Booking & pricing
My wife booked directly through Disney cruise lines. We are fortunate enough to live in San Diego, just 30 minutes from port. So we decided on the Disney Wonder which disembarked from the San Diego port. We then picked a date that would work for us and booked it. There’s a 20% deposit to secure your reservations.
Now there are many factors when it comes to pricing. The length of your cruise, the dates you choose and the stateroom you book. The less expensive rooms normally book fast. We decided on the standard inside stateroom since it was a great deal.
Our stateroom
The room had one queen size bed, a couch that converted into a bed, and a bathroom that had a tub. It also came with a blowdryer, plenty of closet space, a TV that had Disney movies and the Disney channel of course.
The room was comfortable and had everything we needed. There is no window in this room, but that was not a big deal for us since we were only in there to rest and sleep.
Paying off your cruise
I’m always on the hunt for ways to save money. Even a $5 savings is a win in my book LOL. I was thrilled when I discovered a way to save $200 on our cruise. We bought 26 $100 gift cards from Bj’s Wholesale. The gift cards are discounted 5% which in turn gave us the $200 savings. We applied the $200 as onboard credit which you can use towards excursions or tips for the crew. You can also buy Disney gift cards from Target and get the same discount if you have the Target debit or credit card. Once our cruise was paid off we were able to book excursions and character meet and greets.
Excursions & character meet and greets
The time slots for the character meet and greets fill up fast. We were thrilled when we were able to book a time slot for the Frozen characters and the Disney Princesses. My advice is once you’re able to book these, do so quickly so you can pick your ideal time slot.
The excursion we decided on in Cabo was the Land’s End coastal cruise and beach break. It was awesome to see the beautiful Arch of Cabo San Lucas. For this we boarded on the beautiful CaboRey and cruised to the landmark. The tour was narrated providing plenty of information about the history of Cabo. We were able to see plenty of fish and seals on our tour as well. After the tour we boarded on a luxury bus to downtown Cabo for our beach break. Now if you’re thinking, ‘yay I’m going to the beach for a relaxing quiet escape’… think again. We arrived at a busy beach resort which had a section of cabanas reserved for our tour group. We were greeted with loud music and a lot of peddlers selling henna art, fresh fruit, balloons, explicit items, jewelry – you name it. At one point I was attempting to lounge and sleep, but was awakened by a man saying, “Miss you want hair braid?” LOL. The resort staff members were friendly and were able to accommodate our vegan requests. Our tour guide was organized and very helpful. Overall, I liked this excursion, but I would not recommend it for families with kids. The beach is great for people who love the party atmosphere.
Fish extenders & ornament exchange
The night our cruise was booked, I went on facebook and searched for the cruise group. Low and behold there was a ‘Disney Wonder October 22, 2017’ group. In this group I learned about a gift exchange that takes place on Disney cruises called fish extenders. You’re basically put in groups (we were in the Captain Hook group) with other families onboard. You’re then given a list of the families in your group which include their names, age, if they have allergies, their stateroom number and if they’re celebrating anything. You can choose to individualize gifts for each family member or give the family one gift. There really is no wrong way to gift. We opted to give each family one gift bag filled with goodies.
We were told we needed a fish extender that could hold our gifts. A fish extender is basically anything you can put gifts in. People had baskets in front of their staterooms, grocery bags and the typical FE gift holder. We opted to order ours. There are many talented fish extender designers out there so I left it up to the pros. We purchased our FE from Gradysmommy from Etsy. She has amazing designs and can personalize your FE.
The ornament exchange was fun too. This was a different group and is called an ornament exchange. We were put in a group for the exchange and delivered them the same way we did the FEs. I made my ornaments and they turned out pretty cute.
There’s no right or wrong when it comes to delivering your gifts. Decide what works best for you and your family. I preferred delivering gifts on days we were out at sea. My family and I wanted to deliver our FE gifts on day 1 of our cruise. It helped us explore the ship and was really fun. We delivered our ornaments on day 3.
Vegan food
Before we left for our cruise I inquired in advance about vegan options. Disney cruise assured us that they had plenty of vegan options for us to enjoy. We were able to make a notation on our reservations that we are vegan.
Our first dining rotation was at Triton’s restaurant. Our server, Wayan, was aware of our “diet” when we arrived. He explained that we would need to pre-order our food and it would be served at Triton’s for breakfast and lunch. The chef from Triton’s would visit our table at the end of our meal to see if we were satisfied which was a great touch.
Express dining options were offered on deck 9 as well. The chef there was able to guide us and suggest vegan options. Needless to say we were never left hungry. Now I do have to say that even though there were vegan options, some were not the healthiest choice. Who cares you’re on vacation right?! I am impressed with Disney and their hospitality. The chefs and wait staff were able to accommodate our vegan lifestyle.
We were able to find vegan options at Triton’s, Animators Palate, Tiana’s place, Cabanas, Cove cafe, Pinocchio’s pizza, Sulley’s sips and Daisy’s Delights.
Yes, these beignets are vegan and they were delicious!
I hope this was helpful. My family and I had the best time on the cruise. I hope you and your family get to do the same 🙂
Love always,
Jasmine
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