Sept. 23, 2012 Pacific Coast - Wonder Cruise

[jetskigrl]

We made it back to NZ okay, despite LAX closing the long runway, two people disembarking the flight, a need to add more fuel and a plane breaking down right in front of our plane on the taxi runway. Being that late to take-off we missed our connection and had five hours to kill with two exhausted kids in Auckland. All in all it was about 24 hours from plane take off to plane landing in the end.

Thanks to everyone in FE#1 for the gifts, the kids loved them all. Thanks also to people like Gail and Sandra who popped stuff in our FE although they were in the other FE. I hope everyone could understand the explaination I put with the bag of goodies I stuck in FEs.

We enjoyed the cruise but didn't really get to do anything social as the kids were terrified of the kids club. Well Alex was okay if there were a handful of kids but Oli was completely overwhelmed and shaking with fear when there was 120+ kids in there.

Unfortunately Alex got very ill on the cruise and I spent about 30 hours in the cabin with him. He dehydrated and was unable to keep even water down. First I knew about it was when he drank some water and threw it back up at the dinner service. The dining team we had were amazing and it was all dealt with professionally and with a lot of care for Alex. Our head waiter said they get kids throwing up at dinner all the time, normally from being overtired and stuffed full of treats before dinner. The infirmary staff were brilliant, opening up for Alex despite being afterhours, ringing several times to check on him and getting him in front of doctors immediately. Our room attendant was great too and really caring. In a way this made our cruise more than any activity onboard could have done.

I had one really hairy moment on the cruise. Oli decided to go down the hydro slide and was getting fustrated that he couldn't slide well. Alex was bombing down no problem. Oli got stuck halfway down and decided to walk back to the top, crying and stressed. That freaked the stuffing out of every adult at the pool and finally we got him turned around and sitting down enough to get to the bottom. It was the burqinkis fault, there was so slide in the lycra material - he needed to wear his boardies, which he did the next day and went down no problems.

I've got a few PMs to answer, so if you are waiting on one please know I'll get to it as soon as I've righted the house.

OK, now I didn't hear about Oli's adventure on the slide. OMG....some day you are going to look back on this trip and laugh like crazy!!!!

And btw...my ds told me last night that he misses "those little guys who spoke so nice." I said "I know...I love those accents" and he responded "no, I mean they were so polite"

 

[ewebwoman]

It was a wonderful vacation, even though I got sick a couple days in. Still saw the movies/shows we wanted and San Francisco. Still made it to my massage and Palo (which was fantastic). Thanks to everyone who was in the FE#2 group. All the goodies were great. We were like little kids every time we got back to the stateroom... check the pockets! Everyone was so creative. Gave me some ideas for next time.

We were so busy the whole cruise we konked out pretty much right after late seating. Skipped the last show to see Brave since we had seen it before. Loved watching all the kids have fun with the characters. The pirate costumes were amazing. Love that the adults can get "dressed up" too.

Thinking where we should go next, maybe a winter vacation in Florida. We'll see.

 

[GromMom]

We made it back to NZ okay, despite LAX closing the long runway, two people disembarking the flight, a need to add more fuel and a plane breaking down right in front of our plane on the taxi runway. Being that late to take-off we missed our connection and had five hours to kill with two exhausted kids in Auckland. All in all it was about 24 hours from plane take off to plane landing in the end.

Thanks to everyone in FE#1 for the gifts, the kids loved them all. Thanks also to people like Gail and Sandra who popped stuff in our FE although they were in the other FE. I hope everyone could understand the explaination I put with the bag of goodies I stuck in FEs.

We enjoyed the cruise but didn't really get to do anything social as the kids were terrified of the kids club. Well Alex was okay if there were a handful of kids but Oli was completely overwhelmed and shaking with fear when there was 120+ kids in there.

Unfortunately Alex got very ill on the cruise and I spent about 30 hours in the cabin with him. He dehydrated and was unable to keep even water down. First I knew about it was when he drank some water and threw it back up at the dinner service. The dining team we had were amazing and it was all dealt with professionally and with a lot of care for Alex. Our head waiter said they get kids throwing up at dinner all the time, normally from being overtired and stuffed full of treats before dinner. The infirmary staff were brilliant, opening up for Alex despite being afterhours, ringing several times to check on him and getting him in front of doctors immediately. Our room attendant was great too and really caring. In a way this made our cruise more than any activity onboard could have done.

I had one really hairy moment on the cruise. Oli decided to go down the hydro slide and was getting fustrated that he couldn't slide well. Alex was bombing down no problem. Oli got stuck halfway down and decided to walk back to the top, crying and stressed. That freaked the stuffing out of every adult at the pool and finally we got him turned around and sitting down enough to get to the bottom. It was the burqinkis fault, there was so slide in the lycra material - he needed to wear his boardies, which he did the next day and went down no problems.

I've got a few PMs to answer, so if you are waiting on one please know I'll get to it as soon as I've righted the house.

