jenseib
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I think went for a walk inside and took some more pictures since I had been failing at getting pictures around the ship.
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The back entrance to Azure.
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I headed back to the room and M was up and ready. She was going to spend time in port with her crew member friend when he was done working. We decided to head out to port now and just shop right there till he was ready to meet her. Claire decided sleep was more important.
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Sadly there weren’t a lot of stores right there, but we did find a shirt for Claire. M picked it out, so even if Claire would normally say she didn’t like it, with M picking it out, she now would. Hahaha. She has worn it several times now, so she must like it somewhat. It was one of those spirit jersey type shirts with Bonaire across the back and it was yellow and other pastel colors tie dyed.
Her friend found us just as we were walking out of the store and I took a couple of pictures of them together and we parted ways.
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I went walking around, but I couldn’t find really any stores in the area. I later found out I would have had to walk about ½ a mile before I found much in the way of shopping.
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I didn’t have time to explore so I headed back to the ship.
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I got Claire and we headed off to D Lounge to sign in for our excursion. We were REALLY early, but we grabbed towels and packed them in my bag and just relaxed. Connor was signing everyone in and he was the nicest guy and funny too.
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When in port we get free data on our phones….and Claire doesn’t waist one minute of it. LOL!
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We were led off the ship then and then taken to some vans/buses.
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This gentleman would be our caption on our snorkeling adventure. I really liked him.
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We had to walk through a resort area to get to our boat. It looked beautiful.
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I continued walking around and taking pictures around the ship and of the port.
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I kept trying to take pictures of those condos, but it was too far away and the light was doing funky things to my pictures.
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If you watched the video you will see I was videoing with one hand and most of these pictures were taken at the same time with my camera.
A look down at Cabana’s.
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I hadn’t realized there was more seating up here…..and obviously no one else did either.
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A look at another island off in the distance.
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I headed down to deck 4 to take an official walk.
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And I took some more video.
I did a few laps but as soon as I felt hot I stopped as I didn’t want a migraine all day long.
Then it was time for breakfast.
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I pretty much get the same thing every day.
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Wed. Jan. 30, 2019, Bonaire
ABC….B is for Bonaire…..We were traveling around the ABC islands. Claire and I have now been to Aruba (A) twice, Bonaire (B) today, and Curacao (C) a year and a half ago. We were completing our ABC’s on this cruise. Pretty cool! It just amazes me that I have been able to visit these islands. If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have NEVER imagined having the opportunity to visit any of these destinations! I am so grateful!
We had an excursion for just the 2 of us today and it wasn’t till a little later. I let her sleep in a little bit and went off to watch us pull into Bonaire.
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As I walked around I heard music and saw Cast Members on the stage dancing.
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I clicked a few pictures as I walked by and went to get a drink.
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I then stopped and watched a bit and went to line up a great picture and was told I couldn’t take one. OK….???? Then I found out they were working on a new Sail Away show. I later found out it would have a soft opening the very next cruise and would have its official opening the one after that. (I believe it was the Feb. 7 sailing).
I have since heard mixed reviews on it. It looked fun and the old one is basically the original show, so it needed updating, but I think many people don’t like the drastic change. Hopefully I will see it someday.
I took some pics of the port and it is so pretty.
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The water was so blue and the island so colorful!
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Those colorful tents were so neat looking.
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A walk by the sports deck.
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And a video I took at some point this morning.
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Off in the distance you can see colorful buildings. We found out later that those are condos being built.
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Back at the port we had to filter through a building with shops to get back on the ship. Some wanted to shop and it was too close to all aboard time to go anywhere but here.
I bought a magnet and then Claire, M and I headed back to the ship.
M and Claire both wanted to shower right away, so M went to the spa to shower.
The show tonight was Mary Poppins. Claire and I have seen it twice already and we LOVE it, but it was going to interfere with our dinner tonight.
Once we were all beautiful, we headed up to T’s room and met with J and MK and T let us in her nice suite. I did not really take pictures because I don’t know T super well. She’s always nice to me, but I don’t want to invade on her space. Her room was VERY nice and BIG!
It has a dining cove with a nice sized dining table. We had just the right amount to fit in.
Our food came in stages, but we all chatted away. I did take a few pics and stole a couple from J too.
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Claire was a little shy at first and I think nervous about the experience, but she soon warmed up and was open to trying things.
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I think this was MK’s.
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We ate and chatted and it was soooooo good. Claire was in heaven! She definitely liked her steak. T eats like a bird, and I think she had 2 entrees and asked if anyone else wanted the rest of her steak. I knew Claire did, but was too shy to say yes. I spoke up and said she would probably eat….and she did.
It took a while for dessert to come and T called to see why it hadn’t arrived. They served us and they were one chocolate soufflé short. They tried to say it wasn’t ordered, but I saw the list and everyone ordered it. Actually I ordered the amaretto and the chocolate and figured Claire and I could share both or at least try both, since she doesn’t like desserts usually. T gave me hers and shared with D, which was very nice of her.
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Claire loved the amaretto soufflé and ate all but the 2 bites I took. In the future I am going to make her try the Grand Mariner soufflé. I bet she would like it.
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MK got this as well and said it was disgusting.
T ordered ice-cream too and I could only basically take a taste. It was good, but I was full!
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It took a very long time for dinner, but we had a lot of fun. We then headed back to the room and Claire got ready to hang out for the evening.
Another show by Mary Ellen Cooper tonight, and once again she was hilarious. One show was more about being a mom and the other was about being a wife. I was laughing sooooo hard!
Claire texted me and asked if she could get room service. Why not? Of course she is too chicken to call so I had to do that when I got back. I got some too then!
We had a late night, but we would have another busy day tomorrow, so we finally went to sleep. M was off with her friends again and came in late and I never heard her.
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More of my snorkeling pics…..
It was really wavy and hard to swim. I didn’t want to go out too far as I didn’t want to have to swim all the way back in.
I really had a work out out there so I decided to head back in.
You have to be careful going up and down the stairs as there are crabs that hang out on them.
It wasn’t the best snorkeling I have ever done, but I saw a lot of variety of fish, so that was neat. I am so glad I did it. I just love taking pictures when snorkeling and seeing what I end up with when I get home.
Back to my chair to dry off before it would be time to leave.
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And then it was time to pack up. We wanted to head up to the boat area early so we could look at the gift shop. We stopped at the bathroom and there was a line up and I decided to wait. As we got to the shop, the others were looking around, so I decided to try the other bathroom since we still had quite a bit of time. That one was completely empty. Of course as I walk out Claire texts me to tell me to hurry up as they are getting on the boat! What? It’s early! So I rushed quickly and made it!
Time to head back across.
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Once we got to the dock we headed to the bus and some people were kind of pushy. We all will make it back to the ship…don’t worry!
Well the bus was almost full and our party was the last ones on. We took off immediately and the rest of the group boarded the bus waiting behind us. My guess is they would not head back to the port till the next boat came to fill that bus.
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After a while Claire and I decided to head out to the water with PT, and I think J joined us too.
It was COLD!!!! So Claire headed back to the seat….. But after being in it a bit it wasn’t bad. The bad thing though is it was all rocks as you walked in and took a while before you got to sand and your feet would be ok.
We splashed around and had a good time talking and enjoying the water and playing in the waves that came at us.
After a bit the girls decided to join us.
And Z did too.
We played in the waves as they rolled in.
Such beautiful water.
We saw the tops of these huts and I think this is a private area that can be rented for the day.
After a while we got tired and headed back to our chairs. To get out, we got smart and basically allowed the waves to push us up over the rocks and land on the beach…basically like a beached whale. It wasn’t attractive, but we saved our feet.
Another shot of my hat as we sat there.
This was my view from my chair.
It was perfect!
Lunch was being served, so we headed to the buffet area. It was very basic with a salad bar and a few hot options. However, the food was just not very good and most of us threw a majority of it away. We knew they had some fast food in another area, so we headed over there. I think we were starting out with fries but then many of us ended up adding a burger or hotdog too. We sat around and enjoyed our food and chatted. This food was much better. Not high quality, but still better than the buffet.
The kids and F decided then to go on the banana boat and headed off that way. I laid on my lounger and played on my phone dozed a little.
When they came back, F said he was going to go snorkel. I kind of wanted to as well, but I was feeling lazy.
Before I go on, I will give my review of the place so I don’t forget.
