Day Five ~ This Beautiful Ocean

 

We started this beautiful day attending one of the Anyone Can Cook Sessions with Jon Ashton. We had done this several mornings, but I forgot to post about it. What is so awesome about these sessions, is not, only do you get to taste the amazing dish he is preparing, you also get the recipe to make it at home. We had missed the first session but made the rest of them (and picked up the recipe for the first one). After that, we ran into a few of our ‘friends’ walking through the ship. You never know who you will see where.

We spent our afternoon relaxing on the sun deck of the concierge lounge and some time in the Rainforest room in the spa. Truly a relaxing day. We also chose this day to enjoy our Cloudem Blue on our verandah. This was a non alcoholic 'bubbly' with 'glitter' in it. It just looked pretty and I picked that to be included in our 'Romance package' that included our robes and chocolate. 

This day is Pirate Day on the ship so we always pick this evening to go to Palo for dinner. So after our very relaxing afternoon it was time to dress for dinner. This was one evening where we didn't get any photos in the atrium. Thankfully, we did get one at dinner and my one selfie in our cabin.

After dinner we were meeting up with friends for a Bourbon tasting in the Cove Cafe. I am not a bourbon drinker by any means but I did come along for 'fun' and shared my bourbon with others.

I did have to make a pit stop by my new friend Karen who helped me immensely with our things with our group to drop off something to her cabin. Her cabin was selected at the 'Door of the Day' for the first sea day on the ship! Check this out!. Karen also gifted us two 'ducks' that she made. Of course these will make their way to Dale's Jeep!

Day Three ~ Part Three ~ Princesses!

 

I completely forgot before our Palo Brunch we had our reservation for the Royal Gathering. This is just a short time where you get to meet the Princesses on board. It is nice that they have short reservation windows so that you are not in a long line waiting forever. You go at your designated time and see them and are done, all in a 15 minute window. Which worked great before our Palo Brunch, then we were able to go dress for brunch.

Day Four ~ Who Runs on a Ship??

 

So, Disney cruise ships have one deck that has been mapped out as a ‘running/walking’ deck. On the Disney Wonder, approximately three laps around deck four equals one mile. This is an uninterupted lap that you can run the entire way around the ship. It’s kind of crazy as you run behind the Walt Disney theater at one end of the ship and can see the ropes for the anchors at the other end. The two ends though are VERY narrow. Because of this, I gave out runner ettiequte before we started and instructed some to go up to deck ten to run/walk where they did not have those narrow paths, but they do have more obstacles to run around.

I should start this with our Facebook group. I started a sign up for those that were interested in doing a 5K on board the ship. I had contracted a gal to make medals and offered them at cost to those who were interested. I was a bit overwhelmed when the group of those who wanted to participate grew to approximately 150 people!!! If you know Disney Cruise Line, you know they are ALWAYS working on something to keep things looking fresh and nice. They are always painting something or polishing something. And maintenance happens all the time. These are things you cannot always anticipate. When we boarded the ship, I spoke with our concierge team and let them know about our plans for the 5K and asked if they could find out if there was any scheduled maintenance for the date/time we had pre-selected (really hoping not). They were so kind to make sure that the deck was completely clear for us for our 5K. 

The morning of the 5K, I asked everyone to meet at the stage by the pool (there is a pool under that wooden area in front of the stage we are all standing on) for a group photo. Most everyone arrived on time and claimed their medals before hand so I didn't have to worry about what time people finished and this 5K was on the honor system and could be done at any time during our cruise. I was so thankful to my new friend Amy who helped me during the chaos of handing out 135 medals. There were a few people who missed the morning 5K due to the changing of times. We were moving our clocks ahead an hour a couple of nights in a row, so some people were not realizing that their phones were not correct since they did not take them out of the auto mode. We were on 'ship' time, not 'real' time! 

This was the medal that they were awarded for their 5K!

