WONDERing to Alaska on June 9-16th 2014 (Day 5 Posted on 7/11)

[shanhop]

Vancouver Day 2, Capilano Bridge

It's Sunday (I have to remind myself that, because days of the week seem to no longer matter). I do not have detailed notes/write up for this day. So I guess I will have to let the pictures tell the story (warning, there are LOTS of pictures).

Capilano Suspension Bridge was tops on my list of things to do in Vancouver. I read about it in another trip report and fell in love.

Capilano is not a cheap activity. Adults are C$36 and children are C$12. I did read somewhere that they do have a AAA discount, and we did get 10% off the adult prices when we bought tickets at the gate.

Our morning - Up early (of course, we're still on Central time), breakfast at Tim Horton's (yummy), and went to wait for the Capilano shuttle just outside our hotel. Capilano opens at 8:30, but the first Capilano bus doesn't leave Canada Place until 9am. Since the bus is first come, first served, I wanted to be there early enough to get a spot on the first bus (8:45ish?)

There were actually two different bus/trolley folks here today. Our Trolley guy, and someone from the HOHO bus. Unfortunately, we were told that the first Capilano bus was completely full after picking up folks at Canada Place. BUMMER. I actually thought about walking to CP and picking up the bus there, but it seemed silly to add the extra walking to a walking heavy day when the bus was going to come right here. Now I know it would have been a good idea. Our Trolley host said that the next bus would be along in less than 30 minutes, probably earlier since they knew the first one was full.

Less than five minutes later, a bus pulls up, we're excited, but are told that it was bus #1, which we already knew was full. I'm not sure why it is stopping if A) it is full and B) We know it's full, but it is. My guess is it is 9:20 before we see our bus.

Writing this, I now realize I'm not sure if we met Mrs. M at this bus stop wait or our first one. Hmmmm. Doesn't matter that much!

The bus ride to Capilano took about 30 minutes. We did make at least one (but I think two) stops at other hotels before heading over there. It took us a long time to park the bus too (so many busses!). We bought our tickets, and headed in.



The first path to the bridge has a lot of historical information.


And photo spots


And totems. My girls were happily posing with everything, which is so unlike them!




I made a picture!


I missed getting a "pose like a totem" shot yesterday.


To give you a sense of scale....






THE BRIDGE! My girls are the third and fourth from the end.


My poor husband does not like heights. And just about everything to do here is on the other side of this bridge. That's why he wasn't in any of the early pictures. He was psyching himself up for this.



View of the river..




Pictures don't do it justice.

On our way up to the tree house!


Getting their scavenger hunt materials.


The girls had a scavenger hunt on this side of the bridge. When they took it back completed they got a pen.

I don't seem to have a picture (although I do remember taking one!), but there are spots for you to 'stamp' your map with the various pressure stamps throughout the park. If the kids turn this in, they get a certificate.

We are now on the elevated walkway part. Going tree to tree. it was great.


And getting crowded.

 

[shanhop]

This is the land based trail...


Tree identification


Raptors on display (there was an owl too).








The big bridge is in the background.


Discussing the windstorm that knocked a HUGE tree onto the bridge, but didn't damage it. Interesting that they had to cut the tree off in small sections as the steel "stretched" and if you took it off all at once it would have acted like a sling shot, injuring who ever was doing the work.




The Treehouse path (that I showed you earlier), from the ground.


Time to go back!


This is the new cliff walk, on the starting side of the bridge.




Nature







The girls are desperately trying to find the last pressure stamp which is supposed to be in/near the gift shop (it's in a far back corner)


There's a pretty big gift shop, that I surprisingly purchased nothing at. I'm a Christmas ornament/patch person and they had neither. OK, they had ornaments, but they were generic Canada or Bear ones. Not interested.

They also had a couple of places to eat, but I was more interested in getting ourselves to Grouse Mountain, and knew we could eat there as well. We'd asked about transportation up to Grouse and were told there's a public bus stop right across the street. But we'd need exact change (I think it was $2.xx), and we had no Canadian money. We asked at the exit and she told us that she could not exchange US$ for C$ (even an even trade), but we could use our US$ at the food stand and get change (even, no exchange rate).

