Sept 20,2011 Wonder Repositioning Cruise

[Johngar]

I would assume if you can't leave your room in the morning without a good coffee - a French Press would work - it is non electrical - order hot water from room service and bring ground coffee.

But the coffee with the 'something, something' from the Cover sounds good too. Did I read that the Cover opens at noon?

Cove Cafe is open (according to a recent Wonder Navigator) from 6:30 a.m. to midnight.

 

[CrystalS]

Great job on the FE Diane!! It looks awesome!

I'm a little embarrased now because I know mine won't look nearly as good.
I'bb be making ours, but with the two young kids running around the house I knew I wouldn't have a lot of "free" time from them to work on it, so I bought some small bags that I will semi-disasemble and attach to each other to make our FE. If it turns out half as good as yours I'll be happy, lol It will be a step up from our last minute FE two years ago, now THAT was bad!

I'm so excited for our cruise, 45 days to go!

 

[Johngar]

Michael,

Wish we could do B2B.

What are your favorite restaurants at the resort?

Disneyland is like home for us, as we have visited many times, living on the West Coast. We should clue in Steffy, as this will be her first time there.

We are counter service kind of people, as we have spent many vacations there when our four kids were growing up and we were on a tight budget.

On this trip, we will be staying at a Hotwire/Priceline hotel and eating two meals outside the parks (we always do cereal at hotel for breakfast). That leaves one counter service (or sometimes a sit-down) meal in the Park. We like Hungry Bear (watch the canoes go by), Rancho del Zocalo, or Taste Pilots at DCA. For sit-down we like Rainforest Cafe at DD.

Tim

Tim,

I LOVE the new burger at Hungry Bear (they changed menus throughout the parks recently). It is a chili-cheese burger with an onion ring. It also has a fried green tomato sandwich which people I know who have tried it love it.

Go to this site, scroll down to Dining and they have menus for each restaurant in both parks and the hotels along with PRICES: http://www.mouseplanet.com/guide/1/Disneyland-Resort

I agree with Michael about Mimi's (go to its website -- http://www.mimiscafe.com -- and join its eClub and you'll get a coupon for a buy-one-get-one free breakfast.)

If you head south on Harbor from Disneyland you will find the typical chain restaurants, including something you like.

 

[Johngar]

so many people are NOT getting off the ship in Ensenada....what is the point of going there??? maybe we all need to call DCL & request a different port due to safety reasons (San Diego or Catalina Island???)....

Because the ship is leaving Canada and going to a Canadian port first, it must go to another foreign port before arriving in the U.S. to fulfill requirements of the Jones Act. If you look at the Wonder's itineraries next year, you will see it also stops in Ensenada at the end of the Hawaii cruise and after the California cruise in October.

It is interesting that with nearly two years of West Coast itineraries, there is not one stop at Catalina yet. That might change if Mexico continues to be considered dangerous or folks get tired of Cabo San Lucas.

 

[Johngar]

> 2) do they have a list of movies being shown that week
>
>A looong list! The list may be shorter since your cruise is a little shorter.
>
> Friday Nights
>

I think you mean "Fright Night," the Dreamworks remake (but Touchtone Pictures distribution) being released in two weeks.

There are no film "premiere at sea" on our cruise but I'm wondering if they might add "The Lion King in 3D" which will play at theaters for two weeks (starting Sept. 16) leading up to the Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D release on Oct. 4.

 

[llachance]

what kind of training I will have the week of the cruise (doing the Susan G Koman 3-day in November) However, I did an 18 mile training on the magic a number of years ago. That was a lot of circles

 

[Makayna]

Because the ship is leaving Canada and going to a Canadian port first, it must go to another foreign port before arriving in the U.S. to fulfill requirements of the Jones Act. If you look at the Wonder's itineraries next year, you will see it also stops in Ensenada at the end of the Hawaii cruise and after the California cruise in October.

It is interesting that with nearly two years of West Coast itineraries, there is not one stop at Catalina yet. That might change if Mexico continues to be considered dangerous or folks get tired of Cabo San Lucas.

I'm not sure that's true. On the Alaskan cruises, they started in Vancouver, went to Victoria, then the rest of the stops were Alaska (U.S. stops). But maybe because they were also ending in Canada as well, so that was OK?! I really don't know much about the foreign port requirements, so you might be right. Just trying to figure out why it's OK for the Alaskan Cruises that they don't go to another country other than Canada, but it's not OK for this trip.