The cost was pretty pricey. I believe it was around $105ish per person. It was all inclusive, but the drinks I had just weren’t great. I don’t need strong drinks, but I didn’t think they were super flavorful either. The buffet food was not good. The fast food was fine, but for the cost, there should have been more options.
They had a big waterpark area for younger kids. That did not interest us, but that did look nice.
There were a few activities included, like the banana boat and snorkeling. The beach was small, but it never felt crowded. The swimming area was small but never crowded. Again, it was rocky going out which I hate. Maybe they aren’t allowed to clear them away, but if they can, they should.
Snorkeling there was decent enough (yes, I did end up going), but it was super wavy and a lot of work…but that is mother nature, not their fault.
I heard later some that people asked to be taken back to the ship and asked for their money back as they thought it was a dump. I didn’t feel that way. I didn’t feel it was worth the price, but I didn’t think it was that bad either. I just think the cost should be less.
After a while we headed back out to the water again. I took video of J and PT trying to get in over the rocks and I was laughing so hard…but I won’t post that or they would kill me. I just went in on my belly and bypassed most of them by swimming out. It was cold, but worth it.
We headed back in and grabbed our hats and told Claire to take our picture. She was supposed to get basically only our heads and she was awful! I had to crop our bodies out of most she took!
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They turned out cute though.
F came back from snorkeling and said it was pretty decent. Even though I felt lazy and didn’t want the chore of putting on a mask, I decided I would regret it if I didn’t.
Sooooo I headed over and got my gear and plopped in the water.
When it came to coral and pretty colors…not much….but lots of neat and different fish.
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Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019, Aruba
Today we were all booked on the same excursion with the exception of T and D. We were going to De Palms, which is an all-inclusive type place, but just for a day. It is not a resort. My cousin had gone here before and said they really liked it.
When we all booked and looked at excursions, this place was not available and we threw around other options. It then opened up. I am not sure if they opened more spaces or if a big group ended up cancelling out.
Claire isn’t too big on breakfast and rarely eats it and since I was up early, I headed up for some.
Obviously our detour yesterday wasn’t a big issue as we arrived and docked on time this morning.
I saw a De Palms bus on the dock and J said she later saw a bunch of them lined up. There was more than one ship in port today.
We got ourselves ready and our bag packed and headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to get signed in. It wasn’t long and we were led off the ship and then onto a waiting bus.
Claire is usually so clingy, so I sat down and expected her to plop right next to me. Nope! She sat with M. You know she really likes someone when she will hang with them as much as possible. PT sat with me and we talked a bit and I just sort of went in a daze and took a few pictures. Our driver talked as we drove and pointed out things.
I saw the Aruba sign and quickly tried to get it. This truck pulled up just as I clicked.
I tried for a 2nd one knowing that we were probably already too far.
Total fail!
Seeing flowers and flowering bushes at this time of year is just so refreshing!
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I had only been half listening to our driver. He was talking about our destination a bit. PT then asks me, “Did he just say they serve Pee-nus Colada’s?” LOL!!!!! Yes he did. And he kept saying it. His accent was making him say Pina’s Coladas with a little bit of a twist. We all started just cracking up. Then he started talking about the “Baby Beeeech”. Claire totally lost it then. She kept saying she was going to have a Pee-nus Colada at the Baby Beeeech.
And we never figured out where the Baby Beeeech is because we kept laughing.
We arrived at a small dock and were let off and then boarded a small boat over to our private retreat for the day.
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We are ready for our day!
I just love the Caribbean blue water.
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On the way over they told us what was included and what is extra and where some things were. Unfortunately it was really hard to hear.
We arrived and got off the boat and kind of wandered a bit to get our bearings and see where we wanted to go. We spotted some turtles.
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We found some chairs on the beach and claimed our spots and then went off to get drinks. The drinks were pretty weak, but that was ok by me. Claire had the virgin and I don’t think there was much of a difference. I did see some people asked for an extra shot in them (the frozen drinks were coming out of machines).
We just relaxed and enjoyed our time with each other.
I had found some cute hats at Walmart last fall on clearance and I bought one for me and one for J. There were 3 left, so I bought the 3rd and figured I would have it on hand in the event of wanting to give it to a cruising friend. PT was the lucky one. We all brought our hats and were planning on having a picture with them on later today.
For now, I wanted to take some pictures I could use for any future vacations.
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Isn’t that just the cutest hat?
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After we were done eating, I decided to do a small load of laundry so that Claire would have plenty of jeans to wear, since she is crazy and only wears jeans these days. I love that the app now notifies you when the machine is done.
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We just kind of hung out while the laundry was going. M is platinum and she gets a room gift. She chose the truffles and told us we could have them as she really didn’t want them.
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J messaged us at one point and said to meet them at the Concierge Lounge where we would play cards with T and D. T had also invited J and MK and M, Claire and myself to dinner from Palo in her suite for tomorrow night. But we had to pick what we wanted to eat today so she could submit it. This was pretty exciting. Palo is for 18 and older, so Claire still has 4 years before she can visit. At the age of 14, she was going to be able to have Palo dinner without stepping foot in Palo.
We had a lot of fun playing cards in the lounge. I think I only saw one other family come in while we were there. It’s such a nice lounge and great for relaxing. J said it’s the best lounge between the 4 ships. This is the only one I have been in so I don’t know any difference.
It was time now to shower and get ready for Formal Night and the Golden Mickeys. M brought glitter! When we have sailed with M and her sister Kelsey in the past, they always do glitter on formal night. She talked Claire into glitter right away and I was game too. She also talked Claire into curling her hair. If I had suggested any of these things I would have been yelled at, but M suggests it and Claire has an immediate YES!
We met up with PT and family and headed down to the atrium to grab a free drink! Claire got a non-alcoholic one and M and I got some wine I believe. Or maybe a fruity drink. We made 2 passes through during the evening.
F just rolled his eyes at our Glitter! hahaha
Then it was off to the Golden Mickeys!
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I sadly didn’t get a very good picture of Claire with her curls and glitter.
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Here is my selfie I took late in the evening.
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M got in line to be “interviewed” and we went in and found seats.
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Now the Golden Mickey’s is my favorite show in DCL, but I have only seen it on the Dream. This version is just slightly different, but still pretty close to the same from what I remember. The Cruella DeVil portion is a bit different and I like the Dream’s version better. All in all I think I like the Dream’s better, but both are great.
At the end I typically snap a few pictures.
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That was fun!
Now it was time to head to Crown and Fin. 50’s and 60’s trivia was going on tonight, so the 3 of us got a table. It wasn’t a very big crowd. We didn’t do so great, but much better than I expected to do. And we had fun.
We had a little free time and Claire and M went off together and then I met up with them for dinner in Tritons.
We love the Banana Bread on DCL and someone had asked if we could get some, and we had a whole loaf waiting for us tonight.
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We all started chatting and put our orders in. MK was starting to open up more now and we were all getting a long pretty good.
I love this menu and ordered quite a bit.
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Claire got more adventurous this cruise and would typically order the featured beef each night…usually plain with no sauce.
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This was the view from my seat.
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Claire once again got nothing for dessert, but next cruise I am going to order her the soufflé because I think she will like it.
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We had a great dinner! Renato still was very slow and disappeared a lot.
We let Krash know that 5 of us would not be at dinner tomorrow but wondered if we could get the pasta purseittes the next night and he said he would make it happen. YES!
We parted with Claire and then headed to play the game of the night, which I believe was snippets and it was a lot of fun.
I was so tired tonight though and the main show was Josh Casey, the juggler. I just didn’t think it would be worth staying up for him tonight. PT told me the next day it really wasn’t a very different act from the family show and I didn’t miss much.
Back in the room, our towel animal for the night.
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And then we crashed for the night. Tomorrow would be Aruba! Maybe I will take a nap on the beach!
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I finally went for my walk. I figured any walking is better than nothing and I had been walking around the ship too.
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I walked a few laps and I really would have loved to do more, but I have been having some health issues and if I get over heated I get a migraine and it will last all day. Plus I get sick feeling. I have just found it’s better to stop and I can always come back later if I want to walk some more.
When it comes to cruising, I try to use the stairs to go down each time, but going up, I can’t, so that is the elevator. I spotted Sophia out meeting as I took the elevator up.
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I went and got a drink and then went to shower. We had been messaging between PT, J and I and deciding on breakfast. J and MK were going to go to Tritons. I thought it over and I thought I would like to do that too. PT decided they would like to give it a try too. I was the first one ready, so I waited in the Atrium for the others.