So the girls got popsicle and gelato.


And Scott dropped a $2 coin in the bushes and we spent some time retrieving it. And off we were to the bus stop. Scott had downloaded an app on his phone that told us we had about 7 minutes to wait. And we hopped on the bus. Scott dealt with the tickets (with a very nice bus driver who was patient with the tourists), and we were off. It was crowded, so we weren't sitting together. It was the girls' first public bus ride. Come to think of it, yesterday was their first taxi ride. How dare I not have photographic evidence of this!!!

Our tickets were good for the return trip too, if we made it within in next 90 minutes (may have been slightly more than that). All I knew is that we were going to be at Grouse longer than that, so I didn't need to worry about it.

 

[tiarasandcrowns]

How much time did you spend at Capillano Suspension bridge? I am wondering as we arrive there on Sunday if we can do both Capillano and Grouse or just one of them. TIA

 

[shanhop]

Timing
According to the time stamp on the pictures,

• we got to Capilano about 9:30
• left just after noon.
• we got to Grouse Mountain at 12:10
• And left around 4:40 (to catch the last bust at 5pm)

I'll cover my thoughts on timing at the end of this day. I don't think we did the right thing.

Grouse Mountain
Grouse Mountain
is a ski hill. Obviously we would not being skiing today!

Prices - base price, aka Alpine package includes "round-trip Skyride and access to plateau activities, including visits with our resident grizzly bears, lumberjack show and the new disc golf course." $42 Adult, $14 Child, $24 Youth (13-18) $110 family (two adults and two children or youth).

Peak Package adds the chair lift, and is $46 Adult, $14 Child, $28 Youth, $118 family.

Ultimate includes the chair lift in Peak, and the Eye of the Wind... I'll get to that. $56 adult, $14 Child, $38 Youth, $138 Family.

We bought Ultimate tickets, in part because the kids really didn't cost any extra to add those two things.

There are also zip lines, helicopter rides, paragliding, that all cost extra, and need to be scheduled.

After you buy your tickets, you get in one of these:


They hold a whole bunch of people (we'll find that out on the way down), and there are two cars that travel at the same time. They always pass right in the middle.

There are benches at the ends.


The dam that forms the lake


Close-up of dam


We got to the top and were in need of food! I knew there was a BBQ place, but we are from Texas. Canadian BBQ, may be good, but why take the chance If I'd realized that Lupin's Cafe, was quick service and literally *RIGHT THERE*, I would have done that. But we did see was Altitudes Bistro. It was right in front of us, had a lovely view and seemed popular. So that's where we went.

View from the edge of the restaurant..


Hot Chocolate! (you can see the cables for the SkyRide)


The girls had kids chicken strips and a cheeseburger (according to them, I wrote nothing down this day). I had the Beef Dip, and I'm unsure what Scott had. The food was good, but service was slow. SO SLOW. It took a while to get our food, but the real problem was with the check. It must have been 20 minutes between when she dropped the bill on the table (the girls and I left to use the restroom) and when Scott finally got up and went to the hostess stand and had them ring it up (which they weren't set up for either). I have no idea where the waitress disappeared to. It was after 1:30 by the time we were done.

But the views were WONDERFUL. While we were sitting there, there was a mini-front that blew in. We watched clouds/fog cause the mountain to disappear right in front of us. We were mildly concerned as the Eye of the Wind disappeared, and there's no point in going up if you don't have a view!

Off to explore! There was a lumber jack show at noon, 2:30 and 4:30. The 4:30 would end after the last bus, so 2:30 it is! There's not enough time to take the chairlift up and back and Eye of the Wind before 2:30, so we were just wandering before the show. The Birds in Motion had started at 1:30 (and was again 3:30 and 5:30), so we missed that.

Girls desperate to have their picture taken in front of SNOW (up on the mountain)




Bears - Grinder and Coola






After checking out the bears, we went to grab seats for the Lumberhack Show. It was early, but we also wanted to get there before the Bird Show let out.

I decided we needed food too.
Beaver Tails. This is cinnamon sugar. Also available with fruit toppings (Americans - it's essentially an elephant ear )


Our Lumberjack (I do not remember their stage name, or their real names, sorry).








Audience participation!


