Mike & Missy's Saying Goodbye to the Wonder 09/19/10 Pre-TR--Now a TR!--Updated 12/05

[UGAFan0829]

Here we go again!! I’ve finally decided to start the Pre-TR for our upcoming cruise on the Wonder! We are set to sail on the 4-night itinerary on September 19th, and I am so very excited to be cruising DCL for the 4th time! This will be our official good-bye to the Wonder before she heads out West, which is where I came up with the title for this report!

Before I go any further, let me introduce you to the cast—
First there’s my DH, Mike. He’s 33 and my very best friend in the world. I am VERY fortunate that Mike loves Disney *almost* as much as I do. He gets just as excited about the trips as me. Mike is a very down-to-earth, go with the flow guy, who is very much the opposite of me! I think Mike is most looking forward to the self-serve ice cream on the ship, which we visited SEVERAL times on our last cruise!!

Then there’s me, Missy. I’m 30, and holding! I love, love, love most all things Disney! As I said, I’m quite the opposite from Mike—I’m an obsessive planner who can stress over things very easily! Mike and I have been married for 10 wonderful years (which we celebrated aboard the Disney Magic last year!)

Now I’ll tell you how this trip came to be--We booked using our DVC points. I know, I know…a lot of people will say that using points for a cruise isn’t the ideal thing to do, but in this case, it was really what we wanted. It all started because the original plan was to take our 16 year-old nephew on his first trip to WDW (he refused to take a cruise). I’d went as far as booking a room at WLV, and had even made all our dining reservations. However, my nephew decided to screw around in school and got into a little bit of trouble. Mike and I decided that a trip to Disney wasn’t a good way to “reward” his poor choices, so we decided to cancel the trip. What I didn’t realize when I cancelled is that because the points had been borrowed from our 2010 use year, we had to use them this year, or we’d lose them. Before we booked the trip for my nephew, we had tossed around the idea of cruising again. Until last September, we hadn’t cruised since 2006, so needless to say, after 7 wonderful nights on the Magic; we’d been bitten with the cruise bug, again. So with knowing those points had to be used, I started exploring the possibility of using them to book a cruise. The thought of cruising and not having to pay a dime was thrilling. We tossed the idea around a little more, knowing that this was probably the only time that we’d ever use our points like this, and decided that we’d do it. Since we’re relatively new members (we joined in July of last year), this was our first time booking an “exchange”. It was fairly easy—I called Member Services, paid the $95 fee and that was it. She gave me a confirmation and told me that since we were booking using points, we’d be in a GTY status. Since cruising does take a lot of points, we decided to go with a Cat. 11, as that’s also the lowest category that’s available to book using points. On our past 3 and 4 night cruises, we were never in the room very much, so we were fine with having an inside room. Plus, there's always the small chance of getting an upgrade, which I'm not expecting, but would be happy to get!

Next up, I’ll be posting our plans, cause planning is what I love to do!

 

[wld4mky]

Hi Missy, Loved your last TR s I will be subbing. We are going in on our 2nd cruise in Feb. Can't wait to hear all about your plans and trip!

 

[JKSWonder]

I'm in! I've read your prior trip reports and thought they were great. Imformative, funny and with the kind of details I love....food reviews!

We are sailing the Magic for the first time in October. We have a Cat. 6 GTY and are anxiously waiting for our room assignment. We sailed once previously, a 4 day on the Wonder, and are of course, completely hooked now!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I'm in! I've read your prior trip reports and thought they were great. Imformative, funny and with the kind of details I love....food reviews!

We are sailing the Magic for the first time in October. We have a Cat. 6 GTY and are anxiously waiting for our room assignment. We sailed once previously, a 4 day on the Wonder, and are of course, completely hooked now!

Hi, Karen! Thanks so much for joining in! I'm glad you enjoyed my prior report. I believe that was the first time I included the food in there, so I'll have to try and make sure to do the same this time, too!

I know how you feel about waiting for the room assignment! I'm crossing my fingers that you'll get something that you'll love!!

Hi Missy, Loved your last TR s I will be subbing. We are going in on our 2nd cruise in Feb. Can't wait to hear all about your plans and trip!

