Our WONDERful Jan 28th cruise & WDW trip (FINISHED)

[stampinshauna]

Well, I want to have my entire trip report in one place, so hopefully you all won't mind that I'll talk a little about WDW in this report as well. The purpose for the trip was the cruise, so I'll just include it all...

Cast is DH and myself, both 26. This was our 4th cruise, 3rd one on Disney, but first one on the Wonder.


Friday, January 26th

DH and I both worked so that we didn't have to use up another vacation day. Our flight was the red-eye at 11:45pm so we had plenty of time to work, finish packing, and really get excited for the trip. The weather at home had been in the 10s-20s for the past two weeks so I was definately looking forward to getting someplace warmer. We left for the airport around 10:00pm and arrived about 20 minutes later. The airport was not very busy so going through check-in and security was speedy. We got to the gate and had about an hour before boarding the plane. There were tons of people around and a lot of passengers in line at the desk. I guess that there had been some bad weather and a bunch of planes had been delayed and rerouted. When we checked the night before, our plane looked pretty empty, but all of the rerouted travelers filled it up. The red-eye took us to Atlanta where we would catch another plane to Orlando. We had the two seats by the window (the plane sat 2-3-2), but I sat down to find that our row didn't have a window. I was a little disappointed but at least it was dark and I'd be trying to sleep so the view really didn't matter. I had hoped that DH and I could sleep on the plane but we just couldn't get comfortable. When we landed in Atlanta, I was happy to find that the chairs at the gates didn't have armrests so I could lay down. I was able to get in a little sleep to help get me through the big day ahead.

 

[stampinshauna]

Saturday, January 27th

We arrived in Orlando just after 9am and I was so happy to see palm trees out the window. As we stepped off the plane we could feel a little fresh humid air and although it was only in the 50s it felt wonderful to me! It seemed strange that it was a new day because I hadn't gone to bed the night before. We boarded the Magical Express (I love that we didn't have to claim luggage) and headed for the Wilderness Lodge. This was our first trip to WDW since becoming DVC members and we loved the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge.

Since we were closest the the Magic Kingdom, we decided to go there for our day before the cruise. We took the boat launch from WL to the MK which was a fun way to get there. I love WDW, but I spent a lot of the day thinking about how fun our cruise was going to be and just wishing that I was already on the ship. We didn't get a ton of things done during the day, but we still had a good time. We got a photopass and started having our picture taken by any photographer we could find because we were planning on ordering the CD (we went to DL in December and we were going to combine both trips onto one CD). We had lunch at Cosmic Ray's and enjoyed the dining plan for the first time. DH had a wrap and I had a caesar salad, we both had drinks and dessert, and we were stuffed. We enjoyed the Carousel of Progress and the Peoplemover--two attractions we don't get to enjoy in DL. We rode Buzz and didn't do as well as we do in DL, I think it was due to the fact that there aren't different point value targets and the guns are mounted in WDW. We rode Space Mountain and went to the Hall of the Presidents. DH knew that he was going to fall asleep because he was so tired and there is just something about sitting back in a dark room in the afternoon with the music from the film that lulls you to sleep. Much to my surprise, I fell asleep too. Oh well, the good thing is that little cat nap powered us up for the rest of the day. DH loves Mickey's Philharmagic, so we made sure to see it. Disney really should sell apple pie just outside the theater because everytime DH sees that show, he really craves apple pie. During the parade I received a call from ClassicDisney who was going to be on our cruise. He met up with us after the parade so that we could give him the cruise wristbands I had ordered. We enjoyed meeting him and had a great conversation with him. A little later another cruiser (gortman65) called and we met up with his family (wife, cute 10 month old daughter, and sister). It was so fun getting to know a few of our shipmates before stepping foot on the ship. If this was any indication of the friendliness that we'd encounter on the cruise, we knew it would be a great one!

We headed back to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. We both ordered the canyon skillet and it was YUMMY!!! They came around and asked if we wanted more of anything and we said more potatoes, corn on the cob, and pulled pork and they brought us more--a lot more--actually too much more, but we ate what we could. The dining plan paid off for the day because our dinner totaled around $80 which was a bit more than we paid for the whole plan for the day. We asked for dessert to go since we were stuffed. I had the s'more cheesecake and DH had an apple crumble or something like that which we put in our fridge for later that night.

We changed into warmer clothes and took a boat back to the Magic Kingdom. We had a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh that we wanted to use since it would be down for refurbishment after the cruise. We got off just in time to get to Liberty Square so we could see the fireworks. It was nice just sitting there watching the fireworks and listening to the music and holding hands with my husband. After the fireworks we decided to have a look around the shops just to see what there was. They had a purchase with purchase deal if you spent $65 you could buy a woven throw blanket for $15. We liked the blanket and we didn't know if they'd have it after the cruise, so we started our souvineer shopping. With purchases in hand we headed back to the villas for a good night sleep before getting on the cruise.



next up--cruise day 1

 

[westie404]

Sounds like a great trip! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Babs417]

what did you buy

 

[CapnJackGroupie]

Keep it coming... and thanks for sharing!

 

[stampinshauna]

We bought an Aladdin figure set for my neice, some scrapbooking stickers, the current hardback souvineer book, and a Rescue Rangers DVD set (that DH wanted).

 

[stampinshauna]

Sunday, January 28th

Finally cruise day was here! We woke up and packed up our suitcases. Luckily there was only one of the four suitcases that we even had to get into so there wasn't much packing to do. We pulled out the swimsuits and other items that we might need between then and when our rooms would be ready. For breakfast we decided to use our snack credits from the dining plan so we went to Roaring Forks snacks. They were pretty picky as to what could be considered a snack. DH was hoping to get a parfait that was $3 something but they wouldn't let that count, so we both had pastries. DH still had a can of juice from the flight so we shared that. Since we knew we'd be eating as soon as we got on the ship, we just had the small breakfast and didn't spend any extra money.

