Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder, The Sequel ~ 2017

[TestingH2O]

Catching up so you may get more posts from me. Sorry!

First, Kira is so big!!! I said that last time but seriously!

We used the secret stairs at the back of the ship, which are super handy to get around if you are staying at the very aft.

I had no idea about these. Do they exist on the Magic too? We were very aft on the Wonder last summer and have the same rooms on the Magic this summer.

 

[TestingH2O]

When we got back to the room, we found these goodies!

So what were all the goodies? A tumbler, a litho...?

Love your reports! We do Key West next spring. I'll be looking for suggestions on things to do.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

I had a lot of catching up to do.
I absolutely love your formal pics! So festive!
Those dessert pics at Tritons are killing me. I could just eat them off the screen! Yum!

Loved the Key West pics. When in Key West, have key lime pie, loved the pie pic! The Mallory
Square pic is gorgeous!
Lol, ok, I never thought about heading to deck 4 at all aboard time to watch latecomers,
but I have to admit, it sounds like fun. Hehe

Wow, I can't believe that heavy breathing, grunting guy pedaling his imaginary bike on the hard wooden floor
next to you guys, lol. I guess he'll always be known as the ' "Seriously, dude?" Guy.'
Kira's expression is hysterical! It says it all.

Love all your sunset and ocean pics!

Can't believe you got table 39 in AP. The dining gods were listening. I love a corner too. Or even a wall! I'll take a wall!

About Kira's corn dog pic in AP. I don't know. Could they spare the fries? I'm counting
1, 2, 3 whole fries and maybe 3 half fries. Love the Hidden Mickey catsup though.

I can see why you love that Christmas tree. It's gorgeous!
Those Christmas towel animals! One is cuter than the next. So sweet!
Such cute pics of Kira and Santa!
Because of your photos, I'm going to bring little lights on my next cruise, even if they're just white, no matter what time of year. I love how they look.

I'm so glad you were able to swim on Christmas day on CC. I remember back in 2004 being on CC in early Dec. I was afraid we weren't going to be able to swim, but it was perfect. I don't like extreme heat anyway (or heat in general, lol). Your ship pics on CC are stunning!
Pineapple Coconut ice cream!!! Wowsers! I'm glad your hubby got to have some this time.
Really enjoying your trip report as always and I have to say, your videos from previous trips could bring one to tears. They are so heart warming and fun.
Kira is a darling little dancer. I can see why you'd miss not being able to film her dancing anymore.

Thanks for sharing, Cass!

 

[Timon]

Day 6 Part 3

It was now time to go watch us sail away. This is the most fun port to watch this because there's tons of stuff going on. I've never actually seen anyone be late here, they must start to kick guests off the beach and other areas at a certain time

Look at all those dirty towels!!

Once we pushed off, we went to other other side to watch as the island faded away. I absolutely loved the clouds over CC and couldn't stop watching them

Then we watched the sun set. We sure lucked out this trip with the gorgeous sunsets

Early dinner comes fast, boy!

It's kind of weird because the rest of the day didn't feel like Christmas. The morning part did obviously but then we went ashore and were so distracted with everything, we almost forgot! I was only reminded of it when we headed down for dinner...

When we saw this...

Oh yeah, Christmas dinner

My beautiful family

Rob insisted on one of me

Bah!

At least I was presentable! Normally he wants to take photos of me when my hair is sticking up, haven't showered and I'm braless

Kira got her usual and was checking out the activities. Mostly searching for movies I think. Chip off the 'ole block, that one

Our appetizers..

Kira actually ordered the ham, mostly because her Mommy told her to She had one piece and I had the other, it was delicious!

Rob's...

Mine...

Kira actually stuck around for dessert...

Joel played some card tricks for Kira..

Before we left, we gave Joel and Juan some Christmas gifts. You can kind of see it on the table in the above pic, bottom left corner. I filled a bag up with Canadian chocolate bars and bought them each a $25 gift card from Target while we were in Galveston. Just a little something to say Merry Christmas and to thank them for being here for us and working their butts off. We had left one for Cipto in the room as well.

Back to the room to find this..

And here's tomorrow's Navs...

Tonight we skipped the pool and instead watched Thor Ragnarok again in the BVT and then I think Kira stuck around to watch some of Beauty & The Beast, which is her latest favourite Disney movie.

We had a little hiccup in the beginning but it was another great Christmas for us and I would do it over and over again if I could!

 

[jedijill]

Castaway Cay is so beautiful! I love to see all the activity when the ship is docking and then again at night.

