November 4, 2010 Wonder Cruise

[Tikihula]

Hi all!

Bill K ~ welcome to you & your family to the thread. This is my 1st Disney cruise too & 1st time to WDW since 1983!

Bev ~ Glad DH is feeling better, that must have been scary! Have a safe drive to the cruise.

I'm sitting here in the hotel watching Amazing Race & listening to the planes take off every few minutes. Tomorrow at lunch time I'll be in FL where it's hot.
It was between 32 & 44F with some snow flurries on our drive to Toronto.
See you soon!
~Jo~

Hi Jo,
We'll be right behind you, sort of. Leaving early Tuesday morning for the 7-hour drive to WDW. See you all Thursday afternoon!

 

[Hygiene99]

scheduled for 2 pm flight, hoping to get on the 11AM flight!

See ya all soon

 

[Jersey_Shore]

I recently checked on the weather forecast, probably shouldn't have, now I'm a little depressed that there is a 30% chance of scattered thunderstorms on Friday, Nov 5th, and a 40% chance of Thunderstorms for Sat, Nov 6th..We can't catch a break with cruising, last time we were in the middle of a hurricane..

 

[Hygiene99]

I recently checked on the weather forecast, probably shouldn't have, now I'm a little depressed that there is a 30% chance of scattered thunderstorms on Friday, Nov 5th, and a 40% chance of Thunderstorms for Sat, Nov 6th..We can't catch a break with cruising, last time we were in the middle of a hurricane..

What did you use to check it?
http://www.bahamas.com/vacation-planning/weather/the-abacos
5 miles away!


To far away!
we have never not made it to CC (14) OK once but it was the second time for that cruise! ( Hurrricane)

30 % is nothing!

 

[luv2cruise2]

Hi all!
Sitting here in my Port Orleans room thinking of having a little snooze
Hope you had safe drives/flights.

It's been hot but has been pouring rain for the last hour or 2. Have spent time at Epcot & Downtown Disney so far.

The space shuttle might take off tomorrow.
See you Thursday, I'll be the one limping, my feet are killing me!
~Jo~

 

[2canadianfans]

Every cruisers nightmare. We have to cancel our Nov 4th and 7 th cruise due to my father inlaw critical. Safe travels to everyone.sharon

 

[cmadara]

Every cruisers nightmare. We have to cancel our Nov 4th and 11th cruise due to my father inlaw critical. Safe travels to everyone.sharon

So sorry to hear this, but it is best to be with family at a time like this.
I hope you were at least able to get some of your money back- although I'm sure this isn't your first concern at the moment.

 

[poohj80]

FYI for all those cruising tomorrow...

The final launch fo Space Shuttle Discovery has been bumped to 3:29 PM Nov 4 so you should have a great view from Deck 10 just before the muster drill. However, realize that if you are driving yourself to the port, traffic will be backed up on 528 so give yoruself plenty of time.

Enjoy and please post pix when you get back!

 

[luv2cruise2]

Hi all!

Sharon ~ sorry to hear of your FIL's illness & your need to cancel.
My prayers are with you for a good outcome.

poohj80 ~ thanks for the shuttle info. Sure hope it does go tomorrow.
There are thnderstorms in the area tonight so hope it clears up. Cute pix!

I've really enjoyed my time here at WDW & look forward to meeting you tomorrow. BTW is there anybody left in NJ?!
TTFN
~Jo~

 

[poohj80]

poohj80 ~ thanks for the shuttle info. Sure hope it does go tomorrow.

Sorry to say Jo, the launch has now been pushed until Friday. Sorry for getting your hopes up!

 

[cmadara]

Okay,
I have to tell you how disappointed I was about not docking at Castaway Cay and the weather. I know, I know, it is out of Disney control- "we're working on it, we're this close!" But, I was still very disappointed.

A couple of things I learned on this trip:
1. Book a bigger room- especially if going on a longer cruise. My OCD was really kicking in! We had an inside cabin and started to feel claustrophobic.
2. Book an excursion while in Nassau-did not care for Nassau at all! We walked around for about an hour and headed back to the ship.
3. Not book a cruise with a sea day. We were incredibly bored on the day we couldn't go to Castaway Cay. Of course if the weather had been better, laying out in the sun by the pool would have been ok, but laying underneath towels is not my idea of a good time. None of the activities interested us- I don't want to spend all this money and watch a movie.

Don't get me wrong- I would go on another Disney cruise in a heartbeat!
The food was great, the shows were awesome and the castmembers were fantastic- couldn't do enough for you! I guess I let my disappointment of not going to Castaway Cay get the best of me. Also, IMHO, the sailaway party in the lobby really disappointed me as well- couldn't get anywhere near it. Standing on the deck, in the rain, waiting for the much anticipated horn blast was disappointing.
Sorry I didn't get to meet up with you all. We had made our way to the spa and while the castmember was giving us a tour, I found out it was 3:15 already! Would have liked to have meet you all!

Some bright spots on our cruise:
1. My DD LOVED Aloft! She reluctantly went the first evening after the show while DH and I went to the whiskey tasting (he tasted, I watched- I would rather eat my calories than drink them!). After that, we couldn't get her out of there!
2. Because DD was at Aloft, my DH and I spent some time together- alone!
3. Greatly enjoyed meeting castmembers from around the world and talking with them about their experiences. Although, after finding out how much they work and how little they get paid, gave me a different view of Disney- one that really bothers me.
4. Seeing dolphins swimming along side the ship while we were leaving the port- amazing!
5. The food- need I say more!
6. The shows were awesome- Broadway caliber!

