Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder - 2018. Third time's a charm!

[__disneygirl]

Hi Cass! I’ve been reading your TRs since before Kira was born and am so excited for this new one. So happy to see you guys doing well and headed out to the high seas!

 

[Pumpkin1172]

I was surprised to see you already started your trip report. As we were driving into Calgary for Xmas to visit the dd and seen planes taking off...I was wondering if you were in one of those on your way to warmer climates. I hope from your title of the report that you have a fantastic time. I'm just glad to be along for the ride. Just needing to see and hear of trips in warmer climates instead of the cool/cold winter grossness that is surrounding us here in northern Alberta

 

[jasmine_ash]

Following and anxiously awaiting! We're heading on the Wonder in Feb, so I'm excited to see pictures of how your cruise went

 

[Timon]

Holy smokes guys, sooo many replies!

Oh my, Kira has grown so much since your trip last year! What a beautiful teenager she has become! I don't really comment on posts so you probably have no idea who I am but I was just shocked how much she's changed Can't wait to read the rest of your report!

Stacy

Well thanks for coming out of lurkdom to post here, Stacy! Happy to know you're reading

Yes, big changes with my girl, I will have to make sure she reads all of these posts about her because she has low self-confidence despite me praising her every day since she was born. When I tell her she's beautiful, she rolls her eyes at me and says you're only saying that because you're my mom

Yay! Another Christmas report, looking forward to hear all about your travels.
Kira has grown so much, what a difference a year makes! She looks so much older, love her hair, she is just adorable!

Thanks, lorimay!

I love her hair too, she hates it

I told her she's lucky to have naturally curly hair that she can straighten anytime as my hair won't hold a curl for more than a couple of hours but I'm her mom and what do I know.

I'm here too!


Haha, very nice!


Ugh, I agree! I rarely every recline, but I tend to pay extra for an exit row so I don't have to deal with recliners!

Yay! Glad you found it

Ahhh, very smart idea!

Holy cow Kira has grown up so much! What a beautiful young lady! Christmas on the Wonder sounds amazing! Someday when I can be done with family obligations. Sorry to hear of all the dental drama!

Can't wait to hear about the cruise!

Jill in CO

Glad you're here

Christmas on a ship is so low key and low-stress, it's amazing! I'm so glad we've had the opportunity to do it, I will ugly-cry when we don't do

Woohooooooo you've started the new TR!!!!

I'm sorry, I thought you said Kira was on the trip? I can't see her in the photos, just a VERY GROWN UP looking daughter!!! These darn kids, growin' so fast!!

Ok......that is tooooo cold for even me to swim in, yikes! Glad you were at least able to use the warm tub

LOL! Right? Growing like weeds, man!

Yeah, I couldn't believe how cold it was! Warm tub still fun though

Yay for another Cass trippie! So glad I caught this one from the beginning. Like other posters have mentioned, Kira really is a beautiful young lady, the kid looks are gone! Love her hair too!!

Yay, you're here

Yup, she's all tween, looks and attitude

Yay! I’m so happy to see this! Well, I must agree...Kira does look so grown up. And beautiful!

Ohhh...I totally get the braces thing! I’m 52 and just got full braces. My daughter got hers off and I admired her teeth so much and, like you, the next thing I knew I’m making an appointment to get my own. They are so weird and after 4 months I’m still not completely used to them.

Can’t wait for more!

Yes, exactly!! I saw how gorgeous Kira's teeth were and then Rob got his all straightened (although I loved his crooked teeth but they were causing him dental issues) and Rob really encouraged me to do it so I guess I just did.

Not an easy change so late in life, right?

I'm only 2 months in but I don't think I will ever get used to them. More like, I've accepted the fact that this is my life and I need to get over it or be miserable

Geeeez Cass, don’t you ever stay home? .

Glad to see another trippie from my bff. Wish I would’ve been on this cruise with you too.

Love the pic of Kira with you guys in the background on the plane.

HA! If I had my way, I would be travelling at least one week out of every month

I wish you were there too but I know you would never leave your awesome family for Christmas but one day, we will all cruise together again.

Woohooo!!!! I’m so excited for this report!
How the heck did Kira grow up so much in 6 months? I swear she looks totally different... and those legs! She’s so tall !
It looks like a great start. This is my goal for Christmas. Maybe this year?

