January 25, 2009 on the WONDER

[jennyh2829]

Maybe I missed the post, but we just booked and is anyone else going on this cruise???

It will be our family of three and dh's mom and dad, and his brother, wife and twins will be joining us.

 

[ashman]

My wife and I will be there with our two girls 7 and 9 (at the time of the cruise) This will be our third DCL cruise, 1st 4 day. We are going with neighbors who have a daughter 8 at the time of cruise and a son who will be 4. You are not alone!

 

[jennyh2829]

My dd will be 8 almost 9 and in 3rd grade. Maybe our girls can meet up.

 

[ashman]

Have you guys done a DCL cruise before?

 

[jennyh2829]

We cruised on DCL in 2006. Loved it. Can't wait until next Jan.

 

[ashman]

We did a three night last Feb. We had talked to our neighbors about going and didn't get a real firm response from them. We talked with my wife's family about doing a three night right before Thanksgiving to celebrate my Father in Law's 60th birthday and didn't get a firm answer on that either. We decided to go ahead and book a 7 night Western in October of this year before the prices went up. About a week later both our neighbors wanted to go (this cruise) and our family said yeah let's do it! So we cancelled the 7 night and booked the three night for November and this cruise. Our girls know about the 3 night but not January. We want to keep it a surprise. Our plan is to spring it on them after Christmas. The November cruise gives us some nice cover! My oldest has become the self appointed DCL expert for the family! It has been a lot of fun so far.

 

[Pumba's Dad]

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

We just booked our Cruise today. Doing the Land/Sea Package. This will be our 4th cruise. Me, DW, DS (14), DD (12). Hope times flies fast.

 

[ashman]

Are you from NC? I'm in Greensboro. Have you been before? It will go by pretty quick we are under the one year mark! I booked my first cruise over 450 days from the sailling date THAT was a LONG wait! Good to have another on the thread meet!

 

[jennifaerie]

I'm a lurker, but I was infected by the Disney bug and am now among the posters. I'll be joining in the fun on this cruise as well!

 

[ashman]

Welcome to the DIS! As a former lurker I can assure you, you have come to the right place! Glad to have you along! Have you cruised before?

 

[jennifaerie]

Welcome to the DIS! As a former lurker I can assure you, you have come to the right place! Glad to have you along! Have you cruised before?

Thank you! I actually just took my first, the January 27th 4-night on the Wonder. I lurked on that particular thread, but didn't post until *after* the cruise because it turned out that someone had been standing right by me, and I recognized a story she told on the board. I had to say hello.

I was absolutely terrified... I don't like the feeling of being trapped, and the idea of being on a boat where I can't just grab a car and drive home scared the living daylights out of me.

The experience wasn't without troubles, but even though neither of us were crazy about cruising, we obviously decided to do it again. I think Disney must lace us with some sort of habit-forming magic and as soon as you come home, you absolutely *have* to it again. And again. And again!

 

[ashman]

I think Disney must lace us with some sort of habit-forming magic and as soon as you come home, you absolutely *have* to it again. And again. And again!

I think you are spot on with that. My wife and I have gone on two cruises (other lines) by ourselves. Last February we went on a 3 night with our kids with Disney. We were excited about the cruise but at the same time we were second guessing ourselves because of the "premium" you pay with DCL. That second guessing was GONE within 2 hours on the ship. Our crew can't wait to get back on the ship!

 

[Pumba's Dad]

Thanks for the welcome Ashman. Yes from NC. Just outside of Charlotte. My family was from Greensboro, but they've moved down this way now. This will be out 4th Disney Cruise, and 8th overall cruise. We switch from visiting the world to cruising each year. Actually this trip will be both with 3 days on land and then 4 day cruise. Time will fly by. So I better start getting ready..

 

[ashman]

Yup, it will fly by! I haven't done a land/sea trip but I think you got the order right. I think the cruise would be a nice respite after running through the parks. Are you guys flying or driving?

 

[Pumba's Dad]

As it stands now, we'll be driving down. That may change once the flights come down in price. Disney wants 450 a person from Charlotte, and that's a bit high for the four of us. So we'll have our car to drive around and have some fun.

