Just back from the Wonder July 5-8th FULL TRIP REPORT DAYS 1,2 & 3 (long w/photos)

[disneychic]

Disney Wonder July 5th – 8th 2007


Just returned from our 3 day Wonder trip
My husband and I treated my dad to his first ever cruise.
This cruise was the 5th Disney cruise that my husband and I have taken.

DAY 1 July 5th, 2007

We live in the Central Florida area, so it is only about an hour drive from our home to the terminal. We left at 8:45 on Thursday morning. I get so excited every time you go over that bridge and see the Wonder or the Magic in port! It is an awesome sight, and my dad couldn’t believe how beautiful the ship looked in person.

There she is!


We arrived at the port at 9:50 and we were told by one of the cast members that we were just a few minutes early and to pull into the day lot with the 4 other cars waiting. A cast member came into the lot about 10 minutes later and motioned for us to come through the car check-in area. We were over by the luggage handlers very quickly, dropped the luggage off and my husband was told that he could park the car in the lot usually used by the Magic – I don’t think we ever got a parking spot so close!

We were in through security and up on the line for the Castaway Club by 10:15 or so. We were the first people on line for the Castaway Club line. Check in was a breeze, we were given Castaway Club lanyards and pins as a little pre-gift. We were also handed a card with the number 2 on it and told we’d need it for Boarding. It seemed like a lifetime before they started boarding the ship. They called our group right after the Concierge guests boarded. Just as we were boarding it started storming outside. We were about the 4th family to board. When they announced our name, we used my maiden name, so that my dad could hear his name and experience that little bit of Disney magic! He thought it was so cool when they welcomed us on board.

Me waiting in the terminal

Wonder in port


We went up to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch –I LOVE this buffet. They’ve actually added some newer choices – some small sandwiches and things. We of course had to sit inside as it was down pouring SHEETS OF RAIN outside. We were sitting by the window and couldn’t see passed the deck. It was a sea of gray out there! We were able to eat and it was still relatively quiet on board. Not a lot of people on the ship yet. This was the earliest I’d ever been on board and it was great! After lunch we took my dad on a “mini ship tour” we went down to deck 4 and showed him where the shops were, and where the Walt Disney Theater was. We then went down to deck 3 and showed him Route 66, and went into Diversions, and sat by a port hole window and enjoyed a few cocktails. At 1:30 we went to check out our stateroom. We booked a Cat. 9 – deluxe ocean view stateroom. We had cabin 2590 – it was a great room. We received our Castaway Club tote bag – it was waiting for us on the bed like so many Castaway Club gifts we’d received in the past. my dad was so impressed with the ship and the state room. I love seeing someone’s reaction to how beautiful the ship is.

Me & DH

Dad & Daisy


My dad wanted to do the walking tour of the ship at 2:00. My husband and I have been on the Wonder 3 times already and the Magic once, so we were pretty familiar with the ship, but my dad hadn’t been before so we went along with him. By this time it was still raining out – a very light misting kind of rain. I kind of had a feeling that we would be having our sail away celebration inside for this cruise. After the tour we showed my dad the pool area’s and went into the Cove for an Espresso. After relaxing in the Cove for a while, we needed to head down to the room to get ready for the mandatory life boat drill. We put our vests on and took pictures – a tradition for my hubby and me. We headed up to deck 4 – station M for the life boat drill. I must say we were very happy that they changed the life-vests on board. The old ones were so big and thick that you couldn’t see where you were walking! Going up and down flights of stairs was not an easy task! But the newer ones were much better. Michael was the Cast Member in charge of our group. He was very funny and kept all the kiddies in our section entertained. He informed us that the sail away celebration would indeed be held inside He also told us to make sure to come see him that evening as he was one of the performers in Hercules the Muse-ical. We made sure to head up to the Sail Away Celebration at 4:45. It was very packed so we went outside on Deck 4 and played some shuffle board as the ship started departing Pt. Canaveral. We noticed that the rain had completely stopped and decided to go up to deck 10 to watch the ship leave the port. We made it upstairs in just enough time to hear the ships horn blow. My dad thought that the sounding horn of “when you wish upon a star” was amazing. It was so nice to see my dad so impressed – and we had just left the port! After a little while, we decided to go back to the stateroom to get changed for Hercules the Muse-ical and dinner.