Our cruise bus was scheduled to pick us up at 11:45 so we had a few hours to kill before leaving the Wilderness Lodge. We enjoyed the hot-tubs and walked around the grounds a bit. We even took a picture by the Welcome Members sign at VWL since this was our first trip "home". It was then time to check in with the cruise guy, so we let him know that we were there and then finished filling out our docs. Then it was finally time--we boarded the bus and headed straight for Port Canaveral. On the bus ride DH and I discussed what we wanted to rebook for onboard the ship. May-December of 2008 bookings would open up while we were onboard, and we wanted to take advantage of the onboard credit & discount. We had toyed with the idea of doing a repo cruise, but the 15 night cruises through the Panama Canal would take almost all of our 2008 vacation time and it would be hard to catch up on 2 weeks of work. We decided we'd rather have 2 trips during the year instead of just one, so we dropped the repo idea--maybe some other time it will work for us. The bus ride took about an hour and 15 minutes. Since DH and I had cruised on Disney before, we knew when to look for the ship out the window. It was a beautiful sight. It was fun to hear other passengers on the bus express there amazement to the size and the grandness of the ship. DH and I smiled at each other and really felt like we were home.

We got off the bus at the terminal and waited to go through security for about 5 minutes. It was just passed 1:00pm so many people had already boarded the ship and there was no need for a boarding number card. We only had to wait behind one person and then we checked in at the Castaway Club desk. DH asked about an upgrade as we were in a Category 11 (which we really don't mind, but we were just curious how much it would be for a nicer cabin). They said the ship was full and that there were no upgrades available, which was fine because then we didn't have to decide whether to spend more money or not. We figured it was good because we could save the money towards another cruise. DH took a few pictures of the model ship in the terminal and then we proceeded through the Mickey ears tunnel towards the ship. We knew we wouldn't be purchasing pictures, so we bypassed the embarkation photo and walked straight onto the ship. We headed towards our stateroom (5133, the same room that we had on the Magic on our first cruise). We dropped off our carry-ons and were surprised with some stateroom gifts. I had helped a friend book a cruise (she was going on another cruise line the next day) and to thank us she had sent us the Seaside Escape gift (love the Mickey basket that it came in) and a romance basket (chocolates, robes, picture frame all in a heart basket). We were most surprised by a gorgeous flower arrangement (in an identical Mickey basket as the seaside escape). It was Mickey's Tropical Bouquet and it definately brightened up our little inside stateroom. Our tablemates from our first Disney cruise sent it to us. We still keep in touch with them via email and we love telling eachother about our latest Disney adventures. We wished that they were there with us on the cruise, but maybe sometime in the future we can cruise together again. We checked out the Castaway Club goodies and then washed up for lunch. We headed to deck 9 and had lunch at Beach Blanket Buffet. I know a lot of DISers say go to Parrot Cay, but I prefer deck 9 because I love to get on the ship and eat out in the fresh air. We could tell which passengers came from warm places as they were bundled up or saying how cold it was. It was a bit breezy, but was in the high 60s-low 70s which was about 50 degrees warmer than what we had come from. We enjoyed our lunch and then went back to the stateroom for our swimsuits. My favorite thing to do on the first day of a cruise is to sit in the hot tub by the quiet cove pool, take a deep breath, and enjoy being on vacation. It is then when I realize that we don't have worry about where to go or what to eat or how to get there. I love cruising!!!

We hot-tubbed for a few minutes and then realized that it was almost 3:00pm and that is when we had our DIS meet. I had coordinated the wristbands and had told the other DISers to find me in my lime green shirt, so I figured we had better be there on time. I threw my shirt & shorts on over my swimsuit and we went over by Pinocchio's Pizzaria for the meet. We had only been waiting a minute or so and then the DISers began to show up. I had dropped a few wristbands in the mail ahead of time, so those DISers were easy to spot. Others came up to me since my lime green shirt was easy to spot. I passed out all of the wristbands and we had a great time meeting the DISers that we had been chatting with on the DISboards. Everyone was so friendly and fun to visit with. I must admit that I was feeling a little shy about meeting people (it is much easier to just type messages to them) but I was so glad that we got to meet face to face. We ran into several of the DISers later in the cruise and it was fun to say hi. Around 3:30 it was time to get ready for the safety drill and the ship services were closing up, so we headed back to the room for the drill. Our muster station was in Animator's Palate just like it was on our first cruise. The drill didn't take that long, which was nice, so we took the life preservers back to the room and returned to deck 9 for more hot-tubbing (we still had our suits on). Since we had cruised a couple of times before, we didn't mind missing the Sail Away party by the Goofy pool. Instead we found an empty hot tub at the Quiet Cove pool and just enjoyed soaking as the ship left Port Canaveral. It was fun to see things pass by the ship (or really the ship pass by things) as we relaxed. I didn't really feel any rocking but could tell that the ship was rocking by looking at the horizon line as we sailed. Once we decided that our fingers were pruned enough, we decided to go unpack a little and get ready for our first dinner on the cruise.

