Updated Video Rocky Seas Wonder March 22-26th 09 !

[tinkmom2]

Hey everyone I just wanted to let you know I posted a video on YouTube of my vacation(link is at the bottom with my signature). There are some new pics there! I had to limit it to 10 minutes but will try to make another one soon!

We are back from a long day of air ports and air planes and just plain exhausted! Let me introduce myself first! Traveling were my DH, DD 3, DD 9, and myself. This was our first ever cruise on the Wonder or ever! We had 6618 AFT which is a room with a veranda. The view alone paid for the room! It had a split bath with a toilet and sink and one and a shower and sink in the other. I much rather would have had one larger bathroom because it was very hard to move around in. We were right by the elevators but never heard any noise. We were on a 4 day Wonder!

We got there by the skin of our teeth on 3/22. Disney booked our air. We didn't get to the ship and into our room until almost 3:30pm. We hadn't eaten anything all day because we had to take two flights. So we called to order room service and they said they couldn't send anything out because of the Muster drill. What to do? We were acting like a bunch of crazed maniacs! Room Service called back and said they would deliver it and had it there in about 5 minutes! We had to pile the food in and were still eating when they made the announcement for the drill!

It sprinkled on us on the way to port but we had no idea what was in store for us. Warning! all you first timers. You will be on a "MOVING" ship! I felt like we were in the scene in "Pirates:At World's End" when Jack is trying to turn the ship over. I couldn't even walk a straight line down the hall. I brought some Dramamine but that didn't work so I went down to the Medical Center at deck one and got some pills for free that lasted 12 hours.

After the muster drill we went to the sail away party. We were only able to meet a few of our fellow Dis board members and met a few more when they were dropping off FE gifts. We were all so busy!

The sail away party was very crowded and it was hard for my DD's to see even though we had a screen to look at. We were on deck 10. We didn't stay for the whole thing. We were all exhausted because of the long day of travel!

The boat took us out of port. This was the first time I have ever seen the ocean and I was in awe!

Dinner for the first night was at Triton's located in the main atrium. It was awesome! Our Servers were Ganesh from India and Idiko from Hungary who took care of all our beverages and set up the table for the next course. I ordered escargot. They were delicious! It was covered in bread crumbs and butter. My main course was duck. Also very good! DD had lobster pasta and DH had steak. My dd 3 had mac and cheese and fries.

The boat rocked all night and we hardly slept. My motion sickness pills finally kicked in and I got some sleep. Our second day was Nassau. We woke up just in time to see the ship coming into port. We have never been to another country before and this was quite an experience!
The next morning they had a meet and greet in the atrium with the Princesses. Claire got to meet her favorite, Cinderella!
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Bear with me I am still figuring out how to post pics! More later after I rest lol!

 

[26555]

Any trouble docking at CC with the rough seas? Glad you had a good time despite the rocking.

 

[tinkmom2]

When we got to Castaway we were able to dock just fine. It was a bit windy though!

 

[tinkmom2]

I forgot to say too that on the first night we saw "The Golden Mickey's. The performers are really wonderful! Tarzan was HOT! Also Christopher whom is the greeter for the Walt Disney Theater (among other things) was so great with Claire. Here is a pic of them. He is from the UK and I loved his accent!

Our second day was Nassau. We ate breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet and it was excellent. We were the first ones there that morning. After breakfast got Claire dressed in her Cinderella dress and headed down to the atrium for some pictures. I have to say the Shutter's photogs are excellent. We originally planned on not buying anything but ended up buying 2x$20 pics and 3 smaller ones at $9.00 so we spent around the package price and got the photos we wanted. You can also take your own pictures with the characters which we did too!

We have never been able to meet with the characters in the parks except for character breakfasts so this was nice. Cinderella actually took the time to talk to Claire.

They are comparing dresses here!

We changed her back into normal clothes and then headed off to Nassau. Right when you get off the boat you are greeted by tour guides. Then you get into the building which has shops and you can grab a taxi there or a ferry to Atlantis. We chose to walk around and were asked every few feet if we wanted our hair braided. We found one lady who said she would put a hair wrap in my daughters' hair for $20.00 we decided to wait and another lady wanted to charge us $40.00. We talked her down to $20 only to find out we could have gotten it done for about $5.00 on the ship.

