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

[2angelsinheaven]

80's Night...

We snagged a couple of great seats right in front of the stage in Wavebands, the music was already playing and we found our friends and ordered a couple of Mojitos. Yum!

But before we would be graced by the awesome sounds of the 80's we played an incredibly funny game. Although the name slips my mind it was one where the assistant CD called out items and the first team to bring them up got points and everyone else got a smaller number of points. There would also be points for style, grace and creativity.

Between the six of us we were certain we would win!

So we finished our drinks and took a quick look at everything we had in our pockets, etc. This was war...lol.

Items were called out, ladies shoes, men's shoes, a lady in men's shoes and well you guessed it a man in ladies shoes...lol. A lady in lipstick to come kiss a man's bald head, a lady wrapped in four men's belts, etc, etc. It was pretty interesting.

Then the big one.... a man in a ladies's bra, purse, shoes, lipstick, etc.

We skipped this one... but these guys joined in....

However since we were so fierce during the rest of the game we WON!
Here's our team snagging the prizes...

We scored two DCL mugs and since John and I had won many in the past our friends shared them between their two couples.

Then it was time for one of my favorite nights on the cruise, 80's Time Warp!

It begins with a hot little number from the cruise staff including Billy Jean...

And Thriller...



and a few other numbers, I believe Footloose as well.

Being an 80's baby I love it! The whole crowd though was really into it, with screams, claps, etc. WONDERful job cruise staff.

We then moved on to trivia and an open dance floor for everyone to shake their groove thing on.



Out of the corner of my eye I see some of the cruise staff passing out glow necklaces, I know what these are for and I know our friends would just love to get one of these...

So I direct the cast member over to our friends and he quickly gives them each a necklace and tells them to meet everyone by the back of the bar.

They are still clueless so I fill their girlfriends in who are now in histerics as well. We shake it for a bit longer and then we are told we have some VIP's in the house tonight, it's going to be a battle of the bands! Get where I'm going with this....

Notice anyone you've seen before in this photo?

Those necklaces bought the guys a one way ticket to the above, preforming for us as Bon Jovi...lol!



There was also an appearance from the Go-Go's and Robert Palmer.

A great ending to a WONDERful first day onboard the ship.

To finish up the night John and I headed up to deck 9 to watch the stars, well actually the end of the NBA finals was playing on the Ariel View so we watched that and then the stars.

The screen is a GREAT addition to the ship and new to us since our last cruise was right before the dry dock.

We arrived back at our room to this...

It was off to sweet Disney dreams and thinking of all the fun to be had in Nassau in the morning.

 

[tinkerbell87512]

I am loving your trip report! Now I'm even more excited for my cruise in May!!! Looking forward to more updates!

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Pics are awesome... TFS

 

[timandlesley]

Lovin' the update and videos Darlene, 80's night looks awesome, LOVED the Bon Jovi video, halarious, good for you getting the necklaces (mental note, never travel with Darlene and let her slip a glow necklace around my neck )
Lesley

 

[Sooze]

What fun! Looking forward to hearing about Nassau!

 

[lvstitch]

Although the name slips my mind it was one where the assistant CD called out items and the first team to bring them up got points and everyone else got a smaller number of points. There would also be points for style, grace and creativity.

On RCCL they call the game Quest. OMG, I am so excited they have this on Disney now. We loved it.

Great report...thanks for the updates

 

[2angelsinheaven]

I'm such a dork, I just now figured out this multi-quote thing. Yipes!

Lovin' the update and videos Darlene, 80's night looks awesome, LOVED the Bon Jovi video, halarious, good for you getting the necklaces (mental note, never travel with Darlene and let her slip a glow necklace around my neck )
Lesley

Oh come on...lol The girls get to be The Go-Go's complete with towels only as their outfits...

What fun! Looking forward to hearing about Nassau!

It's coming soon, I promise.

On RCCL they call the game Quest. OMG, I am so excited they have this on Disney now. We loved it.

