A Disney WONDER-ful Spring Break Cruise...Our First Cruise Trip Report!

[MeLaNie9]

Welcome to our first ever cruise trip report! You can see from my signature that we have taken many trips to WDW and more recently, have been on a number of cruises. The boys (12 and 10) and I have completed the DCL Grand Slam. DH has yet to be on the Magic.
Other than the fact that we really enjoy all things Disney (especially STAR WARS), we do have some real reasons for our Disney fanaticism…

Meet our family… We live on the west side of Cleveland and we are all Cleveland born and bred.

Randy (DH) - Stay-at-home dad, has occasionally picked golf trips over Disney cruises. Star Wars and Cleveland sports fanatic.
Mary (Me) - I'm a Neonatologist. I work A LOT. I love vacation time! Star Wars and Cleveland sports fanatic. Last year I saw The Force Awakens 15 times between the release date and when the DVD came out, including as many times as possible on 2 cruises last spring!
Nathan (DS, 12) - In 7th grade; is a foodie, an actor, a singer, and plays basketball and baseball. Star Wars fanatic. He probably knows more about Disney and especially DCL than the rest of us. He LOVES Disney cruises, esp since he has been able to go to Edge. He is the one who really wanted to do this trip report, mostly to report on the food, and is going to be adding his thoughts to the posts in red font. Hi!
Brett (DS, 10) - In 4th grade; plays football, baseball, basketball and runs track. Star Wars and overall sports fanatic. He has a serious dairy allergy which brings us to why so much Disney…we have found WDW and DCL to be just fantastic for him (Disneyland not so much). If we vacation elsewhere, we need a kitchen and I have to cook

We became DVC owners last year on our Spring Break cruise (probably should have done it much sooner). We took advantage and bought an AP this year, first used in Aug 2016 and have stayed at OKW and BWV since with plans to stay at the Poly this Aug. We have yet to figure out DVC and cruises.

How this cruise came about…
I have a tendency to do this every other year: I think, "We don't need to go away for spring break this year. We're good." Then somewhat last minute, I realize that I really do need to get away! 2 years ago I did this and we ended up on the Wonder for Spring Break but then I realize I'd better plan something for the next year and we did a great 7-day Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy last year. So this year I was due to think, "We don't need to go way this Spring Break." And I did. And then things played out exactly the same way and last minute we booked this trip and one for next year. I actually booked the cruise and the flights all at once because the flight prices were so cheap for flying out on Easter Sunday morning (embarkation day) and coming back on that Thursday (disembarkation day). This plan was not without concern, flying out on the same day as embarkation day is something we have only done once before and believe me, I was nervous and constantly checking the weather forecast for Easter as we have had snow on Easter in April before.

The itinerary:
Sunday April 16th - Port Canaveral
Monday April 17th - Nassau
Tuesday April 18th - Castaway Cay
Wednesday April 19th - Day at Sea
Thursday April 20th - Port Canaveral

I was super excited for this cruise especially because we would be able to see all the new changes done during dry dock! My parents had tried to keep this trip a surprise. They did not do a good job, as they did for our Magic cruise in 2014. Near the end of March, I broke my fifth metatarsal in my right foot. We were worried because we did not know for sure whether or not I would be out of the boot, and if I was, if I would be able to do things such as swim and run the 5K. I ended up cleared the week before we left to be out of the boot and to swim, but no running.

 

[MeLaNie9]

Planning…

Middle of March- We decided that the whole family would run the 5K. Had not decided what to do on Castaway Cay day for excursions. We thought we would just stay on the ship at Nassau.

End of March- I broke my foot. We thought that everyone, except for me, would run the 5K. We did not book anything for Castaway Cay day because we did not know if I would be able to get in the water. We still thought that we would just stay on the ship for Nassau day.

