20th Anniversary Baja Cruise and Disneyland Visit - October 2017

[MarbleBob]

Day 2 - Sunday, 10/1/17 - Voyage Navigator Documents

I just realized from looking at some of those photos, that Stephanie was carrying around the Voyage Navigator guide. So why not share that too? Here are some scans of the first day's Navigator. I've posted large photos to Flickr, so I guess follow the link on each photo if you want to see it in a lager size...

The first day had this more general "folder" sheet printed front and back. And then there was a two sided page inside of it that was unique to that calendar day.

So here's the front...



The first inside page:



The second inside page:



And the back:



And then here's the front of the current day:



And the back of the current day:



Going forward, I'll try and remember to share the new Navigator sheet a the beginning of each new day in the trip report

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Sitting here right now, I'm thinking, "I'll take two of each please…"

Although I haven't done a cruise, I have done the all-inclusive beach vacation in the Caribbean. I must confess to starting at one end of their drinks menu and ending up at the other end by the week's end.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

obviously a little bit late but thanks for the message so I could join in the fun ... and hopefully learn a thing or two for our upcoming trip on the Wonder - so perfect Edutainment: it's like EPCOT in a trip report

Happy Anniversary and sounds like a great idea for a trip to commemorate the event as it harkens back to what you did on your honeymoon but also is a new experience

Sounds like a great start and there are tons of hotels in that area of San Diego - but sounds like you made out really well with the price and location to the actual port

So yeah, the cruise was departing Sunday afternoon, and we arrived around 4:15 PM the day before. This left the remainder of the day for us to explore San Diego a bit. (Neither of us had been here before.) We reserved a room at the Marina Inn & Suites for $80.14 total for one night. It's about a 10 minute walk to cruise ship. We thought about other, fancier hotels close to the port (like the Wyndham across the street from the dock), but they were running at least $175 at the time we booked (and actually a bit more than that, if I recall correctly.) I found this place on Yelp and it seemed to have really good reviews with respect to the price/value. And we didn't plan on spending much time in the room anyway, so we decided to put that $100 savings towards our evening in town!

The other thing… how are we going to get to the hotel? (Well, motel actually.) They didn't have a shuttle. We thought about Uber, a taxi, and taking the good ole' bus. But we looked on Google maps, and it was only about two miles from the airport to the hotel, mostly walking along the waterfront. Neither of us had been to San Diego before and we liked the idea of seeing as much as possible…. Plus the weather was absolutely gorgeous. So we committed to walking it!

--- another plus of being just the two of you as I couldn't imagine walking with all the suitcases I am sure we will have for all of us going on the cruise! I mean, the princess dresses alone!!!!

the Tiki Bar sounds really cool - but I agree probably that much cooler (pun intended) when you had to go through a freezer door to get to it. I wonder if the concert going on had anything to do with the increased number of drunks vs tiki enthusiasts



That is so cool that you had breakfast on a rooftop that overlooked the cruise ship you would be boarding in a few hours! And the donuts do look good (I think I too would have zeroed in on the coffee crunch one!)

I agree about that area (though I have spent more time a bit east, closer to the ball park ... but the whole "gas lamp" area is really cool and sees like would be a neat place to live/work

Excellent call with the EPCOT shirt by the way!!!

Glad to hear your thoughts about the smaller ship. We debated a lot which ship to do for our first cruise and part of my thinking with the Wonder was it would be easier to start with a smaller ship, get our feet wet, and then maybe do a bigger one in the future vs going the other way. (Plus the renovations they just made to the ship sounded really good)

Seems like pretty smooth process getting on board. Sorry the welcome buffet wasn't better but at least you had a nice setting for enjoying the meal

Your room looks really nice! We are on the 6th deck and closer to midship (on the right side, in staterooms 6548 and 6549) so hopefully it won't be too noisy!

I'll have to check out these 360 pictures when I get home as on my work computer it says I don't have some plugin needed to see them

The kids areas look so cool and my kids are very excited about it ... and I must say, we are pretty excited to be able to leave them there and have some time without them And all the activities look so fun - but that Navigator with the detailed times guide is a bit intimidating when you first look at it!

 

[MarbleBob]

Although I haven't done a cruise, I have done the all-inclusive beach vacation in the Caribbean. I must confess to starting at one end of their drinks menu and ending up at the other end by the week's end.

That's awesome. Unfortunately, the alcohol isn't included in Disney ships... But I can see how it would be tempting to go through the drink menu at that all-inclusive beach vacation.

obviously a little bit late but thanks for the message so I could join in the fun ... and hopefully learn a thing or two for our upcoming trip on the Wonder - so perfect Edutainment: it's like EPCOT in a trip report

That's great, Epcot in a trip report. You should trademark that!

