January 9, 2020 - Girls Gone Not-So-Wild Weekend on the Wonder - completed

Usually I lurk, but love your reports!! I hate the creaking too. My solution is to use a white noise app on my phone. I set it on the nightstand and it drowns out all the creaking, it’s great! I use it home now too to drown out my hubby’s cpap machine. Life changing!
 
Oh I realized you asked how Cancun was. It wasn't our first trip but it was our first stay at that particular resort (Now Sapphire), about 20+ minutes from the airport. It was NOT our favourite and I wouldn't return. We love the AMResorts brand (Secrets, Now, Dreams, Breathless) and have been staying with that brand exclusively since about 2014 when we go to all inclusives but this particular resort was disappointing (looooong waits for dinner, cold pools, kids club NOT as good as other ones we have been to before, we upgraded to preferred and it was so NOT worth it at this resort). But heck, it was a good deal and it was a week away after the busy holiday season and it wasn't SNOWING like it was at home so really, it was still nice to get away.

I have looked at the Secrets all inclusive - they have one in Cancun and Cozumel I think. Good to know you think they are good. :thumbsup2

I’m sure getting out of the weather is going to be better than staying in it but disappointing that you didn’t like it as much. :cool:
 
Usually I lurk, but love your reports!! I hate the creaking too. My solution is to use a white noise app on my phone. I set it on the nightstand and it drowns out all the creaking, it’s great! I use it home now too to drown out my hubby’s cpap machine. Life changing!

Thanks for reading along and the kind words! :lovestruc

I always take earplugs but they hurt my ears after a few days. I’ve tried a white noise app before but that keeps me awake too - maybe you have to get used to it? Did you find that?
 
Ouch! your poor hand, burns are so painful. Glad they could help you out with some cream. Oh and I have never had Aperol spritz before, definitely going to try one in May, hopefully!
 


Thanks for reading along and the kind words! :lovestruc

I always take earplugs but they hurt my ears after a few days. I’ve tried a white noise app before but that keeps me awake too - maybe you have to get used to it? Did you find that?
Some sounds are better than others, I have one with about 15 sound choices, the only one that doesn’t bug me is the babbling brook lol.
 
Ouch! your poor hand, burns are so painful. Glad they could help you out with some cream. Oh and I have never had Aperol spritz before, definitely going to try one in May, hopefully!

The Aperol spritz is not sweet - that’s one of my favorite things about it when I’m looking for something different. :thumbsup2
 


Sunday, January 12th - At Sea Day



I managed to get a better night of sleep and didn't get up until 7:40 am. :goodvibes Of course, I also had it in my mind that this was my last day to stay in bed a bit later so I was determined to lay in bed a bit longer. ;)

After getting up and getting ready, I decided to get my tip envelopes done and out the way. Just another little reminder that the cruise is coming to an end. :cool: I also skipped the drink station this morning after yesterday's debacle. :laughing::laughing:




Mum and Maureen were up, ready and texting so we all went up to Cabanas at about 9 am for breakfast. My first attempt was to try and be healthy(ish.)



Which was immediately followed by this! :cool1: In my defense, today was the last day for any type of Mickey waffles so it was either that or have food remorse after I got off the cruise, and that's never a good thing! Nobody wants food remorse on top of post-cruise blues!!!! :lmao:



On our way out of Cabanas we happened to find the Bloody Mary cart which was stationed right by the stairs. :teeth: The server remembered us from the cruise in November and so we chatted to him while he made our drinks. :hyper2: He also remembered that Mum didn't want any alcohol and also didn't like it spicy. :idea: I seriously wonder how they can possibly remember that stuff, it's amazing when you think how many people they meet! ::yes:: These bloody mary's are the bomb - if you see the cart going round on the pool deck, and you like bloody mary's, I highly recommend them. Apparently, for this cruise, his cart was broken and so he wasn't able to move around like he usually does. :rotfl2:



We couldn't really decide what to do, so we went back to the cabins and tried to come up with a plan of attack for the day while enjoying our drinks on the veranda. The navigator showed a Disney trivia session at 11 am, so we decided to go and give that a try. So, let's just say that we aren't exactly your number one Disney trivia buffs. I guess at least we have fun, but thankfully our livelihood doesn't depend on it as here is our score....2 out of 25!!! Embarrassingly bad! :rotfl2:



Scott and I talked off and on a couple of times today. I know I mentioned it earlier, but I was really surprised at how little data WhatsApp used to make just regular calls and message. I think we had 4 or 5 phone calls and many messages and I still had almost half of my 50 MB of data left by the time we got to Galveston. :thumbsup2 I didn't check Facebook or anything else like that though, and I was on my wireless data/call plan for the day we were in Cozumel.