Thanks to suggestions made on this board, I told DH to put some suitcases under the bed for storage. We had room for the others in the closet, so we didn't have any suitcases sitting out for the duration of the cruise (a first for us). We were dining in Parrot Cay, so I told DH that we should wear our more tropical attire just for fun. I have a couple of Mickey tropical skirts that I got a couple years ago from Disneyshopping.com and DH has a couple of Mickey tropical shirts so we were definately in style for the cruise (at least I think we were). We went to Parrot Cay and met our server (Deniz from Turkey) and our assistant server (Marco from Argentina) and then met our tablemates--a nice family from Virginia. I had the Island Roasted Rib-Eye and DH had the mixed grill. My rib-eye was huge and Deniz thought that I didn't like it because there was still a lot left when I was finished. I promise I ate at least half of it, it was just huge to begin with. I tried the lemon meringue pie for dessert, which was good--the meringue was sweet, but it was skimpy on the lemon. DH had a sundae. We left the restaurant well fed and wandered around the ship a bit until it was time for the show. The Walt Disney Theater Showtime featured the comedy and magic of Rich Purpura. We had not seen him previously so the jokes were new and entertaining. We called it a night shortly after the show because we were worn out--I think we hadn't fully recovered from the red-eye flight yet.

 

[stampinshauna]

Monday, January 28th

We woke up refreshed and ready for a new day of fun in Nassau and onboard the Wonder. We had breakfast up on deck 9 at Beach Blanket and ate outside so we could see Nassau while we ate. Straight ahead we could see Atlantis and to the side we could see the tropical colors of the buildings in Nassau. After breakfast we headed back to the stateroom to get ready to go ashore. DH and I didn't have any planned excursions, so we were able to take our time getting off the ship. When we got off the ship, we wandered down the first street in Nassau which leads to the Straw Market. We didn't know where the Straw Market was, so we just went where it seemed everyone else was going and it took us right there. We walked up and down the rows looking at what they had to offer. It seemed like each row had the same stuff--mostly shirts, bags, purses, jewelry, etc--the typical flea market stuff. DH and I bought some t-shirts (4 for $10) and didn't worry about trying to barter as they were cheap already. DH wears and XL, so he bought an XXL but it shrunk and is almost too small--so I'd recommend buying at least 1 if not 2 sizes too big. I wear a Medium and bought my t's in a large and after washing they look like just the right size. I'm not going to complain if they don't hold up very well because they didn't cost us much. The straw bags seemed a little overpriced to me. I'd ask how much something was and a lady would say $12 but for me she'd take $10. I heard this same line from several different women, so there is definately room to barter a little. We didn't really see anything else that caught our eyes, so we left the Straw Market. As we exited, a man asked DH if he wanted some cubans (cigars) and DH said "those things will kill you". The man said "we're all going to die anyway" which made me laugh but it wasn't a very good sales pitch. We ignored the man and continued on out of the Straw Market. We walked down the street and looked into store windows, but didn't go into any. The shops all seemed to be the typical tourist trap cruise port shops and we didn't need anything that they had to offer. After walking down the street we headed to catch a water taxi over to Atlantis.

The water taxi was $3 per person each way, which wasn't too bad. We did have to wait a bit to get going as they wanted the taxi full before departing. They squished us on there, so if you don't do well with a lot of people, take a regular taxi. As we rode over to Paradise Island, Slim (our tour guide) told us about Nassau & Paradise Island. He was quite entertaining and then as we got off the taxi he told us that he wasn't employed by the water taxi so tips were appreicated. I think he probably makes a pretty good living because he must have gotten around $50 from a boat full of people on a 10 minute ride. Paradise Island was pretty and it wasn't a very far walk to Atlantis. There were some nicer shops than those in Nassau just before Atlantis, but again we just walked past as we didn't need anything. We wandered around the outside of Atlantis, but unfortunately couldn't go where we wanted to since we weren't resort guests. I just wanted to get far enough away to take some pictures of the hotel, but that is where the beach was and they wouldn't let us out there unless we had a wristband or hotel ID. We walked through the lobby area and went down to the aquarium windows that didn't cost anything to view. I think there were 9 windows or so that you could view. Inside the aquarium they had the largest stingray that I'd ever seen. DH took some pictures and they actually turned out quite well. We spent maybe an hour looking around and then headed back on a water taxi for Nassau. There was a mob of people waiting for a water taxi, but amazingly everyone fit on the boat. We had another self-proclaimed tour guide, but he wasn't nearly as good of a tour guide as Slim was. Once we got back to Nassau, we decided that we had seen all that we wanted to and we got back on the ship. I decided that Nassau was okay, but next time I may just stay on the ship since I've seen what I wanted to.

We ate a late lunch and then went for a swim. Then it was time to go to the Disney Vacation Club Member Celebration. At the member celebration, they gave us sacks with DVC 15 Year Anniversary ball caps and pins inside. They announced that members could now add on points at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, but DH and I weren't that excited about it because we really want a DVC property at Disneyland and then maybe we will add-on then. They had some drawings (we didn't win anything) and then gave out some referral cards to encourage us to refer people and tell them about the DVC presentation on Wednesday. That was about it for the member celebration. It was just over an hour and was fine, but it didn't seem like much of a celebration to me. Afterwards we went to deck 4 for a game of shuffleboard, and I beat DH (but he'd triumph later). When we were finished playing, we took a few pictures and were watching the Mailboat go over to Paradise Island. A family came towards the shuffleboard court and we told them that we were finished and that they were welcome to use the court. Two boys started playing and we struck up a conversation with their parents. They were wearing DVC hats so that was a conversation starter. They saw DH's University of Utah shirt and asked if we were from Utah. It turns out that they were from Pleasant Grove, about 40 minutes from where we are in Salt Lake. Then we found out that she is a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and when she heard our last name she asked if we knew a couple who is in the choir who turns out to be DH's parents. It's a small world!!!

