There is nothing quite like entering the atrium of one of the beautiful Disney Cruise Line Ships and hearing your family’s named announced. We got to experience that today when we got on board the Disney Wonder. We had not been on the Wonder in quite some time, our last cruise on board was for Spring Break in 2016!
We always love to stop and see Ariel. The lobby of the Wonder had changed slightly since we’ve seen it last, including this new chandelier.
Our first stop once we were done in the lobby was to head to Triton’s for lunch. The first person we ran into was a former server from a previous trip. We chatted with him for a bit and tried to catch up to determine which crew members were on board. It turned out that our first and favorite server was on board. After we enjoyed lunch, I headed over to the Azure Lounge to change our table requests for the cruise. We wanted to get seated with our favorite server since he was on board. Since we were on second seating, they said it shouldn’t be a problem.
After changing our table, we headed to our new room. We met our stateroom attendant and explained the we had upgraded at the port and our bags would be headed to our old room. He asked for a description and said he would be happy to bring them up. We spent some time checking out the room, then we went off to explore the ship.
Our first stop was the D-Lounge, which is used for family type events.
We then headed towards the new After Hours Adult Area that replaced the old Route 66.
The Azure club replaced what was Wavebands.
The Cadillac Lounge seems like it hadn’t changed at all. I remember when Nancy and I walked in there during our first cruise. We immediately turned around and walked back out. It definitely wasn’t our vibe. I don’t think we’ve been back in during the five cruises that we’ve sailed on the Wonder. We probably should actually give it a fair chance though.
The Crown and Fin Pub replaced the Diversions Lounge. It got the same look as O’Gills Pub on the Disney Magic. Nancy and I really enjoy the pub and headed here quite a few times on this cruise.
After checking out the Adult Area, we went through the kids clubs. Unfortunately, all our pictures turned out a bit fuzzy. The clubs definitely got a make over since the last time we saw them. They were all nicely redone. After everybody got registered in their respective clubs, we headed up to the pool deck. We got there early enough so you could actually still see water in the family pool.
We then headed over to the adult pool area. Not many people had settled in the pool area yet, so we were able to get some great pictures.
We again passed through the lobby and I made sure to stop by the future cruise desk and drop off a placeholder request for our next cruise. I always like to drop off our request on the first day and then follow up a few days into the cruise to make sure it was actually put in. We then headed back to the room. This gave us time to put on our door decorations, although sadly not many people walk by the back of the ship to enjoy them. We then headed to our station for the muster drill.
Our muster station this time was in Animator’s Palate, which was a first for us. We followed a series of crew only staircases to get there and entered through a side door of the restaurant. Mustering inside was nice since it kept us out of the sun. We could also sit down as well instead of standing up while waiting for people to arrive. Once the muster drill was complete, we headed up to see the new Sail a-Wave party. Honestly, I couldn’t really tell the difference between this party and the previous one. Lots of pop songs and dancing, along with a showing by Mickey and the gang.
Sailing out of San Diego was awesome though. We got to see the cool bridge to Coronado Island as well as the Naval Air Station North Island. Lots of sailboats as well on our way out.
After we watching the sail away from San Diego, we headed up to the pool deck for a snack. We ended up sitting near the pool and watching Big Hero 6 on funnel vision for a while. We had second seating for dinner, which meant we didn’t sit down until 8:00 pm. That was west coast time, so three hours later than normal for those of us from the east coast.
Dinner tonight was in Tiana’s with the Let the Magic Begin Menu. We were super excited to see the redesigned restaurant (last time we were on board it was Parrot Cay). We headed to the hostess stand to talk with the restaurant manager. He remembered me from earlier in the day and took us to Table 45, where we we got introduced to Willy, the assistant server. Our head server Shane eventually came over and remembered us immediately (we make quite the impression at dinner). We got to catch up with him a bit before he had to attend to his other tables.
The girls ate their dinner and ran off to attend the Ice Breakers events in both their clubs. Nancy and I said goodnight to Shane and Willy, then headed to Cove Cafe for Whiskey Tasting. We had a good time at that event, but it had been a super long day. We headed to the room to call it a night.
Next up, we spend a day at sea while on the way to our first stop in Cabo San Lucas!
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