"They're going to do anything I tell them, I can tell!" A WONDERful First Cruise, February 2018

bellebookworm9

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 25, 2009
Hello! My name is Gretchen and it has been way, way, WAY too long since I have written a trip report! You may know me as one half of "The Twinsies" from my 2014 trip reports that got quite a lot of views (especially Disneyland) - you can find the links in my sig if you're interested.

I'm 26 years old and last summer I moved across the country from Buffalo, NY to Bellingham, WA for a new job. I'm happily employed as an audiologist at an ENT practice, and live a quiet, introverted life with my three cats (Carly is 12, Tiny Sir is 1.5, and Gus is almost 8 months). I also moonlight as a Disney specialized TA in my free time, which is how this trip came about (I'm not plugging my services, I promise, but this is relevant info). I did the WDW College Program in 2012, have traveled to WDW numerous times and Disneyland twice, but I had never made it onboard a cruise, Disney or otherwise. Thought about it many times, even paid a deposit for a week on the Fantasy, and then decided to go to Disneyland for the 60th Anniversary instead - priorities, people. You can cruise anytime but the Diamond Celebration wasn't lasting forever! :rotfl: (I'll tell you now, I LOVE the DIS emojis, and wish I had access to them in other forms of text.)

My travel partner for this trip, and many in the past, is my mom, Debbie. She's 60 and this was her first cruise, too. She still lives in Buffalo with the majority of our extended family and we had not seen each other since she returned home after my move seven months prior.

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How did this trip come about, you're probably wondering? All good trip reports start with a background story! Well, the travel agency I work for has agents scattered about the country. At some point, in early February 2017, the idea came about that we should take a cruise to meet each other, at our own expense. Bring the family, bring whoever you want. There was a poll about dates and length of cruise, and it turned out the 3-Night Bahamian on the Wonder from February 8-11, 2018 worked for most people - and also happened to be THE cheapest option out there (always a nice bonus)! I booked our stateroom in late February 2017. Soon after that, my mom's friend "C" and her husband "B" said they would like to come, too, so I booked their room as well. As the months went on, the original number of agents going dropped down to a whopping nine who actually made it onboard.

I was DYING for a Disney vacation, since my last WDW trip was March 2015 and last Disneyland trip was September 2015. Alas, life and student loan debt and minimum wage pay in animal shelter life prevented me from going back sooner. I figured if we were going to do this, we were going to do it RIGHT, and we'd always been interested in the Navigator's Verandah on the older ships. At first, I booked us in 7120 (my mom has an aversion to the number 6, so that knocks out one whole deck and about half the ship on any other deck for stateroom options:rotfl2:). Then, as I continued my planning, I found that 7120 is actually a regular plexiglass verandah with an obstructed view from the hull design, and we just really wanted the true Navigator's option. So I switched our room to 7128. "C" and "B" had originally planned to bring their teenage granddaughters and stay in an inside stateroom, but that didn't work out, and I was able to upgrade them to a Category 6A (verandah with whitewall) for about the same price with just the two of them. I put them in 7634, really not too far from our room at all, basically just around the corner.

Flights were booked (me from Vancouver, about an hour from my apartment, and everyone else from Buffalo), a one night pre-cruise stay at All Star Sports was arranged, a passport was obtained (for me, to fly from Vancouver), an enhanced driver's license was obtained (for my mom, to give me peace of mind about re-entering the states after the cruise), excursions were chosen, excitement built up (a year is a really, really long time to wait), pet sitters were hired, time off was arranged from work (I only get three vacation days this first year so I had to use them wisely), and FINALLY, it was time to go!

 
Looking forward to the rest of your report . We have booked a 4night on the wnder for Feb 2019 first time on the wonder. Have been on the Fantasy and Magic .twice each ship. We love cruising with Disney!
 
Sounds like a great trip, I'm looking forward to it. Wow, you have a lot of guts to move across the US for a new job. Although I will admit Washington State is beautiful!
 


Looking forward to the rest of your report . We have booked a 4night on the wnder for Feb 2019 first time on the wonder. Have been on the Fantasy and Magic .twice each ship. We love cruising with Disney!

