Wonder 8-10-08 - Trip report

[dracsmith]

My husband, son, and I were thrilled when his parents announced that they were treating everyone to a Disney package - 3 days in WDW and a 4-day cruise - this August as a family reunion to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! They've been planning it for about two years and made sure everyone could come before they booked it.

 

I began reading these boards and that time and as I posted earlier, they were a huge help to us in getting ready for the trip! My husband and his siblings got together and ordered a gift basket from the place recommended here; it was waiting in Mom and Dad's stateroom when they came on board, and they were thrilled with it.

 

Our son, age 22, had never cruised before. My husband and I had done two cruises previously: RCI out of Galveston, and a short Louis Hellenic Mediterranean cruise (the same ship that sank near Santorini a while back, but we weren't on it at the time). We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise as well.

 

We enjoyed the meals a lot, although RCI's were just a shade better in variety and quality. We had an interesting experience on the third night. My husband had sought out our wine steward, Das, early on, and solicited his recommendations; Das did an excellent job matching our menu choices and tastes. On dress-up night, Das had a special wine not on the menu waiting to show my husband when we came by; he said it would go especially well with the duck. He had it decanted ahead of time for us and it was waiting at the table. Well, the duck arrived well done, which means it was gray and had virtually no flavor. My husband felt a little bit bad about sending it back, but we all urged him to, especially since the wine was specially chosen to go with it. Our waiter brought back the rarest duck then available, which was medium, barely pink, and residually-cooked to medium well after a few minutes. But hubby didn't want to make a fuss, and tried to make the best of it. The headwaiter noticed that he was sort of picking at it and came over, and returned a few minutes later with a splendid medium-rare serving. "The head chef prepared this especially for you," he said.

 

The next night, we again arranged for a wine with Das; he recommended the veal strongly, so my husband said he would get it. When the waiters came to take our order, one of them went over to hubby and said, "You're having the veal, right? Medium rare?" When we were served, the headwaiter brought my husband's plate, and said, "The chef cooked this one just for you," and waited while he cut into it to make sure it was right! Hubby felt as if they were tiptoeing around him, even though he really hadn't made a fuss the previous night!

 

We managed to lighten the atmosphere at dessert time. As I'm sure y'all know, Disney checks on your birthday when you submit your documentation, and if it's anywhere near the time of the cruise, they celebrate it. Well, hubby's was in late July, and they brought him out a little cake and sang "Happy Birthday." "Englebert," I said with mock severity, "Is this cake medium rare?" It was good to see our waiters laugh and relax!

 

Anyway, we were very impressed with the dinner service and how hard they worked to make things just right.

 

We also had a fabulous time at the martini tasting seminar with Clynt, the bartender at Diversions. It was informational - and tasty! They had door prizes and there were so few attendees (two other people besides us) that we each got something. (Hubby got a Bailey's tote bag; I got a quilted wine chiller bag.) We wound up going back to Diversions a couple of times to have him make full-sized martinis for us; he was both creative and knowledgeable.

 

We had one sour note as far as the bars went, I guess. We went to one of the other bars in the Route 66 area to hear the Duke Ellington tribute, which was very nice. People weren't absolutely silent, since it wasn't exactly a concert, but they were speaking quietly and it was easy to hear the live music. Then a group stumbled in from the sports bar and proceeded to gab loudly, ignoring the pianist/singer and the fact that no one else was carrying on a loud conversation. It made it hard to enjoy the music. We mentioned it to the bartender, but she was reluctant to do anything about it; by the time she was willing to go over and say something to them, the tribute was over and we decided to go elsewhere.

 

It was great that all the bars were nonsmoking; that was a rare treat.

