Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder - 2018. Third time's a charm!

[jenseib]

Oh...and in my 8 DCL cruises, I have never heard them once announce tags to disembark...so either I am deaf, not paying attention, or they haven't done it...probably the first 2!

 

[verleniahall]

That is HORRIBLE - we have had a similar experience - security was called and they started beating on our connector wall!

I made the manager move us AND upgrade us for our trouble - they moved us, and then said as long as we didn't post a negative review

I wrote the negative review when we got home

 

[cntkg1]

Bummer about your stay at San Luis. Sad that the manager didn’t respond to your email until he read your report on Trip Advisor. Same exact thing happened to me regarding our stay at a hotel in Cape Canaveral. No real response from management until they saw my entry on Trip Advisor. Ended up getting a full refund for our two night stay but they never asked me to remove the report either.

And who gets cranky at Target???? It’s my other happy place!

 

[SweetSpot]

One of our favorite cruises was a 3 night Fantasy after dry dock. The engines had major issues the last night and we needed tugs to help pull us in after we crawled to port. We weren't able to disembark until after 2:00. We had a nice breakfast, great lunch and loved every extra second filled with activities until we were kicked off. In the end we were driving 20 minutes home so it was a huge gift to us. I felt terrible for those who had flights to catch and like us a couple days before were looking forward to getting on board.

 

[Jillpie]

Oh no, its almost that time again, boo hoo . An excellent ending to an amazing cruise, and I too knew of it, from following you. Oh that hotel sounds awful, but a free 2 night stay is enticing. I'd probably take him up on it. But, if you call them back with that offer, I wonder if its contingent on deleting that review? I wouldn't do it either. Hey, by the time you get back, I bet your experience could be completely different. Those see thru bathroom doors, omg we had see thru shower glass doors (anyone sitting in bedroom area can see right in) in Australia at a couple of our hotels. I hated that! What are they thinking with their voyear little minds! Okay Cass, bring it all together for us and we'll have to soon say goodbye, but just for a little while! I sure will miss your family. And I won't touch my Cheerios box till the next time, you can count on that .

 

[Timon]

December 27th, 2018 Part 3

If you've read my previous Christmas reports, then you will probably have guessed that we were headed to the Rainforest Cafe

Even though Kira is not so little anymore, we still love it here! We always love the food and usually get great service. Tonight was no exception.

I couldn't take my traditional pic with Kira and ChaCha because someone was sitting on the bench so I would have to take it later.

While Rob was checking us in, Kira tried to kidnap all of the stuffies

I think we got there just in time as there was a long line forming behind us but we were seated right away.

We requested "our" booth and luckily it was empty.

Menu has changed a bit since we were last here.

Kira got a regular order of chicken strips with tons of fries

Rob got some seafood dish from the special menu..

And I got my usual cheeseburger

It was all very good and we were full but we got a piece of key lime pie to go for later

It was dark out so not the best photo

I'm a sucker for our family traditions I can't believe how much she has grown up in the past two years!

We walked back over to the SLR and up the stairs so we could check out the pool.

It looked so beautiful and I put my hand in and it was WARM!!! It was a warm as the hot tub in Webster! This was a pool warm enough for Rob! That doesn't happen very often!

There's the hot tub. Sadly, they took out the slide and second hot tub and put in four Cabanas and a small plunge pool for Cabana guests only. Didn't see a single person in it the entire three days, what a waste

There's a Starbucks snack place just off the lobby, near the pool and right next to Blake's, one of the restaurants here.

Back up to the room where we were going to do a load of laundry before hopping into the pool but I couldn't find any mention of laundry rooms so I called the front desk and they told me they didn't have self service laundry and we could have our laundry done via their laundry service.

Hmmm, let's check out the prices....

WHOA!!! $11 for a pair of pants???

Ummm no thanks!!!

Galveston was getting a cold front in and we needed pants and sweatshirts and all of ours were dirty from the cruise! It was a good thing I bought myself a couple pairs of pants at Kohl's in Webster as well as jeans and long shirts for Kira because we packed for much nicer weather.