:welcome:Now that we've finally experienced a cruise, I see a lot more of them in our future. Disney specifically, because looking at the teeny tiny stateroom sizes on other lines makes me claustrophobic!

Sounds like a great trip, I'm looking forward to it. Wow, you have a lot of guts to move across the US for a new job. Although I will admit Washington State is beautiful!

Hello! People have been telling me things like that all along (ie., "You're so brave, I could never do that.") I've always been very independent, I like living alone, and I hated the snow and cold in Buffalo, so I was determined to go pretty much anywhere without similar weather. Washington is beautiful...it's also quite expensive, which is a major downside, but I've seen maybe two inches of snow in the last six months, so that's a major improvement!
 
"What Is This Line For?" - February 7th, Pre-Cruise Day, Part 1
I awoke at the horrifically early hour of 4:30am on travel day. This was not due to excitement, but literally the time I needed to be awake. :coffee:

After packing a few last minute items, I took my traditional photo of my luggage stacked and ready to go.
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Poor Gus, my 8 month old kitten, outright panicked as I was rolling out the door with my suitcase and walked right out onto the front porch ahead of me to try and go with me! Thankfully he stopped when I said his name and I was able to stick him right back inside. I hired a wonderful cat nanny to come and check on the kitties twice a day so I knew they'd be in good hands, but it still crushed me to leave them. I honestly felt guilty!

My GPS said it would take about 1.5 hours to reach the Vancouver airport from my apartment. It actually only took about an hour, and the border crossing was super quick. They only have one lane open at 5:30am so they try to keep it moving. I had pre-booked parking at the airport in the cheapest lot, and I was AMAZED by the technological wonder that is the license plate recognition system. You put in your plate info when you book, and when you pull up to the gate, it reads your plate and lets you in. MAGIC! I got a little turned around in the lot and almost exited but I did find a spot. The shuttle bus was just pulling up as I was pulling my luggage out of the trunk, so I hurried to catch it, and in my hurry, I may have forgotten to note where I parked. I could have sworn there were three more pickup stops after mine. Turns out I was wrong, but we'll come back to that at the end. :rolleyes1 The bus was pretty full for such an early hour but everyone packed on and we were soon at the terminal.

I have been spoiled by the Buffalo airport, which while technically an international airport, is not very large at all. Vancouver airport, on the other hand, is GINORMOUS. (Yes, I've been to others that are also crazy big - I once crossed like four terminals in Chicago O'Hare and had to take a bus in Philadelphia to make a layover). I had to walk to find the Air Canada check in...and NONE of the self-serve check-in kiosks were working! Everyone had to stand in line to check in at the counter! I'd pre-paid my luggage fee when I did my online check-in the day before so that helped speed things along for me. Interesting tidbit: they do not take your luggage from you and put it on the carousel right behind the counter there; instead you take it to a drop off point down the hall.

YVR has a designated terminal for flights going to the USA. You go through Customs before boarding, so you don't have to do it when you land - in this case it also meant my luggage could go right onto Magical Express without me having to claim it in Orlando first. Since you are entering US grounds in this terminal, you must go through TSA screening. The first line here is where they scan your boarding pass. Then they check your ID (two separate steps). This is a point where it became VERY handy to be a solo traveler! The nice agent manning the NEXUS line (for Canadian citizens - it's their trusted traveler border crossing program) asked if I was by myself, and when I confirmed that I was, pulled me over there. She did a check of my laptop and then I continued through that expedited line, skipping quite a lengthy amount of people in the regular line! :worship:

OK, you've made it through the security screening, and now you must go through Customs. The self-serve kiosks here WERE working and then you do a quick face to face with an agent, then continue on your merry way. I think from arriving at the terminal to making it nearly to my gate was about half an hour, so not too bad. But to get to the gate, I walked and walked...and walked. And walked some more. I'm not joking when I say it was literally the furthest gate in the terminal!

