April 2018 WBPC on the Wonder, 'Don't Worry, Everything is Under Control' 'COMPLETED'

[jedijill]

Wonderful adventure so far!

Jill in CO

 

[lklgoodman]

Your family does the coolest excursions, that cooking one looks so fun!!! My dd has told me she wants her hair braided just like your dd's on our next cruise. I think I will see if I can learn how to do the braids, so she can see if she can handle it.(she complains about just getting her hair brushed).

 

[xavier2001]

My dd has told me she wants her hair braided just like your dd's on our next cruise. I think I will see if I can learn how to do the braids, so she can see if she can handle it.(she complains about just getting her hair brushed).

I found it’s sometimes better if someone other than me does DDs hair, she’s less likely to complain lol. You pay per the braid (only a few dollars), so she could always try and just get one or two if its tender).

 

[darnheather]

Las Caletas <snip>

We started scouring through Disney's port adventure list again and DH came across a Mexican culinary adventure that sounded fun. When we looked closer we saw that it involved a 40 minute bus trip each way to some remote ranch and that deterred us. We were not in port that long and were not sure we wanted to spend all that time in a bus. With a direction I started googling, and came across this website: https://www.cookinvallarta.com . They got great reviews on TripAdvisor so I contacted them to make sure we would have enough time. They were prompt and accommodating in their response so 3 weeks before we left, we booked the class.

I am so glad you posted this. Las Caletas is my top choice for my family next year. Now though I'm going to look deeply into this cooking class as my oldest loves to cook and we are all foodies.

 

[darnheather]

I found it’s sometimes better if someone other than me does DDs hair, she’s less likely to complain lol. You pay per the braid (only a few dollars), so she could always try and just get one or two if its tender).

My daughter too! I take her to someone else and she says nothing. With me she screams bloody murder.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 13 - Cabo San Lucas

Wow, how did we get here so fast, seems like just yesterday we boarded the ship for our dream vacation, now we were to our last port, Cabo.

When we were doing our planning we were trying to come up with something fun to do in Cabo. My parents are not really 'sit on the beach' people but we wanted to do something tropical and something to appreciate all the beauty of the natural rock formations on the beach. Nothing on the Disney site really jumped out at us. I asked for advice over here on the Dis as Cabo is a popular spot on all the Mexican Riviera cruises. Someone on here pointed me to the direction of this company and raved about the excursion: https://cabosanlucascruiseexcursions.com/excursions/cabo-private-sailing-charters/ . I got the ok from my Mom, contacted the company, and we were all set for a morning of fun.

A word about Cabo, it is a tender port, meaning they do not have a large enough dock for the ship so it drops anchor nearby and you get onto small tender boats to get from the ship to shore. What I had not anticipated is that they reserve the first tender boats for the people who are going on Disney excursions. Our excursion meet up time was 9:15, the tenders were supposed to start running around 8. This gave us a momentary moment of panic as we did not want to be late for our excursion. Did it work out for us, read on to see. I only mention this as something to keep in consideration in your planning.

For all the non-Disney excursions, the Buena Vista theater opened at 8 to get a tender ticket, first come first serve. We had decided the night before we wanted to be there right at 8 to make sure we got off the ship in a timely manner. We set our alarm for 6:45, which was made slightly less painful by the time change last night, giving an extra hour of sleep. We did our now usual routine of getting up, ready, and heading to Cabanas (yep more peanut butter toast). We all met at the theater right at 8 (well all but DH and DD who went to the Walt Disney theater versus the Buena Vista theater). A quick text and we were all together by 8:05. They handed us a ticket and sat us in the theater in the order of arrival, we were in the second row. In the ultimate fashion it was now hurry up and wait. Derrell and another activities crew member kept us entertained as they filed people into the seats. I'm glad we came early because by the time we were called to head to the tender at 8:40 the theater was more than half full. We filed out row by row and headed to the Aft door of Deck 1 and hopped aboard the tender. It was a short ride to port. However, by this time it had been 50 minutes since we sat down and after a big cup of coffee our first order of business was to find the facilities. We saw a big Banos sign and headed that way. We were somewhat surprised to find that it was $1 per person to use the restroom, but we had little choice and it was very clean so we forked over the money. My notes tell me that we had all used the facilities and were sitting at the meeting spot at the end of the dock by 9:05, so plan about an hour if you are going on a morning excursion.

Our sailboat captain, Ricardo, met us promptly at 9:15, we hopped in a cab and drove 5 minutes to the other side of the harbor. There we walked down the dock to his sailboat. The adventure was about to begin. He had us all take off our shoes and gave us a few safety instructions before boarding a beautiful 37 foot sailboat. There was a small seating area in the back, and a large area in the front with cushions for us to sit on. We made a quick stop at the drive up (or is it sail up) grocery store for some ice and we were on our way. Get ready for lots of photos.