There was no way I was paying those prices so I looked to see if there were any laundromats in the area. There was one five minutes away but was closing in about an hour. Rob said he would go and get it done for us so I went through all of our dirty clothes really quickly and gave him a load to do.

Such an awesome hubby I have

Of course, I checked on him to make sure he didn't get kidnapped or something

Then Kira and I hit the pool.



Shortly after that, Rob got back with a load of nice clean laundry and we shared the Key Lime Pie.

I went out onto the balcony and noticed the cops out front. They were there for quite some time and ended up arresting someone.

I enjoyed sounds of the Gulf, the night air and the view of the pool.

 

[bcwife76]

Those prices $2 for a pair of socks? I'll wash 'em out in the sink, thank you!!!

Bummer about the pool.....oh Kira, you are breaking your mother's heart Dang children, they just can't enjoy the simple pleasures in life once we've taken them on a few cruises

 

[acndis]

Oh my gosh! I loved that Kira loved Edge so much. My son does, too. In fact, we did not see him on our cruise except for forced interactions! Tween seems to be the perfect age for DCL. In fact, my husband and I just decided that DCL will be our next few vacations. Everyone is happy all the time when we are on the ship! I wish you had been on our cruise. I think my son and Kira would have gotten along famously! Love your report as always!

 

[Jillpie]

Dang it. I read your post today, and now I won't have any late night reading to look forward to. Why do I do that?? Because I can't resist awesome updates from my favorite Disney author . An arrest, oh, now thats kind of exciting. And scary at the same time, what is going on there! And Kira, she may just be getting pooped from a long vacation, and needing her routine again. or just being a typical tween. We've all been there Cass, hey I have 20 somethings and they still get moody! But pool time, thats your time so yeah, that made me a little sad. Any chance I still may have late night reading tonite?

 

[Timon]

Last day…boo! My husband and I will eat almost anything and my 20 year old son will eat anything beside cucumber and watermelon
But my 15 year old is much more picky. He is very similar to Kira as he reads the menu and doesn’t like all the stuff that comes with something. Give him just the meat or fish without the sauces etc he’s a happy camper. One cruise he actually ordered the grilled salmon every dinner, I think it came with rice and broccoli which he loves.
I agree about the store not carrying all the sizes, have had that happen multiple times. At least at the parks you can usually hunt it down somewhere.
Sorry you have to get off the boat

We were sorry we had to get off the boat too

Oh man, when I first read it, I thought you said your son doesn't eat anything besides cucumber and watermelon

Yeah, you can definitely find options for a plain eater, Kira just sees one weird thing and she skips it and dismisses it completely

Ugh, why can't they have ALL the sizes?? At least on day 1

Sounds like a great last day! I really enjoy your trip reports. When is the next one? LOL

LOL, not sure! We are debating currently, not sure which one will win out

I'm really enjoying this report. Not least because our first Wonder cruise is on Feb 3.

My husband nixed the Turtle Farm when we went to Grand Cayman last year and it sounds like that was for the best. Our son loves all things sea life but that wouldn't have been much fun.

Oh wow, you're almost there then

Yeah, hard to have fun when it's obvious that the wildlife is not having fun at all!

Well I know you know all too well about being delayed on the other end (like you said, back in 2016) so it was 'nice' (if that's the right word!) to be on this end since you did NOT have to rush off to catch a plane Dare I say I'm a little jealous at the several 'extra' hours you got on board? The last morning is always such a clusterf*ck, it's always such a downer ending to any cruise, no matter how smoothly disembarkation may go. I can imagine there were a lot of people on your cruise NOT happy to be delayed so long, however. Note to self: if we ever sail from Galveston we shall book a flight home for the following day!

Yes, it was really nice to be on the other end this time but I did feel bad about the people who were delayed. But I enjoyed every second we got because, like you, I hate that disembarkation morning chaos!! I think these Texas cruises attract mostly Texans, so I bet a lot of people were driving. I'm just so glad we didn't fly out that day even though we still would have been okay with a 5:30 flight. I just HATE flying out the day we get off a cruise, ever

Sounds like you made the most of your extra time onboard! Sounds lovely.

