We put the DYS in Functional, Completing our ABC’s

[jenseib]

Unfortunately I didn't get my way . At first we (my parents and I) were considering the final Alaskan sailing this year and I had a hold on it. But my mom decided it was just too hard to figure it all out and it would mean my sister couldn't come because her school had started again (she's in law school). Despite my sister saying over and over and over she doesn't ever want to cruise, once we started to seriously consider things, she had serious FOMO..

Bummer! But to make you feel better, the last sailing is not always ideal because many of the companies have left for the year, so you have less choices of things to do.

So instead we are doing the first Alaskan sailing next year. It worked into our schedules best, despite the September sailings being soooo much cheaper!

That will be fun! It is hard to get everyone on the same time table. Believe me, when we do family trips it's so hard to get people to commit.

Mom did throw out the idea of doing one of the Mexico Riveria cruises this fall, but once she saw costs of the Alaskan for 2 rooms, she decided against that too.

I wouldn't mind one of those. Maybe you can get some friends to go with you?

At least I will be on the Fantasy by myself for SWDAS in a year!

My goal.....I need to do a Star Wars one.

Where are you planning for March?

It's a mystery right now!!! But I will let you all in on the secret next week.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Oh Jen what a rough start to the trip. I sure hope now that you're on the ship it's smooth sailing from here on out.

 

[jenseib]

Oh Jen what a rough start to the trip. I sure hope now that you're on the ship it's smooth sailing from here on out.

It really did go well once we got in the ship. I was worried that fate would step in and just make the whole thing a mess.

 

[jenseib]

I continued my picture taking journey.


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My goal was to try and get as many pics around the ship in the first few days and then not worry so much about it. I did OK, but I am sure I missed a ton.


Here is a not so great picture of the light fixture.


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I found all the artwork and took a look at it for a few minutes. They always have such cool stuff.


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I stopped off and looked out the Port hole and took a few pics.


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The fueling barge was starting to pull away and I watched that a bit.


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The Dawn across the way. One of the ships our Uber driver tried to deliver us to.


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I think at some point I went out to Deck 4.


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Our bags had started to arrive, so we went to do some unpacking. J messaged us to come to the Concierge Lounge as she was up there with T and her husband D. So the 3 of us headed that way and they snuck us in. The lounge is really nice. We all sat at around and chatted for a bit.


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[Camonkeygirl]

Hi Jen,

If March involves San Diego, let me know. I can give you some insight as I live there.

 

[jenseib]

Hi Jen,

If March involves San Diego, let me know. I can give you some insight as I live there.

No, but that would be a fun destination too.

 

[jenseib]

It was just about time for the Muster Drill and I was getting antsy about being on time. They all kept telling me not to worry and not to go till the last minute. I still was not at ease and finally I said we had to go as I felt guilty and we could see that most people were no longer at the pools or on deck. ….well I should have listened to them. We were not the last and we still had to wait quite a bit before it started. Oh well.


Today we were on deck 4 for our drill. We listened to the instructions and then after it was over, we went off on our merry way.

We eventually made our way up to the top to watch us sail away.


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We found PT’s family and hung with them. M had gone to do something and then joined us as well.


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There were a lot of small planes coming and going on that small airstrip.


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We now were approaching the fort, which I was excited to sale by and of course took a zillion pics.


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We heard J holler at us.


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She was up in the concierge area.


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She wanted us to come there with them, so we made our way there.

 

[WDW Fan]

Great pictures around the ship Jenn! How nice that you got to spend time in the Concierge lounge area!

 

[jenseib]

Great pictures around the ship Jenn! How nice that you got to spend time in the Concierge lounge area!

It was pretty cool to be able to see it.

 

[jenseib]

We snuck up to the concierge outdoor deck and it was nice to watch us sail away from there. I was surprised how most people do not go out here or use the lounge much at all.


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What a beautiful sail away.


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Yeah I really liked this fort and this probably only 2/3rds of what I took.


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And we got further and further away.


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Good bye Puerto Rico! We will see you in a week! ……….


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MK called his family at home to say goodbye and J and I went off to chat a bit. I don’t even remember what it was, but you can see nosey Claire trying to see why we were talking without her.


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It wasn’t anything secretive, but Claire said the T said to M….ooooh they must be sharing secrets. Hahaha.


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This was just a beautiful sail away and I was so excited to spend some time with my friends too.


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So we all just chilled out and talked and enjoyed the afternoon.


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And then we got a picture of the 3 of us.


