Sept. 23, 2012 Pacific Coast - Wonder Cruise

[AussieMumma]

AussieMumma - yeah there are coin op laundries on the ship (dunno what type of coin they are tho'). All the irons are in the laundries too as you can't have an iron in a cabin. Like you, we'll be in the laundry a lot. (Sounds like your inlaws are a bit like my Mum! She's referred to as The Outlaw by DH. )

Booked our flights to Sydney today. We are off on the 8th of August and taking the last flight of the night back on the 13th.

Our school visit was good, so they can go to the school they are zoned for and all I have to do is the paperwork for enrolment.

Managed to get most of the Milo off the dog with the rake, now I have to bathe her. I hate this bit...

Thank you! I hope I wont need the iron, that is one job I really dislike!!!
You got the Milo off with a rake??


Speaking of dogs, we are getting a new baby girl next week! She is a strange cross breed, Jack Russel cross German Sheppard, 18mths old and totally gorgeous! A friend is moving to the mines and she can't take her there so she was asking if anyone wanted to adopt her. We made the decision a couple of months ago to get a rescue dog but have been waiting until this weekend trip was over before going ahead (didn't want to have a dog for a few weeks only to turn around and put them in a kennel), so this works out perfectly as our friend isn't leaving for another two weeks so we will pick her up next weekend At least she will have 3 months with us before we have to take her to a kennel, but 3 weeks worries me, do dogs notice the amount of time you're away?

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Thank you! I hope I wont need the iron, that is one job I really dislike!!!
You got the Milo off with a rake??


Speaking of dogs, we are getting a new baby girl next week! She is a strange cross breed, Jack Russel cross German Sheppard, 18mths old and totally gorgeous! A friend is moving to the mines and she can't take her there so she was asking if anyone wanted to adopt her. We made the decision a couple of months ago to get a rescue dog but have been waiting until this weekend trip was over before going ahead (didn't want to have a dog for a few weeks only to turn around and put them in a kennel), so this works out perfectly as our friend isn't leaving for another two weeks so we will pick her up next weekend At least she will have 3 months with us before we have to take her to a kennel, but 3 weeks worries me, do dogs notice the amount of time you're away?

Oh a rake is a type of brush, looks like a mini rake. You might need it with your new dog if she's a longhaired girl. Did she throw towards the JR or the GS? The rake takes out a lot of the undercoat on double coated dogs.

The Milo was a complete pain, I let it dry down and then tried to rake it as much as possible. Honestly, no matter what don't let your youngest girl shake Milk on the dog - it is horrid. Give you an idea of what she should look like, these pics are pretty much what Choco looks like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeshond add Milo the mix and it's just yucky.

Choco loves kennels. It's like trying to get a teen to come back when camp has finished. As soon as she gets there she blows us off and then the look on her face when we come to pick her up is 'you are ruining my life, I was with my friends'. We have a great kennel about 20 mins from here and were lucky the owners are Spitz breeders (they have the top Samoyeds in NZ), so they just love having our girl there as there are only two Keeshonden in the Wellington area. She always comes away with a top report card for being so social and looking after the pups. Ask your friend where your girl has been previously and if they/she liked it. If she hasn't been in kennels ask around your friends with dogs as to which they would recommend and why. As you are away for three weeks you'll need to book her in somewhere before too long as the best places are sometime hard to get into here. We booked Choco in at Christmas time for this trip and she's staying so long that she qualifies for a hydrobath and a proffessional groom, which is brilliant as they are about $150 AUD to groom proffessionally.

 

[AussieMumma]

It's quite funny, she is a total mix of both. I'll post a photo next week when we get her. She is medium sized with a Jack Russell face but then the bushy German Sheppard tail! She is only short haired, I get major itchy nose around animals so couldn't handle a long haired one.
I cannot imagine getting milo out or your dogs fur! And I see why you dislike bathing so much!!! You don't see many of those dogs around here, it's just way to hot in summer for them.