How about you, Flying or Driving??

 

[ashman]

We are flying for this cruise. I have enough FF miles to get at least 2 maybe 3 tickets for free so that is a hard deal to beat. Without that, we would drive for sure. It is a 10 hour hop for us so that would be about an 8 hour for you, if I have got my math right. If I were driving down I would head down the day before stop South of Jacksonville on I-95 and get a hotel (away from tourest prices) get up the nice day with about 2 hours to go. I definately wouldn't let the Mouse pick my flight, I'm too much of a control freak for that! Plus I think I can get a better rate than they can. I think you can get a non-stop from Charlotte Douglass to MCO for about $200, it still pricey. Absent some sort of deal or comp ticket, driving is the way to go if you are under 12 hours away, that's just me.

 

[Pumba's Dad]

We usually fly down, but rates aren't available yet. I maintain the website and computers for a travel agency down this way and they usually set me up. However, I've driven down a few times when I just do it on the spur of the moment. We leave charlotte around 4 am and are there by 1. Leaving that early gives me about 4-5 hours of quiet time.. )

We'll also probably go down for Not So Scarry Halloween Party. We've been going down twice lately to either the halloween party or christmas party.

So have you all planned out your itinerary yet??? We have a favorites and then try to do something new each trip.

 

[ashman]

We haven't nailed anything yet. We did the 3 night last Feb. We did the dolphin encounter through DCL at Nassau and the Stingray excursion at Castaway Cay. We are going on another 3 night in November with my wife's family in November. We plan on doing the Dolphin Swim this time. Castway Cay we may do Stingray again, really enjoyed that one. For January, wife is talking about just staying on the ship in Nassau. I think going to Atlantis and getting a day room would be a blast. My kids love aquariums and water parks, jury is still out on that one. Castway Cay, we want to try to see the Mickey Statue in the Snorkel area. I think the trick there is to get out to it early before the water gets too cloudy. We will see. Hope about you guys? Those who have done this itenerary before, what do like like/want to do this time? When we went before, the kids never got to the clubs, this time they have told us they want to go and that we have go do something by ourselves!

 

[Pumba's Dad]

We've done this trip 3 times, so we'll probably stay on the ship too. I might get off to go shopping for my staff, but that's about it. We've done the dolphin encounter and swim the last 2 times. Great excursion. I would love to go to blue lagoon island and lay around but they don't do that anymore. Haven't tried Atlantis, but that may be an option. Castaway cay is a laid back day. We'll hang out at the beach. Last September when we went, we hit the island twice. First day was pouring, but I went out when the sun came out. Word soon spread that we'd return for our sea day. That was really great.

And although my kids are older, they love it. Especially when I met some parents last year that had a daughter the same age, the girls were able to chat before we went and they had instant friends on the ship.

 

[jennifaerie]

We took a cab to the Ardastra Gardens. We also did the dolphin swim at Nassau, and the Castaway Cay Getaway package.

I had really, really, really wanted to swim with dolphins, and it was for my birthday, so I was very excited. But I found it wasn't as enlightening as I thought it might be. But that could be because my expectations were too high. It had nothing to do with the program Dolphin Encounters provided. I think I had this preconceived notion that I'd actually *bond* with the dolphins. And since they're conditioned, the trainers just tell them what to do, otherwise you'd have no contact with them. That disappointed me.

The water was extremely cold (there was a family from Philadelphia with us, and we all know what cold is... and we were all shivering like crazy), and that may have taken away from it too.

That being said, it's a great place to do it, and we had lots of laughs. So I'd recommend it to other people. You can't beat the price compared to some places like Discovery Cove. I booked through dolphinworld.com, and I was weirded out by their reservation process/ticketing. You just get an email with your "tickets"... which are just printouts of the confirmation. But they were valid.

I think this time, if we can find it, we're going to book a room (probably at Comfort Suites, thanks to someone who actually did it), and get full access to Atlantis. We'd both love to go to Aquaventure. I hope they heat their water!

Otherwise, we'll probably be boring and stay on the boat.