Disney Wonder - 12/13/07 Mini Review

[poncho1973]

My wife has been on several RCL cruises and I went on my first cruise this past summer on RCL (Mariner of the Seas 7-night Eastern Caribbean). We are going on a longer DCL cruise in the summer, but wanted a taster. We live in Orlando, so we drove over.

 

Pre-boarding: They checked our ID's just to get inside the complex and again several times throughout boarding. I think I liked it, but it was a minor inconvenience. We gave the porters our bags (unlike the RCL people who had signs up saying NO TIPPING, a small tip of $1-$2 a bag was expected) and I left my wife to go park the car. It was $9 a day to park ($36 for us) and I had to walk back a short distance. Hired cars, buses and taxis had a separate drop-off.

 

Boarding: As with the RC cruise we took this was easy. We went through the x-ray machine/metal detector area. We had all of our paperwork filled out and our passports ready. They gave the people at the check-in next to us a big speech because they didn't have passports. "You must sign this stating that you realize the only way, even in an emergency, you can get back into the United States is via boat. You may not, under any circumstances fly back." I wasn't trying to eavesdrop TOO HARD, but I'm fairly sure the crew member said "sign this". Regardless, we had our passports, so it wasn't a concern. We were given our KEYS TO THE WORLD and a card that stated our boarding order, which was useless as they were calling numbers 2-25 already and we were 8. We arrived about 11:15 and were on the ship well before noon. Including waiting on me to walk over, scanning, check-in, etc. As I said, we had our ID checked several times from the time we pulled into the lot until stepping on the ship. At least 5 times, so just keep your passports, papers and KttW (once you get it) handy... is my advice.

 

Getting on the ship: Whatever you didn't give the porters... you have to haul everywhere until your room is ready, but we knew that so it wasn't a problem at all. They asked our names as we walked across the gangway and announced us. We were told our room would be ready at 1:30pm. It was.

 

Day One: We spent the time until our room was ready wandering around the ship. It was very nice, but much smaller than the Mariner of the Seas we went on. Decks 9, 10 and 11 are where the action is. Deck 11 is off limits to everyone but 13-17 year olds, so it wasn't on our list. We hit the Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch and fully explored Decks 9/10.

 

At 1:30pm we went to our cabin... 7567 and checked it out. We were told it was the smallest guest cabin on the entire ship and it was still slightly larger than our cabin on the Mariner. (184sf to 160sf) No window, no upgrades, no perks... no cool split bathroom. This was disappointing, but the room was in great shape. We had a queen bed, a couch and 184 stunning square feet! Sadly, we didn't even meet our stateroom attendant until NIGHT THREE on our way to dinner. This was quite disappointing and we found this to be our only poor service on the ship. He did a good job with the actual room duties, but we missed that personal touch. Our checked bags had still not arrived, but that is normal. We dropped off our backpacks and went back out to explore.

 

We did the Muster Drill at 4:00pm. We like to call this "The Orange Robot March" and the guides in the hall knew EXACTLY where we should be. This was sooooo much nicer on the Wonder. Simple, short, sweet and we were back to the room in 15-20 minutes.

 

My wife went to the Vista Spa and booked a Swedish massage. It was comparable to most hour massages, but she said the spa itself wasn't nearly as nice as others she had been to, including other Disney spas and the RC spa on the Mariner. It was also slightly cheaper than those spas, but still in the same range. If you want to book something, go as soon as you board the ship. She was treated very well.

 

While she was being massaged I went to the going away party at 4:30pm. They had dancing, singing and characters. If you get along the railing on Deck 10 you get an awesome view, but you aren't actually part of the party... so I went back down to Deck 9. I was surprised by one thing.. the drinks were much cheaper on the Wonder than my other cruise. A couple dollars a drink cheaper on most things.

 

We had a little food to hold us over since our dining was at 8:30pm and relaxed on the deck. The sun set and we popped back to the cabin to freshen up. Our bags had arrived, so we pulled them in from the hall and unpacked. We watched a little TV show telling us about some of the features of the ship and went to dinner.

 

The rotational dinners were different, but I kind of liked it better. It would have been bad if your servers didn't follow you, but they did. Ours were Miguel from Peru and Radu from Romania. Our first night was in Parrot Cay. On our last day, we decided that our rotation (Parrot Cay, Triton's, then Animator's Palate) was the best possible one for us. Parrot Cay was kind of like a cross between the Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise. Fun, but there were no animatronics. The food was very nice.