We had young kids with their parents, teens, adults and older adults doing the 5K. We had people who had never done one before, doing their very first 5K, worried that they wouldn't be able to get it done, but they DID! We had people who run so much more doing it. We even had an amazing runner who runs with a running blade due to an awful accident that took her leg several years ago. It was so great to see so many out on a beautiful morning just having fun. 

After breakfast Dale of course made his way to Cabanas for breakfast, that was his morning routine. I was enjoying the lighter fare in the lounge with fresh fruit and tea or a latte in the morning. Being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we enjoyed time on our verandah, just enjoying the fresh air, beautiful blue water and just relaxing.

We had a Mixology session booked for this afternoon. This was one of only two ‘tastings’ we had booked this trip since we were staying concierge, we felt we didn’t need to spend the additional money on other alcohol things. We have always enjoyed the mixology classes though because they give you good ideas for drinks you can possibly make at home. Or different takes on something you may have tried before. We attended this with one of our new friends Celeste. These classes are always fun and you get three totally different drinks. This time what was so crazy, was the drink I liked the most, was a bourbon drink and I do NOT drink bourbon and the one Dale liked the most was a tequila drink and he doesn’t drink tequila. So this is the fun part of the class.

After a few drinks, thank goodness they were not full size drinks, we had a special character meet and greet in the lounge so we made our way up there. This was another benefit of the concierge lounge, getting to meet a character without any line.

We had dinner this evening in Animators Palate again and it was their traditional dinner. This was one of the meals I was looking forward too. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in my dinner. I will say Disney Cruise Line used to be so amazing with their food, but this trip, it just didn’t live up to what we were used to. I am not one to send my food back. It was edible. And, unfortunately, your servers are always asking if anything is wrong if you don’t finish something. First off, I never finish my meal, but secondly, this time around, things just were not as good and I do not want that reflected on the server. But, Animators is where we do see Sorcerer Mickey, so that was a highlight of our evening as he made his way through the restaurant before we made our way back to our cabin for the evening.

Day Three ~ Part Two

 

After a very filling brunch, we chatted for a bit. Dale left early to go meet up with a bunch of guys who, some unknowingly, were all wearing the same shirt. This has become a ‘thing’ it seems on Disney cruises lately. Typically though, the wives buy the hubby’s the designated shirt and then have them wear said shirt on a certain day. They plan a meet up in the atrium at a certain time and you watch as more and more show up with the same shirt on. And they look of confusion and then amusement as they realize they’ve been ‘had’. My friend Eddy had set this up for our cruise group. Quite a few wives/girlfriends did this to their partners. But, like Dale, many did know they were part of this ‘group’. 

They all met in the atrium of the ship for a photo and sang a couple songs. Some were a bit better at singing than others. Unfortunately, they hadn’t decided on a song ahead of time, this was a spur of the moment decision, and not everyone knew more than the first verse. But, overall, they had a good time!

After this, we enjoyed a little down time. The afternoon in the lounge was ‘tea time’ and I was started to enjoy tea and scones in the afternoon. It was quiet and relaxing and so delicious. After a little tea time we were finally going to make our way to the Rainforest Room. This is in the spa on the ship. It provides a cozy and intimate environment with two steam rooms, showers and heated stone lounge chairs. The steam rooms are one of the main attractions as they are warm and humid, which helps relax your muscles. There are three different types of showers, varying in temperature from very cool to very warm (almost too hot). The middle one, tropical rain shower is the most amazing!!! I could stand in there for hours! But the part I like best are the heated stone lounge chairs. 

Since there was no major show in the theater we enjoyed the relaxing afternoon and this beautiful sunset before getting ready for dinner.

After a very relaxing afternoon, we had to get dressed for dinner, stop by the lounge to grab a drink before heading to the atrium to get some photos done before our dinner this evening.

We certainly were not staying up late like we had on previous cruises, lol. After dinner, we often made a stop by the lounge before returning to our room for the night. Tomorrow was a big day, I had to be on deck EARLY since I was organizing a 5K for 150 people on the ship!!!

