My DH, DS(6) and I arrived the day before our cruise and rented a car from Avis. Our first stop was to Dixie Crossroads in Titusville where we always like to stop when in the area. We then arrived at the Radisson at the Port around 9:30pm. We did not get to see too much of the hotel, but the lobby and pool area were quite nice. Their parking lot gets a little crowded and so we were stuck dragging our heavy bags quite a ways to the elevators. The room was nice, except they had forgotten to change the sheets on the pull-out sofa bed.
The next morning we picked up Diet Pepsi bottles and some bottled water (which worked out perfectly for us and thus we did not need the $20 refillable cups). We returned our rental car to the Avis office right at the Radisson and took their shuttle to the Disney terminal. This all went very smoothly.
After we boarded the ship around 12:45 (dont forget to check out the miniature Wonder in the terminal, it is great) ,we were directed to the Beach Blanket buffet on the 9th deck as our room was not going to be ready until 1:30. After eating, we made Palo reservations and signed up our son in the Oceaneers Club. Can you believe I actually ran into someone I went to high school in the elevator. I hadnt seen her in almost 20 years! (Its a small world afterall)
We had a category 7 room with a Navigators verandah on Deck 5. I highly recommend the verandahs. It lets you enjoy the sea more often and allows you that more open feeling. Our room had lots of storage. I took one of those shoe bags, but did not need it as one of the bathrooms has a vanity area. Our only snafu was a piece of broken luggage. Guest services was very helpful and arranged for it to be picked up and fixed. They did a great job with it and we got complimentary champagne to boot!
We went swimming, did the mandatory drill and then headed up to the party as we pulled out of port. It was a lot of fun. Our first nights dinner was in Parrot Cay. We found all of the restaurants to be quite good and we were fortunate to have nice tablemates that made the time fly. Our servers, Faisal and Agnes, were also terrific. We wound up canceling our Palo reservations for the last night since we enjoyed our group and the food so much in the assigned restaurants. Our son only joined us for the night at Animators palate and he enjoyed that. The other nights he ate pizza and went to the kids club.
In Nassau, we had reserved a room at the Comfort Suites that allowed us to use the Atlantis water park and view The Dig (big aquarium). Our taxi was easy to acquire ($4/person) and the Comfort Suites let us check right into a room. We did not use the room other than as a bathroom break, but it was a decent room. I wouldnt want to stay there for a week or anything, but it did the trick for what we wanted. We walked to Atlantis (very close) and found our way to the water park. That is one BIG place and we needed a map to find our way around. We had a good time. It might have been better if our son was older. He was too small to ride most of the slides. Our celebrity sighting was none other than O.J. Simpson! (I wonder if he thought he was going to find Nicoles killer at the Atlantiss pool!) Overall, I wouldnt recommend the Atlantis thing unless your kids are older and can fully enjoy this very expensive excursion (ps you have to use a credit card to pay for food at the poolside restaurant). We checked out of the Comfort Suites and headed back to the Wonder around 5:00 which was rush hour and so it took us quite awhile to get back over the bridge to Nassau. That night they set off fireworks around 10:45 as we pulled out of the Bahamas.
The next day at Castaway Cay was great. We ate breakfast on the boat and headed off that morning. Lots of chair so I wouldnt recommend trying to rush to get some. Lunch was good at Cookies and our son went to the kids club so we checked out the adult beach. It was very nice. I enjoyed the peace of it all. Just floating in still water was very relaxing. We went back to the boat around 3:30. We all took a nap and then saw the Hercules show (very good) and went to dinner.
Our day at Sea was spent taking pictures of the boat, buying our pictures that Disney had taken, watching my son participate in the kids show, swimming and packing so our luggage would be ready to set out that night. We saw the Disney Dreams show (also good), had dinner and then went to see all of the characters in the lobby for the goodbye. We really enjoyed seeing the characters everywhere!
Because we had the late seating for dinner, we got to go to breakfast later on the final morning and then we disembarked (yes, you do not need to go to that talk as they show it on tv ) smoothly. My son did not want to leave and I must admit I didnt either.
