Just off the ship....July30-Aug3 Wonder Cruise....It was hot but great

[GoVolsMom]

Just walked into the house after our 10 hour car ride from getting off of the Wonder this morning. It was a great trip, our second time on the Wonder. I will follow-up with a trip report tomorrow but please send any questions and will try to answer them ASAP.

 

[Curtis McCrea]

Looking forward to the report.

Curtis

 

[pamcarey]

Awesome, can't wait to hear all about it. I'll be getting on the Wonder in 13 days!

 

[GoVolsMom]

Later, I will provide a day by day trip report but wanted to give you the highlights of the trip.

We began our trip to FL in mid-July by spending two weeks at Papa's house on Anna Maria Island. If you know this area, you can be sure that we had two weeks of sun, surf, good food and fun.

Embarkation- My DD(3) has never been on a Disney Cruise so I wanted to give her time to look around before we got on the ship. We arrived at 10:50am to drop off our bags, park the car and check-in by 11am. We were in group 5 and my kids were excited to look around, get their Oceaneer wrist bands and take pictures with Mickey and Minnie until they called our number.

Food- We were FS with TAAP. At the beginning of the cruise, my husband and I kept talking about how great the food was but towards the end a lot of the food was just passable. I want to put this into perspective though, this trip is not about food for us, it is about having a great and magical vacation with our kids. My background is with Michelin Travel Publications and Mobil Travel Guide so I have eaten my way around some great meals and did not expect to get blown away by the food. Instead, I was blown away by the impeccable service and great "can do" attitude by all of the Wonder cruise staff throughout the trip. It made our trip! We did get time to enjoy brunch at Palo.

Alcohol- To save on money, we brought a suitcase of alcohol. I picked out 3 drinkable cheaper bottles of wine and 3 mid-size bottles of wine, small bottle of vodka, bottle of champagne and a small bottle of rum. If we ate in a restaurant, I always brought a glass of wine or champagne with me. I really liked the drinks of the day but never really felt it had enough alcohol, so we took a 4oz plastic squirt bottle of rum (travel size bought at Wal-Mart) and added it to our drinks when we sat by the pool. I noticed the mojitos looked great but never tried one.

Entertainment- My DH and I saw all of the shows and were very entertained, we chose to take DS to the Buzz Lightyear show and DD to the Disney Dreams show because they were having too much fun in the club/labs.

Oceaneer Club- I cannot say enough good things about the staff in the lab, my DD was taken right in and included in the group and had a great time throughout the trip. The only times she wanted to leave was because she was thirsty or hungry. (yes, they do have a drinking fountain and not quite sure why our DD couldn't use that). Having my daughter eat lunch in the lab gave us time to eat lunch at Triton's or Palo.

Oceaneer Lab- My DS did not get to play Wii for the previous 2 weeks at his Papa's house so when we got on the ship he was in Wii heaven. He really liked the lab but I was very disappointed that he did not interact with other kids or do some of the fun stuff like making Flubber. DS is 7 years old and I am not sure if I would take him on another Disney Cruise again, he might have a better time going camping or river rafting with his grandparents.

Movies- Enjoyed Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon and Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Disembarkation- We only had 4 small suitcases and chose just to walk off with them after eating breakfast at 8:15am. Very easy to just walk right off and not stand in any lines.

Character Events. I got teary eyed when my DD talked to the princess during the princess gathering. I thought it would be a highlight for her but realized later on that the characters spend quite a bit of time in the Club. I would much rather go on a cruise to have one-on-one time with a character than fight for time at a Disney Park, this is a definite plus for us.

Pro's- Great customer service, seems everyone wants you to enjoy your trip. My DD was lost for about 5 minutes during the Sail Away celebration and found her on the arm of an officer, returned safe and sound.

Con's- The Mickey Pool- why don't they enforce their own rules about kids with diapers getting in the pool? The air in our cabin did not work correctly the first night and I was starting to think I was going thru menopause.

Strange Question- Why did we receive these random room service deliveries every mid-day? Cookies, cheese plate, desert plate?

 

[cblack]

Welcome back - can't wait for the day by day report!

Re the daily treats - Were you in a concierge room or were you family of the day???

 

[kimmad1274]

Welcome back! We got off the ship the day you boarded

I agree with you about the service...it was second to none.

We also had a concern about our airconditioning when we got into the room, but maintance came right up and did something and all seemed well.

My husband also felt the same way about the food, but we were not expecting gourmet meals either. The food was good, I personally liked the little eateries by the pools during lunch time. It was easier for us to do that with the kids than try to run down to Tritons, Parrot Cay, or the buffet...but I do think I will try the buffet for lunch the next time around. (We tried to do lunch at Parrot Cay one day and they told us that we should go to the buffet because it had a huge kids selection...We went to the buffet only to find out that it was a seafood theme...and none of us eat seafood...so it was back to Pluto's Dog House for us...LOL

I also believe that the character interaction on the ship is a huge selling point for me to book another cruise for my family. (My daughter is 8 and my son is 3.) I just keep telling people that you don't get that kind of interaction in any of the Disney Parks! And I felt myself getting teary eyed too at certain times. (My husband thought I was crazy but I told him that it brought back childhood memories of mine when I met the Mickey, Minnie, etc...)