Hi, there! I'm glad you're here! I love reading Pre-TR's and TR's to help pass the time in between my trips, so I hope I can do the same for you here!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

On Saturday, Mike went out to check the mail, and came back with a wonderful surprise. As he walked in the front door, he told me, "We got something really special in the mail today"! Of course, I never would have guessed that he was talking about our cruise docs, but he was!! I was totally excited, and jumped up and down as he opened them! Getting the docs makes everything official for me! For past cruises, I've always anticipated their arrival, but this time I guess I lost track of time, and they totally caught me off guard. It kinda puts me in panic mode a little too, as I knew the days were ticking away, but this really put it into perspective for me!!
Since it looks like the docs have changed a little since the last time we cruised, I thought I'd include a couple pics:

I love how they've changed it to a spiral bound book. That way everything stays together until you need it. The pages are preforated, so once you get to the cruise terminal, you can tear out what you need. Pretty handy, in my opinion!!

As I said, receiving the docs has made me a little nervous. Though we don't have a lot to do to get ready for this cruise compared to the others we've taken, we did decide to participate in the FE exchange this time. For the adults, I decided to make the gifts, so that has been a little time consuming. So far, I think we have about 11 adults in the group, and I've only been able to complete 1 of them. I'd really love to share what I'm making, but I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who's cruising with us and might be reading this. I'll make sure and keep you posted on my progress though!!

 

[wld4mky]

That is very exciting news! Can't wait to see what you are doing for the FE. We participated on our 1st cruise, it was alot of fun and the kids were always so excited to see what they got.

 

[mojjo627]

Thanks so much for starting this...We're starting to plan our first cruise so it's nice to see the whole process from start to finish.

 

[UGAFan0829]

That is very exciting news! Can't wait to see what you are doing for the FE. We participated on our 1st cruise, it was alot of fun and the kids were always so excited to see what they got.

I'm really excited about our FE gifts as well! I just hope everyone likes them as much as I do!

Thanks so much for starting this...We're starting to plan our first cruise so it's nice to see the whole process from start to finish.

Thank you for joining in! I can't tell you how many tips I've picked up just from reading reports here on the DIS, so I'm glad to be able to return the favor. You are going to have so much fun planning! If you have any questions, ask away!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

We received another surprise in the mail yesterday--except this time, I was actually expecting it!! Since this will be our first time participating in the FE exchange, I didn't actually have a FE. So, with the help of some DIS'ers on our cruise thread, I found a lady who makes and sells customized ones on e-Bay. It came in yesterday, and I was so excited to see it. Of course, I had to take a pic to share since I love it so much:

She did an awesome job! The quality is great!! I would highly recommend her!! Now I can't wait to get on the ship and hang it up!!

 

[Jennifer48]

Hi Missy!

I'm excited for you for taking a "last minute" cruise! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Your FE is awesome!

 

[travelfanatic]

Missy I love the FE!! How cute! We are actually cruising with you on the
19th! This will be our first disney cruise. SOOO excited! We did not choose to do FE since we are first timers, I just felt it would be a bit much. But it looks like a lot of fun. I will look for you on the cruise!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Hi Missy!

I'm excited for you for taking a "last minute" cruise! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Your FE is awesome!

Hi, Jennifer! I'm so glad you're here!! I'm glad you like my FE...I was impressed with it as well. I'm looking forward to participating in the exchange this time...should be lots of fun!!

Missy I love the FE!! How cute! We are actually cruising with you on the
19th! This will be our first disney cruise. SOOO excited! We did not choose to do FE since we are first timers, I just felt it would be a bit much. But it looks like a lot of fun. I will look for you on the cruise!

Hi, Angela!! How awesome that you'll be with us on the cruise. Have you been over to our meet thread? I honestly don't blame you for not doing the FE this time...with it being a shorter cruise, you will already be overwhelmed. I hope to meet you on the cruise as well!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I took the time to look through some of the recent Navigators posted here on the DIS to try and see what may be going on during our cruise. In looking at them, I've really been able to narrow down a lot of things that we want to try and do, which turned out to be a lot more than I initially thought. When we started planning this trip, we said that we were just going to take it slow to relax and enjoy the ship. But the reality is, there is no relaxing when it comes to Disney!! We can relax on the couch at home, not on a Disney ship!! So, with that being said, I thought I would post my "rough draft" of plans for the week. I'd love to get feedback from anyone who's willing to offer!