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And J and Mk got one on the lounger too, but they have goofy faces since I caught them mid-sentence…so I won’t share.


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I think PT and family left after a bit to get ready for the evening and we all went inside for a little bit.


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Claire really needed a shower though, so we headed back to the room to get ready for the evening show.

 

[bcwife76]

What a gorgeous sail away! And bonus, getting to do it from the concierge sundeck! I appreciate these photos, we will be on the Wonder again in 2 weeks and sailing concierge for the first (only?? lol) time so I'm getting excited for what's to come.

And look at you, sneaking in a ticker...teehee. Disneyland for spring break, woohoo!!

 

[WDW Fan]

What an absolutely beautiful sail away! It's weird how people that have access to the concierge area weren't using it more. Looking forward to hearing about your first evening together on the ship!

 

[jenseib]

hat a gorgeous sail away! And bonus, getting to do it from the concierge sundeck! I appreciate these photos, we will be on the Wonder again in 2 weeks and sailing concierge for the first (only?? lol) time so I'm getting excited for what's to come.

How exciting! The lounge was really nice, but I never found it very crowded. I didn't go in too often, but when I did not many others were ever there.

And look at you, sneaking in a ticker...teehee. Disneyland for spring break, woohoo!!

I decided last night to sneak it in and see if anyone noticed! It's a "do-over" trip. We are excited. Sadly I think the castle is under a scrim when we go, so Claire won't be able to see the real thing, but we have a lot of fun things planned, so she should still have a good time. We have had the fly running through the house, so hopefully that is out of our systems by next week.

What an absolutely beautiful sail away! It's weird how people that the concierge area wasn't more crowded. Looking forward to hearing about your first evening together on the ship!

I know, I thought the same thing. I guess it's just not for everyone and they want to do the ships activities.

 

[lizzyb]

You got some great pictures of San Juan during sailaway!

 

[bcwife76]

Yes unfortunately the castle will be covered til early May I believe (we will be there the last weekend of March after our cruise).

I know you meant 'flu' but I had an image of this one HUGE fly chasing you all over the house Hope everyone is feeling better now! It's been a long cold winter and we're all ready for some fun in the sun and healthy times!

 

[Lesley Wake]

If you want to meet up at Disneyland, let me know! I’m a local and head there pretty often!

 

[chamberlain]

We really enjoyed sailing out of San Juan. El Morro was so pretty. We were so glad that we switched to second dining so we could stay on deck as long as we wanted.

 

[jenseib]

You got some great pictures of San Juan during sailaway!

It really was a pretty sail away.

Yes unfortunately the castle will be covered til early May I believe (we will be there the last weekend of March after our cruise)

It's such a bummer, but I guess a reason to go back, right? We'll probably just miss you then. I have a couple of friends going this week too that I will miss.

I know you meant 'flu' but I had an image of this one HUGE fly chasing you all over the house Hope everyone is feeling better now! It's been a long cold winter and we're all ready for some fun in the sun and healthy times!

LOL...oops typo! But in the summer we do get huge flies chasing us. hahaha.
We seem to be doing better now, but last night I fell down some steps and I thought for sure I broke my ankle. It hurt so bad and puffed all up. I got it x-rayed and it's not, thank goodness. Hopefully it will be healed up fairly good by next week.

If you want to meet up at Disneyland, let me know! I’m a local and head there pretty often!

OK
We are pretty busy at this point, so I have to see how the first day goes. I started with 5 park days planned but right now we will probably only have 1 half day when we arrive and 2 other full days with me going in an hour or 2 on 2 other days. When Skip goes with us, things never go as planned. My best friend lives in CA and the only major demand I made was to meet up with her one evening.

We really enjoyed sailing out of San Juan. El Morro was so pretty. We were so glad that we switched to second dining so we could stay on deck as long as we wanted.

I am wanting to sail out of San Juan again. We really enjoyed the ports we visited and San Juan too.
I always prefer late dining.

 

[jenseib]

Tonight’s show was juggler, Josh Casey. I really wasn’t too excited to go see him, but what the heck.


We met up with PT’s family and sat with them. I believe M joined us too. She really was like another daughter to me this trip. She did a lot of things with us and she gets along so well with Claire and me too.


The show was just OK. He didn’t do many impressive things and there seemed to be more talking than juggling. I am glad I saw it, but I have no need to see him again.


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We had a little time till dinner and I think Claire and M went off a bit.


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I sat down and talked to some people. I would talk to some of these people off and on throughout the cruise and they were all very nice.


