Girl’s Cruise on the Disney Wonder! January 4th-8th Tons of Pictures!

Girl’s cruise!!:sohappy:

Who: Me, my mom, my sister-in-law, and my friend from CA

When: January 4th-8th

Why: I got a great deal on the cruise, and my family couldn’t go. Airfare was cheap, so I decided to invite just the girls to get away for a few days.

I’ll start off the report with a thank you to all the husbands who parented (it’s not babysitting when it’s your kids, it’s parenting) while we were away. Our hubbies did start calling it the “Suckas cruise” because they were sure they were “suckas!!” for staying home while we sailed off to paradise.

Okay little background – I’ve been on three Disney cruises now. A 7 night, a 5 night, and now a 4 night. We’ve got another 7 nighter scheduled in May!! I’m becoming addicted to cruising. I will never want to stop going to the parks, but cruises are such a wonderful vacation. Disney cruises can cost a little more, but they are worth every penny. Disney knows how to do it right.

Day 1 – January 3rd – Travel Day
This morning I woke up at 7 and headed out the door at 8:15. I flew out of Providence with snow everywhere. I left my coat in the car (no need for it in FL!!) and made the FREEZING walk from the parking garage to the airport. Flight was on time, I settled in for a long day of flights. I flew to Dulles, where I sat for three hours and then Orlando where I met my sil, the first to arrive.

After I got my bags, we went to get our rental car from Budget. The rental agent was insistent that we needed to upgrade our car to an SUV to fit four women and all their luggage. I decided to risk it, and we all ended up fitting quite nicely in the Chevy Impala.

My mom flew in at 6:30 pm, my CA friend was delayed until 9:30, so we drove off in search off an Outback. We came across a Ruby Tuesday’s first, so we ate there. Then we headed back to the airport, filled up the car and headed for Port Canaveral!

We usually stay at the Radisson. They have a great pool, free shuttle, huge Jacuzzi tubs in their suites and free parking. This time I decided to try another one for experience’s sake. I’ve read great things about the Residence Inn and we tried that. It was very nice. It’s all suites (at the Radisson the suites are a little more), the pool looked nice although we didn’t try it, and it included a great hot breakfast. The shuttle isn’t free but we didn’t need it anyway. Parking for the length of the cruise is free there also.
It was late so we just repacked a little and went to sleep. It was dark so I don’t have any pictures. The pictures start tomorrow!!

 

[mouselvrmom]

those are great pictures, Tammy! I didn't realize you could rent lenses! How much would that $1200 lens cost to rent?

Can't wait for more! You all look like you are having so much fun!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

those are great pictures, Tammy! I didn't realize you could rent lenses! How much would that $1200 lens cost to rent?

Can't wait for more! You all look like you are having so much fun!

Thank you Jenn!! The 50 mm was only $35 for 3 weeks. I took it with us at Christmas too. The $1200 would be more, but I'll only rent it for a week next time. If you can find a camera store in town that rents them, that's the best way because shipping is steep!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Day 3 – January 5th – Nassau

Our first stop was Nassau! We were kind of undecided on what to do there. I had done Atlantis on our last cruise, and while it was awesome, it was a little more then we wanted to spend this time. We were going to go to Cable beach but our servers talked us out of it the night before. So we took the water taxi to Paradise Island.

It was quite a hike to the public beach, although it is a nice way to see some of Atlantis. I took a gazillion pictures of Atlantis on our last cruise, when we stayed there for the day, so I didn’t take any this time.

The public beach was nice. We rented two chairs, and tried out the water. It was cold but we got used to it quickly. The waves were pretty strong, but that made it even more fun.

Here’s me:

Here’s the beach:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We decided to go back to the ship for lunch and there was a taxi waiting right when we walked off the public beach. It was nice not to have to make that walk again.

Back to the ship!:

We ate lunch up on deck. I had a wrap from Goofy’s Galley, and everyone else had hamburgers. We all had ice cream afterwards of course.

After we all showered and got dressed, we got back off the ship for shopping in the straw market and surrounding shops. As long as you don’t mind saying, no thank you every 5 feet, the straw market is a fun place to shop.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We went back to the ship and got all gussied up for dress up night. On the 3 and 4 nighters they don’t have a formal night, but there were a lot of people dressed to the nines on dress up night. Here we are! I know, we look good.:lookaroun:lol:

We had dinner reservations at PALO’s that night. I love PALO’s it’s just incredible. I’ve never had a server who was satisfied with each diner only having one meal, so we always end up with a couple of extra meals and desserts to try. The food and service there cannot be complimented enough:

My perfect Filet Mignon:

We ran down to our room and changed before the show. The theaters are always chilly to me. We ran into Daisy and Donald on the way.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Tonight’s show was Toy Story. I’ve never seen this one, it’s new and only on the Wonder. I really liked it a lot. Woody and Buzz were both perfect.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

After the show it was time for some relaxing on deck 9, some more ice cream :lookaroun, some shopping and then bed. Tomorrow is Castway Cay! We need our rest!

