Trip Report for Our B2SB Cruises - Completed!

[winotracy]

Steerage Bar = Leslie and Elaine's room. Complete with a blender! A lot cheaper to drink there

The Steerage Bar got its name because Leslie commented that they were in steerage because their cabin was on Deck 2. So the "bar" was named the Steerage Bar. It was fun to see the looks on the CMs faces when we said we were going to the Steerage Bar

 

[DenverVal]

Thanks for sharing this, more please!

Peter, the ring is beautiful! No wonder Jenn is excited

Tracy, you got another tag from the tag fairy?? Lucky you!

 

[winotracy]

Tracy, you got another tag from the tag fairy?? Lucky you!

Tonight I'll try to post more. Still got to write it

Yes, I got another tag! There must have been a spy in the kid's club that day My Mickey was pretty good, but not perfect...

 

[WeCantWait]

Where is the Steerage bar?





Thanks to Scott's stateroom host!!

This island had not seen a cruise ship in several month's
this guy was ready to Deal.
When he whipped out his little calculator, we thought he had made a mistake!
But I still said the price was to high and Got him to split the difference.

Great job T.


Here is the photo of me doing little teapot..
Jenn and I sat in the back of the room furthest away!
Professor decide to pick that person!

Wow! I have the same ring. It is my wedding band and I love it.

Loving the trip report Wino. We will be taking our first cruise 1/27.

 

[Hygiene99]

Thanks for sharing this, more please!

Peter, the ring is beautiful! No wonder Jenn is excited

Tracy, you got another tag from the tag fairy?? Lucky you!

TY DV....



I was Also excited, as we prchased a DVC add on of 150 SS Points.

Was an awesome Cruise!!

 

[winotracy]

Forgot to mention on Pirate Night Cheryl and Bob gave everyone at the table pirate goblets and we had Rosa Regale. We poured it in the hall so we wouldn't get charged for the corkage.

It's our last day at sea. I did wake up early so I got the laundry going. Then I started on the MouseAdventure. I went to Route 66 and started there. I wasn't sure about a couple answers but I guessed and I thought I figured it out. Then I went to find the rooms for the quiz. I ran into Bob (bobandlee) on Deck 2 and told him I was having a hard time figuring out where the clue was. He pulled the goofy magnet off the door and there it was! on the back of the magnet! I continued on with the hunt. After Deck 2, it took me to Deck 5 and Scott and Lynn's room. I wrote down the information (I needed to get my Mini Navigator to figure the answer) and started to leave. Just then, Scott and Lynn came out of their room. Scott immdiately searched his fish extender and door, trying to find out what I did. He then asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was working on the scavenger hunt and it took me to his room. We then discussed forming a team. We went and sat outside of the Buena Vista Theatre and went over our answers. Scott asked me if I knew who his Secret Mickey was and I lied. Later I acted dumbfounded and said "You think I'm your Secret Mickey, don't you? That's why you were acting so strange when you saw me outside your room". I don't know if he bought it.

The scavenger hunt was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! It took us all over the ship. We walked the halls looking for specific fish entenders. In between tasks I finished up my laundry. When Bill woke up, he joined us in Beach Blanket for breakfast. The hardest part was the paragraph that we had to decipher, but eventually, we figured out the pattern and in no time had the answer. The only question we had trouble with was the Route 66 question. So we all headed back down there and were working on it. I'm sure the Wonder crew had never seen so many people on Route 66 so early in the day! Just (seemingly) aimlessly walking back and forth! Captain Henry came out at one time and we stopped to chat with him. I should say, this was not unusual. We saw him all over the ship at least once a day. Once we figured out our answers, we were ready to turn it in. I said I'd take it to the drop off spot and checked my watch. It was already 11:30!!! We took our stuff back tot he room and then went to Parrot Cay for the DIS farewell luncheon. We talked to Stephen and explained that we turned in our answers and told him what we got on Route 66. He said it was wrong. I explained that the houseboat question was confusing because it asked for number of dolphins ON the houseboat and there weren't any on the houseboat, they were just in the picture. The MouseAdventure crew re-evaluated the questions and ended up giving credit for either answer. At the end of lunch we found out that Bev's daughter Lindsey was celebrating her 19th birthday so I talked to the head server and had him get a cake for her. All the DISers at lunch sang happy birthday to Lindsey.

