Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder 2019 - "Seriously??? We just ate!!!"

[cntkg1]

Love the streak of purple in your hair! Lol!,

Go ahead and tell me ALL about that movie. It’ll be years (if ever) until I see it. Besides, I’m still working on Harry Potter. I finished the first one...twice!

 

[Timon]

Just started reading along - sounds like such a fantastic trip so far!!

Thanks for posting and reading along.

What a great light show, loved your tour of it! So Cass, Kira is so fun this trip! I remember the "tweeness" of some of your trips, it looks like she's past all of that and on to just plain fun with Mom and Dad. I am soooo happy she found friends too! oh yes, food pictures, yum YUM, bring it all on my friend

Gosh, you're so right, Jill! She was so fun this trip, only a small amount of that tweeness!! I think that's why this was such a great trip! She was having so much fun and it showed! We hardly bumped heads at all this trip and it was just the best!!

So much food porn comin' at ya

I don't often reply to trip reports, but I just have to say: I love your writing style, perfect balance between information and pictures, your family is fun and I love how you vacation! Keep on writing!

Well, thanks for coming out of lurkdom for me!! That is so very sweet of you to say!!

Omg yeah
just love your TR so happy to read a bit of it before my dcl cruise

When are you heading out? Which ship? So excited for you!

Your cabin looks beautiful, so festive!

Thanks! Wait until you see it in that part I just posted, all lit up.

 

[Timon]

Love the streak of purple in your hair! Lol!,

Go ahead and tell me ALL about that movie. It’ll be years (if ever) until I see it. Besides, I’m still working on Harry Potter. I finished the first one...twice!

You mean the lighting effect in our Galaxy Lights selfies?

I dyed Kira's hair just before we left with vampire-red, semi-permanent dye, which you can barely see in the photos as it turned out purple-ish with her dark brown hair but she loved it and it's still in today.

I'm not even going to get started with you and Star Wars!

You need to watch Chamber of Secrets, because they get even better by the third one.

 

[cntkg1]

I think that’s a great idea about free parking for TAs .... and their bff’s. Let’s suggest it!

Love your Cruise shirt! I need one now.

A cruise blanket and that cheese platter! Who needs anything more? I never did ask Tony to get me the blanket from their Merrytime Cruise because I got cheap. It won’t happen again,.

 

[Timon]

I think that’s a great idea about free parking for TAs .... and their bff’s. Let’s suggest it!

Love your Cruise shirt! I need one now. ❤

A cruise blanket and that cheese platter! Who needs anything more? I never did ask Tony to get me the blanket from their Merrytime Cruise because I got cheap. It won’t happen again,.

Kira and I got those on the Fantasy in 2017 I think? They were on sale for $20! She's only worn hers once and this was the first time I wore mine. I love it but rarely wear anything with long sleeves as I'm always too hot but it was a nice cool day for it, that day.

Oh no! I thought that you got one from Tony!! I would have ordered one for you and mailed it from Galveston had I known!

 

[cntkg1]

But Minnie loves Cass

Now wait a minute! That’s the throw Tony was texting me about and not the one from the cabin. He told me about the $60 spending to pay $30 for the throw. I LOVE that one. Nuts!

I wonder if your remote is just “old” (like 63 or so) and doesn’t work as quickly anymore. That happens ya know. You should’ve bought it some insurance I guess.

I totally understand you wanting your own table. We usually dined with either just the friends/family we traveled with or friends we made on the DISboards on our first cruise in 2005. Only once did we end up with a couple who wouldn’t speak to us unless the topic was DVC. Then you couldn’t shut them up.
I’ll talk to anyone but the Hubby is extremely shy so it was quite awkward.

 

[chamberlain]

Following along! Always enjoy your trip reports. So glad Kira found a good group of friends to hang out with. Our girls really enjoyed their freedom at that age and gave us the opportunity to adult stuff. We also request a private table and like the family time/conversation.

 

[missmdr]

Oh my gosh. Don't you hate that awkward silence at some point during dinner with people you don't know? I'm like Rob. I like to talk and socialize BUT it's also exhausting for me by the end. I wouldn't want a repeat. Let's hope they found you something for night #2!
One year we sat at a table with another family from the same state we live.....same # of kids, same ages pretty much...BUT the mom had stage 3 or 4 breast cancer and this was their time to spend together.... and it made for a very somber week.
After that I prefer our own table!

 

[Jillpie]

I loved this update! I am so with you with pool time, you are my soul pool sister I swear. Nobody can pull me away from being in the water! So I love it when you post all the pictures of you having fun there. I also hear you about dinner time, but, I am the social butterfly in my family. But I hate that awkwardness in the beginning, so much that I would ask to have a private table too. Having said that though, our favorite cruise back in 2006, was with fellow Disers and having dinner with them each night, we had such a blast. So happy for Kira this cruise oh my gosh, she's come out of her shell!! Fantastic to see. Oh, and I'm ashamed to say, I didn't get the Minnie over the bed reference, darn it, I hang my Cass-stories-lovin' head down low. I'm down to a scary low supply of Cheerios, must go shopping tomorrow.

