Our Thanksgiving aboard the Wonder TR!

[socababy]

Our cruising clan included myself, my 3 kids, ds8, ds6, and dd4 and my friend and her Dh along with their 3 kids who just happen to be the same ages and genders as my kids.

Feel free to aks any questions along the way!

Day 1

I can’t believe I was able to keep this trip a secret from the kids right until we pulled up to the port and they first noticed the Wonder. My ds8 said “Grandpa, you made a wrong turn” as he was told we were going to go see the Muppets. It wasn’t until we actually pulled up to the drop off curb that I asked if they wanted to get on the Mickey boat that all the kids said yes but that we didn’t have any luggage. My sons were so engrossed in their DS games on the ride to the port that they never even paid attention to what was stacked in the back of the car. They didn’t jump up and down like I thought they would even though they were excited. I think they were in shock for a while!

We had a 11:00 arrival time and we got there around then. Drop off was quick and easy. Went right up the escalator to fill out the health form and then went to the concierge check in line. No one was in line there but I didn’t really see lines anywhere. This was vastly different from when we sailed last Feb. It was raining, however, so maybe people were just delayed getting there or taking their time. I was in a hurry to get into the concierge area because I knew my friend’s family was not too far behind me and we were surprising the kids. I did manage to get the kids their club/lab bracelets before going into the concierge area.

If I remember correctly, they actually started boarding around 12. We were one of the first onto the ship! So exciting.

I went to Guest Services to inquire about some tickets. I was bummed to find out they were not having gingerbread house making on this cruise and that it they would start having it until the cruise after ours. BUMMER! I was able to get tickets to the Disney Friends Tea Party.

After going to GS, we headed to Parrot Cay for lunch while I told my friends to go eat at BBB so that we wouldn’t run into each other. The buffet was good. After lunch we went to the concierge reception in the Cadillac lounge. Lawanda, my concierge host, was fantastic! What a nice guy! The kids were getting restless so I let them play their ds’ some more while we were waiting for our room to be done. Ds6 needed to charge his ds and when he tried to plug the charger into the game system, it wasn’t working. The slot on the system, was bent and I needed something small to be able to bend it back. A CM saw that I was trying to fix this and he offered to help. He left and came back with a tool kit and within minutes had it fixed! I truly cannot say enough about the Disney staff! Even after the same ds spilled my diet coke all over the table and the floor, the same CM came over to help clean it up with a smile on his face!

Rooms were ready around 2. This was the first time in a suite. We had a 1 bedroom suite, room 8032.

This turned out to be a great room with one exception. The wood work creaked like crazy when we had any type of rougher seas. This kept me up a little bit so I started sleeping with the door opened to the balcony so that I could have the sound of the waves put me to sleep. Worked like a charm. The creaky wood didn’t bother the kids. After staying in the kids club/lab almost every night until midnight, they were asleep before their heads hit the pillow. The lay out of the room was great. The kids slept on the pull out sofa and the Murphy bed while I had the bed in the bedroom. Very spacious and never once felt cramped and trapped with the kids while in the room.

My friend showed up at the room shortly after we did and the kids were quite surprised and happy to see their friends. What’s great is my friend has 3 kids the exact ages and genders as mine so they are all really good friends. One thing I did soon after arriving in the room was to send out the boys shirts to be pressed. What a great tip I learned on this board! For $10, I had 6 shirts pressed and back to me by 4 the next day. I loathe ironing so this was great!

It was raining so the sail away party was held inside in the atrium. You could stand on decks 3-5 to get a view but it was really crowded. I definitely prefer for it to be outside. It’s great they give the kids streamers to wail about, they love them. This one kid kept hitting me in the face with it. After it happened a few times, I turned around to nicely ask him to be careful when I realized it was the mom doing it!! She obviously knew she was hitting something. Another lady was pushing my friend’s son away from the railing with her elbows. After the characters came, we decided to head back to the room to unpack.

Dinner was at Parrot Cay. I was happy that I got the rotation I requested,. I did not get the server I requested because he just left the ship that day for vacation. We instead had Salomie and Jorge, both of which were fantastic.

The show was good but both my dd and my friend’s dd fell asleep so no kids club for them that night which meant no mommy free time. The boys went for a little bit but were in bed by 10:00. I didn’t get much sleep that night because of the noise all the wood made. The kids, however, slept fine!