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After getting several pictures, I sat down to wait…..My view.
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We were really going fast for quite a while. I think the Captain was trying to make up time.
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PT and F showed up and then we went in and got seated. J and MK showed up a little later.
We were quickly seated.
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We chatted for a while and it took us a while to place orders. I honestly wasn’t impressed with the selections. PT and I got a few pastries while we talked and waited.
I got a soup, which was good. I didn’t take pictures of the rest of my food and I can’t remember what I even got. I think it was just ok. Probably breakfast type food.
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We sat for quite some time and Claire started messaging me asking what I was doing and when I would be done. Time to head back to the room.
As we left, J pointed out the “big table”. On the Fantasy we had gotten to sit at the big round table and I had asked her what the equivalent was on the Classic ships and as we went by she pointed it out.
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The princesses were out meeting. The kids looked so cute.
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I ran up top for a few minutes and then came back down via the steps. I tried to get a pic of the After Hours carpet.
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I headed back to the room and Claire was up and dressed. She said M had gotten up and was mad she slept so long as she was worried her body would be out of whack. Here I thought I was doing her a favor by keeping quiet and letting her sleep. LOL.
Claire was hungry, so we headed up top for her to get some food.
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And because it’s a cruise, I got some cheesecake!
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Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, Day at Sea
I had a great night’s sleep. There is just something about those beds on the Disney ships. So nice!
My goal this trip was to walk each morning if I could. I really was a slacker at this sadly. However I did it more than my friends, so I guess that’s a plus.
Because M was asleep on the couch/bed, with the curtain closed, I did not go and look out the window. I just headed right to the elevator to head up top. A guy starts talking to me and tells me he was surprised to see land outside his window when he looked out. What? Wait? It’s a sea day!
He said there was a Medical Emergency and we are back in Puerto Rico. Oh wow.
Sure enough, when I get up top I see we are docked and there is a Celebrity ship next to us. At first I thought we were back in San Juan. I later find out it is Ponce, which is on the bottom side of Puerto Rico.
I talked to a gentlemen I had been talking to here and there so far on this cruise. He was in Concierge and he said he was told it was a medical emergency and at this point the Captain is still deciding if we will make it to Aruba tomorrow. I guess it depended on how long they had to stayed docked.
I took a few pics.
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I tried a pano shot…I did not succeed!
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J and I messaged back and forth, discussing what we heard.
I guess in the end and I never had this officially confirmed, but there was an elderly guest who had health issues and it is believed they passed on during the night. I was told when we docked the ambulance was waiting, but they never brought the stretcher out for another 45 minutes or so. After we left port, I really never heard much more about the incident, so Disney does make sure it doesn’t take the magic away from other guests.
This was the route the ship had taken last night.
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I know nothing about this port, but where we were docked wasn’t super attractive.
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There was a party bus down there though.
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So my guess, at this port, you really can’t get off and do much and would need an excursion.
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Finally we got the all clear to sail away. The Captain announced we would be making to Aruba on time tomorrow. And we seemed to be zooming a long for most of the day.
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Since we were on the move, I decided to go and take some pictures around the ship so I could get that task somewhat done.
After Hours is the adult area. I do like the way the Adult areas are on the classic ships verses the Dream class ships.
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This store had some more expensive things in it and I didn’t see it open too often.
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This is the back way into Azure. Azure is where nightly shows usually took place.
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Crown and Fin is on the same page as O’Gills on the Fantasy and Magic.
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We spent a lot of time in there doing Trivia.
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I think I only walked into Cadillac lounge one night and it was near the end of the cruise. It’s a quieter place and never had anything going on that interested me.
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After my quick tour, I ran back to the room to check on Claire and M. Both were sound asleep. I thought I would take a pic of our door as I usually forget to.
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I am terrible with remembering the names of what I had, and I am too lazy to search online. So I will just show pictures.
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I usually order a Caesar salad most nights, even though it’s not on the menu.
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Tiana and Louis do come around. They perform a bit on stage and then make the rounds. Sadly because we were so far back and the view was less than stellar, I am not sure what actually went on on stage.
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The stop at the table is very quick and they never seemed to ask who we wanted the picture with. I am not sure if they will automatically go up to the younger kids if you have them. Claire was the youngest and they never went to her. I know Louis can't fit between tables so he will stay on the outer edge...but Claire was on the outer edge.
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I decided to be clever and when Louis walked by behind me, I was going to snap a selfie. He saw and made a stop.
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J caught a picture of me doing it.
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Tiana visited with M.
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Our main course came out. I believe tonight, Claire and I got the same thing.
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Look how cute the placemats are.
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Claire is not much on eating desserts, so she got nothing.
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I tried a few things.
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I debated on getting the signature dessert, but it is with bananas and I just don’t like anything with banana flavoring. PT got it, so I took a pic.
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It actually didn’t look like it had much banana at all and I think I could have eaten around them.
Our servers were very nice, but Renato was very slow. We got one round of drinks and then he disappeared. This became a theme. He was easily thrown off too. Luckily Poncho was really good and he did his job and many of the things Renato was supposed to do as well. Some nights, he was refilling our drinks too.
After dinner was over, we all rolled out. We wanted to go to the adult show, which meant Claire headed back to the room. This is the part I do feel bad about when cruising with her. She won’t go to the clubs, so she stays in the room at night. The Wonder doesn’t appear to have the same choices of movies on TV like the new ships do, so she couldn’t watch different movies nightly.
Usually we would arrive at Azure to watch or participate in whatever activity they had going on and then watch the show after that. Jo was our club host. At first I wasn’t too sure about her. It didn’t take long and I took a liking to her. She was a lot of fun.
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Tonight it was M and I, Z, PT and F, and T and D also joined us.
I don’t think I mentioned this before, but T and D were in one of the Royal Suites, which is why they had access to the Concierge Lounge. They usually ordered room service from Palo and didn’t come out too often.
The first game was Intuition…and I can’t remember much about it now…only that we all played along and had fun.
Then it was a comedian, Maryellen Hooper. She was very funny and a lot of fun! We did a lot of laughing.
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After the show, we said good byes and good nights. I went upstairs and talked with a few people I had now gotten to know and then got some drinks for Claire and I and then headed back to the room.
Our towel animal for tonight.
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M came back to the room to change her clothes and then she was going to hang out with her friend who works for DCL. He’s actually a DJ and a super nice guy.
Claire did do some wining because she had to come to the room while the rest of us went out. I am so sorry, but there was nothing I could do to speed up 4 more years for her. Also on that note, Claire has had opportunities on more than one cruise to get to know other kids prior to sailing, this one included. She texts or chats on Instagram, but she refuses to hang out with them once on the ship. So if she really wanted to do something at night, she could hang out with these kids.
We watched a little TV and then closed the curtain off to M’s side but left a light on so that she could find her way in later when she came in. The first couple of nights, Claire would worry that M came in late. I told Claire that M is an adult and it’s not bothering either of us if she is out late. It’s her cruise too and if she wants to hang with her friends late, she surely can. I think Claire was thinking I was M’s mom this week, so I should make her have a curfew. Hahaha.
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Tonight’s show was juggler, Josh Casey. I really wasn’t too excited to go see him, but what the heck.
We met up with PT’s family and sat with them. I believe M joined us too. She really was like another daughter to me this trip. She did a lot of things with us and she gets along so well with Claire and me too.
The show was just OK. He didn’t do many impressive things and there seemed to be more talking than juggling. I am glad I saw it, but I have no need to see him again.
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We had a little time till dinner and I think Claire and M went off a bit.
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I sat down and talked to some people. I would talk to some of these people off and on throughout the cruise and they were all very nice.
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There was a dance party going on. I was terrible at looking at the Navigator to see what activities were going on, so I am not sure what this was called.
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It looked like a lot of fun and it was cute with the characters dancing with everyone.
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I had to run to the room for some reason or other. I think we sat around and chatted for a bit.
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Then it was time for dinner, so we scooted back up towards the atrium where the party was still going on.
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I posted this picture online the next day and my friend Cass replied something like “I spy the Dis team”.
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I had no clue what she meant till later on. The 2 guys in the background, top right of the picture, are writers for the Dis. I ended up talking to the guy in gray much later in the cruise. I really need to check out and see if he wrote one of the articles he was talking about writing.
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Time to head to Tiana’s!
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Cute plates!
