Just returned from a 4 night cruise on the Wonder and it was amazing!
Saturday June 4 - Flew into Orlando in the AM and rented a van and drove to Port Canaveral. Stayed in a King suite at the Radisson and it was great. My DD3 and I enjoyed the pool for the afternoon while DH, DS7 and DS9 went to the Space Center. We brought sandiwches back to the room for dinner and got a godd night's sleep.
Sunday June 5 - I thought the whole bus shuttle process at the Radisson was a bit chaotic, but we got on the 10:30 shuttle (which actually left at 10:45) and made it to the terminal by 11:00. At the terminal, we checked in, watched videos for a few minutes and around 12:00, they started boarding the ship.
There was a HUGE line to board at 12:00, but it moved fast. Within about 15 minutes we were on board.
We immediately went upstairs to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. The buffet was very good and and the decks weren't crowded yet, so we got a nice table by the pool. Immediately after eating, the kids changed into bathing suits and swam for about an hour. The pool was relatively uncrowded for about an hour, and then got pretty crazy, but at 1:30, we were allowed to go to our stateroom. We were on deck 8 halfway between aft and midship in a Category 4 stateroom. It was surprisingly spacious. Our gift baskets from the Perfect Gift were waiting and they were nice. Our luggage arrived, one suitcase at a time, over the next hour. After we finished unpacking, I went to get a kid's club pager (we had pre-registered the kids). After that, it was time for the safety drill.
The safety drill wasn't too bad, but we did have to wait around a few minute for a family who arrived dripping wet in their swimsuits....obviously they didn't read/didn't listen to the announcements about the mandatory safety drill! Anyway, it was over in 10 - 15 minutes and we returned to our room.
Shortly after that, I headed up to deck 9 for the sail-away party and DIS meet. Unfortunately, it started pouring as we sailed away, so I missed the DIS meet and watched the ship leave port from our Verandah. (I did get to meet some fellow Dis-ers though!)
Before we knew it, it was time for dinner at Parrot Cay. We were traveling with my extended family - 8 adults, 6 kids - and we were all seated together. Our waiter, Ramon, was wonderful, as was our assistant waiter, Richard. Dinner was very good, and as the evening wore on, one by one, the kids left the table to go to the kids clubs. Even DD3 wanted to go.
At around 8:30, DH and I checked in on the kids, and DS7 wanted to leave the Kids Club and see Hercules with us. It was a great show! After that, we picked up the other kids. DD3 was crying and was mad that we hadn't picked her up sooner. She had seen her cousins being picked up from the kids club and was mad that she was left behind. DS9 didn't want to leave the club at all!
Monday, June 6 - Nassau
After breakfast at Beach Blanket, we took all 3 kids to the clubs so DH and I could do the Discover Nassau tour. The tour was fine .. I wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad I did it once. It gave us a nice overview of the island. Afterwards, we returned to the ship, had a quick lunch at Beach Blanket, picked up the kids and went off the ship again. This time, we borrowed a stroller since DD3 seemed like she was about to fall asleep. Good thing we did, because she was asleep within a few minutes. We walked to the Pirates of Nassau museum and had a great time there. It took us abiout an hour to walk through, and the boys loved it. Afterwards, we had a cool drink in the attached bar and returned to the ship so DH could do the Bridge tour.
After the Bridge tour, DH went to Beer Tasting and I showered for dinner and got the kids off to the kid's clubs. We were dining in Triton's and I thought it would be a nice "adults only" dinner. Before dinner, I received 2 pages -- one from DD3 and the other from DS7. With a little convincing, they both agreed to stay in the clubs so the adults could eat their dinners. Halfway through dinner, DD3 paged again, so we got her and brought her back to Triton's for dessert. The Triton's meal was wonderful -- my favorite of the 3 restaurants.
The ship stayed in Nassau until 2:00 am because they were finishing up some work on it, so we could have stayed on shore until 1:30 am, but we didn't.
DH went to see a movie and around 11:30, I phoned the Kid's club and insisted that DS9 return to the stateroom.
Tuesday, June 7 - Castaway Cay
Castaway Cay was amazing. It was the highlight of our cruise. We woke up in time to watch the ship dock and ate a quick breakfast at Beach Blanket. Then, we went ashore before 9:00. We found a great spot on the beach, rented a few floats and snorkeling equipment and hung out for the day, swimming, snorkeling, building sandcastles. It was heavenly!
I saw a large barracude while snorkeling, and that freaked me out, but he left me alone.
The lunch buffet at Cookies was delicious. We took a break around 12:30 and had some burgers and ice cream. The ice cream lines were long, but other than that, the lines weren't too bad.
The weather was perfect, and the beach never seemed too crowded. Even during the early afternoon, there were still plenty of umbrellas and beach chairs available.