Obviously for Hawaii, they need to stop at Ensenada (or somewhere in Mexico) to satisfy the requirement, since there would be NO non-US stops otherwise. But for this trip, it just seems weird that Vancouver and Victoria would not satisfy the requirements!

And if this is true, Catalina Island wouldn't satisfy the foreign port requirement either because that's technically part of California.

 

[KatiezMom]

I'm not sure that's true. On the Alaskan cruises, they started in Vancouver, went to Victoria, then the rest of the stops were Alaska (U.S. stops). But maybe because they were also ending in Canada as well, so that was OK?! I really don't know much about the foreign port requirements, so you might be right. Just trying to figure out why it's OK for the Alaskan Cruises that they don't go to another country other than Canada, but it's not OK for this trip.

Obviously for Hawaii, they need to stop at Ensenada (or somewhere in Mexico) to satisfy the requirement, since there would be NO non-US stops otherwise. But for this trip, it just seems weird that Vancouver and Victoria would not satisfy the requirements!

And if this is true, Catalina Island wouldn't satisfy the foreign port requirement either because that's technically part of California.

I was wondering about this as well because next Septembers repo trip is going to San Fran instead of Ensenada and is still leaving from Vancouver. We almost moved from this year to next year because none of us in our group are getting off down in Ensendada and would rather do another California port instead. Hmmmmm......

 

[Makayna]

I was wondering about this as well because next Septembers repo trip is going to San Fran instead of Ensenada and is still leaving from Vancouver. We almost moved from this year to next year because none of us in our group are getting off down in Ensendada and would rather do another California port instead. Hmmmmm......

Right! I REALLY don't think the stop in Ensenada has anything to do with the foreign port requirements. Again, I don't know much about the requirements, but just based on other cruises, on other lines as well as DCL, it just seems like the requirements are being met by starting in Vancouver and stopping in Victoria (which, really, I don't even think they need Victoria... but I'm looking forward to it ).

I honestly think it has more to do with the fact that they're "testing out" Ensenada as a port stop. I do believe we're the first cruise for DCL that will be stopping in Ensenada. I think they want to find out how well people like it. They HAVE to use Ensenada for the Hawaii trip, or somewhere else really close to Southern California, so I think we're "test rabbits" for the Ensenada stop.

If they get a lot of complaints about Ensenada on this trip and the Hawaii trip, I think they'll start trying to think of something else, but not really sure what other options they have. But again, I'd almost bet that this has nothing to do with foreign port requirements, and has more to do with using us as test bunnies.

 

[roseburghughes]

Tim,

I LOVE the new burger at Hungry Bear (they changed menus throughout the parks recently). It is a chili-cheese burger with an onion ring. It also has a fried green tomato sandwich which people I know who have tried it love it.

Go to this site, scroll down to Dining and they have menus for each restaurant in both parks and the hotels along with PRICES: http://www.mouseplanet.com/guide/1/Disneyland-Resort

I agree with Michael about Mimi's (go to its website -- http://www.mimiscafe.com -- and join its eClub and you'll get a coupon for a buy-one-get-one free breakfast.)

If you head south on Harbor from Disneyland you will find the typical chain restaurants, including something you like.

It is my wife's birthday when we get off the cruise and go to Disneyland . She has picked Hungry Bear for her birthday dinner and we are excited about the new menu. My daughter is looking forward to the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

 

[CADZNYCHC]

I think you mean "Fright Night," the Dreamworks remake (but Touchtone Pictures distribution) being released in two weeks.

There are no film "premiere at sea" on our cruise but I'm wondering if they might add "The Lion King in 3D" which will play at theaters for two weeks (starting Sept. 16) leading up to the Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D release on Oct. 4.

you could be right...that list came via DCL to TA to me....(lost in translation??)

what kind of training I will have the week of the cruise (doing the Susan G Koman 3-day in November) However, I did an 18 mile training on the magic a number of years ago. That was a lot of circles

nice!!! (72 or so circles)!!!!
i did the Susan G a few years back - it was the 1st wkend of Sept and SOOOOOOOO hot in San Francisco that ppl who weren't hydrating properly were dropping like flies!!!! the following year they moved it to oct and i heard it was more typical SF weather....my race is Oct 16th...(also in SF) so i'm hoping that the weather is the typical cool foggy SF morning!!!!

 

[taaren]

Just got my daughter's pirate costume; it's so cute. She's currently in Los Angeles so I am hoping it fits! I still have mine from my first cruise.