Great report...thanks for the updates

That game is the best, everyone get really creative, you'll have a blast!

I am loving your trip report! Now I'm even more excited for my cruise in May!!! Looking forward to more updates!

Thanks, I'm having fun writting it, it's there being there all over again, well almost, but it's fun sharing our photos/videos ask John he'll tell you I'm like a walking talking DCL commercial. You are going to have a great time when you sail DCL, it's like no other.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

After a long night at 80's night John and I had planned to sleep in on Nassau morning since we'd been there done that many times but John Sr and Sue had different plans. Remember that Savvy Shopper book they bought at Pipa's talk well they were on a mission and we were going to be the unwilling companions to the madness.

So, our 11am wake up turned into a 6:45am wake up. Even though I was not in the least interested in shopping I was going to make this fun. So I headed out to the balcony and snapped some photos of the sun starting to creep out on the open ocean.

And Nassau in the far off distance (that's Atlantis that you can see on the horizon).

Poor John looking pretty sleepy.

"Goodmorning" me being silly on the balcony.

Before we knew it we were turning around and pulling into the basin at the Port of Nassau, my Mom collects lighthouses and photos of lighthouses so I took it upon myself to try to get a perfect shot of the lighthouse there since on all of our other cruises to Nassau we had been on the other side of the ship and had missed the chance to take photos of it.

A few of my attemps...

And another shot of Atlantis which seems to be unconstruction.

By now everyone was ready and we headed down to breakfast. John and I were going to check out Triton's but due to the shopping mission we skipped it and headed to Parrot Cay for a quick breakfast. I knew what I was having lox on a bagel, biscuits and gravy, bacon, a chocolate crossaint....lol. Hey it's vacation I thought as my stomach replied "ahhhhh".

The buffet here has everything and anything you could think of for breakfast, they also have a really yummy oatmeal bar if you like that, fresh oatmeal with a whole selection of toppings like brown sugar, various dried fruits and nuts, etc. There is also an omelet station and a carving station.

We made quick work of breakfast and headed down to deck one to head out on our mission. We WILL get every free thing from that book or else...lol.

On the way down we ran into Alice who was looking for the White Rabbit.

And Captain Jack who was looking for gold and Davvy Jones.

They were both wonderful! We bid them farewell and headed out to the streets of Nassau. Our first stop was Parana Joe's.

It's your typical tourist trap but everything there has this wild looking like parana guy on it. We didn't buy anything here as we found out the "free" offer required buying something and so we passed.

I snapped a photo of this sign next to the shop...

I guess even in Nassau they are crazy about their Chinese buffets. Across the street is the Hard Rock Cafe, which in comparison to the one in Orlando is very very small. The shop is tiny as well but has a few pretty cool framed signed items, etc.

Ok Sue tells us it's time to get down to business and pulls out her shopping list.

John and I both breathe in deep, calm down I tell him it can't be all that bad. He takes a seat while Sue and John Sr collect their treasure.

After a while I interject that since we are going to be cruising the city all day why not explore the off beaten path and I'm really excited when everyone agrees. Yahoo! Some of you know I'm an aspiring photographer so I'm super happy at the chance to take some photos of the lesser traveled sections of town. So we head off on our new mission. Explore Nassau!

First thing I notice is this Daewoo I haven't seen a Daewoo in years and it had a Nassau tag so I snapped a photo. Typical tourist thing ya know.

To be countinued...

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Continued due to too many photos...

Next up was this beautiful church...

Which had a fence all around it so I snapped this one of the gardens through a hole in the fence.

And some shots of the inside of the church, it was really beautiful unlike the churches we are use to here with huge television screens and sound systems.

Once you leave the tourist areas the streets are really pretty lined with huge trees and the colors of the flowers and buildings are so bright, it's really nice.

Here is a photo of the bank, which was wrapped in barb wire. Yikes!

And the Government House, which is the official residence of the Governor General of Nassau, the statue in front is of Christopher Columbus.

There were tons of cars everywhere.

A one way street that was very busy.

