Our "Wonder-full" Cruise! 5/23/04

Deweysgirl

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 14, 2003
Messages
1,161
Just returned from our fabulous 4 night cruise on the 5/23/04 Wonder.

Cast and Crew: Myself, DH, DD (9) and DD (6), Cabin 6504
My parents: DFather(59) and DMom(59). Cabin 6502

Sat. 5/22 - Pre-cruise day at Ron Jon's.
Beautiful resort. Tropical atmosphere and lush grounds. Awesome Lazy River and kiddie water playground! You can see the cruise ships right from the top deck pool area leaving the port. We saw the Magic leave and it was beautiful indeed! Dinner at Rusty's seafood. Great food and service! Breakfast at Ron Jon's-all you can eat buffet at their on-site restaurant. Very satisfying. Concierge arranged for Travelynx Shuttle service to take us to port for our cruise. Ron Jon's has free long-term parking.

Sun. 5/23-Cruise Day! (Ressie Scramble Day!)

Travelynx shuttle to port at 10:30am. Check in went smoothly. In line to board by 11:15am. Started boarding at 11:45am.

Things started getting hectic at this point-the rest of the day was very rushed! We were whisked into Parrot Cay for lunch. From reading the boards I knew we wanted to eat at Beach Blanket only because we are outdoorsy type people. Asked someone and found our way up. No sooner did we sit down to eat when we realized, Oh-Oh-it was time to do the ressie scramble!
All ressies we needed were all scheduled for 1:00pm. Palo, Spa and Shore excursions. Quite challenging! Hubby and my Dad stayed with DD-9 to finish eating, while Mom and DD-6 and I went to secure ressies. DMom went to the Palo line and I got on line for Shore excursions and was second in line. Secured a 1:00pm spot for the Jet-ski Eco-tour on CC day and then rushed over to the spa to reserve the Rasul Bath for Day at Sea at 10:00am for DH and I. DMom was successful getting Palo's for dinner for Wed. Day-at-Sea-6:00pm. We met up with the rest of the family at Beach Blanket, finished our lunch and headed out for the pools. We let the girls swim in the Mickey pool for a bit. Oh-Oh-, time for the dismeet in the Promenade lounge. Nice to meet so many I have been corresponding with over the months on these boards.Headed out to the cabin after the meet. Oh-Oh, have to stop to make ressies for the girls to get hair wraps. (They chose this over the hair-braiding).

Get settled in our cabin-very nice! Inside cabin Cat. 11-just fine for the 4 of us. Oh-Oh-Time for the Safety Drill! Quick and painless. Back to the cabin to ditch the lifevests. Oh-Oh-time for the sail-away party.The party was a lot of fun. The girls and I really enjoyed the dancing and characters. Oh-Oh-time to get ready for dinner.

PTAP-dining rotation. DH and little DD were on total meltdown from all of the hustle and bustle. They decided to chill in the cabin while the rest of us went to dinner. Parrot Cay was great! Prime Rib is excellant! Our servers Typhoon and Pierre. Oh-Oh-time to get ready for Hercules. Went back to the cabin, picked up little DD. DH wasn't interested in Hercules and little DD was not really herself. Seasickness setting in? Perhaps. Went to the show, little DD didn't want any dinner. It turned out to be my least favorite of the shows. I actually nodded off a time or two. Could be just because I was so darned tired from the hectic day.

Checked the girls in to the clubs after the show. They stayed about an hour or so. DH and I took photo mats to guest services for the characters to sign (similar to the pillowcase idea) and went up to the top deck for a drink and to relax. Glad this day was behind us. It was way more hectic than I thought it would be! Is this vacation? Hope it gets easier from here. I was happy though that we got all the ressies that we wanted. Thanks to Barb's site I knew we would have to pay the price to get exactly what we wanted. Picked up the girls. Called it a night. Set the room service tag out for AM coffee and juice for the girls.

Mon-5/24-Nassau, Pirate Museum, Atlantis-

Parrot Cay for breakfast. Wanted little DD and DH to enjoy the restaurant and atmosphere as they had missed dinner here the night before. My girls loved Sebastian holding the lamps on the walls. I loved the parrot and banana chandeliers. Breakfast was good and filling.