(Before, I start, I want to say that I've borrowed the majority of the following photos from Photobucket)
Saturday-9/18
We're going to try and leave the house somewhere between 5 and 6, but who knows what time it will actually be. It seems as though we always end up leaving late no matter what!! We'll stop for breakfast and lunch somewhere along the way. If we leave on time, I'm hoping to be in WDW around 1 or so. Last year, we stayed at the Country Inn at the port, left our car there and took the shuttle to port. But, this year, we decided to try something a little different. For one, since we weren't incorporating WDW into this trip, we thought staying on property would be nice. Plus, when we took the shuttle over from the CI last year, there were a ton of people already at the terminal, so we decided to try and be there earlier this year. So, we decided to stay at Pop!

We've always wanted to stay there, so this is our chance. And, I was able to get a decent rate for the one night that justified us staying there and driving to the port!! Other than checking out the resort and taking lots of pics, the only other plans we have for the evening is dinner at Trail's End, and hopefully a game of mini-golf at Fantasia Gardens!

I'm really excited about Trail's End, as the menus I've seen look really, really yummy!!!

Our ADR for dinner is at 5:30, so even if we do play a mini-golf, I'm hoping that we'll be able to head back to the room pretty early so that we'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the next morning!!

 

[Timon]

Oooh another Mike & Missy cruise, how exciting!!!

Can't wait to hear all about it Missy!

 

[mousetravel]

Hey, haven't seen you in a while, but glad I found your PTR! I also love the new format for the cruise documents. Can't wait to get ours for our June,2011 cruise!

 

[onescgirl]

Ya'll two are the cutest couple!
I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do a Disney cruise! It is going to be so much fun reading all about it in your TR!

What is a FE exchange?

 

[UGAFan0829]

Oooh another Mike & Missy cruise, how exciting!!!

Can't wait to hear all about it Missy!

Yeaaaa! You're here. I always feel so honored when you join my reports. You're a legend, Cass!

Hey, haven't seen you in a while, but glad I found your PTR! I also love the new format for the cruise documents. Can't wait to get ours for our June,2011 cruise!

Hey there, neighbor! I'm so glad you're here!! I really like the new format as well. It seems like it'll keep things more organized!! Is the 2011 cruise on the Dream?

Ya'll two are the cutest couple!
I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do a Disney cruise! It is going to be so much fun reading all about it in your TR!

What is a FE exchange?

Hi, Amy! Thanks for the sweet compliment!! Oh, I have to say, I think you would LOVE a Disney Cruise. Y'all should really think about doing one. I just know you would love it! It's so easy to get spoiled, very quickly!! Thanks for joining me by the way. I'm loving your report as well!

As far as the FE exchange, it's basically like a "secret santa". On the ships, there are little fish outside of every room. It's basically so that the cruise staff can leave messages and such, but what the DIS'ers use them for is the Fish Extender exchange where they hang the little pockets organizers (like the one in my previous post) from the fish, which is where Fish Extender came from. There is usually one person in the cruise group who voluteers to head up the group and keeps up with everyone who wants to participate. Everyone then gets gifts (a lot of people make things, like I'm doing for the adults), and then at some point during the cruise each person has a time to go and distribute the gifts to each room, leaving them in the fish extender. The gifts can be as small or as big as you'd like. Some people are really creative and make or buy some really cool things! It's just another way to add a little magic to the cruise! I hope I didn't confuse you too much on that!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Sunday, 9/19

I'm hoping to start this day fairly early. Since I've read that the Pop food court opens at 6, we're planning to have breakfast there. After that, we'll pack everything up and head for Port Canaveral!!

I hope to be there when or before the port opens as we've never made it there that early before!
The only other plans for the day, other than the sailaway party and dinner of course, is to catch one of my very favorite shows-"Match Your Mate". In our past cruises, they've always offered it only one the first night, so I'm assuming this cruise will be the same--especially since the recent Navigators I've looked at show it being the same. I would LOVE to be picked for the show--I really think Mike and I could win, but I'm usually to shy to do the crazy things you have to do to get picked!!


