May 18, 2003 Wonder

[Disneyfan37]

I was surprised also as in September I couldn't do anything at Freeport Casino,but I did hold myself up in Atlantis.Atlantis pays better I believe as Freeport casino is awfully small.We didn't stay at both a long period of time.Once one of us wins we leave right away.
I am glad that we lucked out on our servers again.They served us well,and our tablemates were great.We had Tritons,Animator,Parrot Cay,and Triton's.DH and I really like Animator,so hopefully one of these times we will get that one twice.
I want to be back on the boat now.

Maria

 

[disneygal58]

Fantasia Sam,
We were on the same dining rotation at table 8. This was the first time that our servers were not absolutely fabulous. There were periods when no one checked back with us for more than a half hour and we sat with dirty plates piling up. C'est la vie. We did see our former favorite servers Sasa and Juangar - they remembered us from last year and we updated our photos.
Did anyone make it to the 80s party? Bob has to be the hardest working and most visible entertainment cast member. He was everywhere.
The Rainforest Room was empty each morning - much to my surprize. I tried the Alpha Capsule and enhoyed it more than I though I would.
What I love most about DCL is the fact that you can sail yearly and always discover something new.
I wish it were last week.....
Dawn

 

[Univfire]

We enjoyed our cruise very much even though it felt like everything went wrong. I'm going to post a trip report and I'll let you know when I do.

We did go to Scoops for the sail away party but I didn't see anyone there with green ribbons or anything. (I didn't have one on myself, sorry) I kept walking around there hoping someone would recognize my redhead, but no avail.

Did anyone go to the talk on shopping in paradise? If you did and you saw the little redhead that got up on stage and clapped and got the free frisbee from Del Sol, well that was my DD. Or if you saw a little girl in a Snow White dress who DID NOT want in the dress, that again was my daughter.

None of us thought the food was great, but just OK. Our dining rotation was APTA late seating. The first night our assistant server was sick and we didn't see our main server much. They got better though as we went on. (comment on that- the first night they had 3 full tables to wait and we didn't get to talk to them much, but the rest of the nights it was usually us and 4 other people at one other table instead of us and 16 other people, so I think we got to know them better on those nights. I wish Disney had enough servers so they weren't so spread out.) We had Nicola (sp) from Serbia as assistant and Trevis from Bahamas as main server. Don't ask me who our head server was, never saw him, not even on tip night.

As for the Castaway Cay incident I had heard, through the grapevine, that a woman had almost drown while snorkeling. However I was standing in line to get back on the ship around 4pm when the cart flew past us to get her to the ship and they were doing CPR (I actually saw them doing compressions, not just rescue breathing). Scary. I hope whatever happened that she is doing well now.

I'm going to get my trip report up soon with more details and info about our vacation.


~Amber

 

[luvstiggertoo]

Hi all!
Back to work today after a wonderful cruise and long Memorial Day weekend!

We had an amazing time and are already planning for next year.
We're thinking of the 5/15/03 Eastern Caribbean. We usually cannot take advantage of the FL resident discounts because they conflict with school. We are adamant about not taking our kids out of school for vacation.

We had the PTAP late seating rotation, table 65. Witt from Thailand and Dean from Croatia were our servers. Witt was hilarious and Dean was very accomodating. We enjoyed our dinners very much!

We spent Monday at Atlantis. We booked a room there and spent the day thoroughly enjoying the resort. The slides through the shark tanks are amazing!! Freeport day was mostly spent on the boat. That was my spa day. We ventured out to the Int'l Bazaar for about an hour of shopping but that's about it. We loved Castaway Cay! DD spent the entire day with her kids program...never saw her until our 2:30 banana boat ride. DS & DH went snorkeling and loved it. DH & I spent about an hour at Serenity Beach while both kids were in their programs.

I will post a more detailed report in the next few days.

Did anyone feel the rocking on Wednesday night. It started around 12:30 AM. Our closet doors kept banging back and forth and the hangers in the closet were rocking around like wind chimes. Did we hit a storm? We were all up but were afraid to look out the porthole to see what was up. It was pretty intense and rather frightening.

 

[tlens]

I had posted a trip report but they system somehow logged me out. It took 1/2 hr so I doubt I'll try again.

