Just Relaxin’ on the Wonder – Nowhere, Nothing, Nada. - Complete! and Final Thoughts

[sta1984]

Great report. Thank you for posting!

 

[IowaTater]

That's great that all you needed was a new battery. Now you won't have to worry about it for the rest of your trips this year.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice wrap up. I did 'wonder' which ship was better. Now I know!

 

[DnA2010]

Nice wrap up! I did a lot of reading as I got sooo far behind!
Boy you sure make me want to get on the wonder!
Really look forward to hearing about the upcoming trips and will be heading over to the new star shortly and hope to keep up much better!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Great trip report. I will have to try a DCL one day.

 

[afwdwfan]

The guy at the scooter store offered to replace the batteries for $240. Um no thanks, I know you’ll unscrew the eight screws, and four washers to install the batteries, but I think we’ll do that for $110. So we went on our merry way home and ended up getting her new batteries at some point a couple weeks later, and we’ve had pretty much no problems since then.

I'm glad that it was something that was simple and not too terribly expensive to fix! I hope you've found a new source to purchase batteries from if those were indeed just a few months old.


I appreciate the comparisons of the cruises and ships. I've never cruised. I kind of like the parks, myself, but we have talked about maybe trying to at least fit a 3 night cruise in on our next trip if we can make the time and money work.

 

[franandaj]

Delurking to tell you how much I've enjoyed your trip report. It's been such fun following along.

Well I'm glad that you finally delurked! I'm glad you made it over to the other TR!

Loved your report! We are taking our first cruise in 2017 (originally booked on the Wonder, but then decided we wanted 7 nights so ended up on the Fantasy).

Glad you were able to chime in! We're on the Fantasy in 2017 as well!

Thanks Alison for the wrap up. Good idea to go DIY on battery! We may be disabled but we weren't born yesterday guys! I get that alot too. Come home ebay is my friend.

I am excited to read your next TR but really excited to read about Alaska cruise. This is one on our bucket list!

Following new link now thanks for that.

It's really not that hard to replace the batteries, and I'd rather save the extra $$'s. Funny how folks think we can't do it.

I'm starting to get things in order for Alaska, but first I really need to get New Orleans figured out!

Nice wrap up. We did like the Wonder when we sailed last year, and agree that Triton's was the superior meal, though all the food was very good. Also agree with your comment that 7 days is probably the right length. We did 5 days and it was too short - though admittedly we weren't in love with the experience in general and are not in any hurry to do another cruise. (I am not good with the concept of "relaxing".)

Yeah, 5 days is definitely too short unless you combine it with something else like WDW or the conference like we did out of Miami. I love the cruise experience because it gives me lots of time to slow down which we never do at WDW or at home.

I am curious to read about your upcoming Alaskan cruise trip. We talk about if we were ever to do the Disney Cruise again, we might be more likely to do the Alaska cruise - though not actually sure we could afford it.

I'm really excited about it too! It was one of our first "real" vacations that we took together almost 18 years ago. Back then it was on Celebrity and she was diagnosed with the arthritis only months beforehand, so this may be a very different cruise as, believe it or not, her mobility was much better back then. It is a pricy trip, but are fortunate enough that she and her parents worked really hard over the last 40 years to forge a small Real Estate empire. Since our only kids have four legs, we don't have to worry about leaving anything for an inheritance, so we're doing our best to make good use of it!

Oh good. So I'm not crazy.

Wait. Skip that last part.

Yeah, I'd heard the part about Walt before, but there is a good chance you may still be crazy.

Um. First off... Ew.
Second off. I'm going to have to source a good mozzarella... but I have plenty of time to do it.

Yeah, neither of can really eat cherry tomatoes after that. We actually have pretty good Mozzarella in our grocery stores. I buy it the day I'm going to make it, and get the Motz in the tub while it's kept fresh in water.

Well, that was forced on us.

You chose the flight home. We never fly out of MCO before 11AM, and if we can we like flights after noon.

Well, that's good. Provided the batteries have lasted as long as they're supposed to.
Makes for a (relatively) cheap fix.