 

[jenseib]

There was a time, not so long ago in fact, where I thought I would never get the chance to sail on the Wonder but also that I never had the desire to and now she's my favourite

I had that thought too and I finally got on her a year ago!

Like when Kylo Ren throws a tantrum and the storm troopers go the other way...best part ever!

I love the humor!

I love your shirt! So cute!

I don't know if I would have stayed if they said I had to sit with other people. I can't stand sitting with strangers on a cruise ship. If Skip was with me, we for sure would have left. I don't mind sitting with friends and family at big tables, but strangers....nope!

 

[tammy]

I can't believe you don't get along with others I'm a social butterfly so I enjoy it. I do find it awkward at first but then we sorta warm up to each other and end up being buddies by the end. I hope they are able to get your private table which I totally get too looking forward to more!

 

[Timon]

December 21st, Part 1

I had wanted to get up every morning before the sun so I could run up to the top decks and grab some photos but every morning when my alarm went off, I was too tired and too comfy and I snuggled Rob and went back to sleep.

So, I got zero photos of the sun rising. Dang those DCL beds and pillows.

We all slept in every single day as we are all night owls. Kira used to be a lark but since becoming a tween, she has definitely changed up her rhythm

Rob and I at least got up in time every day for breakfast, unlike Kira who usually rolled out of bed around 10-10:30am.

We had Palo in a few hours so we didn't eat too much. Rob loves his cream of wheat on Disney ships

And I like my ham, eggs, hash browns and toast.

I eat the same thing every morning on vacation, I'm so predictable but I know what I like and I like what I know

Back to the room we went, checked out the gorgeous verandah for a bit.

We had brought some PB toast and fruit for Kira that she ate while watching her Mickey cartoons, the only time she actually did this.

And we enjoyed some verandah time.

We showered and got ready for Palo Brunch.

The only reason we book Palo now is because I'm Platinum and it's basically free, other than a nice gratuity. I am soooo not a Palo person. I don't drink, I don't like fancy food, I don't like dressing up, I don't like long meals and I don't like people fussing over me and honestly, I am just as happy having a hot dog or chicken strips from Pete's.

But I love my husband and he loves food so I do it for him.

We had a great server but still, I feel so uncomfortable when people are fussing over me. I did try a few things at the buffet even though I didn't care for it and only had a small bite of each thing.

Here's Rob's plate...

Rob got the tomato soup that he just loves!

And I tried the celery soup for the first time, which was really good!

I asked for salt and got these three fancy sea salts. I would have been happier with just a regular salt shaker because the crystals were so large that they made it very salty.

I ordered the chicken parm of course! I love the risotto. I don't care for the chicken but I did eat about half of it just because I didn't want to be rude. I recommended Rob try it as well so he ordered one but it wasn't really to his taste.

Rob's desserts...

And mine...

The tiramisu was good but my favourite one was actually the yogurt that Rob got! I was full though so I never ended up getting my own.



Right before we left, I had asked our server if we could bring a few chocolate covered strawberries with us for Kira. This is something we used to do in the past but I guess they changed their policy and you can't take anything out of Palo now. I was totally fine with it but he went and asked the manager and he came to talk to us. He told us about the new policy and I told him not to worry, it was no big deal. I totally understood! He was so nice about it and said that he would arrange something for us. I told him that it really wasn't necessary but he insisted so we thanked him , tipped our server and rolled ourselves back to our room to enjoy some more verandah time.

We chilled for a bit and then headed to French Quarter Lounge to play some trivia. I absolutely LOVED the changes they made here!! It was really nice that they continued the Princess & The Frog theme down the hall from Tiana's!

They even changed the art and the carpet near the aft elevators just outside of Tiana's...pics later

It helps that P&TF is one of my favourite Disney movies and also the first movie Kira ever saw in a movie theater.

We enjoyed the first of many trivia games on this sailing.

Kira had gone to see the illusionist with K but we missed half of it because of the trivia. We did pop in and found a couple open seats and enjoyed the end of it, though.

And then I looked down a little and see the girls a couple rows in front of us

She spotted us when she got up to leave, I swear I was not stalking her.

We went back to FQL to play another round of trivia. This is not a great location to play trivia. It was so full, there were people standing next to the portholes in the main walkway playing, so obviously they need a bigger venue! It so super handy for us though, so close to our room. We played several games of trivia here this week.

Here's the two new pieces of art that are located around the corner from Tiana's. I love that they carried out the theme to here but this is where the Magic in NYC piece, that I loved so much, was. I wonder if they moved it elsewhere or just took it away? I didn't go hunting for it.

I have a photo of the carpet too, just haven't come across it yet but I will post it when I find it.

I also noticed that they upgraded the doors on deck 4...very nice!

Rob got some reading done on the verandah while I chilled in the room.

Sometime in there, Kira came back to the room. I think by now it was almost time to get ready for Formal Night.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I'm a little late to this party, but now I know I HAVE To convince DH to do this for our next cruise! He would love it!

And Kira is turning into such a lovely lady. My daughter would love to hang with her I'm sure.

