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Old 29 Mar 20, 07:40 PM  
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Stewboy
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Wonder on the West Coast: Day 7 - Disney Cruise Embarkation Day

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Sunday 27th October 2019

This morning we woke up super excited as today was Disney cruise embarkation day!

I caught up on my notes whilst drinking coffee in bed; Jo saw on social media that the Disney Wonder had arrived at the port and we were keen to go down and see it!

After coffee we got up and did the packing, letting Isabella sleep until about 8:30am by which time we were hungry enough to head next door for breakfast.

Kimberly eventually joined us for a little while before saying farewell and heading off to the airport in a Lyft for her flight back to San Francisco and her family. It had been lovely to see her and spending time together in San Diego.






Breakfast time

Breakfast was done by about 9:30am. Back upstairs, Jo and Isabella gave Jo’s mum a quick call and then we finished packing.

Once packing was done we had about an hour until we needed to check out, so we decided to head down to the port to check out the Disney Wonder - we wouldn’t be allowed on board until this afternoon.


Talking to nanny


Packed


Off we go









The walk to the port only took 10 minutes and, as well as getting our first look at our home for the next seven days, we also spent a little time looking around the adjacent Tuna Harbor Park where we saw the USS Midway, the Unconditional Surrender sculpture (based on the famous ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ photo), and A National Salute to Bob Hope & the Military.





















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Old 29 Mar 20, 07:41 PM  
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Stewboy
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After half an hour and a few photos of the ship we walked back to the hotel to collect our cases, check out, and then make our way back to port. Upon check out the hotel tried to charge us for two nights of car parking even though we’d told them we’d only have the car for one - we were supposed to have a parking voucher and had asked but the original check in lady had said we didn’t need it! Once Jo had managed to get it sorted we were able to head back down to the port.

Aside from that final annoyance, the hotel had been nice: comfy beds, nice room, and very convenient for everything that we wanted to see.

On our way back to the ship with our luggage we saw quite a few people who’d just debarked. Our Port Arrival Time was 11:00-11:30am and as soon as we arrived we were able to drop our luggage off with a porter head immediately to check in.

This being our sixth Disney Cruise, Jo and I were now Gold Castaway Club members, meaning we got gold lanyards, and additional perks such as earlier online check in, and 10% discount on merchandise in the shops.

Also at check in Isabella got her kids club wristband that Jo had previously signed her up for.

We were now checked in with a boarding number of 3. With the time now 11:40am, and boarding starting at 12pm, we probably only had about half an hour till boarding.

To pass the time in the waiting room, I got us a personal Navigator to browse. We’ve always liked the Navigators, and in the past we’ve kept them, but on this cruise - and all Disney Cruises now - they’ve been condensed into a one pager and guests are now encouraged to stay up to date with what’s going on onboard via the app - but we’d need to wait until we were on board to make use of that.

As predicted, at 12:15pm we were called. The first thing to do was get our pre-boarding photo taken and then it was time for the Sear family to be announced on board!















Boarding a Disney Cruise Line ship is always a wonderful experience, and the fact that this one was new to us was even more exciting - this was our first time on the Disney Wonder, having been on it’s sister ship the Disney Magic for our previous five cruises.

Post-boarding tradition dictates we head to deck 9 for Cabanas buffet lunch. On the way, we took in the differences and similarities between the two ships; mostly in the Wonder’s Art Nouveau style of soft colours and organic shapes contrasting the Magic’s Art Deco styling of geometric shapes, warm tones, and elegance.

We also got our first look of the brand new Princess and the Frog inspired French Quarter Lounge (formerly the Promenade Lounge which is what it’s still known as on the Magic at time of writing) - no doubt we’d be having a drink there at some point in the next few days.








The brand new French Quarter Lounge

As we were some of the first people on board, Cabanas wasn’t too busy. We got ourselves a good selection from the buffet and got stuck in - we’d been looking forward to this!

After our delicious lunch, we had some time to kill until our stateroom was available at 2pm so we headed up on deck for a wander. After checking out the view of San Diego from up on deck - including the airport complete with a steady stream of planes landing and taking off - we had a look at Palo on deck 10; Jo and I would be enjoying brunch there later in the cruise.










Cabanas


First on board selfie






Palo






San Diego


Tuna Harbor Park & USS Midway


Having a quick rest





We headed back below deck to check out more of the ship and then it was 2pm and time for us to find our stateroom.
















Views on board

Our stateroom was deck 7 aft, room 7620. As we entered we were greeted by our Gold Castaway Club gift - a variation of the same bag that we’ve been given on our last three cruises!

Despite the fact that we hadn’t long had lunch, I called room service and ordered the ‘All Hands on Deck’ cheese platter and two wine glasses. After checking out our ‘navigator's veranda priced, partly obscured, secret veranda’, we headed along the corridor to guest laundry to put a wash on - by now our luggage had started to arrive. Back at the room our cheese arrived, and we cracked open one of the bottles of wine we brought on board with us (we were allowed two bottles of wine or six bottles of beer each) and relaxed on the veranda while Isabella chilled out inside watching Mickey cartoons on the TV.


















Stateroom 7620

After a while we eventually, and reluctantly, dragged ourselves away from the veranda and popped back to the guest laundry to sort out the washing. Upon returning to the room more of our luggage had arrived, including the suitcase containing our stateroom door decorations, so we set about decorating the door and hanging up our fish extender.

Once the door was decorated we relaxed in the room for a little while longer until about 4pm when it was time for the muster drill.


Our decorated door

The last few times on the Disney Cruise our assembly station has been outside on deck 4, where we have to stand cramped together with other guests. Obviously the muster drills are important but they’re also pretty boring and sometimes quite long. Today however, our assembly station was in Animator's Palate. Being deck 4 aft it was a short trip down the stairs plus we got a comfortable sit down.