April 12th- I was cleared to swim so we started looking for excursions at Castaway Cay. I was not able to run, so the previous plan for the 5K was still in place. We decided to book bike rentals for Castaway Cay day. We planned for everyone, who could, to run the 5K, then eat breakfast and lunch together on the ship, and then go ashore to the island. We also found an excursion for Nassau day called the Crazy Horse Jet Boat Tour. Here is the description from the DCL site.
The Crazy Horse Jet Boat is built for speed, but count on some intriguing Bahamian history to go with your wild ride.
On this adventure you will…

• Begin with a 15-minute walk down Prince George Dock.
• After a brief orientation, hop aboard the Crazy Horse Jet Boat for an unforgettable thrill ride.
• Splash through beautiful Nassau Harbor while the captain tells you about the rich history of the Bahamas.
• Experience incredible sliding and fishtailing maneuvers, along with awesome 180-degree spins. You will get wet! Speed around the coastline of Paradise Island and along Cable Beach. See Atlantis Royal Towers and cruise under the old bridge to Coral World.
• Conclude your tour and return back to the pier.

Here is a link to a video of the jet boat.

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The cruise set sail on April 16th so, because of my foot, we really booked excursions last minute. This was the latest we had ever booked anything, but it, surprisingly, all worked out. This would be our first time off the ship in Nassau, except for my dad. He got off briefly last time we visited.

We always look over the menus on the Disney Cruise Line Blog and looked at pictures of what we were considering trying.

We are not "running people" and so we were really doing the CC 5K for the medal. I have a Peloton spin bike and a road bike and that's my usual exercise. Because of a volleyball career, including college, my joints are not what they used to be (esp my left hip and both knees) so I wasn't overly excited for the run. Brett, the track star, kept predicting how he would beat DH and me.

I forgot to mention we have a dog, Frankie. She's 13 and really the best dog, but she does have a problem if left alone with thunderstorms - she eats the doors and walls. So..whenever we go away, we can't really put her in a kennel. She goes to stay with my father-in-law and his wife and she really loves her vacation time there! So we worked that out in advance as well.

We did check over and over for a cabana on the family beach. We knew this was really a long shot (we are Gold), but as we didn't know if Nathan would get out of the boot for the cruise, we thought it would be good for him. Of course, one never came open. There were 2 open on Serenity Bay for a while, but right before the cruise, they were booked also.

We went back and forth about doing FE this time. Usually this ends up me having to be crafty and make the gifts (or buy them) and I really just didn't have the time with work. So, the boys and DH decided that they wanted to do it and I said that it would be all up to them. They decided to go for it.

Next up: Embarkation Day!​

 

[Mighty Mouse Mama]

Yay! I'm so excited to have found your trip report! We are booked this December on the Dream for the same itinerary, so I'm excited to see what your trip was like. This'll be our first cruise, so I'll be interested to see what the differences might be between the two ships. Loving that your son is giving his perspective too! Looking forward to more!

 

[MeLaNie9]

Yay! I'm so excited to have found your trip report! We are booked this December on the Dream for the same itinerary, so I'm excited to see what your trip was like. This'll be our first cruise, so I'll be interested to see what the differences might be between the two ships. Loving that your son is giving his perspective too! Looking forward to more!

 

[MeLaNie9]

Day Before Embarkation Day:
Finally, April 15th arrived! DH took our dog to his dad's and I made sure everything was packed. We were flying Frontier and paid to check one bag. We don't have much problem traveling with one checked suitcase and with 4 personal items. Brett can usually pack all of his clothes for a 4-5 day trip into a backpack. Nathan has gotten so big that it has become more difficult for him to do that but I am a pretty light packer. Randy is NOT however, but he did have to pack appropriate clothes for our Palo brunch. Because we were going to miss Easter mass because of travel, we thought about the Easter vigil on this night, but it tends to last 2-3 hours and I knew we all needed to be in bed sleeping because we were planning on being up around 4am. This, of course, is another drawback of flying out on the embarkation day - that we were all going to be exhausted! On the plus side, the weather report was good - we wouldn't have an April Easter snowstorm (and a grounded flight)! Final prep was making some wraps for the flight and packing a few other snacks.

Embarkation Day/Easter:
We were up around 4am. The boys found their hidden Easter baskets and packed some movie-style candy from the baskets into their personal items and we were off. We live about 30min from Cleveland Hopkins Airport and we have been parking at their Brown lot lately. Its relatively cheap for extended parking and there is always a shuttle waiting when we get there. No different this time and we were quickly arriving at airport and checking our bag.

