iggy's mom
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Posts posted by iggy's mom
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On 1/2/2019 at 1:28 AM, Stratus22 said:
We were on the Dream when you were docked in Nassau. I couldn't believe we docked right next to another Disney Ship..and The Wonder of All ships. We'll be sailing on her in 44 more days. That day in Nassau was a chilly one. Oddly enough it was 71 degrees but that wind made it feel like 55.
Hope you enjoy the Wonder!
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On 12/14/2018 at 11:02 PM, adamrosie said:
Was also on this cruise. Also had a great time but the weather was horrible... I wish they could switch up itineraries last minute.
Glad you had a good time too!
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DH and I were on the 12/7 - 12/14 cruise on the Wonder out of Galveston. I usually have big plans of doing a full on review, get started with it, and then real life gets in the way and I never finish the review. So, if you have any questions, I would be more than happy to try to answer them.
This is our 3rd year in a row of doing this cruise, basically the same week. We love being able to drive to the port, and the Wonder is our favorite ship, although we have only been on the two classic ships. Disney bucket list is to book one of the big ships, in the next couple of years.
We were Concierge, in room 8546. We were to have 3 ports on this cruise (Nassau, Key West, and Castaway Cay), however due to weather we missed Castaway Cay. The Captain tried twice to dock, but mother nature and safety won out. Despite the missed port, we had a fantastic cruise and will be back again next year! :)
Clair
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Loved your review! Thank you for posting it. You have a beautiful family.
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This past December on the Wonder, movies were playing in the Buena Vista Theater and on the Funnel Vision. Cabanas was open for lunch as were the other quick service places around the pool (pizza, etc.).
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We disembarked the Wonder today, and Santa was seen several times throughout the week. :)
Clair
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Have fun! We were on the Wonder in early December. Hope your cruise is as great as ours was.
Clair
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I purchase that bag Dec 2015 on the Wonder and paid about $225.
Clair
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I always enjoy your trip reports!
Clair
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We were on the Wonder in December, and she was in great shape.
Clair
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Food: I know food is subjective, so I'll just say that we enjoyed our meals this time more than we did on our last Disney cruise 3 years ago. The "Frozen" menu wasn't our favorite, but we also didn't starve! We ate lunch one time in the dining room, which is something we usually don't do, and the rest were up pool side at one of the quick service places.
Cast Members: We thought the Cast Members on this cruise were fantastic! The only exception were the CMs working the pizza place, but since I only went there to get my Mickey pretzel fix, I didn't let it bother me too much.
Some standouts were:
Lewin our Stateroom Host - He was personable and learned that we were early risers and usually had our room spic and span by the time we got back from the gym.
Dwight: Server at the Cove. He was funny and great to talk with.
Glenn: Our Concierge. Really seemed to enjoy what he does!
Thanks for taking the time to read!
Clair
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Shows: On this cruise, I didn't attend as many of the main production shows as I usually do, while DH attended more than he usually sees. He saw the "Welcome Aboard" show, which he liked. He also saw the Golden Mickeys and Toy Story, which he hasn't liked in the past, so I was surprised he went to that one. We both saw the last show, which was "Dreams". Love this one!
We also attended several of the shows in the adult club. Most were acts we had seen before, but enjoyed none the less.
Other Performances: Okay, not sure what to call this category....
Pirate night fireworks on our cruise was delayed due to weather.
Anna and Elsa Freezing the Night Away deck party was also delayed due to weather.
The 2nd to the last night they combined the two. At the end of the Anna and Elsa deck party they sent off the fireworks. It worked really well into the production!
On the last night of the cruise, they had the "See You Real Soon" song. This is a must attend for me. It's a good way to end the cruise.
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Ports:
Key West - Key West is one of our favorite ports. We've always had the best time when visiting. We don't do anything special, just walk and explore. Prior to leaving, we had picked out our lunch spot which was a restaurant called Havana. It was excellent!
We were docked at the naval shipyard which meant a trolly ride to and from the dock. During the day, the temps were pleasant but it did rain which then made the humidity go up.
We had one other ship in port with us.
Castaway Cay - I have loved Castaway Cay since I was a Cast Member brining travel agents on board the ships. It is truly my "happiest place on earth." This was our first visit during Christmas time and the island was decorated for the holidays.
It was raining during the morning, and it made me a little pouty. :( On the plus side though for the first couple of hours, there was only about 10 of us at Serenity Bay! The rain did stop by mid morning. The BBQ lunch was good as usual. Around lunch time is when we noticed it started to get busy with people getting off of ship and coming to play on the island.
Around 2:30/3:00 it started to rain again and we decided to go back to the ship. By the time we set sail, it was pouring!
Even on a raining day, I love this place. :)
Nassau: We booked a shore excursion which included partially submerged submarine to see the fish and then a tour of the city. It was not a great shore excursion and we were glad it was a cheap-y one.
It rained just about all day, and it was chilly on top of that.
There were 5 other ships in port with us, and we were docked next to the Disney Dream. That ship is huge! The Disney geek in my loved the little horn battle the two Captains put on as we were leaving.
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What were some of the benefits of sailing concierge? I know about the in room sodas and daily snacks, but how about the rest of the ship? Is there a special lounge open all day? Do you get priority seating in the theaters? etc
After the family of the day, we were the first group to board the ship. Prior to sailing (I forget how many days...90 I think), we were able to contact the shoreside concierge team with any special requests. We confirmed a table for 2 in the dining room, requested a dining rotation that did not have us in Parrot Cay for formal night, and requested gingerbread making tickets.