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I wasn’t very good about taking menu pics, but I did get one tonight.
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We met our servers and found out Krash was our head server! Yay!
Our server, Potchara, was great…fantastic. Our assistant server, Renato,…..not so much. I don’t remember either actually introducing themselves, so I don’t know if they had nick names or not. In my head I call Potchara “Poncho”. LOL!
From our table, we had a lovely view of the….pole! Really a sucky view! So sadly we couldn’t tell what was going on on the stage.
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We snuck up to the concierge outdoor deck and it was nice to watch us sail away from there. I was surprised how most people do not go out here or use the lounge much at all.
What a beautiful sail away.
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Yeah I really liked this fort and this probably only 2/3rds of what I took.
And we got further and further away.
Good bye Puerto Rico! We will see you in a week! ……….
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MK called his family at home to say goodbye and J and I went off to chat a bit. I don’t even remember what it was, but you can see nosey Claire trying to see why we were talking without her.
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It wasn’t anything secretive, but Claire said the T said to M….ooooh they must be sharing secrets. Hahaha.
This was just a beautiful sail away and I was so excited to spend some time with my friends too.
So we all just chilled out and talked and enjoyed the afternoon.
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And then we got a picture of the 3 of us.
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And J and Mk got one on the lounger too, but they have goofy faces since I caught them mid-sentence…so I won’t share.
I think PT and family left after a bit to get ready for the evening and we all went inside for a little bit.
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Claire really needed a shower though, so we headed back to the room to get ready for the evening show.
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It was just about time for the Muster Drill and I was getting antsy about being on time. They all kept telling me not to worry and not to go till the last minute. I still was not at ease and finally I said we had to go as I felt guilty and we could see that most people were no longer at the pools or on deck. ….well I should have listened to them. We were not the last and we still had to wait quite a bit before it started. Oh well.
Today we were on deck 4 for our drill. We listened to the instructions and then after it was over, we went off on our merry way.
We eventually made our way up to the top to watch us sail away.
We found PT’s family and hung with them. M had gone to do something and then joined us as well.
There were a lot of small planes coming and going on that small airstrip.
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We now were approaching the fort, which I was excited to sale by and of course took a zillion pics.
We heard J holler at us.
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She was up in the concierge area.
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She wanted us to come there with them, so we made our way there.
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I continued my picture taking journey.
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My goal was to try and get as many pics around the ship in the first few days and then not worry so much about it. I did OK, but I am sure I missed a ton.
Here is a not so great picture of the light fixture.
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I found all the artwork and took a look at it for a few minutes. They always have such cool stuff.
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I stopped off and looked out the Port hole and took a few pics.
The fueling barge was starting to pull away and I watched that a bit.
The Dawn across the way. One of the ships our Uber driver tried to deliver us to.
I think at some point I went out to Deck 4.
Our bags had started to arrive, so we went to do some unpacking. J messaged us to come to the Concierge Lounge as she was up there with T and her husband D. So the 3 of us headed that way and they snuck us in. The lounge is really nice. We all sat at around and chatted for a bit.
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Continuing in the kids club.
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We then separated again and I went off to take some more pictures.
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I kept on thinking I would get back to the atrium many times and would take a really nice picture of the light fixture, but honestly, I don’t think I did ever get any real nice pictures of it.
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We would be having dinner in Tiana’s tonight and I was excited about that. I have been dying to eat here and the menus looked good!
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It was now about 1:30, so I headed to our home for the next week to see what our room looked like.
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We were on deck 2, not my favorite location, but surely doable and I couldn’t complain. The girls arrived at the same time I did.
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We had our Castaway Club bag on the bed. Usually they have something inside….at least luggage tags. Nothing! Since PT took over J’s original room, J's bag was in there. She got nothing as well. PT’s bag was delivered later and hers too had nothing.
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Our room door was actually still open from cleaning when we arrived. Our stateroom host popped in to say hi and that she had just finished up. She was nice, but we never meshed. She wasn’t bad, but she wasn’t overly good either. Sometimes you get one that is just so friendly and you totally click and then sometimes you don’t.
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So as you can see, the room is pretty much just like any other room on DCL and it would suffice our needs for the next week.
We didn’t have our bags yet, but we dedicated who would get what area to unpack to once they did arrive. It worked out great, as M said she usually takes the middle set of drawers/storage. I typically take the one closest to the bathroom and Claire takes the drawers closet to window/balcony, so that was going to work out perfectly.
I headed out a bit and I think M went to look for a CM who is a friend of hers.
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I stopped in the Quiet Cove for a snack and pictures.
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And then outside for a few.
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This is the adult area.
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After we were done eating we chatted a bit but then decided to walk around and explore. Claire, M and Z went off together, PT and F went off and I went on my own for a bit.
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Since I had never been on this ship I wanted to take a few pictures.
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I decided I wanted to check out the kids club.
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The kids had the same idea and I found them here too. Claire, somehow conned Z into dragging her carryon bag around.
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We took the “secret passageway” to the other side.
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Finally the doors opened and we were moving! We passed this nice CM who was very friendly to everyone.
And we made it!
We went through security and then headed in to check in. I took a lot of snapshots as we walked in and some are pretty blurry.
Now I had read a few times that the San Juan terminal was pretty miserable and hot and did not have drinks or bathroom. I have no clue what these people were talking about. We walked in and there were lots of drinks being sold and they had a duty free shop too. It wasn’t hot and it was actually pretty nice.
We bypassed all the lines……M is platinum, so for the first time, Claire and I got to check in the platinum line.
The duty free shop.
Yes, I know this picture is upside down. I wanted to get a clear shot of the platinum rug so I had to take it from the top and then I flipped it over so we can read it!
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We got all checked in and our lanyards and then went off to the side to wait for PT and family while they finished up.
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We got boarding 1 being Platinum!
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My next DCL cruise will be my 10th, which will make me Platinum. After that we can always check in in the Platinum line and get boarding 1. Claire is really excited about that and keeps pushing me to get 2 more cruises in this year so we can have that perk! Little things make her happy!
Once PT and family joined us we walked through some halls and found a warehouse area that had lots of seats for us to wait.
Just an FYI, there were bathrooms in here and in the check in area.
Mickey was out visiting.
J texted that she was checking in and then they were running to see about upgrading. Now when we booked our rate, only ocean view or insides were available. J and I got ocean view rooms and PT got an inside. PT wanted an ocean view, but F said inside would be perfectly fine for them this time. J and I had our rooms assigned right next to each other and PT’s room was a little ways down the hall on the same deck. J really wanted a verandah.
She then texted that there was 1 verandah left and they were in the process of upgrading to it. PT and F decided they wanted an ocean view now and J told them to come quick and join them in line and they would be able to take her now vacant ocean view room.
They all came back laughing and excited. J said the couple in line behind them wanted to upgrade as well and were not too happy that J got the last room. J wasn’t sure about her room location though. It was on deck 5, port side, aftish, the first room after the movie theatre. OMG! I have had that same room on the Magic. I loved it. I told her she would be fine. J now had 2 boarding # 1 passes from both rooms and gave the extra to PT.
We all sat and chatted a bit and F told us that their Uber charged them twice as much too. He later sent in an email and was refunded immediately. He ended up directing me what to do later since I was having issues getting a refund.
We could see people gathering so we knew boarding would start soon. Now this is where they need some organization. We went up near the roped area and people were crowded around. We kept asking if they started boarding…..not sure…are you in boarding group 1. …. No, we are just waiting. UGH! Get out of the way then. We kept pushing through people to get closer. The majority of people in the way were not in boarding group 1 nor were they even group 2 or 3!
Finally we made our way up at just about the same time they let everyone in the queued area for boarding and then it was a mass cluster muffin! People were shoving and pushing and cutting people off. We got separated from M quickly. Claire just held on to me so she wouldn’t get lost. PT and family were not too far behind us, but J, MK and M were way ahead of us now and getting further and further. As they passed around the corner and turned back and were now next to us in the next row, M lifted the rope and said “Come on and get back with me”….so Claire and I dipped under and joined her….and people were grumbling and griping. Sorry people, but many of you cut me off and separated me from my roommate. I sort of felt guilty, but I shouldn’t have. It was these crazy pushy people that made us get separated in the first place.
We headed up and out to board!
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We boarded on deck 4, a first for me with Disney.
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I believe we scanned in once we got on deck 4 and then went down and inside.