Let me know what you guys thought of the cruise.
Welcome back to reality!

 

[kathymike]

All....I totally agree with CMADARA.

This was our second cruise on the Wonder and our second time of not going to Castaway Cay. I don't think we will cruise with Disney again. It is too expensive vs other cruises and didn't offer us much. My kids were bored and I was a smidge bored especially day at sea.

I was disappointed in the food as well.

Kathy

 

[Tikihula]

Here's a mini trip report. The night before the cruise we surprised my daughter-in-law April and 10-year-old grandson Baruch with invitational letters from Mickey, inviting them to join us on their first ever cruise. They were totally surprised. Next morning my son and the other 2 grandsons drove with us to the port to drop us off, and my son promised he'd be back by 9am Sunday morning to pick us up.

We got checked in at the terminal and as we were waiting to board we saw my son and the 2 boys walking towards us! I knew they couldn't get into the terminal without tickets so I was totally surprised to find out they were joining us on the cruise! He was able to get a military discount on a room on deck 2. We were on deck 5 and once we boarded we were able to get him a room on deck 5, although he was aft and we were forward. No matter - we were closer than before and much closer to the kids' clubs.

We made it to the atrium lobby at 3:10 but nobody was there to meet up with. Waited about 10 minutes but no one else showed up so we went on to other things.

We went to the kids' clubs to check them out, then we couldn't get the kids out of there. The boys are 5, 8 and 10, and they LOVED the clubs. Between there and the pools the kids were well entertained. We also did some family things with them.

The first day was rainy and windy but not too cold and a lightweight windbreaker did the trick. We stood on the deck and waved goodbye to the CMs at the terminal, then watched the dolphins swimming alongside. After dinner we enjoyed the stage show, and later we went to Mickey Mania, where April and I won the trivia challenge and received cute little medals on lanyards.
On our Nassau day we did the Blackbeard's Cay Stingray Encounter and it really was fun. We had a 20-minute boat ride to a small island and enjoyed the beach awhile until they called us for the stingray portion. It was next to the dock in a large fenced off area. They provided snorkels, masks and flotation vests and we got to pet the rays and feed them small herrings. Our lunch was small burgers, dogs or chicken sandwiches (very dry) with chips and a soft drink. We relaxed in the shade for awhile then went back into the water with the rays. We were the only ones there so they gave us the rest of the bucket of herrings and we had the rays all to ourselves. The barbs had been removed so it was quite safe to mingle with them. It was a unique opportunity and we really enjoyed it.

That night was the Pirate Party so we dressed in our pirate garb and danced on deck 9 with the rest of the swabbies. We lined up for the late buffet and took our plates to the pool area to munch away and watch Pirates in the Caribbean (for the umpteenth time). It was chilly on deck so we finally gave up and went to bed about 11:30.

More coming in the next post.

 

[Tikihula]

My DH likes to get up early and watch the ship dock at Castaway Cay, but he came back to report that they had tried twice to dock but it was too windy. The side thrusters were going full blast but couldn't keep us from going into the dock too fast so they finally aborted the docking after two attempts. We spent the day at sea and had time to do some of the things we don't normally have the opportunity to do on a 3-day cruise. We did watch Toy Story3 (fun movie) and Secretariat, which was much better than I expected based on reviews I'd read. We also did some onboard shopping and explored the ship some more. It was also nice to relax on the padded lounge chairs on Deck 4 and read and snooze a little.

That evening we had reservations at Palo and left the boys happily playing in the Oceaneer's Lab and Club while we dined. Dinner was very leisurely (perhaps toooo slow) but the food was quite good. We made a mistake by letting our server pick a glass of wine for 3 of us, which ended up costing from $6 to $11 each. Our $15 dinner ended up costing about $35 with wine and gratuity. The $15 used to cover gratuity, now it's called a "cover charge" and you are encouraged to tip on top of that. Dinner was very pleasant, and we were provided a whole table full of desserts to sample even before we had a chance to order them. The youngest son beeped twice asking to be picked up from the kid's club, but April went down to explain to him that we were having a leisurely dinner and he'd have to wait. One of the counselors played games with him and kept him well entertained at the club while we finished dinner.

We, too, were really disappointed not to experience Castaway Cay on this trip. We had hoped to go parasailing and bicycling to the observation tower. My son and his family had such a great time that they've already booked a 7-day cruise for 2012, which will give them time to pay for it ahead of schedule. DH and I have booked a 4-day cruise for early next December, too.

We found the cruise to be quite full of activities for kids, adults and families. We didn't visit the bars or lounges or play bingo, but still found plenty of things to do. I wish some of them were scheduled a little earlier in the evening, as we usually like to be in bed by 10:30 or so and get a good night's sleep. We even missed the DVC presentation on this cruise. They usually have giveaways (ballcaps, etc.) and someone wins a $300 onboard credit.

I forgot to mention our nice stateroom gifts. As repeat guests, we are Castaway Cay members and received a nice red and black drawstring totebag, rice krispie treats shaped like flip flops, and Silver Castaway Cay Club lanyards. As DVC members we also got a lovely wooden trinket box which was really nice. We had decorated our door with lots of magnetic pictures and got lots of compliments on them, and none of them disappeared during the cruise, perhaps because I had written our name on the back of each of them.

So, we really enjoyed our cruise, and the surprise addition of my son and his family was icing on the cake.