We felt the rocking on Wednesday night. You're right. It did start around 12:30. We sailed during Hurricane Michelle a couple years back so this was pretty tame compared to that. But, the rocking was pretty significant compared to what we had been having this week.

 

[luvstiggertoo]

Wow tlens....I couldn't imagine anything worse than that!
I thought it was pretty bad.

Of course, considering the picture perfect weather we all had the entire cruise, a little rocking while we sleep isn't all that bad!

 

[disneygal58]

I assumed the rocking was from an attempt to make up for the extra time spent at Castaway Cay due to the flight for life/injured passenger situation.
I'm glad that everyone is safely home. I think that I need a day or two at WDW over the next week or so to get me through the post-cruise blues.

Dawn

 

[fredms]

Dawn - That's exactly what I did. Although I initially thought I'd prefer doing WDW first, the only thing that could get me over the cruise blues was WDW - and going "home".

The cruise was everything I expected and more. We had TAPT rotation and was initally at table 53 but was switched to 74 as my boyfriend and his mom wanted to sit alone (they were very accomodating to change - although I don't know why they didn't do it initially as requested since there were 2 empty four person tables on the late TAPT rotation.)

The weather was gorgeous, spa amazing, food delicious, and so much fun.

Then to go to the Boardwalk villas afterward (you can't imagine how big that shower seemed) was the perfect finale.

Now its 9:20pm and I am still at work making up for time well spent.

Glad everyone had a good time.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

LOL Dawn can't believe we were but tables apart.

Just to let you I heard another version of the accident. I heard it was someone who had a stroke on the banana boat and the reason why the helicopter was there for so long was as they took the patient to the 'copter they arrested again between the ship and the 'copter and so had to take them back to the medical center before taking back to the 'copter. I see we all heard different stories but I hope that the guest made a full recovery whatever the story.

We felt the rocking as well and I had thought the same as Dawn that they were making up for lost time - so I tried to look on the TV to see the knots per hour they were doing and I'm pretty sure it was high as I can remember the chop being low - LOL I sound so nautical. It was the empty hangers that woke me up rattling around the wardrobe, sad thought.

I'm in the process of writing a trip report as well and we also headed back to the Swan for one night which I think helped us get over not cruising. Can't wait for the 7-night one next year.

 

[luvstiggertoo]

FantasiaSam...your version sounds somewhat accurate, given what I heard from my DD.
She was outside, waiting for a friend from the kids club when they heard the copter. They both ran over to see what was going on. She did tell me that they started rolling someone out on a stretcher and then they all ran back in very quickly.
She said it was quite a while (maybe 10-15 mins) before they came back out again.
Scary and so sad....I hope that person is going to be okay.

 

[4u2dream]

We need another vacation to rest from this vacation. We had an excellent time, even travelling with our 7 mth old. She was the center of attention everywhere we went. My DD5 feels right at home on the Wonder now, after 2 cruises. Mom and Dad enjoyed the beautiful weather and superb food.
Our night at the Radisson was excellent! We stayed in 106 right next to the pool. Behind the hot tub. We went to Grills for cocktails at 4:30 and watched the Magic leave port. It was amazing to watch her creep by being so close. Spent the evening in the pool with DD5 and some hot tub until 11:00pm. Jocelyn had her Lime green ribbon on her bathing suit, but know one approached us.
Left the vehicle at the Radisson, very easy, and shuttled over to the Port for 10:45am Sunday. We checked in no problems, and where in the lineup along the wall, so we would be one of the first 50 or so on board.
Lunch at Parrot Cay was excellent, we got PTAP first rotation, table 9. Our Servers were Andre from Canada and Gavin from South America. Like other's, we were a bit disappointed with the service. Andre was very nice and did a good job, but Gavin, well I think he was looking forward to going home after his shift.
We made ressies for Palo on the Last night for 6:00, so we where in Palo's when the helicopter left for the coast. We saw it off the Aft of the ship during dinner.
Nassau we spent on the ship for DD5's B-day. Mickey pool and lots of ice cream. Walked to the Straw Market before dinner. Caught the bonvoyage party, The Charles Marshall band, they were great.
Freeport we went to Lucayan Beach at the Sheraton. It was a very attractive resort. The beach was great and the pool was beautiful. Lunch was much better than we expected there, and even included a Bahamian Beer. The shuttle was not A/C and it was hot. We caught the Hercules Musical and we found it very entertaining. It was quite comical and my DD5 thought it was hilharious.
Castaway Cay- What a great day! Spent from 10:00- 4:00 at the beach. We went to the very end of the Family beach near the Groin, it was very quite and relaxing. Close to the washroom and showers. DD5 tried snorkelling and thought it was cool. I ventured over to the adult beach around 3:00, and hardly anybody was there, I snorkelled for about a half hour and saw 4 Stingrays. Dinner at Palo was excellent, our server Jose from Italy was very good. Even though the place was very busy. And of course Dreams at 8:30 with the family, what a great show to end the cruise. I found it even better with the cast this year.
Early morning Thursday for Immigration, carried the kids in their PJ's. Very gloomy am. at breakfast made it a little easier to leave. Headed over to the Premiere Shopping Center for 10:00am to the Character Premiere Disney Store. Afterwards we stayed in Lake Buena Vista at the Marriott Residence Inn for 2 days and dodged the rain drops and storms.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Jim

