MR trip reports

[lmhall2000]

She made port about an hour and a half ago. 6:10 local time.

Thanks Dave!! This helps..we really need to get off the ship ASAP to get niece to airport, the good news is Delta has changed her flight for the 4th time and instead of 10:35am it leaves at 11:15am..so that buys us some time!

Thanks!!
Tara

 

[Popovich]

I've got some questions!!!

1. How early can you get to port?
2. Did any of you try for a port upgrade? How much to go up category?
3. What time did they start boarding?
4. Did any of you stay at Crowne Plaza, do they have early shuttles or only at certain times?
5. How early were you able to leave the ship on disembarking?

I'll keep it to five now!

Thanks travelers!!!
Safe voyage!
Tara

I'm also interested - these are great questions!!

We are staying at the Doubletree - so I would be interested in how often their shuttle ran!

Thank you for any information!

 

[JDBlair]

Thanks Dave!! This helps..we really need to get off the ship ASAP to get niece to airport, the good news is Delta has changed her flight for the 4th time and instead of 10:35am it leaves at 11:15am..so that buys us some time!

Thanks!!
Tara

I had that problem when we flew Delta to Florida for our first cruise in 2007. I booked one flight time and it probably changed 8 times before we flew out. So..I didn't fly with them when we went for another cruise in 2009. Instead we used US Airways but instead of them changing flight times, they left us a voicemail at 4 am, the day of our flight, to inform us our flight was canceled due to aircraft maintenance! My nonstop flight was scheduled to depart at 1 pm and they're calling me 9 hours prior to tell me it's canceled because the plane doesn't work? Are you kidding me?!?!?! We did make it to Florida but not after stressing me to the max. So.. we are VERY excited to drive to the port and board the Wonder in a few weeks.

 

[MamaKate]

We checked in to the Doubletree this afternoon and it is pretty much just an "eh-it's alright" kind of place. It's definitely not a destination hotel but for one night it will do. As far as I can tell- it's clean, check-in was great and the staff were very friendly, it just seemed tired and in need of a facelift. The hotel, parking, breakfast and shuttle is free for us (we are using Hilton points) so I really cannot complain! Actually, we live fairly close to the port and my in-laws live in Huntington Beach, so we are having dinner with them instead of exploring San Pedro, so I can't review those restaurants bars etc... However, the kids got to see the Sapphire Princess, Norwegian something and the Queen Elizabeth in port today...very exciting for them I will sign off now but I promise to post navigators and a trip report when we return ASAP, I can't leave my DIS peeps in the dark

That would be awesome!!! I'm so anxious to see them .

 

[VickiHD]

I am also looking forward to reading some MR trip reports!! We want to book our next DC for Oct 2012.

 

[disneyfanforever]

I can't wait to hear the reports and look forward to the navigators! Thanks!

 

[JDBlair]

Does anyone know if we're allowed to carry-on alcohol on the Wonder in L.A. as we were able to in Florida?

 

[talie]

Does anyone know if we're allowed to carry-on alcohol on the Wonder in L.A. as we were able to in Florida?

I suspect there'd be a major revolt if we're not. I'm pretty sure that Disney is upfront about alcohol being ok in carryons.

 

[Jewelss37]

Can't wait to see pics!! And hear all the details!

 

[Susie22]

Just back today. I'll try to post a long trip report when I get time, but in short, I was extremely disappointed. This was our first Disney cruise, and I had very high expectations which were not met. The service is 10 times better at the Disney World value resorts than it was on the Disney Cruise line. It was so bad in fact that I will be canceling our Fantasy reservations for next year. The food was TERRIBLE. The service was TERRIBLE. The organization and procedures were TERRIBLE. A short list of the things that went wrong:
1) Animator's Palate was not working. At all.
2) It didn't seem to matter what we ordered, whether it was room service or something in the restaurants, or something from guest services, only half of what we asked for would show up
3) The lines for check-in/out at the clubs were terribly long. You had to budget 20 minutes just to get the kids in our out of the clubs each time.
4) The cheesecake was a running joke among our party the entire time. It didn't matter what kind of cheesecake you ordered, if you didn't tell me it was cheesecake, I would have no idea what it was.
5) The tendering process in Cabo took about 1.5 hours each way -- and we were only in port for about 5 hours.
6) No one seemed to have any idea how to do the dine and play. After a few nights we finally decided to just give up.

