Thanksgiving on the Wonder! Completed!!!! 11/30 About This Page:

[Stephanie P.]

So... my family's latest cruise is coming up in a little over a week! The first part of our trip is at WDW, so I am doing a separate trip report for that part of the trip, too. I did a trip report three years ago when we last went to WDW and it turned out to be the BEST souvenir! I printed it in color (which included lots of pictures) and put it in a three ring binder, which kind of turned it into a book. Every now and then I get the binder out and read it and it is like being there all over again. You forget all those little details and things people said or did, so I'm so glad I preserved that memory. I can't wait to do the same for this trip coming up! So, here goes:

THE CAST:

ME: Stephanie (barely hanging on to 39!)

DH: Robert (36)

DS: Stephen (9)

TRAVEL PLANS:

Departure and Arrival Date: Saturday 11/17/07 - we'll drive to Orlando and spend that night at the Best Western at Downtown Disney in an Epcot view room.

Switch!: Sunday 11/18/07 - we'll move over to the AKL in a savannah view room for 3 nights.

Switch again!: 11/21/07 - we'll head to Port Canaveral to spend 4 nights (and Thanksgiving!) on the Disney Wonder.

Departure Date: 11/25/07 - we'll drive back to Atlanta from Port Canaveral and back to reality.


OUR PLAN: (things in bold are new to us)

Wednesday 11/21/07 - once we have had our breakfast at Boma and have checked out of the AKL, we will drive to Port Canaveral and start our new adventure! We'll eat lunch at the buffet, swim and attend the sailaway party. That night, DH and I have dinner reservations at Palo while Stephen heads off to the Kid's Club!

Thursday 11/22/07 - Nassau day - I think we're just staying on the boat to relax and enjoy the activities. We'll have our turkey and dressing that night!

Friday 11/23/07 - Day at Sea. I have a facial scheduled for that morning and then just do whatever activities that we want to the rest of the day.

Saturday 11/24/07 - Castaway Cay day - DH and DS are riding jet ski's that morning while I have a Cabana massage. Then we're all going to feed the stingrays and then we're all going to ride the banana boats. So, it should be a fun-filled day!

Sunday 11/25/07 - Drive back to Atlanta and back to reality.

So, that's our plans! I want to say a BIG to Marisa at MouseEar Vacations/Crusing Co! She booked my trip and ADR's and then re-booked my trip when we decided to do part WDW/part Disney cruise. She has been at answering all my questions in an unbelievably timely manner!

NEXT UP: The trip!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Stephanie I hope you have a magical trip

[DyanKJ130]

I'm so glad your starting a DCL TR too!! Your plans look great!! Hope your trip is a WONDERful one!

[retiredkid]

sounds like a great plan.
Have a wonderful time

[Kenny]

Can't wait to read all about it! Plans sound great!

Kenny

[Tink and co.]

Can't wait to hear all about it!

[DrDolphin]

Have a great trip Stephanie!!!

[4Disney2]

Cannot wait to hear more! Have a great time!

[lauren-roxy]

Great start!!

[Stephanie P.]

Wednesday November 21, 2007

We got on the road from the AKL (see WDW trip report in that area) at 11:00 am and were on our way to Port Canaveral. We followed the directions to the port that the Passporter Cruise Guide gave and made it there without incident at 12:15. We pulled up at the curbside and dropped our bags off with a friendly porter, who explained everything to us about what to do next. Robert went to park the car at the parking lot across the street and Stephen and I went on into the terminal to start the check-in process.

When we came up the escalator, there were these cast members whose job was to wave at you with big, white Mickey hands. It was a nice way to be greeted! Goofy was there taking pictures in his sailor outfit and I was going to get a picture with him but he left before I could get over there. No biggie – I saw him again later on the boat!

I told Stephen to go wait in front of the tv that was playing the same Mickey cartoons that you see at the WDW resorts, so he was happy.



I went over to the check-in line and was asked if I had ever cruised with Disney before. I said I had, so they told me to go to a certain line and I was the first person waiting and was called over almost instantly. They were very efficient (at least at that point in the day).

I had all our paperwork filled out online and printed up, had all of our passports, and had the Bahamian Immigration forms filled out, so it was so easy! I was done in less than 5 minutes. The nice check-in man gave me 3 lanyards that said “Castaway Club” on them and they had these plastic Ziploc type containers hanging from them that were perfect for putting your room keys in. Stephen and I wore ours constantly on the ship!

