3 generations and we all survived! Wonder - Jan 13, 2017 - Galveston to Bahamas - Completed

So glad to know Mehmet is still on the Wonder. Unless I am thinking of the wrong person, he was our head server the first time we sailed. He made us feel so welcome. He had a daughter about the same age as our daughter, his daugher was on the track team for her high school, I think. I hope we see him again on our next cruise.

I'm sure it's the same guy - he's been on the Wonder for years. We've had him as our head server a few times. Here's a photo of from one of our prior cruises.

 
:disrocks:Just as funny to read about it as it was to live it Such a fun group to travel with!

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What a great tour you were able to take in Nassau! Geez, two rum flights for your mom, atta girl :drinking1:rotfl2:

That was the best day we've had in Nassau yet, of course we stopped at the RUM cake factory and the RUM distillery so that may have ha a lot to do with it. :laughing:

Loving your trip report! :lovestruc

Thank you, very kind of you. :blush:

It's fun to read through your report and see what you all did on the exact same cruise. It is very different from our trip!

No two people experience things the same way, that's why I love to read other people's trip reports. :thumbsup2

Haha, loved the day that Scott and Paul had a session, and even funnier that you weren't impressed :rotfl::rotfl:It just reminds me of that day after your excursion (where you had been drinking rum punch all afternoon) and afterwards on top deck of the Fantasy we spent a few hours getting squiffy :rotfl2:

It's always way more fun when it's you that's doing the drinking!!! :rotfl2: Trust me, I thought about how he had to put up with me on St. Thomas day, hence the reason I cut him so much slack. :rotfl:

Enjoying your report, it's funny to see that we did several of the same things, we were in many of the trivia contests that you were and we also dined in PALO on pirate night, but we were there a little earlier, can't wait to see what you guys do next!

Palo on pirate night is nice because it's fairly quiet. We enjoy the trivia, they are a fun way to spend 30 minutes.

I have never seen penguins before. How cute!

The penguin was new to me too, he was soooo cute.
 
Loving your report (as I've loved your previous ones!) We're sailing on the Wonder for New Year's Eve this year so you're getting me very excited for our first trip on her!
 
Loving your report (as I've loved your previous ones!) We're sailing on the Wonder for New Year's Eve this year so you're getting me very excited for our first trip on her!


We did a NYE cruise out of Galveston on the Wonder a few years ago, it was a lot of fun - I know you will love it!
 


Day 6 - Wednesday, January 18 - At Sea Day

My notes stopped as of last night, so from this point on you are getting what little remains in my brain of this trip,:crazy2: and I am kicking myself for not taking notes, and/or getting this trip report written up sooner!! :headache:

We had a bit of a lie in this morning and by the time we were up and moving the rest of the gang were already out and about and so we all met up in Cove Cafe for a morning coffee fix.



It looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day and there were still quite a few chairs available so we moved outside and set up camp on some loungers. We managed to get 3 loungers and then another 2 together. There was one lady in the middle of us all. I thought she might get tired of us talking over her and offer to move, but apparently not. :rotfl:



Isn't this view just the best? :cloud9: Ahh....we love at sea days....and when there are two right at the end of the cruise it seems to be just so easy to relax and do nothing.



I tried to read my book a bit, but it's really hard to concentrate when you are super nosey and have to watch everything that is going on. :upsidedow Signals was calling our name....



It was getting close to time for this!! Mimosa's on special in the morning are the best! :drinking:



The loungers looked open but people had their stuff on them, although not many dumped their gear and then walked off, most were in the pool and/or hot tub.



This was new to us. Handy to have a place to dump stuff if all you want to do is get into the pool.



The blue skies didn't last for long and it soon began to get overcast. Within a few minutes it began to rain but we managed to avoid most of it as we were on the set of loungers somewhat under the cover. Mum decided she didn't want to get wet at all and went and sat over on one of the tables until it had passed over.



I went to see if there were any massage appointments for either today or tomorrow for Scott and I. There wasn't really anything that worked around our super busy schedule. :laughing: They were either late afternoon or early morning. We decided to skip it and saved ourselves some money by choosing this form of relaxation instead. :woohoo: We did have a joke about the fact that the Moet Ice used to be served with mixed berries in the glass. Ours came with a strip of orange peel this time. :rolleyes: It's all good though, citrus prevents scurvy when you are at sea. :thumbsup2



It was a generally lazy day, with lots of this going on.