Brett, Dad, and me waiting at the airport.​

It was a pretty full flight. We usually pay for seats so that all the boys can sit together and I just sit wherever they put me. I'm not a great flyer and they like to watch movies together on the iPad. I had a window seat across the aisle and 1 row back from them. There was a couple and their baby next to me, but the baby was held most of the time by the grandparents across the aisle. But, the baby was pretty happy throughout. I remember those days!! The flight was uneventful and soon we were on what we call "the 1st monorail." I spotted an alligator off the side of the monorail tracks by some water, but all of the boys missed it and didn't believe me.

We had arranged transportation right to the port through Anthony Hinds. We got his name from someone else on the Disboards and have used him twice since. The driver was really nice and had a Suburban, plenty of room for us and our bags. Interestingly, his son had just left for Cleveland to look for a house because he and his family are moving there soon, so we chatted about that. They are cheaper than the Disney transportation, you get to the port earlier, and they are also happy to stop at a grocery store on the way (we did this last Spring Break on our way from Pop to the port to get our allowed carry on alcohol). There were lots of wildfires in the area because, he said, it had been so dry. The usual route to Port Canaveral had been closed off and on around that time, but no problems on this day!

Brett and me in the car.
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Soon we were crossing the bridge.

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There she is!​

 

[MeLaNie9]

Sorry, we are having problems with pictures. Trying to fix...

 

[MeLaNie9]

Sorry for the pause. Hopefully pictures should be worked out and we should be able to continue without another snag.

 

[chaseg03]

Sorry for the pause. Hopefully pictures should be worked out and we should be able to continue without another snag.

I'm cheering for more! Liking the TR so far!

 

[MeLaNie9]

Soon we were pulling up to the drop off. We got out and thanked our driver. In the past, I remember a porter coming up to our car and helping us take our bags over to where you drop them off. This time however, we had to get into a bit of a crowd to drop them off. I don't know if they have changed the way they do this, or if we just got there at a bad time. Then we walked over to the first checkpoint. No line here and we were quickly walking into the terminal building. There was pretty much no line at security, so soon we were climbing the escalator into the terminal. We love the DCL terminal at Port Canaveral, especially how the ceiling looks like a wave. As we walked in, we saw the DVC booth. Since we had joined last Spring Break, we stopped by for a free gift that they had emailed us about. We all got DVC lanyards.

We joined the Castaway Club check-in line. No line again! Our PAT was 11:30, and the terminal was already full of people, so maybe everyone had earlier PATs? We quickly had more lanyards, gold for Mom, Brett, and me, and silver for Dad. We got our KTTW cards and our Navigators. We then went out to the observation deck to take a good look at the Wonder and wait for our boarding time. We were in group 9.

View from the observation deck. ​

 

[MeLaNie9]

After taking some pictures and spraying ourselves with sunscreen (our plan was to board and to head to Cabanas and try to eat outside), we headed back inside and got in the line for the kids to get their Oceaneer Club/Lab bands. Nathan was planning on Edge for the cruise but he does like the ship driving simulator and so he wanted to get a band to do that. Brett isn't a big fan of the Club/Lab, except for the same simulator. We had already registered them on line and knew we could get the bands on the ship, but the line was quite short and we knew we had to wait a bit before our boarding group was called. While in the line, we asked the CM there if Brett might be able to do Edge on this cruise. He told us to check when visiting Edge on the ship. They had allowed this on our first Wonder cruise for Nathan. Brett wasn't even all that interested in Edge but we thought we would ask and let him decide if he wanted to pursue it on the ship.

We spent some time looking at the ship model in the center of the terminal and soon group 9 was called for boarding. We scanned our KTTW cards and skipped the photo (as we always do) and soon were being announced aboard the Wonder!

We headed to Cabanas. On embarkation day, it takes some time to get Brett his lunch. Of course, this is because we haven't pre-ordered the night before. So, we entered the new Cabanas (after using the new hand washing stations - there were only a few times we experienced "logjam" at these handwashing stations, they only have like 4 faucets on each side). Randy and Nathan decided to find our seat outside and get their food while I found a CM to get someone so we could order Brett's lunch. I took him along the buffet to see what he might like. Now, our 1st time on the Wonder, we really did not like the buffet. You had to basically go back outside and get back in the long line to get seconds of anything. And, it moved like an old fashioned cafeteria line. We had been on ships with Cabanas and the more "pod-like" design where you can just walk up to any spot and get what you want from that small section. I think they have done a good job remodeling the Wonder buffet into Cabanas. They do not have the huge mosaics, like on the Dream class ships, but they added Finding Dory art pieces that I really liked. It seemed a bit cramped compared to on the Dream and Fantasy and there are always folks who don't quite get the concept and move along in a line so that things are slow, however when there are enough CMs around, they do try to intervene.

