It's Not Always Pixie Dust and that's ok - our 4-day Wonder, Feb. 2019 - all done!

Sunshine2U

Disney Nana
Joined
Feb 27, 2001
I wasn’t planning to write a trip report but there were enough things that were “off” on this trip that I thought I’d share. Sometimes people expect everything to be perfect and pixie dusted. Sometimes that just doesn’t happen but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great vacation. So here goes. I’ll post our trip day by day and then wrap up my take away.

Our Cruise: 4-Day Bahama on Disney Wonder

Our Crew:

Me – 60+ Nana – this is our 4th Disney cruise with the first trip being on the Wonder in 2001. I’m an uber planner so it feels like I’ve been on a lot more Disney cruises since each cruise seems to last 2 years. We’ve also sailed Carnival, NCL and MSC and have lots of trips to WDW.

DH – Poppy is also 60+. He lets me plan all I want.

MIL – we lost FIL this past June. We had planned to take them on a Nov. 2017 cruise in MSC Yacht Club but cancelled when he got sick.

DD – 27. Her significant doesn’t do Disney or family trips. So DD roomed with and was in charge of MIL.

DS and DSS – Son and his significant. Both around 30. Collectively, the last three are “the millennials”.

DGS – 5 year old grandson (son of DS) – his first cruise. Has been to WDW twice.

DN – 9 year old nephew – his second cruise with one trip to WDW under his belt.

When I originally booked the cruise, the only thing I knew was, at the very least, DH and I would cruise with the two boys. So I booked a veranda for 4, and two inside staterooms for what at the time could be 4 milliennials – knowing that could change. When I added MIL to the booking, I added a 2nd veranda stateroom. At that point I had 12 different names on 4 staterooms so I could cover all the bases.

Over time, we narrowed it down to 1-inside and 2-verandas with our cast of 8. Initially the 2 verandas were separated by 6 cabins. I kept going back to the website and checking availability. The week before PIF, I found 2 side-by-side verandas that were 6 doors down from the inside stateroom. We were in 6030 and 6032 which is right off the forward elevators on the port side. We hardly ever saw anyone or heard people in the corridor. Our next door neighbors were loud talkers and we could definitely hear them. But it was mainly when their other family members stopped by and their
door was open. They could probably say the same for us and our coughing (more later).

This was a new experience for MIL who lives in MI – there are other family members close to her. We live in SC. She never used a computer or email, and relied on FIL for electronic communication via computer. We got her an iPhone this summer and she has loved learning how to text and hearing from various friends and family members. She really likes emojis. She keeps using gay family emojis to represent different groups of people. For example, the 8 of us were represented by 4-female and 4-male families. It was an Olaf and summer moment – one says we should really tell her. The rest vote no. So she continues to send us all kinds of people who love each other – at least in emoji world.

I digress. DS setup a #DisneySquadGoals group text and added All Fun initials at the end which I thought was sweet. So I would text notes and countdown images over the last 6 weeks which helped to build her comfort and excitement with the trip, since it made her feel part of the larger group as others responded and chatted. MIL will not fly. So the weekend before our trip, my sweet DH drove to Kentucky and met BIL/MIL who drove from MI. Kudos to BIL for making that trip. They spent a nice night visiting over dinner and stayed the night in a hotel before reversing directions the next morning.

In the meantime, everyone at DGS’s mother’s house had been coming down with the flu. DS was trying to wrap things up at his company’s NC facility. It’s a bit complicated but I ended up being the one caring for DGS over 3 days – even took a personal day to care for him. Even if you’ve had a flu shot, after you’ve held and comforted a sick, sneezing, coughing, snotty child for 3 days – you get sick. DGS left the house on Sunday. I spent four hours sanitizing surfaces, running extra hot dishwasher, and doing multiple loads of laundry. Then I isolated myself to 1 bathroom and 4 sq ft of recliner in our den. MIL and DH arrive – I assign them to a different TV room, different bathroom, different eco system – and tell DH he’s in charge of meals. I hibernated in my space over Sunday and Monday (another pre-vacation personal day!). Thankfully my company will let me work from home so I did get some hours in. I never developed a full blown version of the flu. It was something that took me down for 2 days and left me with a sinus infection, lingering cough, and other things that go with being on antibiotics.

