Just off 1/10 Southern Caribbean Wonder cruise: any ?'s

[jenny_nichole]

Hello,

We just got off the Wonder Southern Caribbean cruise and had an amazing time! The weather was beautiful & we really enjoyed the ports.

Here are a few details that may be helpful to future cruisers:
1. Pirate night: on night 5 (Martinique)
Deck party starts at 7:30 and fireworks at 8:02
We were able to shift our Palo reservation to accommodate the change.
2.Dining rotation: our's was TAAPTAP
3. AHOD cheese plate: Yes, we were able to order this from room service!
4: movies shown:Inside Out, Big Hero 6, Ant-man, Star Wars: the Force Awakens, The Good Dinosaur, Bridge of Spies, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers:Age of Ultron
5: favorite ports/activities
Grenada: snorkeled underwater sculpture park: booked with grenadaseafaris.com. It was a wonderful tour & you are close to the ship the whole time.
Barbados: Calabazza Catamaran Sea turtle snorkel: everyone in our family agrees this was our favorite port day. Swimming with sea turtles=incredible!
St. Kitts: took cab($4/pp each way) to Carambola Beach club. Facilities are nice, you can rent chairs, umbrellas, snorkel gear, jet skis, etc. Excellent snorkeling right off the beach by the rocks. Also, ask cab driver to stop at the scenic overlook-so pretty!
6. Least favorite ports:
Martinique: we did not do any type of planning for this stop and so I feel like this is the reason we didn't care for it. We walked to town, visited the library that was built France & shipped to Martinique, & returned to the ship. We don't speak French & in hindsight we probably would have enjoyed this port so much more with a tour. I talked with someone who took a Disney excursion to see St Pierre/volcano museum and they loved it.
Antigua: took 20min cab ride to Valley Church beach($8pp each way...kind of a shocker since it cost $90 after tip r/t for our family of 5), rented 2chairs($5 each) & umbrella($10). The beach & water are lovely, but our kids who thorougly enjoyed snorkeling in Grenada & St Kitts were disappointed that the water in Antigua is sort of opaque & doesn't make for good snorkeling off the beach. The water is such an amazing color though-it's really a sight to see. If you want a laid back beach day, this is a good bet. (locals are selling stuff & jet ski tours, but are not pushy)

I hope this info helps. We are still in San Juan, so I will check in when I can.

 

[MUN]

I'm pleased to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Did the ship seem crowded? Who as the cruise director and the captain?

MUN

 

[jenny_nichole]

We had an amazing time! The only times where it felt crowded were at the deck parties, character photo times(long line in atrium around dinner), & afternoons by the pools(all 3 pools).

Cruise director was Natalie and Captain was Robert

 

[disneypolybride2008]

Did you feel safe, in St. Kitts especially?

 

[jennifermcb]

I also just returned from the same cruise. I felt very safe in St Kitts. IMO, it's one of the lovelier, safer islands. Again, just my opinion. We took a 10 minute cab ride to Carambola Beach Club, which is a public beach. Rented a chair and umbrella for the day, it was just beautiful! It had a lovely restaurant and bar, nice area to snorkel.
My *one* disappointment with the cruise was that the photos taken onboard are now identified by facial recognition. However, it failed to recognize even one of my photos. I looked through hundreds of unidentified photos and was unable to find any. Luckily, I traveled with a group and was able to purchase some group photos. I was unable to find or purchase any photos of my husband and myself. Many parents were disappointed that they couldn't find particular photos of their children or family. I do hope their system improves or that they go back to the old way of scanning the KTTW card to make identification easier.

 

[SleepyDeb]

Oh thank you for posting. Taking this cruise on 1/24 and was hoping someone would post.

What were the temperatures like. Booked S Caribbean bc we're hoping for summer like (for NH) type weather.

 

[MUN]

I also just returned from the same cruise. I felt very safe in St Kitts. IMO, it's one of the lovelier, safer islands. Again, just my opinion. We took a 10 minute cab ride to Carambola Beach Club, which is a public beach. Rented a chair and umbrella for the day, it was just beautiful! It had a lovely restaurant and bar, nice area to snorkel.
My *one* disappointment with the cruise was that the photos taken onboard are now identified by facial recognition. However, it failed to recognize even one of my photos. I looked through hundreds of unidentified photos and was unable to find any. Luckily, I traveled with a group and was able to purchase some group photos. I was unable to find or purchase any photos of my husband and myself. Many parents were disappointed that they couldn't find particular photos of their children or family. I do hope their system improves or that they go back to the old way of scanning the KTTW card to make identification easier.

I am pleased that you enjoyed St. Kitts. I remember people were upset when the BBC had a report on St. Kitts having one of the higher murder rates in the world.

 

[Marly19]

Hi I'm happy you had a good time.
I have some questions how was boarding day, can u get out of the ship after the muster drill since it leaves at 930 pm?
Do they still have character breakfast? Or what other activities they have that you have to get tickets for?
Did you bring your own snorkeling stuff? If not did you rent it or was it included in the tour price? If you rent it how much was it?
Thanks in advance for your help

 

[jenny_nichole]

Weather was beautiful! Very warm every day: low to mid 80's. Some days there was quite a bit of cloud cover, which we appreciated to reduce our sun exposure.