On the two classic ships there isn't a dedicated lounge, however twice nightly there was a cocktail hour where you could order complimentary cocktails, both adult and kiddo versions. This was held in the Outlook Bar. Also, there was a receiption that included a cocktail time with a character appearance. We didn't go to this, so I'm not sure which one it was.
We also received a litho on the last day as a "thank you."
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DH and I were on the December 4th sailing of the Disney Wonder. We had a fabulous cruise!! I usually try to do a trip report after our cruises, and start off with the best of intentions but then get side tracked with work and other such events and rarely finish. This time I thought I would try just a summary.
If anyone has any questions, I'll try my best to answer them.
On this trip it was DH & myself. We are both 47, with no kids. This is our 4th Disney cruise together, and all of those have been on the classic ship.
The ship: While someday we would like to sail on the two newer ships, we both love the two classic ships. Both are big ships, but not so big that we feel overwhelemed. While there were a few areas where her age was showing, overall the Disney Wonder was in great shape.
Stateroom: Our Christmas present to ourselves this year was to book a one-bedroom suite. We loved it!!! The space extra space was amazing! Plus all of the little perks that come with the concierge level made us feel very spoiled. Glenn was our Concerige and we both thought he did a great job.
Embarkation: Embarkation was easy-peasy. We arrived at the port around 10:30. Parked the car, took the shuttle over, and we were checked in by 11:00. I don't remember the exact time we boarded, but it was before noon.
Gym/Spa: Our normal morning routine is to hit the gym around 6am when it opens. It didn't start to get busy until around 8'sh, so it worked out great for us.
DH & I purchased the Rainforest pass for each of us for the week. We used this at least once a day, sometimes twice, and we definitely felt like we got our moneys worth.
DH had two massages, and he thought they were very good.
More tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
Clair
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I've enjoyed your other reviews! Looking forward to reading this one.
Clair
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Liked your idea about how to pack the outfits for each day.
Clair
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Thank you for all of the information, Moki'smommy! We are on the December 4th Disney Wonder cruise and going concierge for the first time. Very excited but have been uncertain of the items we could ask for ahead of time, and the whole concierge process.
Clair
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Love the Emerald. Glad you had a good time!
Clair
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Given the itinerary below. I'm a little confused. It seems weird to have a formal night on the last sea day. Is it possible this cruise only has 1 formal night?
Day 1 - Embark Houston, Texas
Day 2 - At Sea
Day 3 - At Sea
Day 4 - Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico
Day 5 - Belize City, Belize
Day 6 - Island of Cozumel, Mexico
Day 7 - At Sea
Day 8 - Debark Houston, Texas
We were on the Thanksgiving cruise, and the 2nd formal night was the Cozumel day.
Clair
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Looking forward to more of your review. We were getting off of the ship, when you were boarding. Thanks for posting the pictures!
Clair
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Sea Day - Saturday
Our last day on the ship, and the last day of vacation. :( On this day, I spent a time doing as much as possible around the ship. During the day I got my last two visits to the Thermal Spa in, and ran a few miles around deck 7.
In morning, I did most of the Culinary Show. I like the cooking part, but didn't stick around for the Galley Tour. There was a mini crew talent show that was going on as the bridge between the cooking and the tour, and for some reason I did not have the patients to wait around. As a note, if you are interested in the Galley Tour, definitely get to the theater early as it filled up quickly, and a decent amount of people wound up with no place to sit.
I then meet DH for the ice carving. Afterwards we did the Pub Lunch, which we both enjoyed! It was easy to get in, and the line was no where anything like it was on the missed Belize day. Later we went to Bar Wars, which okay. I did my last afternoon tea later in the day, as well as one last trivia contest.
The show in the Princess Theater was a comedian who both of us liked. While it did seem a bit strange to have this type of show on the last night, we both were happy to end with a show that we enjoyed.
We had dinner at the Crown Grill. Like the previous night, the front of the house experience was horrible, but our waiter was nice and pleasant and the food was fabulous!
Other notes:
I forgot to mention, but around day 3 (or it may have been day 4), after our Steward cleaned our room, he also left information about debarkation. There was a paper to be filled out and returned to Passenger Services desk based on what type of debark was being choose (carry off your own, Princess transportation to the airport, etc.). We filled out the paperwork and returned it on the same day. We choose to carry off our own luggage, and we selected and were assigned Group A, which was the first group off the ship.
We had purchased an internet package on embarkation day. For the most part, the internet service was the best we have had in several cruises.
This day's Patter listed the "most traveled passengers" on our cruise, and they had 1186 days with Princess!
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Thx so much. I've enjoyed your review since I'll be doing this cruise in February.
Thank you!
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Can you tell me if they have eliptical machines in the gym on the emerald? Thx.
Yes, they do. DH used them just about every day.
Disney's Wonder 7-day Very Merrytime Cruise - 12/7 to 12/14
in Disney Cruise Line
Posted
Yes, I always had enough to do on the ship. My husband likes to veg, read books, and basically lounge, whereas I like to join the ship activities, take in a movie, or find a chair up on deck and read. On cruises, I usually wish I had a few more hours in each day. :)
If you are looking for a warm weather cruise, this one might not be for you. We have done the Merrytime cruise 4 times (5th time coming up in late November) and we personally like the cooler temps vs the blazing heat and humidity of the summer. Out of the four Merrytime cruises, we've only had one (the 2nd) that we really considered the weather to be miserable as it rained every day and was very cold all day, every day.