Next person to fall was DN. His last fever was Tuesday before our Sunday cruise. The doctor told him to stay away from school but if no more fever, he would be clear to cruise. DGS was 7 days fever free and was cleared to cruise. I was also 7 days free of fever but the congestion and bronchitis lingered and really took a lot out of me.

It was really a tough week of worrying about the cruise. We had purchased trip insurance. If one of us was still really sick, what would we do? Could we really go and leave DN behind if his sickness became worse? Would we push the envelope on being non-contagious and go anyway? What if MIL started running a fever later in the week? I’m swearing off February cruises! We’ve never had the flu and now everybody seems to be falling. I refused to sleep with DH all week so he could stay well. I was never in same room with MIL for 5 days! On our FB group, someone said they arrived in FL on Friday night and their DD had started running a fever. She made no mention of possibly not cruising – but don’t know how she handled it, so I don’t want to imply anything negative. It’s just that getting sick has never been part of our vacation/Disney picture. But that’s why I get the trip insurance!!! I’m just sooo thankful our integrity was not put to the test because, I’ll tell you, it would have been HARD to cancel.

But as you can see from the fact that this is a trip report, we actually did cruise. I’ll wrap up here for now. Next up. Our Saturday travel day – and the reminder for the flight that wasn’t.
 
I’m an uber planner so it feels like I’ve been on a lot more Disney cruises since each cruise seems to last 2 years.

Exactly!!

It was really a tough week of worrying about the cruise. We had purchased trip insurance. If one of us was still really sick, what would we do? Could we really go and leave DN behind if his sickness became worse? Would we push the envelope on being non-contagious and go anyway? What if MIL started running a fever later in the week? I’m swearing off February cruises!

We cruised Feb 3-7 and DS came down with the flu on our way home, despite the shot, so I think you're right about no more February cruises.
 
TRAVEL DAY

Frontier Airlines (yes you, Frontier) is new to our market in Greenville, SC. We always drive to Port Canaveral but Frontier had $38 one-way flights to MCO. Checking baggage was more expensive than purchasing a ticket! I purchased tickets for MIL, the boys, DD and me, 1-way. It was more for fun (nephew had never flown) and comfort (MIL 8 hours in car) than anything. DH and DS would still drive vehicles - we’d throw our luggage in with them and meet up at the hotel in PC.

Then, in October, Frontier cancelled the flight. Took it off the schedule. Since they have limited service (as in a couple of flights per week) in our area there was no option to move to another flight.

Learning moment! Trip insurance did not cover flight cancellation that occurs prior to the start of the trip. We were absolutely fine. We simply switched to everyone in cars. I could not help but wonder about people who could be faced with flight cancellation a few weeks before their trip. They would have to book with another airline at possibly $100s more per person. So I guess my takeaway is to lean towards the established carriers who have viable options if flights are cancelled.

Anyway, we loaded up two vehicles on Saturday morning and struck out for Port Canaveral. I-95 was incredibly easy! I had loaded some Hallmark movies on my Kindle tablet. We stuck some bright blue kids’ headphones over MIL’s ears and she was simply amazed to watch “her” movies in the car. Unfortunately the headphones clashed with her hearing aids, so we all got to experience the movies. I think she was also amazed that 4 adults could travel 8 hours with hardly any conversation as each person went into their own electronic world – DD did case notes, DH listened to Pandora, I read a book and played games on my iPhone.

I think the truck was the cool “car”. After the boys buckled up, both they and DSS crashed out for about three hours. I think it was that last bit of much needed recovery for everyone – she had worked doubles leading up to the trip. But once they were awake they played word games and told stories all the way down. No screen time at all until the last hour.