I was excited for the cruise, but I was very nearly as excited for this deliciousness:
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In Buffalo, there is a Tim Hortons every block with Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts sparingly available. In Bellingham, there is a Starbucks every five feet. That's it, or independent/local options. I splurged here and went all out: breakfast sandwich, donut, orange juice, and my beloved iced cappuccino that I didn't even end up finishing.

After I ate, I continued the walk to my gate. Sometime before I boarded, I had been texting with my mom and "C". "C" had gotten her room ready text and I looked it up on the Touring Plans resort map. They were in Touchdown, on the third floor at All Star Sports. When I booked, I requested adjoining rooms (not connecting). When I did online check-in, I requested Surf's Up, near elevator. Then a few days before arrival, I sent a fax requesting third floor pool view, with a king bed for "C" & "B", as king beds are only in the Surf's Up section. Yes, I know that all of these things are merely requests. So I already knew that they were on the top floor, near the elevator, but with no king bed. :worried: I did not yet have a room ready text, so I checked the MDE app and it said to check back later for room assignment.

Also while I was waiting to board, a group of the dreaded cheerleaders came to the gate area. Decked out in matching hoodies with Mickey heads on them, proclaiming they were going to some sort of competition at the World. Oh no!

I was impressed that YVR has very nice charging stations that are easily accessible in their gate areas.
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We began boarding around 8am. I was in the first economy boarding group and my seat was close to the front behind first class.

Oh look, rain in the Pacific Northwest, imagine that.
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The plane also had outlets in every row!
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This flight was EMPTY. The plane was pretty big, and after takeoff, they invited everyone to go wherever they wanted. Everyone could literally have 2-3 seats to themselves. My seatmate went to go sit with her family. I took photographic evidence of the sprawl, as you can tell from this woman sleeping across three seats directly across the aisle - and the aisle across from that has NO ONE in the seats at all!
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Living up here in the Northwest, I'd almost forgotten what sunshine was.
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The flight was long, at five hours, but uneventful. I dozed for a little bit, listened to music, people watched, looked out the window at the clouds. No Wi-Fi, paid or otherwise, and none of the available movies really appealed to me. We had great tailwind because instead of arriving at 5:25 as scheduled, we were at the gate at 4:45.

First glimpses of Florida, somewhere over the north end of the state.
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I turned on my phone to find a number of texts from my mom that their flight was delayed...the plane needed to be de-iced. They were scheduled to arrive at 5:10, but now I was way earlier than planned and they were going to be late. I was also starving, so I decided to freshen up and then find a place to wait for them.

Part 2 to come soon!
 


Following! I'm fascinated by the empty flight! We regularly fly Air Canada out of Vancouver. Always packed. Have never been to Orlando though. Perhaps I need to get myself to DW in February!
I also understand feeling guilty about leaving fur-babies at home.
So, did they feed you on the flight or was it all for purchase?
 
Joining in! We'll be on the Wonder in less than a month!

Welcome! I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time!

Following! I'm fascinated by the empty flight! We regularly fly Air Canada out of Vancouver. Always packed. Have never been to Orlando though. Perhaps I need to get myself to DW in February!
I also understand feeling guilty about leaving fur-babies at home.
So, did they feed you on the flight or was it all for purchase?

I've never flown Air Canada or out of Vancouver before, but it was closer and cheaper than Seattle. I have no idea if this was the norm, but if it makes you feel better, my return flight (also a non-stop) was totally, completely packed full.

I'm such a cat lady. Before this trip Carly had been away from me (like with absolutely no one at home) exactly one night since I got her almost two years ago. Tiny Sir has never been alone. Gus has never been away from me at all since I got him last September. Even when I worked overnights, my mom would be home for them. The last time I traveled for more than a night was in 2015, and I had a roommate (Carly loved him honestly more than she loved me so I didn't feel very much guilt over that!).

They gave us a free beverage. No free snacks or meals :(

Great start! Following along.

Welcome! I love that lemon cupcake in your profile pic - brings back great memories of DLR!

looks interesting

I hope it will be as great for everyone to read as it was for me to experience!
 
