11/1-11/5 Disney Wonder cruise

[ali6879]

I'm posting this in the review section as well, but I know not everyone gets over there.

 

My husband, myself, and my daughter who just turned 13 were on the Nov. 1 sailing of the Disney Wonder. A little background on us, this was our 6th cruise, all others were with Carnival. We visit WDW every year and incorporated a 3 night stay at WDW with this cruise as well. We had rented a car for the trip, as it was only $20 more than the transfers were to have a car at our disposal for a full week.

 

We booked the cruise through a travel agent that I use. We arrived at the port at about 11AM. It was a very easy experience, as we unloaded the car at the sidewalk, a porter came right up to us, and my husband went and parked the car in the parking area while the porter took our luggage. We went right inside and I was impressed with how smooth the process was. Every other cruise I've been on, lines are horrendous as you wait to go through the metal detector, then to someone to process your information. Disney does have a very good system for embarkation that the other cruise lines should take note of. We got our room keys and our picture taken and were in group 11 to board. The groups boarded fairly quickly, and we were on board by 12:15.

 

Based on advice from other reviews, we didn't try to fight our way up to the buffet area on the pool deck but rather went to Parrot Cay for lunch as soon as we boarded. The buffet there was excellent, a lot of variety. We then went to make our reservations for Palo once we finished lunch. It was still early, so we wandered around the ship for a bit and then went to our cabin. The cabin was of comparable size to balcony rooms we've had before, maybe a bit larger. The balcony itself is bigger than ones we've had on other ships. The set up of the split bath is definitely a plus.

We attended the sailaway party after the muster drill. This was a lot of fun and the entertainment staff really went above and beyond to include the guests in the fun.

 

The ship had just recently come back from drydock, but there were a lot of areas that I saw that could have used more attention. The adult pool had rust spots around the seating area, which normally I wouldn't have commented on, but since it was out of drydock for 3 weeks, I would have thought those would have been taken care of. Our balcony railings had 2 different color paint on them as well, just little things I noticed that probably should have been taken care of better while the ship was undergoing maintenance.

 

The ship was overall very clean though. Workers were consistently cleaning up deck tables and clearing any trash. Only once did I see a tray in the hall from room service and it wasn't there the next time I walked by.

 

Activities - for children, this is an excellent ship. The kids were entertained, and my daughter loved the teen club Aloft. It's nice because the teens actually get to design their own activities for the sailing. For adults, I think that activities were lacking. The ship basically closed down at 11PM or midnight every night. There was only one night for karaoke, and it was only an hour. On the plus side, the entertainment staff who did run the adult side of things was excellent. They were very good about getting people involved and were good at what they did. I just wish there were more things going on during the day/evening for adults.

 

Service was very good, and our dining room server was excellent. He was probably the best waiter we've ever had on a cruise. He would go out of his way to come over and say hello while we had lunch at the buffet if he was working there. Our room steward was very nice, but never came and officially introduced himself. He was always cheery though and said hello to us each time we passed him.

 

The internet service was not good. My laptop could not connect to the wireless service on the ship and we tried various locations. The ship's computers would not allow me to access my work website (which I need to do at least once a day) so I was a little frustrated by that. This was the first time I've ever not been able to log into my work site on a cruise ship. The staff was not able to help me with this problem either.

 

We didn't get off the ship in Nassau, having just been there in January. It's not one of my favorite ports. Castaway Cay was a great day. My daughter chose to go with the Teens on their own excursion so my husband and I went to the adult beach and had a nice relaxing day. There is a bbq area right next to Serenity Beach which was nice, as we didn't need to go back to the other side of the island to get lunch.

 

We saw one of the onboard shows (Golden Mickeys), and while it was done well, I wasn't blown away by it. We did watch a movie in the movie theater, and that was a nice way to take up an hour and a half on the last day.

 

Our experience at Palo was very nice. The server we had was excellent and made us feel welcome. However, food overall on this ship was definitely lacking. The dishes were just OK, nothing that was very impressive. I've read the same on other reviews, so I was hoping for better. Pizza on deck was not good. Having soda available for free was a nice touch, and one that I think other cruise lines should incorporate.

 

We did not utilize the spa so I can't comment on any aspect there.

 

On a good note, we used the hot tub one night after dinner on the adult pool side. A younger looking male went into the other hot tub and a crew member immediately went over to him and must have asked him if he was over 18. He nodded and then an office came over to him and actually asked him for his ID and room key to verify he was of age to be there. It was good to see a cruiseline upholding their rules.

 

Debarkation was very easy, we had late seating dinner so we also had late seating breakfast. As soon as we were done with breakfast on the last morning, we walked off the ship and went through customs immediately.

 

Overall, while I enjoyed the cruise, it didn't blow me away as I was expecting. It was a nice change, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra money above other lines. If I had younger children, I might think differently. However, having a teenager means that she doesn't want to hang around with us much other than at dinner. The general demographic of the people who cruised with us were better than some other ships that I've experienced. There was no running up and down the halls at night. People were generally respectful to the crew and to the other passengers. I wouldn't say no to sailing with Disney again, but I would rather sail with a few other lines instead. This was good for a 4 night cruise but I don't think I would do a 7 night on Disney.

[Minybear]

Thanks for your review. We will be on the Wonder 12/3/09 and we haven't been on DCL since 2004. It disappoints me that the food is lacking for Disney, but I have heard that before so it doesn't surprise me.

 

We are going to Nassau but we noticed in their excursion list that majority of these excursions was for Atlantis. I guess Disney has a contract with Atlantis but it was very disappointing on how many excursrions was at Altantis and very few touring Nassau. If we were on Carnival there would have been a variety of excursions for us to choose from. Of course this is my observation.

 

Cindy

[genmasjoy]

Thanks for the review. My DH and I are going on the Wonder for Thanksgiving, November 25-29. We are looking forward to it, we love Disney and cruised on the Wonder in 2005 so I'm glad to hear it is well maintained. I have a stressful job and need a break, so I'm happy just relaxing and don't need a lot of activities. I am looking forward to the movies, shows, Castaway Key, and the wine tasting. I am not interested in going to Atlantis, have been there before when it first opened and there was no charge to walk all over the property. The only expense was the cab fare. This time, we will go to Ardasta Gardens.