It's a bunny!









It was a great show. Just the right amount of corny jokes. You could get pictures afterward, but we were seriously worried about time, so we passed and headed for the chairlift.

 

[shanhop]

Vancouver Day 2, Grouse Mountain Part 2

Chair lift...
Onward and upward to the chair lift! Another first for the girls, and I'm pretty sure me. I've done t-bars and rope tows, but never a lift before.


The girls so wanted to sled down this. Mind you no one had sleds. And there was no easy way to get there.




Finally, I let them play in the snow.


FYI - There are porta-potties up here.

And now for the big attraction! The EYE OF THE WIND!


I had assumed that the circular part on the outside went up and down for some reason, but that is not the case. There's an elevator in the middle that takes you up to the top. The elevators holds six people. I think it says 8, but we put 8 in it and it wouldn't go. When the elevator gets to you, grab it! We didn't and it went up without anyone in it. (Be nice when you get off too, and hold it for people).

Still at the bottom...






Oh look, it DOES have a glass bottom (at least for part of it). I swear I didn't know that Scott.


They are so excited waiting to go up.


At the top....
Lots of boats in the harbor, that's Stanley Park.


Stanley Park, and Canada Place is the while blob just right of center.





Zoomed in on Stanley Park and Lion's Gate Bridge


Canada Place


The views were awesome, but it's overcast and I'm shooting through glass, so the pictures don't do it justice







.







Back on land!

 

[shanhop]

Vancouver Day 2, Grouse Mountain Part 3

Chair lift...

And I'm just remembering that the camera was likely on 'mountain' mode for all of those shots... And now I turned it off.


More snow! (They are from Houston, it's a novelty)


Kate wanted to take pictures and caught a hanglider.


On the lift, watching #2 take off.....







The whole area... The green roofed building in the middle is the chalet with the restaurants and SkyRide back down. There's also a movie in there that we just didn't have time for.




Blue Grouse Lake


You literally go right over the bear habitat.




Not the chair lift we went up. I'd bet this was the bunny hill.


There were several carved trunks along the path.


We thought we'd have to take the public bus back to Capilano and catch the shuttle there, but Scott saw a flyer that said there was a bus from Grouse Mountain back to Canada Place. It wasn't going directly to the hotel, but I wanted to go to CP anyway to get the lay of the land for tomorrow and see the Olympic Torch. So going to CP would work for us. We thought it was hourly, and the last bus was at 5:30. It's also 1st come, 1st served and we were mildly concerned that it would fill up, so we headed towards the SkyRide as soon as we were done with the chair lift.

We walked right onto the SkyRide, but we were four of the last seven, and we were packed like sardines. We found the line for the bus, and found a bench. They actually gave us plastic cards as we arrived so we didn't have to stand in line, but had a guaranteed spot on the next bus. Very nice! My guess is that the previous bus had just left. We found a bench. Snapped some more pictures of the SkyRide....





And then it started to rain... not much, but rain.... And then the bus people handed out umbrellas! Not to keep, just to use, but a nice touch. The rain had stopped by the time the bus got there, and we headed down at about 5pm.

Once we got on we discovered that this bus also stopped at Capilano on the way down. We could have gotten off there. Since we were full or nearly so, and no one wanted off, we did not actually stop.

So here's my opinion...
You get so much more bang for your buck at Grouse Mountain. And we felt rushed for time. My suggestion would be that you take the bus from Canada Place directly to Grouse Mountain. Do all you want to do up there, and if you still have time/energy then stop at Capilano on the way back down. Capilano was nice, but Grouse was better.

 

[shanhop]

Vancouver Day 2, Canada Place
We got off the bus, and walked toward the Olympic torch.


Then nice tourist took our picture in front of the "Digital Orca"


The floating Chevron and Stanley Park from this side...


Tourist shop...




Scott is checking out menus. First place was apparently a bar, and you can't take kids in at all.
We ended up at Bellaggio Cafe. We ate outside. The girls ordered kid's pizza. Scott had something and a beer. I made the mistake of ordering a pizza for myself. I really should have just waited and seen how big the girls pizas were (pretty big!) and eaten what they didn't. We took a lot of food back to the hotel with us, and it wasn't inexpensive.

