Disney Wonder

[MadiRae]

Hey yall just wanted everyone to know how absolutely FANTASTIC the Disney Wonder is. WE LOVED IT! The places we went, the food, rooms, it was all great. I must add that they seemed to have had the best service of ANY cruise ship. :)

[momofmeg]

We really enjoyed Wonder too and felt it was worth the extra $$$s over sovereign or Fanasty. Castaway Key was tons nicer then Coco Cay. We also loved that Disney enforced the adult only areas. Although there were tons of kids on our cruise it was not a problem at all for us. Disney really worked hard that everyone had a good time.

Were you on the Sept. 19 cruise? I can't hardly believe how our cruise seemed to work out perfectly. We still got both Nassau and Castaway Key even if we did not do it in the orginal order which was not a problem for me.

[cruislovin]

Hey yall just wanted everyone to know how absolutely FANTASTIC the Disney Wonder is. WE LOVED IT! The places we went, the food, rooms, it was all great. I must add that they seemed to have had the best service of ANY cruise ship. :)It's nice to hear you had a great cruise! What other cruise lines have you been on? We are "true blue" RCCL fans so I am somewhat skeptical of DCL. After a couple of days at Disney World I have had enough Disney to last for at least 5 years. What made DCL's the "best service of ANY cruise ship"?

[momofmeg]

cruizlovin- everything was a cut above is the only way to put it. The ship did not SCREAM Disney-they did have the characters out for the children to get their pictures made but this was only at certain times. The shows were themed after the Disney movies but still very professionial-if you have ever been to a"Disney On Ice" show- well it was a similiar feel but ofcourse they aren't iceskating. The only show I did not care for was Hercules-the other 2 were great.

Out stateroom was HUGE-much nicer then the Carnival ships who give you a "big" room in comparison to RCCL. The veranda we had was great much nicer then Carnival Miracles' balconies. Sounds did not carry from the veranda the way it did on Miracle's balconies. Yes if your next door neigbors were on the balconies you heard them but I never heard the doors opening as I did on Miracle-ofcourse that was the design-the Disney doors slide open where the Miracle doors open and shut like a house door but the problem was there was a strong suction with those doors so you heard the suction breaking when you opened Miracle doors. Also I never smelt other's cigerettes while on the veranda.

We had a great bathroom. It was actually split into 2 bathrooms-one a sink and toilet, the other a sink and a small BATHTUB with a shower head. We had a HUGE closet and plenty of drawers so storage was no problem at all for 3 adults.

I thought the food was great. Although I have read many who complained about the Beach Blanket up on the Lido I found the food there as good as the windjammer or lido restuarant on any cruiseship I have been on. Ofcourse Tritons, Parrot Cay and Animators Palate were better as they are the dinner restuarants. I loved the fact that we went to a diff. restuarant every night and we still had the same waiter and tablemates. We also did Palos which was super and was only $10 extra.

We loved Route 66 and the Catallic Club. Both were adult only after 9 p.m. and had great entertainment in them. Cadillac was a piano bar and Route 66 had a band. The band did a great Beatle's tribute.

Also there are 3 pools. A kid's pool with a great slide(hubby's only disapointment-the slide was for kids only) A family pool and a adults only pool which was ENFORCED-if anyone brought their children to that pool a ship's officer would appear and politely remind then this pool was off limits to those under 18. I thought this was great as the other 2 pools were super crowded. It made it nice that we could go to a pool that was not overrun with children. At this area was also the hot tubs and you NEVER saw any children in them. There were plenty of parents there though. They simply had their kids in the clubs-this way they had time to themselves. The kids club was open in the evening too-so Mom and Dad could still visit the Cadillac and Route 66 if they chose. From what I understand the club for kids pulls out mats for them and plays movies and most of the kids go to sleep. Later when Mom and Dad picks them up they are carrying their sleeping babies back to their stateroom.

We also had a self laundry which I used so I did not bring home tons of dirty clothes. I also used the iron there several times so my dinner clothes were not wrinkled.

Castaway Key is super nice. I thought Coco Cay was a nice beach but it is nothing compared to Castaway Key. Castaway Key is like 3 times the size-with separate areas for families, and adults and teens. Hubby felt it was pretty much like a private resort. The ship docks there so you don't tender either but be sure to take the tram because the island is so BIG it is quite a walk to all the different sections.

This is my take on it. Every thing was super nice. The Wonder was tons better then Sovereign which was a decent ship- it was just it held no comparrison to Wonder.

Now I have not been on a voyager class ship but I will next year. I am sure the voyager class ships has things that the Disney ships can't compare to like the iceskating show and the promandae area which is why we are booking a voyager class ship. As you know though the voyager ships are much more expensive then the Sovereign or even like Splendeur and Grandeur-they are just not in the same class so I expect these ships to be better as they cost more. We all know we "get what we pay for". The same goes for Disney-even though Disney costs more it is well worth it.

[cruislovin]

momofmeg,

Thank you SO much for the helpful information. It is appreciated that you took the time to provide all of it!