Day Three ~ So Much Food

Day three started with me going to the gym. I try to work out on the cruise and I use the steps a LOT on the ship. I like to enjoy the food (and this trip a little bit of alcohol) so I try to offset the calories by hitting the gym and using the steps and in the end it did pay off. But this day, I needed to burn some calories, prophylactically! We were going to Palo for brunch. Palo is separate dining experience on the Disney Wonder. It is an additional charge to dine here and you do need to make a reservation. I had set up a group brunch for 14 people for two days on our sailing. We were part of the first group. We were meeting up with friends who used to live next door to us that we hadn't seen in many years and some of their friends they were cruising with along with new friends we made in our Facebook group. 

Palo Brunch starts with a lovely mimosa! They have a wonderful non alcoholic drink available for those not drinking which was so nice. Then they start by bringing pastries to the table. This is just a small sample of the MANY things they brought out. Special breads, muffins, ricotta filled treats, breadsticks, knots, olive and sun dried tomato breads and other options, Antipasti selection with prosciutto.

They continued to add food to the center of the table. They added various flatbreads. There were margherita, goat cheese and sun dried tomato and the famous one that anyone who has eaten at Palo over the years absolutely loves but is no longer on the menu, but can be requested ... the grape and gorgonzola! Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of the amazing flatbreads, oh and I think there may have been a calzone or two on the table. But, this is NOT all!!! 

After that, it was actually time for 'real food'! Then came the 'brunch' items we ordered. I had ordered an omelette, Dale, I think had gotten the frittata. After this, some people had soup in between and then your MAIN course came! One of the very best items known over the years on the brunch menu is the Parmesan-crusted chicken breast - topped with tomato basil sauce and mozzarella cheese, served over an amazing arborio rice risotto. Oh My Gosh!!!! This is so amazing! 

Then after this, they brought out dessert, which we were already way too stuffed for. You see, before Covid, you used to walk through Palo and pick up these individual desserts so you could try several and not feel guilty for taking more than one. But now they are served as a 'single' large serving. I wanted a 'taste' of a couple different ones! So, we ordered several different ones and shared, but I only took a bite of them. I honestly do not eat many sweet things now and this was just way too much for me. My favorite is the first, the panna cotta

Then after all this, before we left, they brought out 'celebration' plates for all the birthdays and our anniversary.

We had lots of other things planned for the day and Dale actually had to get going for a meet up in the Atrium, which the photo at the top of this page is from.

Formal Day ~ Day Two

When you sail on a longer cruise, at least on Disney Cruise Line, there is a formal night. Formal Day for us was night two of the cruise. But, before we get to dinner we had lots of other things going on this day.

Remember that Facebook group I told you about, well we had a group that had organized a Pub Crawl. We have partaken on these on other cruises. It’s when you meet up at the various lounges and travel as a group from one lounge to the next, throughout the day. You are not drinking all day!!! There are breaks!

We actually started the Pub Crawl in the Cove Cafe which is the ‘coffee’ shop on the ship. So I started my day with a mocha latte and Dale had an espresso. 

There is just something fun about having a latte with Mickey on top. Most people in our group did start the morning with some coffee concoction. Oh, I forgot to mention that we started this as 6:30 AM!!! Yes, 6:30 in the morning after having just gotten on the ship the day before! Oh, since we were meeting at 6:30 in the morning we all opted to meet up in our pajamas, because we were going to have a Pajama Breakfast after we were done at the Cove! After everyone enjoyed their coffee we made our way to Cabanas which is the buffet on board for breakfast. Our group was not too big so we got a few tables together and all enjoyed breakfast and talked and got to know each other some more.

