Disney Wonder 9-Night Alaskan Cruise: Day 2

Chuck had purchased the largest internet data package (1000 MB for $89), so I was able to start blogging this trip when I woke up at an insanely early hour. Thanks, jet lag!

I was able to get some more rest before grabbing a quick to-go breakfast of pastries from Goofy's Galley. My main goal of the morning was to make it to the 9:00 AM Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Member Celebration. All-you-can-drink mimosas while people tell me more about DVC? Yes, please! Although Chuck's parents are also Members, I was the only Oehrlein who made it. I was really hoping to win a prize, like the $200 onboard credit, but it was not to be. I did get a cinch backpack, four hats and a couple of lanyards (not to mention the free mimosas), so it wasn't a total waste. I also learned that the most popular Adventures by Disney (ABD) itinerary for first-time ABD vacationers is Costa Rica, so I shared that piece of info with my fellow Dream Come True Vacations agents. Sounds like a wonderful vacation experience, and I'd love to try it someday for myself. 

I rejoined Chuck and Beth in the room and started sorting through the various invitations we had received. Richard was off doing his own thing in the Edge, but Beth was happy to spend time with us, so just the three of us went to the Castaway Club Gold and Platinum member reception, this time featuring hors d'oeuvres and bellinis. Captain Mickey joined us and we chatted with a couple of very nice Platinum members seated next to us. Here's the obligatory photo with Mickey:

After grabbing a quick lunch, I decided to visit the Rainforest Room. Unfortunately I only had a few moments to spend before meeting the kids to watch Frozen in 3D. I was a bit afraid I'd have buyer's remorse due to the steep price tag, but I was glad I bought the pass when the spa attendant gave me *nine* jars of salt scrubs that apparently come with the package. Hope we have enough room in the luggage!

Here's a photo of the stone lounge chairs and fountain in the Rainforest Room. Such a beautiful place to relax!

I rushed out to meet the kids and went into the Buena Vista Theatre. Although we've seen Frozen many, many times before, we had never watched it in 3D before. The Get a Horse short was excellent with this effect. 

As the song goes, "The Golden Mickeys were tonight," and it was formal night to boot. Everyone else dressed for dinner before the show, but I didn't think I could get ready in time, so I just went down in my jeans. Chuck, Beth and Richard got to do a red carpet interview with Rona Rivers while I stayed out of the picture with Chuck's parents. 

The show was wonderful, as always. We enjoyed the ASL interpreters, who bring so much to the performance and are high caliber actors in their own right. We stayed to say hi to Amy after the show, and she was happy to see us again. Beth signed a few things to her, which was great practice. 

Richard, our game show fan, was dying to get to Studio Sea for The Feud. I told them I'd meet them there and rushed back to the room to change into my formal dress. When I joined them, they were all having a great time shouting out the answers to support their teams. 

We all walked down to Animator's Palette for dinner. Although it was our first night there, they didn't do the show menu since it was Golden Mickey night. The walls remained black and white, which still makes for a fun dining experience. 

Here are the menus:

I ordered the ravioli, salad, and the shrimp and mushroom tagliatelle. Delicious!

Here are a few other entrees:

Once again, Richard decided to leave for the Edge before dessert. Here are our options:

I went with the crème brûlée:

On the way out, we had a chance encounter with Donald. I love those special moments on the ships. 

We went to the lobby and posed for a few formal shots. Then we saw Mickey and Minnie come down the staircase for their photos. 

What a nice way to end our evening. 

Disney Wonder 9-Night Alaskan Cruise: Day 1/Part 3 of 3

After the show, we rushed to get dressed so we could catch Richard's favorite game show, Mickey Mania. We had been selected to participate on our mom-and-son cruise last January and he was ecstatic that we were chosen again this time. I do hate being up on stage, but at least I was confident about the subject matter. JD was the host, as high-energy as ever. Although we didn't win, and although it was a little disappointing Beth couldn't be up on stage with us, it was still a lot of fun.

After the game show, it was time for our dinner at Triton's. I loved kicking off the cruise in the most elegant main dining room. The menus were identical in all three dining rooms: "Let the Magic Begin."

I had the calamari, couscous salad and NY strip steak. All were excellent. I especially liked the presentation of the couscous salad:

Here is the New York strip:

 

And the pork tenderloin Wellington:

It was during dinner that we discovered my biggest planning flaw. We normally prefer the second dining seating rather than main dining. Of course when you are cruising out of a port that's two time zones west of home, it feels like you are just sitting down to eat at 10:15 PM. Whoops. Beth was nodding off at the table. Richard, however, was rushing to get back to the Edge and left before dessert. 

