This was our second Wonder cruise. DH, DS (15) and myself. We drove from our home in GA and stayed precruise at the Radisson. Last time we could not get DS out of the pool, this time could not get him IN the pool. Go figure those teens! Radisson was absolutely packed with guests and several large wedding receptions and a large military reception, but our service and checkout was fine.
Left for the port at 10:45 on Radisson shuttle. Other family on shuttle turned out to be from our hometown...it's a small world after all! (ouch) We walked right up to the counter, no waiting, checked in and then waited about an hour to board. Saw lots of other GA'ns...I think most of Atlanta and half of England was there. We boarded and ate lunch at Parrott Cay while son headed up to the chicken fingers! Lunch was good.
Got into the rooms right at 1:30, but all of our luggage did not arrive until right at sailing. Got a bit tense about that, but staff assured us it would be there. We had dining rotation of Triton, AP, PC, and Triton. Our waiter in Triton was Marcel...a great guy. We had nice dinner partners, again from GA, but they were late for dinner each night...anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. We did not wait for them and I think it bothered our servers more than us about them being late. They were delightful though and we had much in common. Dinner the first night at Triton's was good..we had sea bass. But we were late getting out of there that night. The service was slow and it just seemed a bit unorganized for some reason. We were not joined by DS...he was up at Common Grounds. In fact, he could only fit dinner with folks in once during the cruise! After dinner we saw some comedian/magic act. Okay, but nothing wonderful. He did an adult only show later that night, but we did not make that. Maybe that was where he would be better suited.
Next day in Nassau we almost overslept and missed breakfast. I was so glad to see they still had those great sticky buns on the buffet! I swear I eat more bacon on a cruise than in the whole year beforehand. We did not get off the boat at all, but lots did and the ship emptied out a bit. We just sat around the pool, trying not to burn in the wonderful sun. We read a bit and snacked a bit and then got ready for dinner again. Animators Palate was nice, although I think that "color change" thing is real overrated. Food was okay, not as good as Triton's, but enjoyable. Our assistant server's name escapes me, but he was from India and very friendly and efficient. Our Head Dining room guy still, as of the second night, not even come over to our table to introduce himself. One cool side note to Nassau day...they had a lifeboat drill with the crew and they let down the boats and practiced driving them around and rehooking them to the boat. DH was fascinated by this too!
Next day in Freeport, it was beautiful and sunny. Again, we stayed on boat and most everyone else did too. The port there is not as pretty as Nassau, but DH was fascinated watching the tankers come in and out of port. Again, another day of lounging around. They had a demonstration of ice carving which was neat. We did go see CHICAGO at the theater one night...can't remember which night. While on the subject of movies, we caught SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (forgettable) and DS saw BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE, which he loved. DH saw THE RECRUIT alone, while I hit bed early. I wish Disney had some adult movies come on earlier than 10:30 or 11:15! We saw Hercules, and again, loved it. We did dinner at Parrot Cay and no one at the table was real pleased with the food. I wanted the coconut shrimp, but found out it was moved to the "Best of" series the next night at Tritons. I wished I had made Palo reservations that night.
Day at Castaway Cay and (horrors!) we did not get off boat. It was VERY empty that day onboard, but I did laundry by myself and we snacked and read by the pool. I am just not a beach and sand person. Nothing against CC itself, I just don't like the sticky/sandy environment. But beautiful to look at and all the red faces came marching back later in the day. Dinner at Tritons was pretty good...I did total seafood...my coconut shrimp/calamari/mussels; lobster bisque and then some sort of seafood pasta dish. I enjoyed it, but again, others at the table were not as enthusiastic about their dinners. On the final night of the cruise, our Head Dining guy was there to collect his gratuity. Although it is only a fairly small amount of tip, I resent feeling obligated to give the guy something when he did nothing. Our last cruise we had Paul from Scotland and he greeted and chatted with us nightly. Saw Disney Dreams with DH who had missed it last time. It was wonderful, but I had my fill of over tired, unsupervised kids. There was a whole row of kids there at the 8:30 show in front of us, most under the age of 7, bouncing up and down, playing too loud and their parents sat across the aisle, not making them behave. One child was laying in the aisle and cast members had to ask her to be moved so the performers could line up for the Lion King number. She was moved by a parent, only to go back down there. Cast member AGAIN spoke to dad, who at that point picked her up and left.
Disembarkation went great, as usual and it was over too soon. We went to Orlando for a few more days and relaxed at a nice condo and did Animal Kingdom. We thoroughly enjoyed that.
So, all in all, cruise was nice and weather and seas cooperated. This will probably be our last Disney cruise for quit a while. For smaller kids, it's great, and DS had a ball, but for folks like us that do not like all the shore excursions and with a teen, we want to experience something different. And Disney is too pricey (to us) for the quality and variety of some things. The food is just not that great in general. Some dishes are very good, but others are just plain ordinary. Disney does lots of things great, but food has never been one of them. Food in the parks has always be ordinary and overpriced. I know, I know...I should have tried Palo. If I ever to DCL again, you can bet I will because all I hear is raves! Would I recommend DCL to others? Yes, of course...the programs are great and so are the shows. It's just that we feel we've experienced enough of the Wonder for a while. We may try a Magic cruise...who knows., but I suspect we'll try another cruise line a few times before rebooking with Disney.