I went back over to Stephen and Robert had made his way into the terminal. We had been given the number “10” to listen out for so that we could board the ship. They were already at number “8”, so we really only waited 10 minutes before we were allowed to board the ship. I took that time to take a few pictures.




When the number “10” was called, we made our way over to the short line and were on our way! We got our picture made in the gangway and then they did the big “Welcome” as we walked onto the ship. It was decorated for Christmas, of course, and looked magical!

We went immediately to the 9th deck to have our lunch at the Beach Blanket Buffet. It wasn’t too crazy at that point, so we were sitting down and eating at 1:00. The buffet was pretty good – I think they had some better ones later on in the trip.

One thing that was totally awesome this time that was different than our last Disney cruise was that I had already signed up for my facial and massage and Palo and signed Stephen up for the Oceaneer’s Lab online. The last time we cruised, you had to run around and do that right when you got on the ship. So, this time, I was able to just completely enjoy my lunch and relax!

After lunch, we decided to go ahead and get our pager for Stephen. Very quick and efficient! At this point, we did not let Stephen have the privilege of checking himself in and out of the Lab, but he got that later when Robert and I felt like he was acclimated to the ship.

It was about 2:00 now and we were able to go into our room at this point. We had room 7124 with a Navigator’s Verandah. We came in and were pleasantly surprised with the Castaway Club gift bag and a Bon Voyage gift box that included a Disney Cruise photo album and picture frame in it that our travel agent, Marisa, had sent us! We were so surprised by all this and Stephen just dumped it all out on the bed like Christmas had come early!


There was also a Navigator (the daily itinerary), our excursion tickets, and a note saying that we had $75 of onboard credits waiting for us on the bed. Robert and Stephen found the movie channel that was showing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, No Reservations, Shrek 3 and Transformers. We watched Harry Potter for a little bit and checked out the Navigator.



Stephen decided that he wanted to go swimming after a while. We had made sure to pack our swimsuits in our carryon bags and so Stephen and I got them on and made our way up to deck 9. Robert wanted to relax in the room. We quickly discovered that Stephen was really too big for the Mickey pool now.



So we made our way over to the Goofy pool area that was a little deeper. Stephen found the hot tubs and relaxed in there for about 15 minutes.


After we had some hot tub soaking in, we grabbed a slice of cheese pizza for Stephen and a glass of milk and headed back to the room. Stephen ate his pizza and finished watching the end of Harry Potter. Then Shrek 3 came on, so we watched some of it until we had to go to the mandatory fire drill at 4:00, which was below us in the Animator’s Palate.

The fire drill only took 15 minutes so we walked up to Deck 9 for the Deck Party that started at 4:15. We danced around and watched ourselves pull out of port and heard the horn blow, “When You Wish Upon A Star!”





Then we walked around the ship exploring and found the ship’s arcade called Quarter Masters. If you read my WDW trip report, you’ll understand why I was so thrilled to see this! Robert held Stephen back from playing any arcade games at this time and we went back to our room to find that our luggage had arrived.

We unpacked and I took our dinner clothes to the laundry room located on Deck 7 to iron them up. There was only a couple of people in front of me so I got it done, but told myself that I was going to find some time the next day to iron everything at once for the rest of our cruise.

We had a 6:00 dinner seating time and we made our way to Parrot Cay and were escorted to Table 19. A few minutes later, our table guests arrived sans the father. He was feeling a little seasick already so he didn’t join us that night but was fine for the rest of the trip after he took some Dramamine. They were from PA and had 3 kids. The oldest boy was 18, the middle boy was 15 and the youngest girl was 11. I was a little surprised by the fact that Stephen wasn’t matched up with a family that had a boy his age, but it wasn’t a big deal. They were very nice, but definitely quieter than us! Thank goodness Robert and I can run our mouths pretty good because otherwise we would have had an awfully quiet table!

Robert and I were supposed to go to Palo that night at 8:30, so originally I was going to just eat very light. But before we left for the trip, Robert asked if we could skip doing that this time because he didn’t want to have to bring his jacket and get that fancy. I was fine with that, so I cancelled the reservation online so that we avoided getting charged for it anyway.