We haven't had a problem with this battery place before. I think this time was a fluke.

Wow. Talk about highway robbery.

Totally! But that's where they can somewhat take advantage of folks with disabilities who don't really know any better. I'm very thrifty and after the first time I watched the repair guy replace our batteries, I thought, I could do that. Plus we didn't have many places nearby. Since then we actually found a close by place that will do it for $160-180 so that's a little better, and if the other place is out (which has happened), but we'd rather save and do the labor ourselves.

That would appeal to me as well.

There are even some "secret decks" where they sometimes do weddings a vow renewals. On our Alaska Cruise we have one just outside the door of our stateroom.

I am glad that the scooter just needed new batteries.

The Wonder will always have a special place in my heart, but I am also excited about getting to experience a new ship this year. I hope your non-Disney cruise experience will be as positive as ours was.

Corinna

It was a relief that we didn't need a major fix, this scooter is only one year old. I'm really looking forward to this river cruise. It's a really small ship compared to ocean liners. It should be very interesting, but I really need to start making our reservations for places to eat in New Orleans. This is starting to stress me out a little. Plus Fran needs to get working on our Income taxes as they need to be finished for the accountant to do his magic before we leave!

Great wrap up!

Let's coordinate on the 2017 cruises. I NEED to go on another cruise!

Less than 2 months to Australia!!!!

Jill in CO

Thanks! We have one planned in Feb 2017, but there's always the latter part of the year that they haven't released yet. I can't wait to see you! Second Friday in March, right?

 

[pkondz]

You chose the flight home.

Out of necessity.
Most were exorbitantly expensive or sold out already.

We haven't had a problem with this battery place before. I think this time was a fluke.

Could be.
I replaced a car battery about 8 months ago.
Replaced it again 2 months ago.
Bad battery. They gave me a new one for free.

 

[franandaj]

Great report. Thank you for posting!

I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

That's great that all you needed was a new battery. Now you won't have to worry about it for the rest of your trips this year.

Yes, hopefully this set of batteries will last longer than the last ones!

Nice wrap up. I did 'wonder' which ship was better. Now I know!

It's hard to beat the Wonder. It was our first ship and will probably always be our favorite due to the size and other nostalgic reasons.

Nice wrap up! I did a lot of reading as I got sooo far behind!
Boy you sure make me want to get on the wonder!
Really look forward to hearing about the upcoming trips and will be heading over to the new star shortly and hope to keep up much better!

I'm definitely looking forward to going back this summer. I'm not saying I didn't like the Dream, there are some real high points coming up soon, just all in all the Wonder wins out so far.

Great trip report. I will have to try a DCL one day.

Some day you should. It might be a little relaxed for you pace, but at least you can say you have tried it.

I'm glad that it was something that was simple and not too terribly expensive to fix! I hope you've found a new source to purchase batteries from if those were indeed just a few months old.

I'm hoping that was just a fluke, we have been getting batteries from this place for quite a while and they are the only local battery place that isn't a mobility related store, where they jack up the price.

I appreciate the comparisons of the cruises and ships. I've never cruised. I kind of like the parks, myself, but we have talked about maybe trying to at least fit a 3 night cruise in on our next trip if we can make the time and money work.

Once your newest one is old enough, that would be a good time to try it out. Especially if they do another "kids sail free" promotion. I've heard that the younger ones often like the kids clubs better than once they get a little older. It all depends on the kids because on the other hand, there are some teens that I've heard totally ditch their parents to go hang out with the other kids and scarf down their dinners so that they can take off sooner. Sometimes once they get older they are more shy. If they have fun on their first experience they would be likely to enjoy another if your family ends up enjoying cruising. I don't think you're one to have all the games and such at home so that they would be like, "I have all this at home, what's so cool about doing on a ship?" I have heard that from families whose kids have every Disney play station game and other such electronic entertainment.

Your mileage may vary, but it might be something nice to check out. This is actually one experience when rope drop doesn't always matter and you can sleep in if you like!

 

[franandaj]

Out of necessity.
Most were exorbitantly expensive or sold out already.