Now that's a great Christmas dinner! No cooking and no dishes!

Jill in CO

 

[Lesley Wake]

It seems like a wonderful evening! And that menu looks great - I would totally get 2 dishes from every category!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We had Joel for a server years ago on the wonder. He was great. How long has he been there?

 

[jenseib]

Wow...I know it's not a typical Christmas...but I wouldn't mind being at CC then!

You are getting some great towel creations this trip!

I totally laughed at the picture of Rob in pants and sweatshirt at CC after his swim. Too funny!!!

 

[Timon]

Day 7 Part 1

Today was our Nassau day but we treated it as another Sea Day. I did want to go get a photo of Rob and Kira at the Welcome to Nassau sign but Kira was not interested in the tiniest bit.

One of these days, I will make it to Atlantis for the water park but knowing from the research I did last year, Christmas time is super busy and it makes it tough to do all of the slides. It's rather expensive so I don't want to pay $400 and do three slides

We cruise the ship anyway, so I was okay not going ashore.

We woke up to this view.

Lots of stuff happening today...

And it was super hot, for me at least!

I love how our verandah framed our view

I decided to skip breakfast this morning and had a lazy morning in bed while Rob and Kira went for some breakfast. I think I just needed a break from the crowds, I don't do well with them sometimes.

I have trained my family well though, they always take pics for me

I eventually got up and showered and wandered the ship a bit and took a pic or two, of course


Here's the lunch menu for Triton's. I had wanted to try a lunch in there but today would not be the day.

The NCL Breakaway, which I don't think I've seen before in person.

I went wandering into After Hours.

And into Azure, which I keep calling Fathoms ...

And then into Cadillac Lounge...

I was sad to see that they swapped out their Route 66 pics here, which was an awesome nod to the original theme and name of After Hours.

This store used to be 80% Star Wars merchandise but now it's almost exclusively pirate stuff.

And into the C & F...

And here's the menu...if you remember my Summer Fantasy report, you know how much I love those loaded tater tots!So much so, I had been dreaming of them ever since!! More on that later.

Back to the room, here's a couple of pics of the super secret aft stairs

 

[jedijill]

I could go for those tater tots right now!

Jill in CO

 

[Timon]

Sasha was in Palo May 2017. We ran into him one port day working at one of the quick foods places. I "think" he said, or someone said that they have to do duty at the various stations in case they are needed to sub, but I could be completely wrong on remembering what was said about why he was serving burgers. Also, I thought the subbing was just for a day here and there.

He is awesome. I hope he is back in Palo the next time we cruise the Wonder.



Such a beautiful young lady. I am sure she makes your heart swell daily.



Great, GREAT photos!



Kate

Thanks Kate

Yes, Sasha is pretty awesome! Well loved on these boards

Love the Morning show! Are they still doing the Door of the Day?

Hmm, I've never heard of it! I've watched these shows for the last 3 cruises and never heard of door of the day, they just showcase someone's door every morning?

Great update! I love all your family photos - you got some good ones on formal night.

I get the kids who don't like the clubs thing. My DD didn't want to go to them on our first cruise and just hung out with us, which was fine with us. And on our 2nd cruise she had a friend from school to hang out with (we only realized we were on the same cruise about 10 days before it started) and they didn't want to spend time in the clubs. So we learned it's not because she'd have to go there alone. And now she's aged out of them, so it's too late. But we still have lots of fun together as a family.

Looking forward to your next update.

Kira loves the clubs but I think she would do much better if she had a little buddy. She found one last xmas cruise and they were in the clubs a lot. I'm sad that she's almost aged out but I am sure she will find new things to do.

I do this every time! I'll be talking about something completely out of order because I don't take as many pictures.


Aw these are so cute. I love penguins.


That looks like the perfect place to read, really cozy and comfortable. I always bring a book to read and never end up having time to.


Very nice family photo.

Yes, me too! I always used to bring a book and just bring it home unread LOL! I have some books on my ipad now but still never get around to reading them Guess we all just need a really long cruise to do some reading

What a wonderful first full day. Seeing your pictures is just making me so antsy to get on a ship! I wish my husband was one who liked to travel!!! LOL

Crossing fingers for you for summer

That towel animal is AWESOME!!! Super cool.....I see you have Six Appeal!!! Did you go watch them again?

I saw them do a bit during the welcome aboard show but I didn't go see them any other time. They were good but we've seen them before, we would rather do pools

Great day in Key West. I haven't been in about 15 years...I would love to go back again.