Yup, at this age, 6 months can be a huge difference, right?

It's an awesome goal

Woop woop, guess who's here!! Hiya Cass! I love how fast you started this one, wow. I looked at your departure date from home, I just got home from Australia the day before!! It was so great. But I digress. Omg Cass, Kira. She is absolutely such a beautiful girl. Holy cow, Rob's in trouble in a few years with her dates coming to the house lol. Nooooo, that won't happen till she's 30, no worries right. I LOVE that you take pictures, for our point of view, as if we're there with you. Never get tired of that, ever. Especially the food of course! The more the better. Keep em comin', I'll be waitin'!

I was just looking at some of your gorgeous photos on FB before we left and was thinking about you!

Rob laughed at that line, he said the boys were in trouble

Funny that you say that because I take WAY more photos than I post. I never thought of it like that but yeah, it's kind of like I'm taking you all along with us and try not to miss any moments. But then when I am editing the photos, I'm like, good Lord, Cass! You don't really need to post ALL of those photos

I definitely try to capture the major moments for sure, both in photos and video but sometimes I only get one or the other but I have perfected my technique over the years

Oh and Rob and Kira are so well trained about food pics, if I don't get pics for whatever reason, they ask me about before touching their food! Or if I'm not with them, they take them for me

I had to go redo my password to follow you!!!

I'm in as always! Wow! Kira is BEAUTIFUL! Just like her mom and dad! Then again...I'm biased...

I'm going to send this to my nephew's families. They just did the Wonder out of Galveston for Thanksgiving and they grew up in Clear Lake/Webster area, so I'm sure they will like the little tour. Both of my nephews went to middle school across the way from Monument Park at JSC. I remember taking my oldest nephew to school for the first time at orientation. He's staring out the window yelling "hey... there's the football field" and I'm staring out the other window, pointing and saying "OMG... it's a ROCKET!!!" Back then the big Saturn rocket wasn't under cover so it was totally cool... the last time I was at the Space Center, I was chaparoning my younger nephews graduation after party.

The cruise that they went on was a surprise for them. My sister took her whole family. They didn't know they were going on a cruise until that day. They brought us gifts, so I'm not so upset anymore that they went without me... lol maybe... lol...

Michelle

Thanks for the kind words Michelle

That's cool that they grew up there! I was surprised to see the Saturn rocket inside but it sure is neat to see! Aftergrad party at JSC, how cool!

Oh wow, that is a great surprise! I know a lot of people on the cruise were surprising their kids with the cruise for xmas.

I am done with surprising my kid

Yippee.. another trip report. Kira looks so grown up. Her teeth look very nice. Can’t wait to read the rest.

Thanks I just love how her teeth came out, now if only she would take better care of them, they were expensive

I always love your trip reports, so I am excited to follow along. I hope everyone's teeth are feeling better now. (I laughed out loud at the RBF bit. People are always asking me what's wrong and I have to explain that my face just looks this way naturally. Sigh).

HAHAHA, I hear ya

My passport photo makes me look like a serial killer because of my natural frown, no smiling allowed

Rob is starting to slowly recover, still feeling it though, poor guy

I love Cheesecake Factory brown bread, it so good, especially when they bring it and its warm.
That and a slice of cheesecake and I'm good to go!

Oh yes, delicious, but super crusty and tough.

I think if I ate a whole piece, I would be sick but one slice is perfect to share with R & K

You're off to a great start. I love Kira's hair...she's soooo cute!

Thanks, tammy!

Hi Cass! I’ve been reading your TRs since before Kira was born and am so excited for this new one. So happy to see you guys doing well and headed out to the high seas!

Hey there, Lia

I recognize you, my fellow Disney fanatic

Thanks for the kind words You're too sweet!

I was surprised to see you already started your trip report. As we were driving into Calgary for Xmas to visit the dd and seen planes taking off...I was wondering if you were in one of those on your way to warmer climates. I hope from your title of the report that you have a fantastic time. I'm just glad to be along for the ride. Just needing to see and hear of trips in warmer climates instead of the cool/cold winter grossness that is surrounding us here in northern Alberta

It was a great trip but honestly, it wasn't that much warmer if you can believe it! It was about 8 to 12C the entire time in Texas and obviously nicer in Cozumel and Grand Cayman but Kira was so cold, she said she missed Florida

Rob brought and wore his heavy lined jean jacket, and was still cold! I had to buy pants at Kohl's because I didn't bring any and I stole Kira's socks, which tells you something because I loathe socks.

