January 10-14 2010!!! 4 nights on the Wonder

[mommy2paris]

We got lots of snow here as well... Now I can start worrying about bad weather during our upcoming drive... Oh well, Guess I would either be worrying about our flight not making it out of Baltimore which we would have no control over, or our long drive that we are in charge of...

 

[natale1980]

I'm so excited because our tickets came this week. So I wrapped them up and put them under the tree as one big surprise for my DH John/1Grumpy John. He already knew we were cruising, but he thought we were in our usual stateroom number 5122. We're not. Well, I couldn't keep the secret any longer and I forced him to open the surprise present today. He did. He found out that we're sailing in stateroom number 8078.....it's a one bedroom suite.....we're sailing concierge. It's a first and probably the last time that we'll be able to afford to do it. I'm so excited. DH was in shock. We're celebrating his birthday onboard and this was a birthday surprise for him. I think I got him good. He still doesn't believe it. hahaha.

Anyone who wants to look around and see what a one bedroom suite looks like, feel free to knock on our door anytime.....that's 8078. We'll take you on a tour of the place....all are welcome.

WOW! That's awesome!
I may just take you up on that tour!

-nat

 

[HallsofVA]

Nothing like 2 cruises in less than a month to keep you busy. Throw in Christmas and New Year in the middle, along with a record setting December blizzard in VA and it makes for a very busy time!

We just returned from the 12/12/09 Western Caribbean cruise on the Magic. We had a great time, though we had some rough seas the first and last night. The last night was especially bad as we had to cross through the storm that dumped all the snow on the east coast. We had a good morning at Castway Cay but a lousy afternoon (luckily after we were back onboard) and thunder and tornados to either side of the ship while we were still docked there. The captain said we were expecting 15-20 ft waves that evening and it was definitely a roller coaster that evening onboard. I pity the poor juggler in the stage show that last night!

We'd booked Cat 12 for that cruise, were assigned Cat 10, and upgraded at the port to Cat 3. It cost us a pretty penny (less than our Roy Suite upgrade last year but not by much) but given how little we'd paid for the Cat 12, it was less than $5000 total for the Cat 3 suite for the 7 nights so well worth it for us, given DCL wanted to charge us over $10000 additional to upgrade to Cat 3 before the cruise. We're in Cat 8 on deck 7 for this cruise, and I don't know that we'll even try to upgrade.

We were delayed 24 hours getting out of Orlando so we didn't get home until Sunday, only to find 2 ft of snow on the ground at home. Quite a shock from the warm caribbean weather we'd had! I have no idea how we're going to get ready for Christmas at this rate. Then we leave 1/6 to spend 4 nights at AKL before getting on the ship on the 10th.

We did fish extenders for the 1st time on our 12/12 cruise, and we were absolutely amazed at the creativity and generosity of everyone! It was like Christmas every time we looked outside of our room. I've gotten my FE gifts mostly organized for this cruise already, but I see we have some additional folks so I'll need to get them covered!

 

[Baidoo]

Andrewsmommy - I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. That is very, very hard and will keep you in my prayers. The upcoming cruise will be a special one and I'm happy to hear your dad agreed to come along.

We decided to tell our daughter about the cruise after Christmas and surprise her with a box of floating balloons (like the commercial). We also caught the DCL special this past weekend and she wants to go on another cruise. I told her it's not our time, YET!

Everyone have a very Merry Christmas and we'll see you in a few weeks!

 

[mommy2paris]

Repeat Cruisers...

I was looking for some ideas about what we should do when boarding the ship, until our room is ready... My head is swarming with so much info and decisions to make, lol... I know I will be one of the early birds waiting around the terminal forever, but I am so excited. Has anyone worn their suits under their clothes and headed for the pools right away? I don't want to lug a ton of stuff around, and we will already have our FE gifts and some drinks, etc that we are carrying on.

We bought our Meclizine / Bonine today to help combat my motion sickness issues. Our girls are too young to take anything, so I hope they make out okay. They ride, fly, and do amusement stuff with no problems, so I'm hoping they don't have a weak tummy like Mommy does. Has anyone experienced sickness with their little ones on the boat before? Was there anything you could do to help them?

Also, we are spending a few days in Disney before heading home. Does anyone here have access to the "Crowd Calendars" that people are always talking about? I was wondering what Friday the 15th was looking like? We will be spending the day at MK, and I want to have any idea of what I am up against.

We've got a room booked at a La Quinta in Melbourne for the night before... We should arrive early saturday afternoon, barring any troubles while driving.

Hope everyone is getting excited!! I still need to sew our FE... Just need to get through the holiday first!!

