Tell Me About the Wonder.....

[carolina cruise gal]

I will be sailing on August 31st on the Wonder. First time with DISNEY. My son is 5 almost 6. We have reserved a verandah stateroom. the evening dining rotations are new to me - but what about breakfast -lunch? Can you eat all the time? Like RCCL has the buffett up on Lido deck open all the time. Is there a movie theatre on board or by the pool? Do they have drink specials? Are there many activities for adults ? How long does the kids program go on till - is there a charge for late night (if parents want to party). Is there a shallow end in the family pool or kids pool - my son is a so-so swimmer, just learning. What about birthdays - my son will be 6 this cruise is his birthday - can they make it special ? Also - do they have shrimp cocktail and lobster on this short cruise ? Maybe in the service charge dining room ?

[OceanLiner]

I will be sailing on August 31st on the Wonder. First time with DISNEY. My son is 5 almost 6. We have reserved a verandah stateroom. the evening dining rotations are new to me - but what about breakfast -lunch? Can you eat all the time? Like RCCL has the buffett up on Lido deck open all the time. Is there a movie theatre on board or by the pool? Do they have drink specials? Are there many activities for adults ? How long does the kids program go on till - is there a charge for late night (if parents want to party). Is there a shallow end in the family pool or kids pool - my son is a so-so swimmer, just learning. What about birthdays - my son will be 6 this cruise is his birthday - can they make it special ? Also - do they have shrimp cocktail and lobster on this short cruise ? Maybe in the service charge dining room ?

Okay, here goes.....

Yes, you can eat all of the time! A great spot that is often overlooked is Plutos', they have great hamburgers, pizza, brats, and hot dogs....perfect kids food right by the pool.

There is an adequet buffet for breakfast and lunch, but give the regular dining rooms a chance. They are much quieter and of higher quality.

There is a very classicly styled movie theater with free popcorn and a recent upgrade installed a large outdoor screen (TV) for movies at night.

Drink specials daily for the adults, and there is a soda program for the kids.

Plenty of activities for adults at all times of the day. (We got a kick out of the activities of the early seating families. They would have dinner, then check the kids back into the Oceaners Club, and the parents would head back to their state room. We'd find them on deck latter on smoking and having the drink of the day.) There are several adult themed clubs at night with some great comedy. Not sure about the extra charge for late at night, but I don't remember one.

There isn't really a shallow end to the family pool, but the kids pool is perfect. Nice and shallow with plenty to do. Also, Castaway Cay is really great for non-swimmers as well.

Make sure to tell your waiter that it is going to be your son's birthday the day ahead, with perhaps a $20....you will be amazed at how far that will go, it will be amazing.

Shrimp cocktail is there, and order as many as you wish, I had three. As far as the lobster, just ask your waiter if it will be in the rotation. If it is, fine, order as much as you want; if it isn't then ask for his help the following night. Special requests are not usually solicited, but they are usually meet with great gusto! The extra charge dinning room is nice, but don't really worry about it for this short cruise. It will be packed and while the food is good the food in the three rotations is also good.

Have fun.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi,
just wanted to add a couple of things.
You no longer have the soda program as mentioned abvoe. There is a drink station on deck 9 by the kiddie pool that is open 24 hours and has coke, diet coke, sprite, diet sprite, Hi C, 2 other pops cant remember which ones, coffee, tea, hot cocoa, milk all for NO extra charge. Pop is free in the restaurants too. BUT it you order it at a bar or lounge you will be charged for it. My advice, do like everyone else. Fill a glass, put a lid on it and take it with you where ever you are going so you wont buy any.

The kiddie pool has one ear that is not very deep that kids splash in if they dont want the regular pool, the second ear is just water jets and it is reserved for kids in swim diapers. The edge of the mickey pool has alarge area only about 3 inches deep, but the pool is only one depth, it is not a gradual sloping pool. Sorry I cant remember the depth, but not very deep. It can get hectic with lots of kids sometimes.
I dont remember Lobster on the Wonder, the magic does have it, although I believe there was a shrimp cocktail one night. Dont be afraid to ask you wait staff about it, they are very helpful about such things.

Let whom ever you booked with know that you have a birthday in your party, they should notify the cruise line and you wait staff will bring out a special cake and sing happy birthday. You will hear this all around the reataurants each evening at dessert time. It is a good idea the first evening when you met the Head Server to remind them of the birthday and which night it is. One time they forgot ours and we reminded them after dinner that night, and the next night they had it all ready for us. We have done many birthdays and anniversaries on DCL. usually kids get a birthday pin to wear too. There is NO charge for this cake.

The outdoor movie screen is on the Magic, not the Wonder. It is scheduled to be installed this october when it goes into drydock, unless something has changed. I was there in May and it wasnt there, we were told October. Got off the Magic saturday and they do have the outdoor screen. there is the indoor movie screen though and the Walt Disney theater for live performances and movie premieres.

Hope this helped some,
mom x4,grandma x4

[lborne]

This is a great on-line document to read.... It is a little outdated (dinner times), but otherwise, right on.

http://www.allearsnet.com/cruise/mdcg.pdf

Also, check out http://www.castawayclub.com/ and click the link to the Navigators. There are scans of the daily Navigators and Children's Navigators which tells you what is happening each day. The latest for the 3 day cruise is from June.

I'll be on the Wonder November 16.

[head mouse]

The kiddie pool has one ear that is not very deep that kids splash in if they dont want the regular pool, the second ear is just water jets and it is reserved for kids in swim diapers.

Not for much longer.


One of the items mentioned was that they hope to return the entire Mickey Pool back to the children that are out of diapers. Currently, one of Mickey’s ears is reserved for the diaper set. With the pool becoming very crowded at peak times, this extra space would be useful. There is talk of building a space under the Mickey slide for younger children. This will give the kids a bit more room.

