skylynx
DIS Sponsor in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2003
- Messages
- 1,280
Pre-cruise Day 1: Los Angeles
Despite the light snow, our flight from Chicago Midway took off on time and we got to LAX early. We just missed the Disneyland Express bus, so had to wait an hour for another one. It stops at six or seven places in LAX, so we were glad we got on first as it got crowded. Due to Friday night traffic, it took an hour and fifteen minutes to get to Anaheim. The bus stopped first at the Disneyland Hotel, where an agent gets on board and you pay for your ticket. They accepted the Mousesavers coupons we’d printed off. Two stops later was the Grand Californian. Overall ride time from LAX-about an hour and a half. Check in time was short, and we’d soon dropped the bags off at our DVC studio room (overlooking the pool). We headed off to Downtown Disney to eat at House of Blues (Gotta love restaurant.com coupons), but could only wander around a bit afterwards because we were so tired.
Pre-cruise Day 2: Anaheim
“It’s a nice day, when you wake up in Disneyland…” (ever heard this Five for Fighting song?) We grabbed a quick bite at the counter service place at the Grand Californian then headed over to Disneyland. It turned out to be a good thing we got there for the Magic Morning hours (Tomorrowland and Fantasyland opened at 8) as throughout the day Disneyland got more and more crowded. We tried to go on the Nemo submarine ride first, as we’d been forewarned about the long, slow lines and lack of fast passes. It was broken. So we went on the Matterhorn and came back. Still broken. Went on Space Mountain (which feels way faster than the one in WDW) and went back. Still broken. We gave up and headed over towards Adventureland. As soon as they let us in there, we went on Indiana Jones and Jungle Cruise and back on Indy and then did Tarzan’s Treehouse before our lunch at Blue Bayou. Wish they had that restaurant in WDW…it was so neat to sit there watching the swamp cottages and fireflies and POC boats drifting past. We had the famed Monte Cristo and tried not to think that it was essentially a $25 turkey, ham, and Swiss sandwich. One of the many things you do not let yourself think about at Disney!
We had an unexpected interlude when my sister called me from NY to let me know an aunt of ours had died that morning and that we each had to sign and have notarized a statement giving permission for her to be buried in my grandfather’s Masonic plot. So there I was at the Tiki Birds contemplating whether to get a Dole Whip now or later (or both), and suddenly I needed to write a letter and get it notarized before we leave on our cruise. And it is a Saturday. We left Disneyland and went back to the Grand Californian to the concierge. The only notary they know of works at the Disneyland Hotel and wasn’t there on weekends. Long story short, we had to take a taxi ride to some UPS store miles away where I had my letter notarized and faxed. Luckily the taxi driver took pity on us and turned the meter off while he was waiting for us. I don’t know how we’d have gotten a taxi back from where this place was if he hadn’t hung around. Fifty dollars and an hour later, we’re back at GCV and ready to head back to Disneyland. Jeez!
The park got progressively more packed. I think since all of Critter Country was closed for refurb, including Splash Mountain, there were more people in all the other lands. You could hardly move in places. We got a fast pass for Big Thunder, and decided we were happy just to wander around, take pictures, and watch the firework show, which is like Wishes on steroids. Didn’t stay for Fantasmic…just too mobbed. People started queuing up with their stroller barricades THREE HOURS before the first Fantasmic show. It was lovely to just wander back to the hotel-no trams, no buses, no epic hike out to the parking lot. There are some things I really like better about Disneyland: like their Pirates, Autopia, and piranhas on their Jungle Cruise! We also liked the cozier, more forested Fantasyland. The one in WDW has too many expanses of concrete with no softening features. They had a cool “Tangled” house and tower, too!
Cruise Day 1-Sunday
Because we had purchased DCL transfers, bell service picked up the bags we were checking in for the cruise by 8 am while we were at breakfast. It was great to know we didn’t have to see or lug the suitcases around again, and that they’d just appear in our stateroom later that day. We weren’t sure whether we’d go to the Storyteller’s Café; it was pretty, but served up $17 French toast and omelets…a lot of money for bread and eggs. We decided to go anyway, as we are rarely in Disneyland and this was our first time ever staying on property there. It was a good decision…the food was extraordinary and it turned out to be an unofficial character breakfast with Chip and Dale, Brer Fox, one of the Country Bear Jamboree bears, Rafiki, and Kenai (from Brother Bear). After breakfast we did our last minute email and voicemail “away” messages and enjoyed the Grand Californian’s lobby. Soon it was time to meet for the bus to the port. All our other Disney cruises have been out of Port Canaveral, so it was interesting to see Wonder berthed there with all the huge cargo ships, the big expansion bridge, and the old “Love Boat” terminal. I could picture Captain Stubing, Julie McCoy, Doc, Gopher and Isaac getting ready for all the same Mexican ports of call! There was a hand made sign on the pier that said “Welcome home Wonder.” I think maybe that gets put there by west coast DISboarders? It was nice!
Minor panic at check-in: the cordial and smiley DCL lady says to me “did anyone ever tell you your passport indicates you are a male?” I gasp. Sure enough, on the passport, there’s an “M” in the box that indicates gender. Oh crap. She goes away to check on this. For a long time. I start sweating. Are they going to tell me I can’t sail? Finally she comes back and says they just have to put down for immigration I’m a male, because those manifests must match. We get our KTTW cards and bolt onto the ship. All our bags appeared nearly right away, and we were unpacked and ready for the adventure to begin before the muster drill. DCL has FINALLY stopped making you wear your life preservers to the drill. No more bumping into everyone on the stairs and in the hot, cramped rows you make on deck during the drill with your giant orange appendage.