"What Is This Line For?" - February 7th, Pre-Cruise Day, Part 1

Since I was near the front of the plane, I beat the crowds to the bathrooms! I changed into shorts (so nice!), brushed my teeth (got some strange looks but oh well, I felt grubby), and headed toward the shuttle aka the faux monorail. New since the last time I flew into Orlando is they now have TSA agents and signs preventing you from returning to the airside terminal after you've entered the shuttle boarding area.

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I was really hungry by this point but I didn't want to fill up before dinner at Beaches & Cream. Nothing really caught my eye by the food court so I continued over to B-side and caught the elevator down to Level 1. Holy cow, I forgot how loooooooonnnnnnng the walk is from the far side of the airport to Magical Express. We've flown in on JetBlue the last several trips which is way closer! I found a Starbucks pretty close to the Magical Express area to get a drink and some pumpkin bread, and one of those fantastic groups of comfy chairs and tables, took a seat, and waited for my mom, C & B to arrive. While I waited, I watched my seating area get inundated with cheerleaders. Multiple times. I figured this did not bode well for our resort experience. I never did get a room ready text but our room did eventually show up on the app: 6301. My room got our exact requests: third floor, near elevator, Surf's Up, pool view. I figure they were working us in around the cheerleaders and just stuck us wherever there was room, but it meant we weren't even in the same building as C & B!

Finally, after literally an hour, my mom and her friends came straggling into view. My mom had texted that they got to ride on the pargo at the Buffalo airport, doing the princess wave. As they approached, I understood why they got that ride. C had a walking cast and was being pushed in a wheelchair by B, who had a cane. And my mom has a bad back that makes walking difficult for her (she usually rents an ECV for WDW but she thought she'd be okay on the ship without one - turns out she was). Apparently they do not have pargos at MCO. I did not know about the walking boot or the cane beforehand or I would have figured out alternate arrangements for transportation!

We made our way into the Magical Express line. I picked the check in booth with one person ahead of us, rather than getting into the groups of cheerleaders that were still arriving...except of course that one person didn't have a MagicBand or a DME voucher, so they had to pull up her info the long way and I was very impatient. She finally went through, then C & B, and then me but I kept trying to tap my band before he had the appropriate screens up. Of course, the line for the All Stars was the longest; the queue was completely full all the way back to the podiums. It took about half an hour to get through the line, and of course there's nowhere to sit, so all the grown-ups with me were not in great shape by the time we boarded the bus. While we were waiting, B asked "What is this line for?" "This is the line to get on the bus to go to the hotel." "Oh." Welcome to Disney: all lines all the time!

The grown-ups were so relieved that the front row of the bus is offered to "those in need" and basically collapsed into those seats! Would have been a great opportunity for the Welcome Arch photo...except my mom and I were so busy chatting we totally missed driving under it! First stop was Animal Kingdom Lodge, where maybe five people got off, then to All Star Sports, where we and a couple of others were dropped, and then it was continuing to Movies to drop off the cheerleading group that had been assigned to our bus. I think everyone was very grateful we didn't have to go through the check-in line since we were all set, and we headed off to our respective rooms for a short while.

I was disappointed they've even done away with the colorful runners. They weren't particularly useful but they did add a nice splash of color. I think the plain white bedspread is boring.
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Also annoying? Those lamps over the bed! My mom falls asleep reading so there's always a light on; I prefer to sleep in near total darkness. At most resorts, she can either pick only one bedside lamp or unscrew a bulb to make it less bright but there was NO way to do that here for the lamp over just her bed, without a screwdriver. OK, so blindingly bright light it is, I guess.

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Our toiletries seemed to have had a mishap before we arrived:
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I was pleased to see they've upgraded the toiletries to separate soap and shampoo, and it's not the orange blossom scent anymore. That smelled way too much like dish soap for my liking!
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I ordered up an UberXL to pick us up for our dinner reservation and we met C & B at their room before heading to the parking lot. I admit, I know the layout of the All Stars well, but I was trying to follow the Uber map to meet our driver and I got a little lost; should have just had him pick us up at the front of the resort! I ended up just changing our pick-up location so he could find us rather than making the three grown-ups keep walking. We probably should have had him pull out the third row of seats for me but I squished in the regular back with C & B for our ride to the Beach Club, and thankfully it wasn't very long!

