Wonder West Coast B2B May 2014 Concierge - COMPLETED!

[disnygirl55]

Day 5 – Disney Wonder (Day 2 of 7)

So because we were asleep so early, we were up at 6:00 AM (well, DH and I were.) DS was conked out from his late night and stayed that way until breakfast arrived at 8:30 AM. We had ordered hot breakfast from room service, which is a perk of staying in the suites and having a dining room table. Before breakfast even arrived, DH went for a morning run on the Promenade deck while I headed for the shower. Unfortunately, I think when Canas cleaned the shower head the previous day, he left the nozzle pointing outward toward the toilet. I managed to soak the floor, bathmat and my face pretty well before I even stepped into the shower! Unlike the learning curve with the toilet phone, I only needed one shot of cold water in my face to learn my lesson, and I made sure every day after that the shower nozzle was pointed at the wall.

I then tiptoed out of the room and up to the Cove Café, where I purchased a Mint Chocolate Mocha, and began a punch card – buy 5, get 1 free. No, I didn’t fill up my card before the end of the cruise, but I understand you can carry it over to the next cruise, which is nice. The Café opened at 6:30, so it was perfect for an early riser. I took my drink upstairs to the Outlook, to get a good look at the view. Then back to the room, to find DS still in bed, and DH still out running. My coffee, Kindle and I wound up on the verandah, which is where DH found me upon his return. This is my happiest photo of the vacation. Last year’s photo was my toes in the hammock at Castaway Cay, and this is pretty darned close to that one as far as happy vacation moments go.

Breakfast arrived at 8:30, right on schedule, and it was delicious. DH and DS each got French toast and bacon, and I was in the mood for an omelet. You can see our meal laid out for us, with white tablecloth, cloth napkins, coffee carafe and all the condiments, including syrup. The glass of champagne was my last glass of Fairy Tale Cuvee from the previous day, to which I added orange juice for a morning mimosa. Ahhhh…. vacation!

The shops opened at 9:00 AM, and I was inspired from the night before to buy a new sleep shirt – Falling Asleep to the Motion of the Ocean. So true!

DH took some time to check email on our free 100 MB of Internet. He wound up using 6 MB to check email, if that helps anyone determine approximate usage. I checked out the new navigator app, and visited with DS about his plans for the day. The Edge was having Open House, Float Fun Trivia, Villainous Ventures and Brains and Brawn Ninja. The app was especially useful, because there was a description of each of these items – for instance, float fun trivia was a trivia contest with Coke floats for the kids afterward, and DS was very excited to hear that!

With a little bit of time to kill prior to our Exotic Rasul spa appointment, DH went to the Art of the Theme Show tour, which I had done by myself on our very first DCL cruise on the Wonder. When he reported back, he shared some things I had never heard, so maybe I should have joined him.

Another thing we had done on our first cruise was the Exotic Rasul, which is not offered on the Dream Class ships, and which is really a lot of fun if you have a playful side, like DH and I do. It was beautiful in the treatment room – there is a low-lit middle chamber with a tile bench, and then two chambers off to either side. One of these has showers, and the other is a steam room. In the middle chamber were tubes and jars of all the exfoliating scrubs, lotions, face masks and mud – and also a beautiful romantic display of two swan towel animals with rose petals and a flickering LED candle. The spa attendant told us in which order to use the moisturizers and scrubs, and when best to wash off in the showers or sit in the steam room to let the products soak into our skins. Then we doffed our robes and smeared ooey gooey messy stuff all over each other in the order prescribed, and the spa attendant gave us the 10 minute warning knock before we knew it.

By then it was noon, and we rushed to get to the DVC presentation which started at 12:30 in Studio Sea. We’ve been knocking around the idea of buying into DVC for a few years, but I began to make notes of some serious questions I want to ask, and we will possibly think about it next year, especially when the Polynesian Villas are completed. Our current choices for ownership are at Aulani (too far away – airfare – yikes!) and Grand Floridian, which I’ve heard can be pretty inconvenient to the resort and the monorail. I need to learn more about it. We would probably enjoy either the Grand Floridian or the Polynesian the most, but we don’t want to enter into anything blindly. We didn’t win the drawing, sadly, but got some nice pad folios and also some great information which we didn’t know before.

After the DVC presentation, DH and I went to see “Million Dollar Arm”, playing in the Buena Vista Theatre. Good movie, although I had to leave halfway through to get a couple slices of pizza from the quick service deck. I was starving, and feeling a little queasy because of it. I brought two slices back to the theatre, and we had a little movie snack.

It was a good thing we had a bit of food in our stomachs, because we had the Tequila and Margarita tasting in the Cadillac Lounge at 4:00. The movie was a little over two hours long, so we missed the last few minutes. Jesus was the bartender, and he told us lots of interesting facts about different tequilas. We tasted 3 straight tequilas – Patron Silver, Aged Patron, and a coffee-flavored one. Since I’m not a fan of straight hard liquor, I just had a sip of each and DH finished them off for me. We then had a classic margarita with a salted rim. Yummy! Then a concoction Jesus called the “Jesus-arita”, which was apparently his own creation, although I would take anything Jesus said with a grain of salt. LOL! It had cranberry juice, orange juice, and tequila. It was also very good, but I preferred the classic margarita over anything else.