 

[socababy]

Day 2

I had ordered breakfast the night before from Tritons to be delivered to the suite about 8:30. I was told that they may not get it to us any earlier since Tritons opens at 8. No problem, so I thought! My kids are early risers even at home but on this day both my 8 year old and my 4 year old were up at 6:22. My 6 year old at least slept until after 7. Well by 7:30 they were all hungry! I didn’t want to go get something to eat since it was being delivered. So I just had to listen to them complain for an hour about how they were STARVING, as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks! I tried explaining to them that complaining was not allowed on the Mickey boat with no such luck. Breakfast was good. Ds6 especially loves their PBJ typhoon which is a pancake drizzled with peanut butter and jelly. The bacon at the buffet and even served in the restaurant is a bit soggy. If you like crispy bacon like I do, ask for it extra crispy and it will turn out great!

I rushed the kids to finish eating and to get dressed because the most important appointment of the week was coming up fast at 9:30...Mommy’s hot stone massage. I dropped off the kids at the kids club and headed to my appt. The massage was great. I haven’t had a massage since Dh died so this was definitely overdue. After the massage, I went and checked on dd to make sure she was fine in the club still and since my friend had dropped off her dd too, my dd was having too much fun to leave. I went back to the room to shower and relax a bit. Once my friend was done with her massage and showered, we went and picked up the kids from the club/lab and went to eat lunch at BBB.

My friends and I decided to go to the matinee showing of The Golden Mickeys for pure selfish reasons. We wanted to be able to go do some adult things and going to the late shows made our 4 year old girls sleepy (just like the night before.) Once they were sleepy, there was no way they were going to wake back up. So we went to the matinee show. It was weird though because all the CMs were dressed up but we were not. LOL So I think this show is best seen at night when you have dressed for dinner. Last Feb my FIL took dd out front of the theatre to get her interviewed on the red carpet. I had told my friends about this so Jason took 4 of our 6 kids (2 were too shy) back out to the red carpet after we had gotten seats in the theatre. All 4 were interviewed together. They were asked who they favorite characters were. The kids got a kick out of this. I really enjoy this show as did the kids.

After the show, the kids desperately wanted to get in the pool. It wasn’t warm enough for me to put on my swim suit but warm enough for the kids. All the tables were taken by the Mickey pool so we grabbed a couple open chairs up on the 10th deck looking down on the Mickey pool so we could still watch the kids. It felt nice sitting in the sun with only a strapless maxi dress on. I get cold easily but was not cold sitting in the sun. When we sailed last Feb, dd was not old enough for the Mickey slide. Now she finally was. She climbed up the stairs so bravely with her BFF Avery and I was so excited that I was giddy waiting for her to come down. With the camera in hand, I was ready for the big moment!
Now you see her…..

Now you don’t!

LOL She decided to lay down at the last moment and was completely covered with water. She ended up drinking/choking on a lot of water. She said she didn’t want to do it again. I let it go at that point but knew I’d get her to go on it again one way or another!

After staying at the pool for an hour or so, we headed back to the room to shower and get dressed for formal night. I ordered the all hands on deck cheese platter from room service to snack on til dinner. What a perfect snack! We are a cheese loving family! I really tried to take as many pics as possible with both my camera and with the CMs camera because I was thinking about buying the cd but needed enough pics taken to make it worth it.

This pic cracks me up because he had just lost his top teeth the Fri and Sat night before we left. He now talks with a lisp and he looks like an old man with no top teeth. LOL This was one of many meesy faces due to a mickey bar.

Dinner was at Tritons and was very good. I didn’t take any pics of food and can’t remember what I had each night but overall I was happy with most of what I ate during the week.

After dinner we threw the kids in the kids club/lab. Well we didn’t throw them in as they were running to their anyway. We were in just as much of a hurry to get them there as they were to get there. The adults then walked around the ship and finally made our way into Wavebands where we drank wine and listened to the band Speakerbox. Great band that we would go to listen to many nights throughout the week. At 10:30 we watched the comedy and magic of Ed Alonzo. Very entertaining show and we laughed a lot! After he was done, we listened to more of Speakerbox and about 11:45 decided we should go get the kids before they close at midnight. The four boys were wide awake having fun in the lab and both the girls were ASLEEP in mats in the club. They had laid down to watch a movie and fell asleep. The CMs covered them with blankets. It was so cute to see them just laying there. It was a fun day for everyone!