This is a very short list. Basically, most of the staff was either uninformed or incompetent, the procedures were a nightmare, and did I mention how bad the food was? I'd like a little steak with my fat next time, please.

No more Disney cruising for me.

 

[RVD90277]

I was also on this cruise. I can obviously only speak for myself but I thought it was great!

I took my son to the Oceaneer Lab every day and had no problems checking him in or out (took 1-2 minutes each time).

I only ordered room service once and it was for a cheese plate + corkscrew for the wine I brought onto the ship (I brought 2 bottles) and it came without any problems or delays.

I thought the food was pretty good. I never expect too much since they are making so much food for so many people so I expect some inconsistencies but overall I thought it was fine. Palo dining was good also.

I dined at Animator's Palate for 3 nights. It worked fine on the first night. The second time was pirate night so they didn't turn everything on but the walls still changed colors (they just didn't darken the room when they play the villain music). The last night, was like the 2nd night (walls changed colors, etc.).
The shows and entertainment were top notch. Toy Story had an amazing set. Disney Dreams is always one of my favorites.

The movie theatre was great for watching 3D movies... I saw Tangled 3D, etc.

The ship is in pretty good shape. I didn't notice any major signs of wear, etc.

Service was also good. I really liked my waiter, assistant waiter, and room steward. My head waiter wasn't so good but oh well.

Cabo tendering did take a long time and we were only in Cabo for a few hours. I just showed up about an hour or so after the tendering started and didn't have to wait too long.

RVD.

 

[RVD90277]

btw, i have all of my navigators with me so i'll try to scan them tomorrow...

shows were:

1) welcome show
2) golden mickeys
3) ventriloquist + keyboardist
4) tron 3d
5) toy story
6) dreams
7) till we meet again / juggler + beat box guy

RVD.

 

[jeanneg4of4]

Susie22 and RVD90277,
I would like to thank you both for your insite. This will be our first Disney cruise however, we have cruised with many other cruise lines. I hope the service gets better because this cruise will determine if we will be Disney cruisers or not. If my husband loves the cruise then we will be sold (I am already a Disney nut). One important aspect will be the food and service. We will not be back if the food is not good to great and the service is what we have come to expect from Disney. Disney's entertainment is always top notch and we expect it to be consistant on the cruise. It saddens me to hear so many negative comments about the Wonder these last few weeks I "Wonder" why the stark contrast? Anyways, thanks once again for you honest opinion.
Jeanne

 

[hopelea]

I can't wait to read the navigators!!! It is funny how two people can be on the same cruise and experience different cruises.

A cruise is what you make of it!! We have cruised DCL 3 times. We have always had great service. We always worry about the next DCL not being as good as the first, second or third....but, we also know...if something is not good we can make adjustments and still have a good time.

Thank you for posting your short reports. I can't wait to read the Good, Bad & hopefully not too much Ugly!!

 

[keaster]

I always find it fascinating how two people on the exact same cruise can have two entirely different experiences!

One says the food and service were terrible...the other thinks they were good. One talks about 20 minute waits to check kids in and out of the clubs, but the other says it was a quick couple of minutes.

Obviously no one is lying, but like they say one person's trash is another person's treasure, it's all about perception.

 

[ibouncetoo]

I always find it fascinating how two people on the exact same cruise can have two entirely different experiences!

One says the food and service were terrible...the other thinks they were good. One talks about 20 minute waits to check kids in and out of the clubs, but the other says it was a quick couple of minutes.

Obviously no one is lying, but like they say one person's trash is another person's treasure, it's all about perception.

