Just back 45/4/06 Wonder

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi everyone, well i typed a long detailed trip report and it logged me out for taking so long, so I am going to do this report in a few sections at a time so this doesnt happen again. So I appologise for the inconvience of reading this report.

 

For those who arnt living in Florida you probably dont know it but we have some bad brush fires around the port area and they keep having to closed main roads due to thick smoke. It is a terrible problem that will be around for a few weeks since they can't put it out. It will have to burn itself out, which could take afew weeks. Everytime the wind shifts they close more roads. Having said that my report will now make more sense to you.

 

We usually are at the port by 10 to 11 at the latest. This time we barely made it by 2:30. I was really getting stressed that we would miss the ship. They will not wait for you unless you are on a DCL bus.

Roads were closed everywhere and NO detour signs were put. You just had to guess which way to go. The road info signs said tune your radio to 1300 am for road reports, but they wernt broadcasting anything, so that didnt help either. After getting home we learned you could call 511 for road reports. We kept getting blocked but continued towards the coast then we saw 2 DCL buses behind us. we figured it they were full we could follow them, if they were empty then we were headed the wrong direction. so we managed to pull off and let the buses go past us, they were full so we followed them to the port. Thank heaven for those buses!!! It was 2:30 when we were in the terminal. It was very busy since everyone was running late. But w egot check in fast and headed for the ship. we zipped to our roon to drop off the carry on bag and hubby ran for the buffet as it was suppose to close at 3. When he got there they were lined up out both doors, so they stayed open late to accommodate all tghe late people, which was nice. Myself I dashed to the Promenade lounge for a cruise meet with all the wonderful people from this board a swell as another one. Only one family didnt show but I'm sure they made it since they were using DCL transportation. It was really great to meet all these people. All of you people on these boards are the greatest!!!! I wish I could meet all of you on my cruises!!!

One of the highlights of the enitre cruise was running into these people all around the ship during the cruise and hearing all the fun things they had been doing. I love it!!

 

Part 2 in alittle while, I dont want to get cut off again.

mom x4,grandma x4

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Part 2

Ok, now to dash back to the room and see if greg is back from the buffet. he isnt ,so I unpack my carryon and then he is back. we both take a deep breath and a sigh of relief that we made it safely and we are on the ship at last!!! I dont stress about most things, but missing the ship I did stress about.

Ok, out to stroll around the deck some but it was almost 4 which is the safety drill so we had to put on the life vests and do that first. They have updated their life vests. They are lighter, smaller, easier to wear and easier to put on. I was happy about that. after the drill it was time to have fun!! Boy was I ready for that!!

We didnt have a full ship this time but still had a good lively group at the sail away party. High Frequency was the band who played. They are a high energy group and we have seen them before. I chuckle when ever i hear them sing because we know the drummer and he has a strong accent, but the others dont speak english. They sing in english but they dont speak it. It was a good party. we pulled out at 5:15 so just a few minutes late due to everyone arriving late because of the smoke.

we had late seating so we stayed up on deck to watch us pull out. No dolphins this time, but we saw lots of Pelicans and one big bald eagle that swooped down over the ship. He was awesome.

We had several small boats in the channel that didnt seem to want to get off to the side for us. Captain blew the horn extra t them bu tit didnt do any good, so the harbor patrol zipped out there and made them go off to the side of the channel. This happened 4 times. We have never had that happen before. If I was in a small fishing boat and I saw the Wonder heading my way I would move fast!! Nobody would have to tell me to move that's for sure!! Lots of great people waving along the channel too. I forgot my mickey hands to wave with, but I'll remember next time. we stayed up on deck until we were way out to sea. By then our luggage had arrived so I unpacked and we were off to the Promenade lounge to hear Don and Tommie play. They are awesome!! I think the duo's in the Promenade lounge dont get enough recognition, they are very talented and friendly. They will do requests if they know it and we visited after their set for quite awhile talking about music. we have doen this many times on other cruises and as a result we have a few friends on the ship who are entertainers. They remembered us from a past cruise and stuttered my name in the middle of their song when they saw us. after the song they asked us What are you doing here, I replied, we have to make sure your earning your money, now get to work and entertain us!! They laughed and went back to singing .

Part 3 to follow

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Part 3

Boy this is way to long, and probably boring to you guys so I iwil shorten it up to more facts and less of my personal thoughts.

 

Meals were fantastic.

weather was sunny and hot everyday.

shows were awesome. the cast is so talented. I can understand how come so many of them go on to Broadway after they finish with DCL.

smooth seas the entire cruise.

