Our Wonder Cruise(It's kinda long!)

[lisamac]

Cast: Me 38, dh 39, ds10, dd3

We sailed on the March 12th four day Wonder cruise and really had a great time!!!! After reading the disboards for more than 8 months I found that many of the tips I read here were very useful!

We arrived to check in around 10:30 and recieved a boarding pass for group three. I'm not very experienced with traveling so I was not looking forward to checking in....it was easy! I found it to be a quick process and I was especially pleased that we were able to check our kids in the kid's clubs and get our pager and wrist bands with NO lines! We were entertained with characters and cartoons and before we knew it our group was being called to board.
After being introduced as a family we headed straight up to deck 9 and the Mickey pool. Based on recommendations I read here, my kids had thier suits on under their clothes were ready to swim!!!! When we got to the Mickey pool there was only ONE other child there!! I got some great pictures of my kids in the Mickey pool. Thanks Disboards! Dh and I had a buffet lunch while the kids had lunch from Plutos. I thought lunch was great and we enjoyed our pool side lounge chairs.
We stayed in cabin number 6555 and enjoyed the location in relation to the kid's clubs and restaurants. The room was a little tight with all our stuff but for the amount of time we stayed there it was just fine! My only complaint is that it was noisy at night with sounds of the ship. (It only woke me up on the last night of the cruise) The over the door shoe holder was an AWESOME tip and we found it to be so helpful in keeping all of our bathroom stuff sorted.
We brought pillow cases along and turned them into guest services on the first day and picked them up on the last night. My kids love the signatures they got.
We found the dinners to be very good with our favorite spot being at Tritons. I thought the Beef Tenderloin was very good. Dinner was not exceptional but very good.
As for the kids' clubs they exceeded my expectations. My ds really wanted to stay there the entire trip but we made him spend time with us! Our dd was upset each time we went to pick her up because she wanted to stay longer. I thought the story times were especially very sweet.
Our favorite day was at Castaway Cay. Our kids loved playing in the sand and water and I enjoyed just sitting back and relaxing. It was beautiful there!
My biggest problem was allowing myself to relax and to not feel that I had to participate in EVERY activity in order not to miss anything. I was exhausted at first and finally forced myself to take a "slow" afternoon and watched the Shaggy Dog with my kids.
This was our first Disney cruise after going to the Parks twice in the past. I was afraid I would miss the parks but instead I fell in love with the cruise. The characters are so available and the service is awesome.
My dd cried as we left the ship and my ds threatened to hide in the bathroom so he could sail again! That is the ultimate statement for a good review!
To summarize the best tips we got and used:
Arrive early at the port and make the most of the first day
Wear or bring your suits and head straight for the pool
Turn in pillowcases for signatures
Bring an over the door shoe holder!
Bring a highlighter for the Navigator to pick out events
Have your tips counted out ahead of time so you don't have to do it at the last minute
Stack your shutters pictures together so they are easier to find
*** I recommend buying them the last night of the cruise instead of waiting until morning. Our friend said the line was too long and did not buy pictures. We LOVE our pics.
Bring suction cup hanges for the shower so you can hang your wet swim suits.
Don't overpack!
Realize you won't be able to do it all so enjoy whatever you experience...take lots of photos and take a minute to realize how dang lucky you are to be there!!!!!

 

[yazee1]

That wasn't too long! At first, I thought you wrote that you sailed in May and it took you this long to write a report, but I went back and saw it was March! Duh, me. I agree with you about getting on as early as possible. We were probably within the first 100 people on board. On our last cruise we couldn't register for things on line so getting on early made it easy to get the reservations we wanted but this year, we're going do what you did and use the early boarding to start having fun instead of standing in lines. Having the swimsuits on under the clothes sounds like a good idea.

It's hard to be back. Did you rebook?

 

[westjones]

We sail on the Wonder this Sunday! Glad you had such a great time! Loved your report.

BTW, do you remember what the offer was to book another 3 or 4 night while onboard? Was it just the $100 onboard credit or were they offering a 10% discount as well? Someone mentioned that they thought they offered the 10%, but in the past that was only for the 7 night, so I was wondering what to expect.

Thanks!
DJ

 

[hmbbears]

Excellent report. It wasn't too long, just right!

 

[michelle9343]

excellent report, sounds like your family had a wonderful time.

 

[lisamac]

That wasn't too long! At first, I thought you wrote that you sailed in May and it took you this long to write a report, but I went back and saw it was March! Duh, me. I agree with you about getting on as early as possible. We were probably within the first 100 people on board. On our last cruise we couldn't register for things on line so getting on early made it easy to get the reservations we wanted but this year, we're going do what you did and use the early boarding to start having fun instead of standing in lines. Having the swimsuits on under the clothes sounds like a good idea.

It's hard to be back. Did you rebook?

We'll probably go again but not for 2-3 years as my dh is working on his master's degree. I just got some of my pics back and it is so fun to see my two kids in an empty mickey pool! That was so fun to have it to ourselves for a while. : )

 

[lisamac]

We sail on the Wonder this Sunday! Glad you had such a great time! Loved your report.

BTW, do you remember what the offer was to book another 3 or 4 night while onboard? Was it just the $100 onboard credit or were they offering a 10% discount as well? Someone mentioned that they thought they offered the 10%, but in the past that was only for the 7 night, so I was wondering what to expect.

Thanks!
DJ

I don't know what kind of discount they were offering. I hope you have the same kind of weather we did....it was beautiful!
Have fun!