Happy Anniversary and sounds like a great idea for a trip to commemorate the event as it harkens back to what you did on your honeymoon but also is a new experience

Sounds like a great start and there are tons of hotels in that area of San Diego - but sounds like you made out really well with the price and location to the actual port

Thanks. Yeah, we were stoked with how the hotel turned out with respect to the proximity to the port and everything. I was a little nervous about it being an older motel and all, but since we didn't have the kids with us, it was easier to take the risk.

--- another plus of being just the two of you as I couldn't imagine walking with all the suitcases I am sure we will have for all of us going on the cruise! I mean, the princess dresses alone!!!!

the Tiki Bar sounds really cool - but I agree probably that much cooler (pun intended) when you had to go through a freezer door to get to it. I wonder if the concert going on had anything to do with the increased number of drunks vs tiki enthusiasts

Yeah, I'm pretty convinced that the crowd and drunks vs. tiki enthusiasts was absolutely related to the concerts. But at least it did calm down after the group of biggest offenders headed out. Few things are as cringe worthy as seeing a drunk dude flirting with a drunk gal, all who've thrown caution to the wind... Blech!!! Haha.

That is so cool that you had breakfast on a rooftop that overlooked the cruise ship you would be boarding in a few hours! And the donuts do look good (I think I too would have zeroed in on the coffee crunch one!)


I agree about that area (though I have spent more time a bit east, closer to the ball park ... but the whole "gas lamp" area is really cool and sees like would be a neat place to live/work


Excellent call with the EPCOT shirt by the way!!!

Interestingly, not a single person said a thing to me about it all day.

Glad to hear your thoughts about the smaller ship. We debated a lot which ship to do for our first cruise and part of my thinking with the Wonder was it would be easier to start with a smaller ship, get our feet wet, and then maybe do a bigger one in the future vs going the other way. (Plus the renovations they just made to the ship sounded really good)

I think you'd love any of the Disney ships, but yeah, I felt like the smaller one was more intimate, easier to get around, and it really seemed less crowded. All nice points!

Seems like pretty smooth process getting on board. Sorry the welcome buffet wasn't better but at least you had a nice setting for enjoying the meal

Your room looks really nice! We are on the 6th deck and closer to midship (on the right side, in staterooms 6548 and 6549) so hopefully it won't be too noisy!

We were in that general area during our last cruise on the Wonder, and I don't remember it making any noises. So you should be good to go!

I'll have to check out these 360 pictures when I get home as on my work computer it says I don't have some plugin needed to see them

The kids areas look so cool and my kids are very excited about it ... and I must say, we are pretty excited to be able to leave them there and have some time without them And all the activities look so fun - but that Navigator with the detailed times guide is a bit intimidating when you first look at it!

Yes, you should plan a brunch or dinner at Palo while the kids are in the Oceaneer Club. (Being the foodies that you guys are, I'm sure you've already planned of this. )

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 2 - Sunday, 10/1/17 - Leaving San Diego Bay

After the muster drill, we headed back up to our room to relax on the veranda for a bit. We knew that the ship would be setting sail any time now, and that they would be having the sail away party up on decks 9 & 10. We've done those parties before, and while they are indeed fun and festive, we decided to lay low and just watch the entire departure from the veranda. (If we had the kids with us, we probably would have done the party.)

Interesting enough, the ship was pulled into port face forward, just like you'd pull into a parking spot at the grocery store… and it backed out like it was leaving that spot and sort of did a 180 as it was pulling out. That gave us some great views of the bay and Coronado Island.







Heading away from the city…



And then leaving the bay, into open waters…



So yeah, the Wonder started leaving around 5:00 PM. We sat on the veranda enjoying the view for 30 or 40 minutes. I put my GoPro camera on the railing and made a time lapse video of us leaving port.

It's fun to watch, especially to see that Coast Guard ship coming and going, doing 180's and figure 8's. As they escorted us out, they'd zoom up to the front of the ship when another boat was seeming to come our way. And they'd follow it towards the back of the ship, and then zip around to start watching the front again. You can't see from the video, but there was a guy manning a giant machine gun up front. They take this escorting business seriously in San Diego. I don't recall ever seeing anything like that in Port Canaveral, FL before…

So yeah, you could elect to have an early dinner seating at 5:45 PM every night, or the later 8:00 PM seating. Figuring our biological clocks would still be on Central time, we opted for the early dinners. That actually worked well for us, and I'd be happy to do it again. Anyway, we lingered on the veranda as long as we could, enjoying the ride out to sea, and around 5:40 we started heading down to Tiana's Place.

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 2 - Sunday, 10/1/17 - Dinner at Tiana's Place

Oh yeah, we didn't know what our restaurant assignments would be beforehand. It turns out we had Tiana's Place Sunday night, Tiana's Place again Monday night for Pirate Night, Triton's on Tuesday, and Animator's Palate on Wednesday. Nice!!!!





