The We Are Family HalloWonder 2013 Trip Report

[CatDenver]

It's the day after our family 7 night cruise to the Bahamas and my head and heart are still there even though I'm home in Colorado looking at fall leaves to be raked. It was a fantastic trip, to say the very least. I called my pre-trip report the Yours, Mine, and Ours Mystery Tour but this is the We Are Family HalloWonder trip because the family moments we had were outstanding. I love that the siblings don't refer to each other as step this or half that. It's simply my brother or my sister.

There was so much fun to be had on this trip. Booking the 2 bedroom suite was the right thing to do as it was great having the living & dining rooms as well as the verandah to congregate as a family.

We sailed the Wonder out of Galveston on October 26. This was a first DCL cruise for all of us and the only experienced cruisers were Kalen and Nicole who sailed a Carnival Mexican Riviera cruise for their honeymoon two years ago. Our itinerary was embark at Galveston, a sea day, Key West, Castaway Cay, Nassau, two sea days, and Galveston again. Sailing with us was me, my husband BJ, his son Patrick (33), my daughter Nicole (32), her husband Kalen (28), our son Michael (12), and our daughter Catie (9).

Nicole and I were the main photographers on this trip and we're still working on consolidating pictures. We have them on our two phones, my iPad, Michael's iPad, and my digital camera. Lesson learned...it's easier to use one photo taking device. Also, I need to get a really nice digital camera for the next trip. .

As I report I'll include lessons learned comments that perhaps may be useful to other first time cruisers. I'll start gathering my thoughts as I try to go all the way back to when we landed in Houston and headed for Galveston. Climb on board and enjoy the ride!

Getting to Galveston

 

[ukintheus]

I'm in! So glad to see you are doing a trip report. Looking forward to hearing all about it.

 

[CatDenver]

I'm in! So glad to see you are doing a trip report. Looking forward to hearing all about it.

Thanks! I didn't realize how much work an actual trip report would be compared to a pre-trip report but I know I'll be glad I did it.

 

[CatDenver]

Saturday was our sail date so I had scheduled Friday to be our travel day to Galveston. I scheduled our flight for 5:45 am, though United kept changing the take off time to 5:53 am and then back to 5:45 am. It didn't matter. We ended up getting to the airport an hour before and were stuck in security for 45 minutes. TSA had one agent for the numerous hoards waiting to get through. It was awful. Needless to say, by the time we got to the gate the plane was gone. Someone tipped us to another flight leaving for Houston in 30 minutes so we along with a couple other people who also missed the plane ran to that gate. It turns out that flight was full. The United customer service rep was able to get us on a 11:20 flight out. She was a true God send. It was quite the challenge finding 5 open seats on a Friday since most of the flights were overbooked but she did it. The flight would get us to Houston around 3ish. Thank God there are like a dozen flights a day between Denver and Houston.

In the meantime, Nicole and Kalen were on a red eye from LA to Houston through Spirit. Though it took off 90 minutes late, they still made it in around 6am. They were supposed to be on the DCL transport with us when we got there but DCL made a mistake, in a good way, and their driver was waiting for them. He took them to the Hotel Galvez where they assumed they’d have to wait in the lobby until check in. Instead the hotel allowed them to check into one of the two rooms we had reserved. So they were able to get settled, take a nap, then grab some breakfast at Miller’s Seawall Grill. It turns out that not only are they a great seafood restaurant but they have a wonderful breakfast too. Kalen spoke highly of their breakfast burrito. Afterwards, they laid out at the pool.

Meanwhile, back at the DIA ranch we were on iPads reading and playing games or wandering the shops in the airport. Anything to kill the 3 hours we waited. The time went quickly and before we knew it we were on the plane to Houston. It was a great flight though we all had center seats. They were located in Economy Plus so we the leg room was very spacious and didn’t feel cramped at all. Michael sat between two United pilots who were both heading home for a break. They were so great chatting with him and answering his questions about flying planes and other such topics. One had a son Michael’s age and he had recently taken them on a Disney cruise so they chatted quite a bit about the cruise.