We all went to the Pirate museum. It was an easy walk from the ship. We all enjoyed it very much. $12.00 for adults-no charge for kids. Came through the straw market on the way back to the ship and the girls bought anklets and Sponge-Bob t-shirts and DH picked up a wooden ships wheel for his den. They wanted $25.00 and he bargained down to $10.00! Woo Hoo!

Back on board-lunch at Beach Blanket. Checked the girls in to the club and we went back out to go over to Atlantis. (4.00 per person for cab ride) We spent the afternoon at the slot machines. DH won big-well big for us! (HaHa) He hit two jackpots at $160.00 each. Not bad for a couple hours! DDad didn't do so well. They decided to go back after dinner to play blackjack. Picked the girls up from the club and got them to their 5:00 app't. for the hair wraps. Little DD having bouts of diarrhea so I began giving her immodium along with the dramamine. Darn-don't know what's wrong with her. Afterwards, we started to head back to the cabin to get ready for dinner-little DD threw up right as we were leaving the hair wrap salon. The nice hairwrap lady came out and told us she called maintenance and to please not worry about it. She was so nice. She insisted we go ahead to dinner.

Tritons-Our least favorite of the 3 restaurants. The atmosphere was just ok and the service was extremely slow tonight. The wait between dinner and dessert was so long that we ended up asking my parents to have our dessert wrapped up for us as we wanted to get little DD back to the cabin. She rested and the girls decided later to go to the club. DH and I explored the ship and went to the gift shops. We chose to skip Mark Nizer in the theater tonight. Little DD pagered us not long after we left her. She just wasn't up for the club afterall and wanted to hang out with us. Picked up DD-9 later and called it a night. Room service tag out for morning juice, coffee and danish. Little DD didn't eat anything at all today.

Tues. 5/25-Castaway Cay, Jet-Ski Eco-tour

This island is beautiful! Everyone went snorkeling first thing. Little DD and I chose to rent floats. We were having fun but it was so windy that our floats kept drifting in to the snorkeling area. Big no-no! So, we ditched the floats and she was happy swimming and playing at water's edge while I enjoyed a delicious Konk Cooler!. We brought our own sand toys, I wish Madison and Brianna could have met up at this point. Sounds like they both enjoyed just playing in the sand! Lunch was at Cookies BBQ. Oh, how delicious everything was! The BBQ ribs, chunky potato salad and upside down cake were our favorites. Checked the girls in to their clubs and headed out for our shore excursion. The jet-ski eco tour was a blast! I highly recommend it to anyone. Even my folks who are both almost 60 enjoyed this very much. Our tour guide Chris was fantastic! If you have any interest in this, do it! You will not be disappointed.

Afterwards we rode the tram over to check out Serenity Bay. We came back and picked up the girls from the clubs. Be warned! The Navigator tells you to be back on ship by 4:30 but it was not mentioned that they ask you to come out of the water by 3:30. We promised the girls more swimming and the beach was shut down when we got there at 3:20. Shopped a little at She Sells for souvenirs and went to the post office to find that it had already closed. It closes at 4:00 and we got there about ten minutes after. I put the change and postcard in the drop slot anyway. It will be interesting to see if the postcard makes it home!

Dinner tonight at Animator's Palate. Little DD did not eat again and fell asleep at dinner. Our meal however was wonderful and we loved this restaurant the best. Seems that our servers had been trying to present us with a celebratory anniversary cake the last two nights but DH didn't come to dinner the first night, and we left early last night to take little DD back to the cabin. They came out with it tonight and it had a beautiful white chocolate decoration shaped in the form of the ship that read, Congratulations. They also gave us a pin that says, "I'm Celebrating". It was all very nice but the cake was pretty yucky tasting. Some sort of strawberry jello/cake concoction. Anyway, it was the thought that counts!

Golden Mickeys was tonight and it was our favorite out of all the shows. My parents offered to watch little DD after the show and DD-9 went to the lab. DH and I went out to the adult pool and listened to Ben and Dana. It was very nice. We finished the night at the ESPN skybox lounge watching the Lightning/Calgary game. We lost but that's ok. We had such a beautiful day, nothing could have ruined it. Forgot to put the room service tag out tonight.

