Hi sm4987,
Congrats on the degree, excellent achievement.
We are booked on our fourth cruise, as you can see we're getting closer to the departure date and now I practically live on the boards.
Our first ever cruise experience was also on the 4 night cruise on the Wonder. While it is truly an excellent introduction, it went by too fast. We very quickly fell in love with the whole experience and wished we had a longer trip. As someone pointed out, you are already familiar with the Disney product, so you know the calibur of service and experience to expect. It is awesome. I would go for it and do the seven night. Since it takes a couple of days to get aclimated and comfortable with the ship's routine, you can really enjoy the extra three days.
We have three children and our youngest was 4 when we did our first trip. He loved it, big time! We think the kids programing is great, and while mine don't spend every waking hour in the clubs, they have totally enjoyed everything they did. The programs are well run, varied and just great.
They do sell pins on the ship. The cruise is where I got hooked on collecting. I got my first pin as a
castaway club member, then a birthday pin when we went on our first 7 night cruise to celebrate my 40th. Since then, I've collected a few, many from the ship, which are exlusive to the ships.
I don't believe there is any type of formal night on the Wonder. You can get dressed up for dinner in Tritons and or Palo's but it's not full blown formal. While it is perfectly acceptable for people to not don formal attire on the Magic, it is a lot of fun when you do. We've gotten all dressed up, tuxes and gowns for the formal and semi-formal nights on the Magic. It's kind of like being in a classic movie.
We have also not had any problem taking our kids out of school, as evidenced by the fact all of our trips are during the school year. It's cheaper, less croweded and cooler. February has been our month of choice most years, so it is great to get away from the cold weather. My kids know they have to maintain at least a B in all of their core subjects if we are to justify taking them out for a week. So far they have done that. We also think the experience is far more educational than some of their time in class. We've even followed suggestions from the boards and taken special assignments with us. Our middle son was given a world map by his social studies teacher and asked to see how many countries he could meet people from. I think he ended up with 35! We also visited the Myan ruins. So they got to see and touch something they study about.
Ultimately we figure their time with us as kids is very short and passing by quickly. The memories we build on these very special trips are more important than a few hours of classroom time.
Good luck with your planning. Obviously you'll get lots of help from here!
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If we made the cruise during December, I thought a few would make great gifts for them. Hopefully the ship will be decorated a little for Christmas making for some great pictures.