 

[jetskigrl]

jetskigirl, last night I spent an hour or so looking through some photos that another member Sherry posted on here of Cars Land, it looks amazing I can’t wait to go, you are so lucky to have been able to go to the preview!!! Did you get to go on the rides?

Yes, we did get to try them out and our family gave them a big

Our favorite by far was Radiator Springs Racers. The details are amazing and it is quite fun too. We did that one twice.
Our next favorite was Mater's Junkjard Jamboree. That was such a fun, silly ride. DH and I rode it twice and the kids rode it three times (it was pretty much a walk on during our preview).
We also tried Luigi's flying tires, but only once since that one had a longer line. It was a little hard to get used to how to work the tire so I felt like we were just getting the hang of it when the ride ended. But I can see it being more fun when we have ridden it a few more times and know how to really get those tires moving

Thank you! I hope I wont need the iron, that is one job I really dislike!!!
You got the Milo off with a rake??


Speaking of dogs, we are getting a new baby girl next week! She is a strange cross breed, Jack Russel cross German Sheppard, 18mths old and totally gorgeous! A friend is moving to the mines and she can't take her there so she was asking if anyone wanted to adopt her. We made the decision a couple of months ago to get a rescue dog but have been waiting until this weekend trip was over before going ahead (didn't want to have a dog for a few weeks only to turn around and put them in a kennel), so this works out perfectly as our friend isn't leaving for another two weeks so we will pick her up next weekend At least she will have 3 months with us before we have to take her to a kennel, but 3 weeks worries me, do dogs notice the amount of time you're away?

Congratulations on your new baby girl! How wonderful that you can help out your friend and get a new dog at the same time.

Oh a rake is a type of brush, looks like a mini rake. You might need it with your new dog if she's a longhaired girl. Did she throw towards the JR or the GS? The rake takes out a lot of the undercoat on double coated dogs.

The Milo was a complete pain, I let it dry down and then tried to rake it as much as possible. Honestly, no matter what don't let your youngest girl shake Milk on the dog - it is horrid. Give you an idea of what she should look like, these pics are pretty much what Choco looks like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeshond add Milo the mix and it's just yucky.

Oh my goodness, I can just imagine. But what a beautiful dog though!!

 

[erbie]

Gail, with your mention of packing enough clothes for the week you’ve reminded me of a question I had, are there guest laundries on the ship? With six of us I need to keep on top of the washing every second day otherwise it gets out of control

Yes, there's a laundry room on the ship. They even have ironing boards and irons. It gets quite crowded towards the end of the cruise. We didn't use it last time, but we used it a lot on the 14 night PC. (Well, I should say DH used it a lot. I don't think I stepped foot in it.)

It's on the key card system so you just scan your room key and it charges the laundry to your account. 2USD per wash/dry cycle last I heard.Bring your own laundry detergent though. We brought those Drops ones, because we didn't want to deal with measuring out portions of powder or liquid and having it explode all over our suitcase. If you can't get those, you can portion out the detergent into ziplocks and double bag them. Makes it easier than trying to measure from a larger container.

Also, be sure to bring a laundry bag, just something you can bring the clothes back and forth in, so you don't have to lug a suitcase.

 

[glindamood]

I typed a response this morning and lost it so this will be the 'Cliff Notes' version. Gee, do they even still publish Cliff Notes??

New pup - LOVE dogs (so sorry you cat folks). I just love my furry children (well, except one of the two-legged children is sort of 'furry'). Had a bad experience with a cat when we first got married and never again.

Rakes - does not sound like a fun project to remove them - for either the raker or the rakee.

Dress - it got there last night about 6:15 or so (poor FedEx guy). Color is fine and I can wear it 'spanxless' (was that tmi, sorry) but there is bling on the front that I am having issues with becuase it isn't on the back. Brought it to work today and the others all loved it, took it to my nail appt and she loved it so tonight I am heading over to DS and DDIL's to see what they think.