Right off the bat, Israel (the first mate) offered us all beverages, the kids really loved these fancy glasses:

We very soon spotted our first sea lion, there would be several sightings today (see the harbor in the background):

We headed out to take in the beautiful sites and rock formations of Cabo:

Everyone was very relaxed and having a great time so far.

Soon we came across the famous Los Arcos, the Arch. Ricardo told us that many people say this looks like a dinosaur taking a drink from the ocean, now I can't see it any other way. As you can see it was pretty crowded this morning:

Here's a better view I got later in the trip:

Here is the second sea lion sighting, DS really was in love with this one and said he wanted to be a sea lion so he could be 'king of the mountain':

After tooling around the harbor and Rocks for awhile we headed further out to sea. It was a warm, windy day, and Ricardo wanted to put up the sail for us. When we got pretty far out, he cut the engine, and he and Israel put up the sail:

This was the best part of the excursion to me. Israel had some great tunes going, and we just drifted along, letting the wind take us where it wanted us to go.

Here is a view of the Wonder from our viewpoint:

DS stood up Titanic style shouting 'I am the King of the World':

Here is a short video that still brings me back to my happy place:

After thoroughly relaxing it was time to move on to Phase 2, snorkeling. This is something that the kids and my Dad really wanted to try. I had been snorkeling (without much success) in my pre-kids life, but was somewhat apprehensive as it had been a LONG time and this water seemed pretty choppy. My Mom doesn't swim and DH said he was not getting in the water either. I didn't want to leave my Dad alone in the water with the kids so I put on my brave face and donned my flippers. There is a designated, roped off snorkeling area. There were several boats nearby. We got as close as we could and dropped anchor. Then it was time to jump from the side of the boat. I thought for sure DS would chicken out but he didn't say anything. My Dad jumped first, then DD, the 2 of them went off:

I jumped in next, phew that water was cold!! Once I came up I saw DS sitting on the side of the boat (the photo is from DH's point of view):

Then all the sudden, much to my amazement, he was in the water. This is the kid who wouldn't step on an escalator yesterday. I quickly grabbed him as he is not a strong swimmer and off we went, we are somewhere among all the orange dots:

Much to my surprise, DD did not enjoy the experience at all, she did not like the saltwater and felt like she could not get her bearings in the choppy water. So my Dad took her back to the boat than swam back out to join DS and I. Even more surprising was how much DS LOVED it. He kept putting his face and and excitedly talking about all the different fish he saw. I put my face in a few times but was more concerned with keeping him alive and not bumping into people out there, it was crowded. After a bit we decided to head back to the boat. I dragged DS with me and off we went against the current, it was a pretty vigorous swim:

We climbed on the boat one by one (which is harder than one thinks), then took off our snorkel gear and let Ricardo blast us with fresh water before being allowed back onboard. If you are a snorkeling aficionado I think you will be disappointed as the snorkeling was much calmer and better when we last did it in the Cayman Islands but DS and my Dad enjoyed themselves and I had fun watching DS conquer a new skill.

It was close to noon by this point and we were all getting hungry. Cue this delicious plate of food:

Sorry we dug in before taking a photo. There were 2 plates of these snacks, plus chips and salsa and guacamole, plus margaritas. We ate our snack as we slowly headed back toward the harbor. Sadly our time was up and we headed back to dry land and bid Ricardo and Israel goodbye.

I think I am going to stop here as there are tons of photos, and finish up Cabo in the next post.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 13 - Cabo St. Lucas, part 2

So we left off having bid Ricardo and Israel goodbye. They pointed us in the direction of the other side of the harbor and told us it was a short walk. My Dad wanted to stay in Cabo and find a restaurant and have more to eat (and drink). I was still dripping wet and was ready to get back on board and finish rinsing off the saltwater. So after some discussion, he and my Mom stayed, and DH, the kids, and I started to head back. Now remember that quick 5 minute cab ride, it was about a 25 minute walk. The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot out, we took in the sights as we meandered back. There were many vendors trying to sell purses, plates, cuban cigars, and sightseeing tours. They were not aggressive but there were several. We

We had to stop and take a photo here as a throwback to a pre-kids family cruise where my siblings and parents got into some trouble (I'll spare you THAT photo):

Once we finally made it back to the dock there was a tender waiting. We hopped on board and soon were getting back on the Wonder. We headed right up to Deck 9 to rinse off and jump in the pool. This was the only time all trip I was in the pool onboard. After a bit I got out and sat with DH, enjoying a snack and todays drink of the day:

The kids came out and had some snacks at some point as well. After chilling out awhile we headed back downstairs where we all got showers and cleaned up. We watched sail away as well, which was very interesting as the ship had to back out and then turn in a pretty narrow space. We headed to the Crown and Fin to play more cards, we moved on to a game called 'No Thanks' instead of Tripoley because it takes up less room.