Gorgeous weather for sailaway! We sailed around the Queen Victoria and a bunch of restaurants similar to those you pass heading out of Port Canaveral. One even greeted us via their loudspeaker and wished us a good journey. Then we heard sea lions barking and saw them around the pilot boat. This is going to be a GREAT cruise! Watched Sorcerer’s Apprentice (well, watched most of it. Slept through some due to the effects of Dramamine). At dinner we met a couple we’d connected with beforehand on Disboards and linked our reservations with. We were placed at a table for four, so it was easy to get to know each other quickly. We had lots in common, and the conversation soon traveled to off color topics, as most relationships destined for success are able to do! Too worn out to do anything else after dinner, we enjoyed opening our verandah door, and falling asleep to the sounds of the wind and the ocean. Ahhhh.
Cruise Day 2-Monday (Valentine’s Day)
Room service brought our coffee, OJ and toast. We had our character breakfast this morning, so didn’t want to fill up with the pre-breakfast. Got some great shots of Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale. Checked out the shops when they opened for the first time this cruise. Treasure Ketch and Mickey’s Mates had some new merchandise, including a bright red DCL logo t-shirt which I thought was apropos for Valentine’s Day so I bought it. We got some other stuff and got to use our platinum CC perk of a $25 ship credit back for spending $100 in the gift shop. Went to the DVC member presentation and got cool new DVC hats. Saw Tangled in 3-D (which was total eye candy) before getting gussied up for Palo. DH sported his tuxedo (on its 12th cruise and still going strong!) and I wore my favorite black velvet gown with long black gloves and lots of rhinestone jewelry. Sort of an adult Halloween dress-up party! All the ladies dining in Palo that evening received a long-stem red rose. It was heavenly. We caught the comedy show and Match your Mate in Wavebands, then started to fade, so turned in. One of the best parts about today was that we booked a cruise for next Valentine’s Day on Magic doing the eastern Caribbean itinerary, and our new travel buddies booked the same one so we can do this all over again next year on the other side of the continent! Nothing takes the sting out of the end of a cruise than another booking on the horizon. Prices on the older ships seem to have come down…with our onboard rebooking discount; a cat 5c for the two of us was under $2300, and we get a $350 OBC. All in all, a very, very happy Valentine’s Day.
Cruise Day 3-Tuesday: Cabo San Lucas
This was supposed to be a sea day on our original itinerary, but after the call to Mazatlan was cancelled, this extra day at Cabo was arranged. On the way into Cabo we saw lots of whales, mostly spouts in the distance but a couple of flukes here and there. The rock formations you pass entering their harbor are pretty cool, especially the famous arch, and we heard the sea lions barking and could see them on the beach with our binoculars. The ship had to blow its warning horn (not the “When you wish upon the star” one, but the “get out of the way!” one) because there were kayakers that kept paddling in front of us while we were turning to drop anchor. We had barely stopped when an army of tender boats came splashing towards us. I’d read on earlier MR trip reports that the lines could be long, so we enjoyed the adult pool and hot tubs (nearly no one else using them) for an hour or so before heading out to the tender. We didn’t wait at all. Each tender held about 50 people, and it was a short and fun ride into the little harbor. While going into the tender pier, there were a couple smaller fishing boats ahead of us dropping their leftover bait to flocks of hovering pelicans and sea lions. One super-sized sea lion even jumped out of the water and rode on the swimming deck on the back of a boat a while taking fish handouts from the passengers. It was a brilliantly sunny, low humidity day and everything just seemed to sparkle around the marina. It was a short walk to the Cabo Wabo Cantina, which we just wanted to see (because it’s what you do in Cabo). Since we’d passed so many nice places at the marina to sit and drink really cheap beers, we did some shopping and then headed back there. My prize purchase was a tin, 3D star with all little cutouts in it that make beautiful patterns on the ceiling and wall when hung with a candle or light in it. I’d only seen stars like these for the first time at the Mexican restaurant in Disneyland’s Frontierland, and DH and I had talked about how cool it would be to start a collection of those to hang from an outdoor porch ceiling. So it was so neat to see one for sale at one of the little vendor stands just outside Cabo Wabo. It’s less fun if you don’t negotiate and at least feel like you got a bargain, so I made it clear I was willing to walk away without it. “Senora, what would you offer for this, then?” He’d originally asked $35, I offered $25, and probably could have done better but the guy had kids and I figured he needed it more than I did. Like most of these places, sales were cash only, and to my husband’s horror, I spent all our beer money on the star. Luckily, there was an ATM right in the shopping market, so we were back in business. We chose a waterfront bar called D’Right Joint, one of many bar/grill combos in a row, because their deal of 7 frosty cold Coronas or Pacificos in a bucket of ice, plus salsa and chips for $10 US could not be beat with a stick. We spent a glorious hour or so people watching and talking with the very nice, young, not pushy staff while enjoying or delightfully cold beers in the shade and breeze. There is a large, clean, free restroom in the Cruise Information building just fifty yards or so to the right of the tender pier exit, so all creature comforts accounted for!
Like other places we’ve visited in Mexico (Cozumel, Costa Maya) the vendors do invite you to see their stores or come up to you with bracelets or little painted animals but I didn’t at all find them any more intimidating or aggressive than the T-Mobile people at our local Midwestern mall. In fact, everyone we met was friendly, polite, and mostly took no for no the first time. In fact, most of them said “thanks, enjoy your day” instead of “die you scurvy dog” if you declined whatever they were peddling. Naturally, all the recent press about tourist dangers in Mexico will make anyone a little apprehensive if not paranoid, but I didn’t feel the least bit anxious, even walking around by Cabo Wabo where there were fewer tourists. We saw plenty of police, and things seemed peaceful and under control with tourists happily parasailing, jet skiing, eating and drinking (and buying huge tin star lanterns!).
Feeling quite happy after our bucket of beers, we decided we’d better catch a tender before they started getting crowded. We walked right on to one, and enjoyed another short but atmospheric tender ride, getting a few nice shots of Wonder while approaching it. Dinner at Parrot Cay was colorful as always. Afterwards, we saw Alfred and Seymour, two really funny guys in the Walt Disney Theatre. Don’t miss the adult show. And do NOT be late walking in. ‘Nuff said.