Monday, 9/20
Even though this is our Nassau day, Mike and I are planning to stay onboard. I'm thinking that we'll have a late breakfast at Beach Blanket before our 9:15 appointment at the Spa.

I'm really excited about this, as I was able to talk Mike into doing a Couples Massage with me!! This will be his first time ever, and only the second for me. If any of you read my report from last year, then you'll remember how Mike talked me into doing one of the Spa Samplers on our last day. From then on, I was hooked and knew that I would definitely be visiting the Spa on any future cruises!
This will also be Dress-Up night, so I hope we're able to get a couple photos made before dinner!
After dinner is "Wonder Quest" which is another adult show that we caught on the Magic last year, and LOVED! I hope we're able see it again this time!!


Tuesday, 9/21
Since this is Castaway Cay day, we will definitely be getting off the boat!!

As of now, we plan to snorkel a little, take a bike ride around the island, and check out the new waterslides!!
I haven't decided whether or not we're going to dress up in our pirate garb or not. We went all out last year:

But, we were 2 of only a handful of others who dressed up. There are a few others on our cruise thread who've said they were going to dress-up, so we may just go ahead and do it again too. We already have our costumes and wouldn't need a thing if we do decide to do it. I'll have to keep you posted on what we decide, or I could wait and surprise you when I write about it in my report!!
And of course we'll be attending the Pirate Party!!

Wednesday, 9/23
Sadly, this will be our last full day on the ship. But, it is one of the days that I look forward to the most. At-sea days are so relaxing!!
I'm not sure if we'll have breakfast or not, as we have Palo Brunch booked for 11:00. I'm really looking forward to this as it will be our first time trying it! I've seen so many pictures that I can't wait to try all the yummy food for myself!!
In looking at the other Navigators, I noticed that there were 2 things offered on those cruises that I'm hoping will be offered on ours-An animation class and a Galley Tour.
Other than dinner, the only other "must-do" for the day is the "Til We Meet Again" gathering. This was my very favorite part of our first two cruises, and I was really sad when we missed it last year.


So, that's it--a rough draft of our plans. I really don't expect things to change very much, but you never know. It will be interesting to see if we're really able to do everything that I've mentioned!! If anyone has any feedback to offer, I'd love to hear it!!

 

[mousetravel]

Hey there, neighbor! I'm so glad you're here!! I really like the new format as well. It seems like it'll keep things more organized!! Is the 2011 cruise on the Dream?

Yes, we'll be going on the Dream cruise next June for my DD's 16th birthday, another mom/daughter trip!!! Can't wait!

 

[onescgirl]

Yeaaaa! You're here. I always feel so honored when you join my reports. You're a legend, Cass!



Hey there, neighbor! I'm so glad you're here!! I really like the new format as well. It seems like it'll keep things more organized!! Is the 2011 cruise on the Dream?



Hi, Amy! Thanks for the sweet compliment!! Oh, I have to say, I think you would LOVE a Disney Cruise. Y'all should really think about doing one. I just know you would love it! It's so easy to get spoiled, very quickly!! Thanks for joining me by the way. I'm loving your report as well!

As far as the FE exchange, it's basically like a "secret santa". On the ships, there are little fish outside of every room. It's basically so that the cruise staff can leave messages and such, but what the DIS'ers use them for is the Fish Extender exchange where they hang the little pockets organizers (like the one in my previous post) from the fish, which is where Fish Extender came from. There is usually one person in the cruise group who voluteers to head up the group and keeps up with everyone who wants to participate. Everyone then gets gifts (a lot of people make things, like I'm doing for the adults), and then at some point during the cruise each person has a time to go and distribute the gifts to each room, leaving them in the fish extender. The gifts can be as small or as big as you'd like. Some people are really creative and make or buy some really cool things! It's just another way to add a little magic to the cruise! I hope I didn't confuse you too much on that!!

That sounds like such a neat thing to do! Can't wait to see pictures of what all you got!
Love the pirate picture of you two!