The muster drill was over quickly and we made the short trip back to the room, and then popped down to the laundry to get the washing from the dryer.

It was now almost time for Mickey’s Sail-A-Wave Party so we headed up on deck and got ourselves a couple of drinks. We assumed that these were the ‘drink of the day’ - they usually are. However, when we saw our account these drinks turned out to be $13 each - twice as expensive as they should be! We were annoyed that we’d not got a receipt and felt like total cruise newbies!


We weren't quite so happy after we found out how much they were!






Paaaaartaaaaay

The party was its usual mix of over-enthusiastic crew members, dancing characters, and bad music - we had fun, despite the expensive drinks!

Once the party was over we went back to the room to chill out for a bit. I had trouble trying to get the Disney Cruise Line app working on my phone so I’d need to go to guest services later - but not right away, as it was now time to get ready for dinner.

While we were getting ready the ship finally left the port and we were officially on our cruise!
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Old 29 Mar 20, 07:42 PM  
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Stewboy
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For dinner tonight we’d be returning to Animator’s Palate, so once we were ready made the short trip downstairs.

We joined the queue, took an antibacterial wipe from the server (we all know how important that is now right?!) and were shown to a table set for six - so we assumed another family of three would be joining us.








Table 15

Our servers introduced themselves: Vladimir from Croatia and assistant server Pradita from Indonesia. The other family were obviously running late so they took our orders:

  • Me: Chicken and Walnut Salad/Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin/Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake
  • Jo: Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes/Black Bean Chipotle Cakes/Warm Sticky Date Pudding
  • Isabella: Corn Dog/Cookies ‘n Cream Sundae



Chicken and Walnut Salad


Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes


Corn Dog


Black Bean Chipotle Cakes


Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin


Cookies ‘n Cream Sundae


Warm Sticky Date Pudding


Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake

Our tablemates eventually arrived about halfway through dinner; having originally decided to eat in Cabanas they found out it was shut this evening. They were a grandmother, mother and little girl from Canada. They seemed friendly and we chatted to them through what remained of dinner.

Animator’s Palate had been our favourite restaurant on our last cruise, and we’d really enjoyed the food tonight as well - there had also been a flying visit from Sorcerer Mickey. We liked our servers too; they were friendly and attentive.


Sorcerer Mickey

We said goodbye to our tablemates and headed down to the lobby atrium where The Legend of the Pumpkin Trees story was being recounted by the Caretaker. This was a Halloween on the High Seas cruise extra and it was really busy - we struggled to find a space to watch.


The Legend of the Pumpkin Trees

Isabella was keen to go to the Oceaneer Club, so we dropped her off and then I went to Guest Services about my app. They directed me to the Connect@Sea desk, and they solved it straightaway - it was a common problem that was solved easily by turning on location services.

Once that was sorted Jo and I browsed the shops where we bought Isabella a ‘Halloween on the High Seas’ pin. Afterwards we went to the Crown & Fin English pub for a ‘Drink of the Day’ which today was a Cool Breeze: vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, Sprite.












Crown & Fin English Pub

After a nice drink in the English pub (we preferred it to the Irish pub on the Magic) it was time to go and get Isabella and head back to the room where we were greeted by tonight’s towel animal - a crab - and some sweets (or sweats as they'd written on our little white board!) that someone had kindly left in our Fish Extender.

While Isabella had her bath and got ready for bed, Jo did our room service breakfast order for the morning to leave outside our door.


Enjoy the sweats!


Towel crab




Room service breakfast order

After a long and enjoyable day, Jo and I showered and were in bed by 10pm.

So that was our first evening on board the Disney Wonder, and we were all so pleased to be on board and looking forward to the next six days at sea. Thanks for reading!
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Old 31 Mar 20, 11:40 AM  
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magickate
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So pleased to read this! The Wonder looks beautiful & eager to hear your thoughts on the ports.
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Old 31 Mar 20, 06:16 PM  
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Stewboy
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Originally Posted by magickate View Post
So pleased to read this! The Wonder looks beautiful & eager to hear your thoughts on the ports.
We've been on the Magic so many times and really love it, but the Wonder was so special I think I love it more!

TFR
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Old 31 Mar 20, 07:06 PM  
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magickate
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Good to hear, we've only been on the Dream so really looking forward to trying a classic ship. We'd hoped to go this Easter but couldn't make it work for various reasons, obviously very relieved now. Look forward to reading the rest.
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Old 31 Mar 20, 09:38 PM  
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Caught up tonight and really loving it so far. If our WDW trip this summer doesn't happen then I could be tempted to borrow your itinerary for next
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Old 5 Apr 20, 10:59 PM  
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Love your magnets, the first days food and the Halloween decs. Looking forward to seeing the differences to the Magic and the rest of your cruise report.
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Old 13 Apr 20, 11:21 AM  
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Stewboy
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Originally Posted by magickate View Post
Good to hear, we've only been on the Dream so really looking forward to trying a classic ship. We'd hoped to go this Easter but couldn't make it work for various reasons, obviously very relieved now. Look forward to reading the rest.


Originally Posted by mskitty View Post
Caught up tonight and really loving it so far. If our WDW trip this summer doesn't happen then I could be tempted to borrow your itinerary for next
We'd definitely do it again

Originally Posted by SuziQz View Post
Love your magnets, the first days food and the Halloween decs. Looking forward to seeing the differences to the Magic and the rest of your cruise report.
Thanks for reading
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Old 29 Apr 20, 05:43 PM  
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Lee-Anne
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Ah we disembarked as you embarked. This was our first time on the wonder too out of 6 cruises. Lovely to read this report.
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