Repositioning on the Wonder Sept 2014 - Happy Anniversary!!! updated 11/30/14 - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Nice first day. Sorry you weren't thrilled with your table-mates but at least it sounded like you did meet some nice families on board. Nice family photos!
Great first day! I'm glad you were Ok after your initial dizzy spell. We thought the same as you about the safety drill and the announcements beforehand, so maybe they have changed them recently.
Sorry you didn't get on as great with your table mates as the families you met earlier in the day.
The rest of the trip I did not need or use the sea bands, it was just that first hour or so that it really hit me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Too bad you didn't end up seated at dinner with one of the families that seemed just right! I think the behavior of your cabin steward was so rude! The three beds that open up look pretty comfortable. It's great that each boy could have his own. Hope the magic bands continue their work and you feel ok the rest of the cruise. The first day is always pretty exhausting.
Fortunately I did not need the sea bands again. I keep trying to give our steward the benefit of the doubt, I don't know if he was just terribly distracted or what. I chose to laugh about it rather than be too offended, but yeah, I was surprised.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
What a lovely first day! Sorry your table-mates weren't as you'd hoped based on the other people you've met that day, but food looked yummy at least!
The food was good, and the tablemates weren't as bad as they could've been. There was one family we kept running into that would not have been pleasant to sit with at all (they were loud, always yelling at their kids and each other, oblivious to those around them). I was happy to not be near them at dinner!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SharonK0527
Nice first day. Sorry you weren't thrilled with your table-mates but at least it sounded like you did meet some nice families on board. Nice family photos!
They weren't that terrible, just had hopes that we would get on better or have more in common maybe? I think Disney sat us with them because the son was about the same age as my oldest. He just didn't seem interested in socializing and I don't think they saw each other once at the children's program. Oh well, it didn't ruin the vacation for us
I just noticed your Repo trip report and have enjoyed reading it. I am taking the same repo cruise in September 2015 with my mom. I am going to have to check out that hotel you stayed at for our first night.
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Margaret and I got to see the Cubs play in October. They won!
Love the room! Did it seem crowded? I'm thinking about a cruise in 2016 (oh, so far away...) and I don't know if I should go with a family stateroom with a verandah or two inside staterooms. My kids aren't exactly young, they'll be 16, 12 & 11. I know we'd be more comfortable with 2 rooms but I'd love to have a verandah.
Love the room! Did it seem crowded? I'm thinking about a cruise in 2016 (oh, so far away...) and I don't know if I should go with a family stateroom with a verandah or two inside staterooms. My kids aren't exactly young, they'll be 16, 12 & 11. I know we'd be more comfortable with 2 rooms but I'd love to have a verandah.
Well...my oldest boy is 11 and then I have an 8 and 3 year old so it was a tiny bit crowded, but for only 4 nights it worked. Since your kids are bigger I would probably want more room. Its too bad they don't have any verandah rooms that connect! It was only crowded when the beds were down, otherwise we didn't feel cramped.
I just noticed your Repo trip report and have enjoyed reading it. I am taking the same repo cruise in September 2015 with my mom. I am going to have to check out that hotel you stayed at for our first night.
Oh good, you will have so much fun! The Pan Pacific is amazing and convenient, but also expensive. Sometimes they have specials so check their website
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Glad you only needed the sea bands for that first day! The behavior of your cabin steward sounds quite rude to me, but good that you could laugh it off.
I don't think I posted this pic - it was from our first day before boarding:
I may never get a decent nights sleep again. For some reason I woke up around 2am and only really slept off and on afterward. Must be the excitement! I’m like a kid at Christmas when on vacation. Everyday is something new to look forward to, and this day we would get to tour the lovely capital of British Columbia. I felt well rested nonetheless, and when our room service “wake up” came at 7:45, I was more than ready to start the day.
We really enjoyed waking up every morning to room service. This morning we got coffee and tea, cereal for the boys, toast and pastries, and orange juice, however they forgot our fruit, and kept the trend up each morning we ordered it.
We enjoyed these views while taking our time getting ready this morning:
By 9:30 we were ready to head off the ship and took advantage of the free shuttle to downtown Victoria. Since I was never able to book the double decker tour, we figured we would walk around the city on our own. Maybe we would find the Hippo Tours we had initially been interested in.
The bus driver was almost a tour guide himself, as he drove us by several interesting sites and narrated them for us.
We were dropped off in front of the stunning Empress Hotel, and took advantage of many photo opps. No disguising that we are tourists here!