After lunch was supposed to be the Secret Mickey reveal, but it got changed to 4:00 because of Ducky's presentation. I went to the pool instead. Bill joined Bob, Bob, Scott and Neal for more cigars and Scotch (the bourbon was gone by the time he got there LOL). The pianist for Susan Egan ended up joining the guys for a while. Captain Henry even stopped by and Bob (Webray) gave him a cigar. He turned down the offer of Scotch! I sat in the pool with Cheryl, Jenn, Linda and Peter and Adrienne and Tony stopped by to say hello. Before we knew it, it was time to change and get down to the reveal!! We all met in the Promenade Lounge. Scott and Lynn came too. Gail said she would pick someone and they would say who they are and then their Secret Mickey would say who they were. Then that persons Secret Mickey would reveal themself. She picked Laura first and I said "so we just say who we are if we are the Secret Mickey?" and Gail said yes so I said "Hi Laura!". She had figured it was probably me with my last gift. I was going to give it at the reveal, but decided not to. I gave her a little book on wine tasting since she said she didn't like wine but probably because she didn't know much about it. My Secret Mickey was Carol (Scrappy910). She did a great job!!! I got an inital bar of soap, Mickey soap, a journal and notepads with a Mickey pen, notepads saying "from the desk of Tracy", character clips, socks, wristbands and a towel... am I forgetting anything?

After everyone was done, Scott said they got gifts but didn't know who their Secret Mickey was and they weren't in the game. Peter revealed himself and we all confessed to our roles!! It was really funny! After the party, I sat and talked with Bob and Lee for a while, getting to know them a bit better. Finally we had to go because it was formal night and we needed to get ready. I met Bill back in the room and cleaned up. We were late for Disney Dreams, but that's ok, we didn't miss much. After the show, we went to Pub Quest. Tonight's event was cup stacking. Cheryl and I did the challenge and made it to the finals. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough in the finals and we lost.

After Pub Quest, we went to dinner at Animator's Palate. Tonight was Mickey Mouse Club night. We got pins that said Mickey Mouse Club and also said 11 night Southern Caribbean on them. After dinner we went to change and call it a night. Our towel animal was a puppy, so I put him on the floor in a corner. He looked so cute and stayed there until Wednesday night. I started to do a little packing. Mostly the gifts from the fish extender and stuff in the desk that I wouldn't use. As I was about to get into bed I noticed a piece of paper under our door. It was a certificate saying WE WON THE MOUSEADVENTURE!!!!!

 

[winotracy]

We woke up early and the sun was coming up. We were slowing down and figured we were close to Castaway Cay so we went up to Deck 10. As I rounded the corner and we saw an island in the distance, I said "Where is Scott with his GPS when you need him?". Just then, Scott came around the corner, GPS in hand! He confirmed that was Castaway Cay. It was interesting to see the island for the second time in a couple weeks and this time from the usual angle! We took many pictures of the sunrise and soon Lynn caught up with us. We moved to the front of the ship and watched as Castaway Cay became closer. After we docked, we met up with Peter and Jenn and had some breakfast then headed out to the island!

We stopped at Gil's to rent fins. Jenn and Peter got all their snorkeling equipment there. Then we hopped on the tram and went to Serenity Beach. Jenn decided to walk. We found Scott and Lynn and sat at the first bunch of chairs. We swam for a little bit with Lynn and then sat for a while in the sun. Jenn got to the beach and was going to walk down to the end. I said I would walk part way with her. I walked all the way to the end of where the chairs were and back. Jenn went all the way to the end. When I got back to the chairs, I was getting my snorkeling gear ready and noticed that one of the fins had a tear in the back. I didn't want to go all the way back to Gil's. Linda mentioned to go to the rental place by the adult beach. They don't have fins, but they could get it for me. I walked over there and the CM noticed what was wrong on my way there. I told her I needed a new one within an hour because we were going out as a group. She asked where I was on the beach and said she'd bring it to me. A little while later, she stopped over and said that another pair should be here shortly.