I am NOT complaining though because the weather was better than Calgary, and definitely better than your weather

 

[Timon]

December 21st, 2019 Part 1

Cruise day!

Our hotel had a nice little free breakfast so Rob and Kira went and enjoyed that while I got us all packed up. I don't like to eat before travelling anywhere as I often get a nervous tummy or sometimes my lupus acts up and I feel super ill. Thankfully I am used to fasting and it doesn't bother me to not eat for hours and hours.

As instructed, they got some photos for me

The first thing I did was check to see that our ship had made it to the port okay. If you haven't read my previous xmas trip reports, Galveston is famous for being fogged in and it often will be so bad that they close the channel and the ships cannot port until much later when the fog lifts and the ports reopen.

This is exactly what happened to us in 2016 and the Wonder didn't dock until about 11am and it delayed everything and the port area was total chaos. That year, we didn't even get on the ship until 5pm!

So, now I always check the port camera and I was THRILLED to see her already there

After showering and getting ready, straightening Kira's hair and packing up all of our stuff, I giddily attached our cruise tags to all checked bags

Such a fun and exciting time in any trip, when those cruise tags go on

The WDW carry-on had a case of water and a case of diet-coke in it. I don't care for the diet-coke they have on deck 9, I swear they've swapped it with something that resembles DC but tastes like swill

The dining room DC is tolerable but I always take my own now to have at lunch.

It also contained our room door decorations and whole crap ton of xmas lights

Rob loaded up the Rav and we headed for Galveston!


Oh look, Rob's eyes are closed...that's unusual

It took us about 35 minutes from hotel parking lot to the port.

There's a few ways to get to the port once you cross the bridge but I like to go different ways each time to see new things. This time we stayed on Broadway until 22nd (Kempner) which takes you directly into the port of Galveston.

We dropped off our bags just after 10am...

And then drove to Parking Lot A...

After our 2016 experience, I am always happy to see this area empty

The port of Galveston offers travel agents and disable vets & purple heart recipients free parking, which is fantastic, IMHO! You have to go to the office (white trailer on left) to show your ID and get your parking pass, so we parked there, I hopped out to get a pass and then we parked our car.

Waited for the shuttle...

We were all wearing Stitch shirts but I was the only one warm enough not to have a hoodie on. The temperature wasn't bad but the wind was blowing and really cooled things off.

And then back to the port! There was a small line to get in the main doors.

And then we were walking into Terminal 2

Security line was not bad at all!

And up to this very lovely lady named Colleen. We always bring some Canadian chocolate bars and candy as little gifts and she was happy to pose for me, she was super sweet!

We were assigned a 7A Navigator's Verandah room on deck 5, actually right next door to the room we got last year but I was quietly hoping to upgrade to a regular verandah so I asked Colleen if there were any rooms left and she said that there were a few so once we were all checked in, we made our way to the other side of the counter and paid to upgrade to a 5C

While I am totally happy with any verandah, I really love to sit on the verandah and look out to sea and you have to stand to see the ocean in a 7A. While many people don't spend much time in their rooms on a cruise, Rob and I really enjoy spending time in our room and especially on a verandah, if we have one, so it was totally worth it to us.

And I will tell you now, that verandah was so well used

With new room keys in our hands, we headed up the escalator to the main waiting area.

We grabbed our seats, logged into the DCL app and got our chat accounts all set up. Kira perused the entire week's worth of movies and activities before we even boarded. I love that feature!

While I love the app, I still enjoy looking at the paper Navigator so I perused that while we waited.

Next up, boarding the Disney Wonder

 

[Timon]

December 21st, 2018 Part 2

We didn't wait too long before they started boarding.

Here's the Navs for today...

They announced the family of the day and then shortly after that they called #1 and before we got through the line, they were already calling #2!

They mean business here!