We waited in the entrance line, met the greeters, and they escorted us over to table 58.





OK. This is awesome. Way better than the parrot (whatever it was called before) theming!



So… they seated us at a table for six. The first couple was already seated and the second couple arrived a few minutes later. We really lucked out, as we totally enjoyed their company. Both couples had grown children, who have all moved out of the house. So… all six of us where enjoying a kid-free cruise this time around. And great that we all got along well considering we were strangers....

Here's one of those 360 views from our table:



Terrible photos of the menu, but here they are…





There were just too many appetizing items on the menu!

But first, off they had some bread waiting for us… Herbed Brioche with Roasted Onion Dip. The bread was good, but the dip was bland. (Who wants to fill up on bread, when you have so many other great items on the menu anyway?)





I started off with the Boudin Sausage Fritters. To be honest, this was my least favorite plate on the whole trip. They were very dry and bland. Sort of blech. (One of the other couples had them too, and they felt about the same.)



Stephanie ordered the Sautéed Gulf Shrimp and Grits. She let me taste them. OK, big mistake on my part, this was delicious.. she made the right call here on round one!



Next up, we both had the New Orleans Seafood Pepper Pot (a Creole Bouillabaisse with Calamari, Shrimp, Scallops and Flat Leaf Parsley.) This was also very tasty! I'd order it again without a doubt.



And then for the main course, we both ordered the Cajun Spiced Sea Bass on Shrimp Jambalaya with crisp Fennel Salad and Rémoulade. It was fantastic. I enjoyed every last bite!!! Possibly, one of my favorite entrees on the entire trip...





Oh, and while we are zoomed in on the plate, the Princess and the Frog theming was so cool!





Not too far into the meal, Tiana came up on stage to welcome everyone to her restaurant…



And then she introduced the jazz band who played for a while. They were very lively and talented.





At some point, Tiana made the rounds to meet everyone at their tables. How fun!



And also, they had sort of a marching parade/party… in the vein of the ones from New Orleans. I didn't get too many photos, but they encouraged everyone to join in and parade around the room… ending in a limbo… all while the band played. Just too cool!



Eventually, it was time for desert… here's the menu. It had little LED lights embed in it to make the fireflies blink. Rad!



I guess, I forgot to get a photo of the desert menu contents. Oops! But no worries, Stephanie got one of each. And then I everything but one item... (And that's why I really could have cared less about those sausage appetizers at the beginning... because I knew these were coming.)

This is the only time on the trip that we completely and utterly threw caution to the wind and pigged out. Oink, Oink!!! (Well maybe not counting the Palo Brunch. Haha!)



But seriously, how could you pick just one of these? This was by far, the best desert menu on the entire cruise!

Here's the Southern Style Pecan Nut Tart with Bourbon Caramel Sauce. This was very tasty, but slightly dry. And... try the grey stuff, it's delicious...



Mama Odie’s White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Praline Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream.. I didn't try this one, but Stephanie absolutely loved it…



New Orleans Bananas Foster Sundae (French Vanilla Ice Cream with Rum-flavored Caramelized Bananas and Whipped Cream) This was actually one of my favorites. So good!



Chocolate Doberge Gateau (six-layer Sponge Cake filled with Chocolate Chantilly Crème) We fell in love with doberge cake while visiting New Orleans a few years ago, and this didn't disappoint. Yum!!!



Tiana’s Buttermilk Beignets (dusted with Powdered Sugar and served with Chocolate Espresso Dipping Sauce) OK. These were incredible. Maybe a little on the dry side, but the chocolate sauce more than made up for it. Delicious!



I think Stephanie was (at the same time) both proud and embarrassed of her decision to try them all… In hindsight, it was absolutely the right call. I'd encourage you to do the same!!!



So yeah, first dinner on the ship? It was awesome. The food was great. The theming of the restaurant was great. The company was great. The entertainment was great. So fun! The only negative, is that service was fairly slow. We were one of the last tables to be served and the restaurant was mostly cleared out before we got our deserts. (And no, it wasn't because we ordered one of each. Hahaha!) We did like our waiters too. Great service, as I'm sure they had nothing to do with the speed in which the food comes out from the kitchen…

It was about 7:45 PM by the time we left the restaurant. We headed back up to the room to relax. And found our first towel animal waiting for us. How cool!!!



We decided to opt out of the evening entertainment (The Golden Mickey's). Instead, we spent the rest of the evening in the room. We relaxed on the veranda a bit. Unpacked a little bit more. And watched a little TV before going to sleep.

All in all, an incredibly amazing start to our cruise. So much fun!

 

[bcwife76]

What a gorgeous day to sail away!

