*July 19th/22nd '07 WONDERful Cruise*

[mandymouse]

Castmembers

Me (Mandy) - 43 - Searching for some Bahama Mamas
DH (Paul) - 42 - Searching for some peace and quiet
DD1 (Kerry 16) & DD2 (Becky 14) - Searching for Hollister Stores

Thursday 19th July

I was up at 7am and the others woke up shortly after, and thankfully Becky was feeling a bit better. We finished our packing and left the Pop Century at 9am. We arrived at the DCL terminal around 10am. We dropped our luggage off at the port (where a porter took them), I went to check-in with the girls and Paul went off to park the car (which is $12 a night).

When we walked into the terminal, check-in wasn’t open, there was a sign saying it would open at 11am. A few people started lining up, so I went straight to the front of the the non-US check-in line. Check-in opened around 10.30am and the guy explained that there had been a new computer system set up a few weeks earlier and he told us of some of the changes, which included that we no longer had to hand over our passports and that non-US citizens didn’t have to get up at 6am on the last morning for Immigration (woohoo ! ).

Check-in only took 5 minutes (as most of your forms are filled in on-line now) and we were handed our Castaway Club lanyards and pins. We took the usual photos by the ship in the terminal and by the Disney Wonder and before we knew it, it was 11.45am and they were calling for boarding card numbers 1 and 2 (we were 2) and we went through those big Mickey Ears.

We had our embarkation photo taken and then it was my favourite part where your name is announced as you board the ship. An English CM announced ‘Welcome aboard the Martindale family’ and everyone clapped (Woohoo ! We’re Home).

We went straight up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch, and afterwards Paul and I got changed and lounged by the pool – where I had my first Bahama Mama of the holiday (YAY ! ) and the girls went off to explore.

We sat by the Goofy Pool for about 45 minutes when dark clouds rolled in and it started to rain. Within minutes a storm started (which lastest a couple of hours), so we headed for our Stateroom. Thankfully our suitcases were already there, so while the storm carried on, I managed to unpack our stuff.

Later in the afternoon the girls went to check out the Teen Club, so Paul and I had a Bahama Mama in the Promenade Lounge and then another one in Diversions, where we found some board games. After our mini-session of playing draughts (and drinking of course) we left at a score of 2-2. It was nearly time for the Lifeboat Drill (4pm), so we grabbed our life vests and headed down to deck 4. Thankfully it didn’t last long as the rain had stopped and it was very hot.

After taking the life vests back to our room, we went up to Deck 10 for the Sailaway Party. When we got there it had already started, it was very busy and we noticed that the characters came out to do their show about 15 minutes earlier than normal. At the end of their show the ships horn played ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’, but we didn’t move. Just as they finished, it began to rain. Paul & I stayed up on deck 10 and took photos and video as we sailed away even though it started to pour.

For the first time, we were on Late Seating (8.30pm), so we all showered and chilled in our room. Our rotation was Parrot Cay, Tritons and Animators Palate. We had two girls as our servers, they were very nice and polite, but they didn’t seem to go out of their way for us or do anything special like servers we have had in the past. Anyway the food was lovely and we washed it down with a bottle of White Zinfandel.

After dinner the girls took off for the Teen Club and Paul & I went back to Diversions to watch a charity football match on the TV (I’m sure David Beckham was playing at some point, so I was happy ).

I think we got back to the room around 12.30am and the girls rolled in an hour later.

Tomorrow – Nassau & Pirate Night pirate:

[mandymouse]

Friday 20th July

We had a lovely lie-in this morning (which is never heard of in our family), I think I first woke up around 9am and I videoed the ship arriving in Nassau and I think we all started to get up between 9.30 and 10am.

As we weren’t getting off the ship today, we thought we’d have a leisurely breakfast and we went up to the Beach Blanket Buffet around 10.30am only to find that it had closed at 10am.

A CM told us that we could have breakfast at Parrot Cay, so we went down there. It was the first time that we’d had breakfast there, and it was really nice.

After breakfast Paul and I found a spot up on Deck 10 to lie in the sun and after an hour and a half we went back to the room to get changed and after a while we went back up to the BBB for lunch. The girls were pretty much doing their own thing, they loved having pizza from Pinocchio’s Pizzeria and Chicken strips from Pluto’s Dog House Snacks whenever they fancied, and they would pop off to the Teen Club, cinema, games arcade and go on the internet.

After another lie-out, we went back to our room to watch ‘Are We Done Yet ?’ on the TV and at some stage there was some partaking in a cocktail or two.

Around 6ish, we took Becky to see the Golden Mickey’s show which was as nice as usual.

Tonight was Pirate Night, so we got ready for dinner at Triton’s and we practiced our best Pirate ‘Arrrrrrrrs’. We had some photos taken with Pirate Mickey and Pirate Minnie and then we headed off to dinner.

Dinner was very nice (as was the bottle of Asti Martini that went with it).

After dinner we went up to Deck 10 to watch the Pirate show and the fireworks.

After the show, the girls went off to the Teen Club, and Paul & I went back down to Diversions to continue our draughts tournament (LOL). I had just put our scores up to 3-2 when I noticed land and we realized that the ship had returned to Nassau.

