WBI went on a cruise and all you get is a video report!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great tips, WBI. I'm not surprised about Tiana's Place- they need to keep the food pretty plain or it probably wouldn't appeal to a lot of guests. You're right about listening to the servers- they usually know what most guests like. 

I will remember your tip about the pizza. 

That's weird about guests getting off the ship at Castaway Cay before the 5K runners- I know that on our most recent cruise they definitely weren't letting guests off before the runners. I'm not worried about getting beach chairs- our last three cruises have been on the Dream, and I expect the island to feel a lot less crowded. 

TCD 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I may have mentioned this in my Wonder trip report, but that boudin at Tiana's wasn't right.  Just not very good.  But on the other hand, while I'm certainly no expert on beignets, I thought the ones they serve at Tiana's were quite good.  In any case, while the food there, overall, was just average, the atmosphere was awesome and we had a great time.  

Oh, and on the subject of the chair-saving Moms.....WTF.  If you are signing up for a 5k that you have no intention of actually participating in just so you can get a jump on other guests, run out to the beach, and save chairs well in advance of the time your family actually leaves the ship and goes to use those chairs....well, that seems kind of unnecessarily stressful.  You're on vacation.  Chill. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

14 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

I may have mentioned this in my Wonder trip report, but that boudin at Tiana's wasn't right.  Just not very good.  But on the other hand, while I'm certainly no expert on beignets, I thought the ones they serve at Tiana's were quite good.  In any case, while the food there, overall, was just average, the atmosphere was awesome and we had a great time.  

I went back and re-read the Wonder part of your TR. You did mention both the boudin and the beignets.  And you mentioned the chicken wings many times. I will have to get some of those. It looks like you hit up the Crown and Fin before going to the show each night. Sounds like a good plan for me. BTW I didn't catch it the first time I read your report, but that was an unusual itinerary you had for your cruise with a sea day instead of a stop at Nassau. Coincidentally, that is the itinerary for our upcoming cruise too. 

TCD 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm all caught up with your videos, WBI. You did a great job with these. It looks like y'all had a blast. Mrs. WBI did a good job with her cartwheel- I give her a solid 9.0. When will we see yours?

Also, I like W's Captain America PJ's, and seeing your daughter in that Cinderella dress. Very cute.

Your videos are getting me pumped for my cruise- there are little things the do on the Wonder that they don't do on the big ships, like Mickey visiting Animator's Palette and zip lining on Pirate Night.

 TCD 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

 What a great way of doing a TR. Looks like a great time was had by all. I hope we get a chance to do another Disney cruise soon.

BTW  we Love Buck ees we stop there all the time when we’re heading to Galveston. 

 As a matter of fact will be heading down Saturday for our Galveston cruise and you know we will be stopping at Buc ees for some beef jerky and other snacks. 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

15 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

 

Oh, and on the subject of the chair-saving Moms.....WTF.  If you are signing up for a 5k that you have no intention of actually participating in just so you can get a jump on other guests, run out to the beach, and save chairs well in advance of the time your family actually leaves the ship and goes to use those chairs....well, that seems kind of unnecessarily stressful.  You're on vacation.  Chill. 

 On our last Carnival Cruise, I got up before my DW and went upstairs to get her some coffee.   She says I have to get her/make her coffee because it says so in the Bible.

(He-brews)  

There were a about four or five sets of chairs already being held with towels.  And I observed a mom placing towels on chairs as I passed by. After getting the coffee I passed by the pool again and saw an employee removing all the towels. I asked him about it And he informed me that saving chairs was not permitted. 

i hope they have kept this policy.   I guess I’ll find out this up coming week. 

[Seals 111]

I love the Wonder. I just liked the size and feel of the ship better than the Dream (my only other Disney cruise).

In December 2014, my husband and 2 sons  left to meet up with the 5K group. I did a couple of things and then left the ship to watch them finish. I left a little later than I'd planned and was worried I'd miss them so I power walked to the start/finish line instead of taking the tram. They weren't there yet and there was only a small crowd so I stood around for 5 minutes or so when  the race group walked up to start the race!   So, they definitely were letting non-runners off the ship before the 5K group that day. 

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

17 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

That's weird about guests getting off the ship at Castaway Cay before the 5K runners- I know that on our most recent cruise they definitely weren't letting guests off before the runners. I'm not worried about getting beach chairs- our last three cruises have been on the Dream, and I expect the island to feel a lot less crowded. 

TCD 

Good point about the smaller ships.  This time we went all the way down the beach right next to the private Cabana area (where we went last time), but once everyone was off the ship we noticed everyone walked right by the large family beach and came to the smaller one by us and Pelican Plunge.  That beach was packed and the big one looked dead.  I know now not to worry about beach chairs when on the classic ships.

WBI

[DaveInTN 3,247]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I went back and re-read the Wonder part of your TR. You did mention both the boudin and the beignets.  And you mentioned the chicken wings many times. I will have to get some of those. It looks like you hit up the Crown and Fin before going to the show each night. Sounds like a good plan for me. BTW I didn't catch it the first time I read your report, but that was an unusual itinerary you had for your cruise with a sea day instead of a stop at Nassau. Coincidentally, that is the itinerary for our upcoming cruise too. 