OK, I know little else I think at this point. Everyone enjoy and take it easy with the crazy schedules.

 

[ShinyDaisy]

I typed a response this morning and lost it so this will be the 'Cliff Notes' version. Gee, do they even still publish Cliff Notes??

New pup - LOVE dogs (so sorry you cat folks). I just love my furry children (well, except one of the two-legged children is sort of 'furry'). Had a bad experience with a cat when we first got married and never again.

Rakes - does not sound like a fun project to remove them - for either the raker or the rakee.

Dress - it got there last night about 6:15 or so (poor FedEx guy). Color is fine and I can wear it 'spanxless' (was that tmi, sorry) but there is bling on the front that I am having issues with becuase it isn't on the back. Brought it to work today and the others all loved it, took it to my nail appt and she loved it so tonight I am heading over to DS and DDIL's to see what they think.

OK, I know little else I think at this point. Everyone enjoy and take it easy with the crazy schedules.

Would love to see a pic!
Good to hear you sounding better.

 

[ShinyDaisy]

jetskigirl, last night I spent an hour or so looking through some photos that another member Sherry posted on here of Cars Land, it looks amazing I can’t wait to go, you are so lucky to have been able to go to the preview!!! Did you get to go on the rides?

erbie, thanks for the info on the character breakfast. We’ve done a few character breakfasts when we’ve been to DLR and WDW so it’s really nice to have one included in the cruise!

peja, yep we are going to Disneyland post cruise, for 2 whole weeks well currently 13 nights but that all depends on what flights home we get!!
Whereabouts are you staying? We are currently booked at two places, Residence Inn Maingate and Ramada Plaza Hotel. No specials yet so I'm keeping my options open

Gail, with your mention of packing enough clothes for the week you’ve reminded me of a question I had, are there guest laundries on the ship? With six of us I need to keep on top of the washing every second day otherwise it gets out of control

ShinyDaisy, thanks for thinking of me re the Aussie sections on here, I’m subscribed to quite a lot of them already


We are flying down south to visit the inlaws from Friday to Monday, should be a blast

Thanks for mentioning Sherry! Last night, I stumbled across her TR through the Halloween thread. It's such fun for each of us to go through and place the pics. It's so cool that she shared a lot of photos!

Memory lane! haha It'll be like that for y'all soon. and all of us that go to DCA!

A new dog-What fun! We love having our dog and hope you will, too.

 

[bbangel]

The guys who live upstairs from me just got the cutest new puppy. Her name is Sadie and she is a SPCA rescue dog. She looks like she might have some Shiba Inu in her but I think she is going to get big. So adorable. Kind of makes me want another pet!

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Well revenge is sweet and jam flavoured! Alex was waving his strawberry jam sandwich around this lunchtime and Choco moved with great speed and performed the 'lunge, bite and swallow' movement in one go. Big hunk out of Alex's sandwich, lots of tears and one dog outside for Time Out. Then an explanation of Karma biting Alex in the butt/sandwich. That'll learn him for putting Milo (sweet milky malt drink for any non Aussie's & Kiwis) all over the dog earlier in the week.

bbangel - if the pup as Shiba Inu in it the pup is going to be massive! Check it's paws out.

AussieMumma - bathing a Keeshond is really easy, it's the brushing out for an hour beforehand that has you covered in sweat. Choco is dry up one end by the time I've had a chance to soap out the other end. She is super quick to dry with no doggy smell. DH is pro-cat and wanted the most cat like dog for his first dog, hence the puffball. Like you, we got her as an adult. She'd finished her show ring time and had her pups and then spade, so her breeder wanted a new forever home for her. She was completely trained and no puppy stage, major bonus for us. She totally loves the kids whatever they do her and is great to teach new tricks to as she's completely 'food motivated'. She's my baby girl as I didn't get a girl in the twin mix.

