September 8,2005 Disney Wonder

[arlenesp]

Did they give you a time that the first bus left?

I sent you a pm

 

[mc'smommy]

cast member just said first bus is departing at 10:00 Am

 

[Disney Gramy]

I sent you a pm

Got it. Thanks to Mc'sMommmy also

 

[skibum]

They told me there would be buses running continuously.

 

[Andrea N]

So, how was everyone's cruise? Even with having to fly into FLL we had a fantastic time! So much that I've decided to spend 4 days at Disney in December and take another 3 day cruise.

Hope everyone had a wonderful time!

 

[JediDisney]

I must admit being neither a fan of boats or water..........I had a great time....

Disney Staff was great and the experience was wonderful.....a bit Micked out........just kidding.........my wife was like a kid again and that to me was the greatest part of this experience, helping her find that smile again...

Thanks again to all who answered my newbie concerns and questions

 

[arlenesp]

Had a great time on #3. Met Iamannim at Breakfast, and Inkognito at the castway reception. Meant to see if everyone got onboard ok but never had the time, again.

Went to Atlantis, played 20.00 on the slots(never been to a casino) and we won back the 20 so I was happy.
Chickened out with the banana boat at CC.
Enjoyed the Navigators Verandah.We've had Cat 6 previously.
Really wanted to rebook, but the A/C needs to be replaced soon.Oh well..maybe.......

 

[mc'smommy]

Despite flying into Orlando and realizing how unorganized the Disney staff seemed to be in thier lounge area in the Hyatt I have to say buying flights to FLL was the best choice I made.. The CM's took our names and flight numbers and assured us that they would have CM's meet us at the airport and transfer us to the pier... After 20 mintes of searching for a CM we took a taxi for $ 10.00

Got on the ship a little after 1Pm, checked out our cabin and headed to the pool area by 1:30..
that was awesome as nobody was there...

Spoke to a few people who said they waited at the Hyatt lounge area with Disney CM's repeatedly telling them just a few more minutes.. Those minutes apparently took 2 + hours to fill a bus and then they stopped 2 hours into the bus trip for a break as the driver said this was mandatory.. And they did not arrive at the ship until 7:30 Pm and they hand landed in Orlando at 10:15am ...
Some very upset passengers..


Overall a good quick getaway.....

 

[PrincessLuvers]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to do a post-cruise check in.

mc's mommy - great pics!! Why don't mine turn out so nice?

DisneyJedi - Glad to hear your surprise turned out so special. Your enthusiam is so sweet!

AndreaN - Lucky you to be cruisin' again in December. I would love to make a longer repeat visit but I think I'd be hard pressed to get DH to agree anytime soon. He liked it but to do the same vacation is a hard sell.

Luckily for us, the change of ports really didn't impact us too much. For those of you who did not go to Canaveral here was our experience: The only real adjustment we had to make was to leave our house 1 hour earlier and to pack a few more "busy" items for DDs bus ride. The girls were so excited to be able to ride a bus also... DD6 said, "It just keeps getting better and better!" The few times she's been on a bus is for field trips. Not sure if that was the rest of our sentiments but it was an easy adjustment. I liked the way Disney's website kept us updated.... they made a prediction that the ports might be changed then kept us updated. Once the final call was made, we got a call from our TA. We already knew from the website but it was still nice. We were able to get more info from Disney's toll free number (and from some DISers... thanks!). We learned that the buses would start leaving from Canaveral around 10ish so we were there by then and quickly got on a bus and on the road. About a 3 hour trip... we were given a bottle of water and a bag of Cheezits, told we would get a box lunch. About 1/2 way, we made a stop and were asked if we wanted a 45 minute lunch break or a 15 minute stretch and on our way. It was a unanamous (however you spell it!) decision to keep going. We were on the boat about 2ish. I was thankful for Disney's safety concerns, glad we outran the weather, and thrilled that it really didn't alter our plans at all but I sure felt sorry for the folks who had problems with travel and arriving so late, etc. The only thing I was truly surprised at is that at Port Canaveral, we dropped off all our luggage as DH parked the car... and there were NO porters. None. They were all at Port Everglades. NO carts either. I felt bad for the poor CM there having to tell everyone that they were expected to carry their own luggage over to the buses. Now, granted, it was not a long distance and it was all covered from the rain however we were standing with a disabled couple who were just absolutely bewildered on what to do. The youngest of kids were havine to pull luggage (thank goodness for luggage on wheels!) and nerves were a bit frayed by this oversight. We would have been in trouble if we would have had just one more piece of luggage, I guess two trips. Other than that one complaint, everything was great, had a wonderful time and neither DisneyGramy or I got sick!! To those experienced cruisers... how would you rate our waves that last night? I'm just trying to judge if we did REALLY well or we were just lucky with "calm" seas.

I'm ready to go again... maybe next time I'll try to relax more instead of trying to do it all!! .... Nah.

 

[arlenesp]

PrincessLuvers,the boat wasn't rocking that much.In fact I wasn't being bounced from side to side this time.Unless I've gotten used to it by now.The rocking was side to side in the room so it kind of rocked us to sleep.
We were lucky getting to the ship on time.I think I was on your bus.In fact I think we were the first bus to arrive from the port.I met Iamannim uptop at breakfast and she was at the hotels.Told us they didn't get a bus until late afternoon and didn't get there until I think 6-7.We were lucky to be able to get to the port early inspite of their screw up everything was pretty normal.
My only disappointment was not being able to have lunch at Parrot Cay and had to go uptop where they were totally unprepared for my husbands scooter.They made it more difficult than it should have been.We should have checked to see if the room was ready and dropped off everything then. It would've been easier to not have to take everything.
Sorry we didn't get to meet up with anyone from the group.Oh well maybe next time. I think if the price is right the next frr I will consider it.but right now we have a few household expenses that take priority.Take care