At 4:30, the concierge reception was happening at Beach Blanket Buffet, so we arrived at about 5:00, after our tasting with Jesus.

It was a little windy on the open deck, but nice weather otherwise, so we had some hors d’oeuvres and a bit of a visit with Rodrigo. We then went back to the stateroom to relax until time for our 7:30 reservation at Palo. We checked out some of the art work hanging on the walls of Deck 4 on the way, and I prefer the actual “gallery” on the Dream Class ships. It was kind of awkward and rushed to stand in the hall to look at the paintings. There were a lot of Thomas Kinkaid prints, which I really loved, and several other artists, one of whom painted in a style that was very Mary Blair-ish. Her work was wonderful!

Palo was gorgeous, just like always.

We opted for the new “Esperienza del Vino” so that we could try some new wines. (Wow – looking back, we really did a lot of drinking on this day! However, I never felt very tipsy, so I must have spaced it all out OK.) It began with antipasto and the bread service. I knew enough not to fill up on bread, but me-oh-my… I could have nibbled on fresh parmesan chunks drizzled with balsamic reduction all day long. I would have traded any other dish for more of that. It’s the mouse in me – can’t be helped.

I also asked our server, a lovely girl from Ukraine, Anastacia, for some calamari, even though it wasn’t on the wine pairings menu, as that is a particular Palo favorite of mine. She was very sweet and brought more than enough for both of us.

Here is the grilled Portobello Mushroom and polenta, all neatly tied up with a piece of green onion. If I could learn to re-create any dish, this would be the one. So light and wonderfully delicious. The polenta was amazing.

Dish after dish, it was a fabulous meal. The Osso Buco veal was huge, and I would have felt full without it, as it was very rich. But of course, it was terrific. The wine pours were small, but they were perfect for tasting with the different courses, without making us drunk. I got a little too wrapped up in eating to remember to take any more photos, but that should be taken as a compliment!

We walked down to the Edge to check in with DS – they had pizza making beginning at 10:30, so he planned to come back to the room around 11:30 or midnight. We felt perfectly safe with him coming in so late – it was literally less than 20 steps between the Edge (midship, deck 2) and our stateroom (midship, deck 8), as the elevator was right outside each. He was having the time of his life, and was getting excited to see his grandparents the next day.

Back in the room, this elephant was sitting on DS’s sofa bed, wearing his sunglasses.

Also in the room was what I consider a VERY tacky note. I guess DCL finds it necessary… but I think it was a bit off-putting to those of us who would never knowingly take anything from the stateroom. If I really wanted something, I would definitely ASK first, and fully expect to pay the price!

The gratuity information and the instructions for our Back to Back cruise transfer were also left for us. We were to meet in the Cadillac Lounge at 9:30, with our cruise documents and IDs, for our debarkation and re-embarkation.


Next Up: Wonder Day 3 – The B2B Process and Welcome Family!

 

[shanhop]

Also in the room was what I consider a VERY tacky note. I guess DCL finds it necessary… but I think it was a bit off-putting to those of us who would never knowingly take anything from the stateroom. If I really wanted something, I would definitely ASK first, and fully expect to pay the price!

While I didn't think the note was necessarily tacky as I've seen/heard what people have helped themselves to, it did give me pause. My first thought was "What do they think we've taken?!?!?" I'm happy to hear that everyone got one and it wasn't just us.

Thanks for the report!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Still following along!!! Thanks for doing this TR. It's so hard to find anything about these short cruises. Did u have the same cabin for both cruises? We will for both of next tear's short B2B cruises out of San Diego.

 

[disnygirl55]

While I didn't think the note was necessarily tacky as I've seen/heard what people have helped themselves to, it did give me pause. My first thought was "What do they think we've taken?!?!?" I'm happy to hear that everyone got one and it wasn't just us.

Thanks for the report!

That is funny - that was exactly my first thought - that it was a reprimand because something was missing from the stateroom. My "tacky" comment was probably too strongly worded. You have a point there. Probably a side effect from being taken aback and wondering what we'd done wrong.

Still following along!!! Thanks for doing this TR. It's so hard to find anything about these short cruises. Did u have the same cabin for both cruises? We will for both of next tear's short B2B cruises out of San Diego.

We did have the same cabin for both cruises. It's the only way to go, in my opinion. It would be such a hassle to pack up everything. I really enjoyed the process and because we were able to go back into our stateroom almost immediately, it nearly felt like a relaxing sea day. I'm glad this report is helpful to you!

 

[jetskigrl]

Woo Hoo - so excited to read the updates!

DH and I are in 8032 for the 5-night Baja and 2-night cruise to nowhere in Oct. 2015. I was also on the 2-night cruise with you last month
(I don't remember if I posted that already in this thread or if I just marked it as subscribed, LOL).

Yes, the check-in was horrible and I was really missing the Port of LA, but we still really enjoyed the cruise. Hopefully all the bugs will be worked out by next year.

 

[kiapepito]

Thank you so much for your report! We are doing the 3 day cruise to Ensenada in May and I feel overwhelmed since it is our first cruise and we have two little ones. Do you have pictures of your navigator to share? I have read in other posts about the Alice tea party. Did they offer it this time? Ask me anything about disneyland where anything is where and I know.... ask me about the boat/cruise and I know nothing! Ha!

