lookingforward
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2001
I am a real Disney fan and had been looking forward to taking a DCL cruise for some time. Finally booked two connecting cat 5 rooms for the 9/26 Wonder Cruise with the excellent Florida resident rates offered. I feel that part of the fun of "doing" disney is getting on the disboards and planning each aspect of the trip with the expert advice of the fellow disboard members. The advice that I have gotten from this board is amazing!
Travel Party: Me, DH, DS 11, DD 5, and Son's wonderful friend 11.
Room: 7588 and 7590 (across from Laundry room...more on that later!
I had originally booked the Romance at Sea package but when our cruise was shortened from four nights to three my husband and I decided to cancel this aspect. We really wanted to relax and enjoy CC, massage, etc. and felt that the new altered itinerary would not allow us that time. DCL was very nice about cancelling the package.
Embarkation: Walking on board the Wonder was breathtaking. I have cruised often in my life (all non DCL) but the Wonder was something! The crew was lined up and greated us by announcing our family name and our guest's family name. It was nice to see our son's friend smile when they included his family name. The lobby is very impressive and considering the hurricane and uncertainty of our trip we were thrilled to be aboard. I could understand how some people actually can be moved to tears upon boarding.
We were the second family on board. We were guided to Parrot Cay for lunch and enjoyed a very relaxed meal. Well, the rest of the family was relaxed! I wanted to make my reservations! I did not know that there was no need to rush. The ship left the port with over 600 cancellations so Palos and the Spa were never fully booked. I went to make my reservations but they were already booked from my previous Romance Package arrangments. I explained to the gentleman that I had cancelled but he said it would be no problem to keep the same times. We scheduled Palos for our Parrot Cay night and also booked the brunch for Wednesday. I also confirmed we had first seating and we were given a table by ourselves.
At 1:30 we went to our rooms to drop off our carry on bags and get ready for the Mickey Pool! We had booked adjoining Cat 5 rooms and they were very nice. Plenty of room for five people and we definately enjoyed the split bathroom arrangement. I was impressed with the furnishings and little extras like the pictures of Walt Disney and his wife, the mickey clock, etc.
The three gift baskets I had ordered from ThePerfectGift and Shirley were waiting. Shirley was AMAZING and so very kind. She put these together as a hurricane approached and they were fantastic. The kids loved them. They thought that DCL had "sent" them to us. Of course they did not take the time to read the cards! I had to explain that DCL did not send them...I DID!
Our five year old daughter was determined to go to the Mickey Pool and I had already learned that this would be a great time to enjoy an empty pool. We went up to the pool and it was just being opened up. Noone was there and my kids enjoyed over an hour of swimming without any distractions. The slide is great!
After swimming we went back to the room and our luggage was already there. I took some time to unpack and even with my compulsive overpacking there was room for everything. The boys explored the ship and our daughter took a little rest before dinner.
Off to dinner at Animator's Palate. WOW! I loved the whole mood of that room. Our waiter was Gede (pronounced Good Day) and his asst was Sara. They were truly the best. Kind, funny, patient and accomodating. If I ever sail the Wonder again I will request them. I was pleasantly surprised by the food on the Wonder. It was very good. Gede provided the boys with plenty of shrimp cocktail even though it was not on the menu. He did magic tricks for our daughter. Sara was so lovely and kind and they both welcomed us so warmly every evening.
After dinner it was off to Hurcules. This was when we realized that things were a bit different on this cruise. As we strolled around the ship we saw very angry and tired people still boarding as their DCL busses arrived from Orlando. Not exactly the way that I would have wanted to board. The ship was scheduled to leave by 9 p.m. but they went later due to the late arrivals.
Hurcules was okay. Some of it was hilarious. We checked in our daughter to the kid's club. I was surprised at how dark it was. She is afraid of the dark and I knew we might have a problem on this cruise. The boys explored after the show and went to check out their club. I was, quite frankly, exhausted and wanted to relax.
I soon discovered the main problem that would not be solved for the entire cruise....
I crawled into bed and settled in to watch a movie and just enjoy the quiet. It had been a very stressful week. As I lay there my feet felt this horrible cold spot at the foot of the bed. I discoverd that the mattress was soaked at the end of the bed. The sheets were dry and fresh but the actual mattress was wet. EHHHHHH! I jumped up. My husband joked that he had not seen me move that fast in weeks. I was not amused by HIM or the mattress. I quickly called guest services and they sent up a man to investigate. He apologized profusely and replaced that side of the bed. Problem over, right? Nah.
Later, we were all safely tucked in and thats when I regretted the location of our rooms. We were directly across from the laundry room. It was noisy. I totally understand that people get on board after visiting the parks so they might have laundry but do they have to have animated conversations in VERY loud voices at 1 a.m.????????? No, I don't think so. I opened the door and very nicely asked if they could keep it down a bit. The two women just stared at me and rolled their eyes. When I closed the door they continued their loud and very boring conversation for another ten minutes. I felt the urge to add bleach to their colored clothes or shut their dryers off but my husband talked me out of it!
