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Disney Cruise Line
Disney Wonder Cruise Review
Bahamas

Brenda Schlupp
Age: 40
Occupation: Nursing
Number of Cruises: First
Sailing Date: January 29th, 2006

We, my husband, our eleven year old son, our eight year old daughter and my in-laws. My in-laws have sailed several times before but it was our first cruise. We had a bit of trouble boarding but it wasn't too bad and once we boarded it was smooth sailing. The thing I noticed first (after we got my daughter to a bathroom) was how wonderful the crew was. They were friendly and helpful in every way.

We were able to get into our cabins right away, which was great. We had adjoining cabins with my in-laws. The first thing my mother-in-law did was open the adjoining door and tell us how much bigger and nicer these cabins were than any other they had ever stayed in. We had cabins with balconies. I don't think we will ever cruise again without a balcony. We then went up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for just a snack because we hadn't eaten since the early morning. We took the kids to register for their clubs and then went back to unpack our bags and wait for the life boat drill.

We had dinner in the Parrot Cay restaurant that night. Our wait staff was Sylvija and Emilia. They were both great but Emilia really went out of her way to entertain our children. She was friendly, attentive and was always willing to answer our questions about her job, the ship and her home.

I've read many reviews about how the food wasn't the greatest but we found it great and so did my in-laws who travel extensively and eat at some of the top restaurants all over the world. That evening our children went to club for a bit while my mother-in-law, my husband and myself went to see Hurcules. I'd like to say it was good but I fell asleep. Before you think it was because maybe it wasn't a good show you should know that I've also fallen asleep at Yuk Yuk's, movies and any other place it gets dark and I'm tired! When we returned our beds were turned down and we had what the kids and I thought was a lobster but my husband thought was a lion's face.

Our housekeeper was Narsicio. He was a very nice, open, kind and hard working gentleman. The bed was very comfortable but the kids said the bunks were a little hard. We loved the separate washrooms. They really come in handy when you have parents and children together. The next morning we were in Nassau. The weather was beautiful! We took the Dolphin Excursion. Our children thought this was the best part of our whole holiday. It was costly but well worth it. When we returned to the ship I took the kids up to the pool so they could play on the slide. I like that you can now get free pop (soda), tea, coffee, hot chocolate and quite often cookies and other snacks twenty four hours a day. After swimming our son went to club but our daughter chose not to which was OK with us too. That's what I liked about club, you could choose to go or not and you could come and go any time you want to. We dined at Tritons that night.

We dressed more formal for this dinner. It's nice to do this once in a while. It's also nice to see familiar faces and talking to our wait staff about our day. We didn't have anyone else at our table with us because we already had six in our party. That night we took our daughter to the Walt Disney Theater to see Chicken Little. It's a beautiful theater and we enjoyed the movie. We had a hard time getting our son out of club before 11:00pm.

The next morning we were to dock at Castaway Cay. There was sunshine but it was windy. There was too much wind to do the parasailing and snorkeling we wanted to do but we just happy to be able to dock. It was still very nice, the color of the water and beach were amazing. We got lunch at Cookie's. It was great, lots to choose from. I liked the spare ribs and the fruit. Unfortunately it began to rain about 12:00. It was cold and wet and unfortunately took a while to get onto the ship because we all had to have our bags x-rayed and our cards swiped. I guess a lot of the passengers were upset because quite a few of them hadn't even gotten off the ship before it began to rain. Later that afternoon the captain made a very rare decision, only once before. He decided to return to Castaway Cay the next day when we were supposed to spend the day at sea. It was fantastic!

The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and not a ripple in the water. My husband and I took our daughter parasailing. It was the ultimate! I highly recommend it! That night it was pirate night at dinner. I wasn't fond of the menu that night but there's always something you can find on the menu. The recommendations from our waiter were always bang on. That night I really wanted to see the show Dreams. I had heard so much about it but unfortunately we spent most of the evening packing and getting gifts from the shops that we hadn't gotten yet. We finally forced our daughter to go back to club so the four adults could have a dinner alone.

When we finally went to pick them up at 10:00 we had to fight them to come back. I would have to say the worst part of the trip came the next morning when we had to get the children up at 5:30am. Everyone has to be at the theater for 6:00am and that's the beginning of our last day of paradise. I would have to say that our experience on the Disney Wonder scares me slightly because I think it has ruined me for any future cruise. Everyone agreed that the cruise was the best part of our vacation! On our way home our daughter asked her dad if the next time we could take a seven day cruise.