Beth got a bit of a second wind when our server (Chris), assistant server (Shervonne) and head server (Sarah) surprised her with a piece of birthday cake in addition to the dessert we'd ordered. I think the sugar gave her just enough energy to make it back to the room. Isn't this pretty?

I glanced over the next day's Navigator before bed:

Chuck, Beth and I fell asleep very quickly, exhausted by the day's travels. Unfortunately, our stateroom phone rang at 11:30, and the prerecorded message let us know the Oceaneers Club and Lab would be closing in half an hour. Since Richard had self-check in and out privileges, we really didn't need to receive that call. He ended up going strong until 12:30! The Edge and Vibe had free-play arcade games for half an hour at midnight and he seemed to really enjoy that. I was just happy he wasn't too noisy when he got back to the room!

Disney Wonder 9-Night Alaskan Cruise: Day 1/Part 2 of 3

Beth, Richard and I next took a tour of the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab before returning to the Edge for Beth's access sticker. (The photos are on my business Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/Kimberly.Oehrlein.Vacation.Planner.)  Richard started another round of chess when we got to the Edge and had no desire to leave to go visit the teen space in the Vibe, so Beth and I went by ourselves. 

The Vibe is located in the forward funnel, in what once served as a sports bar. It's a fun, funky, coffee-shop-like space. Here are a few photos:

The elevator will go down from the Vibe, but no one can take it up to deck 11 as a precaution to keep the space exclusive to teens. The elevators go up to deck 10 and then teens enter the club via staircase. 

Beth found some how-to-draw books in the Edge, so she stayed to enjoy those while Richard kept up the chess game. 

One of my DCL must-dos every embarkation day is to visit the Vista Spa drawing. Chuck and I both won prizes one voyage, when computer delays kept everyone from boarding on time and we were the only people to show up. No such luck this time, but I did talk myself into the Tropical Rainforest Pass. It's pretty pricy ($190 plus automatic gratuity), but I'll be able to use it all nine days. I figure the heated stone chairs, sauna and steam rooms would be a nice way to warm up after our days in port. Since we had booked this cruise using the onboard booking offer, we had $200 in onboard credits, so I'm trying to tell myself that this was "free."

After the spa, we met back up with the kids in our stateroom and proceded to the mandatory muster drill. I'm so glad we are no longer required to wear life jackets to these. Our muster station was on deck, which is SO much better than when it's in a restaurant or theater. 

Muster drill complete, it was time for Adventures Away, the sail away party. Richard can be hit-or-miss on these, but luckily we found his favorite member of the Cruise Staff team (JD, which honestly stands for his legal name of "Jelly Donut") and said hello. That got him all pumped up and ready to hit the dance floor. Beth, Chuck and his parents went up to deck 10 to watch the festivities while Richard and I danced on the pool deck. So much fun!

Here are a few shots of the characters and Cruise Director Jimmy at the party:

After the party, we went back to the stateroom to get ready for the performance of  "All Aboard! Let the Magic Begin." I started unpacking and suddenly realized we were almost late for the show. We rushed to get down to the theater and happily found Chuck's mom right as we were about to enter. We had previously agreed to sit on the right side of the theater and were pleasantly surprised to find two American Sign Language interpreters at the front of the stage right in front of us! Beth and I just started ASL classes a few weeks ago and had spent our last Walt Disney World (WDW) vacation trying to catch every interpreted performance. We recognized Amy, who had interpreted during our Magic Kingdom day, and were excited to see her again. She and her cohort, Ty, did a fantastic job. The WDW interpreters had told us that they and their Disneyland counterparts also interpret for select DCL voyages, but only when a Deaf or Hard of Hearing Guest requests their presence. I'd been hopeful this cruise would have a Deaf family or two and just couldn't believe our luck. 

After the show, we were all treated to a taste of magician David Williamson's performance. He did a great job of keeping the kids and parents entertained and I *almost* regret that our Palo dining time is during his performance. 

In Part 3, I'll cover the rest of our evening. Stay tuned!

Disney Wonder 9-Night Alaskan Cruise: Day 1/Part 1 of 3

Greetings from the beautiful Disney Wonder, our home for the next 8 nights. We embarked at Ballantyne Pier and arrived just a little before our 11:00 Port Arrival Time. The line to get through security seemed long at first, but I think that's because they didn't start moving people through until that time. The process went very smoothly once we got to the front, and we were excited to be on our way. 

Beth had received a camera for her 14th birthday just 3 days ago, so when Richard and I grabbed a Personal Navigator and made a beeline for the check-in desk determined to make it into an early boarding group, she and Chuck called us back to take photos with the Disney Cruise Line (DCL) display. I mentally grumbled a bit, Richard proceeded to accidentally knock down the display while we posed, and I feared we were off to a bad start. Here are the photos for posterity:

We finally got to -- and through -- the line to a super-excited Cast Member (CM). I responded with matching enthusiasm and started going over paperwork with her. Meanwhile, another CM came up to us and asked if we'd like to be Family of the Day. Of course we would! She said she had chosen us because she could tell we were excited since we had been taking photos earlier. So a huge thank you to Beth and Chuck for making us do that. 