 

One evening after the music was done in the Promenade lounge we were talking with Don and Tommie and I heard a mans voice say welcome back a si turned it was Captain henry. I was shocked to see him . I have never met any of the captains before, so that was nice and we chatted about cruising for about 10 minutes before we left. He just had a lucky guess about knowing we were returning guests because we had never met before. But it didnt matter, it was just cool he introduced himself to us and shook our hands.

 

 

Nassau

we have already done all the excursions here that we are interested in, so we just went shopping in town, I found a wooden ship to hang on the wall of a tropical themed guest room I am fixing up. Plus a hand carved wooden angle fish, manta ray, and a crab, plus 2 flowers. all wood, they look nice and we got some good buys. Since w ewere there last May the straw market had burned down so when they rebuilt it they made the tent higher so more room for fans and air circulation in the heat which was great. Also they put in one wide isle in the center of the tent and the other rows are a little wider than they use to be. Before you couldn't hardly get through it. some rows are tight, but not nearly as bad as it use to be. They had some new merchandise in there too. plus the majority of the people were not as agressive as they usually are. There were a few but before all of them were very agressive, this time they wernt. Maybe they got too many complaints from people who were uncomfortable with this. It never bothered me, but I know it did bother some people.

I also noticed that a couple of the stores that are close to the straw market have come down on some of their prices to match the straw market too.

Then we went to the pirate museum but it had a long line of people buying tickets so we moved on since we have seen it before we didnt feel we wanted to stand in line to do it again. It is a good mueum.

Eventually we got back to the ship for a late lunch and to relax to the island band around the pool area.

I watched the ice carving, this time it was a dolphin. He did an excellant job carving it in the hot sun, he had to work fast!!

On CC we did the Pirate scavenger hunt. It took about an hour to complete it. About 3 of the clues were very obscure but eventually we got it. In the end when you solve the riddle you find the keeper of the pirates treasure and then we were rewarded with our share of the treasure . It wa sfun.

Then we rented bikes and rode around the 2 bike paths. The new one is 5000 feet long. It is a good wide path and fairly smooth too. A good one for young ruders or old ladies like me that are a little wobbly at times.

we had lunch at Cooke's BBQ which was very tasty. it was very HOT so most people were in the water. which was very warm.

we snuk back to the ship early to take advantage of an empty adult pool and hot tub. There were 3 other people there, so it was very nice. Hubbby forgot he had his ID still in the pocket of his trunks and they fell out into the bottom of the pool. Luckily for him a nice lady found them and found us and returned them to him. That was aclose call for him!!!

 

Part 4 the final chapter, i promise.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Final notes.

 

They changed their outdoor smoking policy. It is a trial for now to see how it works. It use to be you could smoke anywhere on the 3 open decks accept by the Mickey pool. Now the port side of the decks are for smoking and the starboard side is non smoking. Still no smoking near the mickey pool. I thought this worked really well for everyone. I hope they do this on the Magic too and keep it.

I do NOT like the new Navigator. Lots of the times were wrong and I was told by CM's it had been that way for a few weeks. All the CM's I talked to did not like it either. I found the print to be too small and with such limited space if you saw something you wanted to do they no longer explain what the event is next to the time for it, you have to find th etime and wha tit is, then thumb back through another set of papers you receive on the first day to look up what that event entails. This is akward and uses up alot of precious time too. If someone has never used the old ones they probably wouldnt care which was used. I hope they make some improvements on it, it is really dumb the way it is now!!

Once i went out on deck for awhile as my husband was taking a nap, after I retured he wasnt there so I just relaxed some and he showed up a few minutes later and handed me a paper. It was a confirmation paper where he booked us another 3 day cruise in 07. YIPPEE!!! It is Easter weekend, so he wont have to use up any vacation time because his company gets good friday off. Just needs to leave a couple hours early on thursday.

We hit lots of smoke and road closures on the way home, but I didnt stress out this time since I wasnt in a hurry to catch the ship. we made it home safely and in descent time. Now I have to be patient until 9/23/06 for the next cruise.

Maybe one of you will be going with us??

 

As I said earlier one of the highlights of our trip was meeting other cruise board people and seeing how excited they were and all the fun they had.

If I think of anything else I will add it later, but I have rambled on a lot already.

If anyone has any questions, please ask I will try to anwer,

mom x4,grandma x4

[Andy99]

Sounds like you had a great time.

 

Its nice to have you back.

[Ginamarie]

Thanks for the great review!

[Serangel71]

Thanks for a great review. Can't wait - 10 days & a wakeup for Magic!!!! Went shopping for big t-shirts of my fav - Tigger= none. Found some of Tinkerbell, so my old ones will have to do and I have a couple of new ones, too.