Around 2:00, DD3 started to complain about the heat, so luckily we ran into my mom who was headed back to the ship. Around that time, I started to feel like I was geting too much sun, so I put on a t-shirt and retreated to some shade. I tried to find DH, but he had gone out to snorkel one more time. About an hour later, he came in and agreed to go back to the ship.
Unfortunately, the last hour in the water was too much for DH. He got HORRIBLE sunburn. He had second degree burns, complete with huge blisters all over his back and his arms. He was miserable. During dinner at Animators Palace, he couldn't stop shivering and had to return to the room. That night, he was in horrible pain. My advice to every one is to apply sunscreen MULTIPLE times at Castaway Cay...once is probably not enough.
Dinner that night was the Pirate themed meal. It was good, but DD3 was freaked out by all the waiters dressed as pirates. We were also worried about DH, so we returned to the room right after dinner.
We had to make a quick stop in Freeport for a medical evacuation. It looked like an older gentleman who was taken off the boat and put on another boat just outside of the Freeport harbor. It was sad and we all said a prayer for him.
That night, I took the kids up on deck for the pirate party, fireworks and late night buffet. The buffet was a stunning spread, and we shared several desserrts. Once again, I had to pry DS9 from the kids club.
Wednesday, June 8 - At sea
Our sea day was relaxing. We ate breakfast at Tritons and then took the kids to the pool. The Mickey pool was ridiculously crowded by late morning, and shortly thereafter, it was closed because a child apparently had an accident. Major Bummer! There were a lot of sad kids that afternoon.
In the afternoon, the kids went to the clubs for a short time and DH and I saw the 2:00 showing of Disney Dreams. It was a good show, but we enjoyed Hercules more.
That evening, we ate in Animators Palace again, for their regular menu this time, and it was great. It was sad saying goodbye to Ramon and Richard, our waiters. They were so kind to us and the kids and really made our dinners pleasant.
At night, we hung out, relaxed and packed up our things so they could be picked up by 11:00 pm.
Thursday, June 9 - back at port
Sadly, we went to breakfast at Animators at 6:45 and were off the ship by 7:45.
One thing I forgot to mention was Rudy, our stateroom host. He was fantastic, and almost invisible. We rarely saw him, but he knew our schedule, and whenever we left the the room for breakfast, he came in to get us fresh ice and make up our beds, and whenever we left for dinner, he came in to get our beds ready. We really did a great job.
I guess that's it. Happy to answer any questions!
Sharon
Saturday June 4 - Flew into Orlando in the AM and rented a van and drove to Port Canaveral. Stayed in a King suite at the Radisson and it was great. My DD3 and I enjoyed the pool for the afternoon while DH, DS7 and DS9 went to the Space Center. We brought sandiwches back to the room for dinner and got a godd night's sleep.
Sunday June 5 - I thought the whole bus shuttle process at the Radisson was a bit chaotic, but we got on the 10:30 shuttle (which actually left at 10:45) and made it to the terminal by 11:00. At the terminal, we checked in, watched videos for a few minutes and around 12:00, they started boarding the ship.
There was a HUGE line to board at 12:00, but it moved fast. Within about 15 minutes we were on board.
We immediately went upstairs to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. The buffet was very good and and the decks weren't crowded yet, so we got a nice table by the pool. Immediately after eating, the kids changed into bathing suits and swam for about an hour. The pool was relatively uncrowded for about an hour, and then got pretty crazy, but at 1:30, we were allowed to go to our stateroom. We were on deck 8 halfway between aft and midship in a Category 4 stateroom. It was surprisingly spacious. Our gift baskets from the Perfect Gift were waiting and they were nice. Our luggage arrived, one suitcase at a time, over the next hour. After we finished unpacking, I went to get a kid's club pager (we had pre-registered the kids). After that, it was time for the safety drill.
The safety drill wasn't too bad, but we did have to wait around a few minute for a family who arrived dripping wet in their swimsuits....obviously they didn't read/didn't listen to the announcements about the mandatory safety drill! Anyway, it was over in 10 - 15 minutes and we returned to our room.
Shortly after that, I headed up to deck 9 for the sail-away party and DIS meet. Unfortunately, it started pouring as we sailed away, so I missed the DIS meet and watched the ship leave port from our Verandah. (I did get to meet some fellow Dis-ers though!)
Before we knew it, it was time for dinner at Parrot Cay. We were traveling with my extended family - 8 adults, 6 kids - and we were all seated together. Our waiter, Ramon, was wonderful, as was our assistant waiter, Richard. Dinner was very good, and as the evening wore on, one by one, the kids left the table to go to the kids clubs. Even DD3 wanted to go.
At around 8:30, DH and I checked in on the kids, and DS7 wanted to leave the Kids Club and see Hercules with us. It was a great show! After that, we picked up the other kids. DD3 was crying and was mad that we hadn't picked her up sooner. She had seen her cousins being picked up from the kids club and was mad that she was left behind. DS9 didn't want to leave the club at all!