Once we were all ready, we got in the water with our gear and being led by Scott and followed on the back by Lynn, we swam two by two out to find the shipwreck. Scott had it on GPS. We were close to high tide when we left. The wreck was .534 miles from shore. That's why Bill and I got fins. We all did pretty good until we got past the bouys and breakwater, then the current started getting stronger. I was watching the bottom of the ocean and at times we didn't move, even though we were paddling hard. We kept drifting further away. Finally, Scott was getting close, about .1 mile away when a CM on a waverunner came and told us to get back in. The problem with this is that he stayed there to make sure we went back in. He would shut off his waverunner and then start it up. I would stop swimming to see if there was something coming close to me only to find it was him. He actually made it harder to get in. He waited until we were well within the buoys before leaving. Even after we got back in the buoys, it was still hard to swim. So unfortunately, we did not see the wreck. But it was a lot of fun!

We had checked the Navigator in the morning and there was two for one drinks at the Conched Out Bar from 1-2 so our goal was to be back by then. We were hungry so we ate at the adult beach. They had many more choices than usual there. Rotisserie chicken!! BBQ Ribs!! Steak sandwiches, Mahi mahi steaks, burgers, hot dogs. And a more permanent salad bar. It also looks like they cleared more area for more benches there. Hopefully they will put some sort of structure there for seating like they have at Cookies. It gets pretty hot in the sun there eating. But the improvements so far are great! We had heard the only difference between Cookies and this place (at least this week) was that Cookies had Garlic Bread. So we hopped the tram and went to Cookies. Let me tell you, the garlic bread was not worth it. It was flat bread with a little garlic on it. Not worth the special trip. But the good news was that it was still before 2:00!! So we each got two drinks and sat down to drink for a bit. Peter and Jenn went to the family beach. We saw Michelle and she said they expected more people to eat at the adult beach, but that didn't happen. That's why they had so many choices there this week.

Bill and I did a little shopping and then we went back to the ship. I always look at the schedule and think why can't we spend more time at Castaway Cay, but only once have I been rushing back at the last minute. We are usually so exhausted we are glad to go back. We love the island, but it wears us out LOL!! We continued packing when we got back. I realized that since one of our bags ripped we wouldn't have enough space so I needed another bag. I went to the shops as soon as we were underway and picked up a piece of luggage and a couple other things. We went back to our cabin and finished packing. The only thing left to do was to put our dinner clothes in the luggage after dinner. We decided to skip the show. We went to Pub Quest early and turned in our points. We posed for pictures with Rich. He just goofed around so we ended up taking 4-5 pictures. Once Pub Quest started we found the final event to be weird! Rich drew a squiggle line on the paper and we had to make it into something in 5 or 10 minutes. He collected all our points and then said the winners would be announced at 10:45 at the Pub Night. None of our team were late night people so this would be interesting.

Dinner was in Parrot Cay. We handed out tips and watched the servers parade around the room to "It's a Small World". After dinner we went back to our room and changed into the clothes we were going to wear the next day, then put the rest of our stuff in the luggage, tagged it and went to put it out in the hall. Here again was a reason we were glad to be across from the crew elevator area. We opened our door and propped it open with one of the pieces of luggage while we got the rest. A CM came over and took all of our luggage right away and put it in the room by the elevators rather than out in the hall. We then rushed down to Diversions.