 

Can't wait to shop on board,too!!!!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Saeangel71,

Remember if you are driving to leave early and check the news about road closures due to the smoke from the brush fires. I read you could dial 511 for ar oad report but I never have done it. So far parts of 95 and 528 have been closed everyday, so avoid those roads. allow extra time for detours so you wont miss the ship!!

 

Have a Magical time and please post us a report when you return.

We will be on the Magic in September!! YIPPEE!!!

 

Hey, if you go to the late night dessert buffet, would you look and see if they had any sugar free desserts and what they were. I would really appreciate knowing this. I have been writing and asking for this for 2 years now everytime we cruise and someone said they thought they saw sugar free desserts there a few weeks ago. I would love to know if this is true!! Hubby is a diabetic, so if they have them he can go and enjoy this activity too. Thanks,

mom x4,grandma x4

[Lucky13Grandma]

Dear mom x4, grandma x4,

I realize this is last-minute, as we fly out for Orlando tomorrow, but can you fill me in a little bit on what you meant when you said,

"Myself I dashed to the Promenade lounge for a cruise meet with all the wonderful people from this board as well as another one. Only one family didnt show but I'm sure they made it since they were using DCL transportation. It was really great to meet all these people."

Is this something that a group planned on the discussion boards, or as individuals, or what?

I'm really excited about our vacation, but also getting very nervous & antsy! Wish you were going to be on the cruise with us to keep us in line!!

By chance, are you going to be visiting WDW in the next few days? Would LOVE to meet you!

Lucky13Grandma

 

Oh, by the way, how's the smoke problem?

[Lucky13Grandma]

Dear mom x4,

I want to take this time to thank you for all the great information you have provided us with concerning our trip! We have taken your advice and planned much of our trip according to what you have suggested. Thanks so much!

We will be at WDW from the 1st of June to the 3rd and then we will board the ship on Sunday the 4th. We will be staying at the Sheraton Safari Hotel.

I don't know if we are able to provide cell phone numbers on this site or how to arrange a meet with you. Any ideas?

By the way, you had asked me previously when #14 was due -- the last of November (hopefully on my birthday!)

Lucky13 Grandma

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi Lucky 13,

There is no PM service on this board so it is not secure to exchange numbers or personal e-mail addresses. But what we can do is, tell me which park you are going to be in on saturday? Then we can set a tentative place and time in that park to meet. I have done this before to meet others from cruise threads and it worked quite well. I will then give you a description of the clothes I will have on. Then if you arnt too busy and my cold doesnt get worse I will see you there. But both of us must agree not to waste your precious vacation time waiting more than 15 to 20 minutes past the meeting time, just in case one of us cant make it at the last minute the other wont be stuck waiting. I know once you tell me the park I can arrange a place easy for you and I to find even though your new there. Maybe we could meet around lunch when you would be sitting down for a few minutes anyway. I dont want to keep you too long from your vacation. so let me know ASAP what park you will be in on saturday morning and we'll see what we can work out.

 

Congrats on November. you will have to post and let me know everything is ok!!! i will check my mail every hour or so to hear back from you,

Katrhy

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Howdy,

I wasnt sure if you had heard about the brush fires here in florida. a few of the roads that head to the port area have been closed due to smoke. So if you are renting a car and driving there yourself, you can call 511 on your phone for an update on road closures. Then if your route is closed I'm sure someone at WDW would be able to give you alternate routes. There is a AAA office near the parking lot of the ticket and transportation center that may be able to help you. I would leave early to allow lots of time to get there. we got delayed earlier this month when we went on our last 3 day cruise. They had road closed signs up, but no detour signs to follow. You can always look for a full Disney cruise line bus to follow. That is what we did. Maybe if you see a cruise line bus stopped at one of the resorts you could even ask the driver the best route, they will know.

Just didnt want you to get here and then have a big surprise by road closures. There are several roads to take that head to the coast, but it will take a lot longer, so please allow extra time to get there. You dont want to miss the ship!! They wont wait for you.

Kathy

[gatour]

You can also use http://www.fl511.com to get interstate/state road closures.

 

Thanks for your review and no you weren't to long-winded.

 

Hope they keep the port side is smoking and starboard is non-smoking. Several other cruise lines do this and I think it works out well.

[Lucky13Grandma]

Hi Kathy,

I'm not exactly sure which park my daughter and her husband have decided to visit which day -- that's something we're going to decide when we get to the hotel tomorrow night -- so as soon as I know, I'll post on this board. (My son-in-law always carries his laptop.)

Thanks again for all your help and for the info on the road closures.

Lucky13Grandma

Kaye

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Kaye,

 

Have a MAGICAL trip!!!!