We went to the forward of the ship as the sun was starting to set so that we could get some pictures. We had Palo reservations for 7:30 so we were able to take our time watching the sunset since we didn't have to rush to a 6:00 dinner. We returned to the stateroom to change into our more formal clothes and headed to see Hercules the Muse-ical. This was our second time seeing Hercules and I enjoyed it more this time than last. As soon as the show was over, we went up to Palo for dinner. Palo was good, but I didn't like it as much as the last two times that we have gone. It must be that after having Marco from Italy as our Palo server on the Magic, that anyone else is a let down. They brought us more food on our previous trips to Palo and encouraged us to try more things like the pizzas and such. This time we just had an appetizer and an entree. I thought that I had ordered the same pasta that Marco made us try last cruise, but it wasn't nearly as good (so I'm guessing it was not the same pasta). DH also had a pasta dish, but his was some specialty that came with veal. I didn't mind that our food wasn't out of this world, because for once it was nice not to be stuffed after eating at Palo. We (of course) had chocolate souffle for dessert and we also ordered a panna cotta to share. The panna cotta wasn't as good as I had remembered, but it was alright. I was suprised that Palo took just over an hour, because it has taken two hours in the past--it must be because we didn't have as much food and that our server didn't bring out anything extra. After Palo we went to Studio Sea to see Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. It was fun to watch, although we both wished that we could have been contestants. The game show ended around 10:30pm and we were once again exausted so we called it a night.


next up--Castaway Cay

 

[jns]

looking forward to hearing more

 

[stampinshauna]

Tuesday, January 30th

We woke up and knew we were in paradise--CASTAWAY CAY! There wasn't much sense in getting dressed in regular clothes as we knew we'd be speding the day in our swimsuits, so we put on our swimsuits, sprayed on the sunscreen, threw a t-shirt on top and took the stairs up to deck 9 for breakfast. We could see Castaway Cay from Beach Blanket Buffet and we enjoyed the view. Our past two cruises were a month or so after major hurricanes, so this was the first time CC had been so green. It was beautiful!!! After breakfast we packed up a day bag with hats, sunscreen, and cameras, then headed to down to the gangplank. I really love how Disney can dock at their private island (we'll technically it is a cay, not an island because it isn't big enough), but I guess some other cruise lines have to tender. I love walking off the ship and being in paradise. The sun was shining and the weather was nice (although cooler than our previous October cruises--but that was to be expected).

We didn't have to go far as our first stop of the day was at Marge's Barges for our 9am Parasailing excursion. We had a small group (there were only 5 of us) so we weren't rushed on time. This was our second time parasailing (we went tandum at CC on our first cruise) but it was our first time going seperate. The tour operators were great and made the excursion even more enjoyable. DH was first to parasail and I took pictures with our digital camera as he was up in the air. I got a couple of great shots with him in the air above the Wonder. He took a waterproof disposable camera up with him so we have pictures from both viewpoints. As he came down, he got his feet dipped in the water--something we didn't do last time. I was about to encourage the operators to dip him more, but I knew I'd really get it since I was up next so I kept my mouth shut. As soon as he landed, my harness was hooked up to the parachute. On my way up they decided to dip my feet in the water. To my suprise the water was quite warm and getting dipped was fun. I sailed up into the air and enjoyed the quiet and the peacefulness that surrounded me. For anyone who hasn't parasailed before--you really should try it. I was a little nervous the first time parasailing, but quickly learned that there was nothing to be nervous about. It is so smooth, peaceful, and relaxing. I know that may sound strange, but it really is relaxing. I thought that it would give me some big adrenaline rush but it didn't--which is okay. There is just something magical about being high in the air where it is so quiet and looking down at the beautiful ship and Castaway Cay. After a few minutes I was reeled back in and the other 3 participants got their turn. It was fun to watch a couple of them as it was their first time parasailing. One woman was very nervous and it was great to see her relax and enjoy the ride. Once we all had our turns, we docked back at Marge's Barges and walked further on down Castaway Cay.

We had a little while before lunch, so DH and I stopped in the She Sells shop and picked out a few souvineers. I got a t-shirt that is identical to one from our last cruise--but it is my favorite shirt and my first one is wearing out. DH picked out a shirt that he liked and I picked out another for him that I liked better to give to him for his birthday. I also got a sun-hat since I've been wanting one for a long time and just hadn't found the right one. We got a magnet that matches my first Castaway Cay t-shirt (it has Mickey & Minnie relaxing on beach chairs) and now it is proudly displayed on our fridge. DH had a great idea and asked if the store would deliver to the ship and they did--it was so nice not to lug our purchases around all day. We then set off to find the Shuffleboard courts. I had read that they had Shuffleboard, which I didn't know about on our previous cruises. We found it in the Grouper Games Pavilion, which was mostly occupied by teenagers. We had an enjoyable game of Shuffleboard and decided that we really liked the courts. They appear portable and like something we could install in our backyard, but after looking online I think they are hard to find and expensive as well. After DH creamed me at Shuffleboard, we headed off to relax a little on the beach and to get some lunch.

