Wonder of the Seas impressions 3/17-3/24

[danoconnl]

Off Wonder of the Seas yesterday, 1st cruise on an Oasis class ship.  (Freedom and Voyager before, plus Odyssey)

 

Wow it's a big ship.  Using the stairs instead of the elevator was not the same.  I got my bearing pretty quickly but I do the research before the cruise, my wife got turned around a few times.

 

Room was 8548, forward not far from elevators. Bed was comfortable, tho I was hot under the covers most nights,GM - Are there any hot issues that I need to be aware of? slept just under the sheet.  It was kind of weird how they made the bed, but it always felt like it was coming undone.  Steward was really good and made our room up every morning, it seemed almost as soon as we were out of it because multiple times I went back what felt like only 30 minutes after my wife left the room and it was already cleaned.  We loved the location for the ease of grubbing a drink at the Trellis bar on our way to and from the room. and since we had UDP getting to specialty restaurants. We would probably choose this deck again on an Oasis class ship. 

 

We had the UDP,  1 lunch, 1 brunch and dinner every night, besides just a few things at playmakers.  we did Chops(2x) 150 CP(2x) Hooked, Giovannis for dinner and lunch, Mason Jar for brunch and dinner.  Every meal was really good, Chops was probably our favorite, hto 150 was really good too.  Hooked was a little slow.  Mason jar brunch was better than dinner.  Every specialty was packed, way more than on other cruises we have taken.  I was told by our Mason Jar guy that our UDP package would work for the late night bites in the bar, but we never tried..  I think I saw someone get a bill taken care of after complaining about being charged in Giovanni's wine bar, but I don't know if that was true as I couldn't hear what was said. We ate breakfast in the Solarium Bistro most days, which by the end of the cruise everyone else decided to as well.  Our two meals in the Windjammer(embarkation day, and 1 other breakfast) We both thought that the selection seemed alot smaller than what I remember pre Covid on Freedom and Voyager class.  But that could just be changes made fleet wide and nor just Wonder.  Sandwiches and salads at Park Cafe were pretty good.  Sorrento's pizza was really good as well.

 

The pool deck was crowded every sea day, but I didn't see a lot of chair hogs and I'm an early riser, I was out there at 7/7:30 every day reading my book.  Almost every other set of chairs had someone holding the chairs and not just leaving towels.  I did see a few, and I didn't see a crew member monitoring.  I would say if you are out there before 9, you'll get a good spot. tho the cushioned chairs were reserved earlier.   We like to lay out in the sun on our cruises and with this ship you had to think about where you were because of a lot of shadows.  We grabbed the cushioned chairs on the risers 3 of the days.  On the way down, they didn't get sun until around 9:9:30, on the way back, the bottom lost sun around 2:30(and earlier if you were higher).  We didnt spend much time in the Solarium/

 

Bar service was great, not very many lines and lots of waiters walking around the pool deck.  Mason Jar was packed every night listening to the country band(the lead singer was filling in and was really good, really nice guy)  Music  Hall was crowded the 2 nights we saw the temperature band, I thought they were pretty good. They ran out of Mich Ultra about 5 days into te 7 day cruise which kind of sucked, but I can make do with Bud Light.

 

We saw intense(very good), the comedians(guy was pretty good, woman was not), piano guy in the Schooner bar the few times we saw him wasnt our type.  The guy in the pub was decent the few times we were in there.  We missed Voices and didn't want to see Effectors 2(we thought Effectors on Odyssey was really cheesy).

 

Lots of kids on this cruise but they never really bothered us.  My wife teaches kindergarten and we have 4 so while we cruise without them.  We're pretty patient with family struggles.  Kids being upset in a specialty restaurant don't bother us too much when we see parents trying their best.  When you don't have the support they do the best they can.  Others might have been annoyed, but we are on vacation and are able to drown them out.

 

If you have any questions I'll try to answer them.

 

Dan

[blondie from arizona]

Was there any open skating this week? Is the ice cast new on board?

 

[PhillyFan33579]

Enjoyed reading your comments. I have been on Wonder three times. It is one of my favorite  RCI ships, although I haven’t been on her in over a year. On the downside, I watched the Eagles lose the Super Bowl on Wonder. Looking forward to cruising on Wonder more often when she starts doing 3/4 day cruises relatively soon. 

[danoconnl]

46 minutes ago, blondie from arizona said:

Was there any open skating this week? Is the ice cast new on board

there was open skating on the daily calendar, but we did not partake.  We didn't go to the ice show but I heard it was good

 

Dan

[nanseev]

Did you try to get Izumi Hibachi with the UDP?  We have the 3-day and I’m hoping to be able to get a reservation when we get on the ship (on my plan for first thing to do) …but fearful it’s going to be completely sold out with all of the pre-purchases.  

[firefly333]

2 minutes ago, nanseev said:

Did you try to get Izumi Hibachi with the UDP?  We have the 3-day and I’m hoping to be able to get a reservation when we get on the ship (on my plan for first thing to do) …but fearful it’s going to be completely sold out with all of the pre-purchases.  

It's still a surcharge. Last I heard $15 extra with a dining pkg. I'd rather another place with no surcharge.

[danoconnl]

24 minutes ago, nanseev said:

Did you try to get Izumi Hibachi with the UDP?  We have the 3-day and I’m hoping to be able to get a reservation when we get on the ship (on my plan for first thing to do) …but fearful it’s going to be completely sold out with all of the pre-purchases.

we did not, we decided that we didn't want the hassle or what we figured would be bad times so we just booked the others straight for 6:30.  we got all of our times except 2.  We were on the ship like 40th after suites and key and walked right to the dining kiosk and I think we were the 1st people to book.  We had hooked booked for 2 nights and decided on day 3 or 4 to switch to mason jar for day 5 to dinner, the app said nothing except 7:45 but we went up there and asked and they gave us 6:15, so if you want to switch I would always asked. At the end of the cruise we decided we wished we had done the hibachi, but oh well...