We were on the next cruise so we were eagerly checking updates to see when you got into port. However, thanks to your trip report (when you were delayed), we knew not to rush to the port. We hit Rainforest Cafe for lunch and rode the ride--we loved it! And, then we headed over. We had to wait to park but everyone had loaded their device with Netflix so we waited about 1/2 an hour and then were allowed to park. Check in was not crowded and we started to board fairly quickly once we arrived at Port. All in all it was very smooth and no big deal at all! DCL also credited us $25 pp for lunch.

Oh wow! Well, sounds like you made the best of your day and it wasn't chaotic! When we were delayed in 2016, it was sooooo bad! It took us hours to park and then get a shuttle and then get through security and check-in! About three hours to do all of that if I remember correctly and we did NOT get a $25 OBC, we got nothing! We did go over to RFC and have lunch though just to get away from the chaos.

OH MY! I wonder if the luggage ever actually does go into the water?

How wonderful that you had an extended trip. That is what I love about back-to-backs, being able to sit and enjoy breakfast and not having to rush away.

Kate

Yes, it used to! I remember reading about tons of times that happened at that port. I think that's why they now use those nets under the dock bridge now.

One day, I will take a back-to-back!

When I win the lottery

sniff sniff, so sad! seems this trip went by so fast! what`s up with that??

Yeah, 6 nights just feels so short

Very cool photo! I love watching lightning! I think my favorite was flying in a plane over a lightning storm - there were some breaks in the clouds so I could see it from above! Not too often you get a chance to do that!

Ohh, I've done that a couple times, isn't that just amazing???!!!!


I've had the opportunity a couple of times and I LOVED it!! I was actually IN a couple too, which was a little scary, not going to lie

Here's the last time I saw one, flying back home from Montreal...

For some reason I wasn’t able to post last night but I totally knew the answer to your trivia question. I knew it was Andy (Tim Robbins) from The Shawshank Redemption as that’s my absolute favorite movie ever. I’ve seen it more times than I care to admit. Probably just as much as Pretty Woman and Cocktail! LOL. But after a quick text to you, we realized it was said twice....once by Tim Robbins and once by Morgan Freeman. I would’ve only been half right then because your cm wanted to hear Morgan Freeman.

Funny thing about the screenshot I sent to you when you were trying to return to Galveston. I saw that person on their verandah and thought, “wouldn’t that be cool if that was Cass”? And it was!!!!

Did you ever find out what time the next cruise after you was able to sail out? Wondering if they had to wait as long as you did in ‘16.

Yup, you love that movie as much as I do, so you would have known it too! And we were just talking about Morgan Freeman and he said just use the one we were talking about

I think they left a little earlier than we did but not too sure

Thanks for keeping me company coming back into Galveston

Extra time on the ship! I know that a delayed arrival messes up ALL sorts of plans (our own cruise nearly got derailed by an absolute mess of airline delays)...but the selfish part of me says it would be great to have an entire morning on the ship before disembarking. Glad it didn’t disrupt anything for you!

Yes, I enjoyed every second of it and tried not to think about the cruisers coming on and being delayed

If anything, it was such a blessing because I was worried that our room wouldn't be ready when checking in so early

What a wonderful cruise even with that whacky ending! Yay for getting to stay onboard longer!

Jill in CO

Whacky but wonderful

Thanks for sharing, I had fun traveling along with you!!

Thanks for coming along on the journey with me...not done yet though, so stay tuned

thanks for sharing this trip report, i really enjoyed reading all of it!!

Thanks for reading and posting

I saw this online! It seems I'd get a bit dizzy if I was the captain!


Wow, seriously! That would be terrifying for me!


That is my worst fear!

I didn't even know we were circling until I got home and read that blog post

Wow......

I'm so sorry you had such an awful experience with this resort. Before we changed our 2017 cruise from the Wonder out of Galveston to the Fantasy we had the San Luis booked (refundable). Now I'm thinking we had a lucky escape.

Do NOT delete your review under any circumstances, I can't believe he had the nerve to ask you to do that in the first place! Ugh. I'm so sorry. Not a fabulous way to end your otherwise-fabulous vacation!