Once we got to Houston as we were headed towards baggage claim, one of our DIS members, Craig was there to greet us. He recognized us from pictures on Facebook and was able to greet us right away. It was a pleasant surprise. He directed us to where our luggage was stored since it arrived a few hours before us and then introduced us to our DCL greeter who would take us to our transportation. I made a pit stop in the ladies room and heard a beautiful British accent say, “Are you Catherine?” It was another DISer!

We finally made it to the hotel which was absolutely beautiful! My one regret was that by getting in so late we were not able to see much of Galveston. After a delectable dinner at Miller’s which was right next door from the hotel we went to the poolside meet and greet. We met a lot of our DISers but we had been up since 3am and were so exhausted. It was nice to see our cruise mascot Gold Mickey making the rounds but we were dog tired. So we went to bed, very anxious to get on the ship. I was not going to be at ease until we heard our names announced.

Gold Mickey and his handler, Blake meeting two of the HalloWonder kids

By the way, we had dinner and breakfast at Miller’s. What an excellent restaurant. There’s a ton of food though so you need to make sure you’re really hungry when you go, which we were since we skipped lunch. David was our server and was fabulous! You must have the gumbo if you go. It’s some of the best I’ve ever tasted! For breakfast I would also recommend the French toast. It was very good!

Gumbo at Miller's

Shrimp and Fries at Miller's

BJ and Michael walking to the Hotel Galvez from Miller's

A few words about the Hotel Galvez……….excellent hotel with great service. The staff was wonderful and made check in so quick and easy. They gave us our directions for how transportation to the port would work so we were set. I had read the rooms were small and I assume that must vary. We had a king bed, in ours, which was very comfortable, and lots of floor space which we called the dance floor. We were cranking music from one of the iPads and holding our own little dance party. Our room was adjoined to the second room that had two queen beds. It was a bit tighter than the first room but not as bad as I had read on some of the reviews. The pool area was beautiful and though we didn’t get to fully enjoy it, Nicole and Kalen did and spoke very highly of it.

Hotel Galvez as seen from the seawall

Some lessons learned:
1. Never assume security checks will only take 15 minutes, regardless of past experience. For a trip like this we cut it too close and didn’t have buffer time for anything that could go wrong.

2. When cruising I will always plan on flying in the day before. That was a good decision and I am thankful we did.

3. Taking the week off from work was the right thing to do. I was able to get everything packed and organized so I didn’t feel rushed getting things ready. The only thing I felt rushed on were FE’s but more on that later.

4. I really liked staying in such a beautiful hotel but since the main point of our trip was the cruise, next time we’ll stay in a cheaper hotel. If Galveston was our final destination I would definitely stay at the Hotel Galvez again. It’s highly unlikely we’ll cruise out of Galveston again but if we did I’d stay closer to the port.

5. I’ll get into the packing for this trip later but we had so much luggage it was ridiculous! That was due mostly to the fact we had pirate costumes, Halloween costumes, and formal attire. The FE gifts added another bag and a half of stuff. FE was a great deal of fun and I’m glad I did it but I doubt we’ll do it again.

At the end of the day, we were thrilled to be together again since we had not seen Nicole and Kalen since January. It was a wonderful family reunion in Galveston in spite of the rocky start. I was reminded once again how blessed I am to have such a wonderful and fun family.

 

[hurleysweety]

Great start! Loved meeting you guys on the cruise and getting the chance to see your beautiful suite (and verandah, WOW!). So glad you are doing a trip report - I don't have the time to do one, but I'll be here reading yours for sure!

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[jedijill]

neighbor! Who would have thought security would be that bad at DIA that early in the morning?? I will continue to renew my Clear pass. Glad they got you on another flight.

Jill in CO

 

[CatDenver]

neighbor! Who would have thought security would be that bad at DIA that early in the morning?? I will continue to renew my Clear pass. Glad they got you on another flight.