About to walk on the ship

And my badly filmed welcome aboard

Rob and Kira headed up to Cabanas for lunch right away but I headed for Azure to see if they were doing dining reservations/changes yet. They weren't so I joined my family.

It was delicious! It's odd how I never eat mac and cheese but for some weird reason I get some during every single embarkation lunch

I ate lunch and then headed back to Azure. Lifeguards looked cold

There were people already there, so they took names in order and then would call you up one at a time.

I also got Palo Brunch for Rob and I the following day.

I texted my family to see where they were but neither of them answered. Sometimes the app would pop up with a notification and sometimes it wouldn't. It was like that all week no matter how we changed our settings.

I eventually found them...I knew they would be eating something

Since we were right there, I figured now was a good time to get the sticker on Kira's card for Edge.

We got her sticker last Christmas and she did exactly ONE activity in there. She spent most of her time in the room watching TV, which drove me nuts! I told her this cruise she needed to go and do more activities. I told her the more Edge activities she tried, the more chance she would have at finding a friend or friends to hang out with and I knew she would have more fun hanging with her peers than with us. And to be honest, we needed some adult time. As much as I LOVE being her Mom, I also need some time with my hubby, sans kid

She gets crankier on vacations and it stresses me out a lot. I know she's a little on the shy side at first with people but once you break through, she's very outgoing and loves doing stuff. But getting her out of that shell is a huge challenge.

I even went on the FB group meet beforehand and made sure to have a tween meetup on day 1. I figured we could go with her, help her with that initial anxiety and then she could meet some kids her age and go have fun. More on that later.

So, we got her sticker, met the counselors and chatted with them for a bit. One was from Scotland, the same city where my mom was born and the other was from Canada

She promised me that she would do more stuff this cruise and I was happy to hear that! Not just for me but also for her!

We waited a bit longer and then at 1:30pm, we headed down to check out our stateroom.

I tried taking a pic of the room but they were both in my way so I told them to get out of my way

Rob hid in the bathroom and Kira hid under the bed

When we went on the verandah, our stateroom host was still cleaning it and had the partitions down to make it easier for him.

Once he saw me, he put them back together and then we checked out our lovely verandah

We watched as they loaded all of our supplies for the week...

And I noticed this, which was a great addition to the rooms. I've seen so many burn marks on those beautiful desks, hopefully this eliminates that.

It folded out quite big and was very handy to have!

I laid down on the bed for a few minutes and as I looked up, I noticed something in the wall..our room slept 4!!!

I pointed it out to Kira and told her she could finally sleep in the upper bunk! We've always been in a room that slept 3 so she didn't have that option. She was happy

I sent Rob and Kira down to our old room to see if our luggage was there and they found 2 out of 3 of them.

For the next 45 minutes or so, I was able to unpack most of our stuff and decorate our door.

This is one of my favourite times of every cruise for me, unpacking and settling in for the next week. It was 6 nights not the usual 7 but still, such an exciting time in the journey

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Oh wow, I'm so excited to see another one of your trip reports! I've never been lucky enough to get in at the very beginning, so super excited about that.
Cracked up about the hair pic, too funny! I'm really looking forward to reading your trip report.

 

[bcwife76]

Your door is so cute!!! Love it!

I'm sorry you and Kira didn't get any pool time in 10pm for pool closure.....darn it, why do they still do it so early??? 11pm like the adult pool I think would be a wonderful idea!

Hello Wonder my old friend....it's like coming home

 

[jenseib]

Woohoo! You made it onboard!
That's a bummer that you didn't get moved to early dining and missed out on your pool time.

 

[nrexxma44]

So happy to be reading your new trip report!! I always really enjoy them. I can't believe how much Kira has grown up, such a beautiful young woman!! Can't wait to read more

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I have read your Christmas Disney Wonder reports over the last couple of years and am so happy to see you on the Wonder at Christmas again! What a great tradition. You have a lovely family. We are in the same position with our teen. We love spending time with him but have to encourage him to go do his own thing a bit so that we have some time alone. Can't wait to read the rest of your report.

 

[jimenyfan]

I don’t post often but I have to say your trip reports are some of the best I have read.

 

[Timon]

December 21st, 2018, Part 3

Once I got those two suitcases unpacked, it was time for the tween meetup in D Lounge.