 

[disnygirl55]

Woo Hoo - so excited to read the updates!

DH and I are in 8032 for the 5-night Baja and 2-night cruise to nowhere in Oct. 2015. I was also on the 2-night cruise with you last month
(I don't remember if I posted that already in this thread or if I just marked it as subscribed, LOL).

Yes, the check-in was horrible and I was really missing the Port of LA, but we still really enjoyed the cruise. Hopefully all the bugs will be worked out by next year.

I don't remember if you'd mentioned that before - but it sure was a great little cruise, wasn't it? How convenient for you to be so close. Have you stayed in that stateroom before? It is a wonderful layout - you'll really feel pampered. The whole boarding process really did look a lot better at the port for the second sailing. We sure didn't see people hauling their luggage down the block. Maybe the first sailing mess was truly a product of the ship coming in late... since we were so far back in line, we'll probably never know. I hope you have a wonderful time next October!

Thank you so much for your report! We are doing the 3 day cruise to Ensenada in May and I feel overwhelmed since it is our first cruise and we have two little ones. Do you have pictures of your navigator to share? I have read in other posts about the Alice tea party. Did they offer it this time? Ask me anything about disneyland where anything is where and I know.... ask me about the boat/cruise and I know nothing! Ha!

If you go to disneycruiselineblog.com; someone posted the navigators for the 2-night cruise, and I sent in the navigators for the 5-night cruise, so they are all available for view. Just read the blog postings for the last month, and you will find them. If you're new to cruising, the DIS boards and the blog are the two main websites to bookmark!! Just let me know if you have trouble finding them. I get excited to talk to first-time cruisers. I remember being in the same boat 7 years ago! I don't remember the tea party happening - I have a feeling that it might only be offered on the Fantasy 7-night cruises. (someone please chime in if I'm mistaken!). A quick google search could probably tell you for sure. How old are your girls? Ask me anything - I'll be glad to try to ease your worries. Our son was 5 when he went on his first cruise, and although he doesn't remember much of it, he had a great time! There is no way to do anything wrong on a Disney cruise. You'll understand once you're on board. I wish I could go along and experience it all new with you!

 

[jetskigrl]

I don't remember if you'd mentioned that before - but it sure was a great little cruise, wasn't it? How convenient for you to be so close. Have you stayed in that stateroom before? It is a wonderful layout - you'll really feel pampered. The whole boarding process really did look a lot better at the port for the second sailing. We sure didn't see people hauling their luggage down the block. Maybe the first sailing mess was truly a product of the ship coming in late... since we were so far back in line, we'll probably never know. I hope you have a wonderful time next October!

This will be our first time trying concierge and I asked my TA to try for one of the mid-ship 1-bedrooms. Then when the same room was open for the 2-night, we just had to add it on The opening day prices for the 5 night Baja were really good so we jumped at the chance to try concierge for our 20th anniversary next year I didn't know that you could request the loungers for the verandah so I have added that to my list of things to ask the shoreside concierge to take care of for us.

We will be traveling with a group of friends on the 5-night so it will be nice to have all that extra room to hang out before dinner, etc. Then DH and I will be on our own for the 2-night. I'm scared after having that room that I won't ever want to go back to a regular one

 

[kiapepito]

Thank you so much! I did not know where to find the reports and now I do. Our daughters will be 3 and 6 by the time our cruise happens. My husband thinks I am crazy as all I do in my spare time is read all the DIS boards.... I even have an Excel spread page dedicated to our cruise...

I don't remember if you'd mentioned that before - but it sure was a great little cruise, wasn't it? How convenient for you to be so close. Have you stayed in that stateroom before? It is a wonderful layout - you'll really feel pampered. The whole boarding process really did look a lot better at the port for the second sailing. We sure didn't see people hauling their luggage down the block. Maybe the first sailing mess was truly a product of the ship coming in late... since we were so far back in line, we'll probably never know. I hope you have a wonderful time next October!



If you go to disneycruiselineblog.com; someone posted the navigators for the 2-night cruise, and I sent in the navigators for the 5-night cruise, so they are all available for view. Just read the blog postings for the last month, and you will find them. If you're new to cruising, the DIS boards and the blog are the two main websites to bookmark!! Just let me know if you have trouble finding them. I get excited to talk to first-time cruisers. I remember being in the same boat 7 years ago! I don't remember the tea party happening - I have a feeling that it might only be offered on the Fantasy 7-night cruises. (someone please chime in if I'm mistaken!). A quick google search could probably tell you for sure. How old are your girls? Ask me anything - I'll be glad to try to ease your worries. Our son was 5 when he went on his first cruise, and although he doesn't remember much of it, he had a great time! There is no way to do anything wrong on a Disney cruise. You'll understand once you're on board. I wish I could go along and experience it all new with you!

 

[jetskigrl]

I even have an Excel spread page dedicated to our cruise...

Doesn't everyone

I keep an excel spreadsheet for all our cruises too. I just keep adding a new sheet for each new cruise (plus a sheet for our packing list, etc)

 

[disnygirl55]

This will be our first time trying concierge and I asked my TA to try for one of the mid-ship 1-bedrooms. Then when the same room was open for the 2-night, we just had to add it on The opening day prices for the 5 night Baja were really good so we jumped at the chance to try concierge for our 20th anniversary next year I didn't know that you could request the loungers for the verandah so I have added that to my list of things to ask the shoreside concierge to take care of for us.