 

[DormaNesbit]

The four of you looked marvalos (think Billy Crystal SNL during the 80's)! Dinner looked delicious and I'm starving here! Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip!:wave:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

The four of you looked marvalos (think Billy Crystal SNL during the 80's)! Dinner looked delicious and I'm starving here! Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip!:wave:

Marvalos!! I like it!!

 

[mouselvrmom]

More great pictures, Tammy!

And I concur, you four look fab-oo-lous. :lol:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Ooh marvalos and fab-oo-lous!! We are rocking now!:lol:

 

[yankspy]

Great pictures. I have never been on a Disney cruise. It looks relaxing.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Great pictures. I have never been on a Disney cruise. It looks relaxing.

Thanks yankspy! They are very relaxing and yet there's tons to do if you want.

 

[eagles]

oh tammy, those are great pics! and i love the trip report. you ladies look wonderful and you all look like you are relaxing yet having tons of fun. can't wait for more!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Thank you eagles!! I'm almost done with the rest of it!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Day 4 – January 6th – Castaway Cay!!

Okay there is nothing better on a Disney cruise than Castaway Cay. It is just amazing. Beautiful and amazing. We were some of the first people off the boat.

This time I got to try something I’d never tried before – the adult only beach! We rented some snorkeling equipment and then took the tram over to Serenity Bay. We were the only people there for a while.

The ocean floor here has much more on it than the family beach and I should have worn swim shoes. I cut my foot on something and it is still tender. I hope I didn’t bring an extra something home from Castaway Cay in my foot!!

The water here is shallow forever. We went out a couple hundred feet (that could be totally wrong, I’m horrible at distance) and it never got above our calves! On our way back in we were surprised by a giant stingray! A little freaky when you’re not expecting them!

See how shallow:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

After that, we put on our snorkeling equipment and snorkeled in the two feet deep water. The water was incredibly clear. We saw a few fish here and there, and some beautiful starfish.

CA friend snorkeling:

Another example of how shallow it is:

We relaxed in our chairs for a while after that. I took some pictures from the chair and then waded around and took some pictures. While I was doing that, I ran into another smaller stingray. He swam right next to me.

See the shadow of my hat?:

Here’s the girls relaxing. We’ll talk more about their reading material later…:

More pics:

It was almost time for lunch so we packed up all our stuff and walked over to the barbeque. The chocolate chip cookie dough soft serve ice cream here is just about my favorite thing to eat on the cruise. I should have taken a picture!!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

After our yummy lunch we took the tram back to the family beach so we could go on the snorkeling trail. The little beach over by the stingray excursion is never crowded, and we claimed some chairs and walked over to the bigger beach where the trail was.

Well actually I took some pictures first.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

My favorite picture from last time reenacted:

I tried to get the ships reflection, but we were too far away. So this is my “wow her skin is clear” pic of CA friend:

We snorkeled out on the trail for while. We saw the sunken Minnie statue, tons of stuff like boats, and what not that Disney sunk, and the sunken Mickey. Out by the sunken Mickey we saw a HUGE school of fish. It was literally about 200 foot long fish. It was beautiful. They were swimming all around us. Okay it’s a little freaky when they would touch our legs.
We came in, got some snacks and then relaxed some more. CA friend decided she wanted to buy an underwater camera and go find the fish again. I joined her, but she’s got the camera. When I get the pics, I’ll add them to the end of the report.

Sadly, it was time to leave this little paradise and get back onboard. But ahoy maties! Tonight was pirate night!! We stood in line for Mickey, Minnie, and Jack Sparrow. Jack by the way was hysterical, but I didn’t get a picture with my camera.

Dinner was pirate themed, and we ate in Tritons. It was all yummy and very festive.

After dinner we went to see Bolt in digital 3-d. I’d seen it before but not in 3-d, it’s really cute. Rhino cracks me up!!

Then we headed to deck 10 for the pirate party!! It’s a party full of dancing, and some battling pirates. Mickey comes off the ship’s smokestack. Unfortunately I had a horrible picture taking angle for that.

Next was the Pirate buffet. We were stuffed but of course ate anyway. Hey we were on a cruise ship! :lol:

Late night after a long day of fun in the sun and we were exhausted. We all crashed after that.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Day 5 – January 7th – Day at Sea

This was the day to do nothing but relax. We slept until nine, and then we went to breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet. Sil went to our favorite deck – deck 4 – to finish reading her book, Mom went to a cooking class and CA friend and I went swimming in the adult pool which was empty.

Here’s another great thing about Disney. People without kids are afraid they wouldn’t enjoy a Disney cruise because of all the kids. I think it’s just the opposite. My parents went on another cruise line and couldn’t get away from the kids. Disney not only entertains the kids so the parents can get away from them when they want, they also have places where the kids can’t go. The adult pool is quiet and wonderful. The adult areas are all nice. Mom said they couldn’t get in the pools on the other line without being splashed by 10 kids. We floated in the adult pool for an hour almost by ourselves.

So even though I’m a mom and usually have my kids on vacation, this vacation was kid free and thoroughly enjoyable. The large number of kids on a Disney ship didn’t affect us in any way.

I took some pics of the adult pool and surrounding areas after we got out:

We all went down to shower and get dressed afterwards and went to lunch at Tritons. Our server made a Mickey on my hamburger and a Goofy on my plate with ketchup.