Cruise Day 4- Wednesday: Puerto Vallarta
There was fog early this morning, but it burned off quickly. The pier at Puerto Vallarta isn’t like Cabo at all. For one thing, Wonder’s bow was practically piercing the Walmart/Sam’s Club parking lot. There were high-rise hotels around, but other than a couple of temporary shopkeepers who set up along the gangway area, everything else was a taxi ride away. There are white vans lined up right as you get off the ship that will take you to the downtown/Malecon area for $3 a person. Catch was, since we lingered a while on board, there weren’t many people getting off looking for taxis when we were, and the vans wait until they fill up before taking you downtown. After waiting 10 min, a regular taxi driver approached us and said he’d take us downtown for $10. We wavered (because we’d already told the white van driver we’d go with him), then the new taxi driver dropped his price to $8. It was ok with the white van taxi driver that we didn’t want to wait any longer, so off we went. The chatty taxi driver, who spoke perfect English, dropped us at the beginning of the Malecon, or boardwalk area. This is the famous one you see in tourist promotions with all the interesting statues along the waterfront. We walked all along it, taking lots of pictures of the statues and also some amazingly detailed sand sculptures. At what appeared to be a town square, some performers were swinging from ropes atop a huge pole. DH and I both laughed to ourselves because it reminded us both of the Rio del Tiempo ride at the Mexican pavilion at Epcot. There was a clean, free public toilet at what appeared to be their city hall. We stopped at Paradise Burger about midway up the Malecon; it had a second story open dining area where we sat and polished off another bucket of frosty Coronas while watching the Puerta Vallarta world go by underneath us. I’m sure the beers had nothing to do with the fact that I walked off leaving my purse and a souvenir bag I’d bought for my daughter hanging on the back of my chair. I realized it just after we crossed the street, and started heading back, only to find our waiter running towards us carrying my forgotten belongings.
As I had seen a beautiful embroidered white blouse at a native flea market off the main drag that I wanted to buy, we hit another ATM. A very nice young man working an information booth there told us if we wanted to save money, we could walk three blocks away from the Malecon and catch the Walmart/Sam’s bus for six and a half pesos each. At 11-12 pesos to the dollar (depending on who you ask) that’s only about 50 cents a person. Way cheaper than a taxi. By this point, though, we were pretty hot and ready to go back to the ship and not quite up for a bus ride full of Walmart shoppers. We easily found a taxi driver who’d take us back to the ship for $8. Back on the ship we enjoyed finishing off novels while lying on the loungers on deck 4.
This was pirate night, so we got on our full pirate regalia and lined up for pictures with Jack Sparrow and Pirate Mickey Mouse. It seemed to me there weren’t as many people dressed up as pirates this time, which is kind of disappointing. I think it’s so much fun to see all those eyepatches and wench outfits and tricorn hats! We’ve seen the pirate party so many times, and since we didn’t have any kids along who get into the dance party bit, we waited until just before Mickey’s arrival and the fireworks before going up to deck 10. The fireworks were spectacular. Then we jockeyed for loungers on the Goofy pool with our travel buddies and actually stayed awake for all of the Curse of the Black Pearl. Another great day!
Cruise Day 5-Thursday: Sea Day
This morning, the ocean was like a sheet of plate glass. That made it possible to notice any motion on the surface that indicated some sea creature was about. We saw a school of dolphins off the back of the ship from Beach Blanket. Later, from our verandah, we saw a veritable parade of wildlife. We saw sea turtles, sea lions floating by on their backs, flippers waving, and the entire starboard side of the ship was treated to a dolphin show complete with leaps in the air and backflips! I was excited to catch a couple with the video camera. There is no way you could believe they weren’t showing off! Later, right under our balcony railing, I saw what I first thought was another dolphin swimming just under the surface of the water, Then I realized it had a thinner tail, pointier nose, and it wasn’t coming up to the surface, I’m thinking it was a marlin. Pretty amazing. We enjoyed brunch at Palo, then retreated back to our cabin where we had the best view of the flat ocean and all the wonderful creatures that are floating past. It was like this on our Alaskan cruise, where quite regularly sea lions, seals, dolphins, whales, and the occasional ice floe with an eagle sitting on it would drift past like the water pageant on Bay Lake at WDW! Decks 9 and 10 were mobbed, so we hung out in our stateroom most of the afternoon watching for critters. We were rewarded for our patience about 4 pm en route back to Cabo when a school of at least 40 dolphins raced parallel to the ship, sometimes with ten or fifteen of them leaping into the air at the same time. We got some good pictures and video even though they were quite a distance from the ship. We watched them with binoculars for a long time after taking photos. They truly seemed to be leaping for the sheer joy of it.
Cruise Day 6- Friday: Cabo San Lucas
Got up early to watch for whales as we headed back into to Cabo. We weren’t supposed to meet until 9:45 for our excursion, but wanted to go back onto Cabo earlier. It was no trouble to do that…we just got an earlier tender and told the Disney crew member at the tender pier we were on the whale watch. They told us when to return and let the excursion people know we were already at the tender pier. Our dinner buddies had told us about getting their pictures taken with lion cubs right by the tender pier the first Cabo day, so we went right to that kiosk. It is supposed to be a benefit for the wild animals at a zoo. They kept the cubs in a baby crib in between photos. I’d had my picture taken before with a lion cub at the MGM Grand in Vegas, but that time the lion lay on a table in front of me and I just stood behind it while the photographer took the picture. This was way better: my husband and I sat on a bench and each was handed a cub. My husband had the lion, and I had a tiger (possibly a liger). Mine squirmed a lot but didn’t scratch, and my husband’s lion snarled a lot. They were babies, but still very much wild animals. We got to hold them a good while since we were the first customers and they were still getting themselves set up for business. I think maybe they feared if they didn’t give us something to do, we might leave. For $35, two people can each hold a cub and they give you a 5x7 picture in a cute frame, plus will take additional pictures for you with your own camera. It’s $10 less if you only want pictures with one cub. It was so cool. Not something you get many chances in life to do!