 

[socababy]

Day 3

I did not order breakfast to the room this morning simply because of my early risers. Wouldn’t you know, all 3 kids slept until about 8 this morning. I was kicking myself for not ordering in. I guess the kids wore themselves out in the club/lab the night before. I slept better than the night before but I was still up by 7. So I showered and got dressed and hurried the kids along when they woke so that my friends and I could get the kids fed. No breakfast for the adults because we had Palo Brunch coming up at 10:30. We went to BBB, got the kids fed and hurried them along to the kids club/lab.

If you are wavering on whether or not to have brunch at Palo, waver no more. It was fabulous, the best meal of the week. Like I mentioned earlier, I love cheese. The assortment they had was so yummy. The grape and gorgonzola pizza I have heard everyone talk about here on the DIS was superb. Everything at the antipasti bar was delicious. We ate so much but I am kind of bummed that we were too full to enjoy the desserts. I saw a couple leave there with a plate full of dessert but I was honestly too stuffed to even go to the dessert bar to pick out anything. LOL I have not had Palo dinner, but brunch will be on my must do every cruise in the future.

Brunch took about 1 ½ hours. We then went and got the kids. We sent my friends Dh to get in line for the princess gathering which was to start at 12:30. My friend and I took the kids back to the rooms to get them changed. My boys put up a little stink about gong to see the princesses but I think it is just a cover. I think they like taking pics with the princesses and all the other characters as well. I know I should enjoy this as I am sure I don’t have many years left, especially with my soon to be 9 year old ds. When Jason went and got in line, he was about 5 people back. By the time I got downstairs with the kids, the line snakes around the atrium and headed all the way back towards the Promenade Lounge. If you can send someone to get in line, it will save a lot of time waiting later.

After the princess gathering, the kids wanted to go in the pool again. It was warmer than the day before and the crowds showed this. We couldn’t find any tables or chairs that was within eye shot of the mickey pool. We ended uo finding a table right next to the kiddie splash zone area. My friend and I hung out there while her Dh stood up on the 10th deck overlooking our kids. The adults were too stuffed to eat but the kids had chicken fingers and hot dogs by the pool. The fruit was yummy all week. I love the variety of fresh fruit that they have. I am sure they had more than one ice cream cone too.

We stayed for about an hour and a half and then went back to the rooms. The boys got cleaned up and dressed for dinner and then my friends Dh took all 4 boys to the lab so that we could try and get the girls to take a nap so that they wouldn’t fall asleep in the club again that night. I laid my dd in my bed and she cried for about 5 minutes saying she wasn’t tired. When all got quite, I peeked in and saw that she was out like a light. LOL

Again, I really tried to take as many pics as possible. We sent Jason down around 5 to get in line for the professional pics with the white background which would open at 5:15. This plan worked well for us all week because most of the time we were first in line with an exception one night when we were 2nd. We had early dining so we wanted to make sure we didn’t have to wait in any long lines. We would always do the white background pics first and then do the character and xmas tree pics. These are the pics that were taken this night and are what originally started to sell me on buying the cd. LOVED how they all turned out. Getting all 3 kids to smile is not easy but these turned out pretty good.

Dinner was at Tritons again. Delicious as usual. After dinner, we dropped the kids off at the lab/club so that us adults could go and particpate in ’The Fued.” Basically, a version of Family Fued. It was a lot of fun even though our team did not win. We then picked up the kids and we all attended the nightly show which was a family version of Ed Alonzos comedy and magic. I was kind of disappointed that he did a lot of the same tricks that he did during the adult show, just tamed down a bit for the kids. He is really funny and I would have liked to see different material. The kids all got a good laugh though. After the show, with the girls well rested, to the club/lab they went. Us adults went and just goofed around. It has been a running joke between my friend, her Dh and I that I am her Dh’s 2nd wife. Well we kind of went with it on the ship too. We even went into Treasure Ketch and put on 2 bride and 1 groom hats and had the employees take pics of us. The pics were taken on my friends camera so I’ll how to get those from her. Then we went up to Cove Café where we met Mr. Donald and Samson. Two funny guys that we went and terrorized often. Sadly, we looked at the time and realized that we should probably go get the kids since it was 11:50. The nap paid off and all 6 kids were awake having a blast in the lab/club. Another great day had by all!

