Learning the ropes of a cruise

Ladies and Gentlemen, girls and boys, welcome to the Disney Wonder. Head up to deck 9 for the pool or buffet, specialty restaurants are on level five.

After touching down in Miami Florida, my first shockwave was the blanket of humidity that is the Florida atmosphere. I couldn't believe how suddenly I had that feeling, especially as it is the exact same feeling I had when I went to Jacksonville, Florida to live with my sister after high school. Crazy.

Nothing super eventful happened with getting on the cruise boat the first day which is actually AMAZING considering how many people are herded through all of the gates. Disney really does it right - we didn't have a single problem with anything AND, everyone was smiling.

We had adjoining rooms because my family is huge, a monstrosity of five people (ha ha ha). I really loved having two rooms like we did. Kids in one room parents in the other, it was very nice, until the end when I realized we would be tipping for two rooms as well (FYI - for any of you cruise novices, tipping is a pretty big deal and figured out for you by the last day -- how handy).

Our room was pretty spacious, especially compared to the one other cruise to which I can relate :-). And our bed was a true queen-sized bed, another huge upgrade from that other cruise. I loved having both a shower and a toilet-only bathroom in each room. So handy. Just to get the atmosphere in your head -- you can imagine what was on television . . . Disney movies! I know Darren and I watched other channels but my kids only watched Disney.

Soon after getting on the boat we got ambushed by the spa workers :-). I didn't think much of what they were trying to sell, but Darren was in super-best-Valentines-Day-is-tomorrow mood :-). We bought a spa package AND entered a drawing for $75 off a treatment AND I won! Can you believe that? That was just so cool . I got a facial. And, it has changed my life. When you see me again, you won't recognize me because I'll have such a youthful glow :-)



We are sitting next to the Am family for the last night of entertainment

That first night we got our first taste of excellence in dining and entertainment -- whoa, just completely blown away! The entertainment was first-rate. Our seats would've been good in the front or the back. My one negative point of feedback from the entertainment in general was that for all of the little babies and small children, the volume was just wayyyy too loud. I was covering my ears and saw the gentlemen behind me covering his as well. I just can't leave all of those audiology classes alone can I? I often worry about noise levels. See, you learn something new about me every day :-).

Shows

Peter Pan type show

Toy Story - the Musical

Jason Bishop Magic Show

Disney Princess type Show

 We met and dined with the nicest family from Canada. 

Our new BFFs - the Am Family

Orlan and Yanupa - pulling tricks with the camera



We also met our amazing waiter and waitress - Orlan and Yanupa. Seriously, these two made each meal so fun. They remembered all of our names, they did magic tricks at our table every night. Yanupa fashioned napkin headgear for our son most of the nights. I could have adopted Yanupa. I really liked the food in the restaurants. One night I had a mushroom/pasta dish that I must find again. It was so delicious. My kids ordered really exciting things like chicken nuggets, pasta, cooked vegetables and a mickey bar (every single night - no joke) which was basically ice cream covered with chocolate. My kids are sure to correct me when I tell people they ordered a Mickey Bar every night. One night they did get sprinkles on their Mickey Bar.

Every night, the fun wasn't over till after ten. The childcare centers were going later than that.
One last picture to add to this first day:

Disney's Goofy doing what he does best