Brett ordered some lamb chops and plain spaghetti noodles and headed out to our seats. It did take a long time for his food to come out and he was starving! Nathan had his usual pile of mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, and fries. Randy and I tried the different fish offerings, lamb chops, mashed potatoes (always good) and the asian pork stir fry noodles (which Randy really liked). I always like the salmon wrapped in proscuitto with the pea puree and the lamb chops. Last Spring Break (Fantasy), I tried the different small chops (lamb, veal, pork) they have each day and none of them were any good. They were tough, chewy, and flavorless every single day, so I stuck with the normal kid lunch. This cruise was the complete opposite. The chops were always really good, but the chicken nuggets were constantly dry. I also had my usual crab and peel and eat shrimp, Randy says that these are just too much work! When the CM brought Brett's food, he also brought him a dairy/egg/nut/gluten free chocolate mousse. It seems that they have these just behind the buffet on embarkation day so that anyone with those allergies can get a dessert right away. He had been given this on one of the ships before at dinner, but he just does not like chocolate flavored things. I don't know if he has an underlying fear that they contain dairy or if he just doesn't like the taste. So, just like last time, I ate it (it is SO good). I went and got him a fruit salad instead.

We love to have this first meal relaxed and outside. Brett and I like to see the NASA buildings in the distance (we once toured there and saw one of the last Space Shuttle launches) and watch the cars go over that short swooping bridge to the side of the ship.

Afterwards, we decided to explore the new Wonder and go to our first DVC Celebration on board!

 

[MeLaNie9]

We walked along the pool deck to visit the new Edge first. Edge took over what used to be the Quartermaster's Arcade. The only complaint I have about the new Edge is that, because of something about the air pressure, the door is almost impossible to open. It was sooooo heavy. The space is really small compared to what it was before the re-imagineering. It was themed like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. They had a dance floor, multiple giant screens to play video games on, and a machine to play Fruit Ninja on. They also have magic portholes that showed characters from Finding Nemo. I though this space was really cool and so did Brett. He decided to try to get in even though he is only 10. They had my Dad sign a waiver for Brett. We both got stickers on our KTTW cards to show that we are allowed to be in there. We then decided to check out the new After Hours that replaced Route 66.

The After Hours space is on Deck 3, forward. Randy and I have never spent too much time in the adult clubs. Once or twice we've poked into the sports bar to check scores, and once we went to Skyline on the Dream before Palo (that is a really cool place with changing skylines behind the bar).
First we checked out Azure which is the dance club which had cool light fixtures (and apparently nothing else of interest according to our pictures ):

Entrance to After Hours.

Light fixture outside of Azure.

Light fixture inside of Azure, it reminded us of a jelly fish.

I think this one was supposed to look like a tube of bubbles.
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Then Cadillac Lounge...

Bar area.

Seating area, we thought the wheel tables were cool

Tail-fin light fixtures.
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Then Crown and Fin Pub...

Me in the phone booth outside. ​

Right outside of Crown and Fin was a shop with all Star Wars merchandise. It was closed up as we were still in port, but we were able to see most of the items through the "grate". Some were DCL-specific Star Wars things, other just Star Wars. We made a plan to come back when it was open.

After this part of our tour, we headed to the lobby. We had forgotten to stop at Guest Services right when we boarded to get put on the waiting list for a family beach cabana at CC. Again, we knew this was an extreme long shot, but we had just learned you could do this right before our sail date and so we thought we would give it a try. When I got up to the front of the Guest Services line and asked the CM to put us on the waiting list - she looked at me like I was insane . Yep, I know it's a Spring Break cruise. Yep, I hear you that there are already 7 names on the list. Just put us down anyways!!Then we made "note to selves": Do this as soon as you walk on board next time!!

The new atrium chandelier - beautiful!