 

After dinner, we went to the Buena Vista Theater and watched Dan in Real Life. They were playing several first run-ish movies on the ship, this was just the one we actually had meant to see back home and missed. They were even playing Enchanted several times a day.

 

It was really late and we were TIRED! We went back to room to find the Invisible Mystery Host had turned down our beds, made us a bulldog and given us chocolate.

 

Day Two: We set our wake up call for 9:00am and took our time getting ready. For breakfast we had 3 options: Beach Blanket Buffet (7:30am - 10:15am), Parrot Cay Upscale Buffet (8:00am - 11:30am) and Triton's Ala Carte (8:00am - 9:30am). We didn't slide out of the room until Parrot Cay was the only option, so we went there. It was much nicer than Beach Blanket anyway. We had a big breakfast.

 

We had packed our gear for the day and taken it to breakfast with us. Thus we were able to head down immediately after and disembark in Nassau. We took our standard "foreign country Visa" (we use it for nothing else throughout the year except when we leave the country and always call them to let them know we are taking it) and a bunch of small bills. We didn't spend a single dime in Nassau. Not a dime. We were coming back in a few months, so we knew we didn't have to buy any trinkets or gifts. Basically, Nassau isn't a super nice place anyway, but we were prepared if we did find a "must buy". In the summer, we will take an excursion or two.

 

We walked around for an hour or two and went back to the ship for lunch. We dropped off our pack and changed into swimsuits. We lounged for hours at the adult pool and loved every second of it. My wife & her book... me & my iPod shuffle... this is becoming a cruise pattern. It was heaven. The ocean air and the relaxation. No talking, no moving, no anything.. just relaxing. We grabbed some chicken fingers from Pluto's Dog House and went back to the room to change.

 

After showering and changing into our Pirate gear for dinner... we went to the show "The Golden Mickeys". It was about 1 million times better than anything we'd seen on the RC cruise. We were told that we really missed out on Hercules (the Thursday show we somehow overlooked) but this was still excellent. Lots of singing and dancing and characters.

 

Afterwards we went to a Pirate-themed game show, but it was for tiny kids... so we just ordered some booze, yelled loudly when the kids did something good and snuck out when it got boring.

 

Tonight was PIRATE NIGHT and you were encouraged to wear pirate gear to dinner. We saw a few people in nicer clothes, but the VAST (avast!) majority of people were wearing pirate stuff... some in FULL COSTUME. We had brought pirate t-shirts, but that was all. We bought me an eye patch, a big earring and dubloon necklace. They provided pirate hankies at dinner... so we were ready. Dinner was nice and we had a great time.

 

After dinner we went to the Pirate Party on Deck 9 and enjoyed it very much. They announced at the end of this party that there would be karaoke in bar at Route 66.... so we had to go! We watched that and ordered several drinks. It was pretty fun. Afterwards they invited us to stay for dancing, but that sucked and we went to our cabin to crash. I felt the Route 66 area could use a little more life. It was fun in spurts, but not sustained.

 

Day Three: We set our wake up call for 9:30am and we again took our sweet time getting ready. By the time we got ready we decided to skip breakfast and head to Castaway Cay. The great thing about Castaway Cay is that it's just like a little piece of the ship! All the food and drink (just like the ship... booze still costs money) is still included! We got into our swimsuits and headed downstairs.

 

Important note... there is a speaker in your cabin for Emergency announcements and the opening/closing announcements from the captain. Daily announcements do not play in your cabin. On the RC ship, we had an on/off button where you COULD play all announcements in your cabin, should you desire. I didn't find that option in our cabin... but I didn't actually look for it... so it MAY exist. However... we completely missed where to disembark... so we just sort of headed FORWARD and took the elevators down. Sadly, we should have gone AFT, but this just meant some more walking. Regardless... listen to the announcements.

 

I really can't say enough about Castaway Cay. It was just amazing. We got off the ship to an island of sheer beauty. Amazing. The water looked like it was drawn in with a crayon. The sand was perfect. The Flying Dutchman from the Pirates movies was there... anchored off the shore. We saw the Family beach and the Teen beach and stores and a post office... AND FOOD. They weren't quite open yet (I believe it opened at 11:30am and this was a little after 11:00am) but they had food cooking and prep work taking place. Fruits of all sorts... you could take a whole pinapple! Pop, water... booze to buy. COOKIES! Ice cream! Ribs! Chips! Burgers! Fries! Salads! Hot Dogs! BBQ! Steaks! It was amazing and yummy and tasty.