My daughter also loved the lab and it seemed like whenver she seen people in yellow shirts she would get excited and ask if she could go with them (We had the 2nd dinner seating so they would show up at 9 PM in the front of the restaurant). She didn't want to leave the lab. She was also a great big sister and checked on her little brother in the club a few times...and the counselors even let our son go into the lab to do some of the activities with his big sis. They were absolutely great.

Oh and as for the little goodies in your room each day....Did anyone send a letter to you saying you were selected as the Family of the Cruise? We got selected by the hostess at Palo and we received delicious platters of desserts, chocolate covered strawberries, and asst. cheese/crackers & fruit platters everyday. They also gave us a copy of all the restuarants on board incase we wanted to order from them and not attend dinner. They said they would send any of those items up to our room.

I'm hoping to be able to book another cruise for next year. My kids (and me too!) can't stop talking about how WONDERful our trip was!

 

[HuntersPride]

Alcohol- To save on money, we brought a suitcase of alcohol. I picked out 3 drinkable cheaper bottles of wine and 3 mid-size bottles of wine, small bottle of vodka, bottle of champagne and a small bottle of rum. If we ate in a restaurant, I always brought a glass of wine or champagne with me. I really liked the drinks of the day but never really felt it had enough alcohol, so we took a 4oz plastic squirt bottle of rum (travel size bought at Wal-Mart) and added it to our drinks when we sat by the pool.

No way you did that Good thing I don't need my daily shot of alcohol hahahaha

 

[pjbeagle]

Hello,

I was on the same cruise. My DD loved the Lab and my DS loved the Teen club. He would head there right after dinner. We all had a great time. Our servers were excellent (Vijay and Tizano). I thought the cruise director's staff was great. Dan did a great job in Wavebands each night. Jane was great with the Bingo (I won a game so she could do no wrong). Katie let me have dance the last night.

We'll be back again.

 

[DesertGal]

To save on money, we brought a suitcase of alcohol. I really liked the drinks of the day but never really felt it had enough alcohol, so we took a 4oz plastic squirt bottle of rum (travel size bought at Wal-Mart) and added it to our drinks when we sat by the pool. I noticed the mojitos looked great but never tried one.

This is what we plan on doing too (well, bringing alcohol with us part). I hadn't thought about the squirt bottle part, but that is a great idea. I, too, loved the DOD, but often times, couldn't really taste the alcohol. It's not like I plan on throwing down shots, but just think it tastes better with the right amount of alcohol. The squirt bottle is a great idea. When I go to ladies night in our neighborhood, I typically just pour some vodka or rum in one of my kids sippy cups and bring that. I thought it may look a little weird if I did that on the Disney Cruise.

I didn't realize you could just walk into dinner with a drink. GREAT idea.

As I read this, I realize I'm making myself sound like a party animal.

 

[Dizney73]

Can't wait to hear about everything you did on your cruise! We are going on our 2nd DCL cruise next August on the Dream. I am addicted to trip reports right now!
How did you pack your bottles of wine? Were they in your carryon? Is there a limit to how much you can take aboard? Did you take your own wine glasses too or can you get them while on board?

 

[Nikki'sMommy]

From what I understand- you can fill a small, carry-on suitcase with beverages..I are of good size. We plan on also bringing some bottled water, too. Bubble wrap wine bottles for safety and I have a nice soft sided cooler that can be folded up into a suitcase so that we can fill it with ice daily..I don't want to sound like a heavy drinker, but if I am going to drink wine, I like "good" wine which gets very expensive on a ship. I figure we will be spending plenty anyway..

 

[MommaMouse411]

I just found out about the no swim diapers in the mickey pool.. I was so going to spend alot of time in the pool with my little ones..but also found out there's a splash pad which will probably be better....but I would be scared to break the rules at disney..I would get embarrassed..lol

 

[johnlatte]

I just found out about the no swim diapers in the mickey pool.. I was so going to spend alot of time in the pool with my little ones..but also found out there's a splash pad which will probably be better....but I would be scared to break the rules at disney..I would get embarrassed..lol

People seem to break that rule often. At least once a cruise, they have to throw everone out of the pool and do a "doodie" cleanup

 

[MommaMouse411]

@johnlatte...illll! no way!!!

 

[DisWitt]

On my last Magic cruise, they were throwing babies out of the pool right and left for the swim diaper violation. If they could see a bulge or a diaper band showing, the kid was out within 15 minutes. I spent a LOT of time at the splash pad with my DS (then 2). We bought a little watering can and bucket and he LOVED toddling around the splash pad and using those. He even shared. I sat on the bench surround and ordered DoD's!... I'm a good DD.

 

[NutzaboutDisney]

[/QUOTE]
Strange Question- Why did we receive these random room service deliveries every mid-day? Cookies, cheese plate, desert plate?[/QUOTE]

What category room did you stay??? Possibly it was to show extra good service b/c of the problems you had with the air conditioning! Disney's service is amazing!!! What a nice treat!