 

[marciemouse]

Great report! Can you tell us what dining rotation you requested, and the thought process behind the request? Trying to decide for our upcoming cruise...

 

[socababy]

Great report! Can you tell us what dining rotation you requested, and the thought process behind the request? Trying to decide for our upcoming cruise...

I requested PTTAPTA which is what I received. Parrot Cay is my least favorite of the 3 restaurants. I wanted to be in Tritons for formal night because that is the most 'elegant' restaurant. Tritons is also my favorite of the 3 so dining their 3 times was a plus.

 

[gjsmommy]

Enjoying your TR so far! My dh & I will be sailing w/3 kids close in age to yours in January so lots of great info for me here. Thanks for sharing!

 

[socababy]

Day 4

Although the kids were up late, they were up by a little after 7. We are now in PV, Mexico!! Unfortunately, I did not get off the ship at all so I won’t be able to comment much on life off the boat with the exception of some tid bits my friend’s Dh told me. Got the kids dressed in their swim suits and met up with our friends for breakfast around 9. We decided to get 2 tables right next to the Mickey pool. Put our bags down and went inside BBB to grab breakfast and bring it out to our tables. Our tables were not in the shade for long and the sun was already quite warm. The kids stuffed their faces as fast as they could so they could get in the pool. At around 1:30, my friend’s Dh and his oldest ds got off the ship and walked to WalMart where he was able to replenish his Corona supply. My friend and I stayed at the pool for awhile longer.

After lunch at the pool, all the kids had a ice cream cone. Dd wanted another one. This was the chance I was waiting for! I told her she could have another if she tried the mickey slide again. She hesitated for a moment but then decided she would. I explained to her that she needed to sit up and if she put her hands down on the slide, she would go down more slowly. I got the camera ready and told my friend to stand near the end and to grab her if she went under the water again.

She did so good! She then said she wanted her ice cream cone and I said of course! As I started to walk away to get the ice cream, she said she will have it after she goes down the slide again! Let me tell you she went down that slide at least 20 more times before she came back and asked for her ice cream! During the sea days, the line for the slide was about 15-20 people long. Now that we were in port, the line was never more than 8 or so people long.

We headed back to the room and the plan was the same as before, to take the boys to the lab and get the girls to nap. Dd protested a little more on this day so the nap was shorter but at least she napped. It was Pirate Night and the kids were excited to get dressed up somewhat like pirates. We first attended a concierge reception where Minnie visited all dressed up for the pirate party.

We then met our friends in the atrium for picture taking time!!

The line for Jack Sparrow was a little long and since he wasn't in the atrirum area, we went to him last. We really wanted our pic with him so we had to be a little late for dinner. We just told our servers that we were held captive by Captain Jack Sparrow.

Dinner was at Animator’s Palate. One of my favorite things at this restaurant is the mushroom risotto. So yummy! After dinner, there wasn’t a normal show playing. Instead, they had the Muppets movie playing in the Walt Disney Theatre. The week at a glance movie sheet that was in the suite showed that the movie was playing at 10 on Saturday so we decided to skip the movie that night and see it on Saturday. The adults didn’t want to waste 2 hours of nightlife just in case we didn’t like the movie! LOL Also ,we didn’t want the movie putting the kids to sleep with the pirate party still later that night. So off to the lab/club for the kids. The adults went and spent more time in the Cove Café terrorizing Mr. Donald and Samson. Went and got the kids about 9:30 so that we could get a good viewing spot at the pirate party. We decided to stand on deck 10 on the starboard side towards the back railing. Some of the kids went downstairs with Jason to play the games and dance with all the other kids. It wasn’t as cold as it was during pirate night back last Feb but I still needed a light jacket. As the party was starting to wind down, ds6 says he is really tired and wants to go to bed. I try to tell him the fireworks are almost here but I later realized that was part of the reason he wanted to go back. He doesn’t like really loud sounds sometimes. So my friend tells me she will bring my other 2 kids back to the room after fireworks and I take ds6 back. He gets in bed and I go sit on the balcony, so bummed we are on the port side. So I get to hear the fireworks but not see them. As an adult, I really could skip the pirate party and maybe just go up to see the fireworks. The kids had a blast though. All the kids were in bed by 11 but I was wide awake. I sat on the balcony for about an hour just thinking. I was really missing my husband who passed away 3 years ago. I really wish he could be here to experience all this with his kids. This was my first trip with just me and the kids, with no other family there to help (even though I did have freinds there as support.) I still to this day cannot believe these are the cards I have been dealt in life. So after a good cry (which I always need from time to time,) off to bed I went.