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We went back to the ship and dropped off Claire in Flounders and Cassie in her program at the Oceaneer's Club. My DH and I headed off to Atlantis. It was $8.00 and dropped us off right at the door. The ride reminded me a bit of that suffari ride at AK. It was bumpy!
Atlantis is beautiful. I took a few pics of the glass sculptures. They are blown glass just like the one in the atrium of the Wonder.

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We lost $40.00 at the Casino. We bought some soda and water to put in our cooler at the boat and asked our stateroom host Alex for some ice. It kept the cooler nice and cold all week! We headed back to pick up the kids and headed to "Race to Witch Mountain" and off to Animator's for dinner!

I will write more later!

 

[tinkmom2]

On to our dinner at Animator's. The room lighting up to music was neat to see. My favorite part of the whole night was desert!

Our next day was Castaway Day! We got up to see the ship pull into port. It was more beautiful than I imagined!

We were one of the first ones to get off the boat and the beach looked perfect and untouched.

I was also very excited to see the Dutchman!

We went to meek Captain Jack at the meeting place on Castaway and were told he would be right back. However he never came back. A group of about 20 families including us were waiting. We went to complain to customer service as soon as we got back. Around 4 I was taking a nap in our stateroom and heard a nock on the door. It was a personal invite to meet Captain Jack with a bandanna around it. We were the second ones in line later that evening and got a nice photo with him. This Captain Jack was excellent! We got a 8x10 of that one. I will have to see if I can find someone to scan it for me...

Back to the island! My Claire 3, headed to the water right away. We got a nice chair and an umbrella. I made sure to put sun block on everyone but forgot about Claire's ears. Also when she got out of the water she developed a rash. She was the only one whom got it. It looked like little red pin pricks. We thought it might be a sun allergy. When we got back to the room we gave her some benedryl only to find out she's allergic to benedryl. She broke out in huge red patches.

The water was really cold at first but we put on some snorkel gear we rented and looked around for a bit. I couldn't get over getting the sea water down my snorkel so I didn't see any of the stuff that is farther out. I did see a few fish though. I found it almost impossible to walk in those flippers!

We ate lunch Castaway day at Cooke's. I had the ribs and tabbouli salad. There was also a fresh fruit stand with tropical fruit on it. However the mango's weren't ripe. I am doing Weight Watchers and am happy to report I didn't gain any weight on this cruise. There were plenty of food options for me and lots of walking!

Near Cooke's there was also a soft serve ice cream stand where we were sitting. And a native bird decided to join us on our table for lunch.

We bought a bucket for Claire to play with on the island and bought some souvies too.

We went back to the boat and rested for a few hours before we met Jack Sparrow.

More later!

 

[anetnmike]

wow! sounds like you have had an adventure already! have you made a list of things you'd like to do differently for your next cruise yet?
I always do that the minute I get back!
your pictures are beautiful-especially of CC and dessert!!!
good for you for not gaining weight!! those desserts looked yummy!

 

[tinkmom2]

Hi,
Yep! There is so much we didn't do! The big think is I am booking my own air! We cut it really close getting there. There was only one other family waiting to check in at port! I wanted to go to the cooking demo and just missed the galley tour. I want to spend more time at the pool and some of our excursions were canceled so I want to do those next time. All in all our days were so full we didn't miss them! On our bounceback cruise I am sure time will fly too so we have to have a game plan going in! I think the reason I didn't gain weight was all the walking! We had the FE gifts to deliver plus walked a ton in port at Castaway and Nassau too!
Chris

 

[tinkmom2]

Our third night was "Pirate Night!" we had all been looking forward to this one! We used Cassie and Claire's Halloween costumes and my dh and I bought some shirts on Nassau. I opted for a black shirt and the bandanna I got from Captain Jack. We got some cool necklaces from Shirley at theperfectgift in our gift basket we ordered and wore those.
Here is a pic of Claire and a Pirate Christopher brought to us!

Our dinner was a AP once again but they only did the pirate thing not the whole light up thing that we saw the day before. Our servers we decked out too!

