I can’t believe we are almost halfway through our San Diego cruise. Today is the first of two port days on this Disney Baja Mexico Cruise. We were looking forward to Cabo, Mixology, Palo Dinner and Pirate Night!
If you want to catch up with my other trip reports you can find them here:
Disney Wonder San Diego Cruise Trip Report Day 4
Disney Wonder Cruise San Diego Day 5
We arrived in Cabo San Lucas at around 7.45 am. This was the view that we woke up to from our balcony.
We were not in any hurry to get off the ship so we decided to have a relaxing breakfast in Triton’s. I enjoy the Cabanas buffet breakfast, but it is nice to have a change sometimes. Also, you definitely are so much less tempted to overeat at the restaurant breakfast!
As it was a port day Triton’s had short hours for breakfast. It was open from 8 am until 9.30 am.
Triton’s is the most elegant of the Disney Wonder restaurants. The decor is beautiful and is meant to make you feel as though you are in the underwater world of Ariel and her friends from The Little Mermaid.
There is a spectacular hand made mosaic mural on one side of the room.
We hadn’t yet had our rotational dining assignment in Triton’s so it was the first time inside this restaurant for DH. He was very impressed.
There were very few other guests inside the restaurant. The servers outnumbered the guests!The breakfast menu is not particularly large, but it has all the usual favorites.
I decided to try something a little different so ordered the Morning’ Tug Boat which was yogurt with strawberries, bananas, almonds and granola.
It was just OK. I then decided to have the Vegetarian Omelet. All the pancakes and waffles looked tempting but I didn’t want to start the day with a sugar high!
I have to say that I have a dilemma about which breakfast to choose on the Disney ships. I love the service in the restaurant, but the choice is limited.
It is a more relaxing choice though, particularly on a port day, when the whole ship seems to be in the buffet!
We walked through the Promenade Lounge on our way back to our stateroom. I noticed that there was a selection of pastries set up. You never go hungry on a Disney cruise!
I also noticed that there were some very tempting Halloween themed drinks available at the bar.
As Cabo San Lucas is a tender port we had to make use of the tender boats. We were told that tendering would start at around 8.45 am and that you would need tickets for the tender until about 11.45 am. You need to make sure that you have your Key To The World and a photo ID with you.
We made our way down to the Buena Vista Theatre to pick up our tender tickets. There was a bit of a line outside, but it really didn’t take many minutes to get into the Theater and get our tickets.
You are seated in lines of around 50 and then as soon as a tender boat is available you are lead down to the tender boat.
We only had a total wait of around 10 minutes. The tender boat is pretty small and the journey from the ship to the port is pretty short.
We were soon on dry land. We just wanted to walk around a little and find somewhere to have a coffee. We walked around the harbor for a while and looked into some of the souvenir shops.
We then found a restaurant with a good view of the harbor. Neither of us was hungry as we had just eaten breakfast. So we just had coffee and orange juice.
Everyone in the restaurant was very friendly and spoke very good English. It was nice to have DH with me who speaks Spanish though!
We decided to go back to the ship. There was a tender waiting and we were the only ones on the boat on the journey back to the ship.
We had two things planned for the rest of the day. A Mixology Class at 4 pm and Palo Dinner at 7.30 pm. So plenty of time to just do very little!
So far this Disney cruise has been a bit different from the ones I have sailed before. All of them have been relaxing, but this one is such a great experience as we were determined to just do very little. Like so many people we lead very busy lives and it is just so nice to be able to detach from the world. It was difficult for me to leave my kids behind, but they encouraged me to take some time for myself.
We decided to go to the pool and then the Rainforest Room. As a lot of guests were off the ship the Quiet Cove Pool was not particularly crowded. We spent about an hour at the pool and then, of course, it was time to be hungry again!
After lunch, it was time for the Rainforest Room again. We really did get good value from the Rainforest Room as we spent so many hours there on this cruise. It was never busy and we always got a stone chair without having to wait.
DH was keeping up his commitment to go to the gym every day. He said it was rarely busy and that there is a good selection of machines and weights.
I decided to spend more time in the Cove Cafe reading my book.