 

[Laundress]

been looking forward to your trip report. Love the photos.

 

[namihos]

thank you for sharing your trip report -- loving it so far!! we went on this cruise the week before u, and i'm re-living it through your stories and pictures! we were in 8048 and loved tawanda too!! i can't wait to read about the rest of your trip. i'm so sorry to hear about your husband. you have a beautiful family.

 

[socababy]

Day 5

Happy Thanksgiving! This morning no one had a choice on whether to sleep in or not because we had a character breakfast to attend in Parrot Cay! I missed this breakfast last time we sailed due to being quarantined in my room for having the flu! My IL’s didn’t take a lot of pics because they said the meet and greet with the characters were so fast. They weren’t kidding but I was prepared. You’ll want to basically have the camera sitting on your lap waiting for the next character to come by. They have you put your autograph books at the edge of the table ready to be signed. They have so many people for the characters to see in such a short amount of time that the timing was understandable. The character interaction throughout the ship is so great that the kids didn’t seem bothered with just quick interactions.

After breakfast, we stopped and took pics in front of the huge gingerbread house. Man that house smelled good!

My friend’s Dh left to the BV theatre to get ready to go on his scuba diving excursion here in Cabo. Thing is, we weren’t even in Cabo yet! It was about 9:15 when he heard over the PA that we would be delayed and arriving late into Cabo so he went to the BV theatre to see what was happening. My friend and I stopped in the Promenade lounge and waited for the Dance and Shout activity to begin. This was a lot of fun for the kids. A lot of silly dances being taught or if you are like my kids, coming up with your own dances.

Apparently doing the worm here. Just looks like they are dusting the floor!

Jason came back to the PL to let us know that his excursion had been cancelled due to arriving late in Cabo. The good news is that is was rescheduled for tomorrow, the bad news he needed to meet in the BV theatre tomorrow at 6:30! He didn’t want to get up that early but he really wanted to go diving so he went ahead and rescheduled.

We decided to take the kids to the lab/club for a little bit so that they could participate in the jewelry making and scavenger hunt. On the way there, we stopped to take more photos in the portholes. The kids love sitting in them and they make for awesome pics. Don’t forget do to this when you cruise!

Picked the kids up a short while later and my friend’s family hopped on a tender to go ashore to at least say they stepped foot on Mexican soil. The zoom feature on my camera shows them here on the tender. Pic taken from my balcony.

My kids and I went back to the room to just rest. Well, my oldest didn’t get to rest too much. Being the responsible mom I am, I had ds work on his book report that was due the Wednesday after we got back. He was drawing pics to make a mobile about the book. In the book, the kids are trying to win a treasure hunt to be able to sail on a pirate ship. Wouldn’t you know that right outside our balcony we had a great view of a pirate looking ship! So I told ds to draw a pic of it. He wasn’t too pleased that he had to do school work on vacation. Oh well, such is life!

Such a sad face!

While in the room, my concierge manager Tawanda made his daily visit. The only thing I have asked for all week when I saw him was to have more wine glasses brought to the suite. My friends and I would use them and they would get left at the bars. Today he showed up with a complimentary bottle of red wine for me! So sweet! He asked why I haven’t been asking for anything else! I guess he is use to people in the suites asking for a lot. I told him I am a simple girl and don’t need much. I did tell him earlier in the week I had asked a CM while in line for a character pic if Woody and Jessie were ever out and about to take pics with. I told him that my friend and I had Toy Story outfits for the kids to wear and thought it would be cute to take pics with the TS characters. The CM said no they are not but maybe when we saw the TS show, ask and maybe we could have ours pics taken with the props on stage. I asked Tawanda about this and he said he would check and get back to me at dinner time. I said that would be great!