Jill in CO

It was a surprise to me, Jill. I typically take a 6am flight when going to San Francisco for work and it's never been more than a 5 minute wait.

 

[CatDenver]

Great start! Loved meeting you guys on the cruise and getting the chance to see your beautiful suite (and verandah, WOW!). So glad you are doing a trip report - I don't have the time to do one, but I'll be here reading yours for sure!

Julie, it was so great meeting you and Blake! I'm glad you could stop by but sorry you couldn't partake in the Happy Hour with us.

I'm trying to get this done before I go back to work on Wednesday. Otherwise it will take me 6 months to finish.

 

[ukintheus]

Wow, what a start to your trip! The Galvez is beautiful, but as you said, it's pricey for a quick overnight trip before a cruise. Glad that at least some of your travel group got to experience some of it's amenities.

Trip reports do take some time to organize but I love reading them! It's so interesting to see through other people's eyes.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Great start. Looking forward to hearing all about the cruise.

 

[CatDenver]

My report is slowed down a bit by 1) a nasty cold that has me zapped of any energy and 2) still collecting pictures between my daughter and I and getting them to our SmugMug account. More info to come though!

Oh yes, and a bit of the cruise blues too. Wishing we were back on the ship!

 

[ukintheus]

My report is slowed down a bit by 1) a nasty cold that has me zapped of any energy and 2) still collecting pictures between my daughter and I and getting them to our SmugMug account. More info to come though!

Oh yes, and a bit of the cruise blues too. Wishing we were back on the ship!

Hope you feel better soon. The post-cruise blues are no fun, it's such a harsh reality check when you realize it's all over.

 

[UCFGrad01]

It was a surprise to me, Jill. I typically take a 6am flight when going to San Francisco for work and it's never been more than a 5 minute wait.

It was unusually horrible the day before your flight too. I flew out Thursday at around the same time in the morning and waited about 40 min in line. It's almost never like that! I don't think I've ever waited more than 15 minutes before that day. I'm sorry to hear you hit a busy day too.

 

[CatDenver]

Hope you feel better soon. The post-cruise blues are no fun, it's such a harsh reality check when you realize it's all over.

That is so true, especially when it comes to preparing dinner. The first night back my husband and I looked at each other like, "When is Nadia bringing our dinner?"

Being sick isn't fun but some of my cruise mates are far worse off than I. Just hoping it doesn't linger forever!

 

[CatDenver]

It was unusually horrible the day before your flight too. I flew out Thursday at around the same time in the morning and waited about 40 min in line. It's almost never like that! I don't think I've ever waited more than 15 minutes before that day. I'm sorry to hear you hit a busy day too.

I wish I had thought to take a picture because I would have loved to send it to TCA and ask them what the %#* were they thinking having one agent for an overflow of travelers.

 

[CatDenver]

After so many months of planning, waiting, and anticipating the day to board the Wonder had finally arrived. I had hoped to rise early and watch her come in but with the craziness of the day before I didn't awaken until 7am and she was already in port based on the pictures posted in our Facebook group. After breakfast at Miller’s next door (their French toast is soooo good!), we walked back to the hotel to check out and take the shuttle to the port.

Because we were concierge our PAT was whenever we showed up but when we had checked into the hotel the night before the earliest shuttle time available was 11am, which worked out great. It was about a 5 minute ride to the port and the first ship I saw was the infamous Carnival Triumph, referenced by many as the poop ship. As much as I've traveled this was my first time seeing a cruise ship up close and I was astounded by her size. However, I quickly looked for MY ship, the Wonder. There she was in all her splendor with her black hull, golden yellow lifeboats, and signature red funnels with the white Mickey ears. I will confess without shame that I had tears in my eyes and it was all I could do to keep from crying.

The port of Galveston is not very appealing but I didn't care because i just wanted to get on board!

Once inside we were quickly whisked through Security and led to the red carpet where we checked in. The process was pretty quick and we had our Keys to the World, ready to get on board.

