March 1st-5th on the Wonder ... Our 10th Anniversary Getaway --COMPLETED 3/23

[sas_mk]

It was a quick walk over to Atlantis, but once we got there we were extremely lost. We finally found our way to an information desk inside the lobby of one of the buildings and she gave us a map. She even drew on the map where we needed to go. That did not help us at all.

First, we wandered around for about 30 minutes before we finally found a towel hut where we could get our wrist bands. Then, we had to wander some more to find a place with lockers for our stuff. We paid $5 for a small locker (medium was $7 and large was $10). They only accept credit cards at Atlantis – no cash. Then, we were on our way.

We quickly got a tube and jumped into the Rapids Lazy River. It was so much fun, except for the fact that it was freezing!!!!! The high for the day was 73 degrees and the water was actually pretty warm, but the air and wind were terribly cold. We sat in the tube and enjoyed going around and through the rapids, but every time we got wet, I knew I would just be colder.

We went down all of the slides without any lines – not many people were dumb enough to be at a water park in the cold and windy weather. Around lunchtime we bundled up in some towels and enjoyed a picnic lunch. The food was really good and had stayed plenty cold with the ice packs in my insulated backpack. No food poisoning -- phew!!

After lunch my husband wanted to go on some more slides, but I just couldn’t talk myself into getting wet again. I sat on a lounger, still bundled in a pile of towels, and watched as he went on the waterslides for about 45 more minutes.

Once he felt he had gotten his fill of the waterslides, we walked over to “The Dig” to check out the aquarium. We also walked by the beach. The beach at Atlantis wasn’t anything special and was WAY to wavy for anybody to swim or snorkel there. I enjoyed The Dig. It wasn’t very large, and I would never book an excursion just to see the aquarium, but I am glad we saw it while we were there.

It was time to head back to the ship. We walked through the lobby and asked for a taxi. The taxi driver drove around to meet us and told us that it would be $5.75 each for the ride back to the port because there were only two of us. I was just about to argue with her and try to get a cheaper rate when a family of four walked up and shared the taxi with us making it only $4 per person. The ride back took a little longer and was equally as exciting/scary, but we enjoyed swapping stories with the other family who were also heading back to the Wonder. They told us how much their kids were loving the clubs!

Once we got back to our stateroom, it was around 4:00 and we took some time to get warm and change into long pants and jackets. At 4:45 I remembered that I wanted to get my passport stamped. I was sure we were too late, but we grabbed our passports and got back off the ship. We hurried over to the passport office and they were still there – yeah!!! It did look like they were packing up and getting ready to go home for the day, but they quickly stamped our passports and we were on our way.

I thought it might be fun to head to the straw market, but I was pretty sure it was closed as well. It wasn’t very far so we started to walk towards the big tent. About half way there, it started to get a little darker and I felt like we were walking past some “shady” individuals. We decided to call it quits. We stopped briefly in a little souvenir shop, picked up some cheap little souvenirs for our kids and walked back to the ship. We boarded the Wonder just before 6:00.

It was time for Toy Story – The Musical, but we just did not feel like seeing this show. I had heard it was a pretty literal interpretation of the movie, so we decided against seeing this one. Instead, we grabbed some snacks and headed to Bedtime Stories in the Buena Vista Theater. We had not seen this movie yet, and with three kids at home, we don’t get out to see movies very often. We missed the first 15 minutes of the show, but I really liked this movie!

After the movie we killed a little time and money at Mickey’s Mates. We were able to make two separate purchases and use our coupon from day one and day two to get the free pins. The cashier didn’t make a big deal out of it and I don’t think it would have been a problem to get both pins even if the store hadn’t closed an hour early the night before.

Up Next: Animator's Palate and WonderQuest...

 

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

I LOVE reading your TR! You're doing a fantastic job. My family and I were on the 4 day on Feb. 22-26th - man I love that ship!

I just have a few things for you... first of all, how did you get a one-way rental from Enterprise for $34?! You must be the queen of deals, my friend!

