Disney Wonder Cruise Along the Baja California Sur Part One

 Disney Wonder Cruise Ship

 

Our oldest granddaughter was turning 10 in February and our daughter had the wonderful idea to celebrate her birthday on a five-day Disney Cruise along the Baja California Sur in Mexico. Our granddaughter's 5th birthday happened to occur on a trip to Disneyworld--click here to read that blog post--so a Disney Cruise would make this birthday five years later extra special. 

My husband and I decided to go along on the cruise.  We have been very careful the last three years and have not traveled out of state because of worries about the Covid-19 virus, but we decided it was time to begin to travel again as we were fully vaccinated and boosted and had our family physician's approval. Since this was a last-minute trip we were the only ones in our family that could go along on the cruise since the rest of our family had work and school obligations. 

San Diego Harbor

We flew from Denver to San Diego, California. the day before the cruise was to depart and visited the San Diego Zoo--see my last blog post about that visit here.

Our last-minute plans meant we decided to take a cruise ship stateroom together on the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship.  It had a queen size bed and also a murphy bed and another bed that lowered from the ceiling that the cruise crew assigned to our floor set up every evening, so it easily slept four people  What we were delighted to learn was that this larger verandah room on the 8th deck is accompanied by "concierge service" which meant many perks for the entire cruise! As concierge members, we were the first group to board the ship and also depart the ship at the end of the cruise,  and there was a wonderful private lounge we were able to visit all day on an upper deck.  It served delicious snacks and hot and cold beverages during the day.  We all enjoyed this lounge and private sun deck that was part of it throughout the cruise as places to relax. 

After boarding the ship we were served a light lunch in one of the restaurants on board. All passengers have a choice of eating breakfast and lunch individually served in a restaurant or at the large buffet dining area.

The Disney Wonder cruise ship "Sail A Wave Party"  took place on one of the top decks with songs and dance and many Disney character appearances on the stage. It was lots of fun!

There was also the mandatory attendance safety drill which is held on every cruise ship after everyone boards, where lifejackets and lifeboat loading stations are discussed.  My husband and I have been on three cruises before this one. Our first was in the maiden year of the Queen Mary 2, which departed from New York to Quebec Canada, and the second was on the Princess Cruise line to the Mexican Riveria--click here to see the first of a few posts I wrote about that enjoyable cruise, and the third on a Princess Cruise line where we had a land and sea Alaska Adventure--click here to read about the unusual beginning we had on that cruise trip. Many more Alaska posts follow which you can read under the Alaska blog label--click here-- if you keep clicking "next" after each post.

Before we knew it was time for dinner! Everything we ordered was so delicious.  I particularly enjoyed trying all the different soups each night from the menu, as I often make soup as our dinner at home. 

That evening, we attended the show at the Walt Disney Theater and saw a magician, Siegfried Tieber perform. He was very entertaining and personable. We really enjoyed the show!  Disney Wonder does not allow photos or videos of the show to be taken, but we were able to meet the magician afterward for photos.  He actually had called our daughter onto the stage to take part in a skit during the show and also called on my husband to check out one of his props for the audience.

After the show, we were all tired and went back to our ship's stateroom where we saw our bed's blanket throw twisted into a shape--this night was a swan--and chocolates were provided.  

It was the end of a wonderful day on the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship and we were sailing away towards our first stop on the Baja California in Mexico, the town of Ensenada, which will be in my next blog post.

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The Last Day of our Disney Wonder Cruise

It was the last day of the wonderful Disney Wonder Cruise that we accompanied our daughter and oldest granddaughter on.  We were sailing from the end of Baja California, Mexico, back to San Diego, where our cruise began five days before.

There were beautiful blue skies and warmer temperatures so we enjoyed sitting on our cruise ship cabin veranda and taking walks outside along the ship's decks.  Although we were sailing fast the ocean was calm and serene.

 

Although there was a children's club on board with many activities available, and the pool and slide on an upper deck were open, this day our granddaughter wanted to relax with us and listen to her music.  She also enjoyed this large lollypop that she bought in an onboard gift shop.  