(just kidding!)
Travel Party: Me, DH, DS 11, DD 5, and Son's wonderful friend 11.
Room: 7588 and 7590 (across from Laundry room...more on that later!
I had originally booked the Romance at Sea package but when our cruise was shortened from four nights to three my husband and I decided to cancel this aspect. We really wanted to relax and enjoy CC, massage, etc. and felt that the new altered itinerary would not allow us that time. DCL was very nice about cancelling the package.
Embarkation: Walking on board the Wonder was breathtaking. I have cruised often in my life (all non DCL) but the Wonder was something! The crew was lined up and greated us by announcing our family name and our guest's family name. It was nice to see our son's friend smile when they included his family name. The lobby is very impressive and considering the hurricane and uncertainty of our trip we were thrilled to be aboard. I could understand how some people actually can be moved to tears upon boarding.
We were the second family on board. We were guided to Parrot Cay for lunch and enjoyed a very relaxed meal. Well, the rest of the family was relaxed! I wanted to make my reservations! I did not know that there was no need to rush. The ship left the port with over 600 cancellations so Palos and the Spa were never fully booked. I went to make my reservations but they were already booked from my previous Romance Package arrangments. I explained to the gentleman that I had cancelled but he said it would be no problem to keep the same times. We scheduled Palos for our Parrot Cay night and also booked the brunch for Wednesday. I also confirmed we had first seating and we were given a table by ourselves.
At 1:30 we went to our rooms to drop off our carry on bags and get ready for the Mickey Pool! We had booked adjoining Cat 5 rooms and they were very nice. Plenty of room for five people and we definately enjoyed the split bathroom arrangement. I was impressed with the furnishings and little extras like the pictures of Walt Disney and his wife, the mickey clock, etc.
The three gift baskets I had ordered from ThePerfectGift and Shirley were waiting. Shirley was AMAZING and so very kind. She put these together as a hurricane approached and they were fantastic. The kids loved them. They thought that DCL had "sent" them to us. Of course they did not take the time to read the cards! I had to explain that DCL did not send them...I DID!
Our five year old daughter was determined to go to the Mickey Pool and I had already learned that this would be a great time to enjoy an empty pool. We went up to the pool and it was just being opened up. Noone was there and my kids enjoyed over an hour of swimming without any distractions. The slide is great!
After swimming we went back to the room and our luggage was already there. I took some time to unpack and even with my compulsive overpacking there was room for everything. The boys explored the ship and our daughter took a little rest before dinner.
Off to dinner at Animator's Palate. WOW! I loved the whole mood of that room. Our waiter was Gede (pronounced Good Day) and his asst was Sara. They were truly the best. Kind, funny, patient and accomodating. If I ever sail the Wonder again I will request them. I was pleasantly surprised by the food on the Wonder. It was very good. Gede provided the boys with plenty of shrimp cocktail even though it was not on the menu. He did magic tricks for our daughter. Sara was so lovely and kind and they both welcomed us so warmly every evening.
After dinner it was off to Hurcules. This was when we realized that things were a bit different on this cruise. As we strolled around the ship we saw very angry and tired people still boarding as their DCL busses arrived from Orlando. Not exactly the way that I would have wanted to board. The ship was scheduled to leave by 9 p.m. but they went later due to the late arrivals.
Hurcules was okay. Some of it was hilarious. We checked in our daughter to the kid's club. I was surprised at how dark it was. She is afraid of the dark and I knew we might have a problem on this cruise. The boys explored after the show and went to check out their club. I was, quite frankly, exhausted and wanted to relax.
I soon discovered the main problem that would not be solved for the entire cruise....
I crawled into bed and settled in to watch a movie and just enjoy the quiet. It had been a very stressful week. As I lay there my feet felt this horrible cold spot at the foot of the bed. I discoverd that the mattress was soaked at the end of the bed. The sheets were dry and fresh but the actual mattress was wet. EHHHHHH! I jumped up. My husband joked that he had not seen me move that fast in weeks. I was not amused by HIM or the mattress. I quickly called guest services and they sent up a man to investigate. He apologized profusely and replaced that side of the bed. Problem over, right? Nah.
Later, we were all safely tucked in and thats when I regretted the location of our rooms. We were directly across from the laundry room. It was noisy. I totally understand that people get on board after visiting the parks so they might have laundry but do they have to have animated conversations in VERY loud voices at 1 a.m.????????? No, I don't think so. I opened the door and very nicely asked if they could keep it down a bit. The two women just stared at me and rolled their eyes. When I closed the door they continued their loud and very boring conversation for another ten minutes. I felt the urge to add bleach to their colored clothes or shut their dryers off but my husband talked me out of it!
(just kidding!)