Out of focus... (note to self, teach children how to REALLY use DSLR camera) But you can sort of see how sunburned my chest is. I did put sunscreen on my face, but apparently missed other key areas. It's not a vacation if I'm not sunburned.




Fish or Bunny? It was YUMMY!




The kids meal came with ice cream, and their hefty sized sundaes came served in tea cups. I can't believe I don't have a picture. We walked back to the hotel, and were back by 7pm. Showers for the girls, wifi in the lobby for me.

It was sometime on the way home from Grouse Mountain that I realized we had not use our second day of Trolley passes. I had the grand idea that we could use them tomorrow (Monday, Embarkation Day). We could get up, pack, and catch the first bus to Stanley Park. We could get off at Prospect Point (which we haven't seen yet), take 20 minutes to see everything, and catch the next Trolley back. I think I estimated we'd get back to the hotel by 11:30. I thought this was a wonderful idea. I even went to the desk and arranged for late checkout.

 

[shanhop]

Hotel Elevators

These elevators are so neat they get their own post!

There were no up/down arrows at any floor, but there were two pads at either end of the elevator banks.


You selected the floor you wanted to go to, and it told you which elevator to get on.


Horrible picture... but when you got in the elevator, it told you which floors had been selected. There were no floor buttons in the elevator either.


Very neat and efficient.

 

[Danalynn227]

Those are TK Elevators I believe. We have them at out regional hq

 

[KristiMc]

Great update! I think we are going to have to fly in on Saturday next year so that we can do some of these things. What a fun day.

 

[travln1234]

May I ask what camera(s) you use? Thanks for the great trip report! I was on the trip one week before you and love the airport photos...I didn't think to take any there!

 

[shanhop]

May I ask what camera(s) you use? Thanks for the great trip report! I was on the trip one week before you and love the airport photos...I didn't think to take any there!

Canon D50 DSLR. It was something I hadn't seen much of, so I took lots, and the girls were in a willing mood. I do NOT have a lot of pictures from around the ship as you can find so many of those elsewhere.

 

[shanhop]

Bonus Photos
Scott finally got me his photos, so here are some bonus photos.

View from Stanley Park Panorama


Panorama from Northside.


Eye of the Wind

 

[shanhop]

Cruise Day 1 - Let's get on this Boat!

Monday Morning! Wide awake at 6am. Needless to say, all my grand ideas of getting back to Stanley Park this morning were thrown out the window. According to my FitBit it was 24,000 steps over the last two days, and that is a TON for me. Just getting to Canada Place and on the boat as soon as possible seemed like a good idea.

I sent Emma and Scott down for breakfast (Tim Hortons again), I popped downstairs lobby for the last of free wifi. Pack, pack, pack (no more weight limits!). Checked out of the hotel, and started the walk to Canada Place. The good news is, it's downhill, and only a couple of blocks. But it is Monday morning and there are people working and such!

We had the earliest Port Arrival time of 11am. We left the room at 9:30, and were at the water by 10:05. Managing two kids hauling luggage through lights took longer than intended.





Walked to Canada Place NO problem, I totally do it again. But if you do walk, be aware that the ramp to the terminal is on the far right facing the terminal. FARRRRRR RIGHT. We were headed down the steps (because we couldn't see the narrow ramp) but there was a person giving directions. There were actually two cruises leaving today, ours and an NCL ship.

Down, DOWN and around on pretty narrow ramps/sidewalks. Right when you go inside the glass doors there will be a spot to drop off your luggage. There are separate spots for Disney and the other lines. The port lady thought they weren’t going to start until 11am, but they were taking luggage by 10:15. Which is a good thing because there was literally no room to sit and wait right here. There were literally two chairs.

After that you walk some more and get in a big long line for the metal detectors. All the cruise lines are together here. This lines wasn’t moving yet. There’s a spot to buy Canada souvenirs, and binoculars. There was no sense of order here. The put us in rows, but the rows were open at both ends. So we really didn't know which way to face. Then later they came back and closed them up so they were one snaked line. But that means that some people that got in behind you, were now in front of you. Just odd.