One question - are kids allowed to come into the adult pool area to "find" you? On RCCL kids are generally not in the adult pool area, but it does happen. But if the kids know we are there they can come in to find us if they need us to sign them in for some other activity - like the rock climbing, roller blading, ice skating, etc.

Just my daughter and I are going to "check out" DCL. My husband and son have no interest in going due to there being no casino and few onboard activities. For us the ship has become the destination for a cruise in many ways. That is why we chose Mariner for our summer cruise this year. Plus we are Diamond Crown & Anchor members and enjoy all the amenities that offers.

Have you heard anything about whether or not Castaway Cay sustained much damage from hurricane Jeanne?

Thanks again!

[momofmeg]

momofmeg,

Thank you SO much for the helpful information. It is appreciated that you took the time to provide all of it!

One question - are kids allowed to come into the adult pool area to "find" you? On RCCL kids are generally not in the adult pool area, but it does happen. But if the kids know we are there they can come in to find us if they need us to sign them in for some other activity - like the rock climbing, roller blading, ice skating, etc.

Just my daughter and I are going to "check out" DCL. My husband and son have no interest in going due to there being no casino and few onboard activities. For us the ship has become the destination for a cruise in many ways. That is why we chose Mariner for our summer cruise this year. Plus we are Diamond Crown & Anchor members and enjoy all the amenities that offers.

Have you heard anything about whether or not Castaway Cay sustained much damage from hurricane Jeanne?

Thanks again!
My "kid" is 20 so I am not really sure about that. What I saw was a man and his 10-12 year old son who got in the pool. Around 20 minutes or so later a ship's officer aproached them and they left. If your child is in the kid's club you are given a pager which goes off it the child wants you.

Personally I would not leave my child unattended in the family area or kid's pool-to dangerous nowadays and who knows if your fellow passengers are child molesters. If I wanted to enjoy the adult pool area I would put my child in the kid's club for a couple of hours, later pick my child up and we would go to the family area together so he could have some swim time too- but that is just me.

Ofcourse if your child is older and more savy it may be okay but after we had problems with a jerk trying to entice my then 16 yr. old daughter and her 15 yr. old friend to his cabin for drinks I have been leary. Now the girls were at least smart enough to tell the guy no way but stupidly they did not tell me about it until after the cruise was over because they feared I would not let them run about on their own. So stupid of them I would have just reported the jerk and ofcouse insisted they never go anywhere with out the other.

Not trying to scare you or anything this was just a bad experience I had on a cruise. Unfortunately predators are everywhere- even on cruise ships.

Castaway Key did get hit again by Jeanne but we were there Sept. 22 before Jeanne- after Frances and they had already cleaned up the damage from Frances. I am sure they will do the same for Jeanne. Probally they will divert cruises for a couple of weeks. They said after Floyd Disney's ships did not go there for 5 weeks so unless you have already booked a cruise that is going these next few weeks you need not worry.

[cruislovin]

Not trying to scare you or anything this was just a bad experience I had on a cruise. Unfortunately predators are everywhere- even on cruise ships.

...unless you have already booked a cruise that is going these next few weeks you need not worry.Wow, that is quite a story about your daughter on that cruise. What cruise line was it?

My daughter and I are booked and paid and waiting for our docs for 11/11/04! So we leave in 6 weeks... Hopefully there won't be any more hurricanes. I find it very difficult to get information on Disney. Other cruiselines provide regular updates on their website, but I don't see that information on DCL's website.

[momofmeg]

That was four years ago on Carnival Fascination. It was southern carb. out of San Juan. There were as many people from Europe and Puerto Rico as ones from the US and Canada. This being a week cruise it was not a "party cruise" that people typicialy think of Carnival being. That description is what you find on the mini bargain crusies and that is even true of RCCL when you go on those type cruises. The shorter cruises bring out the blue collar types it seems. I don't mean that offensive as that is the back ground I came from-it is just the more money you spend on a cruise the less you see of that type behavior.

The creep stalking the girls was Russian and middle aged. I assume he had no interest in women his age. There were also two other girls with them a little older- both 19 and he tried to get all the girls interested in him. It just ticked me off that 2 of the girls were under age and one DEFINETLY looked under age. We allowed the girls to share a cabin although that was against Carnival's rules. I was booked with the 3 girls, not my daughter and my daughter was booked with hubby. We simply exchanged cabins. Back then your sailing card was different from your cabin key so it was simple to do.

Never again will I do that. Not only was this creep stalking them but I am pretty sure the girls got an assistant waiter fired. He went to the beach with them in Martinique and after that he was no longer in the diningroom at dinner but up on the lido in the lido "windjammer" type restuarant. Ofcourse that was his stupid fault. The whole group had their picture made leaving the ship together so I assume someone recongnised him as a member of the crew.

Anyway that was one super thing too about Disney Wonder. Although it was a four day mini cruise I saw no hard partiers. (I have seen these on both Sovereign and Tropicale both cruise ships that were the mini cruises) Most of the passengers were families. The few couples I saw were mostly middleaged or older though I did see one or two couples young with no children.

Well your cruise is getting toward the end of hurricane season-hopefully things are calming down-poor FL and the carb. sure don't need any more bad hurricanes. So maybe things will be fine. By then Jeanne will be cleaned up for sure.