I love how much bigger the kids club/lab feels now after the reno's, though I was a bit disappointed in the Frozen section, not sure what I was expecting but it was a little underwhelming. My youngest really enjoyed the new slide from Andy's room and when I went to pick up the kids, while my eldest was all over the place, most of the time my youngest was there or in the Marvel area

Tiana's is such a great addition to the ship!! WAY better than Parrot Cay

 

[AussieDisneyfans]

I hope the weather is as great as your sail away, for us next year!

I totally intend to pig out (oink oink) on the deserts also - especially when it comes to those Beignets !! Can't wait.

 

[adSimba]

This is a fantastic trip report, and so timely as my family just started talking about doing a shorter baja trip in 2019.

Thank you so much for the effort you put into this it is a really fun read.

 

[kid-at-heart]

We cruised the Wonder in May. We had a different band in Tiana's. Frankly while we loved the food and atmosphere in Tiana's, the band we had sucked so I am glad there is now a different band. The band playing during our cruise was as boring and burned out as my students are at week twelve of the semester. Was this band good?

 

[MarbleBob]

What a gorgeous day to sail away!

I love how much bigger the kids club/lab feels now after the reno's, though I was a bit disappointed in the Frozen section, not sure what I was expecting but it was a little underwhelming. My youngest really enjoyed the new slide from Andy's room and when I went to pick up the kids, while my eldest was all over the place, most of the time my youngest was there or in the Marvel area

Tiana's is such a great addition to the ship!! WAY better than Parrot Cay

Yes, it was a gorgeous day indeed! Interesting that you were found the Frozen section a little underwhelming. I can see where you are coming from, but I actually thought it was really cool. On the other hand, I was a bit underwhelmed with the MARVEL area. But... I'm sure when they have the regular kids programming going, I bet both areas come to life a bit more than what I experienced in open house. I'm glad to hear that your youngest enjoyed the MARVEL area though!

And yeah, I agree about Tiana's being way better than Parrot Cay!

I hope the weather is as great as your sail away, for us next year!

I totally intend to pig out (oink oink) on the deserts also - especially when it comes to those Beignets !! Can't wait.

I hope your weather is great too! I hear you on the beignets, they'll bring you more than just the two, if you ask!

This is a fantastic trip report, and so timely as my family just started talking about doing a shorter baja trip in 2019.

Thank you so much for the effort you put into this it is a really fun read.

Thanks! I"m glad that you are enjoying it, and I hope its helpful in your discussions about a baja trip in 2019.

We cruised the Wonder in May. We had a different band in Tiana's. Frankly while we loved the food and atmosphere in Tiana's, the band we had sucked so I am glad there is now a different band. The band playing during our cruise was as boring and burned out as my students are at week twelve of the semester. Was this band good?

Wow, that's a bummer about the band sucking while you were at Tiana's!!! Yes, this band was quite good. I'm not much of a dixie/jazz fan, but I thought they were all talented. Lots of energy and they were engaged. Didn't look like they were just going through the motions or anything. It seemed like they were genuinely enjoying themselves. Which I'm sure makes a big difference...

 

[kelmac284]

Loved the updates. My oldest is a huge tiana fan and would love tianas restaurant. Food looked great! Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[MarbleBob]

Loved the updates. My oldest is a huge tiana fan and would love tianas restaurant. Food looked great!

Thanks Kelly. I'm sure your oldest would love Tiana's Place!

Looking forward to the next installment!

We've had a super crazy/busy week, so it might be another day or two until I have time to get the next installments posted...

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 3 - Monday, 10/12 - Sunrise and Breakfast

I'm not sure exactly when we passed into the Mountain time zone, but the ship officially changed during our first night at sea. We were pretty happy about this, as it put the local time an hour closer to our biological clocks.

After our first night, it's worth noting that our room was loud. This was the first time we've sailed on the aft/back of a ship and it will certainly be the last.

The room itself shook/vibrated a bit. And there were a few spots making creaking/squeaking noises. I had heard that rooms in the back were a little louder, but I wasn't expecting it to be this loud. I say this now, because it was fairly annoying as you were trying to sleep. It got worse later in the trip, but I'll save that story for later. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal at this point, and it didn't significantly affect our overall impression of the ship so far.

And before we get going, here's the Navigator for the day.





Stephanie woke up fairly early, and got out of bed around 5:45 AM. She left me to sleep a bit longer… and she headed down to the promenade deck (deck 4) to go for a walk.

I think she said there was a sign indicating that three laps around the ship would equal a mile. She probably did a two and a half miles… in the dark. (Of course the pathway was lit, but the sky was still pitch black.) She said it was weird, because she only saw one other person walking that morning, and she only crossed their path twice. This was very different than what she experienced during her morning walks on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas this past June (where the walkway was always full of people... and granted the sunrise was much earlier back then.) So… here's another nod to the smaller ship meaning smaller crowds. (Or in this case, non-existent crowds.)