Gettin' ready for the life boat drill

Dad Being Goofy!

We went up to deck 4 at about 5:50 or so. The shops had already opened and we didn’t hesitate to let the spending begin! The prices and the quality of merchandise seemed to be much better than the last cruise we went on in 2004. We did some shopping and then we sent my husband back down to the room to drop off the bags while my dad and I went into the theatre to get seats. Christian our Cruise Director came out and addressed the audience before the start of the show. He turned out to be by far the BEST cruise director we’ve ever had while on a Disney Cruise. Now, I must tell you that I absolutely LOVE Hercules the Muse-ical. It is my absolute favorite show on board. I am very disappointed that they will soon be replacing this show! I love the “schticky” comedy routines from Hades. By the way, Michael our life boat drill cast member was playing the role of young Hercules. He was very very good actually.

Leaving Port

Stateroom 2590


After the show we went over to the Cadillac Lounge and enjoyed a cocktail and listened to Daryl play the piano for a while. It was so relaxing to sit there by a port hole window and watch the water go by. At 8:30 we walked over to Parrot Cay for our first night’s dinner. We were seated at table 43 and Balwan from India was our server and, Ryan from South Africa was our Assistant Server. A lovely family from Texas were our tablemates. Paul, Mary and their 12 year old daughter Alexa were joining us. Like my dad, this was their first ever cruise too. The more I cruise with Disney the more I love Parrot Cay. I think that the food is excellent there. After dinner we went over to the Buena Vista Theater to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – At World’s End. The movie started at 10:45 (it didn’t end until 1:33 AM). It wasn’t even 12:00 when I noticed my dad had fallen asleep. I woke him up and told him that he should go down to the room and get some sleep –he didn’t argue! After the movie my husband and I took a walk on deck 4. It was so quiet out there. All you could here was the water. I think we got back to the room at 2:15 or so. I read over my Personal Navigator for day 2 and finally went to sleep.[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]

Route 66

The Walt Disney Theater

Studio Sea

 

[granmaz]

Thank you for the report. I really enjoyed it and am looking foward to the rest. It will be my husband and my first cruise in December!!

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

Love your photos! If I close my eyes, it's almost like being back.....

 

[disneychic]

Day 2
Friday, July 6th, 2007

I had scheduled a wake up call for 7:00 AM so that we could get to breakfast early. It was a good idea when I scheduled the wake up call before we left for dinner the night before! I forgot all about it when I was going to bed after 2:00 AM! I got up anyway and headed up to the spa to use the treadmill and stationary bike. I did 6 miles and decided that was enough! On my way back to the room I decided to take some photos while the ship was pulling into Nassau.

Nassau Light house

Nassau

ATLANTAS

After that I went back to the room and my husband and my dad were up and ready to go have breakfast. We went up to Beach Blanket Buffet at about 9:00. The ship was already in port in Nassau and there weren’t many people up there for breakfast. I guess we missed the early crowd. We had a great breakfast and my husband wanted to play basketball so he and I shot some hoops while my dad took some photos of the ship and Nassau.

Shootin' some hoops

Deck 10

Deck 10

Dock area from Deck 10


By 11:00 or so my husband and I got our bathing suites on and headed to the quiet cove pool. My dad went back to the room to get his book and decided to go back to deck 4 and read. My husband and I stayed at the pool until about 1:30. There was really no one there. Maybe 2 other couples. I guess everyone was off having fun in Nassau. We’ve done that on our first and second cruises. We didn’t feel the need to go sight seeing. We went back over to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch and met up with my dad. Again, I was very impressed with the buffet selection. We usually would dine at Triton’s for lunch during the Nassau day, but my dad enjoyed the lunch buffet the day earlier so we decided to do that again.