Time to top up the tank again as it had been at least 3 hours since we had eaten, although that didn't include all the veggies in the Bloody Mary. :rotfl: It didn't take much of a decision to go to Cabana’s as it was the last day to browse the buffet. :lovestruc We got there about 1 pm and all decided "we wouldn't eat much" :teeth: because we were going to be in Tritons for dinner and it's one of our favorite menus. I decided to get biryani, curry, fried rice with sweet and sour sauce and some kind of macaroni dish. Such a weird combination now I look at it, who knows what goes through my mind sometimes, so many better choices!!! :rolleyes: :laughing:



Speaking of better choices.....I decided to try their chocolate fudge dessert which was just meh...I should know better, the desserts in Cabanas are usually a bit on the "not worth the calories" side, IMO.



I soon made up for that dessert fail with one of these though....which are worth every single bite of the calories!! :rotfl2:




It was such a beautiful day that we decided to go and stretch our legs a little (and maybe walk off some of that ice cream in my case. :blush:) We went down to deck 4 so that we could walk in the shade.





It's been a while since Mum has walked around that deck, and it's always interesting to see all the stuff used for docking at the front. I'd love to be nosy and be able to see them actually using it. Too bad they rope it off.



This little boat used to have the Wonder painted on it. Either that or it was turned around and I just couldn't see it. :confused3



Now that I am writing this report, it was killing me that I couldn't remember so I went back through old photographs and found how it used to look. :laughing:

[

OK, enough obsessing over the little boat. :hyper: :rotfl: We walked one and a bit laps, so just over 1/3 of a mile, before we decided that was enough and it was time for a nap. I started by trying to read, but that was quickly replaced by the napping situation. I just LOVE at sea days - eat, drink, nap, repeat!! :cloud9::cloud9::cloud9:



Unfortunately, Piedad had left my luggage tags and debarkation information as a rude reminder of tomorrow. I don't care if it's 4 nights, 7 nights, or 14 nights....this still stinks!! :rotfl2:



After my nap I decided to rip the bandaid off and get my packing over and done with.



In case you aren't aware, if you are packing then it's pretty much mandatory that you do this at the same time.... :rotfl:



With my packing mostly done except for my carry on bag, I took a quick shower and then went down to visit with Mum and Maureen for a little while. It was absolutely gorgeous outside with a perfect temperature. :lovestruc




 
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We discussed what we could go and do, but laziness won the day and we so we just hung out on the veranda for a while. :laughing: We did briefly talk about going to see the show (Frozen) as we hadn't gone to one yet, but that didn't happen either. :rotfl: In the end we talked ourselves into going up to Cove Café at about 6 pm.



We didn't sit outside for long as we wanted to see what else they had on their menu inside and it was getting a bit chilly. Quick pic of me before we headed in.



The menu was a bit underwhelming, they used to have a bunch of cocktails but those have been replaced by pricey Scotch and Brandy options. :cool: It was completely empty though so we had our own private little area. :thumbsup2






The bartender helped us out with our drink choices. Maureen said she wanted something similar to a chocolate martini and he offered to make her his "signature" cocktail, which was a Birthday Cake martini. I got an Old Fashioned that he made with Blanton's. Both were great. :drinking1 :lovestruc’ Mum got a tumeric latte, which I thought tasted horrible, but she said she liked it. :laughing: Our handy-dandy bartender also got us a snack selection from the cabinet. :woohoo:





It was a great place to spend an hour or so but we decided to go and watch the family show in Azure at 7:30 pm to kill some time before dinner. We passed by the French Quarter Lounge on the way. We hadn't seen this duo this cruise, but they sounded good. :goodvibes



I've never seen the show "So You Think You Know Your Family" before and it was cute and funny.



Some of the kids were brutally honest!! :scared1::rotfl2:




We were tucked in at the back in one of the booths so I tried to get this selfie but the lighting in Azure isn't great for photographs.



Chris, Assistant Cruise Director, came and sat next to us to watch the show and do the "white coat thing". I chatted to him for a little while and got the gossip on what was going on with him and his white coat situation. :hyper2: I asked him if I could get a photo of him in his whites...it was funny, too bad it didn't come out white, but more pink! :rotfl2:



After the show we stayed in Azure until it was time to go to dinner. We only had to walk to Triton's, so it wasn't going to take us long. Not that anywhere on the ship takes long to get to! :goodvibes



I think we all had already decided what we wanted before we even got there, but we took a look through the menus anyway and snapped some quick pics.





I had the French Onion Soup (which was boiling hot!) and the Lamb, Maureen had the French Onion Soup and the Chateaubriand and Mum had the salmon.