Loving this aspect of the cruise!

Stephanie thought that Cabanas buffet opened up at 7:00 AM, so she headed there for a light breakfast after her walk. Except for she had it wrong, it didn't open until 7:30 AM. She knew that Daisy’s De-Lites was already open, so she went there and had some oatmeal and a cup of tea. The sunrise didn't occur until around 7:25 AM, she still couldn’t see any hint of the sun itself, but the sky was starting to lighten up a bit, so she enjoyed her breakfast on the deck just outside Palo.

Meanwhile, I woke up for good around 6:30 AM. I peeked out the window and it was still dark, so I hopped back into bed and turned on the TV for a little while. Stephanie came back about the time that the sun was rising, and we enjoyed the sunrise from our verandah.



The views were breathtaking! I wasn't expecting to see so much of the coast off in the distance, but you'd see it come and go throughout the day. We sat and enjoyed the sunrise for quite a while, eventually even seeing some dolphins swimming along the ship. How cool!

Plans for the day?

Oh yeah, a little more background. When preparing for the trip months in advance, we found the thread for our trip on here on the Disboards. But early on, it became clear that everyone had moved to a private Facebook group for our cruise. This turned out to be pretty awesome with 300+ people joined in (and a couple of great volunteers who stayed top of coordinating everything.) The group is still actively chatting and sharing photos. They had a ton of fish extender groups, pixie dust groups, meet and greets, and enough interest to fill two Mixology classes (40 people per class.) We've done fish extenders before, so we opted out of that. But we've never done one of the mixology classes, so we decided to sign up for that one. We were in the first group, scheduled for 2pm on this day (Monday.)

So the Mixology class planned for 2pm, and of course, dinner planned for 5:45 PM, and we knew there would be the Pirate Party and fireworks closer to 9 or 10 PM. The rest of the day, we just played by ear.

Looking at the Navigator, we saw that a guided tour of the ship ("Art of Theme Show Tour") started at 9:45 AM. We figured that we'd start with that…

We had an hour or two before the tour, so I went up to Cabanas for some breakfast while Stephanie took a shower and started to get ready for the day.



I felt like breakfast was much better than lunch the day before. Still feeling a bit full from all of Tiana's deserts last night, I didn't go crazy this time around. But… I can never get enough Disney bacon, so I did go back up for a couple more pieces.



Here are a few photos of the breakfast buffet…

(I'm on my lunch break right now, having a small salad, and I'm starting to drool while looking at these photos.)



























Some great breakfast options here!

I headed back down to the room after I finished eating to take a shower and get ready for the day too.

I would have loved to glaze over the next part and just move on to the awesome tour… but it's time share a few more negative aspects of the stateroom.

In the shower, just above eye level, I noticed that the shower curtain rings were fairly rusted. Gross!



And then looking up at the ceiling, paint was flaking off.



And while I’m mentioning those two things…

In the bathroom there were cracks in the tile.





And outside on the veranda, it had aesthetic issues too…

Some over-spray (maybe gray spray paint?) on the plexiglass



And some weird hardened brown dripping stuff on the railings. Here are just a couple examples, there were more…





Any one of these things on their own wouldn't be a big deal, at all. But these combined with the squeaky noises (more on that later) really gave me the impression that Disney had dropped the ball back here on these staterooms.

Wasn't the ship supposed to have been renovated last year? Maybe my expectations were too high, but for the price we paid, I don’t think so. (Maybe if we were staying at a Motel 6, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.)

Anyway, we were having so much fun, and beyond those things, the room really was nice. In the grand scheme of things, not counting the noisy/shaky aspect of the room, these were fairly trivial... so we chose to ignore them and focus on the positive aspects.

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 3 - Monday, 10/12 - Art of the Theme Show Tour

As we still hadn't realized that crowds on this ship are typically non existent, we headed up for the tour about 10 or 15 minutes early.

It started off at Palo:



And guess what, we were the first to arrive. (And it turns out that only two other people joined us on the tour.)



Basically, the tour walked us through different areas of the ship, pointing out design elements and explaining why certain decisions were made with respect to the theming. And also pointing out many things that you probably wouldn't notice on your own. Our tour guide was fantastic and we really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

But yeah, we started in Palo...



He explained that Palo means "pole" in Italian, for the stick that they use on the gondola boat tours in Venice. And then pointed out how that theme was carried out throughout the restaurant. For example, the fixture on the ceiling in the following picture is supposed to represent the water, with you down below, looking up towards the surface. The points sticking out are the tips of the poles.



It seemed like a bit of stretch to me, but sure, I'll go along with it.

Then he talked about the masks and the books for the menus, and how they were all hand made in Italy for the restaurant…





He shared a bunch more of insights about Palo, and eventually said… there's only one Disney character in the restaurant.