Fun to be able to hang with your friends!

That sunset was gorgeous!

Too funny about the exercise guy. I'm with Kira and would say something too. LOL.

She just said it to us, not to him but yeah, it was funny

How wonderful that you were able to meet up with some friends and tour around Key West as a group! My god that pie looks amazing!

Gorgeous sunset pics

They all said it was amazing! It was gone in 2 minutes

And in case anyone's a Navy nerd like me and wanted to know what ship that was, it's the brand-new USS Portland, commissioned just DAYS before the picture was taken.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Portland_(LPD-27)

She's also the only ship in the US fleet currently armed with lasers! LASERS!!!

Mark

Yes, Rob took about a million pics of it and was googling it as soon as he saw it

This has to be the best towel animal I have ever seen. I want to bring this picture with me on my next cruise to request this lol.

I know, right???!!!!

I was in Key West in October a week or so after they reopened to ships. There was a lot of tree limbs/foliage piled up but it looks a lot better in your pics. The Southern Most Point monument was still being repainted when I was there since the hurricane scrubbed all the paint off. I fell in love with Key West! I really need to go back to just enjoy it. I passed that restaurant and now I wished I had stopped!

That exercise guy...SMH!

Love Kira's dress. The "professional" photos are scary! Animator's Palatte has the best menu! Love the pursettes and the soups!

Jill in CO

Oh wow, in October? I can imagine what it looked like! We saw some huge piles and that was months after!

Yes, love Key West, I would love to stay there for a week...in the winter though Definitely stop at Blue Heaven if you get a chance

Christmas on Castaway Cay sounds amazing even if you didn't find it as amazing. Glad the weather was perfect!

That Santa Claus really knows everything, doesn't he?

Jill in CO

It was amazing really, and a billion times better than being at home!

I'm just saying, after experiencing it last year during a sea day, that I preferred Christmas at Sea and Castaway Cay on another day MUCH better

If I had to do it again though, I would leave all of the Christmas stuff for after the island or maybe even do an early xmas celebration.

Christmas day on CC sounds pretty perfect to me, but I could see how it would feel rushed to do other activities as well. Still...not a bad way to spend Christmas

(which of course reminds me I still need to catch up on Alaska and write about Disneyland at Christmas!)

Yes, brilliant way to spend Christmas!!!

Yes! I am looking forward to it, both of them

Blue Heaven is my favorite place in Key West for Key Lime Pie!!!
We have been there a few times and have never had real food, next time for sure, it all looks so good!
Our grandkids had a blast playing ping pong with a few other kids. I could sit out in their backyard for hours, especially on a cool Florida day!

Yes, it was awesome to spend some time there! And the food was delicious! I would definitely stop there again!

We spent New Years Day on Castaway Cay. Was hard to get up in the morning after the NYE parties, so I can understand your comments about not as nice as a day at sea. Best thing was we got to see the Dream and Magic sail by.

Oh wow, yeah, that must have been tough! But I bet the Dream and Magic made up for it!

Catching up so you may get more posts from me. Sorry!

First, Kira is so big!!! I said that last time but seriously!



I had no idea about these. Do they exist on the Magic too? We were very aft on the Wonder last summer and have the same rooms on the Magic this summer.

She is so tall now, she will be bigger than me soon!

Yup, on the Magic too! Only handy if you are very far aft. And then there's another separate staircase from deck 8 right into Cabanas

So what were all the goodies? A tumbler, a litho...?

Love your reports! We do Key West next spring. I'll be looking for suggestions on things to do.

Tumbler, litho and little box of chocolates.

So many awesome things to do in Key West, you will love it

I had a lot of catching up to do.
I absolutely love your formal pics! So festive!
Those dessert pics at Tritons are killing me. I could just eat them off the screen! Yum!

Loved the Key West pics. When in Key West, have key lime pie, loved the pie pic! The Mallory
Square pic is gorgeous!
Lol, ok, I never thought about heading to deck 4 at all aboard time to watch latecomers,
but I have to admit, it sounds like fun. Hehe

Wow, I can't believe that heavy breathing, grunting guy pedaling his imaginary bike on the hard wooden floor
next to you guys, lol. I guess he'll always be known as the ' "Seriously, dude?" Guy.'
Kira's expression is hysterical! It says it all.

Love all your sunset and ocean pics!

Can't believe you got table 39 in AP. The dining gods were listening. I love a corner too. Or even a wall! I'll take a wall!