We will be traveling with a group of friends on the 5-night so it will be nice to have all that extra room to hang out before dinner, etc. Then DH and I will be on our own for the 2-night. I'm scared after having that room that I won't ever want to go back to a regular one

What a treat! And yes, be very afraid. Probably the worst/best mistake of our lives cruising in a one bedroom suite. I would not change it now, but I would have been happily oblivious if I didn't know any better. Make sure to ask for the loungers that "lay flat" for your verandah, so they don't put the wrong kind out there. And if they mess up, just ask your stateroom host right away, so he or she can get the correct ones. If you plan on a Palo dinner or brunch with your friends, send an email to concierge or call them when your booking window opens, and ask to get your dining ressies linked and to reserve a table for 7 for the entire party. You can do that, even though your companions will not be traveling concierge.

We went on our first cruise for our 15th wedding anniversary, and are now planning for our 25th - back to the Fantasy for a 7-night Eastern in 2016. The one bedroom suites on the Fantasy are so beautiful (and the bathroom is AMAZING), but the Wonder mid-ships are definitely unique, with all that open space. Perfect for visiting. We enjoy the concierge lounge on the Dream-class ships so much, that we have decided that we would prefer to sail concierge on the Dream or Fantasy on our next few cruises. But sometimes it's all about the itinerary. Your friends will love hanging out with you in your suite. I know we saw a LOT of our in-laws in our room on this 5-nighter! LOL!

 

[kiapepito]

The drink of the day is that an all you can drink deal? How much for each one?

 

[disnygirl55]

Day 6 – Disney Wonder (Day 3 of 7)

We woke up around 5:45 AM, as the ship was coming back into San Diego. We could see and hear the sailors from the Navy Yard doing their morning PT exercises, so there were a lot of sailors running alongside the ship as we made our way into the harbor. I hope they enjoyed the view of our beautiful cruise ship, as it’s not often that the ship docks in San Diego. We checked email since we were back in U.S. waters. Otherwise, we just hung out in the stateroom this morning, and ordered a continental breakfast with some doughnuts, pastries and other yummies. Concierge staterooms can order continental breakfast on the morning of disembarkation.

We headed to the Cadillac Lounge as instructed in our note the previous day. Once there, we sat and relaxed, and new health questionnaires and green boarding passes were given to us. There were about 50 people continuing on the next voyage north to Vancouver with us. At around 10:00 AM, our DCL escort led the entire group off the ship and back into the terminal. We went straight to the check in area, and were given new KTTW cards after we turned in our next set of cruise documents. We had also completed the parental authorization form, so that DS could leave the ship with his grandparents once we arrived in San Francisco. We waited about 10 minutes in a small room with several chairs, and then we were cleared to go back on the ship. There was no photo area set up yet, so once again – we didn’t get a boarding photo. Ha Ha.

With no other cruisers on board yet except for the Back-to-Backers, we went up to Deck 8 and ducked under the rope to our stateroom. We had taken a small bag with us for our cruise documentation and wanted to drop it off. The stateroom door was open, and Canas was next door. He popped his head into the hallway, and told us he had only the bathroom to finish cleaning, and we were welcome to stay. We opted instead to get out of his hair and leave him to his work. We headed to the Outlook Café, which is where the escorting cast member had suggested we hang out. I ordered a hazelnut macchiato, and the host made DS a “frappachino-type” frozen drink, which he pronounced delicious.

After hanging out for a few more minutes, we went back to the stateroom and watched the remainder of Captain Phillips on the movie channel. At about 11:45, we headed to the Cadillac lounge to check out the tasting options for the cruise, and to check on our other reservations. Rodrigo had very sad news for us. Our Sonoma Wine Country tour had been cancelled for lack of participants. Grrrrr. That was a very exciting part of this planned cruise, as we’ve never been to wine country. First, the Lasseter Family Winery tour had been cancelled, and now our 2nd choice excursion had been cancelled as well. There was a martini tasting available for the 4th day of the cruise (the day after San Francisco), so we decided to sign up for that. I was trying to think of other excursions to do in San Francisco, but the only appealing idea was to take DH to the Walt Disney Family museum. I first visited the museum last December, when I flew out to see a special memorial presentation on Annette Funicello, given by Sharon Baird, a fellow Mouseketeer and good friend of Annette’s. Annette was one of my personal heroes. As I had gone alone, DH had never seen the museum, so I was pretty excited that I would get to show it to him. It took the edge off of my wine tour disappointment. We decided not to do the DCL tour, since I knew the ropes.

After Rodrigo gave us his sympathies about the cancelled excursion, we decided to go back upstairs to the stateroom until DMIL and DFIL arrived. Soon enough, they texted when their plane landed, and we kept in touch until they were getting off their bus at the terminal. Then we raced downstairs to meet them when we saw them walking down the ramp toward the ship. It was crowded in the atrium, and a bit difficult to get through to them when their name was announced, but I managed to snap a quick photo of their arrival.

While we were docked, we had watched the people arriving at the terminal, and it seemed to go much more smoothly than it had for us a couple of days prior. Maybe DCL put up some signs to avoid another debacle. LOL!

