Glad you've returned! Your dessert buffet pic from Palo has me thinking we may have to do dinner AND brunch!
Thanks! Oh, the brunch is wonderful! I highly recommend it. Anytime there is a post in which someone asks, "Brunch or Dinner at Palo?" I can never help on that one... impossible to choose. For $20/person it's an amazing experience: good food, wonderful service, and of course, incredible view.
And now, back to our adventure...
When we last left off, I had explained just how you end up booking a cruise one month prior to sailing, with no prior clue you were going. (Not recommended for obsessive compulsive planners!)
It was a reality:
It's official! We are going to spend a week on the Wonder for our anniversary!
So, there we were: 30 days until we were to depart on the Disney Wonder for seven days and nights in the Mexican Riviera. Let me emphasize that: 30 days until departure.
I read all the time posts about booking this and that at 75 days out. Questions about Palo and excursions and.... Allow me to tell you, it's all possible. Even booking 30 days out. (Of course your cruise and mileage may vary, but it can be done.)
I'm not really sure if anyone wants too much of the pre-trip, yeah, all 30 days, details, but in short, the sudden list-making began. Highlights? Well...
- Can our fabulous friends watch our pup (our precious "child" who means the universe to us) while we're gone?
- DH has to confirm his vacation time - this one becomes important! - which was pre-approved
- Palo - brunch, dinner, any day, any time (We are talking 30 days out here!)
- Spa?
- Excursions (oh, yeah, wait, we aren't getting off the ship, umm, yeah, that was the plan....)
- Uh oh, street sweeping takes place that week! What do we do with the car???
- Stateroom selection - Do we like it? - Becomes a HUGE item!
- How are we getting to and from the port?
- AHHH! We're leaving on a cruise in 30 days!!!
Now I don't know how everyone else plans their vacations, but here's how we operate. We each have roles, and we know them well.
Me: I am the planner, the reservation-maker, the researcher, the one who talks to people
DH: He is sort of the approval committee, not in terms of "yes" or "no," but more in the sense of "I don't wanna" or "That sounds great!" He also keeps us on budget. Translation: I find fun and exciting ways to spend money and he figures out if we can spend the money I have planned to spend.
Together, we make it happen.
The key about this cruise: DVC points. There is not a lot of extra money in our pockets at the moment. We aren't doing any excursions. We are cruising on points. We are within driving distance of the Port, so no air fare and no overnight pre-cruise hotel. It's a cruise with very little actual money allocated to it. And we can pull it off.
Thank you DVC points.
Now, one very important element in play on this trip: my mobility. Due to a foot injury from which I was still recovering, my mobility is a bit limited. Stairs are VERY difficult. Speed is impossible. I can only be on my feet for a short time. "Why on earth would you book a cruise, then?" Well, fair question. And our thought on that was as follows: If you are sitting at home on your couch watching TV and staying off your foot, you can be sitting in the Buena Vista theatre on the Disney Wonder watching a musical production and staying off your foot.
If you can walk from the car to a restaurant to sit and eat dinner, you can walk from a stateroom to a dining room to sit and eat a dinner.
If you can..., well, you get the idea. This was a huge factor in our trip. And a reason we wanted to select our stateroom very specifically... ummm, 30 days prior to sailing.
After staring and studying a map of the Wonder, we had to decide: Be near all of the adult areas or be near most of the dining areas. Or, be in the middle of the ship, not really super close to anything, but not far from anything either.
We opted for being near the adult areas, in a stateroom about 10 doors away from an elevator. Not perfect, but for an outside stateroom, given our options, it was pretty good. But somewhere in the back of my head... it wasn't quite where I wanted to be. So the next morning, I'm staring at the Wonder's floor plans and available staterooms and wondering what bothers me about our stateroom we picked. Deep inside I really want a verandah. We just didn't have the points for it. DH wanted to get an inside room (less points) and I wanted a verandah, so our outside stateroom was our compromise, but I really love taking pictures from the verandah, looking out at the ocean while we are cruising. While staring at the ship layout, I remind myself: You're on the ship! The rest is details. Of course, as we all know, the details matter. Even when we convince ourselves, or try to, that it's all okay....
And as I am trying to remind myself of that fact, DH calls from the office. He just got out of a meeting. With his boss. His boss who mentioned a big meeting that will be taking place in about four weeks. A meeting that he must be at. That he will be presenting at. An important meeting. Ummm....
I ask him what exactly that means. He tells me he needs to talk to his boss after lunch and he'll keep me posted. Uh.... okay. I'll just try not to panic that our trip we just booked yesterday is completely in jeopardy now.....
So, I don't know what you do when you aren't panicking, but I make vacation plans! One of the first things on DH's wish list: Palo. Dinner, brunch, both. He doesn't ask for much, does he? (Did I mention 30 days out?) We agree that it's only $40 (plus tip) per meal for the two of us, it's our anniversary cruise, we would go out to dinner to celebrate if we were at home, so... it is completely affordable. So, the checking begins. If need be, for the next 30 days, I will check online 3x a day for a Palo available spot. And I begin while finding something to do to not panic. Nothing. Nothing. Checking, checking.... What can I say? It's DH's number one "wish" for our cruise. Checking...
I'm going to jump ahead a few days here. I checked and checked and checked for days.
And then one day, after a week of checking, there is was: A spot. Dinner. The very first night of the cruise. I triple blink at the screen.
AH! That's an open ressie for Palo! CLICK!!! And
we have a dinner reservation at Palo! It's a good day!
I call DH at work. I ask him, so... if you could have anything you want for dessert tonight, what would it be? He tells me, "I don't know. Carrot cake?"
What am I going to do with him? He is clearly not thinking cruise and, let's face it, how can he be thinking about anything else. I don't care if he is at work, buried, trying to get things done, we leave in three weeks on a cruise and it should be the only thing on his mind, right? Who's with me???
So I say, "How about a chocolate souffle?" DH: "That would be good." Me: "Well, how about for dinner in Palo in say, three weeks?" Then it hits him! The realization that we are going to be eating in Palo in the near future.
He says, "Cool." (Translation: "Cool" is my DH's way of saying, "That's awesome!" "Fantastic!" "YAY!" After 20 years together, I know that "Cool," is sheer excitement. He knows Palo dinner is in our future and is excited. Like I said, it's a good day.
)
Okay, back to the day after we booked... After looking at then-non-available Palo reservations, I decide to continue my not-panicking effort by taking a quick peek at the excursions being offered. Then I remind myself, "We aren't getting off the ship. It's a vacation onboard the ship. No excursions." I make a mental note to check out the current safety situation in Cabo San Lucas. Just, you know, to look.
And I go back to making checklists while pretending not to panic about DH and his work. Hey I know! Let's check Palo again.
Yeah, 30 days. What in the world were we thinking?
Up Next: Seriously, though, what are we going to do if we aren't getting of the ship?
Oh and seriously, what are we going to do if his boss says he has to be there? Really. Seriously.
Until next time...
Dreams
Glad to hear it sounds like you had an awesome trip! Can't wait to hear the rest.
)
I hope you have a great time with everyone!
You are going to LOVE the Wonder!Come back to us!