[Host Mick]

This is a great on-line document to read.... It is a little outdated (dinner times), but otherwise, right on.

http://www.allearsnet.com/cruise/mdcg.pdf



Oh yes, an excellent guide and I hear that the author is a very charming fellow indeed!

[rebeccalouise]

I will be sailing on August 31st on the Wonder. First time with DISNEY. My son is 5 almost 6. We have reserved a verandah stateroom. the evening dining rotations are new to me - but what about breakfast -lunch? Can you eat all the time? Like RCCL has the buffett up on Lido deck open all the time. Is there a movie theatre on board or by the pool? Do they have drink specials? Are there many activities for adults ? How long does the kids program go on till - is there a charge for late night (if parents want to party). Is there a shallow end in the family pool or kids pool - my son is a so-so swimmer, just learning. What about birthdays - my son will be 6 this cruise is his birthday - can they make it special ? Also - do they have shrimp cocktail and lobster on this short cruise ? Maybe in the service charge dining room ?

Just got off the Wonder. It is a lovely ship. I traveled with my 5- almost 6 year old son too. When you go to the Disney website to do your pre-cruise stuff- it asks you if it is birthday. They brought my son a cake on the last night of the cruise (pre my request). This ship is very organized. The meals are better in the dining rooms- the buffet was just so-s0. It was nice alternating restaurants at night. As for breakfast and lunch- I believe you can do any of these dining rooms during the day.
As for nightlife- we were so tired by 10PM-that I didn't partake. I am sure it is there though.
The kids program is free from 9AM- 1AM! There is no shallow end in the Mickey pool (the pool is about 2 feet deep) and the Goofy pool is about 4 feet deep.

[head mouse]

I think it's amazing to know that in soem areas, you can be under the pool.

[Kitster]

There is a very classicly styled movie theater with free popcorn and a recent upgrade installed a large outdoor screen (TV) for movies at night.The outdoor movie screen is ony on the Magic at this time. It will be installed on the Wonder when they go to dry-dock in October.

[hollyanna]

I travelled my first 3 night cruise to the Bahamas on her at almost the same time as you are travelling (around last week of August 2006) between Hurricane Charlie and Hurricane Frances!! We had fabulous weather, very lucky considering the aftermath of Charlie (13th August) and impending Frances! We had a Verandah stateroom with 2 boys then aged 10 and 7. The room was lovely as was the balcony. pretty spacious compared to usual balcony cabins on other ships. The bathrooms were great... you get seperate toilet and sink with storage and another bathroom with small bath, shower and storage so can be used seperately! Very useful indeed with 3 males!! The steward made the bunks up each night whilst we were at dinner and left the usual towel animals which the kids (and we ) loved!
It was out wedding anniversary and my son's birthday whilst onboard and I mentioned this when I booked a few months earlier (to the TA). To our surrpise,with no reminder, we had a card from Disney in our room on arrival wishing us bhappy anniversary and one for my son's birthday! Also at dinner that night (in Parrots Cay restaurant which was Caribbean themed) the waiter made a point of singing happy Birthday and presented DH and I with a pink Disney anniversary cake and my son with the same but saying Happy Birthday. We also got badges to wear!We also got picked to join their congo!! Unfortunately we never found the need to eat our cakes due to all the food available (not proper sponge but like mousse??) Still very nice gesture.
I thought the food was great and the service was wonderful, with staff from I think it was 93 countries around the world including Slovenia, Sweden, Italy, South Africa etc.)They all have their badges on with a picture of the map of the country they were from which the kids loved; it gave then an excuse to chat with all the serving staff and guess their nationality!
We never ventured into the pool as usually very crowded and only a 3 night cruise but Castaway Cay was fabulous!! Head for the Sports Beach (there are different beaches listed including no kids beach) Everyone seemed to perch themselves at the beginning so got very crowded but at Sports Beach almost empty and had volleyball nets etc and beds but hardly a soul! Just a little walk further of about 5-10 mins. Well worth it. Disney provide all food and sodas for the day including ribs burgers etc, Fresh fruit displays lovely. had fab day. Kids always remember this day. The water was clear and warm and it was the most blissful I had felt on vacation for many years, if this makes any sense!:o
Soda is free now with the soda stations around the ship. It changed just before we went 2 years ago.
Dining.... The rotation is brilliant and varied menu. We really enjoyed this and your waiter and wine waiter follows you and only tends to 6 tables in a night so you have pretty good attention. They work very hard. Kids can have anything from the adult menu and there is kids stuff like chicken nuggets, spaghetti etc. The breakfast buffet in Parrots Cay restaurant was brilliant and one morning I went alone with the kids feeling slightly embarrassed as DH was partaking in a massage! The staff looked after us greatly and we were visited by Captain Hook and Cinderella!!:)
Kids club.......... We left our kids until midnight for no extra charge (we tried collecting them but they just wouldnt come!! They loved it so much. Wonderful staff and facilities). You can leave them from 9am until midnight with no restrictions once you have registered on embarkation day. You can drop them any time for half hour or four hours. They even taken them on castaway cay including giving them their lunch etc(if you wanted to that it.)
Adult entertainment... we were usually with the kids at shows etc but one night when they just wouldnt come back! we went to the jaxx bar (very quiet relaxing dark club type place with manhatten skyline twinkling on one wall in lights. Forgot the name but next to Barrel of Laughs club)LOvely!
Sorry it went on a bit but can't believe how much I remembered it seems so long ago but truly magical... I can honestly say that when we disembarked, DH and I both had a tear in our eye as it had been so lovely in all respects. Would definitely do it again... we are in UK so many iles away! Doing RCI next from NY so hope it compares!(Explorer)12 night S. caribbean. Enjoy. Hollyanna