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

[bcwife76]

I'm in...this looks like a cool cruise and I have Alaska on my wish list!

It's funny about Alaska, it's never somewhere I thought I'd want to go but then I started reading trip reports about it and WOW! I'm truly excited about it!

 

[jetskigrl]

It's funny about Alaska, it's never somewhere I thought I'd want to go but then I started reading trip reports about it and WOW! I'm truly excited about it!

You will absolutely love it!! We went August 2014 and it remains as my favorite cruise ever (although the one we just finished definitely gave it a run for the money, but for different reasons, LOL). Alaska - best scenery cruise, Baja - best CM interaction and friends/meet group cruise

 

[bcwife76]

Thanks @jetskigrl !! The more I hear and read about Alaska (as well as doing research) the more I can't wait :0 I just wish dh was getting more excited. Then again, he tends to not get excited about ANY trip until it's much closer!

 

[bcwife76]

Joining in!! I'm so glad to be able to finally see a picture of you! Your daughters are adorable.
Wasn't Palo brunch delicious? It looks like we had the same food on the Magic. I agree, I wasn't sure if the Palo dinner was really worth missing out on another MDR. I thought brunch was great though and would like to do it again.
Looking forward to more!

Woohoo!! I hope I can do you proud

I'm in...this looks like a cool cruise and I have Alaska on my wish list!

Awesome! Thanks for joining in

 

[bcwife76]

@KarriTigger looks like I welcomed you twice lol I like to try and acknowledge all readers because, let's face it, without readers what good is your TR? It's nice to write a TR to keep the trip fresh in my memory, but I certainly appreciate that other people want to read about my experiences as well!

 

[jetskigrl]

Thanks @jetskigrl !! The more I hear and read about Alaska (as well as doing research) the more I can't wait :0 I just wish dh was getting more excited. Then again, he tends to not get excited about ANY trip until it's much closer!

I am enjoying this Trip Report also since we are doing the Van->SD repo next year We loved Vancouver so much when we were there for the Alaska cruise that we booked the repo as a ride home after spending some more time touring around Vancouver. We only had one full day last year and that wasn't enough

 

[bcwife76]

I am enjoying this Trip Report also since we are doing the Van->SD repo next year We loved Vancouver so much when we were there for the Alaska cruise that we booked the repo as a ride home after spending some more time touring around Vancouver. We only had one full day last year and that wasn't enough

I love to hear from people that love travelling to Vancouver Ever since Expo 86, which really put Vancouver on the map as a tourist destination, tourism is really what drives this city, especially in summer. There is talk of a 30th anniversary celebration of Expo 86 in 2016 so maybe you'll be able to take part (if something actually comes of it, of course!)

I would LOVE to do a back to back since we are doing the last Alaska cruise before it heads down to San Diego but Alaska is dang expensive so adding on another 4 day cruise just wasn't an option. I'll keep buying those lottery tickets though!

 

[bcwife76]

Day 3 continued: Pirate night!

So when I last left off we had just finished our mixology class. We went up to the kids club to grab the girls so we could all get dressed in pirate garb (we didn't really go nuts, lol. More accessorized!)

Gwen was ready! ARRRRR

I was less so (my eye patch was pink by the way, not white as it appears)

Frank was definitely ready!

And no, I have no photos of Gabi because, surprise surprise, she refused to dress up. THIS CHILD This is as pirate as she got (note her tshirt)

Anyway, it was getting close to show time (Toy Story) and apparently neither of the girls wanted to see the show and opted to go back to the kids club! To tell you the truth, DH and I didn't have much desire to really see Toy Story either so we said it was fine for them to go to the kids club and we went and saw Inside Out in 3D. Timed it so we came in around the halfway mark (if you'll remember on Monday we had seen the first part of Inside Out and then left). Thinking 3D might keep DH interested, he agreed. It was good (I just love that movie no matter what) but I guess I thought it would be a bit more spectacular in 3D. Don't ask me why. Maybe I figured there would be memory balls flying by my head or something?!

After the movie I think we went back to the cabin for a bit then went back to the kids club to collect the girls for dinner. They did NOT want to come out. "but it's pirate night menu!" we told them. "we've already eaten here" they said. Fine. Whatever.