 

[socababy]

DaY 5 cont...

My friends were only gone about an hour. They walked around the marina and wanted to buy some things at a shop but when they ran his credit card, it wouldn’t go through. They had no cash on them so they headed back. Once they were back, we all got changed and headed to the pool. Look how daring dd is now…she is going down backwards! I was proud of her but I didn’t like the fact that she kept drinking a lot of the pool water because she wouldn’t know when to hold her breath. The first day in the pool I even saw her drinking the pool water while sitting in a mickey ear. GROSS!!! Inevitably, she caught a small cold/cough. So I tried to encourage her to go down the right way!

Such a funny pic!

I don’t believe I have mentioned that I did bring 3 bottles of wine on board with me. That worked out great and definitely eased my bar bill. What I also brought on board, which caused jealously in those cruisers around me, was a few cans of root beer to make root beer floats and some waffle cones to put the ice cream in! When we sailed in Feb, they did not have cones for the ice cream, just little bowls with a few toppings to choose from. This time they had regular cones but I still prefer waffle cones. Ds6 said that people kept asking where he got the waffle cone. LOL Oh and a funny story about ds6 and the ice cream…the first time we went and got some ice cream, we were walking away from the station when he said, “Don’t we have to pay?” LOL I said no it is free and then all week I could hear him telling his friends and random people that it was free. So funny!

Spent some time at the pool and then headed back to the room to rest and get ready for dinner. Tonight was semi formal night which I was bummed about because it was also The Toy Story Musical night. I had put such planning into the kids clothes for the week. I was hoping the TS show would be on a casual night so that the kids would still be dressed up for semi formal night. Oh well, things don’t always go as planned. My friend and I really wanted pics in their TS clothes so the adults opted to dress up and we just let the kids wear their TS clothes. We wouldn’t have time to get them changed from taking pics and then dinner time.

Dinner included traditional Thanksgiving options. I had the ham and thought it was very good. I ordered the kids a side of turkey and they thought it was good. One thing I did every night was let the kids order whatever they wanted off the kids menu (which is the same handful of things every night) and then i would order a side of something healthy for them to eat. I would order either a side of salmon, chicken breast or like tonight, a slice of turkey. If the vegetable that night wasn't something my kids would eat, I would ask to have a side of broccoli or raw carrots. Every night the kids would beg Jorge to do some magic tricks! He would tell them they have to eat first which was a great tool to get them to eat.

During dinner, Tawanda came by the table for a visit. He told me that unfortunately we would not be able to take pics on stage due to them not having rights to the pics or something along that line. Truly no big deal! He asked if there was anything else he could do for me. My friend immediately asks if he could reserve seats for the show. He said he couldn’t reserve seats because it was illegal. LOL However, he said to meet him at the Cadillac Lounge at 7:55. We did just that and he took us through the Lounge and through some doors and hallways and let us into the theatre at stage level just as the doors were opened for everyone else at the top of the theatre. So we were able to grab front row seats! All the other shows we were towards the back of the theatre. What a difference to be upfront. The kids loved it and I think this also helped the girls not fall asleep during the show. This was very sweet of Tawanda to do!

After the show, we dropped the kids off at the club/lab and went to listen to Speakerbox play in Wavebands before the Match Your Mate was to begin at 10:30. This is basically like the Newlywed game. First they chose the couple who had been married the longest, then a couple who had been married for the least amount of time and then a couple married at least 10 years. Three couples who wanted to play the game fell into that category, my friends being one of them. Then they had a dance off to determine the final couple. One lady actually got on the floor and started break dancing! My friends couldn’t compete with that so they were not chosen. LOL We did stay and watch and it was so funny! Some very personal questions are asked. Christiian the CD was the host and he is very quick witted. We had a lot of fun watching. All couples received a pass to the Rainforest room for participating and the winning team won a bottle of Champagne. After the game show was over, Speakerbox came back on and performed top 40 hits while we danced on the dance floor. Once again, 11:45 crept up on us and we were forced to go pick up the kids. One of the nights we asked the CM what was the latest someone came and got their kids. They close at midnight and they said one time the parents did not get there until 1:30am! The CM didn’t say why they were late. All the kids were awake and having fun and were bummed that it was time to leave. Another great day had by all!