Right at 10:30 the line for the metal detector started moving, and went pretty quickly. Then it was on to US customs. There was one line for US and Canada residents, one line for everyone else. It went pretty quickly, We were out of there just before 11am (our Port Arrival Time). I know lots of people complain about the gruff customs officials, but the whole identical twin thing always makes them smile. They always do a double take when they look at the passports and give us the "how on earth do I tell them apart?" look.

Here’s where we split off from the NCL people, and on to all the happy Disney folks! We picked up two Navigators, and were directed right to window 3. NO WAITING! This was huge for us, as the last time we cruised was out of Galveston and they had huge computer issues. We waited for over an hour just to check-in. It was horrible.

KTTW cards - Table 9, PTTAPTA rotation, muster station N, and then there’s an “03” listed. Anyone know that that means/stands for? We didn’t know. Although maybe it was because we went to window 3? And boarding group 4, YAY!

After getting our KTTW cards, our Castaway Club lanyard (Woo-Hoo! 1st Silver Cruise!) We went and sat down as directed. I left Scott with the carry-on luggage, and we went to check in at the kids club. We only had to wait for two people before the girls were getting their bands. As the girls are 11, they have bands for the Lab/Club , but I anticipate they’ll be mainly in Edge. We’ll see.
And yes, the Wonder has the new yellow bands like they have in the parks, and they only work in the Lab and Club.

After that we sat for quite a bit, and then we heard Mickey was here (no annoucement, just heard another family talking about it), so the girls and I walked over to get our picture taken. One with my camera with the girls, and then I jumped in for one. Last time there wasn’t an Disney photographer there, so having an official one was nice.

My picture....


Their picture (and this is why we get the photo package!).




Right about the time we were finished with Mickey they announced the "Family of the Day". Then Group 1…. and then 2…… and then 3 & 4 together! Woo hoo!

We did stop and get our picture taken as we anticipate buying the cd. We had several taken all of us, all of us, all of us thumbs up, just the girls, just the adults,… Last time we only had two, but then again the computer problem cost us over an our in line so they were way behind.









There are more, but I'll spare you....

We were announced, welcomed back, and directed right to Parrot Cay. Yummy food, yummy dessert. I love DCL's cold soups.


After that, and a bathroom break, the girls were off to Edge, and I went to Triton to book a Mixology. There were four tables/computers/lines in Triton's. This is where you booked Mixology and other bar classes, as well as booked spa appointments, booked Palo reservations, and all MDR issues. I should have done this on the WAY to lunch as there was now a line. Not a bad one but there was a group of 29 people that were trying to arrange spa appointments for the woman, and alcohol for the men.

Turns out there was only one offered Mixology offered all week. That was a surprise to me. Several of the others, but only Mixology was on Sunday (Sea Day 2, and last full day of the cruise) at 2pm. There was also a Father's Day special for three classes (a specific three) all on Sunday, Father's Day for $25. Since each class is $15, the FD special is a good one, but that's a LOT of alcohol in one afternoon.

With that booked, I stopped by Guest Services to get tickets for the Friends Tea. It is offered on Tracy Arm Day, and Sea Day 2, both at 4pm. Since I didn’t think I should be doing the Tea, right after the Mixology, I chose Tracy Arm Day. They would not let me get tickets for four, only one of us could accompany the children. This was another change from last year when we originally had three adults accompanying the girls, but my dad gave back his ticket an we made it just the girls, my mom and I.

It still wasn’t 1:30, so Scott and I sat in the sun at the Adult Pool until it was time to meet the girls in the room.

The girls beat us there, and we found out tickets to Character Breakfast on Saturday, at 8am (our Ketchikan Day, but we aren’t scheduled to arrive in port until 11:15). We also found our notice of our Stateroom credit for rebooking on our last cruise and another from our TA. Yay for spending money.

No luggage yet, but the girls discovered the Lego Movie on TV, and Scott discovered the bed for a nap. An I sat here and typed out today’s activities for this Trip Report.

 

[shanhop]

Cruise Day 1 - Part 2

Monday afternoon
Back up... some more info.... We're in room 2112 (easy to remember). It's just forward of the Aft elevators, and just aft of the laundry. Last year we were on Deck 1 of the Magic, so the single large porthole is a step up for us!