Sprinkled with mixes of this.... (first Bahama Mama I might add!) @mandymouse - can you believe it?? Day 6!!! :scared1::scared1::scared1:



Eventually it was time to feed our faces and so we all wandered off at different times to grab things that sounded good to us. I know that we all felt like we needed to grab things that we hadn't had yet, the clock was ticking on being able to eat it all in a day and a half!

Frozen was on funnelvision in anticipation of the Frozen show tonight (matinee was on this afternoon). I snapped this photo on my way to get some pizza.



The pizza is always just OK for me, but sometimes you gotta have it. I had to go back for a plain pretzel as all they had were the cream cheese ones, and of course, the cheeseaphobe doesn't do those. I got a photo of the pizza but evidently the pretzel didn't make it that long! ;)



We listened to this guy for a little while, he was pretty good but I don't remember his name. One of Scott's favorite things is to be at the pool, listening to live music and having someone bring you drinks. The "bring you drinks" part is all I need. :crazy:



Eventually we decided to go back to the cabin and chill out there for a while. When we got back we had been left two Mickey marshmallow treats along with this note from the cruise director. Mum and Maureen got the same thing, but I didn't ask Paul if he did.



The rest of the afternoon was spent just lounging around and not doing much of anything I assume, as I didn't have any more photographs. We didn't even go to any trivia sessions! We must have been feeling lazy! :rolleyes:
 
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Earlier in the day, I had told everyone that going to the Frozen show was mandatory, despite dubious looks from Paul. :lmao: We hadn't been to anything in the Walt Disney Theater yet as Mum and Maureen had seen the main shows already, and Paul had no interest. :rotfl: We got down to the theater about 15 minutes before the show was due to start and there were still plenty of seats, although it was full by the time it started.



As you know by now, we don't always take good pictures.....and here's more proof of that. :laughing: You have to laugh at Scott's face all the way there at the end of the row. He can be such a goofball!! :rotfl2:



The Frozen show is a must-see, even if Frozen isn't your thing. This was the second time Scott and I had seen it and it was just as good the second time around. Don't miss it. <- take my word for it. ::yes::

We had a quick wander around the gift shops on our way out, along with half of the Walt Disney Theater, and then went back to our cabins to get ready for dinner. Tonight was semi-formal night, which equates to "a bit nicer than the nights before" for us. There was a trivia session that we decided to go to at 7:30 pm. If I had notes, I could tell you which one it was, but I'm guessing it was 90's music or something like that. Some of these photos just literally make me laugh out loud and they are too funny not to include. As you can see, some of us are very into it....others, not so much! :lmao:



Needless to say we didn't win any prizes, but it did give us something to do before dinner, which tonight was in Animator's Palate. We got there just after 8:15 pm, tonight was the animation show.





We all got busy making our little characters and even Mum decided to give it a go this time. I guess I didn't give the camera over to the boys for them to take photos of theirs though, so just us ladies have our artwork featured here.







My general observation of the animation show is that it's a fun evening, and the show is unique and everyone enjoys it. The downside is that the menu is limited tonight and the servers are very rushed to get everyone served at the appropriate times. There are several times in the evening when the animation screens come to life, aside from the actual show itself.





The appetizer tonight is a combo that I'm not keen on at all. Duck breast, shrimp and salmon tartare. There is literally nothing on there that Mum and Maureen will eat, and I only eat the shrimp. So many people dislike it that I can't believe Disney haven't changed it by now. But, Scott loves it, so maybe that's why. :)



I went rogue on the menu tonight and got the chicken. It was nowhere near as good as the beef wellington, which Scott wisely ordered, and now I need to go back because I missed out on the beef wellington. ;)






The servers brought us another puzzle this evening, it was shapes that you had to arrange in a letter H. The boys diligently got busy. I had to remind them to share with our tablemates, who again seemed very keen on doing the puzzles and games that the servers brought out.





The animation show was fun. Scott took these photos and because I don't have notes, and because I don't know what the boys had for their drawings I'm throwing them all up here. The show is really cute, I enjoy it every time and it's fun to have the whole dining room interacting and laughing looking for their drawing to come up. :yay:











Right after the show they bring around the dessert menu. Tonight Mum and I had a special reservation in Palo, and so we left the dining room while the others were all ordering (I assume they ordered dessert :confused3 - I never asked!) :laughing: The side story is that after Palo dinner the other night Mum had been talking about the almond souffle and she wished she had had the room to be able to eat one for dessert. I called Palo and asked if it would be possible to go and JUST have dessert. With a bit of DCL pixie dust pixiedust: and a lot of Susana being awesome, we had a table for two reserved for 9:30 ish for dessert. It was such a kind gesture because 1) it was after reservation times and 2) they didn't have to accommodate our request at all. But nevertheless, dessert was served and it was delicious and Mum loved every bit of it. Thank you Susana! :thanks:



Mum and I left there right after dessert and went back to our cabins. The rest of the crew were all done with dinner and were back too. Mum and Maureen decided to call it a night, and Scott, Paul and I went off to the Cadillac Lounge. Big night for Paul!! He made it past dinner!! :thumbsup2:rotfl:



The lounge was pleasantly busy and they had live music and it was just a really nice relaxing end to such a STRESSFUL day! ;) Interestingly, none of the cocktails we had in mixology are on the menu.



Paul and I got the Tropical Flower cocktail that we had had in mixology the earlier in the week. So. Good. Scott got a whiskey, which obviously didn't merit a photo. :laughing:



We didn't stay too long and were back in our cabin by about 11 pm and found another cute towel animal waiting for us.


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Oh my goodness, what an utterly relaxing, wonderful day! :boat:

That was so great of the Palo staff to be able to give your mum the opportunity to come back for her dessert pixiedust: And a nice little moment for the two of you to share:love:
 


Day 7 - Thursday, January 19 - At sea

With another action packed day ahead of us, I got out of bed before 8 am and took this photo.:thumbsup2 It looked like it was going to be another beautiful day on the high seas :banana: , tainted miserably by the fact that this was our last day. :sad:



We had a fairly lazy start to the day and I have a feeling we all were out on the verandah again for a while, but eventually Scott and I made our way to Cove for the morning coffee.





We then went to Cabanas for breakfast, and as you can see, didn't deviate much from what had become our staple go-to there. Obviously I had decided to trim down the photo taking and crammed two plates into one photo. :laughing:



Having just eaten breakfast, the time stamp on my photo shows that I now decided to stuff down an ice cream as well. :blush: Funny thing is, going back now and doing this trip report, I'm saying to myself....hmm...yeah...no wonder I gained so much weight!! :rotfl:



We went back down to the room to grab our things and see about heading up to Cove pool for the rest of the morning. This had been left on the bed....sigh. :faint:



It was packed when we got up to Cove and so Mum, Mo, Paul and I decided to take a bit of a walk around. We ended up on Deck 4 and found some loungers there to laze about on. Scott had found a spot outside Cove Cafe and decided to stay there. He looked pretty comfy, I'll give him that.



Seeing as we weren't doing anything else, I forced Paul into going down to the Future Cruise desk with me. I had put a request in a few days ago for a placeholder cruise for us and for Paul. I had received a confirmation back on ours, but Paul hadn't got anything on his. There were quite a few people waiting but we managed to talk to them and they confirmed Paul had his as well. :thumbsup2

One of the things we hadn't done yet was hit Cabanas up for lunch, so we decided to "just go and see what they have." That never happens. You never "just go and see". You always do this...



And then, because picture taking person had not even had one single drink yet today :scared1:, and because picture taking person seemed to be on a mission to eat dessert today :earseek:, this happened. Sticky toffee pudding...and then the server said you HAD to have sauce on it...and then the server said that you may as well have ice cream too. :thumbsup2 Why argue? :confused3 :rotfl:



Sufficiently stuffed, and with nothing on our agenda for the afternoon, we ended up camped back in our cabin to make sure that the calories we had just consumed really and truly stuck themselves to our waistlines.:lmao:



At some point Scott and I also got all our packing done. And, as usual, we managed to watch movies we have seen before, but somehow when you are being lazy on a cruise ship its perfectly OK to watch them all over again.



We all eventually ended up hanging out on the verandah while some dodgy weather came through.



And we got some pretty good rain showers off and on.



We had some wine to finish up, that Paul helped us with. We also had a bottle of champagne that my sister in law had sent along for us all to enjoy and so we took this photo to commemorate the occasion. :teeth:



Eventually it was decided a Backgammon session was in order and we went down to Crown & Fin to kill the time between late afternoon and dinner.





Make that multiple backgammon sessions.



Mum and I had secured a booth because it was much easier on Mum's back to sit there than on the bar stools. I've got random photos of the backgammoners as they came and went. :goodvibes I'm pretty sure there was also a music trivia session at 7:30 pm, and although we weren't great at it, we did better than we thought we would.



 
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I think we went back to our cabins to put our suitcases out between leaving Crown & Fin and heading to our last dinner back in Tiana's. Tonight it was Mardi Gras night. party:



Tiana welcomed everyone to the restaurant.