Our whale watch cruise was on a huge catamaran, the Sun Rider II. We got chairs up at the front, and enjoyed the short ride out to the whale spotting area listening to music right out of the Mexican pavilion at Epcot. Reality imitating art! Passed the arch and Lover’s Beach (Divorce Beach is ironically on the other side) then spotted a whale almost immediately. The captain and crew did a great job keeping the boat pointed at the whales, and had a good feel for when and where they were going to surface without invading the whale’s space. Saw two smaller whales kind of close, but not nearly as close as the smaller boats were getting. The beer and margaritas were flowing the whole way out and the whole way back, and we found ourselves singing along to Jimmy Buffett tunes with a couple other passengers once we’d left the whale area and headed back to the pier. It was a good shore excursion. They served non-stop drinks including soda, plus chips and salsa, and had a multi-stall, clean and bright set of bathrooms for men and women. Had a little time left to wander and buy more vanilla before getting back on the tender (again, no wait). There is a handicraft market just to the left of the tender pier exit where we saw more stars, but could not negotiate a good enough price, so left them behind.
A Cabo policeman we were talking to told us one day that week four cruise ships had been in port at the same time. We were the only ship there both days, so I’m sure that factored favorably in the lack of wait for tenders.
As we sailed out of Cabo, again on the starboard side, we passed a group of boats watching a humpback who was putting on quite a show, breaching over and over again. The Dramamine we had taken to be sure the whale watch cruise didn’t turn into a nightmare kicked in, and we slept through what was supposed to be our theatre tour (Castaway Club perk). Managed to pull ourselves together for semi-formal night. Saw the comedian who did some card tricks and yet another rendition of audience participation YMCA. That one really needs to be put to bed. Savored yet another night of falling asleep with the verandah door open to the cool air and rush of the ocean colliding with the ship.
Cruise Day 7- At Sea
The morning broke cool and sunny and windy. The crew put blankets out on deck 9, and we made ourselves into blanket burritos on the sun loungers. A few brave souls tested the pool waters, but both the Goofy pool and the adult pool had whitecaps for a while. The captain was heading for LA at a good clip. After lunch we went to the WD theatre to watch a premiere of ‘I am Number Four.’ At first the movie wouldn’t play right, then an announcement came on saying due to technical difficulties the showing was cancelled. People started booing and refused to leave (many had just ordered expensive drinks for themselves and snacks for their kids). The projectionist gave it another try, and this time it worked. The movie was better than I expected it to be. And the cute dog doesn’t die. I hate when dogs die in movies. After the movie it was time to pack…never a fun task but one we’ve gotten quite skilled at doing quickly. When we’d finished our last dinner at Parrot Cay, we caught the Pub Night music and the “If I were not Upon the Sea” skit, always entertaining to watch.
Cruise Day 8 – Return to the Port of Los Angeles
Unlike the return to port at Canaveral, when we woke up, we were still traveling. Since we pushed the clocks back an hour before retiring, we woke early enough to watch the sun come up from our verandah, and hung by the deck 10 railing for the journey up the canal into the harbor, where the captain made the Wonder spin into place. Our disembarkation off the ship in Canaveral is usually so rushed because we are always going right from the ship back to WDW, but here we actually had time to go back to our cabin and wait for our 8:45 breakfast time. The ship was about a half hour late docking, and there was a delay in clearing customs. At 8:45, people were sitting all over the place unable to get off the ship. Finally, they called groups to disembark by luggage tag colors, with what seemed a long time between colors. The whole time we got seated in Parrot Cay and ate breakfast, only two groups had been called. It doesn’t do any good to just leave the ship if your color hasn’t been called yet…when you get down to baggage claim, the doors to the bay your luggage will be in won’t have opened yet! Unlike Port Canaveral where all the bags are out in one big room, in LA they are in different rooms with big sliding garage type doors. It was a bit chaotic, but we found our bags and then it was a very short walk to the DCL transfer buses to LAX. There was no traffic, and it took less than a half hour to get to LAX. Southwest is terminal 1, so we got off first. If you were one of the last to get off, it would probably add another fifteen minutes to your arrival time.
In summary, after 12 Disney cruises, this was one of our favorites. The weather was perfect every day, and we appreciated the warm afternoons without being hot, the cool mornings and evenings, and especially the ability to keep our verandah door open a lot of the time for fresh air. The mix of port and at sea days was good (we love at sea days). Was very glad we had the extra stop in Cabo, as the whale watch excursion took almost all of the very brief time this itinerary normally provides in port. We found the service to be entirely in keeping with past cruises. We are grateful to have made two new friends (thanks to Disboards) who we had so much fun with, and with whom we will share a Valentine’s cruise again next year, on the other side of the continent. Complaints? None important enough to mention. Examples of bad form by fellow guests? Hardly any…maybe just one group on deck 6 who parked their enormous stroller in its fully extended glory in the aft elevator lobby the entire week. I’m wondering if every family who didn’t want their stroller taking up space in their stateroom parked them all over the elevator lobbies how nice that would look-about as nice as the stroller parking area outside “It’s a Small World.” When we bring the kids along, our room gets pretty tight, too, but I wouldn’t dream of stashing our big bag of snorkel gear and other ungainly objects out in the public space of the elevator lobby. Different strokes, I guess. As far as apprehension of Mexico goes, we found our experiences with vendors and other Mexican locals to be completely non-intimidating. We struck up conversations with restaurant servers and taxi drivers and bartenders and shopkeepers who were the epitome of friendliness. No one tried to cheat us or insult us for not buying things from them. No one chased after us with silver bracelets that turn green after two hours on your skin. Maybe we just caroused around all the right streets, but we were very, very glad we did not consider changing our itinerary to another part of the world even though we had the option to do so without change fees. And we plan to do another Mexican Riviera cruise!
