Trip log, day eight. At Sea.
9-Night Alaskan Cruise on Disney Wonder
July 22, 2024
Personal Navigator – Day 8

A quiet morning at sea on the Disney Wonder started out in French Quarter Lounge with a sudden reminder that it was Monday when a fellow passenger at a nearby table joined a conference call on speakerphone.

Overall, today was not going to be busy, Emily went to the gym as usual, we did some laundry and basically hung out in Crown & Fin for multiple trivia sessions.

At one point, our daughter returned with some treats to share, churro Mickey waffles.

I was not kidding when I said today was not busy. We started a puzzle in Crown & Fin.

More or less, the booth was the hang out spot for the majority of the day. The adults ditched to get ready for brunch, and around lunch time Isabelle wrote a note to let anyone know she would be right back as she was taking a lunch break at Cabanas. Mind you, Crown & Fin was not busy, so we were not preventing anyone from using the venue.

On the way to brunch, we stopped at Cove Cafe for a coffee.

We all arrived at Palo and were seated at the round table in the middle, the area formerly used for the brunch buffet. There was a variety of items ordered at our table from the Palo brunch menu. While people overwhelmly love Palo, full disclosure, we have noticed a decrease in food quality over the past few years. I realize that this is not the norm among cruisers, but I would be remised if I glossed over it. Things are just not cooked appropriately and some are just lacking in flavor. I am not going to get into details because food is certainly subjective, but I felt it worth a mention. I only hope that at some point, DCL takes our suggestion and either offers the $50 free Palo to be used towards Remy/Enchante, or better yet, as on board credit (especially on the Wonder & Magic where there is not another adult restaurant).

The real highlight of the brunch was a proposal which we were all honored to witness and thrilled the happy couple shared the moment with everyone.

Brunch was…….something. I realize that we had a large table and this always complicates things. However, service was not great and the service took forever. We were seated at Noon and nothing was brought to the table other than Prosecco and waters until 12:50pm. There were quite a few folks at our table who do not drink alcohol, but were still served Prosecco even after asking for a non-alcoholic option. A less-than-excellent service was confirmed, since others in our group were asking me how I was going to write about this experience.

After brunch, a few in our group had to go to Guest Services to correct the Canadian customs form. Thankfully, when Emily turned it in, someone at guest services looked it over and asked her to correct it on the spot. As I was waiting for everyone to fix their forms, I wandered around and discovered the Disney Vacation Club sale center on deck 2 midship.

We returned to Crown & Fin and the team worked to complete the puzzle which was missing 6 pieces which doesn’t seem bad considering it lives on a ship. Those who put in time working on the puzzle wrote a note to leave in the box for the next puzzle solvers to inform them of the missing pieces. Our server said she has never witnessed anyone complete a puzzle on a cruise – people start puzzles, but never get much done.

We planned to hold a shuffleboard tournament on deck 4, but due to the lack of available shuffleboard courts and the cool temps, we postponed the event and tentatively rescheduled for the next day. Deck 4 continues to reign supreme as our favorite hangout and relaxation spot onboard.

For those that celebrate lobster tails, tonight we are being served Captains Gala dinner menu featuring regional inspirations in Triton’s. As expected, there was an ocean of lobster at our table. A couple of us opted to go off the script ordering a Caesar salad with the parmesan crusted chicken from the fettuccine entrée, a combo I highly recommend.

Although today was light on activity, it made up for it with the celebrations. On the heels of an engagement, today was also the groom-to-be’s birthday which was celebrated with a Mickey Mouse cake ordered via Disney Cruise Line’s Onboard Gifts & Amenities.

The combination of ordering for speed and our serving team got us out of Trition’s before 7:15!!!! FINALLY!!! On night EIGHT. And, this included the birthday celebration and serving of the cake to the table. Not sure if the serving team finally figured it out, or if it had to do with the stump speech that followed for the feedback survey. Yes, we all know the feedback is either an A or F. Give excellent to keep up ship morale, but write a trip report and email shoreside about the tired menus and inconsistent food that will go unread and not addressed.

Ok, 2000s music trivia in Crown & Fin proves I pretty much stopped listening to new music over 20 years ago. The pub cleared out but we stayed. Can’t spend all day in one place if you leave before you get kicked out. I ended up printing out a lot more trivia sheets than planned for our group trivia (pro tip, check the copy count in Photoshop before confirming the print). Earlier in the day, we workshopped another set of questions for group trivia. By “we”, I mean Misty who came up with a fun set of questions asking for the names of various groups of animals.

For example what do you call a group of flamingos? A flamboyance. What do you call a group of crows? A murder of crows. If you think DCL trivia is difficult, collectively we all failed this one. There was a tie with THREE correct answers. Tough, but extremely fun. Good job Misty! Can’t wait to do it again!

On our way back to the stateroom, we spotted formal Mickey Mouse without a line!

Even the towel animal is trying to figure out the scavenger hunt. The end of a long extremely busy day aboard the Disney Wonder has come to an end. Tomorrow is our final day of the cruise, where we have a port adventure in Victoria.

Complete Trip Log Index

• Pre-Cruise – ✈️ Travel Day from Orlando, Florida to Vancouver, British Columbia & Pre-Cruise Day in Vancouver
• Day 1 – Vancouver, Canada
• Day 2 – At Sea
• Day 3 – Ketchikan, Alaska
• Day 4 – Glacier Viewing (Stikine Icecap), Alaska
• Day 5 – Juneau, Alaska
• Day 6 – Icy Strait Point, Alaska
• Day 7 – Sitka, Alaska
• Day 8 – At Sea
• Day 9 – Victoria, Canada

We love it if you considered joining us on our next DCL Blog Cruise in May 2025 as we sail from cay to cay. We will be returning to The Bahamas visiting both Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay. Click here to learn more.