Review: Disney Wonder Cruise February 27, 2011

[Jennerbean]

We had a wonderful time on the cruise and would go on another Disney cruise in a heartbeat. Our group consisted of two families. We had four adults, two 5yr olds, one 4yr old and one 2yr old. I’ve gotten so much wonderful information from these boards, so I would like to share our experience.

 

Pros:

 

The staff was unbelievable. Our room attendant (Neil) was fabulous. He learned all of our names quickly and said hi to us by name whenever he saw us. It seemed like he was cleaning constantly. Our main server (Aaron) was also fabulous. He was a great server and was so good to our kids. I was also impressed with the staff wandering around doing other jobs. Everyone made eye contact and said hello. And we had staff members come up to help when our kids were upset and throwing a fit. With all of the stimuli it’s inevitable for some meltdowns to occur…

 

Kids club. I thought they did a wonderful job. The staff was plentiful and always had a variety of activities for the kids to choose from. Some of the activities my kids participated in were: learned to curtsy from Cinderella, learned to dance with Snow White, had a pajama party with Pluto, learned how to be Mousketeers, made tons of crafts, made cookies with the ratatouille Chef, played computer games, etc. The list is never ending. We had no problem checking the kids in and out of the club and it was usually very quick (only a couple of minutes). We only had a wait two times. Once was after Snow White visited for dance lessons and the second time was after the Friendship Rocks show. But the staff opened 2 check-out stations and moved the kids quickly

 

Shows. We all enjoyed the shows (even the 2yr old). The highlights were Golden Mickeys, Toy Story the Musical (though we could have done without the Sid skit), and Disney Dreams.

 

Beverages. It is so nice for Disney to allow guests to bring on alcohol. We brought on some bottles of wine and some beer. We felt that the coolers kept the beer plenty cold enough (I read complaints about that). We also thought that the drink prices on the cruise were very reasonable – surprisingly so. Including tax and tips, the drinks we bought ranged from $4.89 (Bloody Marys and Mimosas) to $8.83. Cigarettes were only $3.75. We also hit happy hour when the drinks were buy one get one free - I had 2 mojitos for $8.83 (with tax and tip).

 

Photographs. The staff was great about letting us take pictures with our camera. They just wanted their photographer to take 2 pictures first. Then we could take our own pictures or they would take pictures with our camera (and they took good pictures).

 

Wave Phones. We LOVED these! They made it so easy to coordinate between the 2 families. I brought walkie talkies on a different cruise and they didn’t work well at all. I wish all cruise lines would offer these. They work just like a cell phone (one on vibrate mode). You can text each other (I found texting to be a bit tedious, but my husband loved it). Or you can just call other wave phones.

 

Palo. We only tried this out because it got such rave reviews on these boards. I’m SOOOO glad we did. It was one of the highlights of the cruise. The food was delicious and the service was impeccable - well worth the $20 fee (they did raise the cost this year). We could have easily done Palo more than one night. Also, I had no problem booking our Palo reservations once on board. I went directly to the Wave bands on deck 3 and booked the reservation.

 

Movies. We really enjoyed the movies they offered in the theater. We watched Tangled 3D and Gnomeo and Juliet 3D. We would have watched Tron 3D if we didn’t have kids (but I wasn’t about to pay for babysitting for the 2yr old so we could watch a movie). The one thing to know is that the theater is really cold. We brought blankets down from the pool deck.

 

Strollers. It was so nice to be able to borrow a stroller from guest services. We did that for Puerto Vallarta and it was a life saver. We just used it for the day and returned it that evening. Like other posters have said, it’s a bit big (even folded) and there isn’t much extra space in the stateroom (we had a category 11 inside, so the room was pretty small).

 

Cons:

 

The food was only so-so. I read about that on these boards but figured people were just picky. It was definitely edible, but Carnival’s food was much better (a surprise to me). I did find some good sandwiches and wraps at Goofy’s Galley. They also had a great selection of fresh fruit at the Galley. The food was plentiful and presented well, but just didn’t have a ton of flavor. We also had some difficulties getting through to room service during the dinner hour. You could get through, but you were on hold for a while (15 minutes or so).