Also, while we were on our cruise I did order a few PB&J's from room service, but they were NOT sealed in their original packaging. I wanted to take a few with me on our excursion in Nassau as well, but those were not sealed up. It's a good thing us moms think ahead and take plenty of ziplock bags with us, huh?

Keep up the good work - can't wait to read more! (And girl you do NOT look 30 at all! What is your secret?!)

 

[sas_mk]

I LOVE reading your TR! You're doing a fantastic job. My family and I were on the 4 day on Feb. 22-26th - man I love that ship!

I just have a few things for you... first of all, how did you get a one-way rental from Enterprise for $34?! You must be the queen of deals, my friend!

Also, while we were on our cruise I did order a few PB&J's from room service, but they were NOT sealed in their original packaging. I wanted to take a few with me on our excursion in Nassau as well, but those were not sealed up. It's a good thing us moms think ahead and take plenty of ziplock bags with us, huh?

Keep up the good work - can't wait to read more! (And girl you do NOT look 30 at all! What is your secret?!)

I am glad you are enjoying the TR. I love reliving every wonderful detail!!

I did a lot of shopping around for a reasonable one-way rental. I thought I had found the best price with Budget, but I finally decided to call Enterprise. They don't let you book one-way rentals on their website, but the person on the phone was awesome! She told me the rate and then upgraded the car for us without me even asking. The Enterprise rental saved us between $15-20 each way over Budget or Avis. Woohoo!

Honestly, the ziploc tip that I read on here is one that my DH just shook his head at while we were packing. However, once we got to DW and then onto the Wonder, he was impressed that all of my planning really paid off!

 

[sas_mk]

Now it was time to make our way to Animators Palate for dinner.

Our table was against an outside wall so we made sure we sat so we were facing the whole room. I loved the lighting effects during dinner!

I also loved the food tonight. I don’t remember what my appetizer was, but I am thinking it was something with mushrooms in it. I also remember that it was good! I also had the delicious Creamy Butternut Squash Soup and the Filet Mignon (cooked perfectly). My DH ordered the chicken that came with Jalapeno Mashed Potatoes – he REALLY loved the potatoes. I finished off with the Peanut Butter Pie – it wasn’t that great.

Once again, our dinner took a little more than two hours, but we really enjoyed the show and the dinner conversation was a lot of fun. It was still hard for us to take that much time out of our vacation just for dinner, but we really didn’t want to complain because we weren’t clear if anybody else at our table wanted the dinner service to be faster. We hated changing the pace for the six other people at our table just because it was taking too long for us.

After dinner, we went to Wavebands for WonderQuest. The game was a lot of fun. We were sure our team was going to win because we were so fast finding every item for the “scavenger hunt”. We were baffled at the end when there was a three way tie and our team wasn’t even one of the top three. Oh well!! We had a lot of fun!

After WonderQuest, we hurried back to the Buena Vista Theater because we were about 20 minutes late for Confessions of a Shopaholic. I was freezing, so I ran to our stateroom and got a couple of blankets to keep me warm during the movie. The movie was great. The seats in the theater are not very comfortable, but we still really enjoyed seeing another movie without paying a babysitter $20 like we would have to do at home!

Back in our room, a darling towel dog greeted us. It was even wearing my sunglasses! We had had a day that was beyond full. We were exhausted. We slept so well in our “dark cave” with the ship rocking us to sleep. It was great!!

Up Next: Castaway Cay -- Heaven on Earth...

 

[sas_mk]

TUESDAY, March 3rd, 2009:

Castaway Cay Day!! I must have been excited because I woke up just after 6:00 AM. Since I was up, I grabbed my camera and ran down to deck 4. I wanted to see that sunrise. I took some pictures and enjoyed the quiet morning sitting out on the comfy lounge chairs. It was very nice.

I spent about 30 minutes out there, and then went back inside to snap some pictures of the mostly empty ship. I noticed that the guest services desk was open, so I stopped there to pay my tips and get them over with. It was a quick and painless process.

I headed back to my room and climbed back into bed. I was still tired and slept for a little longer before my DH was ready to get out of bed. We ate breakfast that morning at Beach Blanket Buffet. The buffet was very good and had a huge variety of options. I really liked the waffles, bacon and the fresh fruit.

