Just off the Wonder - Second RCL Cruise - Brief Review/Thoughts

[GTO-Girl]

3 hours ago, xxbrowns said:

Thanks for the review. We just got off Wonder yesterday and it amazed me that beforehand, I read that the ship never felt crowded. Our experience was it ALWAYS felt crowded everywhere, except when getting up early in the morning. The pools were shoulder to shoulder people, the elevators were crowded most of the time and people squeezed in already full elevators, the windjammer was always hard to find a table (nothing new). Somebody earlier asked about poolside games, I heard an announcement about the sexiest man game, I thought they announced it being at the aqua pool. I didn't go check it out. The main pools were way too crowded for those types of activities. We enjoyed our cruise nevertheless but that was our experience about the ship. We also had the same experience that others mention with teens running wild, x100 worse on the last night. It really was out of hand and something needs to be done. I was surprised that there were kids in the Solarium Bistro, since the Solarium is over 16. I didn't look at any official word about the Bistro being over 16 only, but I was surprised that it would be any different.

 

We stopped at Coco Cay, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We did the Beach Club at Coco Cay, which we always love, Saffire beach, on our own, at St. Thomas and Mullet Bay at St. Maarten through the ship. All were awesome and we made great memories at each port.

 

Don't get me wrong, we didn't let any of the negatives affect our vacation, however, for the price, I do not think it was worth the very high price tag for this ship.

we just got off the Wonder yesterday as well and I agree with your post.  We booked the cruise to sail with friends but I will never book this time of year again!!!  
 

I am NOT anti-kids and fully expected plenty onboard but what I did not expect was the number of kids turned loose to act as crazy and be as disruptive as they pleased and running the halls at all hours of the day and night!!!😳😳😳.  
 

Not only was it packs of teens, there were pre-teens as well as some that I know weren’t more than 5-7yrs old wandering around alone all week!!!!

 

I was also VERY shocked that they turned a “blind eye” to kids in the Solarium!   Kids were also in bar stools in some of the bars and playing chase running through the casino!!!  Again no parents to be seen!!

 

Our FB group named them the “Parent-Less Children Of The Wonder”😳😳

[Newcruiser215]

4 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

we just got off the Wonder yesterday as well and I agree with your post.  We booked the cruise to sail with friends but I will never book this time of year again!!!  
 

I am NOT anti-kids and fully expected plenty onboard but what I did not expect was the number of kids turned loose to act as crazy and be as disruptive as they pleased and running the halls at all hours of the day and night!!!😳😳😳.  
 

Not only was it packs of teens, there were pre-teens as well as some that I know weren’t more than 5-7yrs old wandering around alone all week!!!!

 

I was also VERY shocked that they turned a “blind eye” to kids in the Solarium!   Kids were also in bar stools in some of the bars and playing chase running through the casino!!!  Again no parents to be seen!!

 

Our FB group named them the “Parent-Less Children Of The Wonder”😳😳

Wow. We didn’t experience any of this personally, but we did hear other passengers complaining. One lady said she requested a different room because kids were running and hanging out in the hallways all night, making noise. 

[Ctrinh225]

Thank you for the review! I’ll be on Wonder this coming Sun—Yeah! I don’t plan on swimming in the crowed pools and I hope no rowdy kids are circulating us while we chill axing ( but that’s just wishful thinking).. I will be trying most of the specialty restaurants. This cruise was comp thru the casino so I spent all out for excursions and dinners. 
 

[OCSC Mike]

12 hours ago, Newcruiser215 said:

Wow. We didn’t experience any of this personally, but we did hear other passengers complaining. One lady said she requested a different room because kids were running and hanging out in the hallways all night, making noise. 

 

We've never had any major problems sailing in June/July either other than occasional poor behavior like running around the stairs or hallways.

[sargemrs]

41 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

We've never had any major problems sailing in June/July either other than occasional poor behavior like running around the stairs or hallways.

Is August 27th too late for the big summer “kid” cruises?  Or will it be the last “hurrah”?  Opinions.

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, sargemrs said:

Is August 27th too late for the big summer “kid” cruises?  Or will it be the last “hurrah”?  Opinions.

 

It's better than July. Schools starts as early as early August in some states (like Florida). Other states won't have gone back yet. If your goal is to avoid kids, you should wait until after Labor Day.

[molly361]

17 minutes ago, sargemrs said:

Is August 27th too late for the big summer “kid” cruises?  Or will it be the last “hurrah”?  Opinions.

I'm on that sailing. Guess we'll find out. There were 1300 kids on my June Indy sailing  it wasn't bad

[Newcruiser215]

10 hours ago, Ctrinh225 said:

Thank you for the review! I’ll be on Wonder this coming Sun—Yeah! I don’t plan on swimming in the crowed pools and I hope no rowdy kids are circulating us while we chill axing ( but that’s just wishful thinking).. I will be trying most of the specialty restaurants. This cruise was comp thru the casino so I spent all out for excursions and dinners. 
 

I hope you have a great cruise. The casino onboard is really nice! 

[Newcruiser215]

59 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

It's better than July. Schools starts as early as early August in some states (like Florida). Other states won't have gone back yet. If your goal is to avoid kids, you should wait until after Labor Day.

Is that why August cruises are typically cheaper (kids back in school) or is it because of hurricane season? 

[crewsweeper]

3 minutes ago, Newcruiser215 said:

Is that why August cruises are typically cheaper (kids back in school) or is it because of hurricane season? 

Little bit of both.  But mostly it's just too damn hot for the Caribbean that time of year.

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, Newcruiser215 said:

Is that why August cruises are typically cheaper (kids back in school) or is it because of hurricane season? 

 

Bit of both I would guess. I'm always focused on June/July and I know September/October can yield some pretty low prices so the prices probably decline historically as the summer ends and fall begins, putting August in between.

[sargemrs]

1 hour ago, Newcruiser215 said:

Is that why August cruises are typically cheaper (kids back in school) or is it because of hurricane season? 

Well, it didn't seem cheap!!  We upgraded (ourselves) to OS and it'll probably be our last cruise....age related, but wasn't cheap!! 🙄😀

[vacationlover_mn]

4 hours ago, sargemrs said:

Is August 27th too late for the big summer “kid” cruises?  Or will it be the last “hurrah”?  Opinions.

We’ve found to be the “magical” time of the year, with few families, to be early December 🙂. However, we are MN people, and don’t find anything to be “too cold ;)).  Sadly, DH prefers Feb, so we rarely do December…