Welcome back! If you missed my introduction post (Travel Day), you can go back and read that here.
Eddie was the first to wake up (which is the norm). He showered and walked around to take some pics (he’s my designated photographer – I bought us a Nikon DSLR that he’s been having fun with). Here’s a few of the pics he took of our hotel:
He strolled back up around 5:30am, so I got up and threw on some clothes so that we could go grab some bikes and head over to Stanley Park. Our mission was to catch the Disney Wonder coming back to port. We went down right at 6:00am and the guy at the desk this time was extremely helpful, but it did take a few minutes to sign the bikes out, get them unlocked, give us helmets, etc. I had pulled up the cruise tracker app on my phone and knew we were cutting it close to seeing the Wonder come in.
The Westin is very close to Stanley Park, so once we got the bikes, we took off quickly. We speed-biked over to the sea wall and made it just in time! I was huffing & puffing by the time we got there, lol! We didn’t get to see it coming in under Lions Gate Bridge which is what I was really hoping for, but this was close enough:
Stanley Park is absolutely beautiful and we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves!
We rode up a little further and then decided to head back. We stopped by the totem poles for pictures on the way out:
We got back to the hotel and decided the hotel restaurant was our best option for breakfast. They had a buffet but a $34 per person price tag was more than we wanted to pay, especially knowing we’d be getting all we could eat for the next 7 nights. Eddie got the oatmeal and Hunter and I both got the basic breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast. It was really good but pricey.
We then went upstairs and showered, packed up and waited until 10:15am to catch a cab over to the port. We could have walked, but our luggage was pretty big (weighing close to 45 pounds each) and we didn’t want to roll it over. The cab was only $8 CAD so definitely worth it. We were dropped off where porters accepted our luggage to be delivered to our stateroom later, and we headed towards the check-in area. We were some of the first to arrive and I asked if there were any upgrades available, but apparently the ship was sold out, so we would be keeping our Deluxe Inside Room for this cruise. Next we went the seating area to wait for our boarding group to be called! We were in Boarding Group 5 and I believe it was around 11:45am when we boarded.
We stopped for our first cruise picture (I pre-purchased the photo package for a discount so wanted to make sure we took advantage of all the photo opportunities):
Then first thing we did was head to Guest Services so I could load my Disney Gift cards onto my onboard account (read my blog – Ways to Save Money on a Disney Cruise). I also checked to see if I could get any Mixology tickets (it was sold out online), but unfortunately there were no spaces available. Bummer! Next we headed to the Promenade Lounge to see if we could change our dining assignment from Second dining (8:15pm) to Main Dining (5:45pm). I booked our cruise in April – which is late for a cruise, and Main Dining was not available at that time, so I asked to be put on the wait list for Main Dining. I’ve always been able to get my clients switched to Main Dining before the cruise, so I was worried when our dining had not been switched. We were already on a 3 hour time change, so 8:15pm would be like 11:15pm for us – yikes! We were some of the first guests there at the lounge and I was seated with a head server right away, who changed us over to Main Dining without a problem! We kept our same rotation and he recorded my name and cabin number, and told me to go to Triton’s that night and tell them we had been switched. While there, I also wanted to see if we could get a Palo brunch reservation – they were sold out on sea days when I did online check-in. I was able to get a reservation our first sea day at 12:00 noon which was perfect! They have several lunch items on their brunch a la carte menu (see blog post on Palo) so I like eating my Palo brunch around lunchtime. I was excited that I was able to get 2 of the 3 things I wanted and the ones I got were definitely priority over the Mixology class. I’ve done Mixology before and it was a lot of fun, but we were also signed up for the Martini and Champagne tastings, so we weren’t really missing out.
We then headed up to Cabana’s to eat lunch. I was very surprised that it wasn’t terribly crazy in there. I usually avoid Cabana’s on embarkation day for that reason, but we found a table and got through the line without a problem.
After we ate lunch, we went outside to get some pictures and walked around for the boys to acquaint themselves with the ship. I was just on the Disney Wonder a few months ago for a girls birthday trip on a 3-Night Bahamian cruise so I knew my way around. Some of the pics we took:
The sails on Canada Place (Cruise Terminal)
Vancouver Skyline
Eddie’s favorite picture – float plane in the harbor
Vancouver Convention Center West
After exploring the ship, we headed to take a look at our room on Deck 2. We were in a Deluxe Inside Room which still had the split bathrooms (Standard Inside Rooms do not have split bathrooms) so we were happy about that. Here are some pics of our room:
Deluxe Inside Stateroom on the Disney Wonder. Approx 214 square feet
At 3:00pm we headed over to Senses Spa for the raffle they do the first day of every cruise. This has become a tradition with my husband and I. On almost every Disney cruise we make a visit to the spa, so if we can win some spa credit then we are happy! Unfortunately we didn’t win anything on this cruise, but we did make an appointment at the desk for a massage on Skagway Port day. We knew we’d be back on the ship by 5:00pm, so we made our appointment for 6:30pm. We were skipping the Frozen menu in the Main Dining room that night as it just didn’t appeal to us.
After the spa raffle it was time to head to our Muster location which was in the Walt Disney Theater. I’ve been in here before for a muster drill and again felt like this was a little bit of a cluster. They have 2 groups in there and 2 crew members speaking in a megaphone at the same time, so it’s hard to concentrate on who you need to be listening to; however, I was thankful to be indoors and not packed like sardines on Deck 4.
After the muster it was time for the Sail Away party. I know some people love this but it’s not a must do for me. We went back to our room to unpack and put our magnets on the door.
We then went to Deck 4 to get some pics of the jogging / walking track:
Eddie demonstrating what to do, lol!
Then we headed up to Deck 10 to get some pictures of beautiful Vancouver as we left port:
Lions Gate Bridge
Next it was almost time for dinner, but first we hopped in line for my favorite guy – Captain Mickey!
Our dinner was in Triton’s, and we told them we had been moved to Main Dining and were assigned our Table number. We were excited to see that our private table request was honored! I was definitely willing to give that up for the earlier dining, but Disney is great about trying to accommodate requests. Things were definitely looking up after our rocky start on our travel day, lol. Our dinner that night:
Jumbo Shrimp appetizer (Eddie & Hunter) Verdict: Good
Fried Perogies appetizer (Tammy) Verdict: Great
Roasted Filet Steak (Eddie & Tammy) Verdict: Very Good
Conchiglie Pasta (Lobster) (For the table) Verdict: Okay, wouldn’t order again
Roasted Rack of Lamb (Hunter) Verdict: Very Good – one of his favorites
Strawberry Shortcake Sundae (Eddie) Verdict: Great
Grand Mainier Souffle (Tammy) Verdict: Very Good
After dinner we met with Sailor Goofy:
Then we headed to get a seat for the opening night show: Heath Hyche. Heath is a comedian and it was a pretty good show.
After the show we went out on Deck 4 and snapped this pic. It was around 9:40pm:
Then we hopped in line to meet with Chip & Dale:
Next we headed to the adult only after hours activity in Azure. I was disappointed that Jo was no longer the club host on the Wonder, but Rod was a good replacement. We enjoyed his humor and attended most of the adult games and activities on the cruise.
After this we were ready to call it a night! The clock said 11:00pm, but our bodies said 2:00am AND we were losing an hour of sleep tonight! Coming up next – our first Day at Sea!
Go to my Trip Reports page to read about all of our other adventures!
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