Wonder - 10/26/03

[Cruisin' Susan]

We really enjoyed our October 26, 2003, 4 day Disney Wonder cruise.

We are: Me, 41, love Disney, have wanted to go on a Disney cruise for a long time, since back when there was only the Big Red Boat;
DH: 40, likes Disney movies but not too excited about the theme parks; has never wanted to cruise; needed a little (OK, a lot) of convincing
DD: 11 and DS: 8
First cruise for all of us.

Embarking: I had everyone ready for a long wait, but it was really smooth and not much of a wait at all. There were little tables set up for filling out your documents, and the people at these tables pre-checked your documents before you got in another line for the person who gave you your key to the world. BTW, we arrived at the dock around 11:30 AM.

1st day: Lunch: DH, who had absolutely no expectations about the cruise or the food, thought the lunch buffet was great. Totally relaxing - - a nice start to the cruise. We were told to go to Parrot Cay, and later we heard people being directed to the buffet on Deck 9.

Palos ressie: I got there 10 minutes early and it paid off because the line got long behind me. I chose the last night, definitely the most popular. Wanted 8 PM but was told that was gone but 7:30 PM turned out fine, as that was Golden Mickeys night; the first show ends around 7:15.

Dinner: Tritons, beautiful restaurant; try the deep fried camembert; DH ordered it, shared with DD and me, and we all three loved it.

Show: Hercules. Everybody liked it; DH said it was his favorite, but wasn’t the favorite of anybody else in the family. I got to the theatre about 20 minutes early but it wasn’t as necessary as it was on the Disney Dreams or Golden Mickeys nights.

2nd day: Nassau: I had made a reservation at Comfort Suites to have access to Atlantis (another great Dis board tip). Room rate was $112 and with taxes and fees was about $140. Taxi there and back was a van that was $4 per person. Safe, comfortable, no wait, no hassle.

Comfort Suites is across the street from Atlantis. Atlantis is big and there’s no signs that really tell you where to go, but we walked through the lobby and casino to the outside and eventually found the kiosk where they give you towels and a wrist band that lets you use the pools. My family loved the day at Atlantis. I thought they would because they love water slides and they love mega-resorts. We did the slides and pools for a few hours, then had lunch (hamburgers, fries and sodas for 4, $30). After lunch, we went to the beach. The surf there is definitely too rough for small children (the only small child swimming was a two year old who was in her Daddy’s arms but crying anyway), but my kids, who love waves, liked it. You definitely need to watch your kids closely, but if you go past where the waves are breaking the water is beautiful --at least, it was the day we were there. There were lots of people swimming and I was glad there were lifeguards too. We bought coconut drinks from a vendor (with rum for the adults), and after we finished the drink, the kids took their coconuts back to the guy for him to cut it up so they could eat off the coconut. They loved watching him use his knife. We also went through the aquarium and enjoyed that, especially a touch tank were there was a really good guide explaining a lot about the animals.

Show: Disney Dreams. This was my favorite. Don’t miss it; very well done, my kids were on the edge of their seats. I swear I saw a tear from DH’s eyes at the end, but he denied it – said his eyes were watering because they were irritated. Hm . . . .

 

[Cruisin' Susan]

3rd day: Castaway Cay: We had made a 10:30 AM reservation for the banana boat ride. I know that doesn’t sound all that early, but the night before there was a late party on deck nine and . . . well, trying to be on the island for that 10:30 reservation was probably about the most stressful thing on the trip. I kept telling the kids to “hurry up or you’ll miss the banana boat”. They didn’t even know what a banana boat was, so they really didn’t care if they missed it. We finally got to the right place at around 10:35, only to watch the 10:30 ride take off without us, but it wasn’t a problem. They let us go on the next one. Kids loved the banana boat, so next time I say “hurry up or you’ll miss the banana boat,” they might even listen.

I skipped the boat ride and found us a nice place to settle down instead. Somehow, found a beautiful, shady and secluded place with several hammocks – even though most people had gotten off the ship before us. Probably the reason it hadn’t been taken earlier was because it was not a good place to watch the kids from. Very nice though.