This is what my hubby wore:

You can kinda see what I wore here:

We wore each night what was comfortable and didn't feel out of place once. Also my DH is a meat and potatoes guy and he was able to order what he wanted. He surprised me and ate some new things too!
This is the Pearls of the Caribbean

Find the hidden Mickey lol!
Off the special pirate menu I had two things which I really didn't care for. The crab cakes were ok but underseasoned and the main course was the treasure of the seas grilled shrimp and scallops. Ganesh our server came to the table and cut the shrimp away from the shell for me. But the shrimp were dry. He also brought out his suggestion the macadamia nut-dusted Mahi Mahi and it was excellent! I ended up eating all of that and ditching my dish!
We opted not to have any dessert and headed up to deck 9 for the Pirate Party!

We were all pretty wiped out by this time. Claire my 3 year old and I danced for a bit and I decided to take her back to our room. She was upset that we had to leave but I thought we could watch it on tv. However it wasn't on. We waited for the fireworks to be over and my DH and DD brought us two plates full of cakes! We gorged ourselves and went off to bed!

One of the things my DH and I enjoyed doing was when we woke up at night to go and sit out on the verandah. We got to see another cruise ship and a Russian ship too! It was neat to see the stars as clear as day! We don't get that much in the the city!

Our next day was our day at sea!

 

[anetnmike]

Hi Chris!
Our bounceback is the Nov.12 cuise. I don't know if you can get down here to Chicago but Air Tran is pretty reasonable, leaves out of Midway. The key is to leave the day before.Come on down and sail away with us!
Still loving your trip report-it's a welcome mental vacation!
Annette

 

[Kurby]

how was the meet and greet with Cinderella in the morning.

we are thinking about having dd meet her then instead of later in the afternoon.

was it busy or would you suggest the afternoon meet and greet?

 

[tinkmom2]

We got there about 15-20 minutes early in the mornings and were about 5th in line. It went pretty smoothly. There was Peter Pan and Wendy, Cinderella, and Snow White. Each took the time to talk to Claire. They were only taking photos at that time and no autographs. The DCL photogs took a lot of great pics. It was hard to decide!
We did mostly morning meets because time wise that worked out best for us. The key is being early. Just be sure to check the Navigator or the main atrium for times. There were several we didn't do like the tropical Mickey and Minnie. Just be sure to remember your camera. We had to run back to our room a few times lol!

 

[tinkmom2]

Hi Chris!
Our bounceback is the Nov.12 cuise. I don't know if you can get down here to Chicago but Air Tran is pretty reasonable, leaves out of Midway. The key is to leave the day before.Come on down and sail away with us!
Still loving your trip report-it's a welcome mental vacation!
Annette

Thanks! I am not too sure about Midway. I heard it's a zoo lol! So far I found Delta to be pretty reasonable. We used to fly Midwest from here in Milwaukee.
I tried on DCL to see what the land and sea would be for us at the Poly. We originally wanted to stay at Pop. Rates are about $30-$40 more during November.
I guess I have to wait until April 6th to see if the coupon works! DCL did say I could book early but there will be blackout dates. So I don't know what to do!

 

[tinkmom2]

Our last day was at sea. Cassie my oldest has only spent about 2 hours in the Oceneer's Lab but decided to give it another try. That was the last we saw of her until around 5pm lol! Claire absoultly loved Flounders. Once when I went to pick her up she was sitting on Matildas'(a lady that works there) lap. She was saying goodbye to other clients. Claire said "Goodbye customers!"
I found it so cute they had their own little helper. *they do not feed your children in Flounders so make sure to take them to breakfast or lunch!
Cassie was taken to eat at Oceener's though.

They also had visitors at Flounder's like Stitch, Sport Goofy, and Mickey! We had booked about 8 hours nursery time and she never wanted to leave. She made us a beautiful handprint certificate and we also got a "Little Einstein" dvd for free.

My DH and I headed to the Adult pool for some R&R. There are two little hot tubs. They shut off and turn on in their own. The pool was supposed to be under 5 feet but I could only touch my toes to the bottom.