Still a wonderful experience and the good outweighed the bad by a long ways. Hope all you future cruises have a wonderful time.!
zbuddy in GA
Left for the port at 10:45 on Radisson shuttle. Other family on shuttle turned out to be from our hometown...it's a small world after all! (ouch) We walked right up to the counter, no waiting, checked in and then waited about an hour to board. Saw lots of other GA'ns...I think most of Atlanta and half of England was there. We boarded and ate lunch at Parrott Cay while son headed up to the chicken fingers! Lunch was good.
Got into the rooms right at 1:30, but all of our luggage did not arrive until right at sailing. Got a bit tense about that, but staff assured us it would be there. We had dining rotation of Triton, AP, PC, and Triton. Our waiter in Triton was Marcel...a great guy. We had nice dinner partners, again from GA, but they were late for dinner each night...anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. We did not wait for them and I think it bothered our servers more than us about them being late. They were delightful though and we had much in common. Dinner the first night at Triton's was good..we had sea bass. But we were late getting out of there that night. The service was slow and it just seemed a bit unorganized for some reason. We were not joined by DS...he was up at Common Grounds. In fact, he could only fit dinner with folks in once during the cruise! After dinner we saw some comedian/magic act. Okay, but nothing wonderful. He did an adult only show later that night, but we did not make that. Maybe that was where he would be better suited.
Next day in Nassau we almost overslept and missed breakfast. I was so glad to see they still had those great sticky buns on the buffet! I swear I eat more bacon on a cruise than in the whole year beforehand. We did not get off the boat at all, but lots did and the ship emptied out a bit. We just sat around the pool, trying not to burn in the wonderful sun. We read a bit and snacked a bit and then got ready for dinner again. Animators Palate was nice, although I think that "color change" thing is real overrated. Food was okay, not as good as Triton's, but enjoyable. Our assistant server's name escapes me, but he was from India and very friendly and efficient. Our Head Dining room guy still, as of the second night, not even come over to our table to introduce himself. One cool side note to Nassau day...they had a lifeboat drill with the crew and they let down the boats and practiced driving them around and rehooking them to the boat. DH was fascinated by this too!
Next day in Freeport, it was beautiful and sunny. Again, we stayed on boat and most everyone else did too. The port there is not as pretty as Nassau, but DH was fascinated watching the tankers come in and out of port. Again, another day of lounging around. They had a demonstration of ice carving which was neat. We did go see CHICAGO at the theater one night...can't remember which night. While on the subject of movies, we caught SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (forgettable) and DS saw BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE, which he loved. DH saw THE RECRUIT alone, while I hit bed early. I wish Disney had some adult movies come on earlier than 10:30 or 11:15! We saw Hercules, and again, loved it. We did dinner at Parrot Cay and no one at the table was real pleased with the food. I wanted the coconut shrimp, but found out it was moved to the "Best of" series the next night at Tritons. I wished I had made Palo reservations that night.
Day at Castaway Cay and (horrors!) we did not get off boat. It was VERY empty that day onboard, but I did laundry by myself and we snacked and read by the pool. I am just not a beach and sand person. Nothing against CC itself, I just don't like the sticky/sandy environment. But beautiful to look at and all the red faces came marching back later in the day. Dinner at Tritons was pretty good...I did total seafood...my coconut shrimp/calamari/mussels; lobster bisque and then some sort of seafood pasta dish. I enjoyed it, but again, others at the table were not as enthusiastic about their dinners. On the final night of the cruise, our Head Dining guy was there to collect his gratuity. Although it is only a fairly small amount of tip, I resent feeling obligated to give the guy something when he did nothing. Our last cruise we had Paul from Scotland and he greeted and chatted with us nightly. Saw Disney Dreams with DH who had missed it last time. It was wonderful, but I had my fill of over tired, unsupervised kids. There was a whole row of kids there at the 8:30 show in front of us, most under the age of 7, bouncing up and down, playing too loud and their parents sat across the aisle, not making them behave. One child was laying in the aisle and cast members had to ask her to be moved so the performers could line up for the Lion King number. She was moved by a parent, only to go back down there. Cast member AGAIN spoke to dad, who at that point picked her up and left.
Disembarkation went great, as usual and it was over too soon. We went to Orlando for a few more days and relaxed at a nice condo and did Animal Kingdom. We thoroughly enjoyed that.
So, all in all, cruise was nice and weather and seas cooperated. This will probably be our last Disney cruise for quit a while. For smaller kids, it's great, and DS had a ball, but for folks like us that do not like all the shore excursions and with a teen, we want to experience something different. And Disney is too pricey (to us) for the quality and variety of some things. The food is just not that great in general. Some dishes are very good, but others are just plain ordinary. Disney does lots of things great, but food has never been one of them. Food in the parks has always be ordinary and overpriced. I know, I know...I should have tried Palo. If I ever to DCL again, you can bet I will because all I hear is raves! Would I recommend DCL to others? Yes, of course...the programs are great and so are the shows. It's just that we feel we've experienced enough of the Wonder for a while. We may try a Magic cruise...who knows., but I suspect we'll try another cruise line a few times before rebooking with Disney.
Still a wonderful experience and the good outweighed the bad by a long ways. Hope all you future cruises have a wonderful time.!
zbuddy in GA