After following all three of your Christmas cruise reports, I'm dying to take this one next year. That's so disappointing about the resort. It looked so promising from the lobby pics. Thank you for not taking down your review on TripAdvisor as I am someone who reads over the reviews before booking anything. Hilton needs to get it together and get some larger beds. We are a family of three (with a 15yo) and no way can we do doubles anymore but I do love the Hilton brand.

It seems to have great reviews so maybe we just lucked out with a bad experience?

Oh yeah, I use Trip Advisor for a lot and I am sooo not deleting that sucker

Yes, I really wish they would because we love that Hilton!!!

What a wonderful time spending half of the day on the Wonder...I would love to do that. I hate getting off the ship.
Sweet Kira was grumpy? NO!!!!! I don't believe you.

What a shame about your resort. Skip and I had a similar issue once at a hotel where we kept calling to the desk about our noisy neighbors and each time they would come and tell them to be quiet and it would last about 5 minutes and then the music went back up. Skip started humming the song..and I think they played the same song over and over.

Yes, I'm glad we had that experience, one for the books

UGH! It wouldn't be so bad if it was just music but it was them in the hall, right outside our door, yelling and fighting and slamming their door so many times, we could feel it in the bed

They told them on the second time that if they had one more complaint, they were going to be kicked out. Well, we debated about calling that third time, I almost felt bad knowing that they would get kicked out but well, they never did. The manager I spoke to after said, yeah, they should have been!

Oh...and in my 8 DCL cruises, I have never heard them once announce tags to disembark...so either I am deaf, not paying attention, or they haven't done it...probably the first 2!

HAHAH, they did call them on our 2016 cruise together but you were probably busy laughing at something. You have way too much fun on vacations

Before 2016 though, I never heard them do it either!

That is HORRIBLE - we have had a similar experience - security was called and they started beating on our connector wall!

I made the manager move us AND upgrade us for our trouble - they moved us, and then said as long as we didn't post a negative review

I wrote the negative review when we got home

UGH! That is terrible! If it wasn't our last night and it wasn't so late, I would have asked to be moved too.

LOL about the review

Bummer about your stay at San Luis. Sad that the manager didn’t respond to your email until he read your report on Trip Advisor. Same exact thing happened to me regarding our stay at a hotel in Cape Canaveral. No real response from management until they saw my entry on Trip Advisor. Ended up getting a full refund for our two night stay but they never asked me to remove the report either.

And who gets cranky at Target???? It’s my other happy place!

Why does it take a bad review on social media to get anything done??

Yeah, well, guess it's not her happy place

One of our favorite cruises was a 3 night Fantasy after dry dock. The engines had major issues the last night and we needed tugs to help pull us in after we crawled to port. We weren't able to disembark until after 2:00. We had a nice breakfast, great lunch and loved every extra second filled with activities until we were kicked off. In the end we were driving 20 minutes home so it was a huge gift to us. I felt terrible for those who had flights to catch and like us a couple days before were looking forward to getting on board.

Oh wow, 2pm how nice Even better since it was only a 3-night cruise

Oh no, its almost that time again, boo hoo . An excellent ending to an amazing cruise, and I too knew of it, from following you. Oh that hotel sounds awful, but a free 2 night stay is enticing. I'd probably take him up on it. But, if you call them back with that offer, I wonder if its contingent on deleting that review? I wouldn't do it either. Hey, by the time you get back, I bet your experience could be completely different. Those see thru bathroom doors, omg we had see thru shower glass doors (anyone sitting in bedroom area can see right in) in Australia at a couple of our hotels. I hated that! What are they thinking with their voyear little minds! Okay Cass, bring it all together for us and we'll have to soon say goodbye, but just for a little while! I sure will miss your family. And I won't touch my Cheerios box till the next time, you can count on that .

I am supposedly getting a certificate in the mail, so maybe, if we go back in December, I might use it. It's about $450-$500 USD for the two nights

Yeah, I've seen some weird features in hotel rooms, including windows in bathrooms!! Who designs these things, anyway???

Don't put your Cheerios away just yet, my friend, I have a couple more days of fun

Those prices $2 for a pair of socks? I'll wash 'em out in the sink, thank you!!!