Here's the link the Facebook album...got some super whale/dolphin pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52659&id=1826323270&l=ae6956a611
Despite the light snow, our flight from Chicago Midway took off on time and we got to LAX early. We just missed the Disneyland Express bus, so had to wait an hour for another one. It stops at six or seven places in LAX, so we were glad we got on first as it got crowded. Due to Friday night traffic, it took an hour and fifteen minutes to get to Anaheim. The bus stopped first at the Disneyland Hotel, where an agent gets on board and you pay for your ticket. They accepted the Mousesavers coupons we’d printed off. Two stops later was the Grand Californian. Overall ride time from LAX-about an hour and a half. Check in time was short, and we’d soon dropped the bags off at our DVC studio room (overlooking the pool). We headed off to Downtown Disney to eat at House of Blues (Gotta love restaurant.com coupons), but could only wander around a bit afterwards because we were so tired.
Pre-cruise Day 2: Anaheim
“It’s a nice day, when you wake up in Disneyland…” (ever heard this Five for Fighting song?) We grabbed a quick bite at the counter service place at the Grand Californian then headed over to Disneyland. It turned out to be a good thing we got there for the Magic Morning hours (Tomorrowland and Fantasyland opened at 8) as throughout the day Disneyland got more and more crowded. We tried to go on the Nemo submarine ride first, as we’d been forewarned about the long, slow lines and lack of fast passes. It was broken. So we went on the Matterhorn and came back. Still broken. Went on Space Mountain (which feels way faster than the one in WDW) and went back. Still broken. We gave up and headed over towards Adventureland. As soon as they let us in there, we went on Indiana Jones and Jungle Cruise and back on Indy and then did Tarzan’s Treehouse before our lunch at Blue Bayou. Wish they had that restaurant in WDW…it was so neat to sit there watching the swamp cottages and fireflies and POC boats drifting past. We had the famed Monte Cristo and tried not to think that it was essentially a $25 turkey, ham, and Swiss sandwich. One of the many things you do not let yourself think about at Disney!
We had an unexpected interlude when my sister called me from NY to let me know an aunt of ours had died that morning and that we each had to sign and have notarized a statement giving permission for her to be buried in my grandfather’s Masonic plot. So there I was at the Tiki Birds contemplating whether to get a Dole Whip now or later (or both), and suddenly I needed to write a letter and get it notarized before we leave on our cruise. And it is a Saturday. We left Disneyland and went back to the Grand Californian to the concierge. The only notary they know of works at the Disneyland Hotel and wasn’t there on weekends. Long story short, we had to take a taxi ride to some UPS store miles away where I had my letter notarized and faxed. Luckily the taxi driver took pity on us and turned the meter off while he was waiting for us. I don’t know how we’d have gotten a taxi back from where this place was if he hadn’t hung around. Fifty dollars and an hour later, we’re back at GCV and ready to head back to Disneyland. Jeez!
The park got progressively more packed. I think since all of Critter Country was closed for refurb, including Splash Mountain, there were more people in all the other lands. You could hardly move in places. We got a fast pass for Big Thunder, and decided we were happy just to wander around, take pictures, and watch the firework show, which is like Wishes on steroids. Didn’t stay for Fantasmic…just too mobbed. People started queuing up with their stroller barricades THREE HOURS before the first Fantasmic show. It was lovely to just wander back to the hotel-no trams, no buses, no epic hike out to the parking lot. There are some things I really like better about Disneyland: like their Pirates, Autopia, and piranhas on their Jungle Cruise! We also liked the cozier, more forested Fantasyland. The one in WDW has too many expanses of concrete with no softening features. They had a cool “Tangled” house and tower, too!
Cruise Day 1-Sunday
Because we had purchased DCL transfers, bell service picked up the bags we were checking in for the cruise by 8 am while we were at breakfast. It was great to know we didn’t have to see or lug the suitcases around again, and that they’d just appear in our stateroom later that day. We weren’t sure whether we’d go to the Storyteller’s Café; it was pretty, but served up $17 French toast and omelets…a lot of money for bread and eggs. We decided to go anyway, as we are rarely in Disneyland and this was our first time ever staying on property there. It was a good decision…the food was extraordinary and it turned out to be an unofficial character breakfast with Chip and Dale, Brer Fox, one of the Country Bear Jamboree bears, Rafiki, and Kenai (from Brother Bear). After breakfast we did our last minute email and voicemail “away” messages and enjoyed the Grand Californian’s lobby. Soon it was time to meet for the bus to the port. All our other Disney cruises have been out of Port Canaveral, so it was interesting to see Wonder berthed there with all the huge cargo ships, the big expansion bridge, and the old “Love Boat” terminal. I could picture Captain Stubing, Julie McCoy, Doc, Gopher and Isaac getting ready for all the same Mexican ports of call! There was a hand made sign on the pier that said “Welcome home Wonder.” I think maybe that gets put there by west coast DISboarders? It was nice!
Minor panic at check-in: the cordial and smiley DCL lady says to me “did anyone ever tell you your passport indicates you are a male?” I gasp. Sure enough, on the passport, there’s an “M” in the box that indicates gender. Oh crap. She goes away to check on this. For a long time. I start sweating. Are they going to tell me I can’t sail? Finally she comes back and says they just have to put down for immigration I’m a male, because those manifests must match. We get our KTTW cards and bolt onto the ship. All our bags appeared nearly right away, and we were unpacked and ready for the adventure to begin before the muster drill. DCL has FINALLY stopped making you wear your life preservers to the drill. No more bumping into everyone on the stairs and in the hot, cramped rows you make on deck during the drill with your giant orange appendage.
Gorgeous weather for sailaway! We sailed around the Queen Victoria and a bunch of restaurants similar to those you pass heading out of Port Canaveral. One even greeted us via their loudspeaker and wished us a good journey. Then we heard sea lions barking and saw them around the pilot boat. This is going to be a GREAT cruise! Watched Sorcerer’s Apprentice (well, watched most of it. Slept through some due to the effects of Dramamine). At dinner we met a couple we’d connected with beforehand on Disboards and linked our reservations with. We were placed at a table for four, so it was easy to get to know each other quickly. We had lots in common, and the conversation soon traveled to off color topics, as most relationships destined for success are able to do! Too worn out to do anything else after dinner, we enjoyed opening our verandah door, and falling asleep to the sounds of the wind and the ocean. Ahhhh.