Sadly, only a few tweens made it but Kira did end up meeting a girl, whose mom had posted on the FB page and I had recognized. Kira was super shy but I encourage her to go off with her and chat until the safety drill, which was now only about 45 minutes away so she did and I was hopeful that she had found a buddy for the cruise.

The girl and her mom were very sweet and friendly, so fingers crossed.

She arrived back before we had to make our way down to deck 4.

This was actually one of the quickest safety drills I can remember having. It was sunny but since it was still cool out, Rob and Kira didn't mind and I was able to find a little patch of shade in the very back.

We waited until the crowds dispersed and then I suggested we walk up to deck 5 to see if our last suitcase was there so we did and there it was

Now I could finish my unpacking and toss those suckers under the bed

Word of warning for those of you who switch rooms at check-in, all of your luggage is still labeled with your old room numbers and while you can tell your room host about your switch and he/she will get your luggage for you, your room host has a billion things to do that evening and might not get around to it until much later so I always suggest that you head to your original stateroom and grab it yourself!

Also, keep in mind that if you do switch, your Castaway Club gift, dining tickets, excursion tickets and any in-room amenities will be delivered to your old room so you will have to notify your room host about that so they can arrange for those items to be sent to your new room.

So, while it can be fun to get a better room at check-in, just keep in mind that some stranger may be partaking in that lovely cheese tray and champagne you gifted yourself

Back to the room where we noticed that all of our provisions had been loaded onto the ship so we would be sailing soon.

A few minutes later, we pushed off from the pier...

Rob tends to "over-love" sometimes and often ends up choking Kira, to her detriment and voiced concerns

Here's a better one, according to Kira, with less Daddy love

We were headed up to deck 9 for the sail away when Kira told us that she was just going to stay in the room, just as she switched on the TV and found those darn Mickey cartoons.



Really?

Come on, come watch the sail away with us, we're going to wave to Nancy & Chuck

Nope, she didn't want any part of it.

Ooookay, so off we went.

After a quick wave to the webcam, where, according to Nancy, the camera guy still needs to work on his technique as, once again, he only zoomed up on some cabins, instead of the top decks full of people

After Nancy confirmed by text that she couldn't see us, we moved over to the other side of the ship.

We saw Kira's new friend with other tweens having fun, eating ice cream and enjoying the sail away party

Rob and I saw tons of dolphins in the water, too bad our kid didn't join us

We watched as we sailed away from Seawolf Park, a place we intended on visiting this trip after the cruise but never got the chance due to the weather. Oh well, next trip

We headed to the front of the ship to watch us sail out of the channel but it was super cold and windy and Rob was freezing so we didn't stay long.

I hadn't had a huge lunch so I was getting snackish...

So I got myself a little snack.

It took me a bit to figure out how to eat a hot dog with my braces but I did it and it was delicious! So delicious that I made sure to eat this "snack" daily as a second lunch, which you totally need on a cruise, right?

Right!


Sounds weird but I'm a girl with simple tastes and my daily hot dog and fries was the best thing I ate those entire 6 days

I'm pretty sure my kid had the same thing for lunch every day. There's just something about the food at Pete's Boiler Bites I guess

The kids pool deck though is always soooo busy and chaotic that I always brought it back to the room to eat in peace and quiet.

If you don't know me by now, I am soooo not a crowd person. I've never enjoyed crowds but as I get older, I've noticed that it actually affects my mood and I get super stressed when I am in a busy, crowded space. And when I get stressed, it triggers my Lupus and it makes me ill.

I know, you're probably thinking that I am a crazy person since I love Disney parks and cruises, which is basically full of crowds but there are definitely ways to avoid crowds at Disney and it's actually much easier to do on a cruise.

Avoiding the area near the kids pool is tip # 1 to avoiding that chaotic atmosphere.

Thankfully, we are only three short decks down from the aft elevators so we did a lot of stairs and spent a lot of time in our room.

And I always made sure to bring back our dishes up to the eating area. Your stateroom host will do it for you when they make up your room but I always feel bad about leaving an extra mess for them and we're always up there anyway, so it's just easier for us to do it ourselves.

