gang at all on the island...she did her own thing all day and was waiting for us when we got back to the room. This freaked me out a little, I will be honest. I went to look for her at the teen beach because we had heard that all the excursions were cancelled, and we didn't want her to think she had to stay with her group....I of course was worried about nothing. Silly Mom.....

Disney did cancel all the excursions...all of the activities dealing with water at all. No floaties, no big water tricycles, no jet skis, no diving...nothing at all. The only thing you could do was ride bikes. (which is what the teens were able to do) That being said, it was SUNNY - it wasn't a warm sun...but it was SUNNY! The breeze was very "fresh" and once you were wet, it was frigid.

DD9 went to the club, she really wouldn't if the day had been warmer - she is a little water bug - but with the wind and the temps the club was the best spot for her. DH and I took the tram to the Adult beach....which would be an amazing way to spend the day, if it wasn't so windy and waves weren't white-capping. The adult beach was not as sheltered from the wind as the family beach. We walked around a few minutes and got on the next tram back to the more sheltered part of the island.

Lunch was really good...it hit the spot, after lunch we collected DD9 from the club and played in the sand for a while. By 2 we were back on the ship, and so was DD13. It was a fun day, and I can only imagine how much fun we would have had if we could have enjoyed the water. Everyone had freckles from the sun...

 

[flagfred]

Back on the ship we played some shuffle board, the girls just loved the shuffle board. And I met with the agent to talk about booking another cruise. We also needed to deal with the tipping situation....which I think is much more stressful than it needs to be.

We took some cash with us, we really didn't have any idea how much cash we would need and honestly I think we spent less than $20 cash....so we had enough to tip our folks...but man, the lines for the guest services were crazy...so we went to the gift shop bought a little something and then asked them to break our money into the denomiations we needed. No problems at all.

I am still crabby about not rebooking onbaord. We should have, and I am going to put that in the lessons learned column.

DH took the girls to Disney Dreams while I packed the rooms. It was nice to have the spaces to myself and I was able to shove everything where it needed to be in no time.

Dinner was really nice, we loved our servers and said our good-byes. The girls ran off to the clubs, I was certain we would have more than a few tears when the girls had to say thier good-byes....DH and I had a great quiet evening at the Cadilac Lounge, we should have gone in there earlier.

Disembarking was not a big deal...it was way earlier than any of us would have liked...the girls were late to bed after closing down thier clubs, but we got our luggage, our shuttle to Hertz and we were at MCO before we knew it.

 

[Normangirls]

No! Your TR can't be over -- I just found it!

Seriously, thanks for the details and insight. We are planning our first cruise in November, and we've read all the literature and watched the DVD, but your account of time on the ship really made feel like I understand how it works.

Anyway, don't you feel like posting a little more, maybe a pros/coms summary, or a best and worst list?