Our 1st cruise, a Wonder wander from Van-San Diego Sept 2015 w/Navigators COMPLETED 11/11/15

[bcwife76]

Welcome to my first ever trip report! I've read so many of them on the DisBoards so I hope I can live up to the standards that are set here!
Just a couple of housekeeping notes: I'm not very tech savvy so posting links and such is not my forte. Also, I'm writing this on my chromebook so I don't have any internal storage. Which means all photos are saved to the 'cloud' - which stumps me! My husband is the tech one in the family so I'll have to get him to show me where the darn photos are so I can post some in this TR at some point

So, onto the cruise! DH and I love to travel, but we are mostly road-trippers and all-inclusive resort worshippers. When we returned from our most recent trip in November 2014, a week at Now Jade in the Mayan Riviera, I was all set to start planning the next trip (that's what gets me over the home-from-vacation-blues, planning another one). We'd never done a cruise before and after speaking with some cruise-savvy friends, we thought a repositioning cruise would be a great place to start. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Disney cruise line offered such a cruise and not only that - it left from Vancouver (where we live!!) and was actually quite affordable.

Before you could click your heals, the cruise was booked! Vancouver to San Diego via Victoria BC September 27-October 1 2015! But what would we do after the cruise? Stay in San Diego? Fly home? Hmmmmmm....the wheels turned even more. I know, I said - let's go to Disneyland!

But we were just there in August 2013, whined my husband. I know dear, I said. But the kids are only young once (oh how I LOVE to play that card lol).

Oh......the kids......can't believe you played that card again, he moaned. Alright. Let's do it. So we tacked on 3 days at the end of our trip to go to Disneyland. And thus the waiting began. I've never planned a trip so far in advance, so the waiting was a bit of agony at times. Luckily there were hotels to book, park tickets to buy, fish extenders to learn about (and eventually make), cruise meets to plan and all the fun stuff that goes along with a disney cruise.

So, who went on this cruise?

Myself, hubby and our two girls. We live in a suburb of Vancouver BC. But who exactly are we?

Well there's me. Angela. 39 year old wife and stay at home mom. Pinterest and I are old pals. And now, thanks to this trip, the DisBoards and I are, too!

Then there's Frank, 38, hubby and dad. Reluctant disney lover. Hard worker whose long hours (and overtime) help to fund our adventures ;-)

There's Gwen, 7, our oldest. Loves all Disney. Loves the thrill rides. Loves to talk! Can play with anyone, get along with anyone. The social butterfly.

And rounding out our foursome is Gabrielle (Gabi), 4. A bit of an introvert,until she gets going. Then there's no stopping her! A bit of a loner, a bit of a joiner, a bit moody, a bit jovial.

Thanks for joining in and hopefully I can make this TR a good 'un

 

[dayvewc]

Looks like a good start. I'm anxiously awaiting more details. I want to do a Disney cruise, probably in 2017.

 

[DnA2010]

Can't wait to read more! Another BCer here! We recently did our first Disney cruise in May (Fantasy- amazing!!) and are headed to the DL in 1 week! Looking forward to your report! Did the kids love the FE?

 

[bcwife76]

Can't wait to read more! Another BCer here! We recently did our first Disney cruise in May (Fantasy- amazing!!) and are headed to the DL in 1 week! Looking forward to your report! Did the kids love the FE?

Thanks! My goal is to NOT take forever and a day writing this report and actually get it done quite quickly!

Our kids loved the FE. They loved going around and delivering our gifts and they equally loved coming back to our cabin to see if we had been left anything. By the end even my husband was quite entertained by the whole thing!

 

[wilma-bride]

Great start. As I mentioned, we are considering this cruise next summer so I am interested to see how you liked it. I love how you 'use the kids' as a reason to do stuff. I can no longer get away with that so have to find more inventive ways to persuade my husband that something is a good idea. It usually involves food or sport Luckily for me, he absolutely loves Disney cruises so not much persuading needed there.

Can't wait to read more about your trip - and please note I may also be picking your brains on things to do in Vancouver, if (when!) we book for next August.

Just so you know, you will need to upload your pictures to a photo hosting site, such as photobucket or flickr and then post links to those photos in your trip report.

Oh, and I LOVE Pinterest too.

 

[ShellB8585]

Looking forward to reading along

 

[bcwife76]

Great start. As I mentioned, we are considering this cruise next summer so I am interested to see how you liked it. I love how you 'use the kids' as a reason to do stuff. I can no longer get away with that so have to find more inventive ways to persuade my husband that something is a good idea. It usually involves food or sport Luckily for me, he absolutely loves Disney cruises so not much persuading needed there.

Can't wait to read more about your trip - and please note I may also be picking your brains on things to do in Vancouver, if (when!) we book for next August.

Just so you know, you will need to upload your pictures to a photo hosting site, such as photobucket or flickr and then post links to those photos in your trip report.

Oh, and I LOVE Pinterest too.

Oh that kids excuse goes a LONG way in my house still!