 

[ddd100]

We are really enjoying your trip report. Thank you for taking the time to share with us. Looking forward to more.

We can't wait for our MR cruise, not long now. We have booked concierge too and I was wondering when did you select your dining rotation? Did you email concierge prior to the cruise or did you wait until you got on board? Thanks.

 

[socababy]

I called shoreside concierge about a month before the cruise to request not only a dining rotation but also to request the servers we had last Feb. We got the dining rotation requested, however, the main server Bonieface left for vacation the day we boarded and Vitor the assistant server is no longer on the Wonder. We ended up with great servers anyway. Solamie was great and has been with DCL for over 10 years. Jorge has only been with DCL for a few months but he was great, especially with the kids. He'll be leaving the Wonder soon to get ready to bring the Fantasy on over.

 

[been2marceline]

The wood work creaked like crazy when we had any type of rougher seas.

It wasn't just you, our stateroom creaked, rattled and groaned like crazy the whole trip...

We were on the same trip, other than the shimmying of the ship ( unavoidable ) I think it went pretty well...

We were in 6134, first time aft, not sure we'll do that again, the ride "uphill" from Cabo back to LA was a bit bumpy...how was it midship?

 

[heaven2dc]

Am really loving your TR! Your kids are darling I am so sorry to hear about your husband - my hubby died 17 years ago (12/18/94) on our trip to Florida at the beginning of our trip so I can truly empathize! A good cry always helps - you are so brave! It's amazing how our kids keep our spirits up!

 

[renee123]

great trip report. Thanks for posting!

 

[Donathius]

Subbing

My DW and I are heading out on an MR cruise in January and we've never cruised before. It's been great to read these TRs so I get some idea of what to expect.

 

[shireenordway]

I requested PTTAPTA which is what I received. Parrot Cay is my least favorite of the 3 restaurants. I wanted to be in Tritons for formal night because that is the most 'elegant' restaurant. Tritons is also my favorite of the 3 so dining their 3 times was a plus.

How do you request dinning rotation?

 

[socababy]

I believe if you are using a TA, they can note your request for a certain dining rotation on your account. If you booked directly with DCL, call them and they can make a note on your account.

 

[socababy]

Day 6

Dd’s mild cold grew to a coughing fit at night. Even though she was in the living room on the pull out, I would wake every time she coughed. Needless to say, neither of us slept well. Ds8 and dd woke up close to 8. They both climbed into my bed to watch tv while ds6 still slept on the Murphy bed. My kids absolutely loved watching Duck Tales! I remember watching it when I was a child and the kids were surprised I still knew the theme song! LOL I hopped in the shower and by the time I got out, dd had fallen back asleep on my bed. I don’t blame her, the bed is very comfy.

Ds6 woke up and so I made ds8 go back to the living room to watch tv while dd slept. The boys munched on some fruit in the fridge that concierge had dropped off a couple days prior as well as some beef jerky I had brought with us. I made ds do more work on his book report. Before we knew it, it was 10:45 and dd was still asleep and the boys were getting really hungry. So I decided to order room service for lunch. The kids and I were not very impressed with lunch. Bummer too because I remember really enjoying the steak sandwich when we last sailed but this time it wasn’t that great. Dd finally woke up and thankfully was no longer coughing, ate a little and once they were all dressed, I went and dropped them off at the lab/club.

I don’t know if it was just me but I had a hard time working the wave phones. I don’t think my friends ever got any messages I sent them all week. Maybe I was doing something wrong. I left a message for my friend letting her know where the kids were and that I was going to grab a coffee at the Cove and I was going to go find a lounger on deck 4 and just sit there and relax. My friend never got the message but we must have had the same idea since about 30 min later, she comes out the doors onto deck 4. Her plan was to walk around deck 4 and then take a seat so we went ahead and walked around. She and I are doing the Hawaii cruise together and we vowed to take many walks around this deck during that trip! I believe 2 times around deck 4 is a mile. It was now nearing 1:30 and she had not heard from her Dh since before he left on his scuba excursion. She called the room but no answer. She then decided to call Guest Services to have them look up whether he was back on the ship. He was and now she could relax! LOL He met up with us a while later on deck 4. He had such great things to say about his scuba trip and even used the word 'Epic.' We could also tell that he had stopped by Senor Frogs and threw back a few. LOL (Having been back home and now sober, he still says it was 'Epic.)