We met a friend of mine there and our table was ready in just a few minutes. They seated us in one of the large booths...or at least, it looked large until the five of us (most of us Pooh-sized) were smushed together in it. I was up against the wall and I could barely move my arms. I hoped to sneak out to see IllumiNations but that wasn't happening since I was on the inside! We had a very nice meal and ordered the Kitchen Sink for dessert to share, and no, we did not finish it all. I think four of them were ordered while we were there.
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After dinner, we had to take photos in the lobby chairs for old times sake (memories of when my mom and I stayed there in 2011).
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I ordered up another UberXL and this time I did get into the back third row all by myself. Our driver was Debra and she was so sweet and friendly. She told us she and her husband just drive for Uber as full time jobs, mostly around Disney. We stopped in the gift shop back at the resort, and I looked for a new keychain but didn't find anything I was crazy about. I was reppin' the Disney College Program with my alumni shirt, and a current DCP CM saw it and said I should come back and join them again. Ehhhh...I loved it when I was there, but I have a real job now, making way more money than I would ever make there, so I'm good, thanks.

Back in our rooms, The Luggage Debacle 2018 was happening. As in, there wasn't any. At 10pm. Let's recap: I was off my plane at 4:45pm. The others landed at 5:45pm. That's more than 4 hours. I had pretty much anything I needed in my carry on because I had one such debacle before and learned the hard way about packing pjs and toiletries that might be needed. I had told everyone else to do the same, but did they listen? Nope, of course not, that would be too easy. OK, I decide to call the Bell Services desk...and there's no answer. I was just in a hold loop of music for 15 minutes. I even tried to hang up and call back, and ended up in the same spot on the music. C & B didn't have their luggage either, and they were getting kind of upset. There was also no info on what time the luggage would be picked up in the morning or when we needed to meet for the bus to Port Canaveral. At 10:30pm I got tired of being on hold and went down the luggage desk myself, where the CM was supremely unhelpful. She first asked me if I was with one of the groups. No, I am not. Also it's been well over 3 hours since anyone's plane landed. Then she asked what time we checked in. Well, with online check in, the actual time you check in to the hotel is kind of obsolete. She was able to see that my and my mom's luggage was "somewhere in the back" but that three trucks had been delivered at the same time so "the back" was kind of inundated but we "should" have it by 11pm.

I found another CM in the lobby who was able to get our cruise info, at least. Luggage pickup at 8am, meet in the lobby by 11:15 to board the bus at 11:30. I went back to my room and texted C with the update. My mom did actually pack most of her things in her carry on but still had a few items waiting to be delivered. Our luggage arrived at 11:03...but C & B still had nothing. She called to Bell Services, and after 11pm it goes directly to the DME "back" people. They actually answered her call, told her they were going to check, and left her on hold for about 20 minutes. She was worried they forgot about her but didn't want to hang up in case no one answered again. When they returned to the line, they told her they couldn't find any flight info on her. UM, EXCUSE ME. As their travel agent, I had the email confirmations that I had submitted their flight info to DME and that it had been received and added to the reservation. I think they finally got their luggage around 12:15am; pretty sure they did not believe me that this actually isn't the norm and they'll likely never use the service again, if they should ever return to Disney (I don't think they will, they didn't seem to like it much, TBH).

Jetlag is terrible, people. It was 1:30am and I was wide awake. I don't normally go to sleep until around 12am PST. I did eventually fall asleep, and I have to say, I did think the beds and pillows were very comfortable - I know others disagree (C, for example, thought the pillows were too soft, but mom and I thought they were just the right amount of fluffiness). We slept well and were ready to get the adventures started the next day!
 
Oh, my! Sounds like you had kind of a rough start. Even your toiletries weren't cooperating :rotfl:

I would have been in a panic waiting for my luggage that night. So happy you finally got it and your friends too!