So glad that you all had a wonderful time. I did look for you at the Radisson I missed the pool we were dining in the restaurant and went back to the room around 9.30ish I'm disappointed I missed Jocelyn's lime green ribbon, too cute You were but a shuttle behind us in the morning.

It sucks to be back at home - still I can't wait to go on another cruise.

 

[disneygal58]

Jim,
I can't believe that we were seated at tables next to one another. We were on the same rotation, table 8 with Andre and Gavin. Gavin made it very clear that he could not wait for his contract to be up. During our last breakfast, he shared that he was a guide/driver for the Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom for a year. He held the record for the longest "safari" - 55 minutes in comparison to the 18 minute average. After spending four evenings with him, I understand.
Has anyone rebooked? We're planning on the January 3rd Western.

Dawn Hope

 

[disneygal58]

Opps, I just realized that you were at the first seating and we were at second....

 

[luvstiggertoo]

We're hoping for the May 15th or the May29th Eastern.
We haven't booked yet. We're trying to build up our reserves again before we dole out $1000 in deposits.
Hopefully we'll book in a few months.

 

[Kaslee]

Hi All

Glad you all enjoyed your trip. We had a fantastic time.

We got an upgrade

We had room 2004 (on Daves noisy list) booked, but when we got to the terminal the lady at checkin told us that we had been moved to 7628, a room with the navigators verandah. We were now on the right side of the ship to enjoy the views of Castaway Cay. It was wonderful just sitting there and looking out onto the beach after everyone had boarded the ship. We could see a barracuda swimming just ouside the netted area.

Everything was great, specially our stateroom host Grace who worked so very hard.

I will try to do a trip report sometime this week, but I feel we need another vacation to get over the last week in the theme parks.

Wish we were there again now

Kay

 

[tlens]

We got an upgrade too! We were in SPR 5520 and when we got to port we were in 5518 (next door but no obstructed view). Did you get a bottle of sparkling cider and a tray of sweets in your cabin compliments of DCL?

 

[disneygal58]

We did recieve the sparkling cider and sweets compliments of Dreams Unlimited. May I ask how far in advance you booked your cruise? I am trying to figure out how they determine who gets upgraded? Early bookings etc....
Dawn

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Well I hope to go with friends in January for a week on the Eastern - keeping my fingers crossed for that and then we'll probably do a week at Disney a week on the Eastern Magic in May. Nothing is confirmed yet and we probably won't book until January anyway and then we'll just see what's available.

 

[Kaslee]

We didn't get sweets or cider, but were thrilled to be upgraded. The only problem is that I will always want a verandah now!

We booked early July 2002. I have no idea why they upgraded us. The cm at the checkin desk said " your Travel agent must have some clout", I intend to phone them and thank them just in case it was them, but to be honest I assume it was just good luck. Whatever the reason we were very grateful.

The cruise was the highlight of our vacation. We spent 10 days in total at the theme parks but the cruise was the part we have most happy memories of.

Kay