And took us out to the display area in the restaurant lobby…



Next we started heading down to deck 5 to learn about the movie theater and the kids areas. And we spent some time in the atrium lobby too.

They were having a princess meet and greet, and it was fun to watch from above…



He spoke about the Ariel (Little Mermaid) theming, how the carpets represented the sea floor, and the lines were mimicked with paint up on the ceiling, and the chandelier was a play on her hair.





And how they used forced perspective to make the atrium seem larger than it really is.

I loved the Halloween theming too!



He also pointed out the characters below the railing. And how they were all working cruise ship jobs, paying homage to all the hard working cast members on the ship.



We eventually made our way down to deck 4, and where he talked about the ships construction for a while. Pointing things out in various photos.



And then we went out to the Promenade Deck, where he shared more about the construction, the color used to paint the ship, and the color of the life boats…



Oh, and I thought this was funny… The Wonder was the second Disney ship in the fleet. Apparently, the Magic (its predecessor) was built in two halves and then welded together. The Wonder was meant to be the sister ship and match it, but it was actually built in one piece… They decided to make a fake weld line… so it would look just like the Magic.

I love how Disney pays attention to the details! (Just not in our stateroom. Haha )



And while we were out on the deck, another group of dolphins started swimming by… I never could get a good photo of them, but it sure was fun to see them!



We headed back inside and ended outside the Walt Disney Theater.



The funny thing here, is the tile mural of Walt on the wall. He was apparently holding a cigarette in the original picture, and they photoshopped it out. But they didn't remove all the smoke, so there is a haze on the black tiles above his hand. Apparently, when the ship was new, the cleaning staff didn't know this… and they thought the smoke haze was dirt/smudges on the tile and would become frustrated that they couldn't wipe it clean. Ha!



All in all, the tour lasted about 45 minutes. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot. I'm leaving out all sorts of details. You could write a couple of blog posts just on this tour. If you ever get the chance to take the tour, I'd highly recommend it!

Next up, we decided to just relax in the lounge chairs out on the promenade for a while!!!

It was shaping up to be a beautiful morning!



And here's another 360 degree photo for you to click on…

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Looks like a good start to the cruise and that you were really looking to take things at a more relaxed pace which is probably nice with it being the two of you and for your anniversary, etc.

I must say that Tiana's is one of the things I was most excited about when I saw it was part of the renovations so glad to see you enjoyed it

Also good to hear your take on some of the food as some of the items that sounded good to me reading on the menu were things you liked less than others ... and great call with trying all the desserts!

speaking of renovations - sorry to hear about all the issues in the room with the rusted shower curtain holders and cracked tiles and stuff ... that is something that should never be acceptable for Disney - but especially for the ship with the most recent refurb! "Art of the Show" indeed!

oh, side note, I love Stephanie's Disneyland sweatshirt!

That tour sounds really interesting ... if if some of the facts sound like they made them up after the fact Actually it would be kinda fun if they played "I will tell you three facts - one is fake, you have to guess which one!"

If it fits in our schedule/we don't have anything blocking it (since we are first time cruisers I suspect we will have to take what we can get for meet and greet times, etc.) I will definitely try to take that tour!

 

[Geomom]

I'm enjoying your trip report! Your Art of the Theme show tour sounds similar to the one we did in 8/16 before the refurb. We really enjoyed learning details about the ship design.

As far as the issues with your room, I just wanted to point out that the room renovations happened from Jan-April 2015--so it's been 2 1/2 yrs since the rooms were worked on...but things like the rusty shower curtain rods would be an easy replacement at any time, and should have been fixed already. The drydock last fall focused on all the public areas of the ship. I hope you brought up your issues with the room at some point. Our stateroom had 2 completely loose tiles on the bathroom floor. We mentioned it to our stateroom host and it was fixed that day. Anyway...I hope you both thoroughly enjoyed your cruise despite the room issues!

 

[MarbleBob]

Looks like a good start to the cruise and that you were really looking to take things at a more relaxed pace which is probably nice with it being the two of you and for your anniversary, etc.

I must say that Tiana's is one of the things I was most excited about when I saw it was part of the renovations so glad to see you enjoyed it

Also good to hear your take on some of the food as some of the items that sounded good to me reading on the menu were things you liked less than others ... and great call with trying all the desserts!

speaking of renovations - sorry to hear about all the issues in the room with the rusted shower curtain holders and cracked tiles and stuff ... that is something that should never be acceptable for Disney - but especially for the ship with the most recent refurb! "Art of the Show" indeed!

oh, side note, I love Stephanie's Disneyland sweatshirt!

That tour sounds really interesting ... if if some of the facts sound like they made them up after the fact Actually it would be kinda fun if they played "I will tell you three facts - one is fake, you have to guess which one!"