And next to it, another beautiful church, I'd hate to see the traffic on Sundays.

We all thought this tree was gorgeous, sadly the fence under it was covered in grafiti, this was in the yard of the Government House.

This is the street that the house is on.

Another shot of some of the colorful houses in Nassau.

On our way back from our mini tour we hit a few more stores including Del Sol where John bought me some color changing nail polish, very very cool, and some color changing hair bands. There was a small store off the beaten path that sold DVD's of the movies still out in theatre for $5 but thinking this might not be a good idea we skipped it and headed back to the pier.

John Sr and Sue still had a few more stops on their list so we headed back and told them we would meet up with them later as it was getting really hot and the clouds looked like they would open up at any minute.

On our way back we got the normal, "hey lady can I braid your hair", "want a horse and carriage ride", "hey how about a scooter", I was hoping to hear "hey want to buy a coke a cola" but no luck...lol. We made our way back into the market that leads to the pier and picked up some Beanie candy, something we enjoyed our on first trip to the Bahamas. We picked up some from a small stand run by a nice lady who cooked them in her kitchen. It was nearing 1 so we headed back for some lunch but not before a few more pictures.

Some of the masks in the marketplace...

Yahoo almost back "home", the Disney Wonder in port.

And the tourist shot, this was new since our last visit so of course I made John stop and take a photo.

Isn't she just beautiful, such a pretty ship.

Up next, exploring the Disney Wonder...

 

[Jennifer48]

So in your opinion, do you think the Savvy Traveler book is a waste of money? I was reading about it trying to determine if I should pick one up on my next cruise. TIA! Enjoying your TR. I have to head over and read your surprise July 4th trip!

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Great Nassau pictures!! This is the day I'm worried about most on our trip. We just can't afford to go to Atlantis or do any excursions. Were the shops in the pictures within walking distance of the docks?

 

[timandlesley]

Darlene,

I love reading your TR, it is so fun and really puts me there along with you. Thanks for taking the time to write it, your BFF really appreciates it!!

Have a great night, I am on with 18F right now!!

Tim

 

[2angelsinheaven]

So in your opinion, do you think the Savvy Traveler book is a waste of money? I was reading about it trying to determine if I should pick one up on my next cruise.

In my personal opinion the real value would be if one was going to make large purchases anyhow since there are some coupons in there that work like cash towards your purchase and we were not going to do this. The good thing is if you buy it and then don't use it you can return it and get your $$$ back. Personally I thought the "free" gifts weren't really worth the $20 cost of the book. But check it out and if you don't like it you can always return it.

Great Nassau pictures!! This is the day I'm worried about most on our trip. We just can't afford to go to Atlantis or do any excursions. Were the shops in the pictures within walking distance of the docks?

Thank you! It's really a pretty town if you can get past the typical tourist areas. The shops are all within walking distance infact the Government House is only about two blocks behind the main strip. If your interested in Atlantis there are cabs that take you there for $2pp I believe outside of the Festival Marketplace. But you could fill a day up just walking around the town, we had lots of fun doing this.

Darlene, I love reading your TR, it is so fun and really puts me there along with you. Thanks for taking the time to write it, your BFF really appreciates it!! Have a great night, I am on with 18F right now!! Tim

Thanks BFF. I was hoping I wasn't drawing it out too much with too many details, etc. Glad your enjoying it. I work 18F last night so I just got up a bit ago. TTYS!

 

[2angelsinheaven]

After a long hot morning in Nassau both of us were excited to be back onboard the Wonder. We headed to Triton's for lunch, in three trips this would be a first for us. On the way to lunch we snapped some photos of Route 66 the adult's only area on deck 3.

The carpet is like a road map and hey they had my last name...see I knew this ship and I were meant to be...lol.

Some of the billboards on the walls in the hallways near the clubs.

And my favorite one...

And some of the incredible themed details of the area...

I love the top one...Lobby 46 feet.

And then we get to our destination, Triton's in the lobby.

We are seated at a nice table for just the two of us and are one of only about 4 couples in the place. Very nice!