I love this new chandelier! It is now tied for my favorite with the one on the Fantasy.​

 

[MeLaNie9]

It was just about DVC Celebration time, so we headed to D Lounge. I have to say that I did have some guilt because I saw that they were having Easter mass on board at the same time. We definitely did not think that they would have a mass. They had one on the Fantasy last year but it was on the 1st full day of the cruise, not on embarkation day, which was also a sea day.
At the DVC Celebration, Goofy was there for pictures and Randy and I had some delicious mixed drinks. They had some fun trivia-type games (even the emcee commented when Nathan, a 12-year old boy, was the only one to name a certain song from Tangled - I know my Tangled!) and some drawings for prizes including on-board credit (we did not win anything). Then they told us to expect a card in our staterooms inviting us to come to their desk at a certain time for a special gift. They then gave a spiel about buying more points (which we were not about to do since we still have to figure out the best way to use our current amount!)
On the way out, I stopped one of the DVC folks and asked how/where I could get a DVC baseball cap. We had been to the Vero Beach resort in Nov. and they had more DVC merchandise than we have seen anywhere else, but no hat. Well, I ruined the surprise - that was the special gift we could receive later!

Me, Brett, and Mom with Goofy at the DVC Celebration​

By this time, we could certainly get into our staterooms and so we headed there to wait for Assembly Drill time. We were in room 7578 between the midship and aft elevators on the starboard side. Some of our luggage there already, all except Brett's bag (which contained all of his clothes except for his bathing suit and flip flops). We hung out on the balcony watching people go through the walkway to board and watching the ship loading and unloading of food and other stuff.

Some kegs they were loading or unloading

View of the terminal from our verandah​

 

[MeLaNie9]

Before the Assembly Drill, we got everyone connected on the DCL navigator app so that we could send messages on board. I think Randy also got the free wi-fi tiny package set up on his phone just in case we needed it. Our Assembly station was outside on deck 4. Afterwards, we briefly went back to the room then up to the Sports deck for sail away. We played ping pong and Brett played basketball. I got a drink of the day (Bahama Mama) and Randy got his beer mug. He had gotten one on the Fantasy but took it home because he wanted one at home. So, he decided to buy another and get the token to take home then bring back next time. There were some dolphins alongside the ship when she first started moving and we were on our way!

The Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships both sailed out before us.

Our police escort.

And we are out of the channel.​

OK, to be honest, Randy and I aren't big fans of the shows but Nathan LOVES them and must attend them all. Brett does not care about them at all either. I told Nathan I would go to the Golden Mickeys with him on this night and so we headed off to that at 6pm. I really would have preferred Rogue One which started at 5:30...
However, the show was good and had new portions from the last time I had seen it including my favorite Disney song of all time "At Last I See the Light."

During the show, Randy and Brett spent a little more time at the Sports Deck and then watched a movie in the stateroom.

We obviously had late dining (8:15) because of our late booking of this cruise. Most of us actually prefer this timing because the early shows (when we go) are not as crowded and many times we have had free rein of the pools or slides during the early dining time. We also prefer to eat at a table by ourselves and I think this is easier to get for the late dining time. We have requested this every time since our first cruise. One reason is during that cruise, one of the other kids at the table had slathered butter all over her hands and then starting touching everything on the table which freaked me out due to Brett's allergy. And it seemed they had to wait for Brett's food for theirs to come out and this made me uncomfortable as well. However, Brett has a hard time staying awake and chipper for the late dining. Especially on this very full day where we started out at 4am!

Nathan and I met the rest of our crew at Triton's. We had requested Triton's for the 1st night's dinner because it had the most dairy-free options already on its menu and we weren't sure what Brett could get without the pre-ordering. Our server was Nebo, assistant server was Christina and our head server was Rakesh. We had Rakesh as our head server the last time we were on the Wonder too!

Up Next: Triton's dinner pictures!

 

[Cando86]

I am loving this and all the detail you put into it! Looks like you all had a wonderful time!

 

[st0nehedge]

Following along! Love your trip report so far

 

[MeLaNie9]

So sorry for the delay, but that's life, right? Definitely had some life intervening!

So we were in Triton's for our first dinner. Nathan was super excited because this has his favorite food onboard DCL, which is the duck confit.
We were seated at our own table as we had requested. Our bread quickly arrived. Tonight was a French country roll with olive spread.