We watched the ship dock in Nassau and there was an ambulance waiting. The paramedics boarded the ship and a while later a guy was stretchered off the ship with I presume his wife. I felt so sorry for them, it must be awful to fall ill on your holiday and I hope that he recovered quickly.

Within no time we were pulling out of Nassau again and we ran into the girls on our way back to our room. I think we got to bed around 1am.

Tomorrow – Castaway Cay & Dinner at Palo

[mandymouse]

Saturday 21st July

When I awoke around 8am we were already docked at Castaway Cay.

It was a gorgeous morning, so we gave breakfast a miss and got ready for the beach. We were off the ship around 9.30am.

We took lots of photos of the ship, the Flying Dutchman and on the beach. On the way to the hammocks the girls asked if they could go on a jet ski, but as the jet skis could only be used for a tour, we agreed to let them go out on a pedalo.

First we found some loungers next to a hammock and under a palm tree and then we sorted out a pedalo. Paul went out with them, while I looked after our stuff and took video and photos. They really enjoyed themselves, but they said that the life vests were really hot in the sun.

We settled down in the sun listening to our Ipods, reading and occasionally dipping in the sea to cool down (which was full of fish).

At lunch time we went to Cookie BBQ, which was really nice with lots of salads, burgers, ribs and chicken pieces finished off with cookie dough ice-cream.

After lunch the girls were flagging under the heat, so Paul and I walked them back. Once they got themselves sorted out, Paul & I went back to the beach for an hour. It was really hot, we couldn’t sit out in the sun, but it was lovely to just sit under a palm tree reading (oh I wish I was there right now).

On the way back to the ship we stopped off at the little shop and Paul bought a t-shirt and then we took some more photos.

Once back onboard we chilled in the room and arranged to meet the girls at 5pm so we could take some photos of the Wonder leaving Castaway Cay.

Tonight Paul & I had a reservation at Palo for dinner at 6.30pm, so we got ready and after a quick Bahama Mama in the Promenade Lounge we went up to deck 10 to Palo. Michael from the Philippines was our server and he was brilliant.

He helped us with the menu, explaining all the specials etc. and we had a good laugh with him. Paul started with Minestrone soup and I had Buffalo Mozzarella with plum tomatoes with balsamic dressing – which was delicious. For our dinner Paul had Lasagne and I had Wild mushroom risotto and in between we had some really nice Italian breads and a plate with parma ham, cheese and melon balls. For dessert we ordered the ‘World Famous’ chocolate soufflé (which was very nice), but Michael also brought us a gorgeous vanilla cream custard dessert with berries which I have to declare was much better than the soufflé, and it was all finished off with a bottle of White Zinfandel.

We absolutely loved our dinner at Palo, and it is so nice that we are able to do this kind of thing on our own now that the girls are older – it was a great evening.

The girls had gone down to dinner at Animator’s Palate (it was dress up night), so after Palo, Paul & I joined them, and as they ate we had a cocktail. Our servers asked us if we’d like a dessert or anything, but honestly we couldn’t have eaten if our lives depended on it. We left our tip envelopes on the table for the servers and we left the girls to finish their dinner while we went to start packing.

The girls joined us and we had our cases outside our room before 11pm (so you don’t have to take your cases off yourself when you disembark). The girls went of to see Ratatouille and then to the Teen Club and Paul & I went to Diversions as we wanted to see David Beckham make his L A Galaxy debut against Chelsea (it was a shame that he only came on for the last 10 minutes).

I think we got to bed around 11.30pm and the girls strolled back about an hour later.

[mandymouse]

Sunday 22nd July (Day 10)

It was wonderful not having to get up at 6am for Immigration. It was always the downside to the Cruise, so this was definitely a change for the better. We were up around 7am, quickly got ready, disembarked the ship, found our cases, presented our passports to Immigration on the way out and we were in the car heading back to WDW by 7.50am

Thoughts of this cruise

Highlights

Spending lots of ‘us’ time with hubby
Palo (was absolutely brilliant)
Castaway Cay
Food
Bahama Mamas
Not having to be at Immigration for 6am on disembarkation morning

Slightly Disappointing

Our servers, they were nice and friendly but didn’t go out of their way

Disappointing

Having to get off
Not having the Disney Wonder Dancing Queens (who I had the pleasure of meeting on our January Cruise) there to share it with

The Disney Wonder Dancing Queens

Mandy

[tinkerbell15]

Thanks - I really enjoyed reading that - the first Disney cruise I've read about.

[Guest]

Sounds wonderful, it's great that your girls could find things to do on their own while you and DH enjoyed some peace and quiet.

[Guest]

Sounds fantastic and I love your photos! We are off on our first disney cruise in October and I can't wait, that has just got me even more excited

[jdybnsn]

Great trippie - loved the pictures !

Soooo pleased to read about the new improvements to the immigration procedures

[Guest]

really good report, nice your dds could go off and do there thing. nice to have dinner alone

[Guest]

What a great trippie! really enjoyed reading that, sounds like you all an blast!