In an abundance of caution, let’s sail the Panama Canal! - Complete 9/6

[TestingH2O]

Ok, this is the third report on this cruise, but it was a doozie and I think it warrants three tellings.

We had booked this trip on Gold opening day, so we had obviously been planning it for quite a while. The cruise group on Facebook was very active and lots of fun. I was really lucky that I was able to get time off work and my daughter’s school was very supportive. It did mean a whole week of sub plans.



It seemed to take forever, but travel day finally arrived! My daughter was a wee bit excited, and she woke up at 5:15! We took the opportunity to do her vacation manicure.



Because my parents’ place is closer to where I work, we agreed that they would pick us up in the morning and take me to work.



My daughter also wanted to do a half day at school. (Foreshadowing, I’m so glad she got those last few hours with her friends.)

Around 11:00 my parents picked her up from school and then me from work so I could take them all to the airport. Unfortunately, I had to work the full day and couldn’t get out until 6:45. Since that flight got in after 10, we decided that they should get the earlier flight. That meant my lunch hour was condensed into enough time for one small bag of chips. Nutritious!



After work, I headed to my parents’ place to drop my work bag and grab an early dinner. My awesome coworker gave me a ride to the airport. Finally it was wheels up for me!


My parents had brought my checked bag with them, so I headed straight to the Lyft line. Woah. It went fast though.


Once I arrived at the hotel, my daughter was already asleep and my parents had a treat for me.


That was THE BIGGEST cosmo I have ever seen. (And consumed.)

My dad and I decided to go out and check out the French Quarter. Of course we got some beignets.



Did a little people watching.



And got a hurricane to go.



After that we were beat and still had plans to get up early the next day.

Up Next: Exploring NOLA

 

[TestingH2O]

Oops. I forgot that I usually leave my first post for a table of contents. I guess this post will be that.

Exploring New Orleans Part 1
Exploring New Orleans Part 2
Boarding the Wonder
Sea Day 1
Cozumel
Grand Cayman
Sea Day 2
Cartagena Sea Day 3
Panama Canal: Part 1
Panama Canal: Part 2
Panama Canal: Part 3
Sea Day 4
Sea Day 5
Sea Day 6
Sea Day 7
Puerto Vallarta Sea Day 8
Cabo San Lucas Sea Day 9
Sea Day San Diego
Debarkation and Travel Home
Reflections and Plans

 

[buteraa]

Hi, following along!

 

[braysmommy]

Following along!

 

[chamberlain]

Following along too! Glad you are writing a trip report.

 

[lklgoodman]

Looking forward to your TR!!!

 

[lorimay]

reading along.......

 

[TestingH2O]

Exploring New Orleans Part 1

Now don’t get me wrong, I think vacation is all about relaxing. However, I knew I only had half a day in the city and I wanted to be able to see a little before we boarded. The plan for the day was to get up around 7, walk by Cemetery 1, walk through the French Quarter, eat breakfast at Cafe du Monde, visit Mardi Gras World, and eat lunch at Napoleon House. So, Friday came early. A wasn’t super thrilled but we had told her the plan in advance so it was ok.
First stop was Cemetery Number 1. We knew in advance that we wouldn’t be able to go in, but I wanted to see it anyway. Our hotel, was directly across the street. (Of note, we could also see the Hard Rock that was slated for demolition in March.) I think it would be interesting to take the tour some day.





We then started walking towards the French Quarter and Café du Monde.

Beautiful little garden.

A thought this looked just like the animations in Princess and the Frog.
Appropriate picture at the corner of St Louis and Bourbon.

Love the hitching posts!

Decorations still up.

It never occurred to me that the park would be closed, but it was still pretty to look at.

A loved seeing and petting the donkeys.

Then we crossed the street for the main event: beignets at Cafe du Monde! There was a live band playing and we were able to find a table right away. Even if we’d needed to wait though, it would have been worth it!


Beignets were hot and sugary and the chicory coffee and Cafe au Liat. This I would definitely love to do again!

As we finished up, we ordered an Uber and headed to Mardi Gras World!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Excited to read this report! First, because I always love your reports. And second, because that would be a crazy cruise to take!

 

[bcwife76]

Woohoo, I'm in for another one of your awesome reports!!!

 

[TestingH2O]

Exploring New Orleans Part 2

Our Uber driver arrived quickly and we headed to Mardi Gras World. I had heard about this place on a few travel blogs and then again on a podcast about the Port of New Orleans. This is where lots of the big floats are made for the parades. (Also the Chick-Fil-A cows.)

The facility opened at 9, and the first tour was at 9:30. The price is $22 for adults, $17 for students and seniors, and $14 for kids. Because I knew we wanted to have an early lunch, we needed to be on the first tour.


We arrived a few minutes past 9 and had no trouble getting on the first tour. The waiting room for the tour is a big gift shop. I was pretty impressed that my daughter chose the cheapest Christmas ornament as her souvenir of choice. That never happens!

Promptly at 9:30, they called for the first tour. We started by watching a movie on the history of Mardi Gras and eating a piece of king cake. You’ll note that, but this point, we had eaten two different pastries before 10:00 am and that was after mixed drinks the night before. Yep, vacation mode was in full swing!

The tour takes you through the workshop and the warehouse. Seeing the craftspeople already putting together new sculptures was amazing. And then realizing how BIG all of these pieces are was just amazing.








I don’t know why she thinks KISS is so interesting, but she knew who they were as soon as she saw them!



Our tour ended around 10:15, and we lucked out and grabbed a cab right as we walked out of the building. They do run a free shuttle, but there is tons of construction and traffic can be terrible. We knew we wanted to get to the restaurant right when it opened, so we just used the cab. It was very inexpensive.