Gail - yep, Choco isn't fond of the rake, mainly because I've got to do her flanks and she thinks that area is private. But it's worth it as she's more comfortable. I hear you on cats, I don't like them much either but mainly as we have birds too and birds and cats don't sit comfortably together. Oli is desperate for a cat of his own to keep him company at night and thus far I have resisted. Don't worry about no bling on the back of your dress, it could be uncomfortable to sit on a chair and have the bling poking you in the shoulders all night if it was there.

erbie - thanks for the Drops tip for the laundry. Once I've spotted it at the US supermarkets I'll stock up. I really don't want US Customs thinking I'm trying to import white powder.

Okay, ladies who've sailed the Wonder before... what's the safe storage like? We'll have DH's work laptop (yup, he's going to have to buy minutes and work onboard) and possibly the kids portable 10" DVD players. Is there enough space in a safe to store them?

 

[ShinyDaisy]

This is sweet!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2205646&page=30


Anybody else see this? Try this??

 

[erbie]

Okay, ladies who've sailed the Wonder before... what's the safe storage like? We'll have DH's work laptop (yup, he's going to have to buy minutes and work onboard) and possibly the kids portable 10" DVD players. Is there enough space in a safe to store them?

How thick are the DVD players? A US laptop will fit, so if a NZ one is roughly the same size, it will fit. The opening is probably 6-8" tall and 10-12" wide, and then it's plenty deep for a laptop and a few more inches deeper. If the DVD players aren't bigger than a laptop, you should be fine fitting all three plus cell phones, passports, etc.

Does your DH know how expensive it is to get Internet service on the ship? It adds up quickly, even with the packages.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

How thick are the DVD players? A US laptop will fit, so if a NZ one is roughly the same size, it will fit. The opening is probably 6-8" tall and 10-12" wide, and then it's plenty deep for a laptop and a few more inches deeper. If the DVD players aren't bigger than a laptop, you should be fine fitting all three plus cell phones, passports, etc.

Does your DH know how expensive it is to get Internet service on the ship? It adds up quickly, even with the packages.

Our laptops are the same size as yours, so it'll fit. Now he's saying he's taking his new iPad and his laptop and to ditch the idea of taking the DVD players which are about 1.5" thick. Then there are the phone/s, his work one and a couple of cheapies from the States so we can find each other in Disneyland... Maybe should fit, otherwise Rich can haul his contraptions around the ship with him.

I've told him exactly how much the data packages were last year. He said "I'm not going to use the Internet at all onboard, it's about you and me time". Ha ha, mark my words he'll buy a data package (his co. will reimburse). I told him if it was about couple time I was planning to take him to Bingo and he went pale. I'm so evil, I know he hates Bingo.

ShinyDaisy - I've been trying to find that link for weeks as it disapeared and then found it today and had connectivity issues all day. I've posted now for our kids as we can't get the pre-cruise Disney call outside the US, so a postcard would be great.

JSG - Oh big day for you and your daughter. I know you both having a blast! Well done, huge step for your girl and her parents.

How odd I just recieved an email from DCL telling me my reservation was confirmed. I'd hope so seeing as we've had a booking and paid in full since July last year and then since prior to Easter when we moved to VGT. Even more odd is they say they owe us a refund of $2.76. I may just email that and tell them to stick it on our cruise account thingy, by the time they've stuck it back on our c.card international fees will have eaten it right up.

 

[glindamood]

Okay, ladies who've sailed the Wonder before... what's the safe storage like? We'll have DH's work laptop (yup, he's going to have to buy minutes and work onboard) and possibly the kids portable 10" DVD players. Is there enough space in a safe to store them?

Not only are the internet minutes expensive, even with the internet, it just crawls. Might not be bad in the US ports but the sea days and Mexico are liable to be really nasty.