So we went to Parrot Cay by ourselves. Our dining companions were all back that night and their son took an instant shine to Frank and gabbed to him all meal. Funny how when your own kid does that you're like "for crying out loud, shut yer face for 5 minutes and eat your darn dinner!" but when it's someone elses' kid (and he WAS a cute kid!) it's highly amusing. The mom kept saying "don't bother them, please" but honestly he was no bother, he was quite entertaining

I'm not sure what I was expecting from pirate night dinner, but I'm pretty sure it was more than just a limbo contest but it was fun to watch all the kids go under the limbo stick and I wished our girls had come out for it.

After dinner we rushed up to the kids club and got the girls, no way were they missing the show and fireworks! I had bought glow sticks at the dollar store before we left home so I think that worked out quite well:

We ended up in the perfect location for the fireworks show, they were literally right over our heads. Neither of us took photos or a video of the fireworks, we just enjoyed the moment. I thought "how cool is this? Fireworks at sea?!!"

Plus by then we were south enough that the weather had warmed up since that morning (remember my chilly pre-brunch walk?) that it was quite mild out. At least we thought it was, there were lots of people with blankets wrapped around themselves! Guess it was our hearty Canadian blood keep us warm

After the fireworks the girls were feeling a bit hungry. After all, they had eaten dinner just after 6pm, while we had just finished ours barely an hour before. So we took them to the buffet on deck 9 and got a few nibbles.

End of the pirate night photos

Gwen, looking less angelic and more scary, the remnants of kids club pirate make up on her face

Next entry: our final full day at sea - including meeting those chicks from Frozen, a spa appointment and poop in a pool?!! Admit it, you're hooked

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Hi Angela, I'm so glad I found your TR. it was a great cruise and I'm happy we got to meet at the Sail Away Party.

You're right about Canadians being able to handle cold weather. I'm a native of the desert SW and was wrapped in 2 blankets over my jeans and jacket at the pirate party. I was freezing up there, but it was a great time.

BTW, your writing style is fantastic, I'm really enjoying your TR.

 

[dglilbit]

I agree, great TR! Thanks for writing your about your experience!

 

[wilma-bride]

I'm all caught up. Glad to hear you rebooked We actually considered that cruise ourselves, prior to the Van-San cruise - still haven't ruled it out so, who knows, we could be cruise buddies next year

I am guessing the guy who 'gabbed on a bit' in your Mixology class would have been Pablo. He does like to talk but he is such a nice guy - and he makes yummy cocktails I haven't got to this part in my own trip report yet but he really went above and beyond for me on the last night of our Panama Canal cruise in May. I was touched.

I am so glad you are enjoying the cruise - for what it's worth, I am one of the few who seems to prefer Palo dinner to brunch. many love brunch but I have quite simple tastes so a lot of the brunch offerings are wasted on me. Dh and I feel we get far more value from the dinner. I normally have the Palo tenderloin but branched out last time and had the rack of lamb - and it was divine! And, honestly, it is a cut above the food offered in the MDRs and well worth the extra price tag. Maybe you can try it on your Alaska cruise?

I'm glad the girls are enjoying the club. It's such a relief when you know they are happy and you can enjoy some precious adult time.

 

[bcwife76]

Hi Angela, I'm so glad I found your TR. it was a great cruise and I'm happy we got to meet at the Sail Away Party.

You're right about Canadians being able to handle cold weather. I'm a native of the desert SW and was wrapped in 2 blankets over my jeans and jacket at the pirate party. I was freezing up there, but it was a great time.

BTW, your writing style is fantastic, I'm really enjoying your TR.

Hey Jack, glad you found my TR!! Hope it's bringing back some memories for you (you know, from a whole 3 weeks ago ) as you can see my memory for certain things still sucks, wouldn't matter if it were 3 weeks or 3 years ago, I still wouldn't remember some details.

You know I like to tease the folks from warmer climates but to tell you the truth, when we got some snacks from the midnight pirate buffet there were no seats inside so we grabbed a table on deck - it was near the ice cream machines and it was sheltered - but we were FREEZING! And Frank ended up scoring us some blankets too

 

[bcwife76]

I'm all caught up. Glad to hear you rebooked We actually considered that cruise ourselves, prior to the Van-San cruise - still haven't ruled it out so, who knows, we could be cruise buddies next year

I am guessing the guy who 'gabbed on a bit' in your Mixology class would have been Pablo. He does like to talk but he is such a nice guy - and he makes yummy cocktails I haven't got to this part in my own trip report yet but he really went above and beyond for me on the last night of our Panama Canal cruise in May. I was touched.