 

[HallsofVA]

Repeat Cruisers...

I was looking for some ideas about what we should do when boarding the ship, until our room is ready... My head is swarming with so much info and decisions to make, lol... I know I will be one of the early birds waiting around the terminal forever, but I am so excited. Has anyone worn their suits under their clothes and headed for the pools right away? I don't want to lug a ton of stuff around, and we will already have our FE gifts and some drinks, etc that we are carrying on.

We were the first ones in the terminal for our 12/12 cruise last week. It was just around or before 10am that they cleared everyone from the terminal from the prior cruise. Luckily there is lots to do in the terminal. Concierge folks will get to board first, but others are usually boarded starting before 12pm.

What you do when you first get on depends on whether you need to book anything or change any of your reservations. Normally I'd say take care of dining rotation changes or Palo reservations first, but I've heard those may not open as early on the Wonder as they do on the Magic. So my usual recommendation is to go eat lunch as soon as you board. Lunch closes early, so there isn't time to go swimming before lunch and still eat in the restaurant. I prefer Parrot Cay if you have luggage with you since the buffet restaurant on 9 gets too crowded. If you do need to make any changes, have someone go take care of them while you eat or swim with the kids. Wear your swimsuits if you want to go swimming, but it was very cold in Port Canaveral (and a bit rainy) last week so we ended up scrapping our shorts for long pants that morning and skipped the swimsuits.

Deck 9 has activity going on, and characters usually start appearing around that deck so have your camera ready. There really isn't a huge time between boarding and when the rooms open. We usually eat around 12:30 or so, which puts us out of lunch just as the rooms open at 1:30pm. We've always arranged a DIS meet for 3pm in the Promenade Lounge, followed by the emergency drill and then the sail away party.

We bought our Meclizine / Bonine today to help combat my motion sickness issues. Our girls are too young to take anything, so I hope they make out okay. They ride, fly, and do amusement stuff with no problems, so I'm hoping they don't have a weak tummy like Mommy does. Has anyone experienced sickness with their little ones on the boat before? Was there anything you could do to help them?

The last night of our cruise last week had incredibly rough seas as we sailed through the storm that hit the east coast. My 3yr old starting complaining that her tummy hurt as we sat in the Walt Disney theatre which was rocking heavily that night. I took her out mid-show and she continued to complain about her tummy for most of the evening before finally falling asleep. I assume that she was a bit seasick but just didn't know what it was to describe it well. We just held and comforted her, and made sure she had nothing too binding around her stomach. Other than that, neither kid was affected on any of the prior cruises.

 

[mommy2paris]

Thanks for all the info! My pediatrician recommended Benadryl if one of them felt bad... not sure why that would work, unless it was just intended to help them sleep if they felt bad??

 

[EllaEnchanted]

WOW! That's awesome!
I may just take you up on that tour!

-nat

Absolutely....we would love to have you come over. Just look for our door magnet that John made for us to use.

 

[Baidoo]

Halls of VA... thanks for the update. Is Parrot Cay and Deck 9 the only restaurants open when you first board? What time do they close for lunch?

Thanks!

 

[HallsofVA]

Halls of VA... thanks for the update. Is Parrot Cay and Deck 9 the only restaurants open when you first board? What time do they close for lunch?

Thanks!

Aah! The benefits of having just gotten off a cruise last week. I have my Navigators handy and have the actual times for everything. With one big qualification that these were from last week's Magic cruise and I don't know how different they are on the Wonder.

Dining options the first day were:
Goofy's Galley - 12noon - 3:30pm
Parrot Cay - Upon boarding - 2:00pm
Pinocchio's Pizzeria - 12noon - 6:00pm
Pluto's Dog House - 12noon - 6:00pm
Topsider Buffet - 12noon - 3:15pm (I think this is Beach Blanket on Wonder)

Parrot Cay and Topsider/Beach Blanket are the only two restaurants that are open for lunch that day and as noted, they both end before the safety drill, with Parrot Cay ending earliest.

Room Service is open 24 hours, but only after you can get into your room.

 

[AnnMarBill]

Natale, will you please let me know the results of your CC poll on the boards. I may need to prepare DH and DD of the chances we won't get to dock! That was a gr-8 idea by the way!
Merry Christmas!

 

[NYhorsefarm-mom]

The weather outside is frightful
But the thought of cruising delightful
How many more days to go?
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

 

[natale1980]

Poll results are still coming in. BUT you have to keep in mind that everyone who answered January on the poll may have been on the same cruise.
I've heard the that the odds of NOT making it to CC are very low. So don't stress over something that none of us can control. We'll have fun on the boat no matter what!