Feel free to throw any Vancouver questions my way, I'm born and raised here. I figured I'd have to go back to photobucket in order to get my photos up, but they are all on my phone....grrrrr.....how I miss having an actual computer and not just a darn chromebook (first world problems anyone?) I'll sort it out though. Even if it means the very end of my TR is all photos!

 

[bcwife76]

Day 1: September 27th.

The day had finally arrived. Months of waiting....wishing our summer away (which in hindsight was silly because now it's pouring with rain and I doubt I'll feel the warmth of the sun on my face for ages now).

Since we live just outside Vancouver the port is not far away, but we had to get there a bit of a convoluted way. We drove to the airport and parked our car at Jet Set Parking so that it would be there when we flew back home from LAX the following weekend. Along the way to the airport we also dropped our dog off at the dog kennel as the one we like to use is only 15 minutes from the airport.

So with dog and car dropped off, we hopped on the Canada Line at YVR (which we've only ever taken once!) and went downtown. Imagine our surprise when we got off at Waterfront station (the last one on the line) only to discover we were still several blocks from the port. Awesome. At least it was all downhill.

So we trooped off to Canada Place, on a sunny albeit chilly morning. We arrived to the east side of the terminal (which is where you enter for your cruise) but the Wonder was docked on the West side so yes, I made us all troop over to the other side so we could see this beautiful ship. Never having seen it in person before (despite the fact it's in Vancouver once a week during Alaskan-cruise season) it really was a sight to behold. I drank her in, that beautiful ship. Husband literally had to drag me away "if you stay here much longer you'll miss the darn boat!".

So off we went down the ramp and into the bottom of Canada Place. First we dropped off our luggage. Then we followed the signs and the directions of the Disney CM's to get to check in. This line here, says my husband. No dear, the sign says Castaway Club members, we're not. YET. Haha.

Line wasn't too bad. We had a PAT of 11:30 and I think at this point it was just that time. We were in the checkout line for a max of 15 minutes before we were at the counter, getting our KTTW cards and our first navigators! Then we were told to go just to the left and we could get the magic bands for our girls for the kids club.

WHY did we DO THAT???!! We should have done it on the ship!!!!! We were in that line for at least 45 minutes. Ridiculous. Anyway, the girls finally got their bands on and we could continue on our way. Upstairs (I think)...then down again? I was a little confused, but there were ample signs and CM's to help along the way so don't worry about getting lost because you won't. Had our embarkation photo taken and walked RIGHT onto the ship. That's right, the wait for the kids club band was our wait so we were able to walk right on. They announced our name as we boarded and I thought I'd cry, was so happy to FINALLY be on The Wonder

 

[bcwife76]

Wilma-Bride you might be able to answer this for me, how I can I make a clickable link to my TR so I can put it in my signature?

 

[wilma-bride]

Wilma-Bride you might be able to answer this for me, how I can I make a clickable link to my TR so I can put it in my signature?

Highlight the url in the address bar above your thread, then click on edit signature on your profile page. Type the words you want to use for the link, i.e. Our First Cruise. Highlight those words, then click on the little 'chain' icon and paste the url into the top box ad click save (I think it is save - typing this from memory). That should do it.

 

[bcwife76]

Day 1: Let's get this ship started!

Walking into the atrium was surreal, it was beautiful and actually smaller than I thought it was. But it was grand, nonetheless. It was now 1:05 and a CM told us our room would be ready within half an hour. She pointed us in the direction of Wavebands and we headed straight there in order to get tickets for meet and greets. Only a few people were there so it was a minimal wait and a few minutes later we walked out with tickets for the princess meet and greet the following morning along with the Frozen meet and greet for Wednesday morning. Then it was time to hunt down lunch!

I knew Beach Blanket was on deck 9 so we took our first elevator ride up there. Following the steady stream of people we saw the pools for the first time and felt the warmth of the sun on our faces. The buffet was busy (no surprise) and there were no tables inside so we went on deck and found a table at the very front. Ended up being the perfect spot, as it was warm and sunny - and great for people watching. Gwen and I went back inside to procure food for us all. A lovely CM helped us take our trays outside and hubby told me "well I just ordered the first beers!" Haha, so much for his 'rule' of not ordering any drinks on this trip (we had a carry on full of booze). He broke that rule a lot on this trip

But then the upselling of the beer started. In the span of 25 minutes, no less than 6 waiters came by to sell the spiel of 'if you buy 5 you get one free, if you buy 10 you get 2 free" etc. Poor hubby, I thought he was going to jump ship right there back to Canada Place. I assured him the entire cruise would not be like this (as told to me by a friend who had sailed The Wonder that spring) and to just politely decline each time.

By the time the food and beer had been consumed it was past 1:30 so we went down to deck 6 to check out our cabin. We had a standard inside room, nothing fancy but it did the trick. We walked in and there on the table was the Romance for two package I had secretly ordered along with the beer stein package I had secretly ordered. And then I waited to see what husband would say. He looked at it then looked at me. I smiled. "They don't do this for everyone, do they??" Haha, no dear. Just those of us that pay for it. "Is it....um....is it paid for?" Yes dear, weeks ago. Then he finally started to relax Phew.....so glad he liked it.