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Our first look at the Wonder! Claire and I now have officially just Grand Slammed!
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We all gathered off to the side. M was going to go put us on the waitlist for Palo. Like I said before, I really didn’t care if we had it, but now that M was in my room, that qualified us for a free Palo meal, so what the heck. We stood and debated for a bit on where to eat. Tritons? Or Cabanas? Cabanas always wins for me but I didn’t want to be pushy. J and MK decided Tritons as he has never done a welcome aboard meal there I guess. I didn’t care, but the rest still were not making up their mind. I remembered M saying her favorite thing is Cabanas when boarding and eating shrimp, so after no one deciding I just said Cabanas. I am pretty sure that is what everyone wanted, but no one wanted to upset anyone else. We told M we would meet her there and headed off.
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When we arrived, we waited to wash our hands and there was an older couple in front of us and the wife looked at me and then nudged her husband and says “There they are. They didn’t get much further ahead. We beat them here”.
OMG! I can HEAR you first of all. And I am sure she was referring to us going under the rope earlier. And no, you did not “beat” us. We have been standing in the atrium for about 15 minutes. That just annoyed the heck out of me, but I pushed it aside and we washed up and found a table and set our stuff down and then went in search of food. They were one of the couples pushing past people anyways.
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As I was sitting at our table eating I saw a server walk by and only got a glimpse of him…but boy he looked familiar. I started shuffling through my brain memories to place him. OH! I think he was our head server on the Fantasy last summer. Krash! He kept walking by, but I could only see his back side. Finally he turned around and I got a good look at him. Yep! It was him! A little later he was talking to the table behind us and they told him he was their last head server too and I turned around and said, yes we had you too! He was very nice and chatted a bit…and later we found out he was again our head server.
As we chatted, I noticed the one gal from the other table looked familiar too. Yes! She’s a friend of my friend Brook. She also had been on the 10 night sailing on the Fantasy…AND she was at Cruise World when I attended. One night we had dinner with a bunch of gals and she was one of them. Such a small world!
We had a nice meal and it wasn’t long before M came back to join us. She said we were all #3 on the Palo wait list. She said there was a huge line behind her and I was soon reading on our Facebook group that there were over 60 names wait listed. And just an FYI, we NEVER were notified of a reservation available. Now we had a big group listed, so not sure if that made a difference or not.
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Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019, Embarking the Disney Wonder
With an early night, I woke up pretty early. Luckily I got much better sleep than I thought I would. M said she woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and the music was still pumping outside. I don’t know if this is a nightly thing, or if it was because it was a Saturday night.
M and I decided to brave the shower, which once we gave it a look over, was not so desirable. She went first and said it wasn’t so bad, but the bathroom floor will flood and that the water temperature had basically its own mind. I debated and decided I would shower now. Claire on the other hand said she would rather die than use the shower here …and she has to wash her hair daily or it gets greasy….and she hadn’t washed it yesterday…so you know she was disgusted with the shower if she was letting it go another day.
While Emily showered, I had walked downstairs. I took this pic of the lobby. We totally cracked up as their tree was still up….and it was a LIVE tree….that was completely dead. It was so dry and just had to be the biggest fire hazard.
After I headed back up and showered, we gathered our stuff, but still had a ton of time before we had to leave….so we went for a walk. We decided to go a little further one way today and also possibly go to the beach again too.
It was pretty and we had a nice time checking everything out. We saw this waffle place and I had to take a picture because Claire used to be obsessed with waffles. She’s kind of passed the waffle obsession now. She was not nearly as excited about the place as I was.
The beach was so pretty this morning.
I have no clue what this guy was doing.
Selfie time.
There were a couple of crabs walking on the rocks. You can’t see them very well in my picture.
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We took some pictures of ourselves.
We had a nice time but decided it was time to head back.
We stopped at the CVS and did a little shopping around and then back to our apartment.
We fidgeted around but were restless and wanted to get to the ship. We were all excited. I messaged PT and J and then we decided we were just going to head to the port now. PT said they were ready too and heading out. J was not quite ready, but soon would be.
We dragged our bags downstairs and went out front and got an Uber. I wasn’t sure what the port address was, so I just put in cruise port. The guy came, but pulled up further than the address and on the other side of the road. It was just kind of odd how he made no attempt to look for us and I should have taken it as a sign.
We literally lugged our suitcases over to his car and he loaded and we got in. I started talking to him and he had a surprised look on his face. It soon became clear he did not speak English or understand it. Now I did notice later with future Uber uses that it states if they speak English. I never noticed it for this one, so I am not sure if it popped up or not.
Well Disney is the same in all languages and I told him we are going to the Disney ship. He never acknowledged us. Soon we saw the ship and we seemed to be passing it by. Again I said Disney ship and pointed, but he kept driving. Ok, the way the port is, I thought well maybe we have to circle around and come in on the other side. We pass the NCL ship, which was at a different pier and kept going and he was mad about people stopping to turn into that port. And then he starts to pull into the Carnival terminal. NO!!!! Disney!
He is confused and we say Disney over and over. M is trying to convey it to him with the little Spanish she knows.
He turns around and heads back and then goes to turn into the NCL terminal. NO!!!! Disney!!! We keep pointing at the ship across the way. There were 2 ships over there and I think he finally realized we wanted one of those.
We head that way and with some gestures he lets me know I have to change the location on the Uber app. We fiddle around and try to figure out what to do so and it says it will charge me an additional $1 and some change for the change of address. That’s fine. He still is not sure which ship and we have to urge him to Disney’s ship.
Finally we are in line and close to our home for the next week.
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Claire is annoyed with the driver…..that being said, she never smiles for my pictures anyways.
Finally we arrive and are directed where to be dropped off. We gave him a tip for the troubles and off we went. Later I get a receipt with the cost…which is more than double what was quoted. I have no idea what happened but I was NOT happy. I sent an email in later asking for a refund of the overage. It took me a while with some arguing but finally I found another email dept. to talk to and they immediately gave me a refund.
We dragged our bags to the line and waited. The terminal doors weren’t open yet. We saw that PT and family were not too far ahead of us. J was late and they were quite a ways back behind us. We let her know that it looked long, but that was because they hadn’t opened the doors yet.
Unlike Port Canaveral, you carry your bags into line and then the porters were standing at one point in the line and took them from you when you passed by.
Not a great pic, but that is one of the porters carts.
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We decided to head outside and check the area out and scout for a dinner location. J was tired and just wanted us to find something and PT and family were having a crisis as Z left his backpack in the taxi. It was an expensive backpack and had his expensive headphones in it. They called several taxi companies and had no luck and I don’t believe it was ever found.
We walked down the road and found several restaurants to choose from and sent off suggestions to the others. We stopped at a Walgreens (or some pharmacy as there were 2 right down the road) and I bought a pack of water to bring on the ship, though we did get into them ahead of time as well.
We headed back to the apartment and left the water and relaxed a bit and messaged back and forth about dining options. Since Hard Rock Café is a known name and place, we finally settled on that. It would be an easy landmark to find and should have food we all like.
We set off that way and put our name in and soon PT and family arrived and we were seated. J and MK arrived a little later. We then found out that we all were actually pretty close to each other. PT said they walked only a few blocks from the opposite direction and J said they took an Uber, but it was walkable as well and just a few blocks away too.
I will start by saying this was the worst experience at a Hard Rock Café I have ever personally had. The service was not bad, but not good either. The choices of food were very limited and it just had an odd vibe and took a really long time to get our food.
We had M take a group shot of us.
Claire went with the Margarita Flat bread.
This was good and I should have gone with that choice, or we should have shared. Claire is picky and wasn’t finding anything to her liking so I suggested this to her and told her to take the tomatoes off. She said “What about the margarita part?” I explained that that just meant it had tomatoes on it. She told me later that she always that that meant it had alcohol in it. Hahaha…..Now she knows it’s a safe option.
I got the club sandwich.
It was odd. Usually clubs have sliced meat but this had a big slab of chicken on each side. It was just ok, but I wasn’t a fan of the thick chicken….then I went to my second half and took a bite and it was DISGUSTING!!!! I don’t know what was wrong with the chicken, but I could not eat it. It had a gross taste and it lingered. I ate a piece of Claire’s pizza to get rid of the taste.
It took forever to get our bill.
We all look tired.
The bill was a bit high for the quality of the food, but it is what it is. We did take the rest of Claire’s pizza with us.