Hopefully, things start looking up tomorrow :thumbsup2
 
Oh, my! Sounds like you had kind of a rough start. Even your toiletries weren't cooperating :rotfl:

I would have been in a panic waiting for my luggage that night. So happy you finally got it and your friends too!

Hopefully, things start looking up tomorrow :thumbsup2

Right?! Those toiletries made me laugh! I wasn't "panicking" persay, but I was just annoyed - I had enough clothes for the night. Mostly I wanted to try and relax, but I had to stay up so someone would be awake when it finally was delivered. My mom just passed right out! And since the luggage was being collected at 8am for the cruise, it didn't really make sense to have them hold it and deliver it the next morning.

Thankfully, yes, things did get better the next day.

Enjoying your trip report - looking forward to reading more.

Thanks for reading!
 
"Daddy, I'm ANGRY!" - February 8th, Cruise Day 1, Part 1

Since our luggage was being picked up at 8am for the cruise, we woke up pretty early so we could have the luggage all ready to go. We put the luggage next to the door (inside the room) as instructed, and headed down to the End Zone Food Court to meet C & B for breakfast. Our room really did have a lovely view!
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I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but the sound proofing was also really great to the outside. When we shut the door, we could hardly hear any music from the pool, and only loud people if they were literally right outside the door!

Since it was still pretty early, we managed to beat the cheerleaders and I was genuinely surprised by how not busy the food court was! C & B had already found a table for us. I thought the refurbed food court looked much nicer than it did in its previous form.


I got my beloved mini-Mickey waffles with fruit, bacon, and sausage, but didn't take a photo. The waffles were great, but the bacon was limp and the sausage was overcooked to the point of crunchiness. Blech. C & B's ongoing thing was to complain about prices, and this started the very first morning at breakfast, when they got like a bagel and a danish because everything else was too expensive. "We can eat like kings on the ship", they said. Pretty sure my mom got a pastry or something, and I know she definitely got a fruit cup because that was a hot mess of a story. She took a few bites and said the fruit didn't taste right, like it was spoiled, and she also noted that there were other fruit cups in the case with the previous day's expiration date on them. So she went up to the cashier and they allowed her to exchange the fruit cup for a cup of grapes. She ate a few of those and then looked at me, held out the cup, and goes, "Is that what I think it is?" Yeah, there was a dead fly on one of the branches. They refunded her the price of the fruit after that, and she said it killed her appetite anyway, so we finished breakfast and moved on with the day.

During breakfast, we mentioned that our luggage was waiting in the room to be picked up. B said they put their luggage outside their room and I was like, "But why would you do that?!" The letter literally says "place inside the room near the entrance door" and I don't trust anyone. You never know who might walk by and decide they want to take the luggage! So B went to move it but I think it had already been picked up. He said their room was already cleaned as well, since they brought their carry on bags down to breakfast.

I informed the grownups that I was going to take a photo tour of the resort for my business Facebook page, so I did, and that took about 30 minutes. The resort was very quiet except for the Touchdown section, where there were multiple cheerleading groups practicing on the "field" between the buildings. When I was done there, I walked over the Music and took a photo tour there as well. I only encountered one group of cheerleaders there, doing a morning run around the Broadway section, so it seems the majority of them were at Sports and Movies. There were buses dropping off many more groups of them at the building at the back of the parking lot between Sports and Music, so I guess that must have been a meeting or check in spot.

Once I was done with my photo tours, I found the grownups enjoying the sunshine at a table near the pool bar. Frankly the walking around the two resorts had tired me out, plus the late night the night before didn't help either. Mom and I had left our carry ons in the room so we went back to nap for about an hour before we needed to meet our DCL rep in the lobby. Our instructions were to meet by 11:30 for a prompt departure of 11:45.

Our rep was very nice but honestly I was more informed than she was. She told us that we'd need our room keys (or any credit card sized object) to turn on the lights in the stateroom - that's true on the Dream/Fantasy (maybe even the Magic) but not the Wonder - although my own fellow agents had told me the same thing. She also wasn't sure where Cabanas was on the Wonder, but knew that it's on Deck 10 on the Dream. I'll cut her some slack since Wonder only sails out of Port Canaveral part of the year, and Magic is almost never there. She was able to radio the bus driver to have the front row of seats reserved for us and our "in need" individuals again.