At dinner, I had the field greens salad, the grouper with lemon butter sauce served with mashed potatoes and cauliflower and chocolate espresso walnut cake. It was all very good! Robert had the spiced chicken wings, onion soup, prime rib, and a sundae. Stephen didn’t eat a whole lot because he was too excited to get to the Oceaneer’s Lab when they opened at 7:00. I placed my order for my dessert, checked Stephen in at the Lab and came back to eat my cake.

When dinner was over, Robert and I went and played bingo at 7:30. We didn’t win, but had fun!


Then I went and bought a special Thanksgiving 2007 pin in the atrium. Darren, the cruise director, came over and introduced himself and asked if I was a pin collector. I told him that our son really just liked to buy pins from rides that he’s ridden, so we weren’t really super into it. He said that he had some special hidden Mickey pins that you couldn’t buy and found one of Stitch driving the monorail with a hidden Mickey on it and gave it to me to give to Stephen. I thanked him and thought that was really nice!

I went over to Shutters and looked at the picture from our embarkation and decided not to get it because Stephen wasn’t looking into the camera. Then we went and checked on Stephen (he was doing great and didn’t want to leave) so Robert and I went to the 8:30 ventriloquist show. I didn’t have super high expectations for the show and ended up being pleasantly surprised! He made a puppet out of a tennis ball and after a while you forgot that the tennis ball couldn’t really talk. Then he got this 11 year old boy up on stage and put this dummy mask over his face so that all you could see of him were his eyes. Then the guy proceeded to make the dummy mask say all these things like, “I like to kiss girls, I have stinky feet, I like to play with dollies, etc” It was hysterical and the boy was a good sport about it. Robert and I agreed that Stephen would have run off the stage out of embarrassment!

At 9:30, we checked on Stephen and he was still having fun, so Robert and I went back to the room. Winston (our stateroom steward) had made us a pretty swan that had 3 chocolates on it and had turned our bed down and fixed Stephen’s bed and freshened up the room. At 10:00, we got a page that Stephen was ready to check out, so I went and got him. We were all tired so we were in bed at 10:30. What a great start to our cruise!

Coming Up: Thanksgiving Day in Nassau!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great start to the cruise Stephanie Glad you had a great first day! More please

[Kenny]

A very good beginning! I can't wait for more. I understand about the dress up for Palo... but it's my DW that is concerned about that, I don't mind at all!

Kenny

[retiredkid]

great first day! can't wait to hear that ol' horn myself

[Stephanie P.]

Thursday November 22, 2007 – Thanksgiving Day

We all got a good nights sleep (I loved the pillow top bed!) and I woke up around 7:00. Stephen and Robert woke up shortly after I did and started watching Transformers on the tv, which we had never seen. I wasn’t so into the movie so I thought this would be a good time to get all that ironing done that I wanted to do. I was right…nobody wanted to iron at 8:00 in the morning besides me!

It took me about 30 minutes to iron and then I came back and got a shower – love that split bathroom! At around 9:00, the ship was pulling into Nassau and I got a picture from our balcony.


We were ready for breakfast so we went down to Tritons to get something to eat. I had a vegetable omelet, hash browns, some bacon, and a smoothie type drink with yogurt, bananas, strawberries and granola. My food was all really good. Robert had the carbohydrates and protein platter of pancakes, waffles, French toast, sausage and bacon. He said the waffles and pancakes were really bad because they were too dense. I tried them and he was right – they were almost cake like. But, he really liked the sausage links. Stephen had a Mickey waffle, pancakes and eggs. He ate it and seemed fine with his breakfast.

We didn’t book any excursions in Nassau because we wanted to see how we felt when the day came and we all agreed that we’d rather just hang around the ship for the day. So, we walked around and looked at Nassau from the ship and took some pictures. It looks pretty from the ship – very colorful!


Robert and Stephen had their first visit to the cruise arcade and I decided I’d just walk around the boat and explore by myself.


As I was doing that, I discovered Thanksgiving Mickey and Minnie in the atrium and had my picture made with them!