The company was great, though MK didn’t speak too much and I wondered if he was shy with all of us loud mouths. J assured me he could be just as loud and we would get to know him and like him.
J and MK went off to get some gelato and we walked off with PT and family for a bit.
We did want to see the beach, so we headed towards the water.
When we had been looking at hotel options, one kept popping up. I can’t remember the name off hand, but it was something like Sunset Beach hotel….and it was really cheap and we had wondered if it was any good. We walked by it and it was very small and I am glad we didn’t go with it. I don’t know what the inside looked like, but the outside wasn’t impressive.
I believe this is the beach behind the Marriott.
I had sandals on, so I walked out a bit, but the rest has regular shoes and stayed back.
It had cooled down quite a bit and actually chilly out, so I was surprised to see people swimming.
I loved the crashing waves.
It was very pretty!
The garbage can was overflowing though….someone needs to come empty that bugger.
We stopped at the Tollhouse Cookie store, but oddly the cookies didn’t look appealing to me. And it didn’t smell of cookies. If they had brought out some fresh ones I would have been all over it.
We made a few other stops and then spotted this store and just totally laughed….and we did NOT stop here.
We split up from PT’s family and walked around some more.
This is in front of our apartment. I think someone ran up to use the bathroom.
We walked the other way for a bit and then back towards the pharmacy as M wanted to get something, passing the Hard Rock again.
We all had been up since like 3 or 4 in the morning our time and it was taking its toll so we decided to settle down and get some sleep.
As we were getting ready I was also out on the balcony and notice a colorful bus blaring music….a party bus. Wow it was loud. Up until then we never really heard too much. Well that bus must have parked nearby and the Music never stopped. It was loud and banging through most of the night.
I took a video of the bus as I spotted it (it’s flashing) but it didn’t capture the music because the AC unit was loud right there.
We then discovered that the beds and bedding were not the greatest and I had to just put that all in the back of my head or I would never sleep. Also the curtains did not cover the whole window, with each end piping light in….and of course we had the pumping music outside.
It was like 8 PM now and we just wanted to get some sleep so we could start the next day and be ready.
I thought how funny it was that I was in bed at 8, when my original flight would not have even landed in San Juan yet. I was glad we changed to the early flight as we had a nice time with our friends.
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Saturday, Jan 26, 2019, Flying to San Juan
We got up really early, but we did get some decent sleep at least.
We weren’t doing too much to make ourselves gorgeous as we were just traveling and I was too tired to care.
We loaded our suitcases back into the car and set the gps and headed off to the airport. This early it is really a breeze to get there as not many people are crazy enough to be on the road.
We decided to just park and then take our bags on the shuttle rather than dropping them off first….but we missed the turn, totally my fault, so we had to circle around back to the lot. We noticed that the Skycap wasn’t even open yet, which I thought was odd since we have flown this early before and it has been open.
We found a spot and unloaded our bags and waited for the shuttle. It was cold, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
The shuttle pulled around and we loaded our bags and found 2 seats left and off we went. At the airport we dragged our bags inside, which was a first for us. I have never had to check the bags inside at CMH before. We were greeted with this line.
HOLY COW!!!! There was no one at the desks yet. I don’t know why they opened later today, but many were grumbling. Once they did open, they told people they could do the self check in kiosks as well. But it appeared no one knew what they were doing in those, so we stuck with the regular line and it wasn’t too slow.
Once we arrived at the counter, we handed our bags and I handed over our passports. The lady then tells me mine is expired…Wait? What? Claire had another year or so on hers, but I thought mine had like 5 still left. She hands it to me and tells me it expired in 2012. Um, nope, and I hand it back….that is when I got it. Oops. Talk about giving me a heart attack. This gal can’t take much more.
After that, it went smoothly and bags were taken and we went in the TSA precheck line and soon were through security. We noticed later that people who got in the regular line at the same time as us took about 30 minutes to get through.
Now we had one more task to make this day flow better. Claire was having stomach butterflies because she was so worried she would have to sit next to strangers with our C boarding pass. We chose a seat right in front of the desk and I told her I would try to upgrade to A boarding if possible.
We sat and waited for someone to come to the desk, and I stood as soon as I saw her, but let her have time to start her computer and then a couple with a stroller jumped in front of us. Luckily, they just wanted to get a tag and ask some questions. Then it was my turn. I told her we wanted to upgrade and what the cost would be. She said $80 for the 2 of us and with C boarding, it was a good chance we would not be sitting together. That $80 was totally worth peace of mind for us. I had not bought early bird, so I just looked at it as a similar cost.
And look what numbers we got!
I have NEVER been 1 or 2 before! It was kind of exciting! We would not technically be first on board, as they did have a few wheelchairs, but we were darn close.
With that settled and Claire now breathing a sigh of relief, I went to the vending machines to get us some pops and used the restroom. It was when I came back that I noticed people we got in line with, but went through regular security had now just made their way through and were putting on their shoes.
We didn’t have to wait too long and it was time to board. There was a couple behind us who paid to upgrade too. They also had C boarding and did not want to be separated.
We found our seats and Claire sat by the window and I sat on the aisle.
I put my bag on the seat between us and dug in it for a while. I really was looking for something, but I had found out that the plane was not completely full and I had hoped we could keep that extra seat open and have more space. If someone did want to sit in our row, I would move to the middle.
We lucked out and the seat remained vacant and we had plenty of room.
We did have to get de-iced and left a little late, but all in all not too late and we were in Orlando on time. We got off and used the restrooms and walked around a bit to find our next gate and then hit up McDonalds for some food.
Claire spotted the pretzel place, so then we had to go back and get that for her. We had about 2 hours before our next flight, so we didn’t hurry.
Once done, we found some seats at our gate and it wasn’t long before PT and her family had arrived and they sat with us and we chatted. They had an earlier boarding number than us, so they said they would try to save us a seat near them.
When boarding started, we lined up with the B’s and once onboard we saw that Z had a row saved for us. He moved back with his parents when we arrived and this time I sat by the window. Claire sat on the aisle and we asked if the flight was full and they said no…so we put the bag on the middle seat and did our little trick again. Hahahah…..and it worked. We had the middle seat open and were able to have more room this flight as well.
A plane selfie of all of us.
As we flew out, I watched out the window and saw the coast not too far way. I was hoping I would spot Port Canaveral and see the Fantasy docked. We were literally just about there and then we went into the clouds and I never did see if we flew over it or not.
This time around I looked at the movie options from Southwest on my phone and found Moma Mia, Here We Go Again. I am not a fan of these movies, but I did see the first one and though I would never pay to see it, I figured it would be a good way to spend the flight. It was timed perfectly and ended just before it was time to land…and it wasn’t bad.
As we came in, I took pictures out the window. We could see a ship in port, but couldn’t tell which one. It looked like RCCL, Princess or NCL.
It was beautiful and the excitement level went up several notches. It was real now! We were on vacation!
Just a side note…I had joined the Facebook group for our sailing and several people from the group were on that flight. I said Hi to a few who I recognized as active in the group. I saw some around the ship here and there, but really not too often.
Once we landed, we grabbed our bags and headed for a quick restroom stop and then off to the baggage area. J, MK and M had landed early and were already there and we were a few minutes late. Schedule wise, we were supposed to have arrived before them, but it all worked out fine.
J spotted us and ran over and gave us a hug and M gave Claire one. We met MK and we were all just so excited! We got our bags then and headed to the taxi line. I have been told that SJU doesn’t allow Uber or Lyft, but J got one anyways. She didn’t have any issues, but the way things had been going for me, I figured I shouldn’t chance it. PT’s family got in the taxi line as well.
Taxi’s are set fees to different areas in Puerto Rico with an additional charge ($1) per bag. We loaded up and headed off to our Air bnb.
Side note…..My gal from the Air bnb had told me that she would send me the address that morning and it never came. I messaged in SJU and she said she had sent it but found the site erroring, so she sent me texts with the info and all was fine…but I did have a few minutes of nervousness.
J’s air bnb had no power and they messaged her that she wouldn’t be able to stay since the area was without power. She was refunded and luckily found a hotel.
PT was staying at a hotel that was cheaper than most, and worried what it would be like, but it was fine.
We all really had no clue what area we were going to be in, but ended up all being just a few blocks from each other.
We got in our taxi and said goodbye to PT and family. We promised we would keep in touch about dinner. The ride wasn’t too long and soon we pulled up to our apartment for the evening and unloaded. I can’t remember the exact amount off hand, but I believe the ride was $25ish plus tip.