I did not take pictures of the room. There are hundreds of such pictures on Disboards if you want to see them there.

For my friends and family, here is some info on the room layout.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-cruise-line/staterooms/deluxe-oceanview.htm

The room is surprisingly large for a cruise ship. The couch turns down to become Emma's bed. Kate's bed comes down from the ceiling

Back to the report....

It wasn’t much later that I discovered the luggage was here. So there was much unpacking. I’m always surprised that this room for everything, especially with all of our winter gear. But the girls are able to get everything put away in all of the desk drawers, and all of the formal clothing for all four of us was hung in the closet. Scott and I split the drawers by the closet, and the jackets/hats/ mittens are were in the top shelf above the TV. Cords, sunscreen, all the bigger “stuff” goes on the lower shelf above the TV, and the small stuff goes in the desk drawer.

Suitcases will fit underneath the bed. You *may* have to lift up the bed frame to get them under there, but it will work. Scott also threw our first load of laundry in. Yes, it’s only the first day of the cruise, but we’d been in Vancouver since Saturday and worn much of our short-sleeved clothing already! Laundry room was very close to us (between aft and midship elevators), and Scott said easy to use. Scott went to throw the clothing in the dryer, and someone else was taking theirs out and offered Scott the rest of the time on the dryer.

We spent a bunch of time messing with the wave phones too. We added each others phones into the contacts under the names 1-Kate and Emma and 1-Mom and Dad so they would show up first on the contact list. We also added them to the shortcut list.

We also met our room host. I will not name him, as I was unimpressed with our service. We had a young lady last time who was WONDERFUL. Our rooms were ready quickly, she checked if we needed anything every time we came back to the room, she took care of our few requests with ease and grace. Not so much this time. Our room was eventually cleaned and that was about it....

We hung out in the room until about 3:40 and we headed up to the lifeboat drill, with a quick stop by the laundry. Scott went to restart the dryer, but it would not start. None of them would start. It got stuck on the “processing” stage. We have no idea if this was related to the muster activities or not. But odd timing. With nothing else to do, we left the wet clothing there, and headed up to muster point “N”.

Last cruise our muster station was in the theater, so being out on deck was a different experience. Over half of our fellow “N” cruisers were already there. We met some more of the green-shirters (over 28 of them were celebrating grandma’s 70th birthday, and most if not all were 1st time cruisers). There’s also a large Asian family with over 35 people. We heard about another group that sailed at Christmas that were 70 members strong. WOW! Can’t imagine trying to organize that.

Muster Drill was over, and Scott went down to deal with laundry, the girls and I headed up to 10 to get spots for the Sail Away party, with a stop at the soda machines. I’m still trying to rehydrate after all the walking (and sunburn) in Vancouver, so only water for me. It was neat to see the Eye of the Wind from this distance.

It's there, I promise


The girls got their blue pom-poms and enjoyed the dancing. It was quite warm on deck as the sun was shining. Scott arrived, the dryers were still not working, but he let our room host know. Scott also took our damp clothing and put it in our laundry bag back in the room.





We saw several sea planes take off and land during the party, and the Norwegian cruise ship left at 4:30.



Jimmy the Cruise Director came out....


And then the main attraction...


And the family/adult counselors (We played lots of trivia with JD aka Jelly donut on the right in back, and "Brunette Sarah" did our tour later. There's also a "Blonde Sarah" in the same group. The second from the left is Andy, (I think!!! Someone correct me!!!). He's a very funny Brit. I played trivia with him too. All three were pretty awesome)



The Wonder left the dock promptly at 5.


Our Facebook group had a meet-up scheduled on deck 10 (somewhere) at 5:15, but I wanted to stay and see us go under the Lion’s Gate bridge.














I know it’s an optical illusion, but it does appear that we don’t clear the bridge by much! We’d heard on our tour that an aircraft carrier has made it under that bridge (at low tide, removing one antennae), so I know we had plenty of room.

The girls headed to Edge, Scott went back to check on the dryers, and I met up with my Facebook group. Met several people, and heard about Miss S’s wedding tomorrow at 4pm on the Deck 7 "Secret Deck". Her wedding dinner is the early seating at Triton, so we’ll be able to see the wedding party tomorrow (which makes me smile). It was almost time for dinner, so I headed right to Parrot Cay, the girls and Scott arrived at almost the exact same time.