At around 11:00, they were having a Wii championship in the Diversions lounge. We don’t have one of these yet (Stephen is getting one for Christmas and doesn’t know it!), so I was interested to see what the big to-do was about it. It was pretty cool – they had a tennis tournament and it was really neat how interactive it was! Stephen lost in the first round but it was a close match! He was up match point but the other boy came back and beat him. Oh well – Stephen took it in stride!


After the Wii tournament was over, we went to lunch at the Beach Blanket Buffet on Deck 9. The buffet was better that day than it was the day before, in my opinion. I had a little of this and a little of that!

After lunch, Stephen wanted to go to the Lab so I took him over and checked him in. Then I went back to the room and just relaxed with Robert. At 3:00, they were playing the new movie Enchanted in the Walt Disney Theater, so we went and got Stephen from the Lab and made our way in. We found some good seats and then I went back to the room to get us all sweatshirts because it was a little chilly in there. The movie was cute but I was glad I hadn’t shelled out $8 a ticket to see it in the theater at home! Stephen found it extremely amusing and Robert thought it was pretty stupid. It definitely made fun of the whole “princess” thing from the animated movies, which was funny!

When the movie let out, we went back to the room to get ready for our dinner at Tritons. At 6:00, we went down to the dining room and Donald Duck was taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Stephen thinks Donald is so funny, so he had his picture made with him.


The father of our table guests was feeling better and was there. He was very nice and a lot more talkative than the rest of his family, so the conversation was much easier that night.

Since it was Thanksgiving, they had prepared special menus that said “Happy Thanksgiving 2007.” They had such items as Plymouth Rock Oysters on the Half Shell, New England Clam Chowder, Caramel Apple Salad, Jamestown Mixed Salad Leaves, Honey Glazed Virginia Ham, Governor Bradford’s Oven Roasted Young Tom Turkey, Chesapeake Bay Roasted Cod Wrapped in Bacon, Colonial Style Venison Medallions, Grilled Split Lobster Tail, Pilgrim Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake, Mayflower Apple and Cinnamon Tart, Southern Style Sweet Potato Pie, Massachusetts Chocolate Melting Pot, and a Thanksgiving Thursday Sundae.

I asked if I could keep one of the menus and I could. All three of us got the traditional Governor Bradford’s Oven Roasted Tom Turkey, which came with mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, dressing and cranberry sauce. It was pretty good, but obviously not as good as Momma’s! For dessert, I had the Massachusetts Chocolate Melting Pot, which was this really yummy, dense, rich chocolate cake with chocolate sauce. Robert had the Thanksgiving sundae and Stephen had the apple and cinnamon tart. I tried some of Stephen’s tart and it was good, too!

I should take the time now to tell about our servers. They were both very nice and tried very hard to please. Sometimes it was difficult to understand them or to know if they understood us. They gave us a brain teaser each night involving crayons and having to move just 1 to make a this or a that, etc. They were really hard and the only one of us who every solved one was Stephen.

After we rolled out of the dining room, Stephen wanted to play bingo so we went and played and didn’t win but had fun trying! Stephen was getting so excited!


The Hercules show was going to start at 8:30 and for some reason, none of us were really dying to go to it, so Stephen went to the Lab and I went to the gift shops and bought a few things – hee hee! Robert went back to the room and watched tv. I came back to the room after I had made my purchases and Winston had made an elephant for us. I told Robert that my stomach was starting to feel a little queasy from the rocking and he agreed that it was a little rockier than it had been. I laid down to rest and then we got a page at 10:45 to come get Stephen from the Sports Deck. Robert had fallen asleep so I ended up going and getting Stephen in my pj’s with a sweatshirt thrown on top. I still wasn’t feeling great but wasn’t sick enough to actually get sick. Stephen was hungry after the dancing he had been doing, so we stopped by Pinocchio’s Pizzeria and got him a slice of cheese pizza and a glass of milk. (It just blew his mind throughout the cruise that we could just go get a slice of pizza or a basket of fries and walk off without paying! I told him “Oh, we’ve paid all right!” ) I also thought to myself, only on a cruise would it be normal to be feeding my child pizza at 11:00 at night! Stephen came back to the room and ate his pizza and then we all went to bed. We were all beat!

Coming Up: Day at Sea!

[iamgrumpy]

Sounds like a fun time sorry you started to not feel good!

I too was amazed at the hours we would eat things and thought only on a cruise!

More please!