Disney Wonder Mixology Class
I have never been to a mixology class or any other type of drinks tasting class on any of the Disney cruises before. So I was excited that we were booked for this Mixology class.
It cost $20 each although shortly after the prices of all classes were increased so it would be $25 each now.
The Mixology class was held in the Cadillac Lounge. This is not a place I have spent much time on whilst sailing on the Disney Wonder. However, since the refurbishment it really has changed. The decor is a lot more welcoming.
Our Mixology host, Kelvin, was excellent. He is one of those Cast Members who really makes your Disney cruise even more special.
He talked us through how five different drinks were made. He told us that we would be mixing the last one ourselves.
Kelvin was extremely knowledgable and entertaining. We were given the first four drinks one by one and we had to try and identify the ingredients. Some were obvious but others no one could guess.
The first drink was a Pomegranate Bellini. This was a mix of Prosecco, Pomegranate Liquor and Passion Fruit Liquor. This was one of my favorites.
The Washington Apple was my least favorite of all the drinks. This had Apple Flavor Crown Royale, Apple Pucker, and Cranberry. I am not a fan of cranberry so this may be why I wasn’t keen on this one.
The next drink was a Pineapple Kamikaze. This was a mix of Pineapple Vodka, Grand Marnier and Sour Mix.
The Castaway Wave had Malibu, Midori, Apple Pucker, Passion Fruit, Guava and Orange Juice.
This was nice but by this point, I was struggling to actually keep up!
The last drink was one which we had to mix ourselves. I was not excited to hear that it would include Bailey’s as I really thought I wasn’t keen on that. How wrong I was! This turned out to be my favorite drink of the day.
The Wedding Cake Shot is a mix of Bailey’s, Chambord Raspberry Cream Liquor and Whipped Cream. The trick was to pour the Bailey’s very slowly into the liquor. You will notice how DH had twice the amount of whipped cream on his drink! Or was it the other way around?
It is slightly strange to drink it as a shot because that doesn’t really work with whipped cream! However, this was so delicious we actually decided that we would make it at home.
Disney Wonder Cabo Sail Away
The Mixology Class ended just in time for us to make it back to the room for Sail Away. We spent about an hour on the balcony just watching the coastline disappear.
This is one of the huge advantages of having a balcony on a Disney cruise. It is more expensive and I have decided to save money a number of times and not have a balcony stateroom.
However, for this trip, I was very glad we had chosen to pay a bit extra. The difference in price from an Outside Stateroom to a White Wall Verandah was not that big. We spent a lot of time on the balcony so it was worth it for us this time.
Once the coastline had disappeared we went back to the Quiet Cove Pool. This time we had it to ourselves again. Around 6 pm is a great time to go as most people are either at dinner or the show.
We weren’t interested in the show today (a magic act) so we decided to make the most of the quiet time.
Disney Wonder Palo Dinner
I had really been looking forward to this as it is a long time since I had dinner at Palo on the Wonder. Judy was going to be out server again so I knew that we would be well looked after.
We had to wait a few minutes for the table as we were slightly early. We were soon taken to our table which was in the middle of the restaurant.
Judy immediately greeted us and handed us the menu.
This first course is a selection of antipasti cold meats and vegetables which is brought to your table. This was delicious. The balsamic vinegar is so good!
I chose the Soft Potato Gnocchi. The tomato sauce was amazing and I was very happy with my choice.
DH had the Fresh Arugula Salad. It didn’t look all that exciting to me and he said it was just OK.
The next course was a sorbet. It is always a nice touch, but to be honest I can never quite see the point!
Palo has its own Wine Menu. Judy had explained that if we wanted to use the Wine Package and choose from that menu we would get a $42 credit. At this point, neither of us really wanted to upgrade any more than we already had.
We had decided that we would have the second of our choices from the Wine Package. We really had not enjoyed the first bottle which was the Chateau Peymouton Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.
I was desperately trying to forget just how much that had cost us for a bottle of wine we didn’t even finish!
This bottle was so much better. We chose La Crema Chardonnay because we already knew that one was good!
For my pasta course, I chose Pappardelle con Aragosta which is pasta in Lobster Tarragon Sauce with Leeks, White Truffle Oil and Grilled Lobster. It was good but not outstanding.