We headed to the doors and they are monitored by a security guard, unless you have a fob…which ours would be waiting in our apartment. The security guard had stepped out so we had to wait a few minutes till she got back. Once she did, she let us in and we had to do some signing in so they had a record of us staying there. She didn’t speak English well, but we made due and then headed off to the elevator and up to our room.
When we got to our door I tried it and it wouldn’t open and I heard the TV on inside. OH no! Is someone else in here? I knocked with no answer and tried again and the door opened. It was just one of those doors that needed a good shove to open and close…and the TV was just on a music channel.
We stepped in and dragged our bags in and then took a once over. At first glance, it was a cute place and resembled the pictures online.
The futon would be M’s bed for tonight.
The bed was advertised as a queen, but I thought in the pictures it looked smaller….and it was. It really was a double.
The bathroom had new towels in there and was basic, but didn’t look bad at first glance.
We had a small kitchen area, which we really didn’t use.
We had a very small balcony with a decent view.
The front of our building was right across the street from the Marriott, which is one of the hotels that Disney uses.
When we turned the AC on, it did make quite a loud hum outside on the balcony.
There is a pool here as well, but we never used it.
Over all it was a decent looking place…..however…as we looked closely we could tell it was in need of a major cleaning. With this Airbnb they have a company that comes in to clean and they obviously do just the basics. The trim/baseboards all around the floors was covered in dirt/dust…very thick actually, so it has not been touched in a long time. Under the bed was dusty. The bathroom really needed a good bleach cleaning in my opinion. The dresser drawer handles were filthy… when you tried to open each drawer, you would feel just how dirty they were. The bedding for the futon was stained and did not smell great….it looked as if it probably had been washed, but just needed to be replaced. It was not matching either and just overall needed a new set of complete bedding…and a pillow.
The whole place did have a musty smell if you didn’t have the AC on and the air freshener plugged in, which may have more to do with being in San Juan than cleanliness.
For one night we could handle it, but if I had to stay longer I would have complained. I don’t blame the owner, I blame the cleaning crew.
We changed into comfy clothes as it was in the 80’s here and let our friends know we had arrived.
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Friday, Jan 25, 2019, Crazy Day
We started our day like any normal day. Claire was excited that this would be her last day of school for over a week! She would be missing 6 school days in total, but many of her teachers had sent home work for her to do ahead of time, and though she grumbled, she got it all done by Thursday night so she wouldn’t have to take it on the trip with us.
I dropped Claire off at school around 7:45, like normal, and came home to start my chores, which included running to the pharmacy to get meds, clean the house so it wasn’t a wreck when we got home, change sheets on the beds so we came home to clean sheets, grab all electronics and make sure I had batteries and chargers, take the chinchilla to my sisters to have her daughter (My niece) watch while we were gone…etc.
The weather for the next week was not looking great at home. It was predicting days of below zero and I worried that our upstairs bathroom pipes might freeze, so I was going to call my dad to come and turn on and off the heater up there if needed. Oh …… and one of our toilets decided not to flush properly this week. We aren’t sure if there was a frozen spot in the line somewhere or if my 1 year old Granddaughter threw something in there….and we still are having issues off and on. Ugh!
I was back home from dropping off Claire for only a few minutes and my cell phone rang. ….. It was Skip……..
“I have to cancel. I am so sorry, but the weather is going to be so bad and I can’t leave Dave (his brother and business partner) home alone to take care of everything. Things are already starting to freeze and we can’t even get feed for the cows as it froze. We have to borrow feed from the neighbors today. See if you can get a replacement for me and I promise we will go and do a makeup trip in March. I know Claire will be disappointed, but I just can’t make it. You need to contact your sister and see if you can come tonight and spend the night. If it is as cold as it is supposed to be tomorrow morning, you might have issues getting to Columbus”.
OMG! I was stunned. I totally understood, but we were 24 hours from pulling out of our driveway. Who the heck is going to be able to go at this late notice? Will I get his points back if I cancel his flight this close now? I have to repack now. I had our clothes in all 3 suitcases. I was in a total tizzy and thinking for the next few hours was a little hard to do.
First thing I did was cancel his flight. I got the points back! Thank goodness! That’s a relief. I texted Amanda and let her know we would be coming tonight. I had asked a while back that if weather was bad, would it be OK to spend the night prior at her house, so she wasn’t totally surprised.
I told J and PT. What am I going to do? We are out the money if no one replaces him. I would rather have someone use that fare.
I then went and looked at our current flight situation. Without Skip coming, we didn’t have to worry about leaving later. There was a 5:30ish AM flight I could change to for only 500 total points more for the 2 of us. OK, I’ll take it. It will give me peace of mind to arrive earlier. I checked in and noticed we now had C boarding for our first flight and B for the 2nd. If it was just me, I would be fine, but Claire was terrified that she would have to sit next to a stranger. UGH!
I checked that later flight coming home on the 4th to see if I could switch to that now…well it went up to double the amount of points it had been overnight. Nope. We will keep our early flight for now home.
I would normally ask my Mom or a family member if they could take Skip’s place in a situation like this, but I already knew most of the family had Cirque Du Solei plans for Sat. night.
I started sending out messages to friends who I thought could possibly do it. All they had to do was get a flight and some spending money. The cruise and hotels were paid for. I already had planned to pay for the transfers. I wasn’t too sure how long to wait for a reply before sending another message out. This was time sensitive now.
I talked with P and she said she was booked solid the next week and couldn’t move her appointments. Dang! My friend Brook said her husband was out of town and though he was coming back that night, she just couldn’t get away….she even looked at flights and said they were affordable! My friend Cass didn’t get back to me till quite a bit later and by that time I had found someone…so I am not sure if she could have after all or not, but I doubt it since she would have to fly from quite a far way.
In the end, J told me to call her daughter M, who we sailed with in 2017. She was pretty sure she could get away. Ok, I wasn’t sure if I should call immediately or wait for the others who I had messaged to say yes or no. J said that M worked the night shift, so call her soon or she would be in bed….and then a message from M came. “I want to go”. YES! Seriously, I was worried how Claire would take all this and if her dad had to be replaced, M was probably the best substitute there could be. She LOVES M!
I called M and no answer or voicemail. I tell J I can’t get her and she tells me to try again and she is looking up flights for her. M finally calls me back and is able to go. She said her mom actually found cheaper flights than what she got and as soon as I make the switch then they will book the flight. …well it wasn’t quite that smooth of a conversation because I was still in a tizzy and rambling on incoherently. But that is the gist of it.
I called Disney and made the change and paid the change fee and M was now our 3rd passenger in the room. She got her flights booked and we would be landing about the same time, so would meet in the airport where she would join us at the air bnb for the night.
And then as we all compared our flights we found out that PT’s flight connected in Orlando….just like our new flight did…and we would be flying into San Juan on the same flight! Awesome!
I began repacking and getting everything ready to go. I was just throwing Skips packing cubes off to the side and my house was now a total wreck, but I had no time to clean it up now. The day was half gone and I soon would have to pick up Claire.
Oh wait! The chinchilla! I was going to drop him at my sisters around 3:30. I quickly texted her and let he know the big change and that we would probably be an hour later and would drop him off on our way to our other sisters house.
In the tizzy of the day, I never remembered to go to the pharmacy and pick up my meds. I was lucky enough to have a little more than half of what I needed while gone and just went with 1 pill a day instead of 2. Good thing it wasn’t for anything life threatening!
Time to pick up Claire. I was nervous. I knew she would be sad that Skip cancelled, but I was hoping that with M replacing him, she would take it in stride….plus he was promising her another vacation!
When Claire got in the car she was full of excitement and I had to tell her I had bad news, good news, and then some more good news.
She was sad that Skip wasn’t coming, but M totally made up for it and she was excited for a 2nd vacation in the next few months. We got home and packed up the car and put the chinchilla and cage in and said our good byes to Skip and then started off.
Our first stop was at sister Gail’s where Abby was going to be in charge of “Nibbles” for the next week and she was so excited! We gave her all the directions and talked a bit and then it was time to head out again.
We started our drive and as we got to Findley I noticed construction and I remembered that Amanda had mentioned a few months ago that the exit had changed….and I looked for it and never found it. Shoot! We missed it. We stopped at a rest stop and figured our plan of attack to get back on course and found a way to cross over to the right road, but I think it added a good 45 minutes to our trip. OMG, today was just a disaster!