Checked out the very tiny bathroom (reminded me of my dad's rv). These particular rooms do not have a split bath. Oh well. We took out our fish extender and hung it outside and then put our magnets on the door. Then Gabi went to use the toilet and it wouldn't flush. Uh oh. Hubby said to leave it for now but I'm thinking 3 ladies like to use the bathroom a lot. So I called down to maintenance, who were extremely apologetic and said they would take care of it immediately. And they did. Within 10 minutes that toilet was flushing and we never had another issue.

After that I wish I could tell you what we did but I honestly can't remember!We had our cruise meet and greet at 3pm in the Promenade lounge but I can't tell you what we did between 2:15 and 3. We must've just wandered around trying to get our bearings. We showed up about 3:15 and the meet and greet was in full swing. Spoke with a few people for a bit and then at 3:45 we headed outside to find our muster station.

The muster drill was fairly uneventful (would help if people would show up on time though!!!!) and it was over quite quickly. Of course the crush to get up on decks 9 and 10 ....oy .....we walked up to deck 5 and then took an elevator from there. How did people get up to the decks so darn fast?!! We decided to go to deck 10 for the sail away party but all the good spots were taken. We stood behind another family in front of the railing and just enjoyed it on the big screen. At one point Gwen was whining that she couldn't see anything (Gabi didn't care, she was taking in the views across from us) so the gentleman in front of us turned around and said she could move into his spot. And then we recognized each other, turned out they were a family in our cruise meet group! We had missed seeing each other at the meet and greet by minutes. Too funny.

Anyway the sail away party was fun, boy those cast members have a lot of energy. When it was over we walked around deck 10, scoping out a good spot for when the ship finally left port. At just about 5pm (or a few minutes after) The Wonder started pulling away from Canada Place; we waved to those who waved at us from the port and thought finally, we are underway!!

Sailing under the Lions Gate bridge is always breath taking. We've done it before (on much smaller boats) so being on this ship was a different experience, it felt like we'd touch the underside of the bridge! On the bridge deck cyclists and pedestrians waved to us, as did more people from the seawall of Stanley park. So long Vancouver!!

Next up: our first show and our first dinner. And the first Carlton dance!

 

[bcwife76]

Thanks Wilma-Bride, that worked!!

 

[wilma-bride]

Your trip report has taken me right back to our very first cruise 8 years ago. Everything seemed so surreal and it all passed by in a bit of a flash but I loved every minute of it.

Glad you are enjoying it so far. Can I ask if you rebooked on board or would that be too much of a spoiler

 

[bcwife76]

ok I've uploaded photos to photobucket so yes - now I can include some. This is more of a test but anyway, here is our bed with the robes from the Romance for Two.

 

[bcwife76]

Looks like a good start. I'm anxiously awaiting more details. I want to do a Disney cruise, probably in 2017.

Thanks for joining in! I hope to live up to all the fabulous reports of yours that I have read!

Looking forward to reading along

Thank you!

Your trip report has taken me right back to our very first cruise 8 years ago. Everything seemed so surreal and it all passed by in a bit of a flash but I loved every minute of it.

Glad you are enjoying it so far. Can I ask if you rebooked on board or would that be too much of a spoiler

You'll just have to keep reading to find out

 

[dayvewc]

It is kind of roundabout, but if you can download your pictures to a computer, you can drag and drop them into your post. They don't have to be on photobucket or some other picture hosting site. Or at least I did that last spring. Things might have changed since then.

And thanks for the compliments.

 

[Angeejoe]

I'm so excited ... You've made my day!! I'm ready for more pics

 

[bcwife76]

It is kind of roundabout, but if you can download your pictures to a computer, you can drag and drop them into your post. They don't have to be on photobucket or some other picture hosting site. Or at least I did that last spring. Things might have changed since then.

And thanks for the compliments.

I could always load them onto my husbands' desktop computer and do it from there, but honestly it's more hassle lol I've already gotten them uploaded to photobucket and it's easy-peasy to add them into my posts. Although I should figure out why they are posting so small.......

I'm so excited ... You've made my day!! I'm ready for more pics

Well I aim to please

 

[bcwife76]

Now that I've figured out how to add in photos (even if they do come up a bit small) let's add a few more in before I continue to write more.

Sail away party with Captain Mickey and Minnie

Beer stein and champagne bucket

The girls outside of Tritons

The amazing glass chandelier in the atrium. I couldn't take enough photos of this!

Farewell Canada Place

Stanley Park with the city skyline in the background

Heading under the lions gate bridge

 

[DnA2010]

"carry-on full of booze" that was us too on the Fantasy DH actually ran like 5km on our departure day in the morning at our hotel to find a liquor store as the store attached only had a small selection of wine and beer and we wanted a couple other things (did get some stuff in port)

Your girls are so cute and LOVE the chandelier- I hope I can see that baby in person some day!

Your departure pictures are great, what a perfect day!

On our DCL cruise on the Fantasy we were lucky enough to get a VGT, which was nice, and the split bath is handy, but DH and I did an inside when we went on RCL Freedom, and I agree- it was fine. We were barely in the cabin anyways. I did enjoy our balcony, but not enough that I would pay lots more for it.