And Louie did a walk around for photos.



The brioche bread they have here reminds me of the bread in Royal Palace on the Dream & Fantasy.



And tonight we had a lilly pad on our table - it was missing the other night when we were here so it warranted it's own photo!





Paul decided to order the rum flight off the menu tonight and he said it was OK, nothing too spectacular.





Tonight's puzzle was to try and move these three straws with one straw but you couldn't touch the straws (or something like that....now I'm forgetting). We made Scott try to do it. :laughing:



I got the shrimp and grits, which is what I got last time too, but it's really good (if you like shrimp and grits :goodvibes).



Scott got boudin and tuna tartare.



I also got the seafood pepper pot.



And then I think we both got the pork tenderloin (because I can't find any more photos).



After everyone had finished with their entrees the mardi gras parade with the servers began. I know I've said this before, but I give major kudos to the Disney castmembers and how they keep performing over and over and act like they are having a good time. :cheer2:



Our servers were asking all their tables to get up and join in, of course we all said heck no - LOL but then I felt bad because nobody would get up with them....there's a sucker born every minute ....and tonight I was that sucker.





Here's a photo of me putting a stop to the photo taking by my sister! :rotfl: If I'm going to parade around there is NOT going to be a photo of it on the internet, at least not in my trip report! ;)







At least I got a bit of exercise. :laughing: And just in time for this too!

Mmmm...beignets and gateau...love them both.





I really can't believe how many desserts I ate today, although I only had a couple of bites of the two at Tiana's, the rest of the day made up for it. :eek: Having finished with dinner we all decided to go and check out 80's Flashback trivia in Azure. We missed the Til We Meet again show but ran into the crowd as we made our way through the atrium.

Quick photo of the main mouse on our way through.



We settled into a back booth in Azure as 80's Flashback was due to start at 10:30 pm. Scott and I have been to several of these and they are usually completely crazy and so much fun. We also got to see Ajohn from Falmouth, who we had only briefly seen this cruise, and he came and said hello.



Hello glow cube drink....so cute! :goodvibes



Tonight's 80's Flashback was totally different and was truly just a trivia where they divided the crowd into two. The ones we have been to in the past involve a lot of audience participation and can get really rowdy. Although we didn't find it anywhere near as entertaining, the good news was that it only lasted 30 minutes and we were all fading fast anyway, so we really didn't mind.



When we got back to our cabin, someone was waiting in the bed for us. This totally cracked me up, I just loved it. :rotfl2:



We also had this nice surprise waiting for us - a Magical Moments certificate from Ajohn. Awww....:grouphug:

 
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Day 8 - Friday, January 20 - Disembarkation

I woke up early (it was still dark) and realized that we weren't moving. :rolleyes: I poked my head out and saw that it was completely foggy. We were close enough to Galveston that I was able to fire up my phone and open the Marine Tracker app and I could see that we were anchored off shore. I figured I would feel us when we began to move so I went back to sleep. :cloud9:

We began to move just before 8 am and our expected arrival into Galveston was going to be around 10 am.



We didn't have any issues with transportation but I felt sorry for those that might have booked late morning flights as there was no way anyone was going to make it.

The fog was still a bit patchy as we made our way into Galveston.





We got into the channel and began the turn to back in to dock.





By now it was time to leave our stateroom and go down to breakfast. The lines everywhere were chaotic and the dining room was a little behind on switching between the two seatings.



I think everyone got Eggs for the Road, but it was random as to who got hashbrowns, which we all laughed about. Apparently if you didn't specifically ask for them, you didn't get them. :laughing: It wasn't anything any of us were going to say anything about as the dining room was complete chaos, and Jeyson wasn't helping this morning so Oscar was on his own.



We decided that we would go and wait it out in Azure as we had to go and pick up our rum from Nassau there anyway. Having finished breakfast, we said goodbye to our tablemates, and we began the haul over there. Wow!! There were people EVERYWHERE! :crowded: It took forever to be able to fight our way across but once we got to Azure it was almost empty. There were a couple of false alarms when we were told that we should be disembarking, but as soon as we got to the atrium you could see the lines were still back all the way around past Tritons and so we had a bit of extra exercise going back and forth a couple of times. Eventually the lines were small enough for us to brave it and we headed off the ship. I took this photo at 10:30 am while we were walking to customs and immigration.