Dessert is an easy choice on this menu too, I had the soufflé and Maureen had the crème brûlée and we had a taste of both. Yummy!!! :woohoo:





We didn't feel like staying to watch the Til We Meet Again show so we just went back to our cabins and were there a little before 10 pm. Piedad had left this for me - I love these that sit up - they crack me up every time. :rotfl2:



It was time to start throwing together some of the last minute things so that I didn't have much to do in the morning. :sad2:



I went to get the magnets off the doors and saw that Piedad hadn't got my suitcase yet, but when I saw her she said she still had quite a few to collect. By this time it was gone 10 pm, they really work so hard. ::yes::



Blahh....boring door with no magnets. *creak creak* :laughing:



I finally got all the odds and ends done and got into bed about 10:15 pm. I read my book and filled out the EXCELLENT comment card. :laughing: To be fair though, nobody had pushed us on that this time around (that I remember anyway - maybe it just goes in one ear and out the other. ;))




Coming up: Debarkation Day...blahhhh....
 
Thank goodness you didn't do much on the last sea day, I was getting worried for a bit 😆

Packing and drinking go hand in hand, obvs. Makes for some fun and interesting UNpacking when you get home if you've had a few as well....trust me on this one :rotfl2:
 
Sound like you have had some fun unpacking experiences! :drinking::rotfl: Too funny. Today was a much more civilized at sea day for sure!
 
Monday, January 13th - Debarkation

Sure enough the last day dawned and it was time to get into the real world mode. :sad: I hadn't had a good night of sleep again, between the room *creak creak* and feeling a pretty strong vibration/shimmy that started at about 2:30 am it was a fitful night of sleep. Mum and Maureen said they had the same thing. The shimmy stopped at about 4 am but then they started docking and using the thrusters about 5:30 am. Oh well, real world here I come! :rotfl2:

I got up at about 7 am and took my time getting ready and putting the last few things in the bag. I remembered that the weather was supposed to be a little nasty in Galveston so I turned on the bridge cam, and sure enough it was. In some ways that always makes me feel better though - at least it's not like we were going to miss out on a beautiful day. :laughing:




Mum and Maureen were texting and we were all ready, so I went down to their room at about 7:40 am. More grayness outside from their veranda.







We hung about until 8 o’clock and then began the DCL version of Frogger with the elevator's on departure day. :rotfl2: We eventually found an elevator we could fit into. :thumbsup2 There seemed to be a lot of disability scooters and wheelchairs this morning and those elevators are not the most spacious. :crowded::crowded::crowded: Of course, we were in Tritons again for breakfast this morning. We left our bags by the restaurant entrance, dumped our comment cards (we are good little cruisers :goodvibes) and made our way to our table. Our servers had pretty much all their tables full, but the tables next to us were empty. The folded napkin makes me laugh now, just one more reminder that you are about to face a rude awakening! :laughing:



No changes to the menu that I could see, and we all ordered something for breakfast.



I got the muesli and a fresh fruit and Mum and Maureen got some kind of of eggs and toast combo, probably Eggs for the Road - it's the only one that doesn't come with the weird scrambled egg. :crazy2:





A picture of Mum with Marvin and Buyani - they were great servers.



It was about 8:30 am when we got finished eating but they did not call our luggage tags till about 8:50 am so we hung out at the table for a little bit. We said goodbye to all of the servers that we knew on the way out. We really got lucky that there were so many we knew on our rotation this time around! :grouphug: It didn't take long to get off the ship and get through customs and immigration, and we were on the shuttle headed back to get our car by 9:15 am.



This picture would be so much more exciting if we were just arriving instead of leaving! ;)




Sigh.



We got back to the car and headed home. Maureen got this last photo of the Wonder was we pulled onto Harborside Drive.



The journey back to Houston was uneventful, albeit slow, because it rained almost the entire way home. We stopped to pick up Charlie :cat: at the vet who was extremely pleased to see us, and we were home by noon. :thumbsup2

Another great cruise and this one was so much fun with just us girls. :goodvibes We don't have any other cruises planned at the moment, but there are plenty of options on the horizon - we shall have to see where our next adventure takes us. :lovestruc
 
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Sigh is right. Always a great time and this one was especially fun based on how many servers we knew and have had fun with!! Thanks Jen. I’ll read it again soon so I can enjoy the trip again ❤️
 
Great report! So terrible to not get a good night's sleep--have you ever had that happen before?

I’ve had occasional nights where the ship rocks enough it will jolt you awake. Galveston cruises can have some rougher seas than those out of PC though. Even crew have told us the Galveston sailings are their most rocky. This was a vibration related to the ships engines and I think it’s because my cabin was so far aft.
 
Sigh. Sad because it's over but happy because it happened :lovestruc

The really bad part about this one is we don’t have another booked [technically we are on the EBPC but that’s not going to happen] and with all the cancelled sailings now it will be interesting to see what happens wrt the sailings later in the year and how full they are.
 

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