------

I just PMed everyone who signed up for the FE.
Please PM me back or just post here to confirm that you are definitely going to participate. I'm assuming almost everyone is. I think that there is just one DISer that hasn't been posting much.
Also - If anyone else wants to join please let us know now.

I can't believe it's almost here! My family definitely needs a vacation!!!
-nat

 

[nhrmomma]

We are also headed on the DC! I am a newby on the dis boards. I was very excited to see all the other cruisers. We have lots to be thankful for when we think about our upcoming vacation.

ME-39
DH-38
DD-12
DD-9
DS-9

I think I am going to try to locate a FE!

 

[Baidoo]

Thank you HallsofVA for the update on lunch schedule. I don't know how soon we'll get to board. Last time we came around 10 and still had to wait more than 2 hours to get on board. Maybe it's different this time since we're Castaway Club members?

nhrmomma... we'd love you to join our group.

And to all a very Merry and Safe Christmas!

 

[AnnMarBill]

Merry Christmas to you too Baidoo and all our fellow cruisers!

 

[roxyrose]

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We are still planning on doing the FE exchange. I was busy this weekend trying to get things together, but it's kind of hard when we still have company.

I was wondering what happens if someone in the FE exchange gets an upgrade at port and changes room #'s?

 

[natale1980]

nhrmomma - Will you be joining the FE? If so I need your room #.

If any upgrades happen at the port I would suggest that we hand out a 'Room Upgrade' slip along with our FE gifts. I don't plan on upgrading unless it's for FREEEEEE. So if you do pay for an upgrade just let everyone know with a note.
Is everyone doing door magnets also? That way we don't do any accidental deliveries. =)


FISH EXTENDER LIST

andrewsmommy: CONFIRMED
ROOM#7022
Vicki 39
DH -Steve 37
DS - Andrew 6
DS - Ryan 2.5


AnnMarBill: CONFIRMED
ROOM # 6069
Ann
DH - John
DD - Mary-Kate (celebrating #11 on the ship)

Baidoo: CONFIRMED
ROOM #2058
Connie
DH - George
DD - Alexis, Age 6

BigGuy.Bama: CONFIRMED
ROOM# 5639
Diane
Mike
(Dexter & Skylar's grandparents)


HallsofVA: CONFIRMED
ROOM # 7514
Cathleen
DH - John
DS - 5 (turning 6 1/14)
DD - 3

Johnanmel6:
ROOM # <---------- need room #
Melanie 38
DH - John 35
DD - Gracie 6
DS - Holden 3

Mommy2paris CONFIRMED
ROOM #6067
Lori - 30
DH - Cliff 29
DD - Paris (almost 5)
DD - London (almost 3)

natale1980: CONFIRMED
ROOM # 6039
Natale
DH - Shawn 32
DS - Dexter (almost 5)
DD - Skylar (almost 2)

NYhorsefarm-mom: CONFIRMED
ROOM# 6606
Melissa
DH - Jeff
DD - Haley 9
DD - Macy Joy 6

Roxyrose: CONFIRMED
ROOM# 6612
Sheila
DH - John
DS - Daniel 17
DS - Jorn 10

Roxyrose's Friend: CONFIRMED
ROOM# 6614
Jay
Shelly
DD - Madison 6

 

[nhrmomma]

nhrmomma - Will you be joining the FE? If so I need your room #.

If any upgrades happen at the port I would suggest that we hand out a 'Room Upgrade' slip along with our FE gifts. I don't plan on upgrading unless it's for FREEEEEE. So if you do pay for an upgrade just let everyone know with a note.
Is everyone doing door magnets also? That way we don't do any accidental deliveries. =)

Hi Natale- Yes thanks. We are in Room 8008 for now. I ordered our FE off of ebay and I hope it arrives in time. We are actually picking it up on our way to the airport in MI - so I hope it all works out. If we don't end up with one, well, I guess I'll have to be really creative. Duct Tape, small plastic garbage bags and stickers might be our fancy display if things don't go as planned Hmmm I don't have a door magnet - do I need one or two?
FYI Names are
Nicole
DH-Paul
DD-Julia (12)
DS -Quinn (9-almost 10)
DD -Lauren (9- almost 10)

See you all shortly!!!!

What's the word on docking in CC? I have read a lot of posts about CC and the Nassau robberies. I am worried that we won't be getting off the ship at all Any updates?

We are currenly experiencing snow showers and 27°F -We can't wait to get outta here.

 

[Baidoo]

Natale... We probably won't be doing any door magnets, although we'll have our FE up. For safety reasons we wouldn't like even our first names on the door. Do you have any suggestions?