As it was 1:30, we accompanied DMIL and DFIL to their stateroom on deck 6. I was excited to see their huge verandah, as their 6A stateroom was right next to the handicap accessible room on the aft curve. It WAS very large, and I think they were very comfortable in their stateroom because of it. Otherwise, it was pretty crowded for all 5 of us in their room – with only a sofa on which to sit, if you didn’t want to sit on the bed. But it also seemed to have plenty of storage space, and didn’t seem too cramped as far as open floor space. It was like a standard hotel room, only with an AMAZING outdoor area.

After they dropped off their carry-on bags, we all went up to deck 9 to eat lunch at the Beach Blanket buffet. They had a lot of good food choices, and we were all pretty happy with eating there. The desserts – yum yummy!

We all then went to our suite for a while, where there were lots of places to sit and visit. We spent about an hour visiting and catching up on family news, since it had been about 8 months since we had seen them last.

At about 3:00, the grandparents went back to their room to get settled, and DH and I headed to the spa for another spa raffle. Again…. nada. We skipped the sailaway party again and went to pick up the grandparents on our way to Triton’s for dinner.

I felt kind of sorry for my DFIL at dinner. It was hard to understand Agung, especially if you weren’t used to hearing that type of Asian accent, and he had a tough time. I think he got a little frustrated. He’s also not a very adventurous eater, but Agung was able to get him a plain steak with a green salad, I think. I had the French onion soup, which tasted much better than my photo, and also the Three Cheese Lobster Macaroni, of course, as I have a cheese fetish. Hmmm…. must have inhaled it before I snapped a photo.

Afterward, we went to the All Aboard stage show in the Walt Disney Theatre. It was good, though kind of long. I usually enjoy going to this one, because they give you a sneak peek of some of the entertainers on board. Ivan Pecel was the featured entertainer, and he did some comedy and juggling acts during the preview. He was very good, although we never had time to see his full show. DS headed back to the Edge, of course.

The day was over with before we knew it, and we were excited for the next day, and our brunch at Palo.

Next Up: Wonder Day 4 – Another “Wonderful” Day at Sea!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Day 6 – Disney Wonder (Day 3 of 7) We woke up around 5:45 AM, as the ship was coming back into San Diego. We could see and hear the sailors from the Navy Yard doing their morning PT exercises, so there were a lot of sailors running alongside the ship as we made our way into the harbor. I hope they enjoyed the view of our beautiful cruise ship, as it’s not often that the ship docks in San Diego. We checked email since we were back in U.S. waters. Otherwise, we just hung out in the stateroom this morning, and ordered a continental breakfast with some doughnuts, pastries and other yummies. Concierge staterooms can order continental breakfast on the morning of disembarkation. We headed to the Cadillac Lounge as instructed in our note the previous day. Once there, we sat and relaxed, and new health questionnaires and green boarding passes were given to us. There were about 50 people continuing on the next voyage north to Vancouver with us. At around 10:00 AM, our DCL escort led the entire group off the ship and back into the terminal. We went straight to the check in area, and were given new KTTW cards after we turned in our next set of cruise documents. We had also completed the parental authorization form, so that DS could leave the ship with his grandparents once we arrived in San Francisco. We waited about 10 minutes in a small room with several chairs, and then we were cleared to go back on the ship. There was no photo area set up yet, so once again – we didn’t get a boarding photo. Ha Ha. With no other cruisers on board yet except for the Back-to-Backers, we went up to Deck 8 and ducked under the rope to our stateroom. We had taken a small bag with us for our cruise documentation and wanted to drop it off. The stateroom door was open, and Canas was next door. He popped his head into the hallway, and told us he had only the bathroom to finish cleaning, and we were welcome to stay. We opted instead to get out of his hair and leave him to his work. We headed to the Outlook Café, which is where the escorting cast member had suggested we hang out. I ordered a hazelnut macchiato, and the host made DS a “frappachino-type” frozen drink, which he pronounced delicious. After hanging out for a few more minutes, we went back to the stateroom and watched the remainder of Captain Phillips on the movie channel. At about 11:45, we headed to the Cadillac lounge to check out the tasting options for the cruise, and to check on our other reservations. Rodrigo had very sad news for us. Our Sonoma Wine Country tour had been cancelled for lack of participants. Grrrrr. That was a very exciting part of this planned cruise, as we’ve never been to wine country. First, the Lasseter Family Winery tour had been cancelled, and now our 2nd choice excursion had been cancelled as well. There was a martini tasting available for the 4th day of the cruise (the day after San Francisco), so we decided to sign up for that. I was trying to think of other excursions to do in San Francisco, but the only appealing idea was to take DH to the Walt Disney Family museum. I first visited the museum last December, when I flew out to see a special memorial presentation on Annette Funicello, given by Sharon Baird, a fellow Mouseketeer and good friend of Annette’s. Annette was one of my personal heroes. As I had gone alone, DH had never seen the museum, so I was pretty excited that I would get to show it to him. It took the edge off of my wine tour disappointment. We decided not to do the DCL tour, since I knew the ropes. After Rodrigo gave us his sympathies about the cancelled excursion, we decided to go back upstairs to the stateroom until DMIL and DFIL arrived. Soon enough, they texted when their plane landed, and we kept in touch until they were getting off their bus at the terminal. Then we raced downstairs to meet them when we saw them walking down the ramp toward the ship. It was crowded in the atrium, and a bit difficult to get through to them when their name was announced, but I managed to snap a quick photo of their arrival. While we were docked, we had watched the people arriving at the terminal, and it seemed to go much more smoothly than it had for us a couple of days prior. Maybe DCL put up some signs to avoid another debacle. LOL! As it was 1:30, we accompanied DMIL and DFIL to their stateroom on deck 6. I was excited to see their huge verandah, as their 6A stateroom was right next to the handicap accessible room on the aft curve. It WAS very large, and I think they were very comfortable in their stateroom because of it. Otherwise, it was pretty crowded for all 5 of us in their room – with only a sofa on which to sit, if you didn’t want to sit on the bed. But it also seemed to have plenty of storage space, and didn’t seem too cramped as far as open floor space. It was like a standard hotel room, only with an AMAZING outdoor area. After they dropped off their carry-on bags, we all went up to deck 9 to eat lunch at the Beach Blanket buffet. They had a lot of good food choices, and we were all pretty happy with eating there. The desserts – yum yummy! We all then went to our suite for a while, where there were lots of places to sit and visit. We spent about an hour visiting and catching up on family news, since it had been about 8 months since we had seen them last. At about 3:00, the grandparents went back to their room to get settled, and DH and I headed to the spa for another spa raffle. Again…. nada. We skipped the sailaway party again and went to pick up the grandparents on our way to Triton’s for dinner. I felt kind of sorry for my DFIL at dinner. It was hard to understand Agung, especially if you weren’t used to hearing that type of Asian accent, and he had a tough time. I think he got a little frustrated. He’s also not a very adventurous eater, but Agung was able to get him a plain steak with a green salad, I think. I had the French onion soup, which tasted much better than my photo, and also the Three Cheese Lobster Macaroni, of course, as I have a cheese fetish. Hmmm…. must have inhaled it before I snapped a photo. Afterward, we went to the All Aboard stage show in the Walt Disney Theatre. It was good, though kind of long. I usually enjoy going to this one, because they give you a sneak peek of some of the entertainers on board. Ivan Pecel was the featured entertainer, and he did some comedy and juggling acts during the preview. He was very good, although we never had time to see his full show. DS headed back to the Edge, of course. The day was over with before we knew it, and we were excited for the next day, and our brunch at Palo. Next Up: Wonder Day 4 – Another “Wonderful” Day at Sea!