At 3:00 we went over to the art auction. This was the first Disney cruise that I experienced the art auction and artwork for sale up on deck 4. I must say that I did not care for either. Every time we walked passed (they had the artwork in the hallway between shutters and the lobby) we were stopped by the gentleman sitting at the desk, and pretty much told to buy “something” every time we walked by (and that's exactly how he'd put it --"you should buy something". The art auction was held in the atrium lobby on deck 3. They had chairs out and served martinis. They began the auction and they had some pretty expensive pieces (some pieces started bidding at 20,000). They only had a few Disney pieces and they started bidding at $800 or so. They also gave out raffle tickets at the beginning of the auction. After the auction ended the gentleman announced that they would be raffling 5 pieces of artwork. I actually was the last raffle number called. They instructed us to go up to their desk before dinner to receive our art work. (I’ll get to that story later). After the auction my dad went down to the room to lie down for a while and my husband and I went up to deck 4 to book our cruise for next year. We sat with Leslie and she helped us book our next trip We’ll be sailing the 4 Day Wonder on June 29th, 2008 I had to take advantage of the 10% discount you get for booking while on board + the on board credit!


At 4:45 we went down to the Castaway Club reception. Our Cruise Director, Christian was there as well as Captain Henry. They served snacks and drinks and we met some of our fellow Castaway Clubbers

It was now 5:15 so my husband and I headed back to the room to get ready for The Golden Mickey’s and dinner. When we got down to the room my dad was already awake, showered and dressed for dinner. He was going to head up to the Cadillac lounge for a cocktail and we told him we’d meet him up there after we got showered/changed for dinner.

At 6:15 we headed over to the Walt Disney Theater to see the Golden Mickeys. This show is cute, but not my favorite. I’d rather see them replace this show than Hercules. But, that’s only my opinion. After the show we went over by the art work area to see what I had won. Basically, I was able to choose between 10 pieces of art. I chose 1, and then I was told that the piece of art that I had one at the auction was going to cost me over $300 – for framing and shipping and handling. After a lot of discussion, I was able to get the piece unframed (it is a lithograph) for $35 dollars, or I could just not take the piece at all. I chose option B-- $35 for shipping of the lithograph. The whole experience didn’t feel very Disney to me at all. I think that Disney should just sell their own artwork on board. I think that guests on a Disney cruise would probably spend money on Disney Animation Cells, etc. I don’t know how many people are purchasing $20,000 pieces of art on board. Most of the pieces they had were $5,000 and up. I’d be happy seeing framed cells and pictures like they sell at the Art of Disney in Downtown Disney. But again, this is just my opinion. At 8:30 we made our way over to Triton’s. We enjoyed spending time with our tablemates. They were lovely people. I didn’t enjoy the meal at Triton’s as much as I did at Parrot Cay. I think next year we will go to Palo and skip Triton’s. I don’t really enjoy French cuisine, and I’m allergic to shell fish, so I’ve got limited choices there. I end up getting something from the “lighter fare” menu which tends to be a bit bland. Tonight was the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. After dinner we headed up to deck 10. We really enjoyed the Pirates party! I thought they did an excellent job with the fire works and all. We had a great time

Before Dinner on deck 3

Triton's

Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party

Pirates party - Mickey's Entrance

Funnel lit up at night

At 11:00 we went down to the Walt Disney Theater to see Ratatouille. Again, my dad fell asleep about 10 minutes into the film – I ended up waking him up and sending him down to the room again!

By 1:00 or so the movie had ended and my husband and I were worn out! It was time to turn in for the night! Tomorrow – CASTAWAY CAY!!!

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Great TR!!! We'll be on the 3-night in August and we plan on staying onboard in Nassau, too. Great to see the ship so empty.

Sorry the Sailaway party was a bust.

Love the photos......

Would love it if you posted the Navigators.

Hey, we were on the 7/3/04 Magic cruise, too.

 

[disneychic]

Day 3
Saturday, July 7th, 2007

The wake up call was needed today as I would not miss 1 minute on Castaway Cay! The wake up call came in at 6:30 AM and I got up and got dressed and headed up to the spa so that I could use the treadmill/stationary bike again and got another 6 ½ miles accomplished today. After I ran up to Deck 10 to get some photo’s as we had already arrived at CC (it was 7:15 or so).

CC from Deck 10

Beautiful Castaway Cay!

View from our State Room's Port Hole

Shore Excursions Desk

CC from Deck 10

Beautiful Castaway Cay!

Arial Shot from Deck 10

Dad infront of Triton's


I went back down to the room and the guys were both up and getting ready for our beach day. I showered and got dressed to go to Triton’s for Breakfast. We were there for 8:00 when they opened the doors for breakfast. My dad wanted to try a sit down breakfast today. My husband and I had the pancakes and dad opted for 2 fried eggs, bacon and potato’s. After breakfast we went to the room to get our beach bag and headed down to deck 1 to leave the ship. There were about 15 people waiting on the stair well.