After breakfast, we watched as the ship docked at Castaway Cay. It was cool to see how choreographed it is. Everybody on the dock knows exactly where they should be and what they should be doing to get the ship tied off. It is a pretty amazing process.

Once the ship was cleared, we disembarked because we were going to run the 5k at 8:30. My DH is a much better, faster runner than I am, so he actually ended up doing the 7K trail in the same amount of time that I did the 5K trail. The run was good. I ended up running the same pace as another cruiser and we talked a lot about our vacations and our families. We didn’t run the whole thing because she had a muscle cramp, so we walked part of it and just enjoyed the company. It was a great way to start out the day.

I got to see a lot of the island before all the passengers got off the ship. My DH and I had planned on renting bikes later on to “explore”, but the run took us on the bike path so we didn’t feel the need later in the day to see it all again.

We met back up at the ship and walked over to get our picture taken with Captain Jack. The line was pretty long by the time we got there, but it was worth the wait. It was a lot of fun and we got a great picture.

We got back on the ship and got ready for our day on the beach. We grabbed our snorkel gear that we brought with us, our iPods, and the sunscreen and headed out to the family beach. It was packed!! We walked quite a ways out before we found a couple of lounge chairs to set our stuff on. Then we grabbed one of the lovely yellow life vests and braved the cold water so we could snorkel.

Snorkeling was so fun! We spent a little over an hour in the snorkeling lagoon. We have been snorkeling before a few times and I was not impressed with the fish at Castaway Cay. There were a few bigger, more colorful fish the farther out we went, but not very many. We did see a starfish. That was cool!

It was also fun to swim from buoy to buoy searching for sunken treasure. I loved the Mickey and Minnie statues.

By the time we were finished, we were really tired and extremely cold! There were not a lot of other snorkelers out in the water, but we were glad we did it – even if it was cold.

After we went snorkeling, we spent some time warming ourselves up on the beach. Then – we were hungry. We grabbed the tram and rode it over to Serenity Bay. There was hardly anybody there. The food there was awesome!! The grilled sirloin was marinated and tasted so good. I also fell in love with the ribs. Finally, I was so excited to try the Cookie Dough ice cream – it did not disappoint!!

We took our very full bellies and our ice cream over to the hammocks. We put on our headphones and relaxed on the hammocks for a few hours. It was heaven.

I got a little cold (the weather was just not cooperating), so I just buried myself in towels again while I took a little nap. When I woke up it was time for a drink. I ordered a virgin Konk Kooler and split it between two cups. My DH and I shared it and it was delicious!

It was about 3:30 when we decided to catch the tram back to the family beach area. We stopped at the little shops and bought a few tiny souvenirs before getting back on the ship.

Coming Up: Palo and Pirate Night...

 

[cakesnjammom]

Enjoying your TR...cannot wait for the next update. I love your "frugal" skills. I am taking notes from you. I need to cut corners everywhere we can We are doing the Western C cruise in Sept!
More, more please!

 

[LMO429]

awesome report

 

[Disgirl83]

I'm loving your trip report! Can't wait to read more.

 

[HappyGrumpy]

I need more!!! Your giving me my "Fix"!

 

[frdeb1999]

Great TR!!

 

[mousetravel]

I'm enjoying your TR!

After dinner, we headed up to Deck 9 for a big cup full of ice cream (hint: get one of the insulated "hot" cups from the drink station and fill it up with the soft serve. You can get more and it keeps it cold)

This is a great tip! I figured that one out after seeing those tiny little cups by the ice cream station. Those cups are certainly too small for me!

 

[sas_mk]

Tonight’s show was Bolt in 3D. Neither of us were in the mood to go and see this show, so we ran up to the Quiet Cove Pool to soak in the hot tub. The hot tub was pretty crowded, but I found a spot. My DH is not so fond of crowded hot tubs, so he went up to Deck 10 to shoot some hoops on the basketball court.