About Kira's corn dog pic in AP. I don't know. Could they spare the fries? I'm counting
1, 2, 3 whole fries and maybe 3 half fries. Love the Hidden Mickey catsup though.

I can see why you love that Christmas tree. It's gorgeous!
Those Christmas towel animals! One is cuter than the next. So sweet!
Such cute pics of Kira and Santa!
Because of your photos, I'm going to bring little lights on my next cruise, even if they're just white, no matter what time of year. I love how they look.

I'm so glad you were able to swim on Christmas day on CC. I remember back in 2004 being on CC in early Dec. I was afraid we weren't going to be able to swim, but it was perfect. I don't like extreme heat anyway (or heat in general, lol). Your ship pics on CC are stunning!
Pineapple Coconut ice cream!!! Wowsers! I'm glad your hubby got to have some this time.
Really enjoying your trip report as always and I have to say, your videos from previous trips could bring one to tears. They are so heart warming and fun.
Kira is a darling little dancer. I can see why you'd miss not being able to film her dancing anymore.

Thanks for sharing, Cass!

Thanks for all the comments

I'm with you and the heat! I'm sad now that I didn't swim at CC this time, I just wasn't into it this time.

Yeah, she still loves to dance, she just won't let me record it anymore

Castaway Cay is so beautiful! I love to see all the activity when the ship is docking and then again at night.

Now that's a great Christmas dinner! No cooking and no dishes!

Jill in CO

The BEST!!!

It seems like a wonderful evening! And that menu looks great - I would totally get 2 dishes from every category!

LOL! It was awfully yummy!

We had Joel for a server years ago on the wonder. He was great. How long has he been there?

Oh crap, I don't remember now

Wow...I know it's not a typical Christmas...but I wouldn't mind being at CC then!

You are getting some great towel creations this trip!

I totally laughed at the picture of Rob in pants and sweatshirt at CC after his swim. Too funny!!!

LOL! He used to wear his wool Mexican-type pullovers

I could go for those tater tots right now!

Jill in CO

Me too! But the ones on the Fantasy

 

[krissy2803]

Hmm, I've never heard of it! I've watched these shows for the last 3 cruises and never heard of door of the day, they just showcase someone's door every morning?

On the EBPC they did a segment on the morning show featuring decorated doors. They even made an intro song for it.

 

[Impromark]

Thanks Kate
Yes, Rob took about a million pics of it and was googling it as soon as he saw it

I suspect we frequent the same Calgary Expo, albeit in different wardrobes. Star Wars rocks.

Mark

 

[nykonax]

Great to see some other Calgarians! Loving through TR so far. Were in Orlando right now getting ready for our Wonder cruise. We went at the perfect time too, skipping the snow and cold back home. Great work!

 

[cntkg1]

Sorry, it took me some time to catch up. Stupid Influenza virus!!


Those breakfast potatoes are one of my favorite food items on the ship! I love those things. J


It would be so nice if everyone with a verandah could see the temperature every day. What a nice add in on yours.


BEAUTIFUL family pics, Cass!!



Loved the new towel animal. Your stateroom host is very creative.


I’ll take your Spicy Chicken sandwich any day! Another one of my favorites although I can usually only find it at CC.




Key West!!! Ahhhhhhhh……

My only memory of Key West (besides the Key Lime Pie) was the heat. So glad it was doable for you.

Love your “Blown by unseen winds” hair do. J

I think Exercise Dude was showing off in front of you. Now don’t you feel so special? LOL!!!

The sunset pics were breathtaking. <3



Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream? I’ll remember to tell Chuck about that one. It may replace his favorite Banana Ice Cream. Certainly sounds refreshing.



We love to stand either on our verandah or deck 4 when leaving all ports to watch for the late comers too. Only once did we see someone actually get left behind though. Saw a few pretty close calls though.



Yep, I have to agree with you on it being waaaay too hot in Nassau. Staying on the ship would’ve suited me just fine too.


Loving all the pics of the clubs around the ship. But, how do you talk all the other passengers and CM's into staying out of your shots? LOL!!

I have to say that your pics from your iPhone (or did you bring a camera this time) far surpasses those taken by the ship's photographers. You could give them quite a few pointers.

 

[Timon]

Day 7 Part 2

It was now time for lunch. We headed to Cabanas for Rob.

This was my view while I waited for Rob to get his food...

Kira and I grabbed a hot dog from Pete's and sat with Rob back in Cabanas.

I think Kira went back to the room for a bit while Rob and I played some Disney Trivia.

I don't recall what we did next but my next pic is from our verandah just before we sailed away from Nassau.