I am so glad you are enjoying the cruise - for what it's worth, I am one of the few who seems to prefer Palo dinner to brunch. many love brunch but I have quite simple tastes so a lot of the brunch offerings are wasted on me. Dh and I feel we get far more value from the dinner. I normally have the Palo tenderloin but branched out last time and had the rack of lamb - and it was divine! And, honestly, it is a cut above the food offered in the MDRs and well worth the extra price tag. Maybe you can try it on your Alaska cruise?

I'm glad the girls are enjoying the club. It's such a relief when you know they are happy and you can enjoy some precious adult time.

It probably was Pablo, that sounds familiar. And he was a super nice guy, very funny and genuine!

Haha....come to Alaska......you know you want to...... that was my version of a Jedi mind trick

See, most people talk about the brunch at Palo, not dinner. The only thing that really stopped us from booking was (a) it was only a 4 night cruise so we weren't sure we wanted to miss any dinners in the MDR and (b) the menu seemed rather small. But tenderloin and rack of lamb.....*drool* I think we'll end up booking dinner for Alaska (and maybe brunch again if we're feeling particularly flush, gotta see about those excursions first )

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Hey Jack, glad you found my TR!! Hope it's bringing back some memories for you (you know, from a whole 3 weeks ago ) as you can see my memory for certain things still sucks, wouldn't matter if it were 3 weeks or 3 years ago, I still wouldn't remember some details.

You know I like to tease the folks from warmer climates but to tell you the truth, when we got some snacks from the midnight pirate buffet there were no seats inside so we grabbed a table on deck - it was near the ice cream machines and it was sheltered - but we were FREEZING! And Frank ended up scoring us some blankets too

If you want to go on a nice warm cruise, we'll be booking an eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy for June 2017 as soon as they release the dates. You should join us, that ship is amazing!

 

[bcwife76]

If you want to go on a nice warm cruise, we'll be booking an eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy for June 2017 as soon as they release the dates. You should join us, that ship is amazing!

It's so funny that you mention it! While I am quite excited for Alaska Frank isn't quite 'sold' on going on that cruise (price wise and because there is no guarantee for the weather to cooperate) so just last night I priced out an Eastern Caribbean cruise that we might move our reservation to instead. However, we're looking at January 2017. While we don't mind the girls missing a week of school, I don't want them missing the very end weeks of school and school does not get out here until the end of June.

While the Caribbean is far less expensive than Alaska by the time you add on airfare it's the same price as Alaska (if we leave from Seattle) or far more expensive (if we fly from Vancouver). So, still thinking about it at this point.....

 

[poohs4me]

Seriously with a tease like "a poop in the pool" - how could you leave us hanging?

 

[bcwife76]

Seriously with a tease like "a poop in the pool" - how could you leave us hanging?

Haha, did I leave a hanging chad? I promise to have my next entry up by the end of this evening!

 

[bcwife76]

Day 4: Final Sea Day

That morning we had 9am tickets for the ticketed Frozen Meet and Greet in Animators Palate. Gwen, of course, needed no encouragement to jump into an Elsa dress. Gabi, at this point no surprise, refused to dress up. THIS CHILD!!

So we went down and joined the longer-than-princess-meet-and-greet line. Fun times. It moved quite quickly though. There was a family of 4 behind us (one daughter, one son) who LOVED Olaf. I mean LOVED that snowman. Ok then.

Nothing wrong with that.

Gwen appeared to be a little nervous in line.

Olaf with a blurry Gwen.

There was a photo taken of me with Olaf (by the Shutters photographer) but we didn't buy it. Bummer, I thought I looked quite fetching.

Apparently these ladies are from some popular movie?!


After we were done with this Frank and Gwen headed up to the cabin as Queen Elsa didn't want any syrup on her dress while Gabi and I scored a table at Parrot Cay for breakfast.

After breakfast we headed to the shops to pick up any souvenirs anyone wanted. I purchased a mug, Gwen chose two very small toys and Gabi chose one small toy and one stuffed toy (sailor Donald). We dropped off our purchases at our cabin, took the kids to the club and then headed to Cove Cafe.