I wanted to go to the Future Cruise Desk at 3 because I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow as I am sure a lot of other people would do. Jason was so tired from scuba diving that he wanted to go shower and then take a nap. My friend went and got our girls and took them to see the matinee showing of Disney Dreams. We left the boys in the club. I went and booked this same cruise again for next year as my friends planned on doing the same. It was really nice to get away for the holiday. For me holidays are just not the same without Dh here and it may look like I am running away from the sadness that is because I am! LOL My frioends have a lot of family drama right now so they also agreed that getting away was the best thing to do! After booking, I grabbed all the boys, dropped off the friends at their room where we woke up their dad from a very deep sleep and brought my boys back to get changed for dinner. Quickly changed them, dropped them back off at the lab, met the girls at the theatre so that we could walk to Studio Sea for our Disney Friends Tea Party at 4. If you have a dd who is girly and loves princesses, definitely try to get tickets for this. It was too cute. Ariel and Tiana were there but I believe I have read that the Friends who show up change from time to time.

Here Ariel is explaining how to place the napkin on your lap. She had a funny name that she called napkins but I can't think of it at the moment.

The tea is actually apple juice.

After Tea, I grabbed my boys and we all went back to the room to freshen up and get ready for more picture taking on semi formal night. I beat my friends down to the white background picture area even though my friend's Dh was suppose to come down first. Turns out, he fell back asleep after I dropped the boys off and no one was changed when my friend made it back to the room after Tea. No harm done as they all made it downstairs in time but he was in the dog house for awhile. The kids were over having their picture taken and this was evident in the pictures. Not too many had all 3 kids smiling at one time or all looking in the right direction!

We ate again at Tritons. Tawanda came and found me at dinner and asked if I’d like to meet him in front of Cadillac Lounge again but I told him that the girls had already seen the show and that we wouldn’t be going to the night time one. That was very nice of him to come and ask though. After dinner, the kids went back to the club/lab while the adults went and did some shopping at Treasure Ketch. After shopping, I needed to get some wine glasses so Jason went into a bar looking for some while us girls went back to my room to open up the wine bottle. When we walk in, there is this huge DCL shopping bag in the living room. I read the card and it was from the stage manager Nathan apologizing for not being able to let us take on stage photos at the TS musical. Inside the bag was a talking Buzz, Woody and Jessie doll for the kids! I was floored. What a sweet but totally unnecessary thing to do! I just happened to then take a look at the wave phone that we had left in the room and realized I missed a call from the lab. So I call them and it takes a few minutes for them to figure out why they called me but it turns out that my friends ds6 had thrown up in the lab! It happened minutes after we dropped him off. Jason just then came to my door with wine glasses and he said he would go get their son and my friend and I could drink our wine. I pour our glasses and we start talking about how nice it was for them to give the kids those dolls. She reaches for the card to read it…………….can you guess what happens next……………did you guess??? Yes, she hits her wine glass and it goes everywhere!! It gets better though! As a quick reaction, I reach for her spilled glass and knock mine over. There was red wine everywhere! I’m not sure they will let me in a suite again. We had only had a sip or two, definitely NOT drunk! LOL Just then my stateroom host rang the door bell. I swore to him we were not drunk and that we were so sorry!! I felt horrible. We then told him we think a huge wave hit the ship and the glasses went flying. At least he laughed. He took away the wine soaked chair and said he would have the floor shampooed in the morning. Of course my friend was wearing a white sweater. I’m not sure it survived. We both changed and when she came back, we decided that we had had enough red wine and that we should go get a coffee at the Cove. Mr. Donald fixed us an extremely strong liquor coffee drink. We hung out there until 11 and then went to the dessert buffet. Neither of us were hungry but we wanted to at least see what was there. When we got there, it wasn’t too bad of a line until you got to the chocolate fondue fountain. That area seems to need some better organization. We grabbed a few things to take back to the room while others made 5 inch mounds of sweet treats on their plates. You could hear them saying that it wasn’t all for them. LOL We took our plates, went and got the kids and headed back to the room. I let the kids have a couple bites if the dessert and put the rest in the fridge. To be honest, I was underwhelmed all week long when it came to desserts. Tonight was no exception. Then it was bedtime for all!