Dinner tonight was in Tiana's with the Mardi Gras menu. They gave everyone beads and played some lively music. The food was good, and there was a dance party and Limbo at the end, DD was the only one with enough energy to participate.

After dinner we headed back to the room to catch the sunset. As we were moving North it was definitely getting cooler:

Was worth it for this beautiful sunset:

At 8 o'clock we headed to the Buena Vista Theater to see 'A Wrinkle in Time'. Its the first movie I had been to all week. DS was looking forward to it as he had just read the book the week before we left. I thought it was an ok movie, he was disappointed as it did not match up to the book well he thought. After the movie, the kids ran off to play and I headed back to the room. This award was hanging on the door, and made me around of DD, she really is a sweetheart:

The kids were back around 10:45, they were both hungry. They said it was too cold to go up on deck for pizza and asked to order room service. I can't believe it was day 13 and we hadn't done so yet. So we ordered some soup and grilled cheese, and cookies, and had a late night snack while we watched a movie, then drifted off to sleep happy, as this had been the best day yet.

 

[chamberlain]

I'm really enjoying your trip report! It looks like you picked some fun and diverse excursions to go on.

 

[Lesley Wake]

It seems like you guys had a great trip! And such fun and interesting excursions!

 

[xavier2001]

Day 14 - At Sea

After 2 amazing weeks, we woke up still not believing that this was the LAST day of our adventure. After such an exciting day yesterday the kids and I slept in until about 9:30. DH had slipped out earlier and had breakfast with my parents. When he got back to the room he took the kids to Cabanas while I got ready for the day. They brought me back some toast, such a creature of habit. The kids ran off to play, I think DH and my parents went to hear the last of Ken Puckett's lectures. I slowly got ready and meandered around the ship, ending up chilling on the inside of Deck 4 (it was pretty cold and windy outside today). At 11:15 there was one last meeting with Stitch, he and DD had a great interaction as I'm pretty sure he recognized her by now, not sure about how the pirate stitch tsum tsum felt about getting eaten at one point:

At 11:45 some of the gang headed to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. All of us had seen it before but DH and DD really wanted to see it again. DS was still off playing, my parents went to the movie. About 15 minutes later I got a text from my Mom, it wasn't her kind of movie so she bailed. We met up with DS and the 3 of us had a nice leisurely lunch in Tritons. I think I had some sort of delicious pasta.

After lunch DS wanted to go play some more, so I headed to the room to start packing, wahhhh!! I will say packing up after 2 weeks is infinitely harder than packing up after just 1. I took a break at 2 because there was an activity I had been looking forward to ALL cruise:

My Mom came along and we had a blast trying to figure it all out. I think this is our dog:

Elephant:

Dinosaurs:

A funky monkey selfie:

And the piece de resistance:

It was a lot of fun and we were more successful than we thought we'd be, a definite 'will do again' activity. After towel folding we ran our errands, put a placeholder down for a future cruise, hit up Shutters to buy a few photos, and stopped by Guest Services to get a copy of our bill (ouch, lol). Then we headed back to the room.

By this time the movie was over, DH and DD were back in the room eating lunch, having moved my sorted 'to pack piles'. So I kicked everyone out of the room and got down to business. I finished packing up by 4 and met up with the rest of the family who was down in Crown and Fin playing cards (DS still had his Mardi Gras beads from last night on):

The final drink of the day was a lime margarita, which was much better than the lemon one they had before. My Dad kept ordering them, not sure how many we drank but we were pretty relaxed by the time dinner rolled around:

Our final meal was in Tritons, with the 'Til We Meet Again' menu. Both of the kids ordered lobster, I don't remember what I ordered, either the beef or the pork:

I remember being sad there was no Baked Alaska on the menu, and ended my meal with whatever the sundae of the day was, I'm sure they were all delicious. We got the standard 'you better give us an excellent' speech from the serving team and then we were giving hugs and saying goodbye (even though we'd see them tomorrow morning at breakfast). Noel was just as sweet as can be for a new server, and Jose had really grown on us over the 2 weeks. They really did do an excellent job.

After dinner the kids ran off to play and we headed to the room to enjoy the balcony one last night (it was pretty chilly out there). We put our bags in the hallway for the porters and at 8:15 headed down to see Dreams. We have seen this show before and while its cheesy I really enjoy some of the musical numbers, especially the Lion King part at the end. DD joined my parents and I for the show, DS wanted as much time as he could have in the lab, and DH was down in Crown and Fin playing trivia and reading.