At the same time, Chuck spotted his parents in line behind us. (Their Port Arrival Time was 30 minutes after ours.) Beth and Richard ran up to say hello and to tell them the news about being chosen. We were thrilled when we were told they would be allowed to join us. 

Once they finished checking in, we were given this certificate:

We were escorted to the front of the line to take photos with Minnie Mouse. I felt a little rude for cutting the line, but we were Family of the Day, gosh darn it. (And yes, that was our family motto for the entire cruise.)

 
We were then escorted to sign-ups for Youth Activities. I realized that both kids were the perfect age: at 14, Beth is able to visit both the Edge tween club and the Vibe teen club, while Richard at age 11 has access to the Oceaneer Club, Oceaneer Lab and the Edge.

 

Kids in the Club and Lab have to wear RFID bracelets like the one above for the entire voyage. Although they look better and are much less unwieldy than the old bands, the same safety processes apply. Adults can only check out the children whose RFID bands are linked to their room keys. They also need to provide a family password each time they check their child out. Older children are permitted to do self-check ins and outs if their parents allow, but even then, they need to wear the bracelet. The wristband is very similar to Walt Disney World's MagicBand. It may be kept (for a fee of $12.95) or it may be returned at the end of the trip. 

Wristband acquired and Youth Activity questions answered, we were next escorted through customs, where the only other people being processed were those who were sailing back-to-back voyages. (Lucky ducks!) Once we cleared customs, we were allowed to board immediately. Oh, but first, another photo session. 

We gave our names to the CM at the end of the gangway and were announced. I always love boarding the ship to the sounds of applause and this time was no different. But after that point, we were no longer the special Family of the Day. It was a little bittersweet to go back to being "normal" people. We shifted gears and went up to Beach Blanket Buffet, where we practically had the place to ourselves while everyone else boarded. What a civilized way to start our vacation!

We looked at our Navigators while we are and made plans for the afternoon. Here are photos of the pages:

After lunch, Chuck, his dad and I went to take care of Palo reservations and maybe sign up for a tasting or two. We ended up switching our previously booked Palo dinner to the third night of the cruise, our Parrot Cay night. The Parrot Cay menu is not my favorite, so it was an easy decision. And we scored the previously ungetable brunch for our last sea day. Mission accomplished!

We then proceeded to Guest Services, where we signed the four of us up for mixology. We added beer tasting for the men and champagne tasting for the women. Interestingly enough, our mixology class will take place right after brunch. So don't be surprised if I don't have much to say/remember about the last night of our voyage! Then, our wonderful CM, Carmen, asked if we would want to sign up for the character tea as well. I would have never known about it if she hadn't volunteered the information. There are only 100 spots, so I'm eternally grateful she said something. Chuck and his dad didn't want to do it, so we registered Beth, Chuck's mom and me to make it a girls' special occasion. When we met back up with the kids, Richard said he'd like to attend as well, so he and I went back to Guest Services immediately, where Carmen was able to add him to our seating. Whew! I had been afraid the last spot would have vanished while we were walking over. We also confirmed that Beth's birthday celebration had been noted for our dining team. Richard seemed proud to be trusted with the secret and did a great job of not spilling the beans. 

The two of us next went down to check out the Edge. The first thing I spotted was a huge chessboard. While I checked in with one of the counselors, Richard roped the other into a game of chess. They gave each other quite a run for the money and I have a feeling they will have a number of rematches. (Richard is currently down, with 2 losses and 1 win.) 

Here are some photos of the Edge:

I learned that kids need stickers on the back of their key cards in order to access the Edge and/or Vibe. Sorry the picture is blurry, but they kind of look like this:

We needed Beth's key for this, so I dragged Richard away from the chess game and we finally went to our stateroom. As Douglas Adams fans, we had selected stateroom 6042 (get it?), which is a Category 5C Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah on the port side of the ship. Here are a few photos:

I was excited to see that our Castaway Club gift had been delivered already and even more pleased that it was a along backpack rather than the tote bag other recent cruisers had been offered. The goodies inside looked like this:

They were a magnetic dry-erase board and marker, a highlighter for use with the Daily Navigator and a game tin. Here are the contents of the tin:

Contents included a DCL version of Bananagrams, playing cards, a pen and pad of paper. Here's a sample of what those look like:

We met up with Beth and proceeded to the check out the Youth Activities spaces. Photos to follow in Part 2, so stay tuned!