At 8:30 we got the all clear to leave the ship. We were on our way! It was a beautiful morning. Very sunny, there was a great breeze and very little humidity. We got off the ship and walked (didn’t want to wait for the tram) passed the family beach and picked a spot way at the end right before the teen beach. We were just passed the volley ball net area. We had rest rooms near by and the “Heads Up Bar” was also close by for drinks. We also were able to get a hammock – which my husband must have while on Castaway Cay. He gets one every cruise. It’s his ultimate relaxation—lying in a hammock on Castaway Cay with a drink of some kind or another. We rented tubes and were in the water before 9:00 A.M. We were on the beach and in the sun for hours. At 11:15 or so my dad wanted to check out Serenity Bay and take some pictures. So, he went off and did that. By 12:15 or so he still wasn’t back and we were getting hungry for lunch. He finally returned a bit after 12:45 and told us he grabbed lunch over by Serenity Bay, so my husband and I headed over to Cookies BBQ. I guess a lot of people had eaten lunch already because there was no line, and we got a table all to our selves (and there were plenty of other empty tables as well). The food over at Cookies seemed to improve quite a bit since our last cruise. I had the lemon/rosemary chicken, some tomato salad (it had oil/vinegar dressing and onions & oregano), banana bread, Cole slaw, and fresh fruit. It was very good! My husband opted for the hamburger, potato salad, corn on the cobb – you know, the traditional BBQ stuff. After lunch I had to walk off all that food, so as my hubby walked back to our spot on the beach, I headed off in the opposite direction, back toward the ship. I stopped into She Sells Seashells to take a peek at the merchandise available (better stuff on the ship as usual), and then down to the watercraft rental area. I thought the Fun Cat’s looked like they might be worth a try so I headed back up to our spot on the beach to see if my husband might want to try them out.

Ahhhhh PARADISE!

Mt. Rustmore

Serenity Bay

View of Disney Wonder from Heads Up Bar

Me & DH relaxing in that perfect water!

Flying Dutchman

The Wonder & The Dutchman

At about 2:00 or so we headed back down to the water craft rental area. We rented 2 Fun Cat’s. My husband and I were going to take one out and my dad took one out as well. It was $20 for a half hour – I think it was a great price! They have an electric motor/propeller on them and they have a little devise by the arm rest that lets you propel forward, backward or left – right. We were able to go pretty close to the Flying Dutchman and get some great pictures. My dad’s Fun Cat seemed to be loosing its battery life and he was far behind us – in fact every time we turned around to see where he was we couldn’t stop laughing! Apparently, only 1 of his propellers was working so he couldn’t maneuver as well as we could. It was worth a few giggles at his expense.

Me & DH on a Fun Cat

Having fun on the Fun Cat!

See Ya Later Mon!



After our Fun Cat experience we decided to go back to the ship. My dad opted to stay behind to get some more pictures with his brand new digital camera (lets put it this way, he took over 200 pictures on Castaway Cay alone). My husband and I walked back to the ship – we stopped at the post office first and purchased 3 books of stamps. I’ve always meant to do that, and never remembered to bring cash along so this time I made sure to bring cash!

Back on board we decided to head up to the Quiet Cove Pool to cool off for a bit. Again, we pretty much had the entire pool to ourselves. There was 1 other couple there. We were able to cool off for an hour or so. At 3:00 we walked over to the drink station on deck 9 and met up with my dad. He was headed down to the art auction –again to see if anyone would actually bid on the high end pieces (unsurprisingly, no one did). My Husband and I headed down to the room to get showered/changed for Disney Dreams and dinner. I also started to pack our bags so that I wouldn’t have to do that after dinner. We were pretty much all packed at 4:30 or so when my dad made his way down to the room. He got showered and ready for dinner and did some packing while we headed up to deck 9 to Goofy’s Gallery to grab some fruit and then went back down to see Leslie at the future cruise booking desk and asked her if she could change our room for our cruise for next year (she originally put is in a room on deck7 – very far aft). We changed it to deck 6 mid ship – much better! At 5:30 the gift shops opened and I did some more shopping! My husband went to put the shopping bags in the room while I went into the theatre to get seats for Disney Dreams as it was now just about 6:00. My husband and dad made it into the theatre about 2 minutes before the show started. Disney Dreams is a great show. My dad really enjoyed it as well – actually he said he thoroughly enjoyed all 3 shows. My favorite is still Hercules After Disney Dreams ended we went back to the gift shop to have Captain Henry sign some of the items that I purchased. Then we went up to deck 10 so my dad could take some MORE pictures--although the ones of the sunset were great!