I love lobster but have to say that I have rarely had a brilliantly cooked lobster dish on a Disney cruise. They are usually overcooked and this one was too.
My next choice was the Sea Scallops. It was the highlight of the meal! It was served with Celery Root Puree baby Vegetables, crispy Leeks and a Prosecco and Black Truffle Sauce. The scallops were perfectly cooked and the celery root puree was fabulous.
DH had the Roasted Rosemary rubbed Rack of Lamb which was served with Roasted Carrots, Caponata, Olive Oil Potatoes and Rosemary Jus on the side. He really enjoyed his entrée and said that the lamb was wonderful.
The next course was this drink.
I really can’t remember what it was called or what the ingredients were, but it tasted pretty good!
Now time for desserts.
I already knew that I wanted the Amaretto Souffle. I had this before and still remember how great it was. I was not disappointed!
However, the one thing that I didn’t like about it was the Espresso Gelato. I am not a huge fan of ice cream so it wasn’t surprising I didn’t like it!
DH ordered the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta. He was hoping that it tasted like the Palo brunch dessert. However, he was a little disappointed with it.
The presentation was very good, but some of the flavors were just a bit strange.
Overall we really enjoyed our dinner at Palo. I had fortunately chosen the right night as it was Pirate Night. This is one of my least favorite menus in the Rotational Dining Rooms, so I was fine to skip it.
It was nice that the Palo manager came over to speak with us for quite a while at the end of the meal. I asked him about the online booking system.
I explained that I know a lot of people get frustrated when the online bookings for Palo have no reservations available. He said that they keep about half of the reservations back for onboard booking. He told me that it was a tried and trusted method which worked well.
He advised me to pass on the message that you should not worry if you cannot get an online reservation in advance for Palo. In my experience, I have never had a problem getting a reservation once on board.
Palo is not crowded and they very clearly have the system down to a fine art. Just trust the process and make that booking as soon as you get on board! It always tells you in your Navigators where to go to make or change a dining reservation as soon as you board.
Disney Cruise Pirate Night
Let me make a confession. I am not a big fan of Pirate Night. I know many of you are and I get that. However, I have been fortunate enough to experience it many times and I was never really that interested!
Having said that there are elements of Pirate Night that I do enjoy. On the Disney Wonder, I enjoy the last few minutes of the show. Who can resist the sight of Mickey Mouse zip lining across Deck 9?
The fireworks on Pirate Night are also very special and not to be missed.
These days for Pirate Night I try to arrive shortly before the fireworks start. It does get really crowded on Deck 9 and 10. If you want to stake out the best places on Deck 10 closest to the rail, you will have to be there early.
However, you don’t need to be right up against the rail to see the fireworks or the screen. The show and shots of the crowd are broadcast on Funnel Vision so most people can see.
We enjoyed the fireworks and then decided to go on another stroll around Deck 4. This became something that we enjoyed every evening.
Our stateroom towel animal was waiting for us in the stateroom.
Looking forward to another Day at Sea tomorrow.
Alison Meacham is the founder of EverythingMouse Disney Blog. For over 15 years she has shared her love of Disney Parks, Disney Cruises and Universal Orlando. In over 30 years of Disney Travel she has spent countless months in Disney Parks and has sailed on over 45 cruises. A British native and now a United States resident she splits her time between California, Florida and the UK. And spends a serious amount of time sailing the seven seas. She helps over 200,000 people per month follow their Disney travel dreams.
Michele-Picturing Disney
Sunday 14th of October 2018
WOW! I think I just gained 5 pounds dreaming about that food. Looks delish especially the coffee drinks.
Beth Engel
Sunday 14th of October 2018
Sounds absolutely amazing! I can't wait to do a cruise.
Kendra Lund
Sunday 14th of October 2018
We’re hoping to try Palo on the next cruise... probably a brunch. I’m glad to hear you got your value out of the rainforest room. I’m always torn on whether we would use it enough.
Carrie
Sunday 14th of October 2018
Awesome! The food looks amazing. I want to sail the Wonder just so I can eat at Tianas!
Jenn
Sunday 14th of October 2018
Sounds like a fun day! The mixology class would be super fun