 

The Mickey pool was WAY too crowded on sea days. It made me crazy to watch – though our kids didn’t seem to mind much. I guess kids have a different idea of personal space (which you have none of in those pools). As mentioned in these boards, it was nice to hit the pool on a port day for a few hours when it wasn’t so crazy.

 

Embarkation was kind of a hassle. You check in and get your key to the world cards, but then they funnel you into a large room to wait to board the ship. The wait from there was pretty long. I’m not sure why they don’t just have people arrive to the port later?? There was also a HUGE line to register your kids for the clubs. We had extra time, so we waited in line and got it over with. But we could have registered them once we got on the ship – they had quite a few stations for registration. FYI, you pre-register your kids on the internet before you cruise. Once you get to port/ship you finish the registration process to get their wrist bands.

 

They didn’t offer the Disney Friends Tea Party. I’m not sure why they stopped that, but it was disappointing. I’m glad I didn’t talk it up to my 5yr old.

 

Dining time. This was probably the biggest negative for our trip. I really wish they could have bumped up our dining time. We had been on the waiting list since June for the main dining. It was almost impossible to have the kids at the 8:15pm dinner. We chose to have the 2yr old in the nursery for dinner and the 5yr old in the kid club. We tried a family dinner one night and it was a nightmare. They’re just too tired to have good table manners at that time of night (and for that length of a dinner). I was also disappointed in the pirate celebration with the late seating. By the time we finished our dinner the upper decks were crammed with people. I understand that ships can only accommodate so many people at dinner at one time, but it was difficult for us. And I find it hard to believe spots for the main dining didn't open up between June and March.

 

Miscellaneous:

 

As mentioned on the boards, some of the lines got pretty long – especially the ones to see the princesses. You have to get there on time or early or they shut the line down. We found it really helpful to bring a coloring book or Leapster to entertain the kids while we waited. Disney was pretty good about the line. They passed out cookies when we were in line for the princesses.

 

Red Carpet before the Golden Mickeys. 15 minutes before the Golden Mickeys started they interviewed some of the children like they were stars at the Golden Globes. Our 5yr old girls were able to get in line for the red carpet and were interviewed – they had so much fun with that.

 

Always have your camera (and video camera if you own one) with you. We ran into Cinderella randomly walking around waiting to talk to people – no line or people around. And we saw Tiana and Minnie Mouse in the nursery when we dropped off our 2yr old. She was so excited about Minnie Mouse that she almost knocked her over by leaping into her arms. And our daughter has been telling everyone about sitting on Tiana’s lap. Those made for some very special memories.

 

Kids Club. They will let you in the kids club with your child to hang out (and take pictures if you want). You can also bring your under 3r child to hang out (you just have to be with them).

 

We loved dropping off items to have signed at guest services. We brought a picture mat and some t-shirts for the characters to sign. They didn’t give as many signatures as I’ve seen on previous posts, but it was fine for us. We also didn’t get the fabric markers back. Not a big deal, but just an FYI. Hopefully they donated them to the kids club for the pillowcase decorating (they decorated Pluto pillowcases at the Pluto pj party).

 

We brought glow sticks for pirate night and they were a big hit. Our Michaels sells a pack of 15 for $1.

 

We had no problem adding and changing reservations at Flounders Nursery. I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t have room, but they always accommodated us. And this may vary from ship to ship, but the policy on the Wonder is that you can cancel with no penalty 4+ hours before your reservation.

 

We reserved a pack-n-play via Disney reservations before we cruised and it was in our room waiting for us. Our room attendant set up the pack-n-play before bed and broke it down when he cleaned the room in the morning. We asked our room attendant for a Diaper Genie and he gave us one quickly.

 

Disney alters the weekly show/event itinerary at will. We were told pirate night would be on the 4th night but it was actually the 5th night. Not a big deal, but we had to alter our Flounders reservations (no way would our 2yr old make it that late). Something to be aware of if you make Palo or Flounders reservations in advance.

 

Spa. My husband and I didn’t use the spa services, but the woman we traveled with did. She really enjoyed her treatment and said she would recommend it. I think she got the salt scrub and massage. The lady expanded the service (without charging more) and threw in some face products plus an extra long massage. I did use the shower in the spa a couple times. It was really nice to have that option when the family was still sleeping (I tend to wake up early). They have robes you can borrow – and take back to your room if you want.

 

I read about this on these boards, but it deserves being pointed out again. The pastries in the coffee shop are complimentary. Yum.