Bummer about the pool.....oh Kira, you are breaking your mother's heart Dang children, they just can't enjoy the simple pleasures in life once we've taken them on a few cruises

LOL, right???!!! Good Lord, those were ridiculous prices!! And what the heck is the difference between a t-shirt and a short sleeve shirt? And why the heck is the short sleeve $3 more??

Yeah, I think she's a little too spoiled But if we want to cruise, then she has to cruise. How old before we can leave her at home alone??? Might have to look that one up.

 

[Timon]

Oh my gosh! I loved that Kira loved Edge so much. My son does, too. In fact, we did not see him on our cruise except for forced interactions! Tween seems to be the perfect age for DCL. In fact, my husband and I just decided that DCL will be our next few vacations. Everyone is happy all the time when we are on the ship! I wish you had been on our cruise. I think my son and Kira would have gotten along famously! Love your report as always!

It's just too bad that she figured out how awesome Edge was on the second to last day of the cruise

She might be a little less hesitant to go on the next cruise

We can only hope!

Thanks for reading

Dang it. I read your post today, and now I won't have any late night reading to look forward to. Why do I do that?? Because I can't resist awesome updates from my favorite Disney author . An arrest, oh, now thats kind of exciting. And scary at the same time, what is going on there! And Kira, she may just be getting pooped from a long vacation, and needing her routine again. or just being a typical tween. We've all been there Cass, hey I have 20 somethings and they still get moody! But pool time, thats your time so yeah, that made me a little sad. Any chance I still may have late night reading tonite?

LOL, Jill, you're too funny!

Sorry, just one update today, my joints can only handle so much typing

Maybe tomorrow though

Ugh, so I have HOW many more years of the moodiness?

Yeah, guess I need to brace myself for the actual teen years

Missing our pool time together made me very sad. I shed more than a few tears that night

 

[Majordis]

One of our favorite cruises was a 3 night Fantasy after dry dock. The engines had major issues the last night and we needed tugs to help pull us in after we crawled to port. We weren't able to disembark until after 2:00. We had a nice breakfast, great lunch and loved every extra second filled with activities until we were kicked off. In the end we were driving 20 minutes home so it was a huge gift to us. I felt terrible for those who had flights to catch and like us a couple days before were looking forward to getting on board.

We were on the next cruise and ended up in port all day and evening. it was so different eating dinner docked in PC

 

[Majordis]

Thank you for sharing! I really enjoy your trip reports. I have moody teens too, especially if there is no wifi god forbid

 

[Timon]

December 28th, 2018 Part 1

We slept in a little...seems like the theme of this vacation, to my daughter's delight.

We got showered and ready and then headed to another Galveston tradition for us...The Waffle House!

Had to laugh at this sign....

And here we are, back again! Rob trying to do the bunny ears but Kira was not having it. She was refusing to take a photo if he did it

Rob was happy to be eating his pecan waffles again

Me and my stash of drugs To be fair, I was also hauling Rob's drugs

The one who ignored us ....

And some yummy food!

It was a cool and windy day but we knew the weather would only be getting worse as the days went by so I kind of figured that it was now or never for Pleasure Pier. This was the third time we tried going to PP. The first trip it was open but Kira was too chicken for any of the rides. Second trip, she was ready to try them but it was closed

Third time's a charm, right?

Finally doing this

We bought our tickets at the Will Call as the regular line was super long and I knew that Landry Select Club members can just grab them at the Will Call

It was around $100 USD for the all-day ride passes and the parking. I knew it wouldn't be worth it since I figured that we wouldn't stay long with the weather and I was right. But we also knew it was now or never and I'm glad we tried it.

I can't do spinny rides anymore sadly so Rob and Kira hopped on this one...

That's when they found out that you can't ride ANY of these rides with glasses unless you had a strap for them.

CRAP!!! How did I not know that? We have three straps in the room!

We didn't feel like going all the way back so we just bought some there for $4 each. Good way to make money, Pleasure Pier

Kira was SO grumpy about having to wear the straps! I told her, suit yourself but if you want to actually see anything, you'll be wearing them. She put up a big stink about this, I still don't even know why because two minutes after she put them on, she forgot that she was wearing them and when we left, I had to remind her to take the strap off

Looking down towards the Hotel Galvez...