One day I will make it to the Queen's Staircase (where that tower is)! I keep wanting to do it but haven't made it yet.

There were weird-looking things floating in the water...

And once again we watched the Pilot boat come and go.

And watched another glorious sunset from our verandah.

Kira was hungry so I accompanied her to deck 9 to grab something right after we changed for Pirate Night. We used to get all dressed up for Pirate Night but our costumes take up way too much room in the suitcase and I'm just kind of over it all. I love seeing other people get all decked out in their pirate garb but I'm good with just a piratey tee.

The light on deck 9 was fantastic and there was hardly anyone around.

She grabbed some fruit & cookies from Daisy's...

And then another hot dog from Pete's

 

[JenLovesMM]

I love how Kira had fruit and cookies before her hot dog and fries, dessert first is the best way to eat on vacation!
And those sunsets!! Hoping to see nice ones like that in 2.5 weeks!

 

[cntkg1]

I’d have to say that the Nassau sunsets were nicer than the Key West ones. Sooooo gorgeous! And I do love how your verandah opening made the perfect frame for those pictures too.

 

[Timon]

Day 7 Part 3

It was now time for our dinner. Once again, we did not have the Pirate Night menu, we had what is normally called The Captain's Gala menu. This is my least favourite of the regular menus because it is filled with seafood, which menolikey and there is no normal beef option.

The great thing about the Navigator App is that you can see all of the menu for every night ahead of time so I planned for this. Last year, our server Aaron kindly had a filet & potatoes made for me. This time I asked Joel if I could order from (my favourite menu!) Tiana's. Triton's & Tiana's share a kitchen and Tiana's was offering their regular menu tonight, so I knew it was possible. I gave Joel my order the night before to make it a little easier for him and he came through like a rock star

Here is our menu from that night...

Rob was happy because he was getting seafood tonight. Normally this is Semi-Formal night's menu and we often skip it and hit the pool up so he was stoked

My piratey family

Kira left to go grab her pirate bandana

Rob's meal...

And here's my dinner...

I don't have a pic of Kira's dinner so I am guessing that she didn't eat anything but buns since she had just chowed down on fruit & hot dog & cookies

Rob's dessert menu & dessert...

And my dessert...

These are my favourite desserts I have ever had on a ship! And that is saying a lot because I am not a dessert person!

I asked for two orders of beignets because I know Rob and Kira like them too.

After we devoured our delicious dinner, we headed down to the shops. Kira got a pin set & lanyard from Santa and she was about to do her first pin trading.

The pins Santa got her were Frozen pins, which she wasn't interested in at all so she ended up trading one that night and the rest later in the cruise, which I am sure made some little girls day when they saw them available for trading!

Rob collects pins but doesn't trade them so this is our first experience with pin trading.

Almost all of the pins were weird or seemed kind of cheap. I kind of assumed they were going to be similar to the kind that you buy in the park, the nice character ones or similar but they weren't. Kira only found one pin that she even wanted to trade out of 4 books in both stores.

I perused the lovely Disney jewelry case while she decided on one.

We headed back to the room to grab our popcorn bucket and some water. There's no pool time tonight because they close the pool for the Pirate Party and the stinkers don't open it back up afterwards

I love these prints in the midship staircase, close to the shops...one side is Walt, one side is Roy.

I also loved this view of the atrium chandelier..

Back in the room, we found this...

And here's the Nav's...

We didn't feel like facing crowds so we opted to watch the fireworks from deck 4. We also did some shopping as you can tell from the bag and Kira's new cuddly partner, Dante

I was trying to take a pic of how dark and quiet it was down the side of deck 4 when the fireworks started and I ended up with this shot.

There was no show tonight, just a showing of The Last Jedi in the Walt Disney Theatre. We had seen it on opening day at home but we all loved it so we got there early to grab a good spot to watch it again.

Kira and I were pretty wiped so we left the movie about half-way while Rob enjoyed the rest.

We ordered room service and enjoyed some Mommy & Kira time

When Rob got back, we was snuggling and watching a movie

Kira went to bed and Rob and I enjoyed some verandah time.

It was so beautiful out and we watched a ship pass us going the other way. I've never seen a big ship so close going the opposite way. We've seen many following our same path so this was kind of neat.

And here's where we were...

 

[tiggrbaby]

I don't blame you for being annoyed with the trivia! Did you make any note of it in a comment card?

Sunset pics are gorgeous!

I think your idea with shirts and quiet view was brilliant!