TCD 

Yeah, that sea day instead of a Nassau stop was great.  It's hard to get excited about Nassau.  

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

16 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

I may have mentioned this in my Wonder trip report, but that boudin at Tiana's wasn't right.  Just not very good.  But on the other hand, while I'm certainly no expert on beignets, I thought the ones they serve at Tiana's were quite good.  In any case, while the food there, overall, was just average, the atmosphere was awesome and we had a great time.  

Oh, and on the subject of the chair-saving Moms.....WTF.  If you are signing up for a 5k that you have no intention of actually participating in just so you can get a jump on other guests, run out to the beach, and save chairs well in advance of the time your family actually leaves the ship and goes to use those chairs....well, that seems kind of unnecessarily stressful.  You're on vacation.  Chill. 

I fully agree about both of these points!

The food in Tiana's was just fine, but the entertainment was great!  I really liked the music, and Tiana came to our table both nights and actually had a conversation, it was great.  I even have video of W playing his paper trumpet, we all really enjoyed it.

Those chair moms definitely need to chill, especially when on the classic ships.

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I'm all caught up with your videos, WBI. You did a great job with these. It looks like y'all had a blast. Mrs. WBI did a good job with her cartwheel- I give her a solid 9.0. When will we see yours?

Also, I like W's Captain America PJ's, and seeing your daughter in that Cinderella dress. Very cute.

Your videos are getting me pumped for my cruise- there are little things the do on the Wonder that they don't do on the big ships, like Mickey visiting Animator's Palette and zip lining on Pirate Night.

 TCD 

Thanks TCD!  I really like the videos too, when getting ready for our cruises we always watch peoples videos on YouTube so I thought I'd contribute also.

I'll let Mrs. WBI know about her cartwheel score, she insists on doing those on every cruise, going back to our first one that we got engaged on.  Sorry but I haven't done one yet.

W is a huge Captain American fan!  We were so lucky he got to meet him on the first day, he also got to see him in the Oceaneer's Club.  The funny part is he's never watched anything with Captain America that I know of, I think he learned about him from friends at school.

So on the big ships for Pirate night do they still have Jack Sparrow doing the zip line?  Or did he just propel down?  

We really liked Mickey visiting Animator's Palate, that's something we looked for on the Fantasy and were let down.

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

1 hour ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

 What a great way of doing a TR. Looks like a great time was had by all. I hope we get a chance to do another Disney cruise soon.

BTW  we Love Buck ees we stop there all the time when we’re heading to Galveston. 

 As a matter of fact will be heading down Saturday for our Galveston cruise and you know we will be stopping at Buc ees for some beef jerky and other snacks. 

Thanks!  I find that we and our family are more likely to watch the videos than look through a ton of pictures.  (if I keep them short enough)

Awesome enjoy the cruise and enjoy Buc-ee's!

1 hour ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

 On our last Carnival Cruise, I got up before my DW and went upstairs to get her some coffee.   She says I have to get her/make her coffee because it says so in the Bible.

(He-brews)  

There were a about four or five sets of chairs already being held with towels.  And I observed a mom placing towels on chairs as I passed by. After getting the coffee I passed by the pool again and saw an employee removing all the towels. I asked him about it And he informed me that saving chairs was not permitted. 

i hope they have kept this policy.   I guess I’ll find out this up coming week. 

That's a great policy!  We didn't really notice it around the pool, but we also found we preferred being up one deck from the pool anyway and never had a problem finding chairs up there.

33 minutes ago, Seals said:

I love the Wonder. I just liked the size and feel of the ship better than the Dream (my only other Disney cruise).

In December 2014, my husband and 2 sons  left to meet up with the 5K group. I did a couple of things and then left the ship to watch them finish. I left a little later than I'd planned and was worried I'd miss them so I power walked to the start/finish line instead of taking the tram. They weren't there yet and there was only a small crowd so I stood around for 5 minutes or so when  the race group walked up to start the race!   So, they definitely were letting non-runners off the ship before the 5K group that day. 

That's what happened on our first cruise!  I didn't rush at all, we walked off taking tons of pictures, we hopped the tram, got off and up walked my wife to start the 5k, I couldn't believe it.

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

15 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Yeah, that sea day instead of a Nassau stop was great.  It's hard to get excited about Nassau.  

Yes it is...

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

29 minutes ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

So on the big ships for Pirate night do they still have Jack Sparrow doing the zip line?  Or did he just propel down?  

WBI

There is no zipline on the big ships, just Captain Jack rappelling down in front of the funnel vision screen. We have all come to the conclusion that we are over the Pirate Night show on the Dream. It's long, boring, and very sexist, which does not sit well with my "woke" daughters. I know the show on the Wonder and Magic was different, and more about Captain Mickey the last time we saw it, but I'm sure it has been updated since then. 

TCD 

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

53 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

There is no zipline on the big ships, just Captain Jack rappelling down in front of the funnel vision screen. We have all come to the conclusion that we are over the Pirate Night show on the Dream. It's long, boring, and very sexist, which does not sit well with my "woke" daughters. I know the show on the Wonder and Magic was different, and more about Captain Mickey the last time we saw it, but I'm sure it has been updated since then. 

TCD 

I got ya, that's what I thought about Captain Jack.  I was happy to see he wasn't part of the Wonder's pirate show at all.  And yes Captain Mickey saves the day.  I don't remember it be sexist, I know Minnie was there a lot, and there was something with some rock music pirates? Honestly it was a little too long of a "show' for me, I just wanted to see the fireworks.

WBI

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Wait...was there no late night buffet in Cabanas after the fireworks?  I have some recollection of reading that they stopped doing those...but they still did it in Feb 2017.  

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

59 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Wait...was there no late night buffet in Cabanas after the fireworks?  I have some recollection of reading that they stopped doing those...but they still did it in Feb 2017.  

We were told there was not one by multiple CMs so we didn't even check.

WBI

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

2 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

Wait...was there no late night buffet in Cabanas after the fireworks?  I have some recollection of reading that they stopped doing those...but they still did it in Feb 2017.  

 

1 hour ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

We were told there was not one by multiple CMs so we didn't even check.

WBI

I just checked the DCL blog website, and the Navigator for a 3 night Wonder cruise last month shows that there was a pirate night buffet. Check it out: Navigator February 2018

That same site has some Navigators from the Merry Time Cruises in 2017, and it looks like they didn't have the Pirate night buffets on those cruises. 

TCD 

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Thanks everyone for the comments and checking out the videos.

I just posted day 5, Castaway Cay day!

Today we did:

Breakfast on Verandah

First off the ship

5k

Beach

Eating

Snorkeling

biking

eating

drinking

and more of the same...

 

WBI

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Did Disney have Gator warning signs up on the island??  That one at 3:55 came pretty close to y'all.  

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

6 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Did Disney have Gator warning signs up on the island??  That one at 3:55 came pretty close to y'all.  

haha no but yes it did, and it was cruising too.

 

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

When did you go on the cruise? The reason I ask is it does not look overly crowded. 

Watching Will just take everything in is the best. I love Betsy's reaction to the different characters. Some you can tell she is just not sure about. Others she is like no way. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow, you had a full day at Castaway Cay. I'm in awe- those who haven't been there may not realize how much distance there is from the Pelican Plunge area to the snorkeling lagoon then back to the bike rentals and Heads Up Bar. You did it all! And seeing the underwater Mickey and Minnie statues along with the Nautalis takes a lot of swimming. Getting that done with two small kids along is amazing!  Good job. Oh, and I like your Seaside hat!

TCD

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

15 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

When did you go on the cruise? The reason I ask is it does not look overly crowded. 

Watching Will just take everything in is the best. I love Betsy's reaction to the different characters. Some you can tell she is just not sure about. Others she is like no way. 

We left Galveston on December 15, 2017.  I have to say I really like that about the Disney Ship for the most part it doesn't feel to crowded, the only exceptions are when there is something really big going on in a small place, like the Winter Wonderland in the Atrium.  They only offered that one time on the whole cruise so of course it was packed.  As far as Castaway Cay, it looked empty this time compared to being on the bigger ships, that was really suprising!

I know that's the best part to traveling with kids, watching them react to different things and how they take it in!  Betsy wasn't so sure about most characters lol but she had some good reactions too.

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

10 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Wow, you had a full day at Castaway Cay. I'm in awe- those who haven't been there may not realize how much distance there is from the Pelican Plunge area to the snorkeling lagoon then back to the bike rentals and Heads Up Bar. You did it all! And seeing the underwater Mickey and Minnie statues along with the Nautalis takes a lot of swimming. Getting that done with two small kids along is amazing!  Good job. Oh, and I like your Seaside hat!

TCD

Thanks, that's how we roll!  Don't you always say you'll sleep at home? We fully agree with that!  Castaway Cay is one of our favorite things right now so we try to take full advantage of it!  The walking wasn't too bad this time, W is getting better all the time about walking on his own and I was super lucky that I snagged a jogging stroller for Betsy!  We also did the dance party with Minnie and Goofy but it was kind of lame this time so I cut that video.

You said it on the snorkeling!  I always forget how far apart all those things are, it's definitely a work out especially without flippers! But I was alone for that, no one else snorkeled this trip. Which is another thing, I was in a hurry because I wanted to get back to go on our bike ride so I didn't spend much time just looking around which was even more tiring.

You know what else is a workout?  Pelican Plunge with W, he's not a great swimmer yet, so I would wait at the bottom for him and have to swim it out to where he can touch, I was winded both times we did that!

Thanks on the hat, I liked that one so much I got a second one for Christmas!  It's cooler than the old ones and let's your head breath, and now when i wear it out I have a backup!

WBI