I left the hot tub and ran to iron my dress for Palo. There were two ironing boards in the laundry room on deck 6, and both were being used, so I had to wait about 10 minutes. After pressing my dress, I ran back to the room to get ready. We had Palo reservations for 6:00. I was hoping to catch the sunset from our table, but we were heading the wrong direction to be able to see the sunset. Oh well!

Palo was amazing. We got there at 6:00 and we were immediately seated right next to the window. Our server, Judy, took good care of us. She listened carefully as we expressed interest in different menu items and made sure we got to sample everything we wanted. I “sampled” the Ai Gamberi Pizza, the Fritto de Calamari, Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Polenta with a Roasted Shallot Sauce (Amazing!), Lobster Ravioli (also Awesome!), Beef Tenderloin (cooked perfectly), Chocolate Souffle (yummm!), Panna Cotta (so refreshing), and the Pineapple Ravioli (wish I had more room to order another plate). We were so stuffed, but the meal, the atmosphere and the service are all things we would never pass up! It was an amazing dining experience.

A note on tipping at Palo: Before dinner, I called guest services to ask them about gratuity at Palo. I know tipping the Palo server has been discussed often in the cruise forum and I was still unclear/undecided about whether or not I was supposed to tip. The guest services employee told me specifically that tipping was not included in the $15 charge, but that tipping at Palo was not mandatory and was left up to my discretion. Don’t worry – the service blew us away and there is no way we would not have left a tip.

After dinner, we killed a little time before the Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party. We got some hot chocolate and sat out on deck 10 while we waited for the party to start. The party was fun, but we were just not very into it. I think if it hadn’t been so cold, and we hadn’t felt so full, we could have had fun dancing and jumping up and down, but it just wasn’t for us. I was excited when Mickey saved the day and when the fireworks went off. What a cool thing to do on a cruise ship!

After the pirate party, we got in line at the buffet on deck 9 and got a little fajita stuff (for my DH) and a giant turkey leg. I have always wanted to try one of these at Disneyland, but I am just too cheap! I really wanted one for “free” on the cruise. Unfortunately, it was pretty dry and tasteless. My husband really enjoyed the fajitas and we also liked the pineapple flambé that was served with ice cream.

We took these back to our room, where a cute towel monkey was hanging out waiting for us. We ate the food and then crashed for the night.

Up Next: Sea Day, Exotic Rasul and Palo Brunch . . .

 

[sas_mk]

WEDNESDAY, March 4th, 2009:

This was our Sea Day! We started out our day at Beach Blanket Buffet. I ordered myself an egg white omelet from the omelet station and really enjoyed it. We also sampled a few other items from the buffet and we were not disappointed.

After breakfast, we headed to the Vista Spa for our Rasul Treatment. I really wanted to do a spa treatment on this cruise, but I really am too cheap. I knew that I could go home and get a pedicure or a massage for half the price, and I couldn’t justify the cost. However, the Rasul was a nice way to do a spa treatment. We could both get a treatment for just $83 – the only catch is that we had to do the treatment ourselves. Not a problem for us!! The creams and muds were very nice. I had heard that the steam room gets too hot, but we didn’t have that problem. It was actually very enjoyable – and that is all I will say about that!

After the treatment, we were offered Champagne, but since we don’t drink, we got a glass of Sparkling Cider and they let us sip it while sitting in the RainForest Room. I was jealous of the people relaxing on the tiled loungers, but I figured if I had time later in the day, I would just come back and pay $15 – I never found that time.

I had written “No Product Sales Pitch Please” on the bottom of my paperwork, and we did not get any sort of sales pitch. I don’t know if we would have, but I appreciated not having to deal with a hard sale after such a relaxing treatment.

We got showered, dressed and ready because we were going back to Palo for brunch at 12:00. Honestly, at this point, I didn’t really care to ever look at food again. I was still full from the night before. I wish we could have cancelled it, but we were past the 24 hour cancellation period. We were going to pay that $15 either way so we decided to go and try to enjoy it. Apparently, I still had plenty of room in my tummy because I ate way too much at brunch.