 

[shanhop]

Dinner –

*Warning - there is very, very little food porn in this Trip Report. I enjoying conversing and everything else that goes along with dinner, and don't get out the big camera for each and every course*

We were the early seating (5:45pm), Table 9. We had peeked earlier at brunch, and knew we were at an 8-top (as we expected). Last cruise we were a party of six and had a table to ourselves. I had not requested anything specific regarding dinner arrangements, and would take what Disney chose for us.

I will admit that I was disappointed at first. When we arrived, only one of our fellow diners was at the table. It was a grandmother traveling with her three granddaughters. The table was set with our family on one side of the table (adult, child, child, adult) and their family on the other side (adult, 8-year old K, K's 11-year old sister S, and their 11-year old cousin M who was going to turn 12 on the cruise. Well, I quickly realized it didn’t make sense to the adults on the corners of an 8-top, so had Emma switch with me. That allowed the adults to converse, and put my lefty on the outside corner so no one would be bumping elbows with her (poor lefthanders, no one wants to sit by you!).

S, 11-year old #1 showed up before we ordered, but the other two wwer nowhere to be found. Grandma did not know where they were. I know the servers took care of the other tables waiting for ours to be complete, but eventually we did get to order.

Our Asst. Server was S***** from Indonesia, and our Server is Lavendra from India. It is, of course, overwhelming that first night. Both of my girls wanted the adult menu as well as the kids menu. Last cruise they were about half and half, but I was really impressed with their ability to try new things this time around.

Emma ordered the Spiced Tomato Soup and the Braised Jerk Seasoned Pork Chop. Kate ordered the West Indies Romaine Salad (dressing on the side), Corn chowder (off the kids menu) and the Caribbean Roasted Chicken Breast, probably because it came with sweet potatoes. I had the same soup and salad as Kate (yes, I ordered the soup off the kids menu!) and the pork chop that Emma ordered. Scott had the tomato soup, Baked Crab Martinique, and Creole Crusted Grouper.

I tried Scott’s crab dip, and it was quite yummy, and not too crabby. The salad was basically a Caesar salad with spicy croutons (good!), Kate took so long with her salad they didn’t bring her her chowder. I did get mine, and it was fine. As it was off the kids menu, it didn’t have a lot of flavoring.
It was during the first course that the other two grandchildren arrived. The little one ordered a salad and soup. The oldest ordered mac-n-cheese. The servers did their best to catch the girls up. The little one also asked for mac-n-cheese once she saw her cousin’s.

As much as I was disappointed with our table mates at the beginning, it was actually wonderful for my children. They loved talking to the other girls, and my normally shy Emma was talking up a storm. They had school and books, and all sorts to talk about. Kate on the other hand was having a bit of an off night. She didn’t eat a whole lot, and was uncharacteristically less talkative then her sister. The two that were late for dinner, took off again before dessert was ordered. *I suspect now that Kate was dealing with the motion of the boat. She never talked/complained about feeling bad, but I do think she has some motion issues).

My girls each ordered the Tropical Sundaes, I had the Paradise Coconut Pineapple Layered Cake, and Scott had the Warm Sticky Date Pudding. The girls loved their sundaes, I thought my cake was too gelatinous, Scott enjoyed is pudding, but it was too datey for me. The best thing to me was the coconut macaroons from the sundaes. The girls didn’t want them, so Scott and I each had one. Yummy!





Lavendra made jokes with the girls that there were no Sundaes, they had to ordered Mondays. To 11-year-olds, this is hilarious.









After dinner we stopped for pictures in the lobby, spoke to an officer at the meet and greet, and hit the shops. There were officiers in the lobby before and after each of our dinners. I don't remember that from last cruise (just during the captain's reception).

This picture was taken by the same photographer that took our photo at boarding. We remembered her, and she remembered us (twin thing).





There was no line, and our photographer took a whole bunch of photos (I promise, I'm sparing you some of them).