Monday, June 6 - Nassau
After breakfast at Beach Blanket, we took all 3 kids to the clubs so DH and I could do the Discover Nassau tour. The tour was fine .. I wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad I did it once. It gave us a nice overview of the island. Afterwards, we returned to the ship, had a quick lunch at Beach Blanket, picked up the kids and went off the ship again. This time, we borrowed a stroller since DD3 seemed like she was about to fall asleep. Good thing we did, because she was asleep within a few minutes. We walked to the Pirates of Nassau museum and had a great time there. It took us abiout an hour to walk through, and the boys loved it. Afterwards, we had a cool drink in the attached bar and returned to the ship so DH could do the Bridge tour.
After the Bridge tour, DH went to Beer Tasting and I showered for dinner and got the kids off to the kid's clubs. We were dining in Triton's and I thought it would be a nice "adults only" dinner. Before dinner, I received 2 pages -- one from DD3 and the other from DS7. With a little convincing, they both agreed to stay in the clubs so the adults could eat their dinners. Halfway through dinner, DD3 paged again, so we got her and brought her back to Triton's for dessert. The Triton's meal was wonderful -- my favorite of the 3 restaurants.
The ship stayed in Nassau until 2:00 am because they were finishing up some work on it, so we could have stayed on shore until 1:30 am, but we didn't.
DH went to see a movie and around 11:30, I phoned the Kid's club and insisted that DS9 return to the stateroom.
Tuesday, June 7 - Castaway Cay
Castaway Cay was amazing. It was the highlight of our cruise. We woke up in time to watch the ship dock and ate a quick breakfast at Beach Blanket. Then, we went ashore before 9:00. We found a great spot on the beach, rented a few floats and snorkeling equipment and hung out for the day, swimming, snorkeling, building sandcastles. It was heavenly!
I saw a large barracude while snorkeling, and that freaked me out, but he left me alone.
The lunch buffet at Cookies was delicious. We took a break around 12:30 and had some burgers and ice cream. The ice cream lines were long, but other than that, the lines weren't too bad.
The weather was perfect, and the beach never seemed too crowded. Even during the early afternoon, there were still plenty of umbrellas and beach chairs available.
Around 2:00, DD3 started to complain about the heat, so luckily we ran into my mom who was headed back to the ship. Around that time, I started to feel like I was geting too much sun, so I put on a t-shirt and retreated to some shade. I tried to find DH, but he had gone out to snorkel one more time. About an hour later, he came in and agreed to go back to the ship.
Unfortunately, the last hour in the water was too much for DH. He got HORRIBLE sunburn. He had second degree burns, complete with huge blisters all over his back and his arms. He was miserable. During dinner at Animators Palace, he couldn't stop shivering and had to return to the room. That night, he was in horrible pain. My advice to every one is to apply sunscreen MULTIPLE times at Castaway Cay...once is probably not enough.
Dinner that night was the Pirate themed meal. It was good, but DD3 was freaked out by all the waiters dressed as pirates. We were also worried about DH, so we returned to the room right after dinner.
We had to make a quick stop in Freeport for a medical evacuation. It looked like an older gentleman who was taken off the boat and put on another boat just outside of the Freeport harbor. It was sad and we all said a prayer for him.
That night, I took the kids up on deck for the pirate party, fireworks and late night buffet. The buffet was a stunning spread, and we shared several desserrts. Once again, I had to pry DS9 from the kids club.
Wednesday, June 8 - At sea
Our sea day was relaxing. We ate breakfast at Tritons and then took the kids to the pool. The Mickey pool was ridiculously crowded by late morning, and shortly thereafter, it was closed because a child apparently had an accident. Major Bummer! There were a lot of sad kids that afternoon.
In the afternoon, the kids went to the clubs for a short time and DH and I saw the 2:00 showing of Disney Dreams. It was a good show, but we enjoyed Hercules more.
That evening, we ate in Animators Palace again, for their regular menu this time, and it was great. It was sad saying goodbye to Ramon and Richard, our waiters. They were so kind to us and the kids and really made our dinners pleasant.
At night, we hung out, relaxed and packed up our things so they could be picked up by 11:00 pm.
Thursday, June 9 - back at port
Sadly, we went to breakfast at Animators at 6:45 and were off the ship by 7:45.
One thing I forgot to mention was Rudy, our stateroom host. He was fantastic, and almost invisible. We rarely saw him, but he knew our schedule, and whenever we left the the room for breakfast, he came in to get us fresh ice and make up our beds, and whenever we left for dinner, he came in to get our beds ready. We really did a great job.
I guess that's it. Happy to answer any questions!
Sharon
Could you tell me more about the pirate museum? Is it free and where is it in Nassau? 
Thanks for your wonderful trip report. Hope DH's burn is OK.