One event she did not want to miss was a photo opportunity with one of her favorite Disney movie characters, "Stitch," from the movie Lilo and Stitch. She had a lot of fun taking a 'selfie" with him! 

At ten years old she wasn't as interested in the other Disney characters, as she was when we visited Disney World together when she was five, but she really enjoyed the more contemporary characters she saw on the ship.

We all watched the sun set over the Pacific

Dinner that evening was held at the "Animator's Palate" restaurant on the ship.  The walls of the restaurant are filled with screens that change all during the meal and show famous Disney movie sketches in black and white as well as colorful backdrops and scenery from the movies.  

On this last night, we were told there would be a surprise!  As we were seated at our table we were given a paper that had an outline of a person and told we could fill in details for the person any way we wished with colored pens and pencils. After were finished coloring the waiters collected our papers.  Then, after dinner and before dessert was served an announcement was made that our drawings had become animated!

If you click on the short Youtube above you can see how the drawings were animated and each table's screen showed a video of them walking, dancing, and skating,  across the screen.  It was a lot of fun to see our drawings come alive!

After dinner, there was a fireworks display off the upper deck and a wonderful musical in the theater of classic  Disney characters called "Cavalcade of Characters."

Our last blanket sculpture was a cute elephant!

The ship returned to San Diego, California, by seven in the morning and the disembarking process went very smoothly.  This was our last look at the Disney Wonder Cruise ship as we drove away to the airport. All in all, it was a fabulous and memorable trip!  

Thanks for coming along and reliving all the memories with me!

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Disney Wonder Cruise in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

On the fourth day of the Disney Wonder Cruise we took recently, (click here and here to see the prior posts) we woke up to see the beautiful sunrise and the land's end of the Baja California Peninsula outside from our veranda!

We decided to have an early light breakfast in the concierge lounge of the upper deck before departing for an excursion into the town of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and a cruise of the Gulf of California also known as the Sea of Cortez.

The Disney Wonder Cruise ship set anchor off the coastline so we had to tender off the ship on a ferry into the town. Cabo has many luxury resort hotels and we saw many expensive yachts in the port, as well as seals sleeping on one of the docks. 

We boarded a large catamaran ship and cruised along the shoreline.  This was the second time my husband and I saw these beautiful sights as we took a Princess Ctuiese in 2017 that also visited Cabo San Lucas--click here-- to see that post.  

 

The scenery was beautiful!

This time it was special to share the experience with our daughter and granddaughter!

We sailed to the land's end and then the catamaran made a turn around to the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja California peninsula.

Here is a short Youtube video of the view we had on the lands end of the Baja California Peninsula from the Pacific Ocean side:

There are many beaches on both sides of the peninsula and also along the Mexican coastline east of the peninsula.

After our catamaran sail was completed and we were back in Cabos San Lucas, a bus took us to the second half of our excursion, which was a beachside cafe and lounge area. There we were served lunch --we had delicious fish tacos.  Our granddaughter was able to play on the beach and wade in the water.

She had a wonderful time!

When we returned to the Disney Wonder it was time for dinner.  It was a special "Pirates of the Caribbean" night and everyone was given a red scarf to wear.  The restaurant waiters and many of the passengers were in full pirate costumes which were fun to see. Dinner was a selection of seafood and everything was fabulous!  The best part was that the waiters brought a special dessert for our granddaughter and sang Happy Birthday while the other patrons in the restaurant clapped.  She was so excited!

There was a fun pirate extravaganza celebration on the top deck that evening and a delightful Disney show in the ship's theater.  When we returned to our suite, exhausted after a long day, we found our blanket was shaped into a pirate accompanied by gold coin chocolates and was wearing its own red scarf which made us smile!   It was the end of a perfect day!

The next day we sailed all the way back to San Diego, another day at sea, and that will be my next and last Disney Cruise blog post.  Thanks for following along so far!