 

They have 2 trams. One that takes you from the post office (just a tiny walk from the dock) to the main beaches and one that goes from the main beaches (family/teen) to the Serenity Bay adults only beach. Serenity Bay wasn't crowded at all, there were tons of chairs, tons of waiters bringing you fruity drinks if you wished and open sky as far as you could see. My wife said it was what you would imagine it would be like if you were on "Lost" minus all the others, monsters and polar bears.

 

We actually walked from the main beaches to Serenity and it was about a 10+ minute walk. We took the tram on the way back. Bring your own snorkel gear... seriously. Don't pay to rent theirs, it didn't look nice. You can snorkel in the bay just fine. If you want to REALLY REALLY snorkel, you should go to the main beaches where they have neater stuff to see. We didn't do that. We were out at the beach for about 5 hours (including a great lunch) and it was great. I was in the water a lot and we rented my wife a float. The water was 77 degrees and too cold for her. The floats were a great rental and cheap for $6/day.

 

I saw a lot of sand dollars, some crazy looking big-eyed fish, a few sting rays, lots of little tiny fish and several starfish. When my wife came out on her float, we went out to the deep part and I dove for shells and sand dollars for her. The vast majority of the bay was less than 6 feet deep... but it got down to about 15 feet out in the far middle. For a free something to do... this was great. I think I'd like to try the other area. Just a word to anyone who has never snorkeled or hasn't for a long time... wear a shirt. With your back on the surface for so long... you will burn and not realize it. Several years ago... I burned the crap out of myself doing that.

 

We went back to the ship and changed for dinner. Our last dinner was the "dress up" dinner, but I didn't see anyone OVERLY dressed up. I saw several girls in recycled prom dresses... if you have one... this is your place to use it again. I think some of them might have even been altered bridemaid's dresses. Several men in sport coats. I didn't see any suits, but maybe they were there. I wore my nicest dressy jeans and a nice collared island shirt... a very muted, nice one. I had brought khackis, but they were really wrinkled and I didn't press them. I should have used the on-board laundry service to press them... to give you an idea of their service, but I forgot.

 

Prior to actually dining... we went to the final show... "DREAMS" which apparently won the 2007 cruise show of the year award. It was really good. Tons and tons of typical Disney show material. Some really neat effects and overall a quality experience. We just wandered the ship for a few minutes until dinner time and checked out our photos. There is no shortage of photo ops with the ship's many photographers. We bought two of them.

 

Dinner at Animator's Palate was the best dinner experience. Both of the previous nights we were the only people at our huge table. Slackers didn't show. This night we met a couple from Leesberg. An older couple who seemed really nice. The entire room changes during the course of dinner. It was really nice. The food was great and we had a good time. We passed out our tips (we prepaid them and got little vouchers/envelopes delivered to our cabin) to the Head Server, our Server and our Assistant Server. We had given our Stateroom Host his on the way down. We added a some to the server/assistant's envelopes because they went above and beyond. The stateroom host and the head server (a guy who wanders around the dining room making witty comments to each table) got the standard vouchers and nothing more.

 

So... basically I've determined that the best gig on the ship must be the Head Server. That guy just wanders around making sure he smiles at people and listens when someone complains. He is a baby-kisser, hand shaker, etc. The ship can hold 2400 people. There are 6 seatings... thus 3 head servers... 2 seatings per head server. If EVERYONE came to dinner and everyone gave the standard amount... he'd see 1/3 of the people... 800 guests. 800 guests x $2.75 (for a 3-night cruise) = $2,200 in tips alone for a 3 night work week. I don't know how much his base salary is... but even if he made half that and only made tips... $1,100 in 3 nights isn't a bad gig at all.

 

We went back to our room... fully intending to go back out... but we crashed and fell asleep before that could happen. We had decided to walk our bags out (we are light packers and only had one smaller 19" roller and a backpack each) so we didn't need to worry about the time crunch of getting them out. We even remembered to fill out our customs form.