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There was a dance party going on. I was terrible at looking at the Navigator to see what activities were going on, so I am not sure what this was called.


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It looked like a lot of fun and it was cute with the characters dancing with everyone.


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I had to run to the room for some reason or other. I think we sat around and chatted for a bit.


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Then it was time for dinner, so we scooted back up towards the atrium where the party was still going on.


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I posted this picture online the next day and my friend Cass replied something like “I spy the Dis team”.


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I had no clue what she meant till later on. The 2 guys in the background, top right of the picture, are writers for the Dis. I ended up talking to the guy in gray much later in the cruise. I really need to check out and see if he wrote one of the articles he was talking about writing.


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Time to head to Tiana’s!

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Cute plates!


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I wasn’t very good about taking menu pics, but I did get one tonight.


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We met our servers and found out Krash was our head server! Yay!


Our server, Potchara,was great…fantastic. Our assistant server, Renato,…..not so much. I don’t remember either actually introducing themselves, so I don’t know if they had nick names or not. In my head I call Potchara “Poncho”. LOL!



From our table, we had a lovely view of the….pole! Really a sucky view! So sadly we couldn’t tell what was going on on the stage.

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[jenseib]

I am terrible with remembering the names of what I had, and I am too lazy to search online. So I will just show pictures.


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I usually order a Caesar salad most nights, even though it’s not on the menu.


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Tiana and Louis do come around. They perform a bit on stage and then make the rounds. Sadly because we were so far back and the view was less than stellar, I am not sure what actually went on on stage.


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The stop at the table is very quick and they never seemed to ask who we wanted the picture with. I am not sure if they will automatically go up to the younger kids if you have them. Claire was the youngest and they never went to her.


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I decided to be clever and when Louis walked by behind me, I was going to snap a selfie. He saw and made a stop.


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J caught a picture of me doing it.


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Tiana visited with M.


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Our main course came out. I believe tonight, Claire and I got the same thing.


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Look how cute the placemats are.


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Claire is not much on eating desserts, so she got nothing.


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I tried a few things.


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I debated on getting the signature dessert, but it is with bananas and I just don’t like anything with banana flavoring. PT got it, so I took a pic.


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It actually didn’t look like it had much banana at all and I think I could have eaten around them.


Our servers were very nice, but Renato was very slow. We got one round of drinks and then he disappeared. This became a theme. He was easily thrown off too. Luckily Poncho was really good and he did his job and many of the things Renato was supposed to do as well. Some nights, he was refilling our drinks too.


After dinner was over, we all rolled out. We wanted to go to the adult show, which meant Claire headed back to the room. This is the part I do feel bad about when cruising with her. She won’t go to the clubs, so she stays in the room at night. The Wonder doesn’t appear to have the same choices of movies on TV like the new ships do, so she couldn’t watch different movies nightly.


Usually we would arrive at Azure to watch or participate in whatever activity they had going on and then watch the show after that. Jo was our club host. At first I wasn’t too sure about her. It didn’t take long and I took a liking to her. She was a lot of fun.


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Tonight it was M and I, Z, PT and F, and T and D also joined us.

I don’t think I mentioned this before, but T and D were in one of the Royal Suites, which is why they had access to the Concierge Lounge. They usually ordered room service from Palo and didn’t come out too often.


The first game was Intuition…and I can’t remember much about it now…only that we all played along and had fun.


Then it was a comedian, Maryellen Hooper. She was very funny and a lot of fun! We did a lot of laughing.


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After the show, we said good byes and good nights. I went upstairs and talked with a few people I had now gotten to know and then got some drinks for Claire and I and then headed back to the room.


Our towel animal for tonight.


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M came back to the room to change her clothes and then she was going to hang out with her friend who works for DCL. He’s actually a DJ and a super nice guy.


Claire did do some wining because she had to come to the room while the rest of us went out. I am so sorry, but there was nothing I could do to speed up 4 more years for her. Also on that note, Claire has had opportunities on more than one cruise to get to know other kids prior to sailing, this one included. She texts or chats on Instagram, but she refuses to hang out with them once on the ship. So if she really wanted to do something at night, she could hang out with these kids.


We watched a little TV and then closed the curtain off to M’s side but left a light on so that she could find her way in later when she came in. The first couple of nights, Claire would worry that M came in late. I told Claire that M is an adult and it’s not bothering either of us if she is out late. It’s her cruise too and if she wants to hang with her friends late, she surely can. I think Claire was thinking I was M’s mom this week, so I should make her have a curfew. Hahaha.