Cruise Day 2-Monday (Valentine’s Day)
Room service brought our coffee, OJ and toast. We had our character breakfast this morning, so didn’t want to fill up with the pre-breakfast. Got some great shots of Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip and Dale. Checked out the shops when they opened for the first time this cruise. Treasure Ketch and Mickey’s Mates had some new merchandise, including a bright red DCL logo t-shirt which I thought was apropos for Valentine’s Day so I bought it. We got some other stuff and got to use our platinum CC perk of a $25 ship credit back for spending $100 in the gift shop. Went to the DVC member presentation and got cool new DVC hats. Saw Tangled in 3-D (which was total eye candy) before getting gussied up for Palo. DH sported his tuxedo (on its 12th cruise and still going strong!) and I wore my favorite black velvet gown with long black gloves and lots of rhinestone jewelry. Sort of an adult Halloween dress-up party! All the ladies dining in Palo that evening received a long-stem red rose. It was heavenly. We caught the comedy show and Match your Mate in Wavebands, then started to fade, so turned in. One of the best parts about today was that we booked a cruise for next Valentine’s Day on Magic doing the eastern Caribbean itinerary, and our new travel buddies booked the same one so we can do this all over again next year on the other side of the continent! Nothing takes the sting out of the end of a cruise than another booking on the horizon. Prices on the older ships seem to have come down…with our onboard rebooking discount; a cat 5c for the two of us was under $2300, and we get a $350 OBC. All in all, a very, very happy Valentine’s Day.
Cruise Day 3-Tuesday: Cabo San Lucas
This was supposed to be a sea day on our original itinerary, but after the call to Mazatlan was cancelled, this extra day at Cabo was arranged. On the way into Cabo we saw lots of whales, mostly spouts in the distance but a couple of flukes here and there. The rock formations you pass entering their harbor are pretty cool, especially the famous arch, and we heard the sea lions barking and could see them on the beach with our binoculars. The ship had to blow its warning horn (not the “When you wish upon the star” one, but the “get out of the way!” one) because there were kayakers that kept paddling in front of us while we were turning to drop anchor. We had barely stopped when an army of tender boats came splashing towards us. I’d read on earlier MR trip reports that the lines could be long, so we enjoyed the adult pool and hot tubs (nearly no one else using them) for an hour or so before heading out to the tender. We didn’t wait at all. Each tender held about 50 people, and it was a short and fun ride into the little harbor. While going into the tender pier, there were a couple smaller fishing boats ahead of us dropping their leftover bait to flocks of hovering pelicans and sea lions. One super-sized sea lion even jumped out of the water and rode on the swimming deck on the back of a boat a while taking fish handouts from the passengers. It was a brilliantly sunny, low humidity day and everything just seemed to sparkle around the marina. It was a short walk to the Cabo Wabo Cantina, which we just wanted to see (because it’s what you do in Cabo). Since we’d passed so many nice places at the marina to sit and drink really cheap beers, we did some shopping and then headed back there. My prize purchase was a tin, 3D star with all little cutouts in it that make beautiful patterns on the ceiling and wall when hung with a candle or light in it. I’d only seen stars like these for the first time at the Mexican restaurant in Disneyland’s Frontierland, and DH and I had talked about how cool it would be to start a collection of those to hang from an outdoor porch ceiling. So it was so neat to see one for sale at one of the little vendor stands just outside Cabo Wabo. It’s less fun if you don’t negotiate and at least feel like you got a bargain, so I made it clear I was willing to walk away without it. “Senora, what would you offer for this, then?” He’d originally asked $35, I offered $25, and probably could have done better but the guy had kids and I figured he needed it more than I did. Like most of these places, sales were cash only, and to my husband’s horror, I spent all our beer money on the star. Luckily, there was an ATM right in the shopping market, so we were back in business. We chose a waterfront bar called D’Right Joint, one of many bar/grill combos in a row, because their deal of 7 frosty cold Coronas or Pacificos in a bucket of ice, plus salsa and chips for $10 US could not be beat with a stick. We spent a glorious hour or so people watching and talking with the very nice, young, not pushy staff while enjoying or delightfully cold beers in the shade and breeze. There is a large, clean, free restroom in the Cruise Information building just fifty yards or so to the right of the tender pier exit, so all creature comforts accounted for!
Like other places we’ve visited in Mexico (Cozumel, Costa Maya) the vendors do invite you to see their stores or come up to you with bracelets or little painted animals but I didn’t at all find them any more intimidating or aggressive than the T-Mobile people at our local Midwestern mall. In fact, everyone we met was friendly, polite, and mostly took no for no the first time. In fact, most of them said “thanks, enjoy your day” instead of “die you scurvy dog” if you declined whatever they were peddling. Naturally, all the recent press about tourist dangers in Mexico will make anyone a little apprehensive if not paranoid, but I didn’t feel the least bit anxious, even walking around by Cabo Wabo where there were fewer tourists. We saw plenty of police, and things seemed peaceful and under control with tourists happily parasailing, jet skiing, eating and drinking (and buying huge tin star lanterns!).
Feeling quite happy after our bucket of beers, we decided we’d better catch a tender before they started getting crowded. We walked right on to one, and enjoyed another short but atmospheric tender ride, getting a few nice shots of Wonder while approaching it. Dinner at Parrot Cay was colorful as always. Afterwards, we saw Alfred and Seymour, two really funny guys in the Walt Disney Theatre. Don’t miss the adult show. And do NOT be late walking in. ‘Nuff said.