If it fits in our schedule/we don't have anything blocking it (since we are first time cruisers I suspect we will have to take what we can get for meet and greet times, etc.) I will definitely try to take that tour!

Yeah, it was a great start! And no offense to our kids, but we were having a blast not having to cater to the three of them... and just doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted!

Yeah, you'll love Tiana's, and definitely plan on ordering one of each desert!

Ha, I love Stephanie's sweatshirt too! It's fun when we are driving in the car, when the sun hits it just right, and the "sequency" stuff makes it look like there's a disco ball throwing rainbow colors all over the interior.

With respect to the tour, I'd maybe put it towards the top of a "B list" of items, after the "must do's" are satisfied. Definitely worth doing, but probably not an "A" item.

I'm enjoying your trip report! Your Art of the Theme show tour sounds similar to the one we did in 8/16 before the refurb. We really enjoyed learning details about the ship design.

As far as the issues with your room, I just wanted to point out that the room renovations happened from Jan-April 2015--so it's been 2 1/2 yrs since the rooms were worked on...but things like the rusty shower curtain rods would be an easy replacement at any time, and should have been fixed already. The drydock last fall focused on all the public areas of the ship. I hope you brought up your issues with the room at some point. Our stateroom had 2 completely loose tiles on the bathroom floor. We mentioned it to our stateroom host and it was fixed that day. Anyway...I hope you both thoroughly enjoyed your cruise despite the room issues!

Thanks for following along. I'm glad that you're enjoying it.

I couldn't remember if the rooms were renovated with the re-imagining or before, so thanks for clearing that up! Yes, we did interact with guest services about the room a little later in the trip. They didn't ignore us, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the whole thing. More details to follow in an upcoming installment... when we get to the point when the room became ridiculously loud with squeaks and vibrations. I sent an email to them a little while back, and I got the "We'll be in touch soon" auto-responder. I expect to hear back any day now...

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 3 - Monday, 10/12 - More Exploring and Just Enjoying the Ship

So, looking back at the photos… I realized that we didn't immediately go relax on the promenade after the tour. Instead, on the way out to the promenade, we noticed that the "Anyone Can Cook" session was just starting in the D Lounge (it was now 10:30 AM.) We decided to peak our heads in and see what it was… they were making Lobster Ravioli. That sounded interesting so we decided to stay.

It was set up sort of like a cooking show. With a kitchen setup in front and then a bunch of tables and chairs surrounding it. I'd say there were probably 20 or 30 people there, but we still were able to get good seats. And, just like on those cooking shows, they had some TV's with overhead cameras so that you could easily following along with what the chef was doing.



They started out with an introduction, some jokes, and stuff... While the chef was getting prepared, the "wine guy" came out. (I don't pay much attention to wine normally, I'm not sure what his official title was. I don't remember them saying sommelier or anything like that.) He spoke about the different wines on the ship, how they pair them with meals and stuff for a bit, and then they gave us all a glass to enjoy while the chef was cooking…



They also gave us recipe cards, so that we could follow along…





It smelled so good in there!!! About half way through the class, they brought everyone a pre-made sample. It was actually quite tasty, and sort of a tease… because it left you wanting a couple more bites!



After the presentation was finished, I went up and asked the chef if I could take his photo. He obliged and smiled…



And then I snapped a couple shots of his ingredients and the final dish that he had on display.



It looked even more appetizing than our samples!!!



So yeah, that was actually pretty cool. We hadn't even considered doing this beforehand, but I'm glad we did.

And then after the class, you can pretty much exit the D Lounge right into the promenade deck, so that's when we actually sat and relaxed on those lounge chairs for a while. Maybe 45 minutes or so.

We looked at the Navigator again and decided to head over to the Promenade Lounge and try the 3D Mickey and Minnie Craft activity. When we arrived, it seemed to be geared more towards kids, so we decided to take a pass.

It was getting to be about lunch time, so we figured that we'd try one of the quick service areas on Deck 9... and we found the "Shawarma Offerings" at Pete's Boiler Bites to look appealing.


You could choose between chicken or lamb/beef. Looks yummy!



And then they had all sorts of toppings for you to choose from!



The funny thing is… they were served with flour tortillas instead of pita/flatbread. So it was a little more like eating a taco, but still very good.

I went with a combo of both beef/lamb and chicken.



And Stephanie just got beef/lamb.



How were they? Pretty tasty, actually. Not even close to the best gyros you've ever had, but for quick service food, I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, it's lunch time here at home, and I'd be stoked to have one of those right now!!!

If you know Stephanie... you know she loves ice cream. Especially high quality soft serve. While I was finishing up, she went and got herself a cone. It's worth noting that every day, they have the regular chocolate and vanilla flavors, but a rotating set of flavors too. She came back with a blueberry/mango swirl.



