We're home after our 4 nights on the Wonder from 11/9-11/13. I do plan on writing a trip report but I'm not sure when that might happen, so I thought I'd jot down a few points here and would offer to answer questions if anyone has any.
We stayed at the Radisson the night before. The pool was beautiful but the room wasn't anything special. The free shuttle was running behind the next morning, so we didn't leave at 10:30 like we expected to, but we did make it around 11 I think.
The ship was beautiful! I was teary-eyed many times that first afternoon. The ship and port terminal were both decorated for Christmas and were beautiful.
Our cruise director was Clayton, and he was awesome. He always looked and sounded like he was having as much - or more - fun as we were. We loved his "I'm on vacation dance" announcements every night!
When we boarded, we were directed to Parrot Cay, but I asked if we could go to Beach Blanket Buffet instead. There was no one on deck 9 around the Mickey pool when we got up there, so we got a table and enjoyed our lunch by the pool but out of the wind. (Outside of BBB there are other outdoor tables that are very windy, but the tables by the soda machines on deck 9 are blocked from the wind and we enjoyed that spot.) The boys got to swim before things got too crowded after we ate lunch.
We had magnets for our door and only spotted about 5 other doors that were decorated. Our door got a lot of attention - we heard many people commenting as they walked past. Our neighbor sounded either jealous or annoyed when she asked us about our door ("How'd you get that stuff on your door?!?!") ;-)
We all dressed for Pirate Night, and I'd say we only saw about 3 other families who were all in costume. Many people wear just a pirate type shirt, and most kids were dressed up. We didn't feel out of place in costume, but at the same time, we wouldn't have felt left out if we hadn't been dressed up either. Clayton (our cruise director) gave us a big thumbs up at the Pirate Party. Many people complimented us on our costumes. I did hear one upset child telling his mom that he wanted a costume - she said maybe next time! (It'd be expensive, but you could costume a child from the gift shop if you weren't prepared ahead of time.)
I found myself surprised at just how much we could feel the motion of the ship. None of us got sick (Thank God!) which made me very relieved because both our boys get very car sick. We took a handful of times but didn't stay on a strict schedule - I just gave it out whenever I really noticed the rocking.
I was also surprised at how exhausted I was on the trip, and at how many things we never got to do. I expected to miss a lot, but I think we missed out on more than I expected. We only made it to one show (Toy Story - which we loved) and to one movie (Beverly Hills Chihuahua). We actually skipped dinner the last night (much to the horror of our dinner wait staff - but I tried to reassure them that it had nothing to do with them, that we just needed more time to enjoy the ship). Don't worry - we still tipped them as if we'd been there for every meal.
Our stateroom host was fine but nothing special. The room always looked lovely, but we rarely bumped into him and didn't even meet him until the third night.
The kids enjoyed their programs but didn't go as much as I thought they would. They both would choose things that they wanted to do but then those activities seemed to back up to things they weren't interested in, so they were in and out a lot. My son wished he could have had more free time in the lab instead of so many structured activities that he wasn't interested in (like the talent show). Our 11 yr old was allowed to sign himself out and enjoyed the bits of freedom we gave him.
We didn't do any excursions, and I'm glad since we already felt like the time was so full! If we do another cruise (more on that in a minute), we would do a longer one and would probably plan excursions then. My husband did rent snorkle gear on Castaway Cay and loved his time in the water. My boys enjoyed the island from early morning until about 2 and then wanted to head back onboard to enjoy the pools while they weren't as crowded.
We did rebook, although we're not telling the kids and will wait to see what the economy is like in a year. But I wanted to take advantage of the 10% discount and room credit, so we rebooked. Oh, the woman I rebooked with (can't remember her name) told me off the record that the discounted deposit amounts ($125 per person for 7 night trips) is not going to end any time soon.
That's about all I can think of right this second. If anyone has questions, I'll try to answer them!
We stayed at the Radisson the night before. The pool was beautiful but the room wasn't anything special. The free shuttle was running behind the next morning, so we didn't leave at 10:30 like we expected to, but we did make it around 11 I think.
The ship was beautiful! I was teary-eyed many times that first afternoon. The ship and port terminal were both decorated for Christmas and were beautiful.
Our cruise director was Clayton, and he was awesome. He always looked and sounded like he was having as much - or more - fun as we were. We loved his "I'm on vacation dance" announcements every night!
When we boarded, we were directed to Parrot Cay, but I asked if we could go to Beach Blanket Buffet instead. There was no one on deck 9 around the Mickey pool when we got up there, so we got a table and enjoyed our lunch by the pool but out of the wind. (Outside of BBB there are other outdoor tables that are very windy, but the tables by the soda machines on deck 9 are blocked from the wind and we enjoyed that spot.) The boys got to swim before things got too crowded after we ate lunch.
We had magnets for our door and only spotted about 5 other doors that were decorated. Our door got a lot of attention - we heard many people commenting as they walked past. Our neighbor sounded either jealous or annoyed when she asked us about our door ("How'd you get that stuff on your door?!?!") ;-)
We all dressed for Pirate Night, and I'd say we only saw about 3 other families who were all in costume. Many people wear just a pirate type shirt, and most kids were dressed up. We didn't feel out of place in costume, but at the same time, we wouldn't have felt left out if we hadn't been dressed up either. Clayton (our cruise director) gave us a big thumbs up at the Pirate Party. Many people complimented us on our costumes. I did hear one upset child telling his mom that he wanted a costume - she said maybe next time! (It'd be expensive, but you could costume a child from the gift shop if you weren't prepared ahead of time.)
I found myself surprised at just how much we could feel the motion of the ship. None of us got sick (Thank God!) which made me very relieved because both our boys get very car sick. We took a handful of times but didn't stay on a strict schedule - I just gave it out whenever I really noticed the rocking.
I was also surprised at how exhausted I was on the trip, and at how many things we never got to do. I expected to miss a lot, but I think we missed out on more than I expected. We only made it to one show (Toy Story - which we loved) and to one movie (Beverly Hills Chihuahua). We actually skipped dinner the last night (much to the horror of our dinner wait staff - but I tried to reassure them that it had nothing to do with them, that we just needed more time to enjoy the ship). Don't worry - we still tipped them as if we'd been there for every meal.
Our stateroom host was fine but nothing special. The room always looked lovely, but we rarely bumped into him and didn't even meet him until the third night.
The kids enjoyed their programs but didn't go as much as I thought they would. They both would choose things that they wanted to do but then those activities seemed to back up to things they weren't interested in, so they were in and out a lot. My son wished he could have had more free time in the lab instead of so many structured activities that he wasn't interested in (like the talent show). Our 11 yr old was allowed to sign himself out and enjoyed the bits of freedom we gave him.
We didn't do any excursions, and I'm glad since we already felt like the time was so full! If we do another cruise (more on that in a minute), we would do a longer one and would probably plan excursions then. My husband did rent snorkle gear on Castaway Cay and loved his time in the water. My boys enjoyed the island from early morning until about 2 and then wanted to head back onboard to enjoy the pools while they weren't as crowded.
We did rebook, although we're not telling the kids and will wait to see what the economy is like in a year. But I wanted to take advantage of the 10% discount and room credit, so we rebooked. Oh, the woman I rebooked with (can't remember her name) told me off the record that the discounted deposit amounts ($125 per person for 7 night trips) is not going to end any time soon.
That's about all I can think of right this second. If anyone has questions, I'll try to answer them!
). I asked the rebooking agent if the seas that night were normal, and she said they were a bit rougher than average. 