Cruise Day 4- Wednesday: Puerto Vallarta
There was fog early this morning, but it burned off quickly. The pier at Puerto Vallarta isn’t like Cabo at all. For one thing, Wonder’s bow was practically piercing the Walmart/Sam’s Club parking lot. There were high-rise hotels around, but other than a couple of temporary shopkeepers who set up along the gangway area, everything else was a taxi ride away. There are white vans lined up right as you get off the ship that will take you to the downtown/Malecon area for $3 a person. Catch was, since we lingered a while on board, there weren’t many people getting off looking for taxis when we were, and the vans wait until they fill up before taking you downtown. After waiting 10 min, a regular taxi driver approached us and said he’d take us downtown for $10. We wavered (because we’d already told the white van driver we’d go with him), then the new taxi driver dropped his price to $8. It was ok with the white van taxi driver that we didn’t want to wait any longer, so off we went. The chatty taxi driver, who spoke perfect English, dropped us at the beginning of the Malecon, or boardwalk area. This is the famous one you see in tourist promotions with all the interesting statues along the waterfront. We walked all along it, taking lots of pictures of the statues and also some amazingly detailed sand sculptures. At what appeared to be a town square, some performers were swinging from ropes atop a huge pole. DH and I both laughed to ourselves because it reminded us both of the Rio del Tiempo ride at the Mexican pavilion at Epcot. There was a clean, free public toilet at what appeared to be their city hall. We stopped at Paradise Burger about midway up the Malecon; it had a second story open dining area where we sat and polished off another bucket of frosty Coronas while watching the Puerta Vallarta world go by underneath us. I’m sure the beers had nothing to do with the fact that I walked off leaving my purse and a souvenir bag I’d bought for my daughter hanging on the back of my chair. I realized it just after we crossed the street, and started heading back, only to find our waiter running towards us carrying my forgotten belongings.
As I had seen a beautiful embroidered white blouse at a native flea market off the main drag that I wanted to buy, we hit another ATM. A very nice young man working an information booth there told us if we wanted to save money, we could walk three blocks away from the Malecon and catch the Walmart/Sam’s bus for six and a half pesos each. At 11-12 pesos to the dollar (depending on who you ask) that’s only about 50 cents a person. Way cheaper than a taxi. By this point, though, we were pretty hot and ready to go back to the ship and not quite up for a bus ride full of Walmart shoppers. We easily found a taxi driver who’d take us back to the ship for $8. Back on the ship we enjoyed finishing off novels while lying on the loungers on deck 4.
This was pirate night, so we got on our full pirate regalia and lined up for pictures with Jack Sparrow and Pirate Mickey Mouse. It seemed to me there weren’t as many people dressed up as pirates this time, which is kind of disappointing. I think it’s so much fun to see all those eyepatches and wench outfits and tricorn hats! We’ve seen the pirate party so many times, and since we didn’t have any kids along who get into the dance party bit, we waited until just before Mickey’s arrival and the fireworks before going up to deck 10. The fireworks were spectacular. Then we jockeyed for loungers on the Goofy pool with our travel buddies and actually stayed awake for all of the Curse of the Black Pearl. Another great day!
Cruise Day 5-Thursday: Sea Day
This morning, the ocean was like a sheet of plate glass. That made it possible to notice any motion on the surface that indicated some sea creature was about. We saw a school of dolphins off the back of the ship from Beach Blanket. Later, from our verandah, we saw a veritable parade of wildlife. We saw sea turtles, sea lions floating by on their backs, flippers waving, and the entire starboard side of the ship was treated to a dolphin show complete with leaps in the air and backflips! I was excited to catch a couple with the video camera. There is no way you could believe they weren’t showing off! Later, right under our balcony railing, I saw what I first thought was another dolphin swimming just under the surface of the water, Then I realized it had a thinner tail, pointier nose, and it wasn’t coming up to the surface, I’m thinking it was a marlin. Pretty amazing. We enjoyed brunch at Palo, then retreated back to our cabin where we had the best view of the flat ocean and all the wonderful creatures that are floating past. It was like this on our Alaskan cruise, where quite regularly sea lions, seals, dolphins, whales, and the occasional ice floe with an eagle sitting on it would drift past like the water pageant on Bay Lake at WDW! Decks 9 and 10 were mobbed, so we hung out in our stateroom most of the afternoon watching for critters. We were rewarded for our patience about 4 pm en route back to Cabo when a school of at least 40 dolphins raced parallel to the ship, sometimes with ten or fifteen of them leaping into the air at the same time. We got some good pictures and video even though they were quite a distance from the ship. We watched them with binoculars for a long time after taking photos. They truly seemed to be leaping for the sheer joy of it.
Cruise Day 6- Friday: Cabo San Lucas
Got up early to watch for whales as we headed back into to Cabo. We weren’t supposed to meet until 9:45 for our excursion, but wanted to go back onto Cabo earlier. It was no trouble to do that…we just got an earlier tender and told the Disney crew member at the tender pier we were on the whale watch. They told us when to return and let the excursion people know we were already at the tender pier. Our dinner buddies had told us about getting their pictures taken with lion cubs right by the tender pier the first Cabo day, so we went right to that kiosk. It is supposed to be a benefit for the wild animals at a zoo. They kept the cubs in a baby crib in between photos. I’d had my picture taken before with a lion cub at the MGM Grand in Vegas, but that time the lion lay on a table in front of me and I just stood behind it while the photographer took the picture. This was way better: my husband and I sat on a bench and each was handed a cub. My husband had the lion, and I had a tiger (possibly a liger). Mine squirmed a lot but didn’t scratch, and my husband’s lion snarled a lot. They were babies, but still very much wild animals. We got to hold them a good while since we were the first customers and they were still getting themselves set up for business. I think maybe they feared if they didn’t give us something to do, we might leave. For $35, two people can each hold a cub and they give you a 5x7 picture in a cute frame, plus will take additional pictures for you with your own camera. It’s $10 less if you only want pictures with one cub. It was so cool. Not something you get many chances in life to do!