She let me taste it… and I pretty much stopped what I was doing and went and got one for myself. Soooooooooooo good!

At some point around this time, we crossed paths with some of our table mates from last night. They were getting ready to have brunch at Palo. We decided to swap photo opportunities with each other.



At this point, we still had a couple hours before the mixology class (at 2pm), so we decided to head back to our room and change into our bathing suits… and then we hit the adults only pool area for a while.

I didn't bring my camera or phone with me, but we enjoyed both the hot tub and the swimming pool for an hour or so. It really wasn't too crowded at this point either. Which was nice, because the pools and hot tubs on the ship are pretty darn small.

Around 1pm, we decided to grab a small bite to eat before heading down to the room to get ready for mixology. We knew that they'd be serving around five cocktails in the class… way more than we would ever normally drink, so we figured it would be best not to arrive with empty stomachs!

So... we headed back to Cabanas for a few snacks. I don't remember what I had. Some French fries and a chicken finger or something like that…

 

[MarbleBob]

Day 3 - Monday, 10/12 - Mixology Class

OK… I have to admit that we were pretty excited about this class! Neither of us are big drinkers, and when we do go out for drinks, we tend to gravitate towards tiki bars! So the idea of trying and learning about some different cocktails was appealing.

As I mentioned before, this was set up through the Facebook group… but in hindsight… we could have easily signed up for a mixology class on our own as they had them at different times throughout the cruise. And interestingly, a couple of our dinner table mates did mixology on their own… and they ended up with completely different set of drinks. So it looks like there is some repeatability here. It was $20 per person, a great value… all things considered. Next time we go on a Disney cruise, this will be on my must do list.

Anyway, the class was held in the Cadillac Lounge on deck 5. As usual, arriving 5 or 10 minutes early, means we were some of the first to arrive. They checked us in, and assigned us seats… luckily they put us right up in front of the guy who would be giving the presentation.





So this was actually a cross between a hand-on class and a presentation. We got to help make some of the drinks, while others were brought to us by the bar tenders. But for each one, they gave a good background/history of the cocktail, explained the ingredients, why it works, any cultural references, and stuff like that. It was really cool.

The only thing.. I don’t really remember the names of the various cocktails. Haha!

The first one was a combination of champagne (or in this case, sparkling wine), St. Germain liqueur, and raspberry vodka. He spoke about the difference between champagne and similar wine made outside of the Champagne region of France. About the different qualities... The size of the bubbles. Etc.

It wasn't my favorite, but it was quite tasty!



I din't realize the wine bottle was turned around, but it included St. Germain… with some Absolut Raspberry vodka mixed in too.

Next up, we made mojito's. They gave us each a glass already filled with rum, mint, simple syrup, and a lime. And then we each shared a muddler and a can of sprite. They explained the proper way to muddle the mint, and cautioned us against smashing it up too much (or it would become bitter.) A lady came by with ice and we were ready to go. I think Stephanie and I both enjoyed this one the best, but then again we tend to prefer rum over other spirits…

Here' my finished product!



And the raw ingredients…



Next up… we moved to martinis. He gave a great overview of the history of martinis and various cultural references. And suggested that James Bond had it wrong… and that they are better stirred, not shaken. (But for the life of me, I can't remember why he said so.) ...and funny… that he used a shaker for his. Haha!

He actually mixed and poured two drinks at the same time, with one shaker nested in the other. A cool trick!



First up was a "lemon drop" martini. (Or a similar name.) This sounds great, but it was my least favorite drink of the class. I enjoyed it enough to finish it, but I noticed a lot of people made it about half way and gave up.



And again, I don't recall what it was called… but the second martini was chocolate themed. And it was pure liquid goodness. I mean, Godiva Liqueur anyone?!?! Amazing!





And then to finish it off, we all came up in small groups to mix up our final drink. A shot of Chambord (raspberry liqueur) with a float off Bailey's Irish Cream. At this point, most people in the class were feeling a bit tipsy… and seriously, we're doing shots now!?!?!





This was actually a lot of fun and quite tasty. We broke the ice with the people sitting across from us fairly early in the class, and as it proceeded (and the alcohol kicked in) we all became friendlier with each other. So lots of jokes and laughing before and after we headed up to do the shots.

When it was all said and done, I think we were their for about an hour after class started. I think it was officially done in about 45 minutes, but most of us stayed until they kicked us out. (As they had a wedding party coming in immediately after us.)

I think this was one of the highlights of the cruise for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the drinks (well except for that lemon martini - but now I know not to order that in the future.) The whole group was friendly and staff were all amazing too. I think 2pm on a sea day was great timing for us. It was early enough that it didn't interfere with our dinner or other evening plans...