Was it us or is the service always that slow?? Maybe I'm just a spoiled princess who goes to Starbucks too much but the service was SLOW, considering there was only one person in front of us. Who then complained that his cappuccino was too wet and could they make him another one, it need to be a dry. Think I would've spit in it myself.....

We sat on the deck in the quiet cove (that's what it's called, right?) and discussed our cruise, things we had enjoyed, other things we thought that didn't live up to the hype/our expectations. And then went through the navigator app (which I LOVED using!) and starred everything we wanted to get done that day! But first we just enjoyed the quiet.....

and the warmth....by then we were quite far south into California and the weather was warm!

Went down to Diversions at some point and played an 80's trivia game, that was good fun. Near the end we got a text from the kids club that Gwen wanted to be picked up. They were in the middle of reading out the answers so we stayed a few more minutes til they were done then went up to get them. Turned out they wanted to SWIM! Fine, definitely warm enough for that.

So back up to the cabin to change. On our bed from our lovely room host was the final navigator, with instructions on disembarkation. Sad. There was also another note, printed on bright pink paper. All non-US residents were to report to customs in the Walt Disney theatre the morning of debarkation before anyone could leave the ship. Why weren't they doing it in the terminal? Bummer. Our arrival time, by the way? 6:45am. Ouch.

Put that out of our minds for the time being. Sent the rest of my family up to deck 9 for a swim while I had a quick shower and started a bit of pre-packing.

When I got up to deck 9 to my surprise the mickey kiddie pool was roped off and closed. Um....huh?? So I walked further down to deck 9 to the middle pool and found EVERYONE from the darn ship in this pool. And no deck chairs to be had.

I located Frank in the middle of this small and very crowded pool (saw the girls too, both in life vests) and motioned for him to come to the edge of the pool. It was loud there so he yelled at me "some kid pooped in the other pool so now it's closed for 3 hours." Oy vey.

I mean, sh*t happens, right? Literally in this case. Sh*t happens on a ship.

He had managed to secure one deck chair far back in row 3 or 4 so I hunted and found their shoes, etc. Luckily the chair next to it was now free so I snagged that one as well. And instead of joining the human soup pool I grabbed myself an ice cream cone and ate it out of sight of my children Then I grabbed them some lunch from the pool side quick service restaurant and pulled them out to eat. Soon enough they emptied that pool as well as they had to check the PH balance of the water. That pretty much ended our afternoon of swimming at that point!

Everyone headed back upstairs to change then we went to the arcade to finish off what we had left on the card Frank had purchased earlier there. Gwen and I had a wounding game (ouch my finger) of air hockey ( and no I'm brutal I don't let her win!) and then killed the card off with a last game of air hockey wherein my husband beat the pants off of me. Karma baby

Ok time for dinner. I'll come back and finish this entry in a bit - wherein I'll fill you in on the Exotic Rasul, everyone goes their separate ways and our final dinner.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

It's so funny that you mention it! While I am quite excited for Alaska Frank isn't quite 'sold' on going on that cruise (price wise and because there is no guarantee for the weather to cooperate) so just last night I priced out an Eastern Caribbean cruise that we might move our reservation to instead. However, we're looking at January 2017. While we don't mind the girls missing a week of school, I don't want them missing the very end weeks of school and school does not get out here until the end of June.

While the Caribbean is far less expensive than Alaska by the time you add on airfare it's the same price as Alaska (if we leave from Seattle) or far more expensive (if we fly from Vancouver). So, still thinking about it at this point.....

Based on 2 Caribbean, 1 Bahamian and this last cruise with lots of cold weather, I'd agree with Frank, warm weather cruises are awesome! The Eastern Caribbean is great with 3 sea days and just think how great it would be to escape the snow for a week, just my $.02

 

[bcwife76]

Based on 2 Caribbean, 1 Bahamian and this last cruise with lots of cold weather, I'd agree with Frank, warm weather cruises are awesome! The Eastern Caribbean is great with 3 sea days and just think how great it would be to escape the snow for a week, just my $.02

Haha, well escaping the snow doesn't really apply to us as Vancouver rarely sees snow. We had one day of snow last winter and it was nothing more than a light dusting. Having said that, dreary rainy days in January are no fun and a week+ of warm weather would be nice that time of year. Decisions decisions.