Laundry soap - the new Tide pods are pretty nice too and since the machines on the ship are the high efficiency ones, they will work. I have not had good luck with the Purex sheets but others have - when I take clothes out of the dryer some always seem to have spots on them. They always do come out in the next wash but what is the point to that??

Well, DH has bummed a ride home from camp today (they get out at noon) so I get to take him back Sunday morning and probably do camp laundry this weekend. He has to go and get measured for his tux for DS's wedding tomorrow as well so that can be ordered. Then I will need to decide if he will tux it on the Wonder or we will take his suit. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Take care and have a great day/night everyone! And to any and all the Dad's out there - Happy Father's Day. I expect I will have a not so good day Sunday since it is my first one without mine but I will talk to him, same as I still do sometimes.

 

[erbie]

Our laptops are the same size as yours, so it'll fit. Now he's saying he's taking his new iPad and his laptop and to ditch the idea of taking the DVD players which are about 1.5" thick. Then there are the phone/s, his work one and a couple of cheapies from the States so we can find each other in Disneyland... Maybe should fit, otherwise Rich can haul his contraptions around the ship with him.


How odd I just recieved an email from DCL telling me my reservation was confirmed. I'd hope so seeing as we've had a booking and paid in full since July last year and then since prior to Easter when we moved to VGT.

All that will fit in the safe, no problem.

I also received the confirmation email today and thought it was a little weird. Maybe the system had a glitch or something.

 

[ShinyDaisy]

All that will fit in the safe, no problem.

I also received the confirmation email today and thought it was a little weird. Maybe the system had a glitch or something.

us, too. It was ever so slightly cheaper. Hope yours was.too.

 

[ShinyDaisy]

Not only are the internet minutes expensive, even with the internet, it just crawls. Might not be bad in the US ports but the sea days and Mexico are liable to be really nasty.

Laundry soap - the new Tide pods are pretty nice too and since the machines on the ship are the high efficiency ones, they will work. I have not had good luck with the Purex sheets but others have - when I take clothes out of the dryer some always seem to have spots on them. They always do come out in the next wash but what is the point to that??

Well, DH has bummed a ride home from camp today (they get out at noon) so I get to take him back Sunday morning and probably do camp laundry this weekend. He has to go and get measured for his tux for DS's wedding tomorrow as well so that can be ordered. Then I will need to decide if he will tux it on the Wonder or we will take his suit. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Take care and have a great day/night everyone! And to any and all the Dad's out there - Happy Father's Day. I expect I will have a not so good day Sunday since it is my first one without mine but I will talk to him, same as I still do sometimes.

Gail,

I'm sorry about your dad and hope it helps a small amount to see your hubby on Father's Day.
.....and perhaps, a few other great dads at camp
...when you drop him off
Again, I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[bbangel]

I received a planning brochure in the mail. Problem is that it is for a different family sailing on an Alaska cruise earlier in Sept. Kind of scary! I wonder who got my info?

 

[ShinyDaisy]

I received a planning brochure in the mail. Problem is that it is for a different family sailing on an Alaska cruise earlier in Sept. Kind of scary! I wonder who got my info?

Weird

 

[glindamood]

Gail,

I'm sorry about your dad and hope it helps a small amount to see your hubby on Father's Day.
.....and perhaps, a few other great dads at camp
...when you drop him off
Again, I'm sorry for your loss.

Thanks! My FIL passed away before I ever met my DH but my MIL always said that the expected events, while difficult were not as bad as one thought but the the unexpected things are what get you. Jane is a very smart lady and totally correct.

Case in point - my Dad was color blind and proud as a peacock with his new green car! I saw a gold car on the road not too long ago - same make, model and color! I laughed, and then I cried, and then I laughed again. Green - gold, all the same to him. He always told goofy jokes and when I hear one on the radio I have the same reaction. He is in a better place, he went through a lot before he passed away that he should not have had to but life is what life is. I miss him a lot but the memories will live forever in my heart.