Jan. 18 2009 Wonder - who's cruising?

[VA_mouseman]

we've made our hotel res. now - going back to POFQ! Arriving Friday night and we're hitting some parks on Saturday. Can't wait!!

 

[jennymc]

I booked a room at the Residence Inn right by the port. It had great reviews on tripadvisor. We won't have time to sight see. Our plane doesn't arrive until 6 pm. So by the time we rent our vehicle and get to the hotel it will probably be close to 8 pm. Just enough time to get a good nights rest and then get up the next morning and head to the port!

 

[stampinot]

This will be our 2nd Wonder cruise. My DH, DD-6 and DD 14 and myself will be going. We can hardly wait. We will be going down 4 days early, but going to Universal and Islands of Adventure instead of Disney before!
Good to know who else we will be cruising with
Julie

 

[VA_mouseman]

Welcome, stampinot!

We have a Wonder veteran with us. This will be our first on the Wonder, after two cruises on the Magic.

We recently purchased our ground transfers. Next on the agenda is to get two expired passports renewed. Better not wait too much longer.

 

[stampinot]

Who are you guys using for your ground transfers?
Julie

 

[VA_mouseman]

Who are you guys using for your ground transfers?
Julie

We bought our ground transfers directly from Disney. It will be on the Disney Cruise Line buses. We'll be at the Disney resort POFQ that Sunday morning, so we'll get the bus pickup at the resort and head to the port. The ground transfer also includes our return Thursday from the port to the airport. $70 a person. I believe that's the going rate; we booked our cruise through DVC so I made the ground transfer arrangements via DVC as well.

Are you staying offsite? At a Universal resort? Will you have a rental?

 

[stampinot]

We are thinking of taking a town car out there. There are four of us. Last time the town car was 200.00 per person. I am not sure what we will do yet. We are going to Disney for the free dining and I just finished planning that. We leave in 3 weeks. I am a bit overwelmed with getting ready for that. I need to look into transfers more closely.
Julie

We bought our ground transfers directly from Disney. It will be on the Disney Cruise Line buses. We'll be at the Disney resort POFQ that Sunday morning, so we'll get the bus pickup at the resort and head to the port. The ground transfer also includes our return Thursday from the port to the airport. $70 a person. I believe that's the going rate; we booked our cruise through DVC so I made the ground transfer arrangements via DVC as well.

Are you staying offsite? At a Universal resort? Will you have a rental?

 

[VA_mouseman]

What a huge surprise in the mail today -- our cruise travel kit!! This event just might be closer than I think.

After getting some passports renewed, My next step is to review the shore excursions. My favorite excursion was snorkeling at Cozumel (another favorite was a helicopter ride at Grand Cayman, but that wasn't booked through DCL).

Hopefully there's something fun and enjoyable for all four of us (and that won't break the budget). Being Castaway Club members, we can make our ressies at the 75 day mark -- Oct. 20.

 

[VA_mouseman]

For those keeping score at home, it's 136 days until the cruise!

 

[DiznNut]

WOOHOO!!! Just can't wait much longer. And I need to get my act together and book a place to stay on Saturday night. My kids want to stay at Country Inns and Suites. There is one room that we stayed in there that you can look out the window and see the ships while lying in the bed. The kids would go to bed early so they could get up in the wee morning hours and watch the Wonder dock.

 

[VA_mouseman]

Has anyone looked into the available shore excursions?

I've looked over the Nassau options and, to be candid, I'm kinda lukewarm on them. When we were in St. Martin on our first cruise, we did a bus tour of the island -- was OK, but nothing special. We winged it in St. Thomas. On our second cruise, we winged it in Key West. In Grand Caymans, we did a semi-submersible boat ride, which was kinda cool. In Cozumel, we did the catamaran / snorkeling which actually was a blast. Maybe it had something to do with all the cervezas!

I'm inclined to try out a cat/snorkel trip in Nassau (I believe there's such an option). Otherwise, I may not get off the boat, since I know there's plenty to do onboard! I also see that the time in Nassau is 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM, so there's time for a shore excursion AND boat time! I think that's the night we're going to get to Palos.

 

[jennymc]

I booked a room at the Comfort Suites for the day. It will end up being a little less than $300 ($252 + taxes and fees) for all four of us. If we did the excursion through Disney we'd be looking at well over $400. The kids are really excited about Atlantis!

 

[stampinot]

We are not getting off the ship this time. We did Atlantis, the aquarium and the sight seeing before. We think the ship will keep us busy enough
Julie

Has anyone looked into the available shore excursions?

I've looked over the Nassau options and, to be candid, I'm kinda lukewarm on them. When we were in St. Martin on our first cruise, we did a bus tour of the island -- was OK, but nothing special. We winged it in St. Thomas. On our second cruise, we winged it in Key West. In Grand Caymans, we did a semi-submersible boat ride, which was kinda cool. In Cozumel, we did the catamaran / snorkeling which actually was a blast. Maybe it had something to do with all the cervezas!

I'm inclined to try out a cat/snorkel trip in Nassau (I believe there's such an option). Otherwise, I may not get off the boat, since I know there's plenty to do onboard! I also see that the time in Nassau is 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM, so there's time for a shore excursion AND boat time! I think that's the night we're going to get to Palos.

 

[DiznNut]

We are thinking about taking the city bus tour since my parents have never been to Nassau before so they wouldn't have to walk as much. If not, we will just wander around the city for a couple of hours until we get hungery, buy a few rum cakes and get back on the ship for lunch. We will then stay on the ship until its next stop. Too much fun stuff on the ship for us to do. And we do like to take advantage of the uncrowded swimming pools while the others are in port.

 

[Burr]

You might want buy the "RUM" while you're there and bake the cakes after you get back

 

[TNLaura]

So glad to hear that others had the same reaction to the shore excursions. Since this is my first cruise, I was worried that I just wasn't "getting it." With my little ones at 4 and 5, we are looking forward to hanging out on the beach at Castaway Cay and probably skipping Nassau altogether (or doing a morning walk-through and coming back). Seems like there is plenty to do on the ship. Since we will be there with extended family, it will give us time to relax and visit as well.

Every time I think that January is NEVER GOING TO GET HERE, we inch closer. I am sooooo ready to go now.

 

[VA_mouseman]

Well, I finally got around to piecing together the video segments from our last cruise (January 2007) -- a western Caribbean route on the Magic.

Here's a quicky recap of the cruise highlights --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1VboEzK1R8

 

[DiznNut]

I enjoyed the clip. Looks like you had lots of fun. It makes me want to sail away today after the short weekend I have had. Just think only 3 mths 13 days till we all get to sail.

 

[itutorfortravel]

hi everyone! i am looking at this cruise for our family. we are currently booked on a 7 day next may but will probably change it due to the economy and an out of town graduation close to the may cruise...

has anyone been to castaway cay or the bahamas before in jan? is it still good weather for swimming?

how are the seas?

also, anyone been to atlantis? our dd is 6 so i'm not sure if she would be into the big slides and such. is there anything there for the younger, less adventurous set that justifies the cost?

thanks, and maybe we will see you in a few months!

 

[dld2005]

We are considering booking this cruise and will decided by Friday. It is our first DCL cruise and our DD5 DD2 first cruise ever. My parents are also coming for their first cruise. My question is . . . will the weather be warm enough for plenty of swimming? We are considering a March sail date as well, but for the price I rather go in Jan. Just as long as it won't be too "chilly." Any thoughts?
Thanks