 

i will check my mail often to see if you have time to let me know about the parks.

 

Kathy

[gammasip]

Thanks for the great review. I didn't think you were long-winded. Actually, I would have enjoyed reading more.

 

Question for you....you mentioned that you forgot your "Mickey hands"...where do you get those???? How fun they would be!:D I usually like to blow bubbles as we sail-away, but I would love to wave some Mickey hands even more. :cool:

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I am glad you enjoyed the review.

I got my hands at WDW. I think they now sell for $16 a pair. They sell them on board the ship, but the store isnt open until a couple of hours after you pull out. If you arnt going to WDW before your cruise you could probably buy them in the gift shop at the Orlando Airport. Disney has a good size gift shop there.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[Lucky13Grandma]

Hi Kathy,

We've been having so much fun, this is the first time we've stopped!

We're heading to the Animal Kingdom this morning because someone mentioned here on the boards that you don't do this one on a Saturday.

We're going to be at the MGM tomorrow (Saturday) so if you'll write back sometime today and tell me where we can meet, that would be great

[Lucky13Grandma]

Hi Kathy,

I just had a reply all ready to send, but hit the enter button instead of the shift and lost it all, so here goes.

We're having so mch fun here in Orlando that this is the first time my son-uin-law has had his computer out. We're up and getting ready to hit Animal Kingdom this morning because someone on the boards said this is a no-no on Saturday!

We'll be at MGM tomorrow (Saturday) so if you'll write back and tell me where to meet you, that would be great!

I'll tell Mickey hi for you this morning.

Kaye

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi Kaye,

I knew you would be very busy, so I was very surprised you even had the time to get back to me. I am glad you did.

My cold is still hanging in there, but if it doesnt get any worse by tomarrow I will be there.

How about around 11:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

When you enter MGM studios, look straight ahead and you will see a big blue mickey sorcerors hat, straight ahead of you. That is the land mark for the park. I believe it sells pins there. I will meet you under that hat on the side that faces the front of the park. around 11 to 11:15 a.m.

I will be wearing a pink blouse, blue denem shorts, white anklets, tennis shoes. I will have either a donald duck billed cap with pins on it or a wide brim white straw hat. It is an aweful hat, but it protects my face from the sun, and I have roseacea which the sun makes flare up with bright red blotches if I dont protect it. I wear gold rim glasses and have shoulder length brown hair, with a few grey strands appearing more each day!! I am 5 foot 7 inches and weight 142 pounds.

 

My Dh is 6 foot tall, short grey hair, billed cap on, 200 pounds, gold rim glasses with clip on sunglasses on. Probably have blue denem shorts on too. Dont know about the shirt.

AGE??? Ok, lets say middle aged!! Ha! Ha!

I will try to post a picture on another post, but it may take a couple of tries to get it to work. I am not too good at these things, so be patient. You may have 2 or 3 more posts to receive before I get it right.

 

I am so excited for you and so happy you are having such a great time.

Of course at WDW that is bound to happen!!!

 

Kathy

[mom x4,grandma x4]

hope this works, I will try again if it doesnt work.

 

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/sixtoedfrog/Picture1105.jpg

[mom x4,grandma x4]

It looks like it worked ok. Here is one more that may help you to recognise us. Please post a description of yourself too, that will help me to spot you too. Thanks,

Kathy

 

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/sixtoedfrog/Picture1113.jpg

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Kaye,

Hopefully those 2 pictures will help you to recognise me. It was a very windy day, so dont let the BAD hair scare you off!!! Ha! Ha!

These were taken on our 3 day cruise last month, so it is current.

 

Please give me a description of yourself and perhaps what you are wearing too. I will check my mail when I get up in the morning for sure, if i dont hear back from you tonight.

 

Remember, Please dont wait past 11:15 for me, I dont want you wasting precious vacation time standing around waiting for me.

I will be there by 11 unless my cold gets worse. Can't wait to meet you!!!

 

kathy

[Lucky13Grandma]

Hi,

Just stopping into hotel for the girls to have a short nap as we are going to try the late night at Magic Kingdom.

I think I will be wearing beige capris with an olive green shirt tomorrow.

If I get up in the morning and feel like something different (I do that all the time) I'll let you know.

Hopefully I can pull the rest of our group away from the fun so you'll be able to meet them also. Daughter, her husband, three girls and myself.

See you tomorrow!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Kaye,

It sounds good to me. We will be leaving fairly early. 8 or so, so if you e-mail me back about a change of clothes, do it early or I wont get it. It takes us a little over an hour to get there from our new house.

I hope the pictures came through ok, that will make it easier for you to recognise me and my husband.

See you soon,

kathy