We decided to stop at a truck stop to get some food to go and use the restroom. There was a guy who took a liking to me and kept asking about my hair and just making conversation with me. Claire totally was laughing about it. I don’t know why, but I attract people like that all the time. He was nice, but very odd and he kept seeking me out to make conversation while we waited for our food. I was happy to get out of there.
Finally we made it to Amanda’s house. We were tired, but we talked for a while.
Claire wanted ice-cream and I finally caved in and took her over to Graeter’s (which has the best ice-cream) and we each got a treat!
icecream1 by Jenseib, on Flickr
We then headed to bed early. We were going to be up at a VERY early hour tomorrow and would have a very long day! And I sure hoped that the rest of the trip would go smoothly. If it went like today, I am not sure I could handle it!
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I now had about a month to plan. This is the downside to booking a late rate, but I really didn’t want anything special on the ship, like Palo or character meets, so I was fine.
I of course told J, P and PT that we booked and of course did a little coaxing to them that they should as well. J booked right away. Her and MK were going to join us and I would finally get to meet MK. P said she just couldn’t swing it right now and we tried to coax her, but she said too much was going on to be able to go…and I totally understand.
PT wavered a bit but really wanted to go. Her son Z was turning 18 in Jan and this would be a great gift for him. Her son C would not be able to go and she looked into having someone keep an eye on him and then did end up booking as well.
It always happens that as soon as you plan a vacation, business gets busy or life gets in the way, so my personal planning wasn’t as enthusiastic as I hoped it would be. In my spare time I looked for hotels for both pre and post cruise. Because Skip was coming with us, I planned a later flight into San Juan on Jan. 26 to accommodate his schedule better. He could do an hour or 2 of work in the morning and then we could make the 2 ½ hour drive to the airport and fly. The down side was that we would arrive at 9 PM, which made me nervous. If something went wrong, or weather was bad and we missed the flight, we could have some issues.
I looked for hotels and WOW!!!!! They cost a lot in San Juan. I was having a hard time finding anything under $400 for a night, and with us arriving so late, I didn’t want to spend that much for just a place to sleep. After talking with J, we decided on air bnb’s. She has used them in the past, but this was my first time. I looked for several days before I took the plunge. It still wasn’t cheap, but at $170, it was a heck of a lot cheaper than a hotel.
Again, we needed a hotel for the day we disembarked as well and the prices were not great, but a little less. In the end, I got a Courtyard for under $300 for the night. That was still much cheaper than all 3 of us flying home the day we disembarked.
I always watch my flights when I book with Southwest, and if they go down, I make an adjustment. I also watch the times and if a better time goes down, I change the flight to that. I am a point hungry person, so any time I can get points back I am excited.
Now during this planning process, Skip asked me more than once that if he had to cancel could someone replace him. Yes, but it wasn’t like it would be easy and there would be a $50 charge to do so. Skip has had some health issues and he was planning a surgery for his shoulder. He actually has scheduled it twice and cancelled it. He also has anxiety about the surgeries…and travel. So he was a bundle of nerves for most of Jan.
I managed to book a few excursions, some with Skip and some without, as he didn’t want to snorkel. I started the packing about a week or so before we were due to leave. I tried to minimize what we brought…. but well.... that's just not easy for me.
I kept watching our air, but it didn’t drop. There was a later flight coming home that dropped, but I knew Skip would not like getting back that late. If it was just Claire and I would have changed it in a minute. It would have given us over 11,000 points back for the 3 of us.
We were all set! On Friday Jan. 25, I had all the suitcases packed for the most part, with just last minute things to throw in. I was done with work for the next week and a half and I had a small list of things to finish up at home to do before we left for the airport Sat. morning. Claire was beyond excited that her dad would be joining us on a cruise!
You are about to get a lesson on how Dysfunctional our family really is!
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How this trip came about…..
Well when it comes to travel and cruising, I pretty much want to go all the time.
Last summer we did get a discounted rate to sail the 3 night sailing on the Fantasy. (I did write a report on that one as well). J sailed with us that time and we celebrated her 50th birthday then. Our other friend “P” also sailed with us that sailing, celebrating her 50th as well. We had such a great time and I was hoping to do a cruise for my 50th.
In Sept. a fabulous discounted rate came out and J and P sailed on the Magic. I REALLY wanted to go…like really really badly! Skip said no. He wanted to do a family vacation this winter and if I held off, we would plan one for early 2019. I behaved and stayed home…but I wasn’t happy about it.
Let’s fast forward now to Dec. of 2018. I noticed that the Wonder sailing out of San Juan had a discount and it was actually a really good one. I priced it, J priced it, P price it, PT priced it. Yeah, we had a lot of conversations about possibly going, but with Christmas coming and so many other things going on, we didn’t do much.
Christmas Eve….we have a tradition of exchanging a few small gifts as a family in the afternoon. Santa still brings all of Claire’s major gifts, but it is nice to get a little something on Christmas Eve. We also bought Skip a few small things, but Skip and I had decided we wouldn’t do gifts and just plan a vacation eventually.
As gifts were passed out, Skip did mention that he didn’t buy any gifts since we planned to vacation…and I said yes! And I would not let him push it aside and “forget” about it.
“In fact, there is a sailing Jan. 27 out of San Juan for $.... for all 3 of us and I can’t say how long it will last, but I do have enough in gift cards to pay for the whole thing today”.
Skip thought about it and said that the air probably would be high. I told him I would check, as I had quite a few points and we might be able to get the majority of the flights paid with points.
I looked and I actually had enough to get all 3 of us round-trip flights if we flew home a day later. It would take almost all my points, but it would cover us. We would just need to pay for hotels, transfers and excursions and spending money. (If you read my July 2018 cruise report, I did cruise for practically free, and this one was going to be similar).
Now Skip can’t EVER make his mind up about stuff and when he does, he changes his mind over and over. This rate is non-refundable. You go or you lose it basically. He hemmed and hawed a bit and said book it!
What?!!!???
Wait? Right now?
I ran to the phone and put the cruise on hold and then went and gathered my gift cards and combined them to make the payment. I then booked our flights. I was NOT taking a chance he would change his mind.
Wooohooo! We are going on a cruise!...On the Wonder!!!!!!...This would make a Grand Slam for Claire and I…we now will have sailed all 4 ships! And out of a new port…and 3 of the 4 stops would be new to us as well.
Merry Christmas to us!!!!! And Happy 50th birthday to me!
We put the DYS in Functional, Completing our ABC’s, Jan Southern Carib on the Wonder
in Disney Cruise Line
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We arrived at the marina and boarded our boat. It was a shoe free boat, so we all had to take off our shoes before getting on.
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This couple in front of us….we end up talking quite a bit with them later. The wife has the same profession as I…..what a small world…..she was super nice. As we were talking I found out that she had tried to upgrade their room when they arrived at San Juan port….and the couple right in front of them took the last balcony…..that would have been J and MK! hahahah…Small World!
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She said they actually had a balcony already but they didn’t think they would like it. I think it was a navigator. She also said that there were security cameras pointed basically at her balcony and she didn’t like that and asked about it. I guess their cabin was at a blind spot for other “over board” cameras and that the camera didn’t actually film anything but had a sensor if someone jumped or fell off. She said they told her basically she would have to throw a chair off or something bigger for it to turn on.
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Off we go! We would have 2 locations for snorkeling.
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Hello Disney Wonder!
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Even our Captain was taking pictures of the ship.
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We arrived at our first stop. He told us under that pier up ahead the snorkeling was pretty good.
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He gave us some instructions and he was thorough and actually I learned some new stuff from him. Did you know when you take off your mask and rest it on your forehead….like James Bond…That is the universal signal that you are in trouble and need help? I didn’t either. He said if you need to take it off, wear it around your neck.
We waited to be some of the last in the water as I hate rushing around a crowd of people. Of course there was “that” family in front of us that were slow and not moving and finally we had to say excuse me to get in.
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Claire took a little longer to get in as she was having fin problems, but the girl on the boat helped her and she jumped in a little later.
Right where we jumped in there wasn’t much, but under that dock/pier there were a TON of fish.
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Jackpot!!!!
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These fish would just swim in a circle…round and round and round.
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PT would have totally freaked out seeing all these fish so close.
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I headed back to the boat.
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A look back at the Wonder.
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We had to take our flippers off before climbing up….a lot harder than you would think.