We also snorkled. We went two at a time, I went with DD; DH went with DS; we already owned one set of snorkel gear, so brought that and only needed to rent one childs. Snorkling was fun; don’t expect amazing fish, but there are some fish – more as you go further out – and the kids loved finding the sunken artifacts.

The unexpected hit of the day was a hobie cat (catamaran) sail boat that we rented. Was supposed to be for ½ hour, but the guy said we could keep it for longer because they weren’t busy. You do need a little sailing experience to do this, but it’s a straightforward little boat. DH did most of the sailing, but also gave DD and DS a chance to steer, some instruction.

By the way, the water at Castaway Cay was absolutely perfect.

At around 3 pm a lot of people had already headed back to the ship, but really this was the nicest time of the day. The heat had lifted, the sky was beautiful and we stayed as long as we could. We ended up walking back along the water. DS left his sandals on the island, but when we checked with the Lost and Found at Guest Services, they were there. Isn’t Disney great?

Show: the show was a comedian/ventriloquist which we didn’t go to; - - we went to see Finding Nemo, instead. Heard that the comedian was excellent, so we actually wished we had gone to it, although we loved Finding Nemo and thought the movie theater was impressive.

Day 4: Day 4 was a little sad, because DD woke up not feeling well and spent most of the day lying in bed, sipping ginger ale, and watching TV. Don’t worry – wasn’t Norwalk Virus; actually evolved into an ear infection a week later and required a trip to the doctor and antibiotics to finally clear it.

Anyway, the reason it was so sad, was that DD had been planning this trip for so long; she had read -- practically memorized -- the passporter book; and she really hadn’t had much time to spend on the ship, because we’d gotten off each day. That was the day she was to see characters, get autographs, go to the towel folding class. She had all these events highlighted in the Navigator. Couldn’t do any of them. She was a real trooper and let the rest of us go around the ship having a great time while she lay there sick.

Well enough of the sob stories. Here’s what the rest of us did that day:

We relaxed on deck 4 (promenade deck). Great chairs there. At one point DH turned to me and said, “Who would have thought cruising would be fun?” which made me smile.

DS did the Mickey slide for two hours straight.

I went to the wine tasting – a small group in Palos. Very quiet – a nice change of pace from the Mickey pool! After we all sipped the first wine, and the steward asked, “Do you like this wine?” I said yes the loudest, and he then said, “ This is a beginners wine. It’s a good wine to serve to your friends who don’t drink much wine. People who really like wine won’t like this one.” So much for my sophisticated tastes. The wine stewards had an amazing way of popping the champagne cork using the end of a spoon that actually split off the lip of the bottle, which went flying with the cork.

DH and I went to Palos; very enjoyable -- chocolate soufflé is amazing. It’s a bit cooler in there than the rest of the ship (probably so the guys will be comfortable in their jackets), so bring a sweater if you’re wearing a skimpy dress.

Show: Golden Mickeys. Very good, though Dreams was still the favorite for me. I sat next to DS and when he clapped he used all the energy he had, and didn’t stop clapping until everyone else in the theater had stopped. Standing ovation that night. When I saw Tarzan I remembered some of the posts I read from women along the lines of “Can I take him home with me?” and smiled.

A few general things:

Service: I always thought every CM was doing their best to give great service. Every CM I walked past smiled and said hello. Dinner server was Corneila from Germany. Very warm person. Especially liked when we told her we were doing Palos the last night and she said that DD and DS could still go eat in Tritons and she would watch out for them. Our room steward did a nice job and also made great towel animals.

Food: Food was good. A lot of food at dinner if you’re not used to having an appetizer, big salad, etc. I was often kind of full by the time the entrée came (and you have to save room for desert, right?). By the third night I finally learned to order one of the lighter entrées, like fish. Palos was a cut above, but the food was also good and beautifully presented in the dining rooms. Loved all the yummy fresh fruit around. The kids used room service twice - - pizza and French fries, which they said were good. The coffee wasn’t as bad as I had worried it’d be, but then I drink coffee with cream and sugar, and how bad can anything taste with cream and sugar?

We looked forward to this cruise for about 7 months and had a great time. Thinking of maybe doing the Magic the next trip – hoping DH won’t be so hard to convince this time. Any questions, just ask.

Susan