Yaaay! Another update! Loving it! I'm so excited for the B2B process and re entering an empty ship! Must have been so cool!

Did you do a DISmeets or the FE exchange?

I love sea days because I feel there is never enough time to do what you want in the navigator. My DH and I LOVE Palo brunch (even more than dinner). We will most likely book it for every sea day! When we were on Wonder October 2012, Tony from Croatia was our server. We loved him so much we did 2 brunches and one dinner with him! Last cruise last year on fantasy, we did the same at Palo.

How was the weather? I don't remember you talking much about it. Was just wondering if at sea it felt warm enough for pool weather (my DD is like a mermaid and DS is like a fish!).

 

[franandaj]

I'm so glad to hear how the B2B part of the cruise goes, that sounds just wonderful! I can't wait to do it next year. It was nice to read about your other days at Disneyland. I've never had any of the dishes that you were served at the Napa Rose and we've eaten there many times.

Your niece was so cute with the BBB. I swear if I ever get to my goal weight, I'm going in there with one of my princess dresses and getting a makeover!

I'm sorry about the nightmare of getting to the ship. I hope they have that all worked out by 2015. We are locals so we'll be driving our own car. Our second cruise we did Concierge and Rodrigo was such a doll, we loved him. Fran wasn't feeling well as she was still suffering from a bad illness and he went out of his way to make her as comfortable as possible.

I could be the poster child for DVC! If you liked staying at the GCH, I would see about getting on a waiting list to buy points there, you can use them in Florida if you want, but DVC is the best vacationing for your money. I also just spent a week at the VGF and have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. Being on a monorail resort is just fabulous and that resort is so elegant and nice, we are definitely booking there again for the trip after our next!

Doesn't everyone

I keep an excel spreadsheet for all our cruises too. I just keep adding a new sheet for each new cruise (plus a sheet for our packing list, etc)

I have a spreadsheet for all my Disney vacations, and then I started using the same model for other vacations. The cruises, I have an even more obsessive one as I have that one sectioned off into 1/2 an hour increments for each day, and I add what I think I want to do based on the Navigators that I read beforehand online!

 

[kiapepito]

While looking at the Navigators I started to think to myself, how on earth are we going to cover so many activities in just 3 days! Even looking at the times in how late some activities are for the girls, my 5 year old asked me today, "are we allowed to stay up even after our bedtime when we go to the cruise?" Well, considering they go to bed at 7:30pm.... ummm... yes, they can stay up after their bedtime. Ha!

 

[disnygirl55]

I am so excited to know that so many people are reading my trip report! I'm having fun answering your questions - so keep 'em coming!

Yaaay! Another update! Loving it! I'm so excited for the B2B process and re entering an empty ship! Must have been so cool!

Did you do a DISmeets or the FE exchange?