The room was packed!! We got a seat by Bob and Cheryl kind of in back. After a few skits and discussions, Landlord Rich got up and talked about Pub Quest. He explained what it was all about and said how much fun this cruise was with everyone. Then he called out the third place team, who's name escapes me. Then they called out the second place team, the Philly Peppers - This was Julie's (Chessa) team. And first place was the Cheese Curds!!! Yes that was our team, Tracy, Bill, Bob and Cheryl! We won laptop bags. This was really cool! Of course, to end Pub Night the cruise staff did the skit, If I Were Not Upon the Sea! Rich was the undertaker and Hollywood was the ballerina! We again were laughing so hard! After Pub Night was over, we said goodbye to Rich. We promised him we would send him pictures and keep in touch.

We went into the Atrium and found Stephen and Vicki. We collected some of the pixie dust in the Atrium. Stephen asked jokingly if he could have one of the laptop bags so I gave him one! We didn't need two (my laptop wouldn't fit in it) so why not?! We then called it a night and went to bed.

 

[winotracy]

We got up early again, but this was actually because we left the curtains open and we arrived at port. The lights from port came in the window and woke me up. We ended up getting up shortly after that. We got dressed and ready to leave the cabin. I went up on deck and got a Diet Coke and some coffee for Bill. Once we were all ready to go, we went down to Deck 3 and checked e-mail one last time. Once I was done, I let Bill check his since there was still about 60 minutes left on the package. I saw Marsha and Tommy and stopped to chat with them. Soon it was time to go into breakfast. Table 23 had it's last meal together. After breakfast we said goodbye to our servers and our friends that we wouldn't see at WDW. We hugged and then left. We pretty much walked off the ship. We again found Michael in the terminal and he helped with our luggage. Soon we were waiting on the curb for Avis to come get us. We saw Celeste and Robb and Noah and said goodbye to them.

Some general observations of the two cruises:

Captain Henry was great!! He was out and about on the ship many times over the course of the cruise.

I really liked the Beach Blanket Buffet and I thought the Quiet Cove pool were nicer on the Wonder. Other than that, I liked the Magic better. I liked that in Topsiders they alternate Oatmeal, Grits and Cream of Wheat. I forgot to mention I really like Cream of Wheat and they never had it in BBB. I mentioned this to Michele our head server and the next time she was in BBB when I was there, she got some for me! She had to go to Tritons to get it. Apparently in BBB they only have Oatmeal and Grits.

It was nice seeing familiar officers on the Wonder. I did not like Palo as well on the Wonder. Most of that has to do with familiarity.

Would I go on the Wonder again? Yes, if they had longer cruises again or if I had a specific purpose. I don't think I would plan to go on a three or four night cruise though for a vacation.

I am glad we did the 7 day before the 11 day, mainly because we knew many of the people we were cruising with while with the 7 day the DISer group really wasn't active so we thought we would just be taking it easy. I think going on the 7 night first made the time so much slower. After 11 days, I don't know if I would have been as excited to do a 7 day. This way I had a great time on both cruises!

 

[winotracy]

After we got the car, we drove to Celebration. This was Bill and my first visit there. What a nice community! We were going to look at model homes, but they didn't have any to look at, just condos. We drove by Disney Cruise Lines and joked about stopping in to let them know what we thought about the cruise.

We left Celebration and went to check in to the Beach Club. Peter and Jenn put us up in a studio there. Our rooms were not ready so we dropped off our luggage and took the bus over to Animal Kingdom. We wanted to ride on Expedition Everest. We also went on the safari and got the stamp I needed for VMK. We stopped and had some lunch and then went back to the Beach Club. I didn't bring the right luggage in and Bill did not have a swimsuit. He opted to take a nap and I went to the pool with Peter and Jenn. We swam and sat in the hot tub for a while. We ordered a drink and the server was from MA! He picked on me because I ordered one for Bill. He was wondering if Bill was just my imaginary friend.

After our swim, we went to see Kim and Bette (Bettemom) in their new home. We had spaghetti for dinner there and took a walk around the neighborhood. Then we went over to Leslie's Mouse House to pick up some of my stuff. We walked over to the nearby pond to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Soon after that, we went back to the Beach Club for the night.