After breakfast, our next stop was the French Quarter, think New Orleans.  The French Quarter is an open area lounge where they have activities throughout the day. The bar is open though so you can enjoy a coffee or alcohol drink while you are there. There is a trolley car area that our group took over, in addition to several tables as our group grew at this location. We placed a couple games where the answers were either Halloween or Mardi Gras.  The theme of our pub crawl was ‘BWWITBHOTHS’ ~ Because We Want it to be Halloween on the High Seas! Our friends Malory and Sarah coordinated the pub crawl and they were disappointed (as were others) that our sailing was not an official Halloween on the High Seas sailing. They had the napkins in the lounge when we got our coffee, but nope, no special sailing. This is in part to Disney only sailing out of Vancouver for a few months. It’s not their home port. They’ve have to ship everything there. We have done one of these sailings and it’s pretty elaborate the decorations because that is what Disney does! This was our group at the French Quarter.

We then took a break until early afternoon. We met up at Signals, a bar in the adult pool area. Remember that we cruised out of Canada the day before. It is COOL on deck!!! Thank goodness Disney does Alaskan sailings so they have blankets on deck so Sarah was so kind to get me a blanket as I was freezing even though we were sitting in the sun. We played a crazy game here where we were given characters ‘Villains’ from Disney movies throughout the ages. We had to ‘wear’ the name of our character on our forehead and then ask yes or no questions to the group to try and guess who our character was. Well, if you aren’t a fan of villains you may not do well at this game, lol!!! So, guess who didn’t do well, lol! I did guess my character the one round but had no clue the next round. I didn’t even know who some of them were. We love Disney but we really need to brush up on our Disney movies to cruise with these guys! 

We were actually supposed to move from Signals on to two other locations but we had such a good time, we spent several hours hanging out there. Oh, and our time at Signals was supposed to be in costume. We had some great sports who did dress and got into each session! Dale and I wore Harley stuff, easy, lets me bikers! If you look at the one photo above you can see the cute couple who were decked out in their outfits from 101 Dalmatians! Also my friend Eddy and his hubby Raph were in their baseball outfits. So, some got a little more into the ‘costume’ than others.

We were breaking after this session for some down time which we used to relax in the Concierge Lounge where we were treated with some authentic Hawaiian music and dance. 

This was before we went to the Walt Disney Theater for the first of several shows during our trip. This was the Golden Mickey’s. One of the ‘perks’ of sailing concierge is being led into the theater before anyone else so you can have your pick of seats. We had never sat down close to the stage, except our last cruise with my broken foot because they escorted us in an area with no stairs. It was amazing to be this close. We brought a drink with us from the lounge and were supplied with fresh hot popcorn and water on the way in. We enjoyed the show and then went to dress for our formal night dinner. 

In addition to it being formal night it was also Captains Night in the atrium where you could meet all the officers and staff were walking around offering drinks to the guests. We found on this trip that the captain and officers were actually in the atrium most evenings if you wanted to converse with them. It was the most we had ever seen any officers on a sailing. So while in the atrium, we had to get our formal photos done, because, you know I need to get photos of the two of us.

Then it was off to dinner at Tiana’s. I had boo-boo’d. I wanted to be in Tritons on formal night but somehow we mixed up our rotation. It all worked out as you still have the same menus throughout the entire cruise. 

After dinner our Pub Crawl friends were meeting up in the Cadillac Lounge. This place holds a very special meaning to Dale and I as this is where we renewed our vows for our 25th anniversary on our very first Disney cruise.

When we found that we were becoming too large of a group for the Cadillac Lounge we moved over to the Crown and Fin Pub. There Dale and Celeste enjoyed the Irish Car bombs (that they had talked about on line for weeks). Malory passed out all kinds of bourbon treats, bourbon chocolates, bourbon balls, and more. Malory knows a bit about bourbon since she lives minutes from the bourbon trail. As someone who doesn’t drink bourbon, I just took some for Dale, who was busy at the bar getting a very dark beer, so he could enjoy them later. We spent some time here before finally deciding it was time to call it a night. We were so behind on sleep but thankfully, we were gaining an hour this night. It was a very enjoyable, but long day with a lot of amazing new friends!