November 5th 2021 - WONDER - 14-Night Very Merrytime Eastbound Panama Canal Cruise

[nzdisneymom]

Welcome Aboard to the November 5th 2021, 14-Night Very Merrytime Eastbound Panama Canal Cruise sailing from San Diego to Galveston.

Whether you booked this as a new cruise or shifted your 2020 plans to 2021, we're glad you're here!

Whether you are new to a Panama Canal sailing or have passed through her multiple times, we look forward to planning for a "Wonder"ful vacation, making memories and new friends along the way.

Introduce yourself and your traveling party and let the fun begin!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi everyone. We booked this cruise on opening day - finally Platinum - and intend for this to be a delayed-celebration trip for our two sons' college graduations. We have been eyeing a Panama Canal crossing since they were both still in high school, but the dates never worked for us to go. So now that none of us are tied to a school schedule, we were excited to find that the Eastbound Panama Canal sailing would slide in nicely before Thanksgiving. And bonus that it's also a Merrytime themed cruise.

Looking forward to planning and getting to know others over the next months.

 

[alieila]

Hi All!

June 2020 Alaska Canceled! This opened up and looked at mom, "Italy Jun 2021 or Panama Nov 2021," Her response, Panama! Therefore, we moved Italy to Panama! It will be our 6th Cruise since B2B Oct 2020 out of San Diego was canceled and my mother's first cruise ever! Really hoping I'm not cursed and can't get more than 6 cruises!

We booked during Gold opening day and got GTY Verandah, and had reservations transferred from June 2021 (Italy). Once B2B was cancelled the money from the paid in full moved over to this cruise!

I'm so excited to do this cruise! We've only done 2 nights out of San Diego for Mother's Day in 2018; but have been trying to get more nights! As well keep on our streak for our second grand slam!

Don't mind me joining! There will be 4 of us this cruise! Me, my husband, our 9 yr old daughter, and my mother.

Nice to see a group formed!

Alice

 

[nzdisneymom]

Welcome @alieila - I'm glad you found the Meet thread for this cruise! How "wonder"ful that your mother's first cruise will be on the Wonder! We've been on her twice - first time for a 3-night Bahamas in 2008 and then in 2011 for an Alaskan cruise. We've spent most of our cruises on the Magic; we'd been doing European cruises on her every three years since 2007 but we missed 2019 (we sailed on the Fantasy instead - we still need the Dream to get our Grand Slam). We've not sailed from San Diego or Galveston, so they are both new ports of call for us. Well, I was in San Diego last in 1998 but I mostly just saw the inside of the conference hotel. We did make a quick run over to the Hotel del Coronado and thought how much I'd like to stay there some day (this was before my Disney days which didn't start until January 1999 and I discovered Grand Floridian was modeled after HdC).

Our sailing party will be me, DH, and our sons (one will be 25 and the other 24 when we sail). The older one is saving his vacation days for next November (already talked to his boss about it). The other one doesn't get paid vacation time in his current job but we're hopeful he will have a job with paid vacation (and enough vacation time earned) to go. If not, we'll help float him for the two weeks he'll miss working (they will let him off but without pay). We booked two cabins next to each other (but not connected) so if one of the boys can't go, our TA advised we should be able to shuffle around and have just one cabin if we're in the right change window. We didn't want to take up a connecting cabin that another family might need if we end up needing just one.

Looking forward to planning!

 

[alieila]

Welcome @alieila - I'm glad you found the Meet thread for this cruise!

Thank you nzdisneymom! We've only been on her once for mother's day and have attempted 3 times to get on her for longer than 2 nights! Hopefully, 3rd times the charm! I was thrilled that she wanted to do Panama over Italy, but my next cruise will be on Magic so hopefully it will be June 2022; we can attempt that cruise again! Mom will be 67; I will be 48; my husband will be 60 and our daughter will be 9 when we are sailing! We are pulling our child out of school for 11 days, but will have all the work with us so we can make sure to put some time in for "learning" as we can! As I've told the assistant principal we have 7 days at Sea that we can concentrate on homework during that time! ;-) Mom is retired and hubby is semi retired and I'll hopefully have all the hours by the time our cruise is happening!

Thank you for the welcome!