I love sea days because I feel there is never enough time to do what you want in the navigator. My DH and I LOVE Palo brunch (even more than dinner). We will most likely book it for every sea day! When we were on Wonder October 2012, Tony from Croatia was our server. We loved him so much we did 2 brunches and one dinner with him! Last cruise last year on fantasy, we did the same at Palo.

How was the weather? I don't remember you talking much about it. Was just wondering if at sea it felt warm enough for pool weather (my DD is like a mermaid and DS is like a fish!).

We didn't go to our DISmeet, but we did have a private mixology set up for our DIS group, which I'll cover in the next post. We also did the FE exchange on the 5-day cruise, but did not on the 2-day cruise. It was cool on the water - definitely not warm like in the caribbean or bahamas, but it was very pleasant. I wore sundresses with a light sweater the first few days, and was comfortable. It would have been too chilly to sit out on the verandah in a swimsuit, though (in my opinion). It got downright cold once we were north of San Francisco - but San Francisco was warm and beautiful - it felt like later spring in Wyoming - probably in the upper 70's while we were there. T-shirt weather! During our last two sea days, it was jeans and t-shirts, and a sweater out on deck, and it rained a lot. I understand that the pools get extra heat when the outside temp falls below a certain level, and there were people in the pools even on the coldest day. And they didn't look blue to me, so that's a good thing! So your kids would probably be perfectly happy!

I'm so glad to hear how the B2B part of the cruise goes, that sounds just wonderful! I can't wait to do it next year. It was nice to read about your other days at Disneyland. I've never had any of the dishes that you were served at the Napa Rose and we've eaten there many times.

Your niece was so cute with the BBB. I swear if I ever get to my goal weight, I'm going in there with one of my princess dresses and getting a makeover!

I'm sorry about the nightmare of getting to the ship. I hope they have that all worked out by 2015. We are locals so we'll be driving our own car. Our second cruise we did Concierge and Rodrigo was such a doll, we loved him. Fran wasn't feeling well as she was still suffering from a bad illness and he went out of his way to make her as comfortable as possible.

I could be the poster child for DVC! If you liked staying at the GCH, I would see about getting on a waiting list to buy points there, you can use them in Florida if you want, but DVC is the best vacationing for your money. I also just spent a week at the VGF and have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. Being on a monorail resort is just fabulous and that resort is so elegant and nice, we are definitely booking there again for the trip after our next!



I have a spreadsheet for all my Disney vacations, and then I started using the same model for other vacations. The cruises, I have an even more obsessive one as I have that one sectioned off into 1/2 an hour increments for each day, and I add what I think I want to do based on the Navigators that I read beforehand online!

Hi Alison! Glad you found my report okay - I know I love reading all of yours so much, so I'm flattered that you're following along. I'll know who to contact if we have questions about DVC. We will probably buy in next year, either at the Grand Floridian or the new Polynesian once it's built. We'll take a tour next May when we're in WDW. I know it makes a lot of sense, but I hate taking on another large payment into the budget. Fingers crossed that I get a raise at the end of the year, then I'll feel better about it. Rodrigo is awesome. I'm wondering who we'll have in concierge on our Dream cruise next spring. I think Rodrigo might have said that he was going to stay on the Wonder, or maybe go to the Magic. He likes the classic ships better, because he doesn't like to be parked in the lounge all day. He told us he likes walking around and visiting his assigned rooms.

I think going to BBB should be a definite goal - it would be awesome to have a girls day in the boutique. Why should the little ones have all the fun??!!!

While looking at the Navigators I started to think to myself, how on earth are we going to cover so many activities in just 3 days! Even looking at the times in how late some activities are for the girls, my 5 year old asked me today, "are we allowed to stay up even after our bedtime when we go to the cruise?" Well, considering they go to bed at 7:30pm.... ummm... yes, they can stay up after their bedtime. Ha!

Yep - bedtime kind of goes out the window on a cruise. Our DS12 is always in bed reading by 9:00 and lights out by 9:30 during normal times, so it amazes me how he can stay up that late (1:00 AM!!??) on a cruise. Although when he was in the Club and the Lab, he wasn't so interested in most of the activities, so he usually went to bed around the 9:00 PM time frame (10:00 PM if he was feeling adventurous.) It might have been a different story if we had late dinner seating. There are a lot of fun activities, I agree. I can't believe that before our first cruise I dragged my feet about committing to it, because I thought it might be boring. HA! The best thing is, that there are always new experiences for the NEXT cruise, so try to relax and enjoy the moments rather than trying to do everything. I hope you have an amazing time - I'm sure you will!

 

[disnygirl55]

Day 7 – Disney Wonder (Day 4 of 7)

Today was a sea day, with some fun activities. We ordered breakfast for DS and a couple pots of hot coffee in our room, and DMIL and DFIL joined us for some java. We had Palo brunch scheduled for 10:00 AM, so we didn’t want to eat much for breakfast. I believe we just had some of the fruit from our first-day fruit basket.