Around 1:15 we proceeded to our next excursion meeting point. We had signed up for the Personal Watercraft Eco Tour because DH loves wave-runners and jet-skis. We booked it as a double since it was cheaper and I didn't mind riding behind DH as he drives. We lucked out with another small tour group--there were 4 others and then our guides. To board the watercraft, we had to wade in about waist deep. That water seemed cold! Luckily it didn't seem too cold as we were out riding. We rode out past the Flying Dutchman and I was able to take some pictures of the back side of it with our waterproof disposable camera. We continued out past the Wonder and then headed East for a bit until we paused in the water while our tour guide told us a little about the ecosystem there. The water was so clear where we were and he told us that between there and Great Abaco (the Island 8 miles to the East) the water ranged from 4 feet to 20 feet deep. He also said it was so clear because of the mangrove trees. We started up our personal watercraft and proceeded East until we reached a sandbar. We got off and walked onto the sandbar where the guide told us more about the area. He did mention that most of the tour guides (banana boat, personal watercraft, parasailing) along with the hair braders at Casataway Cay are all from Great Abaco and they take a boat over on the mornings that one of the ships is docked at CC. He said that theirs is the second largest island in the Bahamas and it was then that he also told us that Castaway Cay is not an Island, it is just a Cay. He said that Great Abaco is mostly a fishing village and that they get almost every kind of fish and sea life around except for great white sharks because it is too warm for them. He finished telling us about the area and then we cruised around on the water more. We were able to pick up the speed (I thought we were already going fast and I had to hold on tight) and we circled entirely around Castaway Cay. Most of it is just green with plants and trees, but it was still fun to go all the way around it. I was glad that I was wearing sunglasses as there was a ton seaspray and I wouldn't have been able to even open my eyes otherwise. When we got back to the beach, I cleaned off my sunglasses and was amazed how much clearer I could see. There must have been a lot of salt that built up on them. We did enjoy the tour, DH even more so than myself, although DH would have liked to have some free-time to ride around, but he knew ahead of time that there was no free-time with this tour. It was fun and I was glad that we did it as a double. We did splurge a little by doing 2 big excursions at Castaway Cay, but we didn't do any at Nassau to make up for it.

 

[tubachick]

The Personal Watercraft Eco Tour sounds great!!! I am going to try to talk DH into that!!!

I love your report!!!

 

[stampinshauna]

Tuesday, January 30th (Continued)

After the tour we decided to walk along the beach a little. Since we had gotten wet on the tour, we didn't really feel the need to swim (and it was getting a little cool). We walked the length of the family beach and then found some available hammocks. In the past we never found an unoccupied hammock, so we jumped at the chance for a little relaxation. It was a bit shady and cool as we relaxed in the hammock, so I covered myself with our towels to keep warm. After relaxing for a bit, we decided to head back towards the ship. Castaway Cay was wonderful once again, and we were sad to say goodbye (more like see-ya-later) to it, but we were ready to get back on the Wonder.

It wasn't quite all-aboard time, but it appeared that many other cruisers had the same idea as we did and the line to get back on the ship was long. We returned to our stateroom and got cleaned up for dinner. Tonight's rotation was at Triton's. This was our first, and only, time in Triton's. I did like the atmosphere, but I must admit that I like Lumiere's better (the similar dining room on the Magic). Maybe my liking Lumiere's has something to do with the fact that DH and I saw Beauty and the Beast on our first date, so that movie has a special place in our hearts. The menu for the night was the Pirate menu. We arrived in the dining room and found Pirate bandanas at our table. They are black with the skull and crossbones on them--different from the red bandanas we received on our previous cruises.

After dinner we decided to skip The Golden Mickeys as we had seen it twice and I wanted to just relax. I was worn out from all of that fun we had a Castaway Cay, so we just watched a movie in the stateroom until it was time for the Pirate Party on deck 9. Even though I was tired, I told DH that we needed to at least go see the fireworks because this was our third Disney cruise and we hadn't seen them yet. We got up to deck 9 and found it very crowded. We went up to deck 10 and waited about 10 minutes and then the fireworks started. It was great being in the middle of the ocean and having fireworks going off. I'm glad we were able to see them this time. Once the fireworks were over, we opted to skip the Pirate buffet because neither of us were hungry and we once again called it a night. It was nice for a change to have one more day at sea before returning to Port Canaveral, on the Magic we always went to Castaway Cay then had to pack up that night.

 

[SaintTaris]

That was a great trip report.

I think we will also explore Nassau walking through the markets instead of spending the day at Atlantix.

 

[stampinshauna]

Wednesday, January 31st

We once again went up to Beach Blanket Buffet for Breakfast. DH suggested we could go to a dining room, but I don't think the dining room breakfasts are anything special, and I love the variety up on deck 9. I must admit that Disney has a better breakfast buffet than we had on Princess last May. I love the selection of donuts, pastries, and yummy chocolate croissants. On Princess they had maybe one or two kids of pastries and they were lousy. Anyway--back to the trip report. After breakfast we headed straight to the Future Cruise Sales Desk. It was the day that they released the repo cruises and the remainder of the 2008 dates, so we knew it would be busy but we wanted to book. We ended up booking a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise for November 1, 2008 and we booked my sister and her family on it as well. It is so far in advance that we know things may change and come up, but we can always reschedule it if needs be. After booking, we went to the internet cafe in the Promenade Lounge to email DU to transfer our reservation to them. I'm glad that was the only time we used the internet on the ship because the time goes by fast. It took us 11 minutes to do what we needed to (which cost over $8) but it was worth it because we needed to transfer it that day. Afterwards, we wandered around the ship for a bit. We did the rest of our shopping in Mickey's Mates and Treasure Ketch because we knew that it would be crowded that night. We only bought the Disney Magic souvineer book and a couple of postcards since we had picked up our other cruise souvineers at Castaway Cay. I do wish that they'd rotate the DCL merchandise a little more, but I guess since a lot of it was the same as on our previous cruises, it saved me some money. They also had a lithograph that was a purchase with purchase special. Well, we weren't going to spend enough to be able to purchase it, so DH had the idea to ask if Castaway Cay purchases counted and they told us to bring in our receipt and they'd count it so we did.