 

I thought the prices in the gift shops were expensive. We brought on a Goofy doll and a Daisy doll (from the Disney store) and put them in the stateroom with a note from Mickey. I figured that saved us a good chunk of money (they were on sale) and the kids loved it. They couldn’t believe Mickey brought them a gift.

 

Character breakfast. We enjoyed the character breakfast, but it did feel a bit rushed. In hindsight I wish we would have put the kids all on one side of the table (with the adults against the wall). The characters had to weave in and out of the chairs to pose with the kids and I had to move all over the place to get good picture angles. The characters focused solely on the kids, though we could have probably requested pictures with the adults too.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Thanks for the report, i enjoyed reading it. Sounds like you had a great time.

In case you go again, yes you can have your photo with the characters at the character breakfast too. Plus you can all group together for a group shot, but you must be fast about it because they really dont have alot of time due to the number of people in there. It is a bit rushed, I agree.

 

Also most arrive early for check in so it is really busy, how ever if you arrive after 1 p.m. you can pretty much just walk right on the ship. Lines are gone and people just straggle on at their own pace.

 

That is much easier with kids.

 

Do you have any photos you can share here? I would love to see some if you dont mind sharing a few.:)

 

Kathy

[Jennerbean]

This is my first attempt at attaching files. Hope it works. The first picture is of Snow White telling a story. This was one of the most packed events in the club. The second picture is of the red carpet before the Golden Mickeys. Third shows the craziness of the Mickey pool on a sea day. Fourth is the surprise visit of Tiana to the nursery (she was so nice to my daughter). Last picture is of myself and my daughter dressed up for pirate night. I was happy to see so many people in costume!

[Jennerbean]

Okay, I'm sure this has been posted many times before, but what's the trick on inserting images directly into the message text? It's so much easier than clicking on thumbnails to see the picture...

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing:)

 

I always put my photos on Photo bucket and then when you post from there they pop up full size on the page.

 

Its a free service. If you dont have an account there, its easy to open one. www.photobucket.com and register, the rest is as simple as following the prompts.

 

Kathy

[Jennerbean]

Okay, let me try posting pictures with photobucket.

 

Here's my girls with their "gifts from Mickey"

 

 

Dessert from Palo

 

Girls getting makeup at the Oceaneer Lab

 

Pirate Minnie

 

Here's DD playing computer games in the Oceaneer Lab.

 

[Jennerbean]

Minnie's Mexican Fiesta

 

Mickey joining the pirate party

 

DD wearing a Goofy hat our server made with napkins

 

Stitch clowning around

 

Oceaneer Lab

 

Another picture of the Oceaneer Lab

[100viper]

Nice pics! Im glad you enjoy your cruise on the Wonder. :D

[Host Mick]

Those really make me miss those ships. I'm drying out here, I need to get aboard another ship and soon.

[Jennerbean]

The girls making chocolate chip cookies

 

Lilo and Stitch

 

Our server Aaron showing the girls something on the Iphone (we loved him!)

 

Chip goofing around with DD's pigtails

 

The girls with Belle - she was beautiful

 

DD with Pluto at the character breakfast

[Jennerbean]

The girls with Cinderella

 

The girls with Ariel (who DD kept saying was Fiona... oops)

 

Snow White

 

Prep for the Ratatouille Cooking School

[CherriTerri]

Thank you so much for your review and wonderful photos! My family and I are considering a cruise on the Wonder next winter and those photos will make our decision much easier!:p

[Host Mick]

I think that Cinderella, Ariel and Snow White are related.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

AWESOME photos!! Glad photo bucket worked for you.;)

 

Your girls are such pretty princesses all dressed up. You could tell they were loving every minute of the cruise.:D

[Friend100]

Thanks for sharing. Whenever people still ask what makes DCL worth the price, just direct them to this thread and look at the lovely pictures. Priceless!

[cruiseafterbaby]

Wow! You have a nice picture of the DCL crew member that went missing on March 22nd, Rebecca Coriam. Maybe you could submit the pic to her website somehow? I'm sure her parents would appreciate having that pic of her.

 

The webisite is r e b e c c a - c o r i a m . c o m (Take out the spaces)

 

It's the pic where your DD is getting her face painted, in case you didn't know.