Wed. 5/26-Day at Sea- Rasul (Surial) Bath-Palo's

Let the kids sleep in this morning and then to Beach Blanket for breakfast. Droppd the kids to the clubs and headed to the spa for our 10:00am appointment. Unfortunately, we did not care for this at all. The girl explained what to do with the muds and the shower, etc. and then she actually asked us to clean up the mud out of the sauna area because she would have to clean it up otherwise. We applied the two muds, a reddish-brown one and a white one. We put it all over ourselves and then the steam came on. The floor became very HOT! I had to get a towel to rest my feet on. The brown mud got on it and I thought the girl would probably be upset about that. Also, imho, forget about getting romantic if you are so inclined, it was like 200 degrees in there and you are sweating profusely! I spent the last 10 minutes trying to get all of the brown mud washed down the drain because I didn't want the girl to be mad. DH told me to forget about it but I'm a worry wart like that. Anyway-I will never do that agian. It was a major disappointment.

Afterwards, we spent most of the day at the Mickey pool with the girls. Little DD still not herself but at least she came around enough to go down the mickey slide a few times. My only complaint at the Mickey pool is there was no music, we could hear it faintly coming from the Goofy pool area. We enjoyed a banana rum smoothie and it was delicious!!

We got showered and dressed back at the cabin and then did a little packing. We took the girls to their clubs for their rehearsals and watched them in the kids show "Discover the Magic" at 5:00pm. It was an adorable show and they each got a t-shirt for participating. We left them in their clubs and went to our 6:00 ressie at Palo's.

Palo's is awesome! I was going to skip this and my parents talked me into it, I'm so glad they did! We all had Filet Mignon and we tried the mushroom risotto and linguini carbonara. We all had the chocolate souffle for dessert and he brought out a tiramisu for us to try as well. Our waiter was Marcello and he was super! We had a fabulous experience at Palo's and it was not at all stuffy or fru-fru like I thought it might be.

Disney Dreams- Enjoyed it and the girls had a good time. After the show, the girls shopped for souvenirs and then we all went to the Til We Meet Again in the atrium. Seeing all of the characters like that in one area was the best! We got some pics of the kids with Mickey who had been all but untouchable until this point. The lines earlier on in the cruise for his autograph/picture were pretty long. Ran back to the cabin-put out the luggage. Headed down to guest services to pick up the photo mats. (They turned out beautiful!) Went to treasure catch to pick up an ornament that we left for Capt. Henry to sign. (Because we had ressies at Palo's we missed Capt. Henry doing the signing. The CM told us we could leave it and pick it up later) Turned out beautiful as well! No room service available for tomorow. Boo!

Thursday 5/26-Disembarkation-Kennedy Space Center

Up at 6:30am-Breakfast at Beach Blanket-Stopped by Shutters and purchased the 10 picture deal for 90 bucks. Off the ship and through customs and luggage claim in a matter of minutes. Met Seastar at the shuttle pickup area and spoke with her briefly. She was my inspiration for writing this report. She convinced me to give back what others had given to me. Because I had gained so much from these boards I decided to do so even though I am long winded and not a good storyteller. I hope you all enjoyed and didn't become to bored!

Kennedy Space Center was huge! Much more than I expected. We were not able to fit everything in but accomplished most of the attractions. It was a nice buffer rather than going straight home after the cruise. It was fun and educational too.
Little DD was finally coming around and eating better today. I still have no idea what was going on with her but she made it through like a little trooper!

The Best:
Room Service every morning
Castaway Cay
All Desserts-except the celebration cake
Animators Palate
Parrot Cay
Golden Mickeys
Kids Show
Cookies BBQ
Jet Ski Eco-Tour
Character signed photo mats
Palo's
Watching the Sunset
Nice Cm's
Towel Animals
Fru-fru drinks

The Worst:
Ressie Scramble (wish they could set up seperate times).
Not being able to schedule the eco-tour in advance like other excursions.
Rasul (Surial) Bath
No music at Mickey pool
Kids jumping at the Goofy pool
Beach closing early on CC

Useful tips from the boards:

Walkie Talkies-For a large party-couldn't have survived without them.
Do the "Ressie scramble"-if you have your heart set on certain things.
Character signed photo mats, pillowcases,etc.
Hi-liters for the Navigators
Room Service breakfast on CC day
Snorkel early to find all of the treasures and sealife at CC
Free t-shirts for kids show participation
Extension cord
Illuminated clock for cabin
My own shampoo/conditioner
Secret deck

We did not re-book on board but hope to do the seven day in 2006. DD-9 loved the lab! DD-6 not so much. Probably because she was out of sorts most of the cruise.