 

Dan

[OCSC Mike]

We were onboard with you! Had a great time as always and agree with many of your opinions.

 

Sailing through those storms Saturday was quite the experience. Seas were calm but certain areas of the ship (like the Solarium) were experiencing minor flooding, lol.

 

Can't wait to be back on my favorite ship this summer!

 

P.S. I saw Voices on a previous cruise and you didn't miss anything, IMO. It's the ice show we love on Wonder.

[danoconnl]

also one more interesting thing, we didn't get an internet package but both of our iPhones were able to use iMessage to talk to people back home and each other.

It was sometimes really slow(like 1 minute for it to send), but almost always worked.

 

Last cruise it worked for my wife but not for me.

 

Dan

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, danoconnl said:

Last cruise it worked for my wife but not for me.

When was that? Inbound messages working is almost normal - outbound working has not been reported in quite some time.

[danoconnl]

March of 2022 on Odyssey.  She could send and receive from everyone she knew(that was using iMessage).

I couldn't send or receive.

This cruise we both could, there was one time where it stopped working for my wife, but she rebooted her phone and it was back.

 

Dan

Edited March 26 by danoconnl

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, danoconnl said:

March of 2022 on Odyssey. 

Unlikely that will work today - outbound messages that is. RCI has closed just about all the loopholes.

[danoconnl]

well we both could send and receive last week on Wonder, pictures, video, everything.  Both to each other on the boat and to firends and family back home

Dan

Edited March 26 by danoconnl

[OCSC Mike]

2 hours ago, danoconnl said:

well we both could send and receive last week on Wonder, pictures, video, everything.  Both to each other on the boat and to firends and family back home

Dan

 

Interesting. I believe you but that didn't work for us last week. We share one internet account and if my wife was logged in and sent me a pic via iMessage I wouldn't receive it until we switched and I was logged in.

 

Neither of us tried to message anyone else unless we were logged in.

[Halfpound]

Thank you for sharing your post about the Wonder. My family of six have the 3 night dining package. We have an 11:30 boarding arrival time- where would the best place be to go and make our speciality dining reservations which we will do first thing. You mentioned a kiosk? Location? Are we better off going to one of their restaurants? Regarding the hibachi restaurant, do you have to go there to make a reservation? Thanks

[danoconnl]

 

8 hours ago, Halfpound said:

We have an 11:30 boarding arrival time- where would the best place be to go and make our speciality dining reservations which we will do first thing. You mentioned a kiosk? Location?

So when you first get on the ship, the kiosk will be in the middle of the promenade, one of the center desks where normally they are selling t-shirts or jewelry.  There will be big signs and 3 or 4 crew members helping.  Our plan was to go there 1st together and if there was a line, one of us would go to a specialty rest. on deck 8 and see about getting it there, communicating using our phones.  also with an 11:30 boarding time, you could probably show up at 10 and be just after the 10:30 boarding.  It appeared to me that they weren't making the 11:30 wait until 11:30, but until all of the 10:30 were on.

 

Dan

[Halfpound]

10 hours ago, danoconnl said:

 

So when you first get on the ship, the kiosk will be in the middle of the promenade, one of the center desks where normally they are selling t-shirts or jewelry.  There will be big signs and 3 or 4 crew members helping.  Our plan was to go there 1st together and if there was a line, one of us would go to a specialty rest. on deck 8 and see about getting it there, communicating using our phones.  also with an 11:30 boarding time, you could probably show up at 10 and be just after the 10:30 boarding.  It appeared to me that they weren't making the 11:30 wait until 11:30, but until all of the 10:30 were on.

 

Dan

 

[Halfpound]

Just now, Halfpound said:

 

Thank you so much for this information. We will plan on getting to the terminal for 10 am and hope for the best. Do you happen to know if you have to go to the Hibachi restaurant separately to make a reservation there? We also have a casita reservation for both sea days, where and when do we make those reservations? Thanks again

[danoconnl]

14 hours ago, Halfpound said:

Thank you so much for this information. We will plan on getting to the terminal for 10 am and hope for the best. Do you happen to know if you have to go to the Hibachi restaurant separately to make a reservation there? We also have a casita reservation for both sea days, where and when do we make those reservations? Thanks again

we didn't make Hibachi reservations, but I'm told you need to make reservations there, not sure if they will let you make other reservations there, I've heard yes and no. 

I don't know where Casitas reservations are made, but I know there were signs on the top deck talking about where to go, I didn't haver one so I didn't pay much attention,.

 

Dan

[PhillyFan33579]

On 3/28/2024 at 10:02 PM, Halfpound said:

Thank you for sharing your post about the Wonder. My family of six have the 3 night dining package. We have an 11:30 boarding arrival time- where would the best place be to go and make our speciality dining reservations which we will do first thing. You mentioned a kiosk? Location? Are we better off going to one of their restaurants? Regarding the hibachi restaurant, do you have to go there to make a reservation? Thanks

The best place to make reservations is at one of the speciality restaurants. We always go to Chops, but you can go to any speciality restaurant to make reservations. Since you are on Wonder, I would go immediately to Central Park as soon as I boarded the ship since there are several specialty restaurants there. 

[balcony4u]

Hello!

I have a question, is it easy to find a place to charge your phones in the rooms?

 

[OCSC Mike]

6 minutes ago, balcony4u said:

Hello!

I have a question, is it easy to find a place to charge your phones in the rooms?

 

Very. There are USB ports in both your nightstand lamp base and by the desk.

 

There are numerous cabin videos on YouTube that will show you all that stuff.

[balcony4u]

Thank you!