The boat ride was closed for refurb so the next ride was this sucker..

That's Kira sitting alone in the middle

All of a sudden, she was chicken about riding everything again and refused to sit anywhere but the middle. Man, she was super grumpy that day.

So grouchy that we didn't want to sit with her apparently, so Rob and I grabbed the end seats, on the side where you go over the water, which was very cool! Made this dinky ride way more thrilling

She refused to do the Iron Shark, which is a mini version of Rip Ride Rocket, which she did last summer at Universal so we skipped it to give her some time to change her mind.

We went on the very high swings and I gave her the choice of sitting with one of us or by herself...guess which one she chose?

I felt like my shoes were going to come off, had visions of them falling into the water so I pressed my feet together the entire time It was pretty high and thrilling and rather cold

We stopped to watch some dolphins and pelicans...

Then got in line for the big Ferris Wheel. Boy was it chilly up there!

Fabulous views though!

Looking up to the much-higher swings...

Kira didn't want to ride anything else, including the Iron Shark so Rob and I did that alone and told her to cop-a-squat on the bench near the exit and wait for us.

We rode it and didn't need to ride it again! It was very thrilling but very jarring, not smooth like Rip Ride Rocket, so one and done

We got off the ride and spotted our kid...in (on?) her natural habitat...face in phone.

It was cold and windy and we were done! Back to our car and made one quick stop before going back to the hotel...we had another tradition to keep up

Kira's photo in front of the Convention Center

I didn't have an old shot handy so I didn't line her up very well...she's also super tall now

Back to the San Luis where Rob apparently wasn't cold enough so he decided to get some ice cream

Weirdo

We said "Hello" to Phydias and he yelled something back, I'm pretty sure it was "Buh-bye!"

How rude!

Oh look, more coppers

We warmed up and then sat on the balcony for a bit.

It wasn't long before our next adventure though

 

[bcwife76]

Yay for finally getting there!!! 3rd time was definitely the charm, even on a chilly day

 

[cntkg1]

Who’s your new friend?

 

[cntkg1]

I read “dolphins and pecans” rather than “dolphins and pelicans”. Wondering why would she stop to see pecans?? Yikes! I must be hungry.

 

[Jillpie]

Great update, albeit cold! And as for Rob's ice cream? You go Rob. That would be so me. It could be minus 10 F and I'd stlll choose the ice cream. This pier reminds me so much of Santa Monica in Ca., so fun! More adventure, bring it on!

 

[cruisehopeful]

He also asked me to delete my review, which I haven't and don't plan to either

Thank you for not deleting your review. Reviews are made to be helpful to travelers and not to make an inefficient manager look good.

 

[Timon]

December 28th, Part 2

We really wanted to visit Moody Gardens this trip. It's one of Galveston's big draws, probably more so in the summer because it has a big outdoor water park but during the holidays, it offers the Festival of Lights and Iceland and I thought it was about time that we saw it.

They have a special after 4pm ticket that is a pretty good deal if you want to see everything so we did that

Got in line and grabbed our tickets...

Then headed for the Aquarium Pyramid first...it was still decorated for Christmas and was very beautiful!

This was very cool...

Penguins were great to watch!

Jellies!!!

I don't know why but I love saying that word I love it so much that I've stopped saying the word "jealous" and always say "jelly!"

Not something you see everyday!

Kira tried to touch the stingrays but they were too quick

This was the coolest thing...check out the video below

Then it was time for the Rainforest Pyramid.

This one was really best seen in the daylight and ours was fading fast

While we enjoyed it, it would have been a billion times better during the day. If I had known, we would have done this one first and then the Aquarium Pyramid.

Looking straight up

We stopped for a quick snack...

And then it was time for the Festival of Lights! If your local zoo does Zoolights like ours does, it's pretty much the same thing with a specific entrance and exit.

My favourite part...

Rob eating some candy canes

Rob whipped out his phone and selfied us

You can see the paddle boat in the distance. This is also included in the after 4pm special tickets but we never got around to it.

We came to the end of the lights path and headed to another activity we were excited about trying.

But I seem to be at my photo limit so that's for another day