I'm excited to see that they have sesame seed tuna on the menu for an appie, something I've been waiting to try forever but was scared off by the $20+ prices when I've seen it. So I ordered this, curried pumpkin soup with a lentil stick, a classic rueben and for desert a hot apple and pineapple crunch. John ordered shrimp cocktail, grilled talapia and a banana creme pie. The soup and tuna were perfect! John said his shrimp was really good but neither of us were thrilled with our main courses. That's ok because desert was great as usual.

While eating we both wondered where John Sr and Sue might be and joked up the shopping mission then John gets this sick look on his face and I give him the wink like "hey what's up?" he motions behind me and I turn to see John Sr and Sue enjoying their lunch right behind us. The waiter asks if we'd like to join them, we declined, after already spending a week before the cruise together and last night in the same room we needed some space. Whew close one. We quickly changed our conversation but told the waiter to tell them we would like to buy them a coke if they were interested...by the way cokes are free...lol.

We finished up our lunch and bid our waiter farewell and told John Sr and Sue we'd see them later. Both of us agreed that it was way too hot to do anything other than swim plus I wanted to try out my new camera pack for the water so we did exactly that!

We got our suits and headed up to the adult pool where we found an interesting game of Tarzan and Jane going on.

There were 3 Tarzans and one Jane, each Tarzan had to wrestle the alligator, swim through the obstacles aka hoola hops and brave the rapids of doom aka four ladies kicking up some water all while trying to gather up a handful of floating balls which were the treasure and end up back out of the pool and saving Jane. Needless to say we all got a great laugh from this!

Here is one of the Tarzan's wrestling the alligator...

The rapids of doom...

The winning Tarzan was crowned and the pool opened back up. The water was a bit warm we figured due to the new waterfalls coming off of the hot tubs into the pool that were installed during the drydock.

Our camera pack was working out great and the pictures seemed to be pretty clear so we tried some underwater as well.

John Sr. and Sue joined us a bit later.

And we snapped some photos of ourselves...lol

John had his sights on the hot tubs and once we saw one clear out we quickly jumped in. I never thought I'd want to sit in a hot tub when it was 90+ degrees outside but man it felt really good. I had my sights on a server but alas no one came around.

To be continued...

 

[2angelsinheaven]

So we went to the bar at the adult pool and Deki from Mascedonia made us two yummy Mojtos which became our drink of choice during the cruise. If you like Mojitos seek out Deki he makes the best!

John was getting hungry and since we were cruising he figured he'd go and grab some chicken strips and I asked him to bring me back some nachos while we was gone I finished up my drink.

When John came back he told me bad news, no more nachos and cheese by the pool anymore. Oh well. I didn't need them anyhow. However I thought we had never tried Goofy's Galley before we we headed there and I picked out a panini with ham I believe and garlic mayo, yum! They had a delicious selection of all kinds of fresh fruit as well and I snagged some huge strawberries and we headed to find a table at the back of the ship so we could take in a few last views of the port of Nassau.

John thankful he's on the Wonder and not that other ship.

The pier.

The Bahamian flag.

And then it started to get really windy and we could see the rain coming in on the horizon behind Atlantis.

John picking up the chairs that were being blown about the deck.

And some more Nassau shots.

A windy video of the Port of Nassau...



That's all for now, will post more tomorrow. Up next The Golden Mickey's are tonight and it's Pirate Time baby!

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Great!! Keep it coming

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Great!! Keep it coming

 

[nokidz]

enjoying the report, but none of the pics are showing up, unless they are all of a small red X

 

[2angelsinheaven]

enjoying the report, but none of the pics are showing up, unless they are all of a small red X

Very strange, have you tried to refresh and view the thread again? They are working for me, anyone else having the same issue?

 

[CapnJackGroupie]

enjoying the report, but none of the pics are showing up, unless they are all of a small red X

All the pics are showing up for me... hopefully you get to see them - they're awesome pictures -- and a LOT of them, which we all love.