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As I do wish there was some way to make this first night easier for Brett. He was so tired and starting to get cranky, and he decided that he didn't want to eat any of the on-menu dairy free options and so we knew that we would be waiting a while for our food.
He ended up ordering the red wine bosc pear salad,

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which is listed as dairy-free on the menu, but when they brought it out they said that the normal dressing was not dairy free (which was a bit weird, right? Its listed as dairy free and describes the dressing on the menu). We got him some oil and vinegar and he was good with that. We also asked for dairy free rolls and margarine which took some time, but did arrive. We gave the assistant server the heads up that it would be great to have both of those things every night for him. For his entree, he asked for lamb chops made dairy free and he was happy with what he received which included a baked potato and brussels sprouts.

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However, he was tired and feeling queasy so he and Randy headed back to the room before dessert.

Nathan ordered his favorite, duck confit,

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and also decided to try the escargot.

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The duck confit was as delicious as ever. The escargot did take a while to come out, but when it did, it was fresh out of the oven. This had great flavor and I really liked it, but I would caution that it does have a bit of a "slimy" texture, so might no be for everyone!
His entree was the duck breast, which was a new choice for him.

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I usually will get the lamb, but last cruise, it was fatty and flavorless, so this time I tried something new. This was really good.

Randy ordered the the breaded and deep fried brie

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and the iced lobster and jumbo shrimp appetizers, then had the conchiglie pasta with lobster.

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I had this entree on the Dream once and it tasted awful! I ended up picking out the lobster and leaving the rest. It was on the 1st night too, and I was just too tired to go through with ordering something else! That server was so freaked out that I hadn't liked something and was begging me to order another entree! Well, this time Randy thought this entree was ok. He did not think it was "horrible" as I had. He always gets the brie and said that was as usual.

I ordered the iced lobster and jumbo shrimp and french onion soup. The soup was really salty. My entree was the oven-baked salmon royale.

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I usually get the lamb chops but decided to try something new. The salmon was quite good and I would get it again. I was worried it would be dry and it was a bit around the edges but otherwise it was moist and had a really good crust on it.

Nathan and I had the Grand Marnier souffle for dessert which is one of my favorites. The souffle was delicious as always. I absolutely love this desert and we ate them up right away, and forgot a picture!.

I ordered a creme brule for Randy and brought it back to the room when we were finished.

 

[MeLaNie9]

We were all back in the room after dinner. Randy stepped out for a bit to go get the DVC surprise which was 2 DVC baseball caps. Brett was already in bed and watching a movie on TV. Randy and I went to bed too and Nathan went to his 1st Edge activity. I went to an activity called Heroes and Villians. This is a team activity where you join a team for the whole cruise and do trivia every night. I joined team Villians and we won the game tonight, which was random trivia.

 

[MeLaNie9]

Ready for day #2 - Nassau
We got up early so that we wouldn't have to rush through breakfast to get to our first-ever Nassau excursion, the Jet Boat. We watched as we pulled into the port and there were some other cruise ships there.

We also saw an impressively huge yacht.

This was the first day for which Brett had pre-ordered his meals. However, we forgot about the huge portions DCL gives when pre-ordering. I can understand this for adults and the chefs not wanting to make special order food and then the person wanting more. But, Brett is 10 and skinny as a rail! He was given an huge bowl of corned beef hash, 5 pancakes and tons of bacon and sausage! We felt so bad that so much was uneaten. I am not much of a breakfast food eater and so I was searching for the breakfast burritos I have had had on DCL before (flour tortilla with taco seasoned meat and cheese sauce), but no such luck. Nathan was in his element with waffles, berry compote and whipped cream. Mom was disgusted by the fact that I put compote and whipped cream on my waffles, pancakes and French toast every day.