It was a rainy, dreary Saturday when we arrived. As we came up over the bridge, we got to see the Fantasy leaving port. I had hoped to arrive in time to actually watch her leave but we took lots of small breaks along the way. Plus, it was a rainy, dreary Saturday.

We headed straight to the Residence Inn. I had booked with SPG points during the period when SPG was merging with Marriott. I am positive the site let me book a 2-bedroom suite where 4 adults could comfortably stay – plus a regular suite for 2 adults and 2 boys. But when DS got to the hotel they said you can’t book the 2BR with points and none were available. DS/DSS had arrived before us and by the time we got there, they had already grabbed the last room at Country Inn and Suites for $180. There were 4 ships leaving on Sunday plus a marathon in the area so rooms were scarce. I got ready to be all cantankerous with the front desk staff, but realized 1) they were overwhelmed with people, 2) I could not find the confirmation email (darn gmail), and 3) it was done. I put on my Elsa crown and let it go!

The Residence Inn was ok, not great, but certainly ok. Back in the day when hotels reused bedspreads, I’m the mama who went in and stuffed them in the closet. My children were trained that in no way did you go into a room and fall out on the bed. You had to wait for mama to get rid of that nasty spread, then you could fall out. So I’m one who loves that hotels are using those non-decorative, washed after every visit, spreads. Well, that does not apply to the soft furniture and the Residence Inn has big sofas in the living room area. The fabric was slightly frayed and the sofa looked well-used. We had the boys with us and it speaks to my you know what, I’m over 60, I’m tired and still coughing, somewhat exhausted and lacking energy so you just go ahead and sprawl on that sofa if you want to mentality that I did nothing about it.

We went to Fishlips restaurant for dinner. This is the restaurant that sits on the canal and has the webcam where you can watch the ships leave port. They said we had a 45 minute wait and we would have gone someplace else but by this time it was raining hard and it was bordering on cold. No one wanted to go back out and we all wanted some seafood. We were seated within 20 minutes – thank goodness. Our server was absolutely great. She was a local who is proud of the restaurant and the area. She took great care of us and added those extra touches that turn good service into great service. The food was ok. It was 100% better than a place like Red Lobster. We can go to a lot of local restaurants along the SC coast and get much better. But still, we give it a thumbs up. It would have been much better if we had arrived in non-rainy daylight where you could see boats and possibly the ships out on the water.

Back at the hotel, I had the boys prepare Valentines. I’ll circle back around to reasons but we didn’t do Fish Extender. I did realize the boys would miss their school Valentines exchange. I purchased Star Wars and Mickey Mouse kids’ valentines boxes, along with sheets of round magnets with adhesive back. The boys signed their cards and put a magnet on the back of each to take with us.

Then it was a few minutes of tv and everyone was asleep by 9:30. We’re not very exciting.

Tomorrow – Sail Away!!!
 
Jumping on board! What a wonderful Nana you are to do this trip for your family!
 


Jumping on board! What a wonderful Nana you are to do this trip for your family!

Aw thanks. I’ve laughed and said we take the boys on Disney trips and take the millennials along as babysitters. I quietly added MIL to the cruise when FIL passed. We told her a couple of months later. The problem is our millennials, given an amount of money and a choice of destinations, would not choose Disney. It’s disgraceful and I hesitate to call them mine!
 
Aw thanks. I’ve laughed and said we take the boys on Disney trips and take the millennials along as babysitters. I quietly added MIL to the cruise when FIL passed. We told her a couple of months later. The problem is our millennials, given an amount of money and a choice of destinations, would not choose Disney. It’s disgraceful and I hesitate to call them mine!

I'm a late 30 something (right on the cusp of millenial/genX) but a Disney lover...we've done one DCL cruise and it was Ah-mazing, but I don't see another in our future for a while, as they've honestly priced us out for now (especially as once you factor in exchange with us being Canadian), I'd rather do a cruise on another line and say a week at WDW rather than what a DCL cruise would cost...our cruise was a good VGT rate but was still double the cost of a similar cruise on other lines..in a few years when DD2 is older I hope we can find a good deal and sail DCL again, till then I'm living it through TR's like yours :)
 
Were you on the Feb 10-14 sailing? If so, that was the same as us! I haven't gotten to writing my TR yet - still working on 2 others for other Disney trips!
 


