Taking on the Wonder June 14th 2007 Trip Report w/ Pictures! (Completed 8/3 pg. 9)

[2angelsinheaven]

Ok so I'm snagging this place holder to start uploading my trip report, inspired by Lesley and Tim over on the Themeparks thread and their TR I figured I'd share ours. Hopefully I'll have it up by today but no promises...lol

Till then snag a seat and let the wait begin....

Photo taken from the parking lot waiting for the terminal to open

You can view out Pre-Trip Report here

Index of our TR...

Embarkation Post #10

Lunch and our first afternoon onboard Post #13

Safety Drill Time Post #38

Sailaway Party Post #44

Hercules and Parrot Cay Post #59

80's Night Post #61

We're Here, Nassau Here We Come! Pt 1 Post #68

Nassau Pt 2 Post #69

Our Afternoon Onboard Posts #78 and #79

The Golden Mickeys Are Tonight #89

Castaway Cay #111, #112, #116

Castaway Cay Serenity Bay #117, #127, #128

Castway Cay Photos of the Island and The Flying Dutchman #129

Our Final Night Onboard #130

Saying Goodbye #131

 

[2angelsinheaven]

So for those who haven't read our Pre-Trip report let me catch you up on the cast of this "wonderful" adventure.

There John, my fiance and the master of this merry bunch of sailors.
There is John's Mom (Sue) and Dad (John Sr.), this will be their first cruise.
And of course there is me, Darlene the one keeping the rest of the cast on target and the dedicated photographer.

John and I have been on five cruises prior to this one, including two times on the Disney Wonder last summer. John's parents John Sr. and Sue have never been on a cruise before so this will be a brand new experience for them.

We live next to the port so we don't have much to report on the travel aspect of the trip, however we did pick up John's parents from North Florida a few days before the cruise and spent Monday-Wednesday hitting stores and picking up last minute items for the ship and snacking on chips while watching all the travel channel shows on DCL and Cruising in general getting excited for our trip.

Next Post.... Embarkation Day!

 

[eemmie1]

I can't wait. I am addicted to the trip reports!

 

[Babs417]

Go girl go love this

 

[MB MinnieGirl]

Hi Darlene!!

Just waiting patiently.

Kelly

 

[betsywdw]

Can't wait for your TR!!!!!

 

[2Princes_&_1Princess]

Tuning in, too.

 

[Disney owl]

waiting for more, please

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Will post more today, promise. Had to work all night, so it's off to bed for me.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Strike up the band it's time for Embarkation Day!

All of us were up by 7am too excited to sleep in and some of us even more excited to have some personal space after a long week together. We gathered up the last minute stuff, bottled waters, coke zeros, bathroom items, etc and were on our way to Publix by 8am to grab some medicine for Sue.

Now in all our excitement none of us realized that by leaving at 8am would be be waiting a long time before we could go into the terminal. We only live a little less than 3 miles from the port so it takes about 5 minutes to get there. I suggested some breakfast to kill time but really none of us were wanting to eat, too anxious to get this trip going we bypassed and instead took Sue and John Sr. out to show them where we had watched the Shuttle Launch from the week prior.

Time now.... 9:08am. Hum 52 minutes till go time. We decide to drive over and park and wait for the the terminal to open. We head over and to our surprise there are already 4 or 5 cars ahead of us, guess lots of people were too excited to sleep like us.

Our view of the Wonder from the parking lot in line to enter to park the car for our trip.

John playing Nintendo while we "patiently" wait for 10am.

John's parents repacking their carry on bags.

I walk around and snap some pictures and John's plays Nintendo and all of us twiddle our thumbs. And then I see the car infront of us brake lights turn on, it must be 10am, sure enough.... it was!

We pull into the port and have our ID's checked, our friend wishes us a wonderful cruise and we tell her not to work too hard.

We round the corner and tuck and roll out of the doors while John drives on anxious to get inside, John and John Sr carry on to park the car while we head upstairs to check-in. Being that we've never had to "share" a room before, the idea of 4 adults in a single room was a bit stressing so I had hoped to score a Cat 4 or 3 instead. Of course nothing was available being summer and all so our name was added to the wait list. We were quickly checked in and John and I were issued our CC Lanyards and off we went to wait till boarding.