 

My husband and I went to all four shows. Usually we had done something exciting during the day and then eaten a full meal, so I found it hard to stay awake, but the shows were fun and not too long. The big production numbers in Disney Dreams were great, especially "Under the Sea" and "Circle of Life." (I found the framing story kind of annoying, but that's just me.) We liked the Toy Story musical the best because there was a more robust story rather than a framing device to string songs together. The comedians were pretty funny, although we caught part of their adults-only show on the monitors at Diversions and I think they're funnier when they can be edgier.

 

We weren't sure what our son would be doing, since he's too old for the teen area (which he probably would have loved), but he had a great time. He would have jetski'd our first day at Castaway Cay, but the weather prevented it; he did parasail the second day and loved it. He snorkeled with stingrays in Nassau and loved that too. He got a four-hands massage the first day and spent the rest of the day grinning, he was so pleased with it! We forgot to warn him about the hard sell and he came back with $100 worth of spa products, oh well! He also enjoyed the karaoke nights and the last-night show that the crew members put on.

 

I think our very favorite shore activity was the couples massage on Castaway Cay. It's in a cabana open to the sea (but not visible from the beach), and you can hear the cries of the seagulls and the splashing of the surf. Just *wonderful*! We also spent time at Serenity Beach sitting under an umbrella and reading. Hubby went into the water for a while, but I didn't. (I did bring a bathing suit, but water isn't my favorite thing. I did pad out and dabble my feet; the water was lovely and warm.) I managed not to sunburn, although most of my in-laws did! They're the type who burn then tan, though. I just got a few more freckles.

 

We were surprised by how much we enjoyed having Disney movies running continuously in our cabin. We got to watch a bunch of them that we hadn't seen in years. Our son got so nostalgic that he rented a couple of them when we got home!

 

If there's anything I haven't covered (she says doubtfully, looking at the long post so far), please feel free to ask and I'll try to answer!

 

And I promised pictures, so here they are:

 

My son and me on Pirate Night - you can't see it, but we also brought temporary Pirate tattoos and I have a skull on the back of one hand.

 

 

 

My husband, with his buccaneer shirt and earring, and his sister, with a spectacular sunburn.

 

 

 

 

Flamingo photo-op at Ardastra Gardens:

 

 

 

 

The Disney Wonder as seen from Fort Fincastle - I can see why Disney wants to maintain good relations with Nassau!

 

 

 

Thanks to this board, we packed with Dress-Up Night in mind. I wore a salwar kameez (knee-length dress over pants, a style from India) and was complimented by a number of the Indian cast members!

 

[BucksFamily]

Hey, we were on the Wonder for the 8-3-08 sailing, w two stops at Castaway Cay. It was super! Great weather the whole time. It was our first DCL cruise, and we really had a great time. Even though our kids are a bit older, they still got a kick out of the characters, as did I.

 

Glad you liked your cruise. Reading your report brought back great memories of our Wonder cruise the previous week.

[Muushka]

What a great trip report! You 'rarely' read one this good!;) Youch on that sunburn. We are going next month and I am going to try to be very careful. Your son sounds like my husband, grinning all day after a massage! I'm glad the cruise was a great one. Thank you for the report and pictures.:)

[cruiserbryce]

glad you had a great time and thank you for sharing the pics...our 1st cruise was on the wonder so it will always be a nice memory for us

[lagbunch8]

Thank you for the report. I am glad you enjoyed your cruise!

 

We had that sort of VIP treatment on our magic cruise also. That is why we love DCL so much. That and the wonderful shows. You should try a 7 night now. :)

[jenseib]

Great review. Thansk for the pics too. I love to read reviews!

Sounds like a wonderful time. I am hoping to talk DH into going on the 4 day one in Feb or March.

[MEGADAN]

Thanks for the great review. We sail this Saturday. How was the attire for the more formal night?

[dracsmith]

Thanks for the great review. We sail this Saturday. How was the attire for the more formal night?

 

Well, you can see what we wore in the last picture there, and that seemed to work very well. You don't have to go that dressy, though; the rest of our party was more casual (DH and DS were the only guys at our table in jackets and ties, for example).