We only had two hours to relax. Originally I had planned spa time but wanted to curb expenses so I cancelled before our cruise. I wanted to do the Rasul but it was booked. I ordered a drink and was able to relax a bit on deck though

I took some time to myself too and went to play bingo in the Walt Disney Theater. It was the final ship jackpot. I bought 36 electronic cards at a whopping $70.00/6 games. The final jackpot was around $3,500.00 and went to a man and his two sons.

I took a few minutes to check my email. It's .75/minute. Our cell phones didn't work throughout our vacation and I had to touch base with my brother whom was housesitting for us. I spent a bit under $9.00 on that.

After that I went back up to the room and ordered room service. I had the steak sandwhich and fries along with a nice salad. DH had the turkey sandwhich, and Claire had her usual Mac and Cheese. I bought some soda in Nassau so I was set. You can get lemonade for free from room service so I ordered several each time.

We took Cassie out of Oceneer's for a bit because she was going back in for our Palo time at 7. She had a graduation which I am sad I missed and came back with a T-shirt marking the occassion.

My DH and Cassie then went to check out some souvies and Claire and I took a nap. Naps are essential! There is too much for everyone to do each day. Plus the nights go on forever! This is so much to do for everyone. My DD didn't touch her Nintendo DS once the whole trip!

The kids were in their own programs and DH and I got changed to go to Palo's. I forgot to wear my earrings and necklace I brought with me! I had a cape and was glad I did because it was a bit chilly. We got there about 15 minutes early and were taken right away. Our server was Judy from Barbados. She was very attentive and even took a pic of us.

It is a bit blurry though lol! We got to see the sunset. We had a window table and each had a glass of Asti. I am glad I didn't buy the wine package because the way my stomach was throughout the cruise I would have wasted it. Plus we already had a bottle of rum in our luggage.

After talking to us for a bit Judy asked us if we had ever seen "Dreams?" We hadn't so she made sure to get our food out on time. First came the bread course. Followed by our own personal pizzas. I had a mushroom and cheese while Pat had the ham pizza. We each ordered the filet with two kinds of sauce and I had the pumkin gnochhi.

Dessert was the best thing of the whole night. Our souflees were so so but the "Chocolate Indulgence" I couldn't stop eating it!
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It was about 7:50pm. I rushed to Flounder's to get Claire. Pat went to get Cassie. We made a mad dash to the Walt Disney Theater and were able to get to the show with about 5 minutes to spare!

It is hard for me to say what was my favorite show. I really loved "Toy Story" All of the shows are like mini broadway shows. Each character looks just like they are supposed to and everyone is doing their own singing. Plus there were even snow, bubbles, and fireworks durings a few acts.

My only dissappointment was we weren't able to eat at Parrot Cay.

More later

 

[tinkmom2]

Back to our final night! We ran back to our staterooms after "Dreams" to pack our last minute stuff. Our luggage had to be outside by 11:00pm. There was the final goodbye from all the cast and characters so we hurried and ran down. By the time we got there there was a huge crowd.

We were able to take pictures and those who wanted it could get autographs.

Mickey and Minnie and the cast all lined the stairs and Ray our Cruise Director said some words and Mickey and Minnie and all the characters waived goodbye. Donald was trying to ask the Ariel Statue out which I thought was cute!

We headed back to the stateroom and headed off to bed. I woke up a few times because the boat was rocking so badly back and forth. My DH Pat woke up around 3 vomitting and had montezumas. I had to find my clothes in the dark and run down to the medical ctr. where I was able to get some imodium and free motion sickness pills. We thought it was just sea sickness. A consultation with the ships nurse, I was instructed to keep him hydrated.

So for he and I it was no sleep from 3am on. The bathroom is really tiny so he had to squeeze himself in there to throw up.
By 7 I had the kids awake and dressed and we went to Beach Blanket Buffet. Our room was AFT so we only needed to take the AFT elevators up. I also learned there is no roomservice on the last morn.

After the buffet we headed off to debark the ship and customs. We had to pay the $30.00 for our luggage for the airlines, show our passports at customs, hand in the declaration page, and we were off to our bus for MCO.

