Sept. 23, 2012 Pacific Coast - Wonder Cruise

[dennisbryce]

Hello:
My name is Crystal and we just decided to book this cruise. It will be my friend Becky, my DD Kaprisha(3), and myself This will be both my daughters and friends 1st cruise!!! This will be my 4th!!!
I guess I have some reading to do to catch up
Look forward to talking with everyone

 

[AussieMumma]

BigDisneyOE, how did dh go in the marathon? I don't know how you deal with the weather over there, it's been 14 and rainy here the past two days and I'm dying!
Wouldn't be such a shock if it hadn't been a sunny 25 on Friday! That's what it's like here in winter though, feezing one day and hot the next gah!!!

Here is a link to my photobucket page, I can't get a photo to post on here! http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll240/BulaBaby/Karma/ if you need a password it is BulaBaby


Welcome Crystal

 

[erbie]

It appears to me that brunch is wide open on both sea days but then again, the booking system is different than it used to be but I presume, since it gave me the option for all times that they were all available. And, how fun you have more family joining you.

Thanks for checking Gail! I hope it's still that open tomorrow night. Seems like with the ship half full ressies for everything should be easier to come by.

Speaking of which, I wonder what the cutoff is where they would decide not to run a cruise. I wonder if they've ever had that problem, and whether they'd not run it if it were below a certain threshold.

 

[erbie]

Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself as my sister and I are booking this trip for our families! We are disney cruise newbies and are excited for this trip.

Welcome, and congrats on your new little one!

 

[BigDisneyOE]

AussieMumma - aww cute new baby! And wagging her tail in the pics too.

DH did the marathon in 4 hours and 40 seconds. First one. He would have shaved about three minutes off the time if he didn't have to visit 'Luigi's Pitstop' (you get the idea) at 32kms in. He's had very little sleep as Oli has swollen tonsils and is waking crying in the night. Last night was particularly poor, we woke at 2430 with heavy rain and a rodent dancing above our heads, then we were woken by Alex who had flooded his bed at 0430, DH changed and kept Alex company while I changed the bed, Oli was woken with all the comings and goings and he wanted to come in our bed so at 0445 Rich was out of bed getting ready to leave. He left our home at 0500 and went to work to kill time before the race. The race started at 0700. I think turning up to run a marathon with only a few hours sleep last night and not much more for the whole week is a major achievement in itself. He's a hero to two little boys who just want to try on the medal and eat his energy chocolate!

As for the weather, you get used to it. I must admit that having lived here, in the UK and Turkey that NZ has the worst weather. When it's bad it's bad with the wind coming straight in off Antartica and hitting out sideways. Last night it was gusting 133kms in Wellington and ripping signs off shops. This morning on the Kapiti Coast it dawned clear and beautiful but cold. Rich ran the first 10kms in the drizzle and about 5C with a Southerly. You know that Crowded House wrote "Four Seasons In One Day" about our weather!

I'd love to move to the Sunshine Coast or Brisbane if DH could get a good role there but it's not likely to be honest as the role he's in is so very specialised (although the parent co is based in Brisbane and their parent company is based in the US).

Crystal - welcome! We are getting quite a few people joining now we are inside three months from sail date. Are you keeping the cruise a secret from your little girl?

Three months today guys, we are onboard the Wonder at the Sail Away Party!!!!

 

[erbie]

Erbie - good news on the family all coming! I did have to read your message a few times to work out how you worked the logistics! How did DD take the news when you picked her up from camp?

I was mean and first told her that we had to take Daddy out of our room on the cruise. She didn't understand and then when she did, she was getting upset, thinking he wasn't coming. I told her I put in auntie's name instead and daddy got his own cabin. She was still upset because daddy wasn't in ours, so I told her that grandma and grandpa were going to be in with daddy, and she was still so focused on daddy not being in our cabin that she didn't realize that I was saying auntie and grandparents are coming with us, so I finally said "Do you realize that I'm telling you auntie and grandparents are coming with us? Daddy will still sleep in our cabin, we just had to do it this way to give them our inboard booking discount." Then she was thrilled.

Hope Oli is feeling better soon and your DH has a good run tomorrow.

 

[erbie]

Hello:
My name is Crystal and we just decided to book this cruise. It will be my friend Becky, my DD Kaprisha(3), and myself This will be both my daughters and friends 1st cruise!!! This will be my 4th!!!
I guess I have some reading to do to catch up
Look forward to talking with everyone

Welcome Crystal!

 

[BigDisneyOE]

I was mean and first told her that we had to take Daddy out of our room on the cruise. She didn't understand and then when she did, she was getting upset, thinking he wasn't coming. I told her I put in auntie's name instead and daddy got his own cabin. She was still upset because daddy wasn't in ours, so I told her that grandma and grandpa were going to be in with daddy, and she was still so focused on daddy not being in our cabin that she didn't realize that I was saying auntie and grandparents are coming with us, so I finally said "Do you realize that I'm telling you auntie and grandparents are coming with us? Daddy will still sleep in our cabin, we just had to do it this way to give them our inboard booking discount." Then she was thrilled.