If I still have anyone's interest, thank you all so much for all of your great help along the way!
:wave2:
 
Bravo to you, Deweysgirl!!!! :Pinkbounc

Thanks for a great trip report!! I enjoyed reading it very much.

I am so sorry that your DD was sick-that is such a bummer. Both of your girls are so adorable!

I loved reading your take on the cruise. You did quite a few things we did not do- Palo, the spa and excursions. It just goes to show you that on a cruise you can do as much or as little as you want.

I agree about the birthday/celebration cakes. Weren't they disgusting??? DH and I had a good laugh about that. Both of our girls celebrated their birthdays and all they ate was the pretty white chocolate banner on top.
 
Another great trip report! I enjoyed reading yours also. Makes me feel like I am there.

Thanks for posting::yes::
 
Excellent trip report Deweysgirl! I love reports with lots of details and I enjoyed yours very much. I had to laugh when you described trying to clean up the mud in the surial bath. Sounds like something I would do (another worry wart here :rolleyes: ). I'm sorry that your little DD wasn't feeling well. I hope she had some fun.
Thanks for the advice on the useful tips and thanks for taking the time to post such a great report!
 

Thanks so much Deweysgirl, these reports are great and they make the waiting a little easier and the anticipation a little greater :D
 
Thanks for the great trip report. We had a wonderful time also back in April. We also had Marcello at Palo. He was absolutely wonderful!!!

Sharon
 
Appreciate the great report---you weren't long winded at all!!! Never enough details for me!

Hate to sound stupid...what is a "photo mat"?

Thanks for posting! Glad your daughter rallied enough to enjoy herself. One of the kids getting sick onboard is my biggest nightmare right now!
 
PattiPB - I loved the idea of having something signed so I got 2 mats (mat was 8 x 10 for a 4 x 6 photo) I chose what they call a museum mat where there is lots of white space-I actually got this idea from another DISer-Disneyland_Emily.

I turned them into Guest Services the first night and they were ready after 10:30pm the last night- They are sooo gorgeous with all the autographs in different colors- Hope this helps.

I also had the same fear about the kids and brought many things from home just in case. Childrens tylenol, immodium, dramamine and antibiotics. Turns out I used 3 out of 4! I was worried we would get quarantined or something but she was ok otherwise, just tired and upset stomach. I do think it was a case of seasickness. :crazy:
She was fine as soon as we got back to port.:rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the great report! It was especially interesting to me because we will be on the 4-night Wonder on 6/13, and are planning many of the same things you did (even a KSC day). I have been wavering on whether or not we would do the rasul...Your report certainly has me Wonder-ing if it is worth the expense.

I am really looking forward to the CC Jetski tour (assuming I can secure a booking), and have a few questions if you don't mind: Did your children ride with you, or were they at the kids club? If they joined you, how did they like it? How long did the tour last (including the "training session" at the beginning)? About how many people are in a tour group? And lastly, were you or your parents jetski "virgins", and if so, was it easy to come up to speed (pun intended)? I have never been on one before, so I'm curious as to the "learning curve".

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm getting excited! :hyper:
 
SamR- Hi! The rasul was not worth the money. I felt like Cinderella down on my hands and knees cleaning, and the attendant was the evil stepsister! :hyper: (Just my experience, I have a feeling it's only because our attendant was a bit rude)

Our kids didn't ride with us on the jetski eco-tour. My youngest is not old enough and my oldest (9) was very interested in doing the treasure hunt at Scuttle's Cove but i know she would have loved it if she had gone!
I rode with DH-he is very familiar with watercraft but my parents (both almost 60) were complete "virgins" and they did just fine. They kept up with the group and had no trouble at all. It's a push button start and simple accelaration.
The training instructions were given verbally, lasted about 10 minutes. They have a jetski dummy set up on the beach and point out how to get on, turn it on, accelarate, slow down, etc.
There were about 8 jet-skis in our tour. After the verbal lesson, we all boarded the jet-skis and took off single file leaving about 50 feet between each ski. We were on the water a little less than an hour with two different stops along the way. It was a blast! We had such a great time, I know you will too! Have Fun!!
 