We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from our balcony

Kira left for a bit and returned shortly with her third (?) ice cream of the day

As the sun set, it started to get a little chilly but we stayed out there until the last minute before we had to leave for the variety show in the Walt Disney Theatre.

I've noticed that Disney seems to be going away from the Welcome Aboard show that is typically played in the WDT on the first night, which gets a from me

I had asked Kira if she was joining us and at first she said no, she was going to skip it and stay in the room. I HIGHLY encouraged her to see it, either with us or to text her new friend and see it with her.

I think I "encouraged" her enough to get mad at me and leave the room and eventually text her friend because Rob and I headed to the theatre and after grabbing seats in the second row, we noticed Kira and some other tweens in the front row.

Not that you can actually see her in this terrible photo but this is Ashley, our cruise director. She's one of my faves actually.

And a quick, sneaky pic of a fellow Canadian, Michael Harrison, who has been performing on Disney cruises almost as long as we've been sailing with them! We've seen him perform several times but it had been a few years so we checked him out anyway. Sadly, his act hasn't changed much...at all!

Kira loved it because she had never seen him and she loves to laugh and his show is definitely aimed at kids and Rob enjoyed it because he doesn't even remember him.

For me, it was good but I don't feel the need to see him again anytime soon.

Definitely worth going if you haven't seen the show though

We headed back to the room, having passed my favourite Christmas tree. Still in it's same place and looking as good as ever

Just as Rob and I were chatting about how we might actually get some alone time this cruise, we arrived to find....

Our kid...back in the room...watching TV.

She was happy to be in the upper bunk

While I unpacked that last suitcase earlier, I had given Rob the task of hanging the lights that I had brought.

One of our favourite memories of the first two Christmas cruises was laying in bed at night, snuggling, watching the strands of pretty Christmas lights that I had hung up in the room.

Such a simple but wonderful memory and I knew that on this cruise I would plus that up a little so I ended up getting a whole crap-load of lights this time

Pictures don't do it justice, our room was LIT!

It was sooo pretty in there!

We decorated both "sides" of the room and hung up our DCL xmas decorations that we got on that first xmas cruise so our room was definitely more Christmassy this year

We snuggled in bed, enjoying our lights until it was time for dinner.

Please know that we only used magnets to hang the lights. The ceiling is magnetic and heavy magnets will do the trick, do not use tape or glue or anything else

Edited to add: We also hung lights on our door and on the handrail next to our room. I had also brought some lights to put on our Fish Extender but when I was decorating our door, I realized that I had made the boneheaded mistake of forgetting to pack our FE!!!

I rarely forget something because I have lists for my lists but apparently, "Fish Extender" never made it onto my lists because I had left it in my workout room in the basement.

We don't participate in the FE gift thing anymore but we still like to hang it up and often sneak a few little presents in there for Kira.

Well, I won't make that mistake again.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Sailing on DCL over Christmas is on my bucket list...loving your trip report and I agree with everyone...Kira is so grown up and very beautiful...just like her Mom...I hope Rob is feeling better....nothing worse than dental issues while on vacation...I broke a tooth 2 weeks before our Christmas trip to Disneyland this past year and my dentist worked miracles to have the crown made and installed before our trip...

 

[jenseib]

are you lights battery operated? I brought some last year and they went out the first night...I guess I wasn't smart enough to bring extra batteries.

 

[Timon]

Following and anxiously awaiting! We're heading on the Wonder in Feb, so I'm excited to see pictures of how your cruise went

Oooh, how exciting! I love the Wonder and so will you

Oh wow, I'm so excited to see another one of your trip reports! I've never been lucky enough to get in at the very beginning, so super excited about that.
Cracked up about the hair pic, too funny! I'm really looking forward to reading your trip report.

Well, then you made it just in time! It takes me awhile to write these suckers

Thanks for posting

Your door is so cute!!! Love it!

I'm sorry you and Kira didn't get any pool time in 10pm for pool closure.....darn it, why do they still do it so early??? 11pm like the adult pool I think would be a wonderful idea!

Hello Wonder my old friend....it's like coming home

It would have been better had my tree stuck to the door better. I found this cute Disney Xmas tree design and I printed it out and put lights behind it and added a whole bunch of magnets to it but the doors are barely magnetic I find now, after all those coats of paint so it wouldn't stick.