Hope Oli is feeling better soon and your DH has a good run tomorrow.

Yeah they get confused at a young age, mind you with all your logistics I was putting my finger on the screen and moving your family around manually as well!

DH ran today, I cross posted with you. If you go one page back I commented on our very long day. Now we are just having dinner and going to bed once I've done the ironing and DH has snored on the couch a bit.

 

[peja]

Thanks for checking Gail! I hope it's still that open tomorrow night. Seems like with the ship half full ressies for everything should be easier to come by.

Speaking of which, I wonder what the cutoff is where they would decide not to run a cruise. I wonder if they've ever had that problem, and whether they'd not run it if it were below a certain threshold.

I asked the same question about cancelling a cruise based on sales to the DCL rep. Answer: they still go no matter what, as per public relations initiative. So we will definitely not be cancelled.

 

[dennisbryce]

AussieMumma - aww cute new baby! And wagging her tail in the pics too.

DH did the marathon in 4 hours and 40 seconds. First one. He would have shaved about three minutes off the time if he didn't have to visit 'Luigi's Pitstop' (you get the idea) at 32kms in. He's had very little sleep as Oli has swollen tonsils and is waking crying in the night. Last night was particularly poor, we woke at 2430 with heavy rain and a rodent dancing above our heads, then we were woken by Alex who had flooded his bed at 0430, DH changed and kept Alex company while I changed the bed, Oli was woken with all the comings and goings and he wanted to come in our bed so at 0445 Rich was out of bed getting ready to leave. He left our home at 0500 and went to work to kill time before the race. The race started at 0700. I think turning up to run a marathon with only a few hours sleep last night and not much more for the whole week is a major achievement in itself. He's a hero to two little boys who just want to try on the medal and eat his energy chocolate!

As for the weather, you get used to it. I must admit that having lived here, in the UK and Turkey that NZ has the worst weather. When it's bad it's bad with the wind coming straight in off Antartica and hitting out sideways. Last night it was gusting 133kms in Wellington and ripping signs off shops. This morning on the Kapiti Coast it dawned clear and beautiful but cold. Rich ran the first 10kms in the drizzle and about 5C with a Southerly. You know that Crowded House wrote "Four Seasons In One Day" about our weather!

I'd love to move to the Sunshine Coast or Brisbane if DH could get a good role there but it's not likely to be honest as the role he's in is so very specialised (although the parent co is based in Brisbane and their parent company is based in the US).

Crystal - welcome! We are getting quite a few people joining now we are inside three months from sail date. Are you keeping the cruise a secret from your little girl?

Three months today guys, we are onboard the Wonder at the Sail Away Party!!!!

Thank you everyone for the welcome I am keeping this from my daughter and plan on not telling her till she sees the ship in person. Every time we look at pictures of the "mickey boats" as she calls them she gets so excited
I am so excited for her and my friend

 

[erbie]

I asked the same question about cancelling a cruise based on sales to the DCL rep. Answer: they still go no matter what, as per public relations initiative. So we will definitely not be cancelled.

Oh good! I gotta say, I'm not too bummed at the prospect of a not-full ship!

 

[erbie]

One hour till we can book Palo! Can't wait! Hope there are still plenty of brunch. I'm going to book for me, DH, MIL, and FIL, as we are all CC members, and then hope we can add SIL at the 75 day mark. If not, we'll try to add her on the ship.

For newbies, even if you can't get a Palo dinner ressies before the cruise, you may be able to get one once you board. You should get to the port at the earliest boarding time, and once you're on board, go straight to Wave Bands and line up for Palo. We we're able to get Palo dinner ressies easily that way the last two times, and we were on the wait list for a brunch. They did end up calling us because they opened an additional brunch on Victoria port day because we were getting into port latish. That was when they were still doing high tea, but that was completely full. I'm bummed, because according to the CM I talked to last week they are not doing high tea at Palo anymore.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Erbie - you booked yet? Could you see what was available for the excursions etc you wanted besides Palo?

I'm kinda on the fence about Palo. I'm not a fine diner at all as I have so many food allergies dining is a minefield anyway. I also don't sit too long, most meals I have standing up or in a short space of time grabbed while reading, typing etc (drives DH mad). High Tea I could have managed as it's short but anything over an hour for a meal and I'm killing myself. DH on the otherhand has eaten regularly at places like Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons (Raymond Blanc's resturant where he got to meet and chat with the man himself) and other posh places where the wine list is £300 a bottle, so his bar is pretty high. Dunno how he ended up with me to be honest. He's saying 'nah' about the whole thing at the moment. That could change but I doubt it.

I've changed my mind on my over 8 FE gifts again. The first idea was too labour intensive per item, now I have to trail new ideas. Bought a new sewing machine today... big treat for me as I've been saving for ages as I'm a SAHM so I kinda got to put my treat money in the bank for a bit before buying anything large.