You poor things! What a tough journey home, and also poor Alex feeling sick! I can only imagine oliver climbing on the slide! I'm glad you were well taken care of!

 

[GromMom]

Here's a photo of all of us from the FE Group 1, I'm holding my baby and my sister atmail35 is with her daughter.

Did you see us there?

I also did a bunch of posts on our family blog, I'm not done yet but I thought I'd share.

http://thecaptainandcrew.blogspot.com/2012/10/disney-wonder-pacific-coast-cruise-day-1.html
Can you tell I'm missing the Wonder? I asked my husband if we could go again on the last cruise...HAHAHAHHA

 

[kangamommy]

Can you tell I'm missing the Wonder? I asked my husband if we could go again on the last cruise...HAHAHAHHA

OMG I totally CALLED DCL and asked them how much it was for the cheapest cabin to leave Sunday... 5000. Oh well. Great minds think alike though!

 

[GromMom]

OMG I totally CALLED DCL and asked them how much it was for the cheapest cabin to leave Sunday... 5000. Oh well. Great minds think alike though!

Lol awesome! I was just thinking how I'd tell my boss I'd need time off again, HAHAHHA! I wish there was a dirt cheap cabin and I'd totally do it again

 

[gunka]

OMG I totally CALLED DCL and asked them how much it was for the cheapest cabin to leave Sunday... 5000. Oh well. Great minds think alike though!

There are IGT/OGT/VGT rates available for Dec Mexican Riviera Cruises....I wish I could make it happen....but it is not to be

 

[jetskigrl]

I would book another one in a heartbeat if there was a way I could take the kids (I was able to justify one cruise without them but not two, LOL). But I can't take them out of school for a week and there are no week-long vacation before the Wonder leaves.

At least I have the Fantasy to look forward to next year. But 8+ months is a long way away.....

 

[Az Pirates]

Can you tell I'm missing the Wonder? I asked my husband if we could go again on the last cruise...HAHAHAHHA

OMG I totally CALLED DCL and asked them how much it was for the cheapest cabin to leave Sunday... 5000. Oh well. Great minds think alike though!

Make that 3 of us. I pulled up the last Pixar cruise the other day to see if VGT rates were available. No way I could get away again that soon anyway, but I just had to check.

I would book another one in a heartbeat if there was a way I could take the kids (I was able to justify one cruise without them but not two, LOL). But I can't take them out of school for a week and there are no week-long vacation before the Wonder leaves.

At least I have the Fantasy to look forward to next year. But 8+ months is a long way away.....

My straight A girlie is freaking out because her progress report is showing 2 C's and an F just coming off the cruise. Of course that will be cleared up once her independant study work is graded, but it's still unsettling for her. I wish DS would worry about what his progress report shows more. LOL

 

[tink157]

Wish I had another cruise booked. You can get all excited with your next cruise buddies though. I must admit I have looked at prices also......... its fun to wish, but won't happen for a long time....if ever. This was a great vacation though. Now to get all the pics and put them in a scrapbook. That will be fun to do.

I just can't stay away from this board and the FB page...............have a great day everyone!!!!

 

[jetskigrl]

My straight A girlie is freaking out because her progress report is showing 2 C's and an F just coming off the cruise. Of course that will be cleared up once her independant study work is graded, but it's still unsettling for her. I wish DS would worry about what his progress report shows more. LOL

Yeah, my two are night and day about school. My dd is disorganized, forgets things, etc but gets all A's and B's because everything academic is easy for her. Her B's are the result of the disorganization. And since she is a freshman this year with two honors classes, she really needs to step up on her organizational skills.

My DS is great about keeping his work together, turning everything in, etc, but he struggles academically with everything so he is lucky to maintain C's. Everything is 10 times harder for him to learn and maintain than it is for DD.

So for both of those reasons, we don't take the kids out of school, LOL.

 

[kangamommy]

There are IGT/OGT/VGT rates available for Dec Mexican Riviera Cruises....I wish I could make it happen....but it is not to be

the inside cabin igt seems to be gone but was there yesterday... or at least it's gone for 3 ppl, maybe still up for 2? it was 1200 bucks -- that's INSANELY cheap!! And I bet people could upgrade at the port.

 

[socababy]

I would book another one in a heartbeat if there was a way I could take the kids (I was able to justify one cruise without them but not two, LOL). But I can't take them out of school for a week and there are no week-long vacation before the Wonder leaves.

At least I have the Fantasy to look forward to next year. But 8+ months is a long way away.....

Do your kids have all of Thanksgiving week off? Mine do! We did the MR last Thanksgiving and rebooked for this Thanksgiving while onboard but ended up switching to the PC cruise a couple weeks later. A big part of me wants to do both! Holidays just are not the same since Dh died so I enjoy being away for the holidays except for Christmas since my kids are still believers. I will always hold out some small hope that DCL will return to the MR in the future. I did my part to keep DCL here on the west coast but I guess it just wasn't enough!

BTW, I'm so glad we ran into each other in the hall! It's great to place a face to a screen name!