I was also given an envelope with our two last names, Miller and Thompson on it and an emblem, two crossed keys with Mickey ears on them that I later learned was symbolic of concierge. Inside was an invitation to a Welcome Aboard reception in the Cadillac Lounge. It indicated that we would meet our concierge team and also have the opportunity to make or change any reservations we had. I held onto it like it was gold as we waited for the boarding to begin. I looked around the terminal hoping to see some of our DIS group friends and was happy to see a few of them. It’s funny to see people whom I've never met in person and yet know who they are, a few things about their family, and be able to carry on a quick conversation as if we were old friends. That's been the great part about the DIS and FB.

After the introduction of the family of the day, who boarded first, boarding in general began. It was probably around 11:45 am. We were fortunate to be the third family on board and let me tell you, if anyone had taken a picture of me it would have captured the look of awe I felt as we walked through the gangway towards the entrance. You would have thought I’d run to get inside the ship as quickly as possible but I wanted to savor the moment of seeing the exterior of the ship in all her greatness. The two older boys made an arch way with their arms, making me feel like the queen entering her castle. LOL

My daughter captured our actual entrance on video which I love to replay to recall that feeling because hearing them introduce our family and the applause of the crew was so awesome. You can see in the video all of us just looking around the atrium, again in awe of her beauty. Immediately one of the crew came up to greet us and let us know our stateroom would be ready at 1:30 pm. I asked for directions to the Cadillac Lounge and he kindly directed us to Route 66 where we could follow the path to the lounge. We were taking pictures and sitting in the port holes as we made our way there. We were all so giddy with joy!

Once we entered the Cadillac Lounge our eyes were drawn to the buffet of food and drink set before us then the amazing bar with its Cadillac look. The buffet had a wonderful selection of fruit, sandwiches, cheeses, shrimp and virgin Bloody Mary mix in shot glasses, and little pastries.

We were greeted by Rodrigo one of the concierge team staff who invited us to partake of the goodies and sit down and have a cocktail or two. A wait staff member came over and took our drink orders. We settled in, still awestruck by all we were experiencing. Catie found the first hidden Mickey in the mural behind us. I have a picture of it but can’t find where I posted it.

As we sat talking and taking pictures, the concierge assigned to us, Lynda, came up and greeted us. She carefully went through our names to understand who was who in our party and after that she always knew each of us by name. She gave us a folder and went through the benefits we would enjoy as concierge and also reviewed our itinerary of scheduled events. It was our opportunity to add or make changes to reservations and excursions but we pretty much stayed with what we had. She was a very warm and welcoming person and we quickly learned that she too had come from a large family. We knew we’d get along with her just fine. After reviewing everything she left us to enjoy the moment. We were all surprised at how few people there were in the lounge knowing that there are approximately 22 concierge rooms. After about 20 minutes, my DH and I decided to take the younger kids to check out the kids clubs and get DD her wrist band for checking in and out of the Oceaneers Club. We still had some time before our stateroom would be ready. The older kids chose to hang out in the Cadillac Lounge and enjoy the goodies.

Lessons Learned
1. If you can, have someone video your entrance to the ship because it’s one of my favorite memories and being able to watch it periodically is a nice little escape.
2. Boarding was a very quick and easy process and nothing comes to mind of what we would do differently. We chose not to hit the pool like many do and I don’t think we’ll change that with any future cruises. We’re of the attitude we can swim any time but exploring the ship and just being on deck is the top priority.

It’s about time to start the work day and take a shot of Dayquil so I’ll end here. The next topic will be about when we saw our 2 bedroom suite for the first time. Talk about acting like kids on Christmas morning! I’m afraid our reactions were not refined at all!

 

[SeattleSuz]

Great TR so far! Can't wait to read more! Feel better soon!

 

[jedijill]

Off to a great start! I would love to sail concierge someday just for the shear pampering.

Hope you feel better soon!

Jill in CO

 

[dcassetta]

Enjoying reading your report, and sorry to hear that you fell ill. Me too, there must of been a bug going around.

Thea