At the shops I picked up a set of Alaska nesting dolls, an Alaska pin, the Alaska scrapbooking set, an Alaska Tervis tumbler (only saw the small size) and the 2015 scrapbooking set, and a few gifts as well as the blanket (Only available for $20 if you spend $XX. I can't remember what the threshold was but I met in both stores, so I have one more as a gift!). We ran into both Tiana and Rapunzel wandering around (they would pose for pictures, but not for long, and there was no photographer).



Rapunzel is a "very good friend" of Kym who is "Earning her Ears". This means Kym is new to the ship, only been on for a few weeks. Kym has stunning red hair, so I'm surprised Ky is not a "Friend of Ariel". Kym and I chatted quite a bit in character lines.

Then it was back to the room. We were skipping the All Aboard show this evening as we saw it on the last cruise.



I went down the hall to ask the room host for another Navigator (two children, one Navigator does not always go well), but he said no. He had just enough. OK then. When I asked last year, I got one, and then had two on the bed each night after that. I never had two Navigators on the bed, we'd have to wait until the next morning and grab one from Guest Services.

I was actually ready to head to bed, but the girls wanted to Edge for the “getting to know you” activities as well as the planning event (Profiles at 8:45, Ice Breakers at 9:30, The Download at 10-10:30 ). It turns out the planning event is really planning as the Edge counselors had the week planned out, but they did go over a lot of the rules. I’d heard from other cruisers that this was a rather important night to be in the clubs, so I happily let them go with instructions that they MUST be back in the room by 10:45. This was their first test with curfew. They walked in the door right at 10:45, and made it into bed safe and sound.

 

[KristiMc]

Great update! I can't wait to get back on the Wonder. It was my first ship back in 2000.

I love Andy. He was on our cruise on the Magic out of NYC in 2012.

Our oldest son - he is 13 - gets a little sick feeling like your daughter on the first night of our cruises. I think it is a combination of the excitement, long day and the new motion. After the first night he is usually good.

 

[chiefdragon]

I love your TR. We are going the same time of year next year and bring a 10, 11, and 14 year old with us. It is wonderful to read what you are doing with the twins so we get a better idea of what to expect for all of us.

 

[shanhop]

Navigator App

While discussing Navigators.... Disney announced yesterday that the Navigator App is available on the Wonder, but really it's been on the Wonder for several weeks and we used it on our trip.

The App is available for Android and iOS, and we have both in our family. You can download the app at any time, but it doesn't do much until you get on the ship other than count down the days until your cruise.

Once you get on board you set your phone to airport mode, turn on the wifi and select DCL-Guest as your wifi. Because your phone is in airport mode, there's no danger of being charged and receiving calls.

The App shows all the activities in the Navigators, and has all the restaurant times. The App has menus for dinner only. It would be nice to have breakfast and lunch menus as well.

If you select and activity, say Meet and Greet with Mickey, the app will show you all the times for that activity. That's very helpful hen you are trying to plan your week.

You can also mark "Favorite" activities and only look at those.

There are some flukes. Dinner main courses were missing for one night. The biggest issue we saw was our final sea day. Times seemed to be wrong all over the place. I had planned based on the app, to attend the second Princess Gathering of the week at 10:30am on Sunday morning. But luckily when I checked the paper Navigator (which I had not been doing), I saw that the gathering was actually scheduled for 9am! I'm wondering how many people they had show up at the wrong time.

Since we got home, I've seen the navigators from the cruise before ours. The times in the App seem to match THOSE times. My guess is that times were changed on board, and were not changed in the app.

Oh... and then there are the iPhone time issues. Scott and another cruiser I talked to in line both had issues with their Navigators showing the wrong time in Alaska. It was an hour off, but not consistant if the app times were an hour early or an hour late. Scott downloaded/reset the app multiple times to no avail.

Having the app on your phone, was a very nice feature, just be sure to double check the paper Navigator!

 

[shanhop]

Our oldest son - he is 13 - gets a little sick feeling like your daughter on the first night of our cruises. I think it is a combination of the excitement, long day and the new motion. After the first night he is usually good.

Yes, that's basically how I think she is. She never complains about it, but she also had issues with our helicopter ride. I just need to remember to take that into consideration.

Welcome new readers! I'll try and get the Navigators up later today.