Were you on the Feb 10-14 sailing? If so, that was the same as us! I haven't gotten to writing my TR yet - still working on 2 others for other Disney trips!
Same trip. I'm not even sure what to say about Sunday night but I'll figure it out by the time I sit down to write about it. That was cr-a-zy! Would love your feedback as I post about our onboard experiences.
 
Same trip. I'm not even sure what to say about Sunday night but I'll figure it out by the time I sit down to write about it. That was cr-a-zy! Would love your feedback as I post about our onboard experiences.
Haha, yeah same here! I mean, when the servers are stumbling, you know there's an issue! It was also my first cruise ever, so a bit of thrown in the deep end to figure out if I get seasick or not. Luckily I didn't, and once I was in bed, I actually didn't mind the rocking. My uncle brought up afterwards that it was the Bermuda triangle after all! I probably would have been a bit more nervous if I had realized that!

We were on Level 2, forward, starboard. Got to see some crazy waves from our window down there that night!
 
INTERMEZZO I - Photos

I thought I should apologize and explain why I’m not posting photos. There are so many families represented by our small group of 8 that I don’t feel like it’s my place to post their (or their children’s) photos online. I hope y’all aren’t too bored or disappointed in the lack of photos. I was surprised at how few pictures we actually took. MIL is going home today (via the DH shuttle) so last night I printed photos at CVS and we put them into the photo albums purchased in the ship’s store.

DGS (5 yo) was, of course, supervising. His current concern is that he will lose his cruise memories. His mom said he cried when the last of the pirate tattoo washed off in the bath because, “It’s the last memory I have!” So he was like a little squirrel grabbing and dashing off with the photos he wanted for his book – this would be the book I neglected to buy.

I had been on here and on YouTube so there were things I saw that I had seen multiple times before. From his 5yo perspective here are the photos he wanted that we didn’t have – all the towel animals, the bunk beds, Peter Pan above the bunk beds, the kid-sized bathtub, the table setting at Tiana’s Place, the pool and slide, etc. These are things I had seen and loved online, but did not think to capture for his memories. Fortunately, I can grab these things off the internet and actually make a book for him.

SHUTTERS – I purchased the Shutters digital package for our room. Then told everyone to get in as many as you can, but make sure one of the boys is with you. This is so that the photos would be included in the digital package. That really didn’t happen and at the end, we had 55 photos from Shutters. And they were great photos! As I was there, a mother was going over her photos with the rep. They had 250 photos!!! Y’all, this was a 4-day cruise. That’s over 60 photos a day. Did this family even enjoy the cruise? Maybe they were an extended family of 50. o_O

I posted about this so I won’t repeat here. Shutters uses facial recognition to match you up to your room. There were 3 poses missing from our package – Cinderella, Stitch and Castaway. I was able to get them. Let me know if you need those details here. Bottom line, there were multiple families from our FB group who had missing photos, so this is a thing.

Anyway, let me know if you are following along with all these WORDS – no photos. I hope you understand.
 
FINALLY! OUR CRUISE DAY


It’s hard to describe the glee of waking up the day it’s finally THE DAY you get on the ship. Y’all know what I mean, right? It’s from your toes to your nose excitement.

Our PAT was for 11:00. I logged in just after midnight for Silver and that was the earliest time available. I thought 10:00 or 10:30 would be the earliest times assigned so I thought there must be a lot of gold or platinum members on our cruise who grabbed those early times, but now I’m not so sure.

I considered arriving at 12:30 since it is so easy to walk onto the ship at that time. But at the end the excitement and just having that extra hour seemed like it makes a difference. So we loaded up the vehicles at 10:30. Luggage drop off was easy peasy and we tipped $20 for all 8 of us. Did I mention it was raining, again?

