LIVE from the 7/20-7/23 Wonder

[ivanova]

Well, five minutes to the mandatory lifeboat drill...

The Crown Princess is still here...

'til later

 

[lillygator]

cool!! A co-worker's extended family is on this cruise...not sure if they are DIS'ers though~!

 

[taeja71]

Have a WONDERful time! Can't wait to hear more How's the weather?

 

[Ker-Bear]

to your report. Thanks for posting!

 

[marlaymike]

Is Ivanova really in the ship? Wow!! This will be wonderful, to have an automatic report like this!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Hope you're having a great cruise!

 

[Babs417]

Boy do I like live reports! Thankyou for taking time to do this.

 

[ivanova]

Well I had every intention of doing live day by day reports, but the Internet Cafe didn't like me (or specifically didn't like me when I was trying to log onto the disboards).

So here goes the not so live report....

The Crown Princess didn't tip over when she left PC

For anyone from the Aug eastbound repo cruise: Travis and Ian (cruise event staff) are now on the Wonder (Travis is calling Bingo; Ian is still doing Walk the Plank; and they both of course are at the deck parties). I was amazed they remembered us .. but then of course we were trapped on a ship together for 14 nights last year.

We got rained on in the afternoon on Nassau (fortunately I was done shopping and heading back to the ship already).

Castaway Cay was nice of course, but darned hot and humid. We shopped, ate at Cookies, took tons of pics of the flying dutchman, and then got back onboard the air conditioned ship.

We had AWESOME servers (Rouan and Asrin), and some really great table mates as well (we were usually the last to leave the restaurant as we were sitting around talking and swapping stories).

I got close to winning the $998 Bingo jackpot, but close just don't cut it y'know

The pirate night deck party is great!!!

The food was fantastic, our room host was perfect, and the entertainment onboard was up to bar (although I missed not having Twice Charmed). They played PoTC2 enough times, but funny how I never quite made it to the theater to see it.

 

[CamColt]

Hey there! I was cruising too. I booked this as such a last minute thing, I never checked to see what other Disers were cruising. I realized I never checked while on board looking around at people in lime green, LOL! .

I have to agree with everything you said. Pirate night was awesome! Last year ours was held indoors because of lightning and this was so much better outside. Glad the Captain found some clear space for us. Loved seeing Ian and Travis again (we were on the last LA sailing before the repo and had them there). Ian is such a character. We too got to CC early and left after we had lunch, around 1:00 ish.

The thing I missed was Pub Night at Diversions. We were talking to Ian (or should I say Captain Ianavich the 3rd) and he told us they did it on the Wonder now and it would be Saturday night. We were excited to go to that again as we already knew the kids would be in the clubs because we were doing Palo for our anniverary Saturday night. When we didnt see it in the Navigator we double checked with Guest Servies and they told us no, its only on the 4 day on the Wonder.

But overall a great cruise, too quick, and I'm very bummed to be home.

 

[Deb T.]

Hello! We were on board, as well! DH & myself in Cat5 Cabin #7108, port side, aft. DD-23 & DS-22 in Cat5 Cabin #7632, starboard side, aft. We actually booked this cruise last minute the week before! I've already posted stateroom reports (click on the "Staterooms" link above). Our dinners were at 8:15pm with the Animator's Pallet-Parrot Cay-Triton's rotation, but we had no table-mates at our table for eight because they had evidently changed their dining time.

We had a wonderful time. We arrived at Port Canaveral at 10:10am and were given boarding #2. I had checked in online, so check-in at the port was a breeze. We boarded just before noon and headed up to Topsiders so we could eat outside. After checking out our cabins we toured the spa, then my DD and I went to the Shopping Presentation, even though we hadn't planned to disembark at Nassau. However, the "free diamond bracelet" and prizes were enough of a lure to get us to go. Several people won nice prizes at the presentation, but we soon learned you have to redeem a coupon in Nassau to get the bracelet.

We watched the Crown Princess sail away and prayed for a safe journey for them. Then we watched the Sail Away Celebration from deck 10 as we pulled away.

We enjoyed Hercules The Muse-ical show and noticed several updates in that show as well as in the Disney Dreams show. Our dinner was excellent and we loved our head server, Edgar, and his assistant, Jerome. Both were more than eager to please and we spent a lot of time joking around with them. DD was feeling a tad bit seasick as we were seated, but Edgar was quick with some ginger ale for her even though that technically would have been Jerome's job. We caught the end of Match Your Mate and stayed for half of the 80's Time Warp before calling it a night.

Friday, DH and DS got up EARLY to watch us dock at Nassau. We all ended up getting off the ship and going to the shop to redeem our "free diamond bracelet" coupons. We got back to the ship before the rain started. We watched Mr. Toad's Wild Race and the Ice Carving demonstration, and went to the DVC Member Celebration and then to the Castaway Club Reception before heading to The Golden Mickeys show. I picked up the Castaway Cay Scavenger Hunt Map before going to dinner. We enjoyed the Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party and were also grateful to the captain for finding clear weather for the party and fireworks! We then went to the 11pm showing of Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. I felt lucky to watch the movie on board a DCL ship, knowing I would get to see The Flying Dutchman the next day!

On Saturday, DH and DS got up early again to watch us dock at Castaway Cay. They explored the nearly empty island until DD and I joined them around 10:30am. We spent most of the day at Serenity Bay where we saw stingrays, starfish, lots of fish, and a small shark in the water! It was very hot and humid, so we alternated between sitting in the cool water and laying in a chaise under an umbrella. We ate lunch at the Air Bar. On our way back to the ship, DS and I found the answers to the clues of the Scavenger Hunt which was interesting because it led us to areas of the island we otherwise would have passed by. That night, we enjoyed Disney Dreams and dinner, then sadly packed.

It was definitely a quick cruise. We'd previously been on two 4-night cruises which we felt were short, as well. We're booked on one of the 11-night Mediterranean cruises and are looking forward to being able to relax on the at-sea days as opposed to trying to do everything offered on a shorter itinerary.

One bit of very happy news - the cups at the drink station on Deck 9 are larger now! We'd packed large plastic cups on the recommendation of our DS who cruised on the Wonder in 2004, but found the new 16-oz cups plenty large enough for us!

 

[CamColt]

Oh thats funny. We were supposedly on a waiting list for the 8:15 dining rotation and it didnt come through. We had 8:00 (TAP). We could have joined you. Sounds like we did a lot the same too...arrived at the port early, boarding pass 2, right to the buffet, sailaway from deck 10...

We were on deck 7 too, cat 5 midship, 7546.

Speaking of Golden Mickey's did you see the boy who was interviewed before the show(on the screen from outside) who when Rona asked where he was from he said, America? That was DS.

 

[Deb T.]

Hi Camcolt - sure wish you would have been able to join us at dinner! We felt odd and awkward sitting at such a large table by ourselves. We had been looking forward to meeting other cruisers. Sounds like we probably passed each other on board many times!

We didn't get to the Golden Mickeys show early since we didn't have young children to be pulled for interviews on the red carpet. I'm sorry we missed your DS, though! Soooo funny that he said, "America!" Smart son, though, since that would have been the perfect answer while in Nassau!