Thanks to all for their tips (especially the person who tallied all of them. That was so useful!) My tips are: forget the clothespins, order the cheesetray from room service, skip Atlantis unless you have bigger children, enjoy every moment AND order the cremebrulee cheesecake for dinner!)
Heres wishing you all happy sailing!
The next morning we picked up Diet Pepsi bottles and some bottled water (which worked out perfectly for us and thus we did not need the $20 refillable cups). We returned our rental car to the Avis office right at the Radisson and took their shuttle to the Disney terminal. This all went very smoothly.
After we boarded the ship around 12:45 (dont forget to check out the miniature Wonder in the terminal, it is great) ,we were directed to the Beach Blanket buffet on the 9th deck as our room was not going to be ready until 1:30. After eating, we made Palo reservations and signed up our son in the Oceaneers Club. Can you believe I actually ran into someone I went to high school in the elevator. I hadnt seen her in almost 20 years! (Its a small world afterall)
We had a category 7 room with a Navigators verandah on Deck 5. I highly recommend the verandahs. It lets you enjoy the sea more often and allows you that more open feeling. Our room had lots of storage. I took one of those shoe bags, but did not need it as one of the bathrooms has a vanity area. Our only snafu was a piece of broken luggage. Guest services was very helpful and arranged for it to be picked up and fixed. They did a great job with it and we got complimentary champagne to boot!
We went swimming, did the mandatory drill and then headed up to the party as we pulled out of port. It was a lot of fun. Our first nights dinner was in Parrot Cay. We found all of the restaurants to be quite good and we were fortunate to have nice tablemates that made the time fly. Our servers, Faisal and Agnes, were also terrific. We wound up canceling our Palo reservations for the last night since we enjoyed our group and the food so much in the assigned restaurants. Our son only joined us for the night at Animators palate and he enjoyed that. The other nights he ate pizza and went to the kids club.
In Nassau, we had reserved a room at the Comfort Suites that allowed us to use the Atlantis water park and view The Dig (big aquarium). Our taxi was easy to acquire ($4/person) and the Comfort Suites let us check right into a room. We did not use the room other than as a bathroom break, but it was a decent room. I wouldnt want to stay there for a week or anything, but it did the trick for what we wanted. We walked to Atlantis (very close) and found our way to the water park. That is one BIG place and we needed a map to find our way around. We had a good time. It might have been better if our son was older. He was too small to ride most of the slides. Our celebrity sighting was none other than O.J. Simpson! (I wonder if he thought he was going to find Nicoles killer at the Atlantiss pool!) Overall, I wouldnt recommend the Atlantis thing unless your kids are older and can fully enjoy this very expensive excursion (ps you have to use a credit card to pay for food at the poolside restaurant). We checked out of the Comfort Suites and headed back to the Wonder around 5:00 which was rush hour and so it took us quite awhile to get back over the bridge to Nassau. That night they set off fireworks around 10:45 as we pulled out of the Bahamas.
The next day at Castaway Cay was great. We ate breakfast on the boat and headed off that morning. Lots of chair so I wouldnt recommend trying to rush to get some. Lunch was good at Cookies and our son went to the kids club so we checked out the adult beach. It was very nice. I enjoyed the peace of it all. Just floating in still water was very relaxing. We went back to the boat around 3:30. We all took a nap and then saw the Hercules show (very good) and went to dinner.
Our day at Sea was spent taking pictures of the boat, buying our pictures that Disney had taken, watching my son participate in the kids show, swimming and packing so our luggage would be ready to set out that night. We saw the Disney Dreams show (also good), had dinner and then went to see all of the characters in the lobby for the goodbye. We really enjoyed seeing the characters everywhere!
Because we had the late seating for dinner, we got to go to breakfast later on the final morning and then we disembarked (yes, you do not need to go to that talk as they show it on tv ) smoothly. My son did not want to leave and I must admit I didnt either.
Thanks to all for their tips (especially the person who tallied all of them. That was so useful!) My tips are: forget the clothespins, order the cheesetray from room service, skip Atlantis unless you have bigger children, enjoy every moment AND order the cremebrulee cheesecake for dinner!)
Heres wishing you all happy sailing!