We took our purchases back to our stateroom and picked up our DVC hats and lanyards and headed down to the DVC presentation in Diversions. There were only a few members who were there along with many prospective buyers. DH and I first learned about DVC on our first cruise, so it was fun to see people who were in the position we were in a few years ago. We sat by gortman65 from our cruise meets and chatted with him a little about DVC, I had pm'd him back and forth before the cruise giving DVC info. We also gave him our referral card (which gets us a DVC pin). I felt kind of dumb giving it to him, so I made DH do it. They did their regular DVC speil and we were hoping to win a prize from the drawing. DH volunteered to get up in front and tell why we joined DVC which surprised me. I jokingly asked him that morning what he would say if he got up, but I didn't think he'd really get up. They gave out a few prizes and then gave out a $300 shipboard credit. Gortman65 won the credit and we were so excited for him. We figured if it couldn't be us who won it might as well be him. I knew his wife would be excited when he shared the news. Congrats gortman65 and welcome home!!! I have to admit that this presentation was more fun and exciting than the member celebration--maybe it is because we got to help share the "secret".

As soon as the DVC presentation was over, we went across the hall to WaveBands for the Castaway Clubhouse celebration. We were a couple minutes late, but with the new format it really didn't matter. We talked to Captain Henry and found out that he was on the inagural sailing of the Magic and he's been with DCL since the beginning. I think Captain Henry is great--another time on the cruise DH and I were sitting on Deck 4 near the atrium and he walked past and instead of just going on his way he stopped by and visited with us for a while. How great is that?!! Anyway, we visited with a few other cruisers and were able to fill out our game card or whatever you call it. Brent talked for a few and showed a few clips about DCL. We got some Mickey rice krispy treats and some bottles of water and just hung out there for the drawing. It was a bit anti-climatic, but it was something to do, so we were glad that we went. I did like the pens that we got, so that was nice. I guess I shouldn't complain because the Castaway Club did give us pins & lanyards at upon check-in and had our tote-bag with stuff in it in our stateroom upon arrival. I just thought they'd do more drawings--but that's okay because we never win anyway.

The Castaway Clubhouse event went until about 1:45 so when it was over we were ready for lunch (I guess those rice krispy treats are a good appetizer). We went up to Beach Blanket Buffet, but we just got a little bit of food because we wanted to get pizza for lunch for a change. We went out by Pinocchio's Pizzaria and found a table to eat at. We got some fresh fruit from Goofy's Galley (DH got some chocolate sauce to dip his in) and we picked up a couple of slices of pizza. About the time that we sat down they started showing High School Musical on the big screen above the Goofy Pool. We had a good view from where we were, so we started watching the movie as we ate. Neither of us had seen High School Musical before, so we decided to stay and watch to see what the hype was all about. I thought it was a cute show and I can see why kids and teens love it, but it probably isn't one that I'd purchase. At least now I know what it is. A few of the songs got stuck in my head for the rest of the day. We enjoyed relaxing there in the fresh air as we watched the movie. When it was over I told DH that it was time to swim.

The Quiet Cove Pool was a nice change of scenery after being near the very crowded Goofy Pool. There were a few people in the pool, but both hot tubs were crowded. I think if DCL ever gets around to building a new ship, they need to put in more hot tubs since they are small and only hold 5 or so. DH and I enjoyed the pool until we noticed people leaving from the hot tubs. There was a little space in one hot tub, so I got in and then when more people left DH joined me. We soaked for quite a while and enjoyed conversation from fellow cruisers. There is just something about a cruise, especially a Disney cruise that makes people more friendly. It is so easy to strike up a conversation with complete strangers. We had a great chat with one cruiser who was on our parasailing adventure and we had great chats with a few couples as well. We finally decided that it was time to get out, and it is a good thing that we did because it was time to get ready for dinner. It was sad to realize that this was our last night on the ship.

Our dining rotation placed us at Animator's for the night. When we got there, Deniz (our server) had a surprise waiting for us. DH had missed trying the escargot on our second night, so Deniz had 3 orders of it brought to our table. I was absolutely not going to try it, but encouraged DH to do so. The family we dined with also had some. The dad and one daughter, who had tried it on the second night, had some, but the rest were kind of disgusted that the others would eat it and we were more than happy to let them have the 3 orders because we weren't going to touch the stuff. It didn't look so bad on the plate, but then when DH scooped it onto his fork it looked just like I had imagined it would--like a slug!!! I have some great pictures of DH looking at it and eating it, maybe sometime I'll get around to posting them. DH said it was okay, but he didn't really like how it was cooked--it was too buttery and garlicky (which I'm sure it had to be so you couldn't tell you were just eating a big slug). The Cheese Cannaloni sounded good so I ordered that and tried to convince DH to order the Filet Mignon, but he wanted the cannaloni as well. Deniz heard me telling DH to get the Filet Mignon, so he decided to bring us some in addition to our cannaloni. I'm sure glad that he did because the cannaloni was rather blah but the filet mignon was SOOOOO good. DH ate one bite of it and I finished off the rest. I think the escargot made DH lose his appetite a bit--poor thing.

I had chocolate cake for dessert and DH had strawberry shortcake. We decided that we'd come to breakfast in the morning and we could say goodbye to our tablemates then. As we got up from the table, we chatted with Deniz a little. He said he was leaving DCL on Sunday to go back home, and that he probably wouldn't come back. He has a one year old back home and he didn't realize how hard it would be to leave his wife and child, so he was so excited to go see them. We had a nice chat and wished him well. It was so fun hearing him talk about his little boy and seeing the love and excitement in his face as he talked about him. I hope that he had a safe trip home and that all is well with his family.