Oli's eye test in half an hour and I need to clean out the car, so I'd better scuttle. I've done nothing but scuttle since I woke up.

 

[erbie]

Erbie - you booked yet? Could you see what was available for the excursions etc you wanted besides Palo?

I'm kinda on the fence about Palo. I'm not a fine diner at all as I have so many food allergies dining is a minefield anyway.

Yep, just was able to book Palo for brunch and dinner. There were still a lot of ressies for both. There were no excursions available for booking though. The button was greyed out, which I assume means that there are none left. That's kind of a bummer. I wasn't interested in anything besides one in Ensenada, but I guess that's out now. I'll keep checking as time passes, but I don't hold out a lot of hope. I'm not too bummed about SF or SD, as those are both easy cities to get around and the prices of the excursions are more than you'd pay on your own, so I wasn't planning to do any of them anyway. I was pretty interested in the Ensenada family resort day, or whatever it's called.

There looks to be pretty good availability with spa services as well. I checked for availability on several and there wasn't one that came up as not available.

Regarding allergies, Palo is probably your best bet for eating on the Disney ships. Tell your server and the chef will come out and discuss with you what you can and can't eat, and they will alter any of their dishes that they can to suit your needs. Since this is your first DCL cruise, I'd recommend trying Palo if you can get in. It's really quite an experience. The food is much better than in main dining rooms.

 

[bbangel]

I booked our Palo brunch and there is tons of availability left!
I booked an excursion in San Diego no problem. I wonder if there was a problem with your computer. I had an issue once where I had to clear the cache completely before things would show up properly or allow me to change any ressies.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Erbie - sounds as if your browser is up the spout. I'm with bbangel - dump the cache and try again. How can every excursion be booked out when the ship is at 50% capacity. That would mean nearly everyone was a Plat CC level, which we know can't be the case. Oddly the Mexican port was the place I was considering booking an excursion too - one of the cooking ones with the kids maybe? Have another go at logging on and you might be suprised!

Our ressies are firmly marked with my allergies and we've had a chat to DCL about them too on the phone. The waiter/head waiter will have a chat with me about food when we do our first sitting. We've asked for a four top too as it is easier for us. I'm fortunate it's not an epi-pen allergy, more like I can't take even a teaspoon of water in for 72 or so hours without projectile vomitting everywhere after consumption. I really don't want to be shipped off to the infirmary as I've spent too many times in hospital with it before - hence us going self catering for everything else in our holiday. Ah the joys! Bring on the nice safe chicken chef, bring on the chicken!

DH took Oli for his eye examination. He's 4.5 and had one with a specialist at the hospital at two years old and they picked up nothing. Well he's got major stigmatisims in each eye and is pretty bad at anything beyond a couple of feet. The examiner couldn't believe that the hospital specialist mucked up so badly as it's fairly obvious. He's told us Oli's attention span should improve rapidly as he will finally be able to see letters and numbers. I feel like a bad parent - I knew there was something wrong with his eyes right from the start and had to push to get the hospital specialist to see Oli and when they said he was okay I went away thinking 'I'm sure they got it wrong'.

 

[erbie]

I booked our Palo brunch and there is tons of availability left!
I booked an excursion in San Diego no problem. I wonder if there was a problem with your computer. I had an issue once where I had to clear the cache completely before things would show up properly or allow me to change any ressies.

You're right! Thanks for posting that! I tried a different browser and I was able to get into the excursions. I was also trying to look at all the days and it only works if I look at individual days for the excursions.

The one I wanted in Ensenada appears to be gone now, because on the excursions page there's a blank box with a header where it used to be. Must have been canceled. It looks like everything else is pretty much available except the night departure for Alcatraz is sold out.

I'm debating the SD Zoo. I've been wanting to go, but the excursion is twice the price of admission if I were to go on my own. But then we'd have to rent a car, so it might even out. And we wouldn't have to worry about missing the ship if we didn't get back in time.

 

[erbie]

Erbie - sounds as if your browser is up the spout. I'm with bbangel - dump the cache and try again. How can every excursion be booked out when the ship is at 50% capacity. That would mean nearly everyone was a Plat CC level, which we know can't be the case. Oddly the Mexican port was the place I was considering booking an excursion too - one of the cooking ones with the kids maybe? Have another go at logging on and you might be suprised!

Yep! I was able to book a couple of excursions. I also thought it was really weird with the ship at 50%. Looked around at all the various ones and most of them still have availability. Hope that's still the case in 2 weeks when you can book.

 

[bbangel]

I booked the zoo for us. I don't drive and didn't want my mother to have to stress about driving in a strange place. Plus I have learned from experience that public transit in California is iffy! Seemed safer to just book it with Disney and not worry
We are going to do San Fran on our own. Alcatraz, a ball game and some strolling in the Wharf area. Wish we didn't have to wait three more months!

 

[ShinyDaisy]

Yay, that's great, erbie.
Great tip, bbangel. Thanks for posting this to the list!

Welcome GromMom and dennisbryce and families