John brought along his Mickey gloves to wave at Sailaway

John Sr and Sue taking their picture with Minnie Mouse. Awe.

A few minutes before boarding time.

11:45 rolled around and we were onboard shortly after. Our names were announced, ok "hello" goosebumps and our vacation was officially here!

Up next.... our first day onboard....

 

[timandlesley]

LOVING it so far, can't wait for more!!!!!! I am dying to see pics of the ship.
Lesley

 

[Babs417]

Good start great pics

 

[2angelsinheaven]

After boarding we were directed to go up to Beach Blanket, now my personal opinion is "no thanks" in regards to BBB, give me Parrot Cay anyday. Of course we were directed to head there but "shhhh" we went past the elevators and right on into PC. First of all don't get me wrong normally I follow the 'rules' but there was no way, no how.

The main reason for sliding past the norm was that we were carrying a van load of luggage, John had a brillant idea to carry on EVERYTHING so that we could unpack and get organized earlier and nothing could get lost, etc. So hands full I thought BBB would be chaos for us. Plus I know there are some die hard BBB fans so I figured we'd take up one less table.

So off to lunch we go, sadly I forgot to take any photos of lunch or much of anything prior to the lifeboat drill.

For lunch I had one of my favorites, cream of onion soup, yum! Topped off with some bread, veal chops and pasta and for desert Cherry Cheesecake, YUMMO! I didn't eat much though as the anticipation of the day had taken away most of my appetite. John induldged in some shrimp and Sue sampled the sugar free deserts.

After lunch we head to the kids clubs, you may ask WHY? Well I was going to register John and John Sr. for some time in the nursery so us ladies could relax but alas since they were potty trained and 30+ years too old it didn't work out...lol. Seriously we went to show Sue and John Sr. the areas as they were considering bringing their granddaughter on a cruise in the future, needless to say they both loved the spaces and believe she will have a great time when the day comes.

By now it was pushing 1:30 so we headed up to our room to be greeted by 20 or so eager cruisers thinking the same thing. We waited and shortly after 1:30pm it was time to roll and the CM's took down the rope and off we walked aka ran to our room. Somehow we ended up all the way aft so we had a long way to go carrying all 500 tons of luggage with us. Ready to rest we finnally made it. Since I forgot to take photos of the room, I'll share some I took on Nassau day since they fit here. Ignore the ship in the background it wasn't there while we were in Port Canaveral...lol.

The Room, a queen bed first, then the couch (or what would be the couch if it wasn't bad into a bed) and then the balcony area.

The Sink/Tub area

The toilet and sink area, let me tell you this space can get a little small, especially on the last night after you've indulged in cruise food all week. Yikes!

The room from the hall way.

The cutest Mickey lifevest sign

The couch/bed upclose

The art work above the queen bed

To be continued...

 

[timandlesley]

Loving it Darlene, the pics of the room make it look big actually,what category is it with the balcony? Loving it and awaiting more. Thanks for writing.
Lesley

 

[2angelsinheaven]

This room was a category 5 on deck 7, #7022, it is a quad which means it is meant for four guests. Two on the queen, on on the couch and one of the bunk which isn't shown. The bunk pulls down from above the couch.

The room we were looking to upgrade to was a cat 4, which is basically the same room but just past the couch would be an additional 5 feet of space and a murphy bed that would pull down from the wall. Or a cat 3, would would give us a living room as well as a bedroom.

 

[disneypoor]

Hi, Darlene! I'm so glad you had a great trip and am enjoying your TR! We are travelling in September with 18 people, and I was wondering something about the beds. Can the couch make in to a regular sized bed? We've always had the bed that comes down from the ceiling, but my sister is bringing her 3 year old twins, and I've been worried about the bed that comes down. TIA for your help!

 

[2angelsinheaven]

The couch actually only makes into the single shown, however the hostess/host can remove the upper berth matress and bring it down to the floor for sleeping or you can request a bedrail.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Coming up tomorrow...

It's getting Hot, Hot, Hot! The Lifeboat Drill and the Sailaway Party!

 

[eemmie1]

Loving your trip report!

 

[CapnJackGroupie]