The next morning we needed to get up early and head over to Sarasota Springs because Peter and Jenn needed to sign their new DVC contract. We went with them so that we could all go to Magic Kingdom together. We waited while they were in signing papers. I think we made the DVC people nervous because everyone kept coming to see if we were ok. After they were done, we got a ride to Magic Kingdom, armed with VIP fastpasses. We went to VMK Central and got our in park quests. We then went to Pirates, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion and then had some lunch. After lunch we did a little shopping and headed out to the monorail.

I mentioned to Peter that it would be cool to ride up in front. He asked and we got to!! It was so cool to ride in the front of the monorail! I took some cool pictures of the rail as we approached it. We all got co-pilot licenses after we got out at Epcot.

We tried to go to Turtle Talk with Crush, but the line was too long so we skipped it. After walking around a bit, Bill and Peter decided to go on Test Track. Jenn and I went to the Food & Wine Headquarters to shop. We ran into Marsha, Regina, Tom and Gary. We chatted with them for a bit and then went to find the guys. We started to walk around the world and stopped in Mexico for a margarita. The lines that we thought about going in were too long and by the time we got to the International Gateway, we were torn -- go on to Greece for dessert wine or go back to the Beach Club and go to pool. The pool won out because it was so hot!

We went and swam and then floated around the lazy river. We ordered another drink, this time our server could see Bill and know he wasn't my imaginary friend LOL. After our swim, we got ready for dinner. We had PS at Artist Point in Wilderness Lodge. We drove over there because we needed to be back by 8:00. Dinner was pretty good -- the sauces were good and everything else, but my steak was overdone. It wasn't horrible, but it could have been so much better. Still we had a great time!

After dinner we left the guys to pay the bill and Jenn and I checked out the gift shop. We got the car and while I was waiting for Jenn to get Peter and Bill, we ran into Regina, Marsha, Gary and Tom again

We all drove back over to the Beach Club. When we got there, we went and got the wine, champagne, glasses and snacks and went out to the dock to meet Marsha, Regina, Gary and Tom. We were joining them for an Illuminations Cruise in honor of Gary's birthday! This was our first cruise and while it was not as nice as the three previous weeks ships it was a lot of fun!! We had Captain Ron for our sailing. He was very funny and made the cruise even more enjoyable. The fireworks from the boat were so cool!! That was a great way to see them! After the cruise we just sat in the Beach Club lobby and talked for a long time. Finally it was time to call it a night so we said our goodbyes.

The next morning we walked over to the Boardwalk Bakery and then headed out to the airport. It was a very long day and we were both so exhausted by the time we got home that we were in bed by 8:00!

This was a fabulous vacation!! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Was I ready to come home? Definitely! We missed our family and our parakeet Carson. Now that we're home for a couple weeks, we can't wait to go again!

Can't wait to see Bob and Cheryl in no time!

 

[DenverVal]

Thanks Tracy! It was nice to read about your sunny warm looooooong vacation - distracted me from the three inches of snow that fell today!

 

[seaulater]

Great trip report Tracy!

I got teary eyed reading about the "rainbow". I saw that rainbow and think we might have gotten a picture.

On the snorkeling on CC with Scott and Lynn I have dubbed it "the snorkeling to nowhere" trip!

Now, we just need to do a reunion cruise!

 

[curlybop]

Thanks so much for taking time to write out such a detailed report! I have really enjoyed reading all about your cruises.

 

[Disney Sweetie]

Loved the report Tracy.....Brought back many happy memories of my 1st cruise ever....the best 11 nights I have had on a vacation in a long time. Hope we can meet up with everyone again for another fun filled cruise!!!!

Pam

 

[mississaugamom]

Thanks for the rest of the report, Tracy!

Congrats on winning the Scavenger Hunt AND Pub Quest!

Arlene

 

[winotracy]

Thanks Arlene.

I almost forgot to add that on our third day at sea on the 11 night cruise, we saw a huge pod of dolphins!! There had to be a dozen or more. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me