 

[Alottasky]

DH and I will be on this sailing as well. Anticipating that this year’s Panama crossing would get cancelled, we signed up for this one when the dates were released.
We did the East bound crossing in Oct 2017 (San Diego-Galveston) and the West bound crossing in Feb 2019 (Port Canaveral-San Diego). We are really looking forward to spending another relaxing two weeks on the Wonder!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Welcome aboard, @Alottasky ... we booked opening day and I'm glad we didn't wait around to book because of how fast this itinerary filled up. Having sailed in both directions, did you prefer one way over the other?

Most of cruises we've done have been 10-12 nights (on the European ones); we were a week on the Fantasy in May 2019 and it felt like we had just gotten started when it was time to get off. So we are definitely looking forward to a longer itinerary. We were fortunate to do a B2B in 2013 of the Mediterranean cruises (Greece then Venice) and were onboard for 24 nights - it was glorious!

 

[Alottasky]

Itinerary wise I would probably give our westbound cruise the edge because we left from Florida so we did a few days at Disney before the cruise and it included a stop at Castaway Cay which we really enjoyed. Overall cruise experience I would say it was our eastbound because it was a Halloween on the High Seas cruise and our first ever cruise with Disney. We have only done those two cruises with Disney, although we have done 7 day cruises on other lines. We have a 7 day Fantasy cruise scheduled for February, but who knows what will happen with that one. We have found that we really like the longer cruises and would like to do some B2B sometime. I’m happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

 

[alieila]

I'm sad to say we are moving this cruise to the next one after and the one after this docks in Galveston! May all you enjoy your cruise through the Panama Canal! Maybe we will pass each other while we are patiently waiting to board the Nov 19th for our B2B! Enjoy!

 

[poohs4me]

We are in for this cruise!!! Well hopefully - a lot can happen this year.

 

[poohs4me]

Anyone thinking about excursions yet?

 

[mom4mad]

Hi everyone! Just booked this cruise yesterday. Will be me, Dh, and two DD’s ages 12 and 16 at time of cruising. This will be our third time through the canal on the Wonder, so if anyone has questions, we might be able to help. 13th Disney cruise, but first Merrytime!

 

[poohs4me]

Hi mom4mad!! It’s my first merry time as well. First through the new locks and heading East but second through the canal.

It’s just me and my mom and I am a kid at heart.

 

[stiebermom]

Hello everyone! I just randomly received an email from DCL, thanking me for confirming the cruise. I did not confirm the cruise. However, I did notice that the 120 free cancellation period is in 2 days., with final payment due 60 days before. Anyone else receive this email? I do not expect this cruise to sail, but I didn't see a November 2022 PC cruise on the website. I was hoping to transfer my deposit to that one, if there is one.

 

[Camie]

Hello everyone, since this cruise is actually going to sail, thought I would post and say Hi!

 

[CruzOle]

Greetings to all. I'm so excited to be going on this adventure with you. I am traveling with my sister and this will be our 3rd Panama crossing. We just book yesterday and I am overwhelmed with booking flights and a hotel room so if you have any suggestions please chim in. Let's start posting and getting to know each other before or journey begins. I usually don't do a lot of posting but after such a extended break from crusing I am really excited! If anyone know how to start a Roll Call please do so that we can get know our fellow cruise mates.

 

[tiki-4]

This is our 4th DCL cruise, but first time we actually looking at who is connecting ahead of the cruise date.
I tried to figure out how to add our cruise data on as a signature, but havent been able to figure it out.
Just the two of us now and it is our first time through the canal.

 

[CruzOle]

This is our 4th DCL cruise, but first time we actually looking at who is connecting ahead of the cruise date.
I tried to figure out how to add our cruise data on as a signature, but havent been able to figure it out.
Just the two of us now and it is our first time through the canal.

Aboard. I also like getting to know my fellow cruisers. This is my first time flying into San Diego and thought this would be a great way to get traveling tips from my cruisemates but all's quiet over here. So far I think from previous posters we still have:
nzdisneymom
Alottasky
poohs4me
moms4mad
Camie
CruzOle
tiki-4
ahain
Let's Get Excited

 

[ahain]

We are still on as well.

 

[CruzOle]

We are still on as well.

Sorry I'm new to the posting technology and I missed your previous post. I edited the list to include you and thanks for checking in.