And sometimes timing and sometimes luck! Hitting that line (for check in/kids clubs/guest services) at the right, or wrong, moment can make a big difference. And a crack serving team makes a world of difference over a team that has a new (or exhausted) member.

.
.

 

[BelleMulan]

susie22 -- sorry you were so disappointed in your cruise. But I hope you do post a trip report -- it's so helpful to get lots of different viewpoints. We leave in 13 days....

 

[Susie22]

Trip reports are different because it's a huge boat and everyone has different service people, clearly experiences aren't all going to be the same. That being said, we go to Disney World every year, and I have been consistently impressed with their service no matter what resort I stayed in. The pixie dust at the parks is amazing. I just really felt like that was lacking the entire time on this ship. But to balance out my trip report, here are some things the Wonder did right:

1) My room steward, Rosello, was great. He never messed anything up, and my room was kept perfectly neat and tidy. Loved the towel animals and the chocolate at night.

2) Entertainment was as always fabulous. LOVED Toy Story more than the original movie. Dreams was great. A surprise winner: The comedian on board was honestly the funniest one I have EVER seen. Both the family and adult shows were clean and hysterical. A serious high point on the cruise.

3) The Edge tween club. Daughter loved it. Couldn't get her out.

4) Wave phones. Loved being connected.

5) Kids clubs and Flounders Reef. Once you got the kids IN the clubs, they had a magical time. From my kids' perspective, this was the best vacation they ever took.

Now, some more bad.

1) Check-in for the cruise was very disorganized. We were brought all over the place and back and forth from cast member to cast member before they could get us checked in. We had all our documents out and ready, but they were having some kind of issue. Took about an hour for the process and the kids had to be right there with us the entire time -- with 10 kids under 12, that was a huge problem. No one seemed to know how to get us checked in. But the even bigger issue with this is that they were rude to us the entire time. "Why are you here, you should have done this part first?" Well, we said, this other cast member told us to come and wait here. "Well you need to go back and tell that person to do this other thing." So we'd go back to that person just to get yelled at, "No, we need to do it this way." Sorry, but I didn't pay you $11,000 to yell at me.

When we finally got checked in, no one could tell us where to go next. Seriously, we had to ask three different cast members before they could tell us we needed to go through security next. After we did, there was another line to get mickey bands that we waited in for literally an hour and a half. The slowest moving line ever.

2) When we got on the boat we went to wavebands to try to change our dining assignment. There was another huge line out the door that we were told to wait in. We waited in it for a LONG time. When we got up to the front we were told that that line was for spa treatments and we needed to go somewhere else to change dining assignments. When we got there we were told there was no way they could accommodate us for early dining. Bummer.

3) OK, so we're on 8:15 dining with our 10 kids on east coast time. Fine. But when we get there they have two tables set up for us (despite the fact that I counted no fewer than 5 tables in the restaurant that were large enough for our party -- most of which had people together that were not in the same party). But the tables were not even NEXT to each other (and yes, our reservations were completely linked, so they knew we were one party)! When we asked about moving someplace so we could at least be close to each other we were told, no way, couldn't be done. We ate at animator's palate three times this cruise, maybe the other person was on early dining, so maybe it worked for them? But for us the first time it kept starting to change color and then stopping and trying to restart. The server told us they were having technical difficulties. There was no music at all. Finally they got it to change color, but it was not the transition it was supposed to be. They just turned all the color on all of a sudden. The whole rest of the cruise it stayed completely black and white, so we never got the show the way it was supposed to be. We were told it was just broken.

I will write more later, but baby just woke up.

 

[hopelea]

Thanks for sharing Susie22!! Maybe you shouldn't cancel your next DCL vacation....it can only get better

Looking forward to hearing more. Thanks!

 

[VickiHD]

RVD90277----- Could you tell me what your dining roation was? I'll like to try and go to AP 3 times on our next trip.

What did you think of the "Disney Shore" excursions???

Thanks