We headed to Azure for our excursion meet. Azure had multiple excursions meeting there. For the jet boat, there was our family of 4 and another of 3. We were led off the ship and over to our boat captain. I found his huge marijuana medallion hilarious for a Disney excursion! The jet boat is like a big jet ski with a flat bottom so it can basically do "donuts" and end up going through our own wake and getting very wet. The captain also did a bit of touring and talking about Nassau and the Bahamas and some of the sites. He also took us very close to walls and beaches and other large objects and I knew was making Mr. Safety, Nathan, very nervous. And we got soaked! I mean, wet enough that I had a hard time opening my eyes because of all the salt water getting into them and the pain this caused! Overall, this was really fun and I think the other family liked it as well. It was also relatively short such that we were headed back to the ship before lunch time. As I said before, this was the 1st time we have gotten off the ship in Nassau. Walking past the shopping area was sort of, extremely, obnoxious with the ladies shouting about helping me shop. It's just not my jam.

 

[MeLaNie9]

We decided to head to the pool deck for swimming, lunch, and movies on Funnelvision.
I tried the gyro station on the pool deck - it was ok but the lamb was really fatty. I ended up getting Brett's ordered food in Cabanas and delivered it to him on the pool deck. He had a burger and fries. Then we each went in to Cabanas to get some food from the buffet to eat on the pool deck. Because I had tried the gyro, I wasn't super hungry but I did have some really excellent seasoned shrimp and some fried fish. There were having an Irish food theme which was great for Randy because he loves fish and chips and he also tried the bangers and mash. He has always wanted to eat at Rose and Crown in Epcot but the rest of us haven't wanted to, although we finally gave in and we have an ADR there for our trip in August. Unfortunately, after lunch, there was very little swimming because the pool was closed due to an "accidental discharge". Yep, that's what the sign said! We were pretty surprised, it just remained closed throughout the whole afternoon. We had thought that they would do whatever cleaning necessary and re-open, but it didn't happen. So, Nathan, Brett and I went to Disney Trivia in the Promenade Lounge at 2:30pm. We didn't win, but probably came in third or so and had fun. We headed back to the pool deck where Randy was waiting and watched Descendants on the Funnelvision. Nathan headed to Edge for Brains and Brawns, a scavenger hunt around the ship. You split into teams and then travel around the ship solving puzzles to find out where you need to go next. Brett and I then went back to the room to get ready for the night then headed to see the live action Beauty and the Beast which none of us had seen. I thought it was a great movie and I really loved the solo song by the Beast. Brett thought it was ok. Nathan and Randy went to Frozen: A Musical Spectacular. This was a great show. I am not a huge Frozen fan, but the show was done spectacularly. They intermixed new projection technology ad puppetry to create an amazing final product.

The yacht lit up at night - the really bright part at the bottom is like a boat garage with another (normal sized) boat inside! Crazy!

Sunset from the front of the Wonder

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We then met up for dinner at Animators Palate.I had the Blueberrilicious drink. It was delicious.

I also had the smoked salmon tartare appetizer. Good, but I don't like cucumbers so I didn't eat those! I also had the butternut squash soup which was good but not warm enough and the ginger-teriyaki dusted angus beef tenderloin. I have had this before but this time was by far the best!

Randy and Nathan had the black truffle pasta pursiettes (below) which they both loved. Randy had the butternut squash soup and the angus tenderloin as well. He thought both were very good.

As would become his usual, Brett got a salad with oil and vinegar. He also had the angus beef tenderloin but his was with a baked potato and his dairy free butter.

Nathan had the baked potato soup after the pasta pursiettes, then the herb crusted pork chop with a tomato risotto. I have had this before and the rice has been too firm. He said it was pretty good this time and didn't have a complaint about the risotto.

Then dessert!! Take a good look at this one. This was the chef's choice dairy-free dessert and Brett raved about it. It was a mousse, at first he thought it might be lemon but then figured out that it was mango with blueberries and a strawberry drizzle on top. He asked for this again later in the cruise.

Nathan had the cookies and cream sundae

I had the crunchy walnut cake which was very good. Randy had the chocolate fudge cheesecake, but no photo!

We enjoyed the animation show and seeing Sorcerer Mickey. We really love the AP show where you get to draw your own characters and then they are animated and shown on the screens. That's not the show on the Wonder.

After dinner, we went back to the room and to bed except for Nathan who hit up Edge again. This time for Pizza Perfection where teams of kids made pizzas with designs made from toppings on them, the best given a prize (his group did not win). Then he watched a movie in Edge (the new Pete's Dragon).

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Can't wait to read more! We go on the Wonder in March!