You'll love the summer-like weather. We are still enjoying a beautiful day by the pool in San Juan, but we'll be in freezing temps by 6pm to tonight!

 

[jenny_nichole]

Marly19,
Double check your departure time for Sail Away. They bumped up the time. I forget, but it was sometime between 5-6pm. We didn't get back off but enjoyed the low crowds by the pool instead.
Yes, you could sign up for Disney Jr breakfast, princess and Anna, Elsa, & Olaf m&g.
We brought our own snorkel gear, but didn't bring it for our Grenada & Barbados excursions since they provide them. You can rent at Carambola(St Kitts) for $10(according to my dh)

 

[disneyaholic86]

Do you remember the menus for each night according to your rotation? Do you know if there was availability for the Palo Brunch? We tried to book it and it says no availability.

 

[czmom]

Weather was beautiful! Very warm every day: low to mid 80's. Some days there was quite a bit of cloud cover, which we appreciated to reduce our sun exposure.

You'll love the summer-like weather. We are still enjoying a beautiful day by the pool in San Juan, but we'll be in freezing temps by 6pm to tonight!

Where are you staying in San Juan? We are sailing Galveston to San Juan next January, and planning to stay a couple days in SJ.

Also, any talk of refurb on Wonder?

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

We just returned from the same cruise...second time doing it....first was in October 2014. Weather was much nicer in January. Temps in the 80's, light breeze at times. We did a private tour in grenada with Sunsation Tours and I cannot say enough good things about it...we went to Annandale Waterfall, Grand Etang Lake, Belmont Plantation and the Goyave Nutmeg factory (all our choice). Our kids (21 and 20) thoroughly enjoyed it and said Carl our driver made the trip outstanding. In Barbados, we snorkeled with the turtles with Action Charters (3 hour tour) and had the most wonderful time...the captain and crew were fantastic and helped everyone find turtles and were especially helpful if you had never snorkled before. Saw a bunch of turtles and then went to the shipwrecks which were again....awesome. Martinique we kinda used as a sleep in/sea day ..... walked around the crafty stalls and went to the few shops us the street. If we didn't have excursions in every other port, we would have booked one to St. Pierre, but didn't want to sit for a long time on a tour again. The men played golf in Antigua and St. Kitts which they really enjoyed. Us girls went to Valley Church Beach for a few hours and shopped in antigua....lots of fun at both. In fact we shared a cab with a woman in our group and her son and spent our time on the beach with them.....what wonderful people they were. In St. Kitts, we decided to do a DCL excursion Scenes of St. Kitts since it was only a 3 hour tour and it was well worth doing it. Then walked around and shoppped a bit at port again.
We stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan the night before our cruise just for convenience to OSJ since the kids had never been before and wanted to see the forts and the cobblestone streets/sights. Personally, I would stay at either the Caribe Hilton again or at the Marriott Stellaris ...... more scenic and more places to relax and then take a cab to OSJ.

 

[Savikins]

Hi there! I'm going on the Southern Caribbean cruise next week.

Just curious, you said you were able to change your Palo reservation to accommodate the change in Pirate Night schedule. Were the fireworks originally scheduled for around 10:00, like usual? I'm hoping if they change the schedule on my cruise I'll be able to change my Palo res, since it's for 7:30!

 

[SleepyDeb]

Any feedback on the following excursions? We are signed up for these on the 1/24 cruise.

Grenada: Transfers to Aquarium Beach
Martinique: Snorkel at Bat Cave
Antiqua: Zipline Tour
St Kitts: Nature Kayaking

Thank you so much for paying it forward with your info.

 

[Phillie]

Hi,
We are also going on the 24th! We are staying in SJU for a few night before because the FF miles were less and in case of snow. Today they are predicting 20" in Philly for Friday into Saturday so I am so happy we are leaving even earlier. Thank you for the suggestions. Did anyone try the Marriott in St Kitts? We are doing the kayak in Grenada, barbados the turtles, martinique is bat cave, Anitqua zip and Marriott in St Kitts.

 

[vvv]

Do you have any of the Navigators (activity schedules) that you could share? We have a 10 and 12 year old so any kid's activity schedules would also be helpful.
Did you use any of the electrical outlet expanders? We have heard power strips and surge protectors can't be used. We have one where you plug it in to one outlet and get two electrical and two USB outlets out of it; we are wondering if this is acceptable.

Thank you!

 

[Jeanwill]

Thank you for being open to questions. We will be taking this trip in a couple of weeks. I have heard people talk about bugs being a problem at some of these ports. As that an issue for you? Do we need insect repellant or bug bands?

 

[SleepyDeb]

Hi,
We are staying in SJU for a few night before because the FF miles were less and in case of snow. Today they are predicting 20" in Philly for Friday into Saturday so I am so happy we are leaving even earlier.

We're doing the same, flying out of Boston on Friday. We also have snow in the forecast and I'm really glad we bought Friday tickets. I did that months ago, thinking about the over 100 inches of snow we got last winter.

We're staying at El Convento Friday-Sunday and The Embassy Suites on the night we return.

 

[Pix]

We're staying at El Convento this coming weekend too!

jenny, what night was formal night? (I assume it will be the same for all the sailings...)