The timing was so strange and I wonder if our experience from here on is reflective of sailing on a classic ship, and not Dream class where there are 1000-1500 more passengers. We pulled into the garage shortly before 11:00 and got perfect parking spaces at the 3rd level walkover. There were 0 security lines, and we walked right up to 3-in-a-row guest service to check-in for our 3 staterooms. We were assigned to boarding group 4. We found seats where we whiled away 40 minutes. They started calling groups at about 11:50. No one crowded the queue and we easily made our way for group 4 and onto the ship a few minutes after 12:00. The boys were awestruck and MIL had tears in her eyes.

A CM tried to direct us into Tritons for a sit down meal with menu. I told him we preferred to go up to Cabanas. No wait for the elevator. We were among the very first people to walk into Cabanas. It was still chilly and wet so we got an inside, by the window table. Oh my, it was wonderful. No lines, drink orders right away, fresh food. Remembering now, it could not have been more perfect. Except if we were able to sit outside. But we had a quiet area to the side, so it was good, it not perfect.

We had time to walk through Oceaneers Club and Lab and then it was time for staterooms to be open – and good karma continued with luggage being at the staterooms.

All of this is why I think our 11:00 PAT was the earliest available for this cruise. No lines. No elevator waits at all so far, and luggage at the door. My theory is that if you get to any cruise early, your luggage does not have time to get bogged down. This works for every cruise we have been on.

We had muster station H out on deck 4. I made sure we arrived on time but not early, so MIL would not have to stand too long.

Because of the weather, the Sail Away was in the Atrium. It was awful – hot, crowded, no room to move. The Classic ships have much smaller atriums and that space is not crowd friendly. We were separated but found each other at a table out on deck 9 to watch as we left the harbor – and the BEAUTIFUL sunset over the beach.

That’s about the end of the beautiful for that day as we proceeded to experience what many cast members called the worst seas they have ever had. Stay tuned.
 
We’ve had some rocky seas, which were bad enough. I would hate to be cruising in truly stormy seas. Looking forward to more of your TR.
 
We had early seating for dinner. When we knew today would be cool and rainy, I suggested we all wear nice street clothes onto the ship so we didn’t have to change for dinner. That allowed us to stay on deck for a long time before coming back to the room for a few minutes and then head to dinner. By this time, the ship was starting to rock and roll. I would have loved to watch the harbor pilot maneuver off the ship. (Every time a ship approaches or leaves a port, a harbor pilot is on board. A pilot boat will meet the ship to board the pilot onto the ship, and trail the ship out of the harbor to retrieve the pilot. I know in Charleston, SC, being a harbor pilot is a proud tradition passed down through generations.) Watching the pilot coming and going is a fun way to pass time. We could see the boat starting to scooch up to the Wonder, but weren’t in a good place to see the actual transfer.

I’ll tell the end of the story at the beginning. This night ended up having, according to one cast member, over 20 foot swells. Our Palo server later said, because of the location of Palo – top and aft, they had half of the restaurant CMs get sick, and several wipe outs. During the evening, we were routed around two messes on the floors of public areas. So all of this was beginning as we made our way to dinner.

Our first night was Animator’s Palate, which worked out well since it my least favorite menu. Everything about the actual meal was a hot (actually, cool) mess. We loved watching the slow progress of the “show” as the meal developed. I think this is one of those restaurants where, if you can resist, don’t go in knowing all the details. DH and I knew, but the delight of everyone else at the table was visible. It’s a great way for you to enjoy a meal and the kids are entertained – kudos to DCL! Our nephew is the kid who gets lost, distracted and forgetful on his way across an open room to pick up a sock. But he was the first to name almost every character developed. (He was also the one to recognize that Stitch’s handler was the CM who, sans wig and makeup, played Christoph in Frozen.) Our table was against a back wall so we weren’t in the best position for the live interaction, but the kids didn’t notice a difference.