Well, I'm waiting to hear about all of this....

Could be.
I replaced a car battery about 8 months ago.
Replaced it again 2 months ago.
Bad battery. They gave me a new one for free.

I'm glad it worked out for you. We didn't want to deal with trying to find the receipt for the previous one and dealing with all that so we just bought another one.

 

[pkondz]

Well, I'm waiting to hear about all of this....

Go back and re-read chapter one on my TR!

I'm glad it worked out for you. We didn't want to deal with trying to find the receipt for the previous one and dealing with all that so we just bought another one.

I got lucky there.
By some weird coincidence, I had replaced three batteries on three different cars last year.
I didn't remember if my car was one of them!
But when I brought it in to the place I normally go, it was in the system and they're the ones who told me it was still new.

 

[franandaj]

Go back and re-read chapter one on my TR!

OK, I'll have to do this.....someday

got lucky there.
By some weird coincidence, I had replaced three batteries on three different cars last year.
I didn't remember if my car was one of them!
But when I brought it in to the place I normally go, it was in the system and they're the ones who told me it was still new.

Luckily they had you on file as a customer. This place doesn't keep track of you. I wish they would, maybe that is a thing to take notice of!

 

[jedijill]

Thanks! We have one planned in Feb 2017, but there's always the latter part of the year that they haven't released yet. I can't wait to see you! Second Friday in March, right?

Yep, Friday 3/11. Supershuttle is picking me up around 6pm that night to go to LAX.

Jill in CO

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yep, Friday 3/11. Supershuttle is picking me up around 6pm that night to go to LAX.

Jill in CO

That's getting real close!

 

[nrexxma44]

What an excellent trip report!!!!!I soo enjoyed reading this, you have a great writing style. I absolutely love the Halloween pictures the best. Both you and Fran look like you were having such a fun time. Hope to meet you both some day.......till then I will keep reading your reports!!!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Oh my goodness! I've been so busy that I'm finally catching up on your TR!!! I'm only on page 15.

I love your Star Wars dress at your 2nd Mixology class.

I'll post more comments later!

 

[pepe3penelope]

I think I'll post after every page or so. I LOVE your Halloween photos with the characters! I remember Fran's Dalmatian costume from last year!!!

I love your ghost host costume! As you see in our signature photo, that's from October's Halloween night. DH and I are wearing our ghost host shirts from Disneyland. The kids are Kylo Ren and Rey from Force Awakens.

Those 2 girls sure kept following you. Unfortunately, they were always in front of you rather than behind you.

October was our 1st Halloween cruise and I agree that some of the costumes were so clever and cool!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Our Oftober cruise was our 1st one in Cabo. I was so excited and in awe of how beautiful it is. As beautiful as your pictures are, pictures can never do justice to the real thing. I loved how close our ship was. We were aft port side and had a great view from our cabin. Amazing!!!

I love your pink dress in the pirate night pictures!

I LOVE taking pictures w/Stitch! So fun!

 

[pepe3penelope]

I feel like I'm on a roll catching up on your TR!!! I just finished page 17!

I love Palo dinner for the antipasto plate and the chocolate soufflé alone!!!!!!! However, on our October cruise we opted for 2 Palo brunches and no Palo dinner because we really prefer the brunch!

We missed Toni from Croatia. On our trip, I asked for Sasha because I had heard great things. We were so impressed. Then when I saw Hristo's name tag, I remember people raving about him also. I do remember that his station was near Sasha's. Hristo was actually the photographer for our photo w/Sasha. He was quite the scoundrel trying to take candid silly shots!

I'm just about to read your Palo brunch portion. I don't know if you remember from my TR that I LOVE Palo brunch. Love, love, love! I'm glad to relive it thru you!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Wow!!! I'm finished! Love your Palo pics for brunch! DH and I just can't hold back there!

I love your TR wrap up. I agree that less than 7 days is too short! We were on the 5 day and it felt sooooo incredibly rushed.

I'll definitely join your Alaskan TR. now I've gotta catch up on your 2 other TR's!