We had such a great time, I know you will too!
Thanks for all the helpful answers! We are probably not going to eat at Palo, so securing a slot for the jetski tour will probably be my top priority during the "ressie scramble." I can't wait! :earsboy:
 
Thanks so much for the trip report!! I have a year to go and i love reading the Trip Reorts.

I have a few questions on the Jet Ski Tour.

Did you and your DH ride your own jet ski?

Were there any young kids in your group? My ds will be 9, almost 10 and I assume he will ride with me. (i've only been on a jet ski once...and i was NOT the driver!)

How do you get on the jet skis? Is there a dock at all the stops you made? (the one time i rode the jet ski, we got on from a dock).

Thanks for your help!!
 
Hi Goofygal1975- I rode on the back with DH. My parents each rode seperately. Yes, your DS will be allowed to ride with you, it's 8 or older to ride. You have to be 18 to drive. There was a boy in our tour, he looked to be in his teens. I have a DD 9 and I would have definately taken her but she was torn between this and the treasure hunt and decided to go to Scuttles cove.

You board on the beach. The jet skis are on the water's edge. You get on, use the push button start and your off! I hate to spoil the surprise of the two stops but neither are at a dock. One is an open water stop (you don't get off) and the last you do get off and walk around a bit and the guide points out things of interest. When heading back to shore we were allowed some riding time to just make circles and go at our own pace to have a bit of free time.

It's not intimidating at all, my parents who are both almost 60 were a bit apprehensive at first but this actually turned out to be the highlight of their cruise! We all enjoyed it very much!

Hope this helps:)
 
Thanks for the trip report! I guess you were getting on the Wonder as we were getting off! It's funny how everyone's taste is different as we enjoyed our celebration cake! I was also surprised that the beach/lagoon at Castaway Cay closed early. I wanted to be the last one to leave but we hadn't bought our souveniers yet and I was afraid it would close early too! We rebooked while onboard but are planning to change our date to May, 2006. Maybe we'll be on the same cruise then!

Donna
 
Deweysgirl-
Thanks for the trip report. Can you tell me a little more about the Pirate museum. We weren't planning to get off the ship that day, but this might interest my hubby to be! Is it far from the ship (walk or cab?). Any info would be great.

Also, did your postcard show up yet?
 
Thanks for telling me about autographing photo mat frames! What an AWESOME idea!!!!!

Gosh, I love these boards!!!!!
 
Do you need a ressie for the Scuttles Cove Treasure Hunt? My kids are excited about doing that.
 
WOW! What a great trip report. Thank you so much. My DS announced to me just yesterday that he would now really like to take a Disney cruise - shocked me because he is now 13 and has been saying he is "too big" for one. However, he says he has lots of pals who think Mickey is cool. We go to WDW twice a year but I was not pushing the cruise thing. Your review was so interesting and helpful.

Did you see teenagers on board? Also, did you notice single moms at Palo? I would love to try it while he is at Common Grounds (if possible) but would not want to sit with a married couple and spoil their time.

Glad your little honey recovered for you. Bet she is still talking about the cruise.

MamaQuack
 
puffkin- The pirate museum was fun. It mostly had history of the pirates, pirate artifacts and dioramas. We enjoyed it and the kids really loved it. Here is a website to give you lots of information: www.takdesign.net/pirates/v9/history.htm It is an easy walk, maybe 10 minutes at the most from the ship. BTW-no postcard yet! ;)

fknaut- No reservation is needed for the treasure hunt. It is a planned activity that you check your child in to right at Scuttle's cove on Castaway Cay. My DD-9 enjoyed it very much. The time will be listed on your navigator.

MamaQuack- The kids had a blast, we really had a great time and we will definately go again. There were lots of kids on the cruise, older and younger. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, including the teens. We ate dinner at 6pm at Palo's. It didn't feel stuffy-like or mushy romantic to us at all. You'll be just fine. Small tables for smaller parties by the windows so I bet you would get a nice window seat! You should try it if you get a chance, it's really very nice and the food is so wonderful! Have fun on your cruise!
 
What a great report. Thanks so much for writing it. I really appreciate all the wonderful reports that get posted on these boards. :D
 


GET UP TO A $1000 SHIPBOARD CREDIT AND AN EXCLUSIVE GIFT!

If you make your Disney Cruise Line reservation with Dreams Unlimited Travel you’ll receive these incredible shipboard credits to spend on your cruise!

















Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top