 

Disembarking: Now it's time to say goodbye... to all our company... M-I-C... see ya real soon... K-E-Y... why? because we like you... M-O-U-S-E

 

We were awakened by a loud announcement from the captain. Expect this about 6:30am. A welcome home breakfast is served that morning. No buffets, no options... just at the same place we had dinner the night before in the same rotation. We obviously didn't have to go... but on the Wonder you have to be out of your room by 8:30am no matter what so a last breakfast sounds like a good idea. I'm sure you could squeeze a few minutes... but expect them to be knocking down your door. Take everything you have left with you to breakfast.

 

We got through customs quickly (despite having a computer problem... that was apparently fixed by the time we got finished eating breakfast.

 

We got in our car and drove home! We both really enjoyed our trip and thought the ship was beautiful. We want to try a larger room next time and hope to meet our stateroom host BRIGHT AND EARLY, but this got a solid 4.5 out of 5 PONCHOS from us.

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Poncho,

great report, I enjoyed reading it very much. Thanks for sharing.

 

It sounds like over all you had a great time. We cant wait to go again, each cruise just keeps getting better and better.

 

Thanks for letting me relive our last cruise through your report, it helps those of us stuck on land to passs the time until we cruise again.

 

Mom x4,grandma x4

[reigle4]

I too used to think that the head waiter was not as deserving of his tip as the ones who waited on us each and every night. But the head waiter is in charge of all the waiters in his half of the restaurant and more. He has an awesome responsibility and is the one accountable if something isn't just right. Plus I saw the head waiter out on Castaway Cay serving and cleaning tables and etc...so they do more than we think. They work alot of hours. Probably about 16 each day.

 

Not scolding you about your comment, just informing those who don't realize what goes on behind the scenes because things just seem to go so smoothly. It isn't by coincedence.

 

Great comments though. I ditto yours

[poncho1973]

Not scolding you about your comment, just informing those who don't realize what goes on behind the scenes because things just seem to go so smoothly. It isn't by coincedence.

 

Don't worry, I didn't take it as scolding. I appreciate the info. I know they keep the show running... but it still seems like a nice gig.... especially if they get a salary + tips.

 

Thanks mx4gx4 for reading it. As an expert, I'm sure it wasn't new... but thanks for taking the time to see a n00b's point of view.

 

 

 

I re-read this and wanted to add a few things:

 

I really appreciated Christaan the CD. He wasn't all over the place, but was present. He was reasonably enthusiastic without being annoying. My absolute least favorite part of my only other cruise was Becky (some people in the RCL part of this forum really, really, really, really, really love her... almost to the point of cult worship) the CD saying "Heeeeellloooo Love, it's me! Your cruise director, Becky!" about 5.4 million times a day and bouncing up and down the hall like a cheerleader on speed. She also was at every event and you had to listen to about 10 minutes of her before anything happened. Christaan just sort of let the event happen. He gave an intro, pumped everyone up a little and let the event do the rest.

 

I wish that smoking was taken more seriously on the Wonder. I saw no indoor smoking, but at least a dozen times saw people smoking on both sides of the doors out to the deck. There were posted smoking areas and they seemed seldom used and seldom enforced. I don't care if you smoke, just don't make me smoke with you.

 

Nassau seems like a very lacking port of call. Really lacking. It seems that the vast majority seemed to feel that way. I talk to strangers... it's my thing. I don't corner people, ask personal questions or hang around oddly... I just have never been afraid to make a statement or hold a very brief convo with anyone. We saw several people both in port and back on the ship who just said Nassau is gross. I asked people what they had seen that they liked... "Atlantis was neat the first time I came here" is about the only positive comment. Mx4Gx4 commented on a pirate museum and a couple tours in another thread. Random people on these forums say "Yeah ____ was ok" but insane numbers of people say "We don't even leave the ship" and the ship reflected that. It was quite full of people in Nassau and quite empty in Castaway Cay.

 

Cleanliness. I was definitely impressed. Everything seemed very clean. I will comment that RCL's hand sanitizers blow DCL's out of the water. Especially when most of DCL's were empty and someone would hold out a wipe to us instead... bad Disney! Those wipes have to be thrown away. If you hand out 5,000 of those a day... that QUICKLY adds up!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I have a question for you.

Did you have a duo in the Promenade lounge in the evenings? if so, do you remember their name?

 

I agree about the smoking issue, it has been a sore spot with many people on all cruise ships it seems. People feel they can just smoke anywhere instead of obeying the posted areas.

Of course I have met a few who went out of their way not to smoke around others too. I love those people!!