The DS4's and my pirate costume arrived last week. Considering I used to do costuming and I know how much the pieces would cost + labor, both of ours were pretty awesome for the price. Here's Sam's:

Since he's ridiculously full of testosterone he loves the gun and sword the best, but overall it turned out gorgeous. Ordered a size 6 so that it would fit on our next cruise in Dec 2012, but its fitting perfectly now so no way its going to still be fitting then. Oh well.

 

[taaren]

Right! I REALLY don't think the stop in Ensenada has anything to do with the foreign port requirements. Again, I don't know much about the requirements, but just based on other cruises, on other lines as well as DCL, it just seems like the requirements are being met by starting in Vancouver and stopping in Victoria (which, really, I don't even think they need Victoria... but I'm looking forward to it ).

I honestly think it has more to do with the fact that they're "testing out" Ensenada as a port stop. I do believe we're the first cruise for DCL that will be stopping in Ensenada. I think they want to find out how well people like it. They HAVE to use Ensenada for the Hawaii trip, or somewhere else really close to Southern California, so I think we're "test rabbits" for the Ensenada stop.

If they get a lot of complaints about Ensenada on this trip and the Hawaii trip, I think they'll start trying to think of something else, but not really sure what other options they have. But again, I'd almost bet that this has nothing to do with foreign port requirements, and has more to do with using us as test bunnies.

My best guess would be they wanted the cruise to be a certain amount of days since it was to leave one port at a particular time and want to start the MR cruises 6 days later, so they picked a port that was close enough to accommodate that that was cheap. Cabo's probably too far, and I'd wager that the SF docking fees are astronomical.
Same thing for Hawaii. What's on the way that is cheap put into port? Ensenada.

 

[FergusBC]

The DS4's and my pirate costume arrived last week. Considering I used to do costuming and I know how much the pieces would cost + labor, both of ours were pretty awesome for the price.

Oh my, that's so cute! I can't wait till pirate night to see all the little buccaneers running around Our local Costco already has their Halloween costumes in and there's a couple of nice kids pirate costumes. I was tempted to pick up one for my youngest but as it's doubtful whether she'd be even willing to dress up, I decided to save the money. Kids!

 

[Makayna]

My best guess would be they wanted the cruise to be a certain amount of days since it was to leave one port at a particular time and want to start the MR cruises 6 days later, so they picked a port that was close enough to accommodate that that was cheap. Cabo's probably too far, and I'd wager that the SF docking fees are astronomical.
Same thing for Hawaii. What's on the way that is cheap put into port? Ensenada.

Could be. But why not Catalina island or San Diego?!

 

[Makayna]

The DS4's and my pirate costume arrived last week. Considering I used to do costuming and I know how much the pieces would cost + labor, both of ours were pretty awesome for the price. Here's Sam's:

Since he's ridiculously full of testosterone he loves the gun and sword the best, but overall it turned out gorgeous. Ordered a size 6 so that it would fit on our next cruise in Dec 2012, but its fitting perfectly now so no way its going to still be fitting then. Oh well.

SOOOOOOOOO adorable!!!!!!!!!

 

[CADZNYCHC]

Oh my, that's so cute! I can't wait till pirate night to see all the little buccaneers running around Our local Costco already has their Halloween costumes in and there's a couple of nice kids pirate costumes. I was tempted to pick up one for my youngest but as it's doubtful whether she'd be even willing to dress up, I decided to save the money. Kids!

hummmm...you could get it & just have it packed away - then on Pirate Night (if she/he) wants a costume - you have one and won't have to scurry around the ships shops to put something together or worse have a sad child because you weren't able to find anything....if not needed - just return it to costco upon arrival back home....

 

[rosiep]

hummmm...you could get it & just have it packed away - then on Pirate Night (if she/he) wants a costume - you have one and won't have to scurry around the ships shops to put something together or worse have a sad child because you weren't able to find anything....if not needed - just return it to costco upon arrival back home....

That's a good idea! Even though I have a costume, I'll still play the night by ear.

Taaren- you're son is adorable!! Sometimes, in my head, my daughter is still a little girl...but then she'll asks me if I need to use the bathroom, grabs my hand as we cross the street...and insist I drink some water...and I realize that the roles have changed and now she's looking after me!!

 

[GrumpyGoat]

A little off topic, but I figured it was about time for an avatar that fit my user name better...

 

[rosiep]

A little off topic, but I figured it was about time for an avatar that fit my user name better...

YIKES!!

You know, when I was a little girl I used to play a game on the NYC subway...I would pick the grumpiest looking person and I'd smile my toothless little girl grin at them until they relented and smiled back.


beware...I still do it, but with more teeth.