The meal. I ordered the pursettes. The dish came to the table cool, from inside to outside, it was at best, room temperature. Think of cheese ravioli where the cheese is not deliciously warm. Then I had the soup – good flavor, room temp which felt cool. The potato side on the entrée was actually beginning to harden. We aren’t a family to pick things apart (that’s just me!) or complain. I honestly don’t know how others rated their meals, but they didn’t compliment anything. DD left before the entree to go back to the room, not feeling well.

The service was awkward. DS and DSS are craft beer drinkers. Our main server did not know the options available; we had to wait for the assistant server for drink orders. That may be normal, but the assistant was busy and there was a significant delay on drinks. Most of the ice melted in the iced tea to colored water. We arrived promptly to the restaurant and, having skipped desserts all around, the meal lasted until after 7:30. By this time the ship was doing some significant rocking. So I figured things were off for this first night.

We split up after dinner with plans to meet at non-saved seats in the theater. I was with MIL. We took 30 minutes to get to the theater – hanging onto chair backs, walls, whatever. When we got to the atrium, it was like crossing no man’s land. I tucked her arm up tightly under mine and we set off, relieved when we arrived safely to the other side. At the theater we met up with DH and the boys. He stayed up at the back of the theater with MIL who did not want to try the stairs, while I went down front with the boys. DS and DSS joined us. The show was Golden Mickeys and we loved it. The boys especially loved it. DGS has been in dance since he was two – in the studio, recitals, Nutcracker and at competitions. But this was probably one of his first shows that included song, dance, acting – and favorite characters. His was mesmerized. I was amazed at the ability of the dancers to perform – never quite sure where the floor was going to be. It’s an incredible cast.

Afterward, it was back to the room for bedtime. Bed was the safest place. There was no wait at the forward, just outside the theater elevators. It was only 2 levels up to our room but stairs are difficult for MIL on a good day. The boys l-o-v-e-d the towel creation and their bunkbeds. When DGS discovered Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and cast on the ceiling, it was the end to a most perfect day. He has the role of Michael at the spring dance recital.

Takeaway: The rainy, cool weather. The high seas. The mediocre meal. I'm still not 100%. The great show. The great embarkation experience. The awe in MIL and the boys' eyes. It was a winning day. I'm glad this is not a 3-day cruise.

P.S. Experienced cruisers, what has been your first night experience with food quality? Do you think they have to prep the food waaay in advance if they expect high seas?
 
We've been on 5 cruises so far, twice on the Wonder, and have never had problems with the food on any of our cruises. Sounds like the bad weather really caused some issues. Last March we were on the Wonder, there was bad storm with 50 foot waves on the way to St. Maarten. Thankfully they decided before we left PC to cancel the stop there and we went to CC instead. I was actually happier to go to CC twice. I would have been so sick if we had gone through rough waters. Glad you all had a good time despite all the rocking and rolling. I love the Golden Mickeys!
 
Experienced cruisers, what has been your first night experience with food quality? Do you think they have to prep the food waaay in advance if they expect high seas?

ON all three of our dcl cruises, the first night is the worst food/service wise IMHO. I would also say its the worst night for the ship to rock leaving port. Maybe our upcoming 4th will be different but I dont count on the first night ever going smoothly.
 
Just read through all your posts. For the food issue, I did have some soups that were not hot enough. I told our servers and they brought out another, but it had a film on top like they stuck it in a microwave not really sure. But they did try and make an effort for the rest of the cruise to ensure the food was hot enough. You should always mention to them if there is something wrong with the food they will try and fix it.
 
Just read through all your posts. For the food issue, I did have some soups that were not hot enough. I told our servers and they brought out another, but it had a film on top like they stuck it in a microwave not really sure. But they did try and make an effort for the rest of the cruise to ensure the food was hot enough. You should always mention to them if there is something wrong with the food they will try and fix it.
If things had been going smoothly from the beginning, I would have said something. But timing of drink delivery, food delivery, service - everything was off. There's no need to ask for food replacement when getting a Bud Lite (DH) beer or Mickey bars for the boys takes 15 minutes. I chose not to invest the time for them to fix the problem. I have experienced great service in the past. An off night was not the end of the world.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts




Top