Our server, Kim, gave us a nice tour of the buffet items. She never rushed us and gave us a lot of good suggestions on things to try. I loved the seafood. I loved the stolen. I loved the chicken parmigiana (my husband’s choice). I ordered the eggs benedict and they were nothing special. I also ordered the pesto pasta. It was good, but not great. The desserts were also very good. I really can’t believe how much I ate. It was a much more relaxed and casual atmosphere at brunch. If/when I cruise DCL again, I will skip the brunch. The lunch buffet at Beach Blanket Buffet looked every bit as appetizing – and they had a sushi buffet. And, we could have gotten all that without an extra charge.

After brunch, we changed into our swimsuits and headed back to the Quiet Cove Pool. We grabbed a couple of loungers and relaxed/slept (I really can sleep anywhere) with our iPods.

Coming Soon: Bolt in 3D, Packing Up, Disney Dreams and Parrot Cay . . .

 

[cakesnjammom]

still loving your report! I want to do the Rasual thingy in the spa...did you have privacy while in there? DH would love that!

 

[sas_mk]

still loving your report! I want to do the Rasual thingy in the spa...did you have privacy while in there? DH would love that!

You should definitely book this if you think your DH would love it.

First, we changed in the locker room and put on a robe. Then she took us into a tiled room and then she actually locked us in (the lock is on the outside of the door). They have an "occupied" sign on the outside of the door. It is completely private in the room.

There was a table with all of the products on it. She discussed with us what each product was for (cleanser, exfoliation, moisturizer, etc.) and then she quizzed us to make sure we understood. The room had a tiled bench, a steam room, and a shower. I had read a tip to bring extra towels (because that tile is hard), but I forgot. We still survived!

I think we had about 50 minutes total in the room for the "treatment". After about 40 minutes, she came and knocked on the door to give us our 10 minute warning. After the 10 minutes, we put on our robes and she came back to let us out of the room. She greeted us with our sparkling cider and took us to the rain forest room.

The rasul can really be anything you want it to be. It can be fun (mud fight anyone?), it can be relaxing, it can be romantic, it can be dirty, etc. I highly suggest it and thought it was a wonderful use of an hour and $90.

Wow -- was that TMI??

 

[cakesnjammom]

great, I can't wait...dh and I talked about it and decided this was the "treatment" we should do too! We also like the price and the privacy!!

 

[BrettySpaghetti]

Great report so far....I am jealous that you went on this trip, and I just went a couple of weeks before you!!

 

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

Palo was amazing. Our server, Judy, took good care of us.

We had Judy too! She was AWESOME! I Judy!

Our regular dining room servers weren't that great (to say the least) and when we went to see Judy we were taken care of just like I expected to be.

 

[sas_mk]

At about 3:15 we decided to head to the Buena Vista Theater for another movie. They were showing Bolt in 3D again. We were about 15 minutes late (again), but we had seen it before, so that was no big deal. The 3D was very well done!

About 45 minutes into it, I started falling asleep and the boat was rocking a little bit too much for me. I leaned over and told my DH I was leaving. I went back to the stateroom and slept. He finished watching the movie and then he was ready for a little nap. We ordered some Mickey Ice Cream Bars from room service and relaxed in our room.

We figured this was a good time to get packed up. We pulled our suitcases out of the closet and stuffed them full of clothes. We made sure we had everything we would need in the morning and then we were done. We had to do some repacking before we boarded the airplane the next day, but it wasn’t a big deal. It really didn’t take much time at all.

We left to make it to Dreams – An Enchanted Classic at 6:15. The show was awesome. I really liked the story, but I think I liked the Golden Mickey’s a little more. By this point, the boat was really, really rocking!! I was not feeling too good , and I was anxious for the show to end so I could get some fresh air. I think that affected my opinion of the show a little bit.

After the show, we went to Treasure Ketch to pick up our last souvenirs and our last free pin with purchase. We ran our purchases back up to our room and Alain, our room steward, dropped off three beautifully autographed pillowcases – yeah!! Free souvenirs to take home to the kids!!

We still had some time before dinner, so we headed out to deck 4. The fresh air was really good for me. I felt much better. We played a few rounds of shuffleboard and had a lot of fun. It is much harder, and much more fun than it looks! Then it was time for dinner at Parrot Cay.