We didn’t walk far when we passed by a double decker bus tour and inquired on pricing. The bus was just about ready to take off, but had plenty of room for us, and turned out it was much, much cheaper than booking through Disney. They didn’t charge us for any of the kids, and we ended up paying less than $70 total. Going through Disney would have cost us nearly $300 for the same type of tour!
We enjoyed a beautiful and thorough tour of the city. The bus driver gave us a detailed history of the city, how it had once belonged to the Spanish (and drove us by a memorial to them), the rich Native American culture, how the water is so cold that no one really uses the sand beaches (except in wet suits), how proud Victorians are of their gardens (not just the famous ones) and take great care of the hanging baskets in the city, and many other interesting facts. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, and there are a number of majestic legislative buildings, historical buildings, and statues to honor the cities namesake, Queen Victoria.
We went through downtown and Chinatown, past the legislative buildings, into a more rural part of town with many natural parks, and ended at the top of a very large hill where we were treated to panoramas of the entire area.
Americans, don't be jealous. This is the price per liter. In case you're rusty with your metric conversions, thats over $5 USD/gallon.
There's our Wonder, docked next to the Carnival Miracle I believe.
Next, we wrap up our city tour and do some more touring on board
Great photos from around Victoria. I so want to visit there, it was one of the few places we didn't make it to last time around. By the way, I saw the gas price and just thought "yep, that's about right", as it's similar to the price we have here and we have the price per litre as well.
Wow, it certainly worked out well for you not booking that bus tour through Disney! It looks like beautiful weather for a tour, and Victoria is such a beautiful city. I love your boarding photo-- smiles from the bigger boys and Jonny's worried look! Strange that room service never gave you any fruit!
Great photos from around Victoria. I so want to visit there, it was one of the few places we didn't make it to last time around. By the way, I saw the gas price and just thought "yep, that's about right", as it's similar to the price we have here and we have the price per litre as well.
Its interesting to know of the gas prices in other countries. In LA, we have some of the higher prices in the states, but they are not THAT high!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Wow, it certainly worked out well for you not booking that bus tour through Disney! It looks like beautiful weather for a tour, and Victoria is such a beautiful city. I love your boarding photo-- smiles from the bigger boys and Jonny's worried look! Strange that room service never gave you any fruit!
They forgot something different each day. Its hard to be mad though, I mean how cool is it to wake up to room service every day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
How great you were able to get the tour you wanted and for much less money.
We were so thankful that she didn't charge us for children. So much to love about this sweet city!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
How lucky you ran into a double decker bus! Love the gorgeous views, this has been added to my to-visit list!
You will love it! It has become one of my favorite cities. I hope you get to go
The rest of the tour took us through the upscale neighborhoods, past country clubs and golf courses (apparently, Bob Hope was a big fan of the area), then by the coast where we stopped again for bathrooms and an opportunity to see, and even feed, some Harbor Seals. We finished the tour with some more coastal scenes and back to downtown.
An hour and a half later we were dropped off back at the Empress Hotel, and were just in time to catch the most recent bus back to the ship. Because we have young kids with us, this tour seemed perfectly timed and of the right interest to keep even Jonny from getting bored. He loved riding on top of the bus and being able to look down on everything! We really enjoyed every encounter in this tourist-friendly city! I highly recommend visiting Victoria if you ever have the opportunity!
Before reboarding the ship, we took some more photos and stopped at a souvenir stand that had excellent prices and more extreme friendliness. I don’t know what’s in the water around here that puts all the locals in such a great mood, but I would seriously consider living here (maybe in one of those gorgeous mansions?) Honestly, the people were fantastic!
Jonny came up with the idea of trying to push the little bus. I think he thought it would really move. A bunch of folks around us got a real kick out of that.
We were back on board in time for lunch and a swim at the nearly empty pools, and I got to do some exploring on deck. Our only other time on the Wonder was a 3-day (starter cruise) in 2009, and we really did not explore as much as I would have liked. I know there are adult areas and a spa and fitness area and many other things I wanted to check out, so I took this opportunity while my boys played to really check out the ship. I saw the Quiet Cove pool, went inside the Vista Salon (and inquired about specials, I really was hoping for a chance to enjoy a treatment later if time allowed), found the Sports Deck (how have we missed this area considering we have 3 sporty boys???), and then walked all the way over to the Palo side before returning to my crew. It was time for me to give Jonny a nap, and I was ready to relax in the stateroom for a while myself.
Views from deck 9 or 10
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I'm glad you were Ok after your initial dizzy spell. We thought the same as you about the safety drill and the announcements beforehand, so maybe they have changed them recently. 
I keep trying to give our steward the benefit of the doubt, I don't know if he was just terribly distracted or what. I chose to laugh about it rather than be too offended, but yeah, I was surprised. 
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