Anastacia, who was turning out to be our dedicated Palo server, showed us around to all the food stations once we arrived at Palo. They have something for everyone: pastries, muffins and sticky buns for cruisers who enjoy sweets to start their day, as well as all the savory choices, such as smoked salmon, pasta salads, caprese salad (mozzarella, tomato & basil), bloody mary shrimp shooters, crab claws, shrimp, etc. I especially enjoyed the rare ahi tuna and the caviar. It was so good, and something I rarely eat. I ordered the chicken parmesan (finally) after always putting it off in favor of wood fired pizzas. Although many people would disagree, I didn’t think it was as fabulous as I had expected from everyone’s raves about it. Yes, it was certainly good, but I was missing the grape & gorgonzola pizza. We could have ordered both, but we were all so full by the time it was done that I was glad I hadn’t. I also ordered the chilled strawberry soup, and DMIL ordered it as well. It was perfect, as always. We each also took an offering from the dessert station, and DFIL chose one of the beautiful tiramisu cups. DFIL began to relax a bit more in Palo. He liked taking whatever looked good from the buffet. I believe the tiramisu cemented the deal. Anastacia put everyone at ease, and made sure we all knew there were no wrong choices. Here are some of my dessert choices. I don’t remember what was in the round dish on the left, but the berries were in some type of syrup and liqueur, I think, and the one in front is a type of parfait.

After Palo, DFIL took his grandson to the Buena Vista Theatre to watch a 3-D showing of Captain America at 11:45. We had time to kill before our DIS group private mixology class at 2:00 PM, so DMIL, DH and I decided to walk around and deliver FE gifts. It really didn’t take that long at all, since our DIS group had decided on 15 participants per assigned FE group, and since the Wonder is so easy to get around.

At 2:00, we headed to the Cadillac Lounge for our mixology class. On the way, I had to snap the standard photo of DMIL in the window seat outside the lounge. I wish I'd used a flash, as this turned out very dark.

She was pretty comfortable. I think she wanted to stay there for the rest of the afternoon, but I dragged her into the mixology class, like the good daughter-in-law that I am. DH went to fetch DFIL, who was supposed to join us, but he’d decided that he’d rather sit on his verandah. Well, who could blame him for that, with that gorgeous verandah and the weather being so beautiful. Besides, we just split his drinks among the other three of us, and so had a merry old time.

Once again, Jesus was our leader. Not sure if he always had classes right before the ones we signed up for, but he was always running way behind, and although he had a couple of helpers, we always started about 15 minutes behind schedule, because the drinks were not pre-prepared.

In this particular class, he had 5 mixology drinks pre-made before we began, and then he randomly drew names for a couple of different attendees to come up at the end and demonstrate how to make one of the drinks we just tried. Our favorite was a martini drink called a kamikaze, which was similar to a lemon drop martini, but without the sugar rim. Delicious – I would have had a bucketful of those.

After mixology, we decided to show DMIL where the shops were on deck 4. We also wanted to check for any re-stocking of merchandise. The shops were pretty dismally low on items, period. Apparently, those Panama Canal cruisers had done nothing but shop during their two weeks on board! There were no Dooney & Bourke purses at all, and I had really been looking forward to seeing the new styles. On the 2-night voyage, I had inquired, and the cast members in the shops told me that they didn’t expect any shipments in while in San Diego, but to check back “just-in-case”. But alas, they were correct, and there was not much that caught our eye. DMIL found a pretty shirt, and eventually went back to buy it before the end of the cruise. DH (who likes Donald Duck, as I’ve mentioned before) found a magnet and a t-shirt with the logo “Duck Duck Cruise” – very cute. He eventually decided on the magnet, so it’s a happy memory of the cruise on our fridge.

Before long, it was time for dinner in Animator’s Palate. It was the full show dinner and the Golden Mickey’s menu. We passed time waiting for our various courses to arrive by watching the black and white photos on the wall changing color. DS figured out that he could tell which piece of artwork was going to change by listening to the soundtrack. When they played a song from “The Little Mermaid” – Ariel was about to change color. Same with Fantasia, Aladdin, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, etc. Guess I’d never paid that much attention before, but he was absolutely right!

Here is a photo of the servers, changed from their black and white uniforms into the colored version for dessert!

And here is my main squeeze, the mouse with the mostest!

Agung showed DS how to make an origami bird out of his dinner menu, so he had to pose as his cheesy 12-year-old self.

I don’t remember now what anyone ate – although I remember DFIL and DS both had steak for their main course. And, I remember ordering a Mickey Bar for dessert – which I’ve never done before, but always wanted to do.

All the menfolk decided to skip the Golden Mickeys show, but both DMIL and I wanted to see it. DS went to the Edge, and DH and DFIL went to hang out in the suite for a while. The Golden Mickeys was cute and fun as always, but I’ve seen it so many times that I probably won’t want to see it again for years. The most entertaining part for me is watching the little kids get interviewed before they come into the theatre with their families. There is always some little tyke that makes me giggle with their responses.

After the show, everyone went back to their respective staterooms, and this adorable bear was waiting on DS’s sofa bed. We perched the origami bird on his head, just because I thought it would make a cute photo.

Next Up: Wonder Day 5 – San Francisco!

 

[shanhop]

Day 7 – Disney Wonder (Day 4 of 7)
I don’t remember what was in the round dish on the left, but the berries were in some type of syrup and liqueur, I think, and the one in front is a type of parfait.

Next Up: Wonder Day 5 – San Francisco!

Pot de Creme is the item on the left.....

 

[disnygirl55]

Pot de Creme is the item on the left.....

Thanks, Shanhop. I think you are absolutely right - I love Pot de Creme!