I did take a photo of it and will post it but I will have to make a better one next year

Plus if I was smart enough to pack our FE, I could have hung more lights. Oh well! I tried


I'm starting to feel the same way about that ship!

Woohoo! You made it onboard!
That's a bummer that you didn't get moved to early dining and missed out on your pool time.

Yeah, I was hoping but oh well, we still had a great time.

So happy to be reading your new trip report!! I always really enjoy them. I can't believe how much Kira has grown up, such a beautiful young woman!! Can't wait to read more

Thanks for the kind words Happy you're here!

I have read your Christmas Disney Wonder reports over the last couple of years and am so happy to see you on the Wonder at Christmas again! What a great tradition. You have a lovely family. We are in the same position with our teen. We love spending time with him but have to encourage him to go do his own thing a bit so that we have some time alone. Can't wait to read the rest of your report.

Awww, thank you so much!

Yeah, you get it! Great to spend time with them, just not ALL of the time.

I don’t post often but I have to say your trip reports are some of the best I have read.

Well thanks for coming on and posting, I really do appreciate it! It's great knowing that people are actually reading this and it's worth the time I spend on it

Sailing on DCL over Christmas is on my bucket list...loving your trip report and I agree with everyone...Kira is so grown up and very beautiful...just like her Mom...I hope Rob is feeling better....nothing worse than dental issues while on vacation...I broke a tooth 2 weeks before our Christmas trip to Disneyland this past year and my dentist worked miracles to have the crown made and installed before our trip...

Definitely try it, at least once! So peaceful and stress-free

Thanks, you are too sweet!

UGH! That was a close call for you! Glad it worked out. Yeah, it was tough on Rob. I felt bad for him, it was a tough trip for him

are you lights battery operated? I brought some last year and they went out the first night...I guess I wasn't smart enough to bring extra batteries.

Yup, battery lights. Most bought at the Dollar Store, a few from Walmart. Brand new batteries in them, we made sure to turn them off before bed and we only turned them around 7 or so every night. I brought a dozen extra batteries and never needed to change any of them

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

I am so glad you are writing another trip report. I always enjoy your adventures and advice. Are the pillows beside Rob "your pillows"? I remember you mentioned in an earlier report that you liked extra pillows.

I am a non-crowd person also but I do enjoy Disney parks and cruises, just so long as I can avoid the masses.

Kate

 

[buteraa]

Great start to your trip report. Looking forward to lots more.

 

[RunningGirl]

I'm typically a lurker, but I do faithfully read your trip reports. I, too, am a person who hates crowds but loves Disney. Since my "kids" are grown up, when we cruise we completely avoid the family pool and don't do the buffet at lunch (just breakfast - which we do early) so, other than muster, we are pretty successful at avoiding the crowds. We have lots of pictures where it looks like we're the only people on the ship! I'd love to spend Christmas cruising. You have a very sweet family; Kira has really blossomed into a beautiful young lady!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Oh I enjoy your reports so much!!! I'm still laughing at some of the events from the two most recent ones. So entertaining!
I love all the pics! And I never ever tire of your pancake and cheeseburger pics, oh, and all of the desserts! Yes, it does feel like all 1500 (so far) of us are going on vacation with you guys. I love the helpful hints and tips!

Wow, you and Kira are something else getting into that freezing cold pool and lukewarm hot tub in the cold. I'm from the midwest and while there are times that 20 degrees F feels balmy, I could have never gotten in that water. Kudos to you two! I once tried to enter an unheated quiet pool at POR in Dec and couldn't handle it, especially not finding out it wasn't heated til we tried to get in!

Love your luggage. Love your room and door decorations. Love Kira's hair. Can't believe how grown up she looks. Such a pretty girl! Such an adorable family! So sorry about all the dental issues trying to gnaw away at your enjoyment.

Nice free breakfast at the Hampton. Rob looks like a professional waffle iron wiedler and it seems Kira inherited the skill. Love those waffle pics too!
We have been on the Wonder 1x and Magic 3x. Nothing but nothing is as exciting as boarding the ship on that first day knowing the fun is just beginning. Can't wait to enjoy your journey!

Tink

ps. Love the childhood pics with you and your mom from the other trip reports. So very special.