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Disney Wonder Cruise Day Two Excursion and Day Three at Sea

 

As I wrote in my last blog post--click here--my husband and I, and our daughter and granddaughter, took a Disney Wonder Cruise from San Diego to the Baja California peninsula of Mexico to celebrate our granddaughter's tenth birthday.  Our first stop was the port of Ensenada, Mexico, where we left the ship to go on an excursion.  There was misty rain that morning, so ship personnel gave us plastic rain ponchos to wear as we waited to board a tour bus to travel into town.

We had signed up for a "Halloween-Day of the Dead Cultural Celebration" through Disney Wonder.  We were driven to the Riviera Centro Social, Civico y Cultural building.  It was built as a hotel and casino in 1930, but now is a museum and event center for the town.

We were given a short tour of the gardens and monuments.

Inside the building, one of the rooms had a traditional Day of the Dead altar on display and the guides told us about the "Día de los Muertos" holiday, which honors ancestors that have passed away by displaying their photos and other artifacts in a special altar style display during the holiday, and then decorating it with candles, flowers, and their favorite foods. Family members also share anecdotes and memories about their loved ones. The altar honors those who have passed away to show them we haven’t forgotten them and that they are still important in their families lives. 

 Disney has a popular movie called "Coco." whose storyline explains much the same tradition, and our granddaughter was able to appreciate the festivities as this is one of her favorite movies. 

The families on this excursion were able to partake in traditional games, and have their faces painted...

...and decorate and eat their own sugar skull cookies.

Brightly colored skulls represent the departed souls in the circle of life, and traditionally, sugar skulls are created as ornamental gifts for children and family members during Día de los Muertos.

The children were also given a chance to hit a pinata in the courtyard, and once it was broken share in the candy treats.

My husband and I went on a tour of the Riviera building to learn its history, and admire its architecture.

Vintage photos show that it was once waterfront with beach access and that many of the large rooms were used as a casino.

As the Hotel Riviera was built in 1930, it became a popular destination for movie stars and wealthy Americans of that time who wanted to drink alcohol during the American prohibition and gamble.  Desi Arnez, Lucille Ball, Johnny Weismuler (Tarzan), William Hearst, Myrna Loy, James Cagney, Jack Dempsey, Lana Turner, Ali Khan, and many more were frequent guests.

One interesting legend is that the Bar Analuz, which is located inside the Riviera building, is where the Margarita drink was invented! It was supposedly named after Margarita King, owner of the hotel during the late 1940s.  

Before returning to the cruise ship we were allowed to walk in town for an hour, but we found the calls from street vendors to buy their goods a bit overwhelming, so instead, we sat in a local Mcdonald's and had ice cream--smile.

When we were back on the ship, we relaxed awhile on our veranda. We had a silvery cloudy view of the California Baja coastline as we sailed away.

That evening we ate at Tiana's Place Restaurant on the ship.  The name Tiana comes from the Disney movie "The Princess and the Frog"  It takes place in New Orleans in the roaring twenties and tells the story of a young woman who dreams about opening her own restaurant.  She meets a frog, who is really a prince that has a spell placed on him and he wants to return to being a human.  Together they have adventures in the Louisiana bayous until their dreams come true.  As we dined there was music and singing on stage and then a parade.  Tiana came around every table and our granddaughter was excited to meet her!

Our dinner was New Orleans quality good! 

After dinner, we went to the theater and saw a Mickey Golden Globe Show--a very fun look at different Disney movie characters from the heroes to the villains up for awards.

Our stateroom blanket was transformed into a rabbit that evening!

The next day was spent at sea.  My husband and I walked the decks of the ship and enjoyed exploring the shops and lounges inside.

We made arts and crafts and had a cartoon drawing lesson and our granddaughter enjoyed swimming in the ship's pool and going down the large slide.  There were many opportunities to take photos with Disney characters that day.  Dinner was at the French-themed Triton's Restaurant, named after the Disney Movie Little Mermaid's father. 

That evening we saw a Broadway show quality musical spectacular  Frozen show in the theater, which is based on the very popular Disney Frozen movie. 

Our stateroom blanket was a bear this evening, and like tired little teddy bears we all slept well as the cruise ship continued on towards day four, where we arrived at very scenic lands end of the Baja --more in my next post.

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