Here's our bus pulling up at 11:34am.

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For some reason C thought the drive to Port Canaveral would only take 30-45 minutes. My mom predicted an hour. I was like, "Uh, guys, pretty sure it's going to take like an hour and a half..." Always trust the experienced travel agent in the group, FYI. While we drove, I tried to download the DCL Navigator App for my mom. Do you think she remembered her Apple ID password? Nope. OK, so I can try and reset it via email. Do you think she remembers her email password? Nope. (She doesn't have her email linked to her mail app because she never read her email anyway.) Oh lord, I was so annoyed, but I did finally get it downloaded. They had trivia questions playing on the TV screens on the bus, and I got all the answers right except one...can't remember what the question was now though. The grownups catnapped for a good part of the drive.

We got our first glimpse of the Wonder around 12:45.
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Oooooh, here's the DCL terminal!
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When we pulled into the parking spot, another cast member boarded to give us the instructions for checking in, then we were on our way into the terminal.
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This was the most painless check in EVER. I had been having visions of long lines, sitting around waiting for our boarding group to be called, photos with characters in the terminal. There was none of that. Security was very quick and painless. The line upstairs at the check in counter looked long but it moved very quickly and since it was already after 1pm, they had moved into open boarding, so no need to wait for our boarding group to be called! The characters were long departed from the lobby. I should have taken a photo of the model of the Fantasy that's on display and don't know why I didn't. We walked through the Mickey head, scanned our KTTW cards, bypassed the line for pre-boarding photos in front of the fake backgrounds, and breezed right on down the gangway into the atrium.

We were all pretty hungry but it was nearing 1:30 when staterooms would open and I didn't want to lug around my carry on if I didn't have to. We headed for the midship elevators and as luck would have it, the elevator that we walked into had my TA boss on it! What are the odds?! We said quick hellos and were soon at Deck 7, where we got off. You may recall I mentioned previously mom and I were in room 7128, Navigator's Verandah on the port side, aft. C & B were in 7634, Whitewall Verandah on the starboard side, aft. We had to wait just a few minutes in the elevator area before they removed the stanchions and we were free to trek down the hall to the rooms. I took photos of nearly everything, except the door (no idea why i skipped that) and I also forgot to grab a photo of the toilet side of the split bath.

The closet, immediately to the left upon entering. We did have enough hangers for our stuff, but that's only because I don't hang most of my items. I'm sure we could have gotten more from our stateroom attendant if needed. The safe was not large enough to fit my 15" Macbook, if you need a reference for yourself.
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The shower half of the split bath - I thought the tub/shower was quite spacious but the elbow room in both half of the bathrooms was lacking.
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The toiletries were wonderful, and I should have bought a bottle of the shampoo on the ship because I cannot find it ANYWHERE. They do not sell it on the Disneystore website or shop parks app or the H20 website. Amazon and ebay offer it through third party sellers, most of which were out of stock, and/or wanted literally $100 for a bottle. I loved it, but not that much!
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Love that the towels have the DCL logo on them!
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Chest of drawers next to the closet - some of the drawers were actually double depth so they weren't as narrow as they appear.
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Another storage unit - we had it in our room, C & B did not, so I guess this isn't in all the staterooms and I don't know if there's a reason for how they decide which rooms get it.
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One nightstand next to the bed:
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The bed was very comfortable!
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The other nightstand:
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Viewing the room from the verandah:
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The couch that converted to my bed for the stay:
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Artwork above the sofa:
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My boss ordered flowers for me to thank me for being part of the team! <3
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The desk and more storage (again, some of the drawers were double depth):
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And last but not least, our verandah - we loved it!! I was a huge fan of the bench seat.
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By then we were REALLY hungry so we headed up to Cabanas for some lunch. My mom took a picture of the looooooong hallway outside our room.
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C & B were already coming to find us. We found a table without too much trouble - turns out the sun was beating directly down on it, so that probably explains why it was empty! I usually take photos of all of my food, and I was slacking at this meal, but here's exactly one plate.
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I know there's pork, fish, shrimp, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, bread, and mac 'n cheese there. The only thing I didn't like was the meatloaf. I also had a salad, and some OUTSTANDING Oreo cheesecake.