We got our bags easily and Scott managed to somehow spot a newly opened line in immigration and so we all sailed right through. :thumbsup2

While all the mess of delayed arrival was going on, I had been messaging with Susana as we were going to try and see her again before we left Galveston. She had got off as soon as immigration had cleared the ship and so her time was almost over before she had to get back on. :guilty: While the others waited, I hurried to meet her at a cafe that was close by and we walked back to the ship and chatted.

This photo is so much better when you take it when you are ARRIVING and not leaving. :sad2:



Everyone had decided to wait for us at the parking shuttle spot, as we were so close to the port. We all had a quick goodbye and some hugs before she had to get on the ship.



The shuttle arrived and we got back to our vehicle's and made the drive back into Houston. There wasn't a great deal of traffic and we made it home in good time. We had a couple of hours to kill before we were driving back into town to meet with the rest of the family for dinner that night. I'm pretty sure we managed to get a load or two of laundry done while we were at it.

Dinner that night was at a Hibatchi place. It was absolutely chucking it down with rain as we drove back in but it was fun to all meet up and it was a good end to the trip.



This poor lady was seated at our table. She was dining by herself and my brother tried to talk to her because she was sat next to him. About 5 minutes after sitting down and listening to all our nonsense she got on her phone and never got off it again. :lmao: We all joked that we think she wasn't really talking to anybody, she just didn't want to have to put up with us! :laughing:



Another great cruise in the books and we had such a good time. We are all trying to plan another one and we have those place holders to use. Then, the day after we got back, DCL sent us an offer for another 15% off due to the fog delays that we experienced on both ends of the cruise. Awesome!! :thumbsup2

Thanks for following along to my ramblings of our adventures. :goodvibes And, I don't think I've ever ended a trip report with flames before....so why not?! :teeth: :wave:

 
Another great trip report!!! :thumbsup2

Haha I love how you got to up to dance but they didn't want any photographic evidence that you had indeed gone up there :laughing:

Oh wow, another fog delay. Ok that's it. It was fate we changed our cruise. For sure. All the flights home to Vancouver I was looking at booking would have left about 1pm from Houston. With that kind of delay I'm not sure we would have made our flight :eek: I feel sad for those that had to rush off and quite possibly missed their flights. Can't fight mother nature that's for sure but man, she is a fickle.....witch :cool:

Can't wait to see where your place holder takes you next (and yay for an additional 15% off!)
 
Another great trip report!!! :thumbsup2

Haha I love how you got to up to dance but they didn't want any photographic evidence that you had indeed gone up there :laughing:

Oh wow, another fog delay. Ok that's it. It was fate we changed our cruise. For sure. All the flights home to Vancouver I was looking at booking would have left about 1pm from Houston. With that kind of delay I'm not sure we would have made our flight :eek: I feel sad for those that had to rush off and quite possibly missed their flights. Can't fight mother nature that's for sure but man, she is a fickle.....witch :cool:

Can't wait to see where your place holder takes you next (and yay for an additional 15% off!)

Yes, the universe was looking out for you when you made the switch. :flower3: I'm sure there are plenty that missed their flights going home and that must be a sucky way to end your vacation. :headache:

I really would like to do the exact same itinerary as you did next year with everyone. I'm pushing for it anyway. It would mean we get a do-over on St. Thomas, when Mum was in the med center, and Tortola. :thumbsup2
 
Oh it would be wonderful if you all could get a second chance to do the Eastern itinerary!!
 
Ours came with a strip of orange peel this time. :rolleyes: It's all good though, citrus prevents scurvy when you are at sea. :thumbsup2

Way to look on the bright side!

When we got back to our cabin, someone was waiting in the bed for us. This totally cracked me up, I just loved it. :rotfl2:

Man, some of these room hosts are getting super creative. I love it!

Thanks for an awesome report.
 
It was so nice reading your trip report, it was nice to see the same cruise from someone else's point of view! We were on the same dining rotation and I was wondering if we were seated close to each other and sure enough in your final breakfast photo I see my back (I know, kind of dorky). Thank you again for your report, I really enjoyed it!
 
It was so nice reading your trip report, it was nice to see the same cruise from someone else's point of view! We were on the same dining rotation and I was wondering if we were seated close to each other and sure enough in your final breakfast photo I see my back (I know, kind of dorky). Thank you again for your report, I really enjoyed it!

Ha! How funny that we were sitting that close together! At least that tells me that we were somewhat well behaved so that we didn't stand out while we were there! :D
 
We met Susana on our Alaska cruise. She is a gem! Always a smile and a kind word. Sadly we did not have her as a server but will request her for our next cruise. (The server we had was excellent, no complaints, just not Susana.)

Kate



 

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