We got to the airport in a hour and had about 3 hours to wait for our flight. My DH still wasn't feeling good. So the kids and I headed to the Disney Store and shopped. I ended up buying some Mickey Mouse placemats, earrings for Claire, and some souvies.

On to airport security. I have to say it was much better since they added the family lane. We zipped through to our plane and sat and sat and sat.
This is the main reason why I am going to book our own air next time! It was too much for my 3 year old to handle plus I had a sick hubby. I don't know how he got sick because you are wiping your hands with wipes everywhere you go on the ship.

Two planes later we get to our home airport and find our luggage intact. I had a huge liter of rum which was fine. They did inspect our smaller bag. I am sure all of our FE gifts looked weird.

Then we get home and all the fun starts. DH is feeling better but throughout the night all of us become ill. I had a fever but no vomitting thankfully! Both Claire and Cassie had vomitting.

I email DCL and let them know about the problem but got one of those blanket letters taking about we could have picked up the flu from anywhere. I explained my DH was sick on the boat....

Anyway it didn't ruin our experience. We all had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back for our Bounceback in November.!We are going to go see the VMCP and lights around Disney. We took over 200 pictures and have some video but no sound. Can't wait to go back!

 

[anut4disney]

Also my DH is a meat and potatoes guy and he was able to order what he wanted. He surprised me and ate some new things too!

I always wonder about this because my hubby is also a meat and potatoes guy. Nothing fancy for him.

 

[anetnmike]

Wow, kind of a wicked ending to your vacation. I'm glad it didn't dampen your spirits! SO you are all ready for November with a list of what to do and what not to do and what you'd like to try next Excellent! Armed with all this knowledege the next cruise should be a breeze!
I am never sure I feel completely prepared but I always have fun reading what has worked (or not) for others and getting new ideas.

 

[tinkmom2]

Hiya,
I am soooo excited to be going during the X Mas season since we always go to WDW during Easter. We plan on going to the VMCP too which should be awesome! I am a planner so I have a bunch of stuff lined up I want to do but most of all I want to RELAX this time! I want to spend more time alone with my DH and just sitting by the pool! With only a 3 dayer I am sure by the time we are unpacked we will have to pack again lol! I picked early dinner this time too so I am not sure how excursions will work into that?

I am going to be donating stem cells in a few weeks so I am glad to be healthy and back on track!

 

[anetnmike]

early excursions I imagineWhat excursions are you interested in doing?
Are you early risers? I am not by natrue (seriously!!) But when I am on the ship I can't stay in bed. I just want to walk around and absorb all of the atmosphere. I actually got up and took sunrise pictures of CC!! My DH about fell over from shock when he saw them!(shocked that I was up early!) They were breathtaking pictures. I can't wait to go back!
We had early dinner and actually liked it better. We don't really like eating dinner late at night.
I just love your daughter's princess pictures! You will get to see WDW all decorated for the Christmas season too-that will be beautiful!
Glad you are feeling better.
My prayers for your stem cell donation. I hope everything goes well with that.

 

[tinkmom2]

we originally had the dolphin encounter in Nassau and the glass bottom boat tour on Castaway. The glass bottom was canceled anyway because of weather. I though I heard the Dolphin encounter left around 9 and came back around 3. If we don't do that I might book a room at Atlantis and stay one less day at WDW. I think we saw most of Nassau anyway.

Thanks for your prayers! My donation day is the 14th but I won't know how the recipient is doing for up to 6 months...that's what's going to bug me

I was almost more excited to see the Princesses than my daughters lol
I think the 8:15 seating was too late for us! My 3 year old is like an energizer bunny and didn't want to settle down! I also don't like having that food sitting in my belly so close to bed time. Maybe the first dinner seating will be better?

P.S. I missed sunrise but I have incredible video of a sunset!

 

[anetnmike]

We liked the dolphins excursion in Cozumel on our 7 day cruise. The boys still talk about it. People from our last cruise who booked the room at Atlantis said they really liked it.We did the stingrays at CC in Feb. For the bounceback DH and I are going to snorkel. I don't know if we can talk DS9 into it tho. We also don't care for food on our tummies that late
I know what you mean about Princesses!
If I wouldn't look like such a huge dork I would love to dress up as Snow White and take picture with her.