Day 1 - Miscellaneous observations about the Wonder - or how we spent our time before the safety drill
Life on Deck 8
Conor and I had initially headed down to the cabin to see if it was open, leaving DH to guard my iced latté (there was a quiet, but very happy sigh at this point) and our bags - in case it wasn't ready. As it was, I once again deliberately set out to annoy other passengers and I left my child in the cabin long enough to jog up one deck, fetch DH and our bags, and head back down.
Hilariously, Conor was diligently watching the safety video that had been on when we entered the room, and proceed to ensure that we checked our supply of life jackets, and made sure that DH and I knew to be ready to bring our medications if we had to evacuate the ship (yes, we are old, we take meds). Captain Safety, at your service.
Once we got through that lecture (we diligently listen and work hard to be serious when he is being very serious - it's hard!)
On first glance, there were really no differences between 8018 on the Wonder and 8024 on the Magic, except for the lack (in 18) of the connecting door. We had the Queen bed, with the (I gather) new linens, the sofa, the bunk bed (in the ceiling) and a Murphy bed (in the wall). My all-time favourite curtain was there to divide the room in two (that is genius).
There are a few differences though. We discovered the chest thing (instead of the shelving) which is charming, but far less capacious than cupboards - not a big deal for us, but relevant for those who have 4 or 5 humans in the room, instead of our 3.
We checked out the "chiling box" or whatever it's called- we used it only for milk & juice and it seemed to work fine. (It's not a real refrigerator, I understand?)
Otherwise, it was the same closet, safe, table, light fixtures, veranda, split bathroom, bathtub, etc. as on the Magic. We were able to control ourselves and not get excited about the bath products.
(Ducking!)
The location is a bit better though- very definitely under the Quiet Cove (or whatever it's called) and it was generally quiet. It's right near the forward elevators, but we never heard any noise from that area.
(Apologies - this is not very exciting - we were just plain content with our cabin!)
All of us having sufficiently explored, DH unpacked the stash of grown-up drinks, as we checked out the veranda- a much nicer view than in PC, I will admit.
Club/Lab
Not surprisingly, Dude was itching to get to the kids' areas, so off we went. There was no line-up to get him Magic-banded, and we checked out the Club first.
A note about what
DCL does well here- for my kiddo, he loves the fact that he is under no obligation or pressure to participated in organized activities. He occasionally will join in - but it's clear this is how he enjoys his vacation. At home, he's a camp-kid- LOVES day camp, and pines to attend when he can't (school is a reasonably pleasant interlude between summers of day camps), so he's fine with organized activities, but on vacation- he's chill-out boy. We love and appreciate his self-regulation, even when it drives us nuts, so the set up of the Club/Lab is perfect for us.
He LOVED it at the club- that pirate ship structure is by far the best thing (in his experienced 7-year-old view) in all the clubs. He's an active kid if he has the opportunity, so we would always, always find him on the ship. There were many, many bad guys that needed to be fought from the ship, we gathered. A bit of an infestation. He would often recruit friends (never learning their names ... why???) and would have a ball. He almost never watched TV or played video games in the club. We loved that about it.
The Lab was pretty good too - but it's full of screens, so if he had to be there due to open houses etc., he would usually play a video game, except the on time that Stitch (who is not known to be on the Alaskan cruises ... and I'm vaguely horrified I know that...) came in for some activity or other, and as he is Conor's favourite after Mickey, that was enough to not play games. It was interesting though - as soon as he could go back to the Club, we would always find him there, having "transitioned" over, in Mickey speak.
The CMs were great for the most part. A few seemed tired, but hey - I can't blame them. Many got to know Conor though by name.
As there are no fancy handwashing machines on the Wonder, Conor soon learned to tap his bracelet, then immediately cup his hand for a squirt of soap, so he could quickly get the handwashing out of the way, and get down to the business of playing. This caused amusement often as we checked him in.
Overall- in Conor ratings - the Fantasy is his favourite Club, because of that version of Andy's room (yes, I know it's on the Dream too - but he still remembers the Fantasy fondly), and the dance floor, but the structure in the Club on the Wonder wins hands down as the best thing in any of the clubs.
If you've been reading the boards, there is some discussion about the increased number of open houses - so I will admit we did notice this. I wasn't thrilled, since it seemed more often that Conor would ask to go to the Club, only for us to find out it was either in Open House mode, or that they had the (new) special "preschool" time for the 3-5 crowd. Fortunately, he was happy enough to skip over to the lab, but it did mean more videos, which we're OK with in moderation, but too many turn him into an unpleasant beast, so we'd make a point of fetching him earlier than we would have in the club.
Please note that my child has NEVER asked for the staff to call us. EVER. Even on rather cold, Tracy Arm day, when he was one of 5 kids (or so) who did base camp. We try not to take it personally....
Or we pretend we are super-parents who raised him to be independent. (Pass the wine, would you, please? ) We are used to this, because at camp or his after school program, he complains loudly for all to hear if we dare to pick him up early.
Other odds and sods (a favourite expression my grandmother used to use)
I'll wrap this up enough to get us to Sail-away tomorrow.
After extracting Conor from the club with a promise he could FINALLY build his
Lego that he bought the day before, we happily located all of our luggage (SCORE) outside our room. Our Cabin host was the best we've ever had - super-friendly, knew our names on the first day, and just generally great. We sorted out that yes, we wanted the pull-down bed pulled down.
DH and I unpacked, and we organized the stuff to send to the angels on board who press your clothes.
If you have not cruised before - DO THIS. It's heaven. You take your stuff that is now all wrinkly despite your careful packing (or, in my case, it's wrinkled because wrinkles are attracted to my clothes) and you leave them out with the little slip of paper for your cabin attendant. The next day, Big Mouse has neatly pressed your clothes way better than you could have possible achieved (of note, I am iron-challenged, and I'm better than DH). It costs very little, and it's awesome.
If you are picturing a hive of efficient work, let me disabuse you of that notion. We would unpack for a whole, well, it must have been at LEAST 10 minutes, then we would sit on the veranda to recover. Having sipped on our beverages of choice, we would rally enough motivation for another whole 10 minutes.
Conor was looking out for me, and he gave me a foot massage, and then planned a whole suite of services he would offer over the course of the week, none of which panned out. Fortunately, he's a very cute personal attendant, (we think), so he was forgiven.
Here he is in action... (sorry- it's not a great shot - I was distracted by the foot massage - his first - I felt needed to encourage this sort of behaviour). Note the Mickey/Canada shirt. I am mom. Hear me roar. (And NO, we adults did not have matching or coordinating shirts. That is just not in my power.)
We were mostly done when it was time to head to the safety drill. By accident, we left later than we usually do- and discovered, this is the thing to do. You want to arrive about 5 minutes before the drill - far less standing around, squishing into people you do not know - but then, you're not late. This was the first time I saw them actively seek out folk with mobility challenges, to give them a place to sit.
If you ask Conor, the next 10 minutes lasted for about 4 centuries, but it was in fact quite short, to the point, and not terribly unpleasant (nice T-shirted folks around us).
We knew enough to walk outside on Deck 4 until we got to the Forward elevators to head up to Deck ... 8. NOT 9. We do not do Sail away parties, except on our veranda, and tomorrow, you'll hear about that. There was a mystical mouse sighting and all...
Good night!
Alaska is on my bucket list. I so enjoy seeing all the beautiful pictures until I can get there myself.
I have naturally curly hair, so hairdryers and I are not on good terms, to put it mildly. DH, well, let's just say that a hairdryer would be wasted on his head, and Conor's hair dries in about 1 minute of toweling, and then he goes to bed. 