After the show we took our DD's braids (that was a fun adventure), had the kids get showers, ate up the rest of the snacks we had been hoarding in the room (there were several boxes of Fruit Loops from Cabanas), and enjoyed our nightly movie while drifting off to sleep, happy after a relaxing day, but sad that tomorrow we would be saying goodbye to the Wonder and ending our fabulous adventure.

 

[xavier2001]

Day 15 -Disembarkation

So, sadly, the end has come. We set our alarms this morning for 6:00 a.m. To soften the blow was the fact that we turned the clocks back another hour overnight so really it felt like 7:00. We headed to first breakfast seating at 7:15 in Tritons. Can you guess we I ordered . Today Jose brought me FIVE pieces of toast. I only managed to eat one, breakfast in the morning is NOT my thing lol.

After breakfast we gathered up our carry ons and said goodbye to my parents who were doing Express Walk Off and staying San Diego for a few days. We headed to the Promenade lounge to chill and wait for disembarkation to begin. The kids were very sad:

It was quiet in the beginning but became a jumbled madhouse after about 30 minutes. People were trying to get to breakfast at Animators Palate while others were crowding the passageway in line to get off the ship. Once they finally cleared the ship for disembarkation the line started moving and it quieted down. Once our colored tags were called we joined the line and headed off the ship. Mehmet was standing outside Tritons and had big farewell hugs for the kids. We found our luggage easily, went through customs, where the only question we were asked was who our favorite Disney character was. It was about 8:45.

Once outside the terminal we followed the signs to the Disney transportation, which we booked ahead of time. It was a little confusing because there were different busses for different airlines, and people blocking the sidewalk so we couldn't get through. Eventually we found our bus and settled in with some bus selfies to pass the time:

We pulled out of the terminal at 9:18, waving goodbye to the Wonder as we left:

It was a short trip to the airport. We checked in outside as it was a nice day and then headed to security. There was a major back up as earlier that morning there had been a fire alarm and they evacuated the entire area. The line was long but it moved, and we were through security by 11. We had some time to kill as our flight did not leave until 1. We wandered around for a bit and then decided we had better eat lunch as we had a tight connection in Salt Lake City and didn't know when our next meal would be. We weren't quite ready for fast food 'Food Court' after being spoiled the last 14 days so we settled on a barbecue place, it hit the spot:

We wandered through the shops, the kids getting some sugar to sustain them later. I also picked up a box of See's Chocolate Candy as it reminded me of my grandparents who spent their retirement years in San Diego and always brought us a big box when they came to visit.

Soon it was time to board, we had an uneventful flight to Salt Lake City, then a short layover, and a long flight back home. DH was clearly not amused by my wanting to take one last photo:

DH and the kids sat together and I sat across from them one flight and behind them on the second. That gives DH more room, and also makes a better flight for the kids as I am a very nervous flyer and I don't want that to rub off on them. We landed in our home airport about 10:30 pm local time. Grabbed our luggage, took the shuttle to the long term parking where DH's car had been the last 2 weeks (it was cheaper than a car service). Then we had about an hour drive home, stopping at Wendy's for some late night dinner. We got home and fell into bed. DH had to work the next morning, I felt bad for him. The rest of us took one more day off to adjust back to Eastern time and do many many loads of laundry.

So there you have it, the trip of a lifetime, truly one of the best we have taken. Not sure what our next cruise will be, we talked about doing Panama Canal again in 2020 as that will be the last year we can pull the kids out before it becomes unrealistic schoolwork wise. Thanks for reading along!!

 

[kid-at-heart]

Awesome Pirate night photos! Love your Dad's expression. Is DD an Irish Dancer?

Awesome Pirate night photos! Love your Dad's expression. Is DD an Irish Dancer?

 

[lorimay]

Excellent!!! Glad you had the trip of your dreams............

 

[mmmears]

Wow! Great trip report and I love how you tried to find new experiences for each post. Thanks for sharing your tip with the rest of us.

 

[darnheather]

What an especially magical vacation. Thank you for sharing your trip.

 

[xavier2001]

Awesome Pirate night photos! Love your Dad's expression. Is DD an Irish Dancer?

No, ballet, she always poses with her feet in perfect position, I think just by habit now.

 

[TestingH2O]

Great report. Thanks for three great read!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Great trip report! You have me wanting to do the Panama Canal!

 

[MustLoveDisney]

Awesome trip report! We are on the WBPC in February and I've definitely taken some notes.

 

[iivye]

Great report! Thank you for sharing.