 

[TestingH2O]

my favourite one was actually the yogurt that Rob got

I love that yogurt dessert. Our server on the Fantasy brought it to the table a few years ago, and now it's my go to for sure. I've made everyone in my family love it too.

Thanks for another great report. It helps pass the time for sure. We will be on the Wonder 8 weeks from today!

 

[Jillpie]

Awesome Cass, keep it coming, loving this. I feel the same way about being totally content with a hot dog or nuggets kind of girl. Comfort food all the way baby, don't need nothing fancy in my life!

 

[Sneaky3]

Love this report.

 

[Timon]

December 21st, Part 2

It was time to get ready for Formal Night. Last year we skipped the Formal Night photos because I didn't want photos with me in my braces and none of us wanted to wait in those long lines. This year, we went just before Golden Mickeys started and I grinned and beared it

Rob captured me doing Kira's make-up. I don't let her wear make-up at home so I thought this would be a nice little treat for her.

We started walking but Rob had forgotten something in the room so Kira and I posed in front of my tree. This is the new dress that I found her at Kohl's...

Rob caught up and took a pic of us together...

We got in line for the tree portrait, there was only one family in front of us, score! Kira captured this one of us...

Then he posed us for a few shots. I really don't like how they pose you sometimes. Also, I don't care for how they frame you. These pics are not cheap, I don't want a third of my photo to be of the carpet.

They did a good job with the one of just Rob and I though. Notice I have been hiding my braces this trip?

I am soooo done with them, I want to rip them out of my mouth

Here's a cropped version of the family photo, which I like much better

Up to deck 4 for just a few more shots...she loved how her dress billowed as she walked, I thought it was perfect for her and she loved it too.

We headed into the theater knowing we were late but they hadn't even started the show yet! We found some nice seats and then the show started, talk about perfect timing!

After the show, I wanted to check out the silent disco. Kira and Rob were both a little opposed to it at first but we ended up having so much fun!

There was a lot of dancing and singing going on between the three of us. I was getting a little tired. It was so much fun though and I'm glad we went!

I haven't mentioned it yet but we had been ROCKING since we left Galveston! In fact, it's probably why there were several empty tables in the dining room last night. We all love rocking but I actually felt bad for the newbie cruisers because it was pretty intense today.

It actually made dancing quite difficult as we kept stumbling all over the place. It's a weird and wild feeling, I tell ya.

I had intended on staying for just 10 minutes but Kira pleaded to stay longer so we stayed until it was dinner time and then headed to my favourite restaurant, Tiana's...

I totally forgot to tell you but as we were chilling in the room before getting ready, we got a call from Boohla letting us know that he had a private table for us. I asked him if it was just for tonight or for the entire cruise and happily, it was for the next 6 nights.

And it was on the other side of the room from table 28 so there would be no awkwardness running into our former table mates.

Yay for table # 7!

We got to meet our server, Edwin and assistant server, Emanuel. We loved them both, they had great personalities! I think Emanuel was a little new because we noticed that Edwin was picking up the slack for him a little and explaining things a lot to him and the drinks were a little slow but were super happy to be there, so it was all good! Remember that first photo I took at Animator's last night? Well, that was Edwin on the right, so it must have been kismet

We were all very thankful and for the first time ever, I added extra gratuities to that Head Server envelope at the end of our cruise. Normally I don't enjoy the head servers, in fact, we've had Boohla before as our HS and didn't care for him. Actually, it's not the head server themselves I don't like, it's just their general position, they come off as used car dealers, if that makes sense? But I was VERY appreciative of his services this cruise and tipped him very well!

For the fourth year in a row, we had the pleasure of The Brace Boys entertaining us at our fave restaurant. I found out that this would be their last sailing with DCL as they are going on tour. I couldn't get a good pic because of the pillar but Rob got some video so I will put that on the trip video.

Tiana herself came by for a visit...

Kira had her old staple...

Rob had the crab dip...

and the mushroom soup too....

Louis came for a visit too, well, more like a drive-by.

Main courses...

And dessert time...

This is one of my faves...and I don't even like bananas in anything!

We were all stuffed, it was delicious!! Kira ran off before we finished, to join her friends and we thanked Edwin and Emanuel and then headed back to the room to change for the pool.

I was looking forward to more pool time but Mother Nature had other plans.

 

[mkmommy]

Thank you for your report, I have read some previous ones of yours, and they are well done and fun to follow. Your daughter is so grown up .

I have been humming and hawing if I wanted to postpone the Panama Canal cruise I have booked for next fall, as I was not sure if I wanted to sail into Galveston or the next one that goes from New Orleans. It is a Christmas themed cruise so your pictures made me realize that will be an added benefit and will be much better than the next Panama Canal cruise that is in Feb.Any idea if the Galaxy of Lights is an annual event, it would be a great even to see?

 

[DisneyDillyDally]

Following along! Would love to do a Disney Xmas cruise

 

[tundra1]

I love the holiday lights! We are going on the Fantasy next November, and it will be during the Merrytime Cruise festivities. Did you have to bring battery operated lights, or did they allow you to bring ones that needed to be plugged in?