We left Animator's and went to Studio Sea where they were playing Mickey Mania. We watched the gameshow and then headed to the Walt Disney Theater for Disney Dreams. It is a cute production and this was our third time seeing it. After the show we had to do what we were not looking forward to at all---pack up our belongings. As we headed towards our stateroom, we stopped by the DVC desk to inquire about the pin DH should get for referring someone to the DVC presentation. When we got there, the DVC rep gave DH a sack that had the huge beach towel/blanket (that folds up into a bag) that they did a drawing for. We had no idea that we won it and never got the voice message, so I'm sure glad we stopped by the desk. I think they had a drawing for anyone who referred a fellow cruiser to go to the DVC presentation. I'm thinking that maybe we were the only ones who did a referral, or that there were very few, because we never win anything. It was a fun surprise, but was also a big thing to pack into our bags--but I didn't mind, I just liked getting a prize.

We got back to our stateroom and I suggested that we pack everything that we wouldn't need in WDW (post cruise) in a couple of suitcases, so that we would only have to get into the other two suitcases. We crammed as much as we could into our rolling garment bag and our small suitcase. We sure accumulated a lot of stuff or at least it seemed like it. We had the silver basket and robes and picture frame from the romance basket, the Mickey shaped basket with the bathtub stuff from the seaside escape package, another Mickey basket that our flowers were in, the giant DVC towel, the Castaway Club gift, and a few souvineers. I thought the Mickey baskets were so cute that I just couldn't leave them there, but they were a pain to pack. DH managed to get it all to fit and to distribute the weight so that we wouldn't have problems at the airport. It was around 11:30 by the time that we finished packing, and the luggage was supposed to be outside our door at 11:00. I didn't realize that we took so long, but it was worth the little bit of extra time to save us some hassle for the second part of our trip. Around midnight we called guest services because our suitcases were still sitting in the hall and they appeared to be the only ones. We were informed that the first shift of suitcase collecters were finished, but that they would have another shift gather up all of the late luggage so we need not worry--thank goodness. Otherwise we'd have a miserable time the next morning hauling our carryons and 4 suitcases around the ship. Even though it is a hassle to get all packed up the night before, I sure like not having to haul that luggage around the next morning. We figured our luggage would get taken care of so we sadly went to sleep (knowing that we would have to get off the ship the next morning).

 

[stampinshauna]

Thursday, February 1st

Morning rolled around too quickly and we knew that we needed to get up and get to breakfast on time. Our assigned breakfast time was 6:30am since we had the early dinner seating. Those who had the late dinner seating were assigned a later time like around 8:30 (give or take 15 minutes). We got ready, collected the remainder of our belongings, and said goodbye to stateroom number 5133. We had our carryons in hand and went to Animator's for our final meal of the cruise. We were able to say goodbye to our friendly tablemates from Virginia, and also to our WONDERful servers Deniz and Marco. After eating, we headed out to the shuffleboard court for one last game before getting off the ship. We were already pulled into port and could see crates being loaded and unloaded from the ship. We could see the terminal and realized that we soon would be going through there. Once we got our fill of shuffleboard, we went back inside and noticed a lot of people just heading to breakfast. DH wanted to run up to deck 9 and get a quick snack from the buffet so we did that. The buffet has more selection than the dining room, so I went with him and found a little snack as well. We said goodbye to deck 9 and then proceeded to disembark the ship.

I was so glad that we didn't have to go straight to the airport. It made it a little easier leaving knowing that we still had 3 days at WDW before our vacation was really over. We quickly found our luggage and then hauled it through customs and out to the busses heading to WDW. It was then that I noticed my suitcase was not standing upright like it should and it did seem quite hard to wheel. I took a look at it and realized that one of the wheels was missing and the part that held the wheel was completely broken. I was a little frustrated because this suitcase was only 6 months old and I bought it because I had been borrowing my mom's suitcase and it got ripped on my last cruise. I liked the suitcase, and had gotten a great deal from disneyshopping.com on it, but these things happen. On our first cruise DH had a piece broken off his suitcase and I was getting tired of broken bags. Anyway, I mentioned something to my husband and one of the ladies helping with the busses overheard me and said I could file a claim. I didn't think that would really do any good because they have notices specifically stating that they are not responsible for missing or damaged luggage. The lady went ahead and called for someone to come report my claim. I had to fill out a form with my name, address, etc, and then they took a picture and said that I should hear from them in about a week. I figured it couldn't hurt to file the claim, but I still didn't think they'd do much about it. It turned out that a week later I received a letter from DCL risk management telling me to have my suitcase repaired and then submit the receipt and they'd reimburse me. Great! I was pleased with their response and took it to a local shoe & luggage repair place. It cost $25 to repair--they had to replace both wheels so they'd match. I don't like the wheels quite as much as the old ones, but at least it will roll like it should, so I won't complain. I sent DCL the receipt and am waiting for my reimbursement.

We were told that we'd have to wait for the next bus to WDW, which was a little disappointing because we knew it would take a long time to fill up another bus. Luckily, they decided to just send us in a Mears van so we only had to wait for two families before leaving--but it was still 30 minutes or so. I can't imagine how long it would have taken to fill up a bus. I think we would have had to wait for the second breakfast seating to finish up before that many people would exit the terminal, and that could have been another hour or so. DH and I sat in the first row in the van and had a great visit with the driver as we waited. He was a nice man who was retired from his regular career, but he enjoyed driving for Mears and Disney. Once the other two families boarded the van, we were set off for our next adventure of the vacation--Walt Disney World!!!

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Great Tr txs for sharing

 

[TexDisneyMom]

Thanks for the report.