Now, the reason why I slacked on the food photos is because I was fighting with DCL app for C & B's phones. I had told C about this app several weeks in advance, explained what it was and why we would use it. She had not downloaded it. "I remembered you told me about it, I just didn't do it." :headache:

They recently switched to Android phones. I have been an Apple user for 6 years. I struggled trying to download the app for them. And I couldn't get it download on C's phone - turns out it wasn't me, it was the phone, because we got it on B's phone just fine, eventually. They were also stressing out about leaving the phone in airplane mode so it wouldn't charge them extra for data, but we obviously needed the data to download the app! I was like, "Guys, we are LITERALLY TETHERED to the state of Florida for the moment, we are not in international roaming mode yet, calm yourselves." I swear I am not a difficult person to travel with usually, but it frustrates me to no end when people just don't listen because they don't want to.

After lunch, my mom and I went back to our room for a little bit. I think one of our suitcases had arrived (I think mine), so I unpacked and my mom looked at the booklets and info from the desk. We hung out until it was time for the muster drill. Then we joined the masses heading down to Animator's Palate, where our group and three others were designated to assemble. We couldn't hear a thing when our leader was talking because the room was chattering away. There was a family with three boys, two twins about five years old, and a toddler, sitting with us. The older ones each had a tablet they were watching things on, quietly, to keep them occupied. A crew member asked the parents to put the tablets away, which they did. One of the boys started crying, and the other one crossed his arms, pouted, and plain as day said "Daddy, I'm ANGRY!" It took everything in me not to burst out laughing. Great way to use your words to express your feelings, kiddo!

After the assembly drill, I needed a break. I love my mom, I'm used to traveling with her and kind of "herding" her on vacation (she admits she has no brain on our trips and basically just wanders aimlessly with me guiding her) but with the three grownups, it was a lot. I didn't particularly want to miss the sail away deck party but I knew some time alone would be the only thing to save my sanity and keep me pleasant. So I went back to the room and napped for a while, and they explored the ship and went to the deck party. I woke up feeling refreshed when my mom came back and then it was time to get ready for dinner!
 
Love the update :-) Your embarkation sounds quick and painless…maybe getting there later is the way to go.

I love my family too, but I sometimes need a little break from them when traveling. In real life we don't spend every waking moment together, so it's not natural for us. A little alone time is good for your (and your family's) sanity! :rotfl:
 
I didn't particularly want to miss the sail away deck party but I knew some time alone would be the only thing to save my sanity and keep me pleasant.

I completely understand this. While I'm not an official TA, I do plan all of our DCL trips. It can get very tiring answering all the questions and make it not feel as much like a vacation.
 
Love the update :-) Your embarkation sounds quick and painless…maybe getting there later is the way to go.

I love my family too, but I sometimes need a little break from them when traveling. In real life we don't spend every waking moment together, so it's not natural for us. A little alone time is good for your (and your family's) sanity! :rotfl:

^ This is true. There's a reason I live alone with three cats - I'm super introverted and I NEED time to decompress after being around patients at work all day.
I was thrilled with the check in process. Honestly I don't know that we would have done a whole lot more on the ship had we been there earlier...can't get into the staterooms before 1:30 anyway so what can you do except eat? (And maybe swim).

I completely understand this. While I'm not an official TA, I do plan all of our DCL trips. It can get very tiring answering all the questions and make it not feel as much like a vacation.

My mom and I have decided that our next trips together (WDW in August of this year and DCL in January of next year) will definitely be us and only us. And I'm taking a whirlwind (<48 hours) solo trip to DLR over Memorial Day weekend for Pixar Fest. I LOVE traveling solo, to be honest. I can be up at the crack of dawn if I want, don't have to worry about sticking to anyone else's schedule or answering questions or herding anyone along!

Following along!

:welcome:
 

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