Lunch was at Napoleon House. We got to there at about 10:30 and they opened at 11, so we opted to walk through a few of the tourist shops before they opened. By the time the doors opened at 11:00, there was a big line outside waiting to get in. We were seated right away in their lovely outdoor courtyard.



Their house drink specialty is the Pimm’s Cup, so I had to have one.



For lunch we ordered a variety of things: muffuletta, red beans and rice, po boy sandwich, and boudin sausage. Everything was outstanding.





Feeling very content, we walked back to our hotel to change into our boarding shirts and collect our luggage. We called our Uber and we were off to the Port!

Up next: Boarding the Wonder!

 

[buzzrelly]

Joining in!

 

[TestingH2O]

Boarding the Wonder

As I mentioned previously, we intentionally didn’t wear our boarding shirts for our beignet eating extravaganza. That was definitely the right choice! Once we got to the hotel, it was easy to quickly change clothes and grab an Uber to the Port.



We arrived at the Port around 1:40. There’s a lot of construction in the area so it took a few extra minutes. Despite some early reports, everything was organized for our sailing and we were met by porters happy to take our checked bags.



There was no line at security, and every agent was super nice. We even exchanged cocktail recipes! They did closely check our wine bottles though to make sure we weren’t trying to be sneaky.

Once through security, we walked right up to a desk and checked in. I had been hoping we’d get to see a looooong line of dining rooms.



Before taking our boarding pictures, we had our temperature taken. This was very fast. For anyone with mobility concerns, the walk from the terminal onto the ship is LONG and steep. Just be aware. My mom was ok, but it took her an extra minute.

By 2:06, we had run into Tiana on the stairs.



For those keeping score, that’s 16 minutes from arrival to our first on board experience.

I snapped a quick photo of the PC merchandise even though the shops weren’t open yet.



I always pack our door decorations in my carry on, so I went ahead and got our space decorated.



Now, I was feeling very excited about how easy boarding had been, but then it was suddenly 3:00 and we had our FB group meet up and candy exchange in Crown and Fin! So, my mom and I went while my dad took A to get a club band lock and to get registered for the sleep over.

After that, we headed to the muster drill and the sail away party. This was one of the first places we saw some differences. First, the party space on Deck 9 was practically empty probably due to the lower number of kids. Also, we heard from some other people that there were a lot of cancellations that morning. March 6 was the day that DCL started allowing 24 hour cancellation notice and apparently several people were able to use that offer for this cruise as well. While there were not a ton of Port upgrades, guest services was telling people there were plenty.



It wasn’t until after sail away that we finally saw our luggage. Clearly this is a downside of arriving late. I got mostly unpacked before going to dinner, but I did have to leave a couple packing cubes on the sofa. We have recently stay in a standard inside, so I was amazed how much storage I had in the 5C. I had empty drawers and cabinet shelves for the whole 2 weeks!

Dinner was in Tiana’s Place and we met our serving team. Kendell (HS,) Mindas (S,) and Vivi. They were amazing and dinner was delicious. The show in the theater was Jon Armstrong. We had seen him on the Fantasy in June and knew we loved his act. Once again, he was outstanding.



This is where CD Ashley shared the cruise stats with us.
Passengers: 1979
First time cruisers: 299
DVC: 400
Kids: 390 (this cruise usually has 200 some, but it fell on spring break, so there were more.)

After a great show, we headed back to the rooms since our early wake up was catching up with us. A was super excited to get to sleep in the bunk bed.

We were still very close to shore and I had a cell signal so I took the chance to talk to my husband and a friend. I also wanted to be awake when we hit the ocean. It was NOT typical cruise weather out there.



By 11:15, we still weren’t quite there but I was tired.



Next up: Sea Day 1

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

So happy you are sharing your adventures. We are sailing the canal next November, fingers crossed.

 

[daedelus]

We were second dining but had Kendall, Mindas and Vivi as well! They were incredible. This was #9 for us and they rate as one of the best dining teams we've had.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

I'm in for the read.

 

[Gilland18]

Our EBPC is my favorite trip of any kind. Enjoying reading your report!

 

[TestingH2O]

Sea Day 1

Yay for a sea day! We love sea days because they are so relaxing. This morning A got up and went to breakfast with my parents while I lazed around the room reading my book and just enjoying a slow morning. After breakfast, A’s first order of business was a swim. Mind you the high temp today was 60 degrees F, but she was ready for a swim.



Lounge chair anyone?



I see no kid soup here! The lifeguards were wearing their sweatsuits like in Alaska.



She did not want to watch the movie for long once she finished.

We grabbed some pizza for A and headed back to the room so she could shower. Then she went to the clubs for a bit and I went to Cabanas.



After lunch, it was time for the gold/platinum reception. We had been to one last summer on the Fantasy and it was ok. One glass of Prosecco, a short behind the scenes in the WDT, and a Rice Krispie treat on your way out. This reception had the same format but was so much more welcoming! They encouraged people to have more than one drink, the show was actually engaging and they had a performer talk to us about his experience on the ship, and as we left, they were handing out treats by the handful.



After the reception, I got DD from the clubs and we got ready for formal night.



After dinner we saw the Golden Mickeys then headed for bed. We hadn’t worked our way up to late nights yet.





Next up: Cozumel

 

[AussieDisneyfans]

As always, enjoying your trip report. This will be an interesting one for sure. Hope everyone is staying safe.

 

[JM_97]

Enjoyed reading your report! Especially in light of current events