The Sunset --Taken from Deck 4, while we were playing shuffleboard:

Our Server (Joani) and Assistant Server (Mehmet):

We sat down for dinner and I could immediately tell that I REALLY did not feel well. The boat was really rocking and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could sit there. I ordered my food and asked for a ginger ale. I ate a few bites of the delicious Baked Crab Martinique for my appetizer, and a few spoonfuls of the Cold Cream of Mango and Papaya Soup. Both were awesome. However, I finally decided that I needed to lie down or get some fresh air. My stomach only felt a little bit queasy, but my head felt really dizzy and the food didn’t look or smell good to me at all at this point. I excused myself and headed back to my stateroom.

Once I got back to my room, I knew that I actually needed fresh air. I left a note so my husband could track me down later, then I grabbed two blankets and walked down to deck 4. I picked a nice, super comfy lounge chair, bundled myself up in the blankets, turned on my iPod, and fell sound asleep.

An hour and a half later, my husband woke me up. He told me that dinner had been wonderful. The food was great. He handled the tipping and passed on the concern that everybody had expressed for me. He had gotten a few email addresses so we could keep in touch with our tablemates. I was really sad that I had missed all of that, but I felt a lot better now.

We decided to walk through Shutters and check out our pictures. We had a total of three pictures taken while on the cruise. All three of them were great, but we didn’t have a hard time passing them up. We had taken a bunch of pictures with our own camera and saved a lot of cash by leaving the pictures there.

Coming Up Next: 'Til We Meet Again and Leaving Our Ship . . .

 

[sas_mk]

Now it was time for the ‘Till We Meet Again farewell in the atrium. We had not taken the time to track down any characters on our cruise, so this was our first time seeing many of them. We waited to get a picture with Cinderella (our daughters favorite) and we both posed with Captain Mickey.

Then we headed back to our stateroom. It was time to take off my door magnets.

Tonight, our room steward had left us a bunny – I think. It was a little hard to tell.

We double-checked our luggage to make sure we had packed everything and stuck them out in the hall. Our servers had packaged up a dessert for me since I missed dinner, and I loved it – French Toast Banana Bread Pudding with Coconut Ice Cream (melted all over the plate) and Caramel Sauce. I was feeling well enough to eat just a few bites before getting ready for bed. We called for a wake-up call and went to sleep. I love sleeping in a dark room on a rocking ship – it is a great way to sleep!

THURSDAY, March 5th, 2009:

The phone rang at 7:15 in the morning – it was time to wake up. We showered, got dressed and threw everything into our carry-on luggage. We had breakfast at Parrot Cay at 8:15. We were dragging, but I think everybody does on their last morning.

I had my favorite breakfast of the entire trip at Parrot Cay. I ordered the Chef’s Farewell. It was an open-faced omelet with onions, swiss cheese and barbecue chicken. It was so good.

We ate our meal, said our final good-byes to our new friends, and made our way to the atrium on deck 3. The line was pretty long, but it moved quickly. By the time we got out, our bags were the only luggage left in the “Orange – Goofy” section. We passed on the Porter’s offer for help and stood in line.

Before we knew it, we were waiting at the curb for the Enterprise shuttle. The shuttle took about 10 minutes to arrive. We loaded everything up. We had a completely full shuttle (10 people). The ride back to the Enterprise office was quick, but the wait for our car was not.

The Enterprise office only had two people working the counter. When we got there, we had three people in front of us. By the time we left, there were at least 10 people behind us still waiting. It really took forever – we didn’t get our car until after 10:00! Once again, it was much cheaper for this one-way rental than it would have been to take the Disney Shuttle. It only cost us about $40 for the car, tolls and gas. Also, this way, we didn’t have to spend the entire day at the airport.

We got in our car and still hadn’t decided how to spend the next 4-5 hours before we needed to head to the Orlando International Airport. We finally decided to kill some time at Epcot and get some lunch in the World Showcase.

Up Next: Our last afternoon at Epcot and our flight home . . .