 

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing

 

[PowayMom]

thank you for your great report.
We're going in 5 weeks, and just can't wait. It's our first cruise
EVER.....and your daily update helps knowing what to expect.
Thank you, and like you, I know it'll go by waaaay toooo fast,
but knowing we have days after the cruise at WDW is nice.
Thanks,
Ada
5 Weeks until our 1st Ever Cruise on the WONDER

 

[stampinshauna]

Thursday, February 1st (continued)

We arrived at the Boardwalk, we left our bags with Bell Services so that we could go enjoy the parks. We checked in and were told that our room was already available. We had a DVC studio there. Since we had already checked our bags, they said they'd have them sent up. We got to the room and noticed that it was a little larger than the studio at the WL. DH checked out the bathroom and realized that our room was handicap accessible and that it why it was wider at the entryway and kitchenette area. There was no bathtub, just a shower. I would have prefered a regular room with a tub, but since it was just DH and I, we just stuck with the room they gave us. We dropped off our carryon bags and figured our other bags would be in our room when we returned, so we headed for the bus stop and caught a bus to Animal Kingdom.

We were making great time as it was only 10 something in the morning. Our bus stopped at the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, and Beach Club before dropping us at Animal Kingdom. I had forgotten how long the busses take to get places. We got to Animal Kingdom and immediately found some Photopass photographers to take some pictures for us. We went to Expedition Everest and found that the standby line was only 20 minutes so we got a fastpass for later and then got in the standby line. The theming of the waiting area was fun and it had been a long time since I had gone on an attraction like this for the first time. We sat towards the middle of the train and set off on our expedition. I thought the coaster would be a little longer, but it was still fun. I thought the engineering of the track--to be able to switch so you could go backwards and then forwards again--was fascinating. I used to be able to go on any crazy rides with no problem, but my head did not like going backwards on that coaster. It was a fun experience and is a ride that everyone should try at least once, but I wouldn't put it in my list of best rides that I'll want to do over and over. We exited the ride and headed over to the new Nemo musical show. We got there and found out that they cancelled the first show for some reason, so we decided to go on a few rides and try for a later show.

We went on Dinosaur and then watched a few street performers who were dressed up as painters. They did some balancing tricks and WOWed the audience. It was actually hot standing there in the sun, but we enjoyed the warmth. We went on Primevil Whirl and then used our fastpasses for Expedition Everest again. By then we figured we ought to line up for Nemo and the line was way too long and we didn't think we stood a chance of getting in. We decided to try some other rides and then try again for a later show. We got some lunch at Flametree Barbeque--we just split a bbq sandwich meal so that we only used one counter service voucher. Next we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris and I was happy to find a pretty short line. I remember waiting over an hour when it was relatively new back in 1999. We went to the Lion King show and enjoyed it and then crossed our fingers that we could get in to Nemo by then. We did get in, but were seated toward the top. The show was great and we were glad that we had the chance to see it.

After the Nemo show, we decided against going on Kali River Rapids as we didn't want to be so wet and it was starting to raining. Everyone scrambled to find some shelter, and we found ourselves wandering through a few shops. We braved a little of the rain and then it started to pour. We found shelter in the Discovery Island caves. There is something about the Florida downpours that I love. They just seem to freshen everything up and they remind me of the great trip that I took back in 1999 with my parents. The rain never seems to last too long. Once it started to let up, we left the park and got on a bus to take us back to the Boardwalk. The bus ride was LONG and crowded, but at least we didn't have to walk or pay for parking. When we got back to our room, our bags weren't there, so we called Bell Services to bring them up. I guess they wouldn't just leave them there when we were gone, which surprised me because they left our bags in our room when we did the Magical Express pre-cruise. Oh well, it didn't take very long for our bags to arrive and we changed into pants for the evening and took jackets with us for the rain. We went down to the boat dock and took a ferry over to the International Gateway entrance of EPCOT. We wandered around EPCOT for a while and went on a few attractions and then went to Le Cellier (in Canada) for our dinner.

We had to wait about 15 minutes before we were seated at Le Cellier, but it was nice to just sit and relax. As we were waiting, one of the cast members was playing a 20 questions game with us and the others who were waiting. She would think of a character and we would ask questions. DH and I each guessed one of the characters and so we got a special pin (it was a small piece of cardstock that said "I am a Le Cellier Trivia Winner" and it had a hole punched in it with a saftey pin through it). I think the cast members were proud of their hand-made pins, so they made sure that we wore ours. After a few more rounds of the trivia game, our table was ready. When we looked at our menu, we were happy that we were on the dining plan because this was going to be a pricey meal--it ended up being close to $100. We both had the cheddar cheese soup for an appetizer and they brought out their bread selection. The pretzel bread was good, but I also liked the other varieties just as much. I had the Maple Barbeque Filet Mignon and DH had the Mushroom Filet Mignon. Mine was served over mashed potatoes and was SO YUMMY!!! DH said his was good too but I think he liked mine better. For dessert I had the creme brulee (half vanilla, half maple) and it was delicious as well, but hard to finish because I was stuffed from such a great dinner. DH had a chocolate raspberry shake. We left well satisfied and went out to enjoy the rest of the evening in EPCOT. We stood at the International Gateway to see Illuminations and then took the ferry back to the Boardwalk. Before we settled down for the night, we went to the gift shop that carries groceries and asked them about snack credits. They said we could get anything that was under $4 to count for a snack. We picked up a 1/2 gallon of OJ and a 12 count box of donuts and used 2 of our snack credits. This turned out to be a great deal as had these items for breakfast the next morning. We then headed back to the room to crash for the night so that we would be ready for another full day at Disneyworld.