 

I think they could change their itenerary and stop at Key West instead of Nassau once in awhile. it wouldnt be that much difference in miles or time. I know they could successfully do this. I have had good luck with most things we have done in Nassau but it would be nice to have a different port for a few months.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[Amlee]

I usually don't read trip reports especially those from Disney, as if I could I would live on those ships. But I bit the bullet on this one. Glad you had a good time. Did I miss something, or did yall not do the fireworks on Pirate night? :eek:

 

The head waiter was a God send on my last Disney cruise. I went with a very food pickey 17 year old. He did the normal thing of coming around and talking to us. Our waiter must have said something because he asked my cousin if he could do something for her concerning the food. Being as shy as she was she said no. I spoke up and said the only thing she will eat is the pizza, burgers, and chicken fingers from upstairs. The next night she wasn't handed a menu. The waiter said they had a surprise for her. She was brought out a plate of each and this happened every night for the next 8 nights. He earned his extra money on that trip.

 

 

Another what happened to Brent? Christiaan is a h00t also, but Brent was great. I have to agree with you about Becky! She drove me nuts!

[poncho1973]

I usually don't read trip reports especially those from Disney, as if I could I would live on those ships. But I bit the bullet on this one. Glad you had a good time. Did I miss something, or did yall not do the fireworks on Pirate night? :eek:

 

After dinner we went to the Pirate Party on Deck 9 and enjoyed it very much.

 

You just missed it, but that's probably because I didn't specifically mention the events of the party. We danced around a bit and saw the Hook takeover and the Mickey rescue... leading into the fireworks.

 

I'm glad the head waiter hooked your cousin up. Teenagers... were we ever that bad? hehe

 

I have to agree with you about Becky! She drove me nuts!

I did actually stop and talk to her in the promenade one day. She wasn't bouncing all over the place and seemed much better, but someone came up to ask for her autograph (?????) and suddenly she was back with the "show face". I think the job is a difficult one and I'll admit that Christaan probably doesn't have to sell his shows very hard... everyone on a DCL cruise is probably at least partly (in many cases: MOSTLY) there because of the characters he's introducing... but the whole dressing 15 years younger than you are, bouncing off the walls, overused catchphrase... was enough to make me run and hide.

 

Did you have a duo in the Promenade lounge in the evenings? if so, do you remember their name?

There wasn't anyone playing in the Promenade lounge while we were there. Maybe it was our timing??? We were there around 8pm on Nights 1 and 2... waiting for Parrot Cay and Triton's to open for second seating... the Captain was there on Day 2. I accidentally bumped into him (physically, because of a running child) and said "oh hey, you're the actual captain!" and he said it wasn't as easy to pick out with so many people wearing similiar outfits. We were also there a few times around lunch. No one around. Sorry.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Thanks, I was just hoping Don and Tommy were there.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[glyn]

How did you find out about Pirate Night? Was it in your ticket info?

thanks

We are going in July 2008

glynette

[poncho1973]

We found out about Pirate Night when we arrived in our room. There was a small piece of paper resembling an event ticket stating our dining rotation and the dress for each night. It was also in the Navigator.

 

On the 3-night, we were told it is always on the 2nd night. This is my only 3-night, so I have no idea if that is true, but it is what I was told.

 

1. Come as you are night

2. Pirate night

3. Dress up night (I won't even pretend to call it "formal")

[Rudi610]

I think they could change their itenerary and stop at Key West instead of Nassau once in awhile. it wouldnt be that much difference in miles or time. I know they could successfully do this. I have had good luck with most things we have done in Nassau but it would be nice to have a different port for a few months.

 

I'm not sure if Castaway Cay would qualify as a "distant foreign port" under the Jones Act (the federal law governing ship travel to and within the United States) where you could have a 3 night cruise visiting only Castaway Cay and Key West. Nassau qualifies as that distant port and is the reason most ships doing the 3/4 day trips from Florida stop there.

 

I do agree with your assessment of Nassau, though. My only cruise so far was on RCCL's Nordic Empress (now Empress of the Seas) back in 1995 for my honeymoon. Your favorite port was Cococay, followed distantly by Nassau (we took an island tour and literally saw every square inch of the island--every government building, gas station, and store:eek:) and way in the back was Freeport. I swore I would never go back, but I find myself considering a cruise on Disney with my 3 kids. Go figure!!:rolleyes: