An Easter Weekend Trip on the Wonder with (most of) the TCD Gang

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The TCD gang sailed again!  Well, most of us did. 

We last sailed on the Disney Cruise Line in 2016. Since then, we have talked of going again, but with work and school schedules, it never worked out. 

Earlier this year, the TCD twins asked if anyone would object if they saw a castmember rate on a cruise and jumped on it. They currently have the most flexibility with their schedules, so we all agreed that if a good deal popped up, they should grab it, and whoever could go would go. 

Just about a month ago, I got an urgent call from Twin #2- a CM rate got posted for a 3 night Disney Wonder cruise that would sail on the Thursday of Holy Week, and return on Easter Sunday. It was short notice during a busy time of year. Mrs. TCD and I had work conflicts, as did our oldest daughter. So the twins were going to go on their own. 

But, my conflict resolved, and I was available. Mrs. TCD assured me that it was OK with her for me to go without her. I felt guilty about leaving her and my oldest daughter behind, but not guilty enough not to go. So, it was me and the twins. 

I still have some photo issues to resolve before getting this report fully cranked up, so I just have this one photo to share for now. If you've been to Castaway Cay before, you'll recognize the post office building there on the left, with the pump house building to the right of that. In the bottom right corner, you can see the showers and ropes and posts to be used by guests returning to the ship. If you look closely on the walkway between the post office and pump house, you'll see one man walking along carrying his beach bag and empty beer cooler. That's me- the last guest on the island at 4:38 pm on Saturday, March 31, 2018:

 

That photo was taken by one of the twins from our Deck 5 verandah. 

It was the ending of a perfect day on the island on a perfect day of the cruise. 

In the next post, we will start at the beginning, and I'll tell you all about it. 

TCD 

[Beckers 1,136]

Whoohoo! I was going there would be a report. I’m in and first?

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Second!!

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

I'm here!

Fresh from vacation and I find a trip report!

That's a cool view from deck 5.

Ready for more.

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Wait a minute I just re-read that post!

Last guy on Castaway Cay!  Great job and great photo proving it!

Sorry to hear that all the family couldn't make it.

WBI

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

Capt's probably laying on the horn button......

[dieseldave 5]

I’m in!

We were there mid-March on the Wonder and I have almost that same picture from our verandah.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DaveInTN 3,247]

What time were guests all supposed to be back on the ship?  Were you 8 minutes late?  

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I'm in.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Memphis 105]

I'm in.   

[TN22.....Brady 22]

I was thinking in my head "how does he know that man's beer cooler is empty".....then I kept reading.

[Mrs.TN22 12]

I'm in!

 

[Travisma 1,317]

Whooo Hooo

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

1 hour ago, Beckers said:

Whoohoo! I was going there would be a report. I’m in and first?

Congratulations! You are first. Thanks for reading and commenting.

1 hour ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Second!!

Not bad.

1 hour ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

I'm here!

Fresh from vacation and I find a trip report!

That's a cool view from deck 5.

Ready for more.

WBI

I hope the weather was good at Grayton Beach. It was perfect for us on the cruise.

1 hour ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

Wait a minute I just re-read that post!

Last guy on Castaway Cay!  Great job and great photo proving it!

Sorry to hear that all the family couldn't make it.

WBI

Thanks. That's my second time now being the last guest on the island. Fun times. 

1 hour ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

Capt's probably laying on the horn button......

Nah. I wasn't late yet. 

1 hour ago, dieseldave said:

I’m in!

We were there mid-March on the Wonder and I have almost that same picture from our verandah.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice. I know there was one March cruise where they docked late at the island. Hope that wasn't you. 

59 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

What time were guests all supposed to be back on the ship?  Were you 8 minutes late?  

All aboard was 4:45. I was seven minutes early!

52 minutes ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

I'm in.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

Thanks. I hope you like it. 

47 minutes ago, Memphis said:

I'm in.   

Good to have you aboard Harold. 

46 minutes ago, TN22.....Brady said:

I was thinking in my head "how does he know that man's beer cooler is empty".....then I kept reading.

There you go. I would never bring beer back on board. 

41 minutes ago, Mrs.TN22 said:

I'm in!

 

Great!

28 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Whooo Hooo

That's right!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Before I go forward, I want to thank DIT and WBI for their TR's earlier this year from their Wonder cruises. I got some great tips from you both- especially the chicken wings in the Crown and Fin tip. Those were great!

 TCD 

[Beckers 1,136]

2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

ThThat's me- the last guest on the island at 4:38 pm on Saturday, March 31, 2018:

 

 

 Wonder how many other people have this photo? We used to love to watch the last people get on.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm in too!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here we go. 

This was the eighth Disney cruise for the TCD gang, and our fourth on the Wonder. But the last three cruises were on the Dream, which is a way bigger ship with a lot more passenger capacity. We all were interested to see how the Wonder would compare after sailing on the bigger and newer ship. 

So far, all of our Disney cruises have been out of Port Canaveral. The arrival procedures have changed over time, but I haven't. We pulled in to the parking/unloading area at 10:00 am, dropped our bags with a porter, and then headed in to the garage. When we first started doing DCL cruises, parking was $15 a day. For this trip, I was charging $68 for parking. Oh well. 

We drove up to the 3rd level of the garage, and got in line behind about a dozen folks who somehow beat us there. 

The terminal isn't supposed to open until 10:30, but they let us in earlier. They have their own security scanning system up here on the bridge here, so we headed right on in. Apparently none of the folks in front of us were Castaway Club members, as we were the first group directed to those representatives. Our check-in took less than 5 minutes, and we were released in to the mostly empty terminal. 

It was time to start snapping photos:

I don't have a copy of the official list of fun handy, but one of the items on it was to have a gimmick. So the twins got themselves some captains hats like their old man's:

As you can see, I wore my standard cruise Lilly Pulitzer shorts  I only wear them when embarking on a cruise.  At this rate, they should last a lifetime:

I hopped in the line to meet the captain, and we were the second group to do that:

They started calling boarding numbers at a bit before noon, and before we knew it, our number was called. They were trying to direct everyone in to Triton's, but I asked if we could head up to Cabana's, and we were directed to the elevators. Since everyone was heading in to Triton's, we had an elevator to ourselves:

I know that there are a lot of you who would like to see photos of our food in Cabanas, but I don't have any. We were too busy eating and planning our afternoon. 

This would be a good place for me to mention an observation that we all made while at lunch- it was immediately noticeable how nice and friendly every member of the crew was. Every single crew member we encountered had a big smile and friendly attitude. Like it used to be at WDW years ago. 

After lunch, I headed to the pool and the girls went off to explore. 

They toured the kids' clubs and admired all the new things they had in there:

We were all very excited to try Tiana's Place restaurant, and as luck would have it, that's where we would be eating our first dinner on board:

These books were on display in one of the kids' clubs:

The girls are big Marvel fans, and liked the Avengers stuff they've added to the club:

This slide is new:

More kids club stuff:

The girls found the free ice cream machine:

Sulley's Sips is new- they sell smoothies here:

And Daisy's is new too:

The girls joined me up on deck for a while, then we headed down to the cabin for a round of Mickey Bars before the sail away. The girls found that one of the channels on the TV played nonstop Marvel movies. We watched that channel a lot:

When it was time for the muster drill, all we had to do was go down one flight of stairs to Animator's Palate, then one flight back to our cabin. Then it was time to sail away!  We will start the next update with that. 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

First Mickey bar before sail away.....brilliant.  

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

28 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

This would be a good place for me to mention an observation that we all made while at lunch- it was immediately noticeable how nice and friendly every member of the crew was. Every single crew member we encountered had a big smile and friendly attitude. Like it used to be at WDW years ago. 

TCD

Now you know why we "LOVE" the WONDER and MAGIC, that has always been our experience. Just not the same on the bigger ships.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Great start!

We spent a lot of time in the kid clubs this trip and I even got to try out that Slinky Dog Slide, I tried to video it but it didn't go well.

I agree with you and Grumpy, the staff was super friendly!

WBI

[LONE-STAR 370]

We still need to do a Disney Cruise 

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

As most of you know... I hate ships.  Get anxious just thinking about walking on the deck however, IF (big if) we ever did a cruise, it would be a Disney cruise.  I figure if everything thing is all Disney, maybe I can get lucky and fake myself into believing that I'm just at a resort on property 

The Mickey Bar.  Ahh.  Is it bad, that it's 8:14am and I want one?  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

20 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

First Mickey bar before sail away.....brilliant.  

Darn tootin'.  Those things are $5 a pop at WDW. We had $30 worth on day one!

20 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

Now you know why we "LOVE" the WONDER and MAGIC, that has always been our experience. Just not the same on the bigger ships.

I've heard you say it, but didn't really believe that there would be a noticeable difference. There was. We also noticed how less crowded things were- the pools, the bars, and especially Castaway Cay. I hope that we can sail on the Magic or Wonder again before the new ships arrive, and the classic ships are permanently moved somewhere else. 

20 hours ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

Great start!

We spent a lot of time in the kid clubs this trip and I even got to try out that Slinky Dog Slide, I tried to video it but it didn't go well.

I agree with you and Grumpy, the staff was super friendly!

WBI

Oh come on. We want to see that video. I'll bet it's great. 

17 hours ago, LONE-STAR said:

We still need to do a Disney Cruise 

You seriously do. You would be amazed at how nice DCL cruises are. The ships are truly spotless- the way WDW used to be. The staff is amazingly friendly and helpful- the way WDW used to be. It was almost shocking to be in that kind of environment- I used to feel that way at WDW. It's nice to experience that again. 

3 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

As most of you know... I hate ships.  Get anxious just thinking about walking on the deck however, IF (big if) we ever did a cruise, it would be a Disney cruise.  I figure if everything thing is all Disney, maybe I can get lucky and fake myself into believing that I'm just at a resort on property 

The Mickey Bar.  Ahh.  Is it bad, that it's 8:14am and I want one?  

I wish there was a way that you could experience the ship without having to buy in to a cruise. My mother-in-law is the same way- we all think she would love a cruise, but it is not a topic she will even discuss. I think you'd be surprised that for the most part, you feel very little movement on the ship- especially when it's not hurricane season. 

Don't feel bad about that Mickey bar craving. I ate six last weekend, and I could go for one right now too. 

TCD 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

You would be amazed at how nice DCL cruises are. The ships are truly spotless- the way WDW used to be. The staff is amazingly friendly and helpful- the way WDW used to be. It was almost shocking to be in that kind of environment- I used to feel that way at WDW. It's nice to experience that again. 

Yes, the service and experience on DCL is phenomenal.  No argument from me, and you know I have loved my DCL cruises.  But keep in mind...you experienced all of that on a CM rate.  Over the past 2-3 years, as I have considered taking my entire family on another Disney cruise, I've seen the prices literally skyrocket.  So much so, that for us to book 2 cabins for 8 people (1 Oceanview and 1 Interior) for a 7 night Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy we'd be paying between $11-15k depending on timing!  The only conclusion I can make is that Disney is handling DCL similarly to how they are handling WDW....too many people want to vacation with them, so keep raising the prices until demand levels out a bit.  So far, demand seems to have kept pace with the increases, because many of the sailings fill up.  And those that don't get offered up with CM and Travel Agent rates to sell the remaining cabins.  It's a beautiful business plan.  But it kinda stinks for those of us who want to take their family on vacation but think spending a year's worth of college expenses on a 1 week vacation is stupid.