Our whale watch cruise was on a huge catamaran, the Sun Rider II. We got chairs up at the front, and enjoyed the short ride out to the whale spotting area listening to music right out of the Mexican pavilion at Epcot. Reality imitating art! Passed the arch and Lover’s Beach (Divorce Beach is ironically on the other side) then spotted a whale almost immediately. The captain and crew did a great job keeping the boat pointed at the whales, and had a good feel for when and where they were going to surface without invading the whale’s space. Saw two smaller whales kind of close, but not nearly as close as the smaller boats were getting. The beer and margaritas were flowing the whole way out and the whole way back, and we found ourselves singing along to Jimmy Buffett tunes with a couple other passengers once we’d left the whale area and headed back to the pier. It was a good shore excursion. They served non-stop drinks including soda, plus chips and salsa, and had a multi-stall, clean and bright set of bathrooms for men and women. Had a little time left to wander and buy more vanilla before getting back on the tender (again, no wait). There is a handicraft market just to the left of the tender pier exit where we saw more stars, but could not negotiate a good enough price, so left them behind.
A Cabo policeman we were talking to told us one day that week four cruise ships had been in port at the same time. We were the only ship there both days, so I’m sure that factored favorably in the lack of wait for tenders.
As we sailed out of Cabo, again on the starboard side, we passed a group of boats watching a humpback who was putting on quite a show, breaching over and over again. The Dramamine we had taken to be sure the whale watch cruise didn’t turn into a nightmare kicked in, and we slept through what was supposed to be our theatre tour (Castaway Club perk). Managed to pull ourselves together for semi-formal night. Saw the comedian who did some card tricks and yet another rendition of audience participation YMCA. That one really needs to be put to bed. Savored yet another night of falling asleep with the verandah door open to the cool air and rush of the ocean colliding with the ship.
Cruise Day 7- At Sea
The morning broke cool and sunny and windy. The crew put blankets out on deck 9, and we made ourselves into blanket burritos on the sun loungers. A few brave souls tested the pool waters, but both the Goofy pool and the adult pool had whitecaps for a while. The captain was heading for LA at a good clip. After lunch we went to the WD theatre to watch a premiere of ‘I am Number Four.’ At first the movie wouldn’t play right, then an announcement came on saying due to technical difficulties the showing was cancelled. People started booing and refused to leave (many had just ordered expensive drinks for themselves and snacks for their kids). The projectionist gave it another try, and this time it worked. The movie was better than I expected it to be. And the cute dog doesn’t die. I hate when dogs die in movies. After the movie it was time to pack…never a fun task but one we’ve gotten quite skilled at doing quickly. When we’d finished our last dinner at Parrot Cay, we caught the Pub Night music and the “If I were not Upon the Sea” skit, always entertaining to watch.
Cruise Day 8 – Return to the Port of Los Angeles
Unlike the return to port at Canaveral, when we woke up, we were still traveling. Since we pushed the clocks back an hour before retiring, we woke early enough to watch the sun come up from our verandah, and hung by the deck 10 railing for the journey up the canal into the harbor, where the captain made the Wonder spin into place. Our disembarkation off the ship in Canaveral is usually so rushed because we are always going right from the ship back to WDW, but here we actually had time to go back to our cabin and wait for our 8:45 breakfast time. The ship was about a half hour late docking, and there was a delay in clearing customs. At 8:45, people were sitting all over the place unable to get off the ship. Finally, they called groups to disembark by luggage tag colors, with what seemed a long time between colors. The whole time we got seated in Parrot Cay and ate breakfast, only two groups had been called. It doesn’t do any good to just leave the ship if your color hasn’t been called yet…when you get down to baggage claim, the doors to the bay your luggage will be in won’t have opened yet! Unlike Port Canaveral where all the bags are out in one big room, in LA they are in different rooms with big sliding garage type doors. It was a bit chaotic, but we found our bags and then it was a very short walk to the DCL transfer buses to LAX. There was no traffic, and it took less than a half hour to get to LAX. Southwest is terminal 1, so we got off first. If you were one of the last to get off, it would probably add another fifteen minutes to your arrival time.
In summary, after 12 Disney cruises, this was one of our favorites. The weather was perfect every day, and we appreciated the warm afternoons without being hot, the cool mornings and evenings, and especially the ability to keep our verandah door open a lot of the time for fresh air. The mix of port and at sea days was good (we love at sea days). Was very glad we had the extra stop in Cabo, as the whale watch excursion took almost all of the very brief time this itinerary normally provides in port. We found the service to be entirely in keeping with past cruises. We are grateful to have made two new friends (thanks to Disboards) who we had so much fun with, and with whom we will share a Valentine’s cruise again next year, on the other side of the continent. Complaints? None important enough to mention. Examples of bad form by fellow guests? Hardly any…maybe just one group on deck 6 who parked their enormous stroller in its fully extended glory in the aft elevator lobby the entire week. I’m wondering if every family who didn’t want their stroller taking up space in their stateroom parked them all over the elevator lobbies how nice that would look-about as nice as the stroller parking area outside “It’s a Small World.” When we bring the kids along, our room gets pretty tight, too, but I wouldn’t dream of stashing our big bag of snorkel gear and other ungainly objects out in the public space of the elevator lobby. Different strokes, I guess. As far as apprehension of Mexico goes, we found our experiences with vendors and other Mexican locals to be completely non-intimidating. We struck up conversations with restaurant servers and taxi drivers and bartenders and shopkeepers who were the epitome of friendliness. No one tried to cheat us or insult us for not buying things from them. No one chased after us with silver bracelets that turn green after two hours on your skin. Maybe we just caroused around all the right streets, but we were very, very glad we did not consider changing our itinerary to another part of the world even though we had the option to do so without change fees. And we plan to do another Mexican Riviera cruise!
Here's the link the Facebook album...got some super whale/dolphin pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52659&id=1826323270&l=ae6956a611
...makes me want to go back even sooner and I definitely want to spend more time in Cabo on the next trip.