Pretty Sunset


At 8:30 we headed over to Animator’s Palate for dinner. Our tablemates were there already and we had a lovely time talking with our new friends about their day on Castaway Cay. Our wait staff was marvelous. We really enjoyed them a lot. The food at Animator’s Palate was very good. I had chicken, my dad and my husband both had the bacon wrapped filet mignon – which they both said was very good. Our tablemate’s daughter, Alexa turned 13 today and the wait staff brought her over a cake and we sang and wished her a Happy Birthday

Outside of Animator's Palate

Our lovely tablemates


After dinner we went back to Mickey’s Mates (gift shop) to pick up a large framed picture that I had purchased –it had to be bubble wrapped, etc. and did some more shopping . We then had to go back to the room to make sure all the luggage was out by 11:00. We had plenty of time. We made it over to Wavebands for the 70’s themed party by 10:40 or so. We had a great time watching the Gloria Gaynor lip sinc contest as well as the John Travolta lip sinc contest. It was a lot of fun. My dad got a big kick out of it. He even wanted to dance for a bit after that! --Don’t ask where he got the energy for dancing – I had NONE! We made it back to the room at midnight or so and it didn’t take long to fall asleep. Our wonderful vacation was just about over. It will feel like an eternity until my husband and I get to go back on the Wonder next year!


Day 4
July 8th, 2007
Disembarkation Day

Well that lovely wake up call came in bright and early again this morning! 6:30 to be exact. We all woke up and I headed up to deck 4 and did a few jogging laps around the ship. I went back downstairs at about 7:00 and was able to get a quick shower in and made sure everything was packed before we left the room for breakfast at 7:45.

We ate breakfast at Animator’s Palate. We were joined by our table mates and had a nice breakfast with them. Our Wait staff spent some time with us which was greatly appreciated. They were wonderful and very hard workers. As I mentioned, this was my husband and my 5th Disney Cruise. Out of those 5 cruises I can only say that 2 other wait staff members were this good and memorable. I can’t even remember my wait staff from last cruise in 2004 – and that was a 7 day cruise! Balwan and Ryan were fantastic! We really enjoyed them. It was a great cruise. This was the first time we’ve done a 3 day cruise and it went too fast – but then again, every Disney Cruise goes too fast!

 

[granmaz]

Sorry your cruise is over - I have enjoyed the reports and lovely pictures.

 

[Foxes Den]

Great pix, thanks for sharing!

 

[Joshua_me]

Wow !

Great TR and great pics as well.

Your Dad is very blessed to have such a great daughter and son in law.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

Wonderful report and great pics Thanks!

Hey - are those Fun Cats new? Didn't see them in Nov. -- they look like a blast!

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Wonderful report and great pics Thanks!

Hey - are those Fun Cats new? Didn't see them in Nov. -- they look like a blast!

I was wondering the same thing.....

 

[fourdrawrs]

thanks for the tr and pics,,we've never been on a cruise before but are thinking about it. your report and pics are great i'll have toshow dh.. thanks..

 

[disneychic]

I think the Fun Cats are newer. I saw them on Good Morning America when they were on board the Wonder a month or so ago. They were alot of fun. But, I think next time I will get them a bit earlier on in the day -- because the one my dad got was not functioning right. They have a re-chargable battery on them and since we got them at the end of the day I think his battery was nearly worn out.

 

[2Princes_&_1Princess]

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! Great trip report.

 

[squitty]

Really enjoyed your trip report, you have some lovely photos too.

Thank you.

 

[wilma-bride]

Great trip report and pictures - we are really looking forward to our first ever cruise on the Wonder next month

 

[Mdlex]

Great review and pictures! Thank you for sharing.

 

[frdeb1999]

Wonderful pix and report!! Looks like you had a wonderful time!! Only 21 days til the start of our vacation!!

 

[lunsusie]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Babs417]

That was so good I cant wait great pics