From what I saw the buildings were like straw huts for the souvenior shops. The bathrooms were a little sturdier-made out of cement blocks or something with straw roofs. So I believe those would not be hard to repair.

Host Mick said here on the tread about Castaway Key that sometimes they have to remove sand from the channel where the ship comes in-here the ship docks and does not tender as Sovereign does at Coco Cay-and that is the most work for getting the island ready for the cruise ship passengers. Not clearing the debri.

[zeke11]

Just back from the 9/27 Disney Wonder and definitely checking into other cruise lines. For the extra $$$$ charged by DCL, the service was just not there.


Sorry to say, because we so looked forward to this cruise :-(

Kris

[MrPete]

What made DCL's the "best service of ANY cruise ship"?
In my experience, it's just that they exceed your expectations. They go the extra mile. That's what Disney apparently strives for.

[momofmeg]

In my experience, it's just that they exceed your expectations. They go the extra mile. That's what Disney apparently strives for.
I agree with you Mr. Pete. we got a super last minute deal on a veranda-it being last minute 9We booked the first week of Aug.) and hurricane season we got a great price but I will GLADLY book another cruise with Disney even if all I can afford is an inside cabin. Disney is WELL WORTH the extra bucks.

I will say this too thier verandas are tons better then the balconies I have had on other lines. I only slightly smelled my neighbor's cigerette smoke and sounds did not carry from other balconies. To me this showed how much better Wonder was constructed then ships on other cruiselines.

As far as service- ours was super-though our assistant waiter was a little slow-I have a feeling he was being trained. I also liked the fact instead of automatically deducting tips- Disney sends you a paper with suggested amounts of tips and let you fill in the amount. Then they give you a card printout so you can let your steward, waiter, assit. waiter and matr'd know what you gave him or her. We tipped everyone exta-even the assit. waiter as I could see he was trying very hard.

I am sure the other guy's feelings were affected by Jeanne changing his ittenary, and shorting his cruise. I read a post on disboards.com from the Sept. 23 cruise who felt the opposite but then they got an extra day instead of a day less. The only thing they did not like was having to take a bus from Ft. Lauderdale to Pt. Can. They said although they missed the normal ports that Cozumel and Key West were really nice.

[dondiane]

Does anyone know if the Wonder is stopping at Disney's private island since hurricane Jeanne

[MrPete]

Acc'd to CC, NO, it is not. None of the cruise lines private Islands are functional.

[jaguar9748]

Hi all the 9/23 cruise of the Wonder was great! Wanted to clarify that we went to Cozumel soley. We did not go to Key West. Cozumel was great - a great day with lots of fun (I had been there before)! I thought that Disney did a great job of getting us back to Port Canaveral. We exited the ship, to see about 20 Disney Cruise Line buses. We hopped on the PC bus, settled in and let Disney do the driving. Disney handled everything with their usual efficiency. Can't wait to go again!

[sandy54321]

We were on the 9/30 cruise on the Wonder. As we checked in at the terminal we were told that the private island had been damaged by Jeanne and that we wouldn't be going there. We were promised extra fun on the sea day that was substituted but did not see anything other than the usual activities for that day.

There were a lot of disgruntled people that Saturday. I can see how it can be very disappointing, especially if you don't live near a beach. For us as Floridians, we were so weary from boarding up our windows and evacuating and from living without electricity we were just grateful to still have our houses after all the storms were gone. We were so glad to be onboard and in air conditioning and to eat something that didn't come out of a can.

The ship appeared a bit shabby compared to what we had seen on our last two Disney cruises. Example - the ladder to the top bunk had a broken top rung that just hung from one side. And the mattresses were lumpier than I remembered. But we found out the Wonder was going to dry dock for refurbishing as soon as we got off so I am sure it will be better than ever for the next cruise.

[momofmeg]

Sandy I did not notice any shabbiness on my Sept. 19 cruise. I thought the ship was so much nicer then most ships I have been on-the only ship I have been on that was as nice was HAL Statendam. I was on Carnival Miracle in april when she was 6 weeks old. I thought the Miracle was tons nicer then other Carnival ships I have been but the Miracle did not hold a candle to Wonder.

Wonder went into to drydock right after your cruise so hopefully those things were fixed. Our beds were great. We had no bunk. Our daughter slept on the couch that was made into a bed at night.

We felt Jeanne as she was chasing us as we cruised back in on Sept. 23-I know wonder had to weather jeanne again as she went back out that day. We were at Cocoa beach watching her go out and the waves were awesome on the beach. I did not go in for fear and hubby got knocked down and pulled under-after that he did not go out very far because he too felt the danger. The ship was out in that.

[jaguar9748]

Meg - it was fun sailing in those waves on 9/23. We rocked and rolled for about 2 hours. The waves stopped when we sailed past Palm Beach. Lots of folks and crew were queasy - thank goodness we were fine!

We also felt that the Wonder was in excellent shape! Everything was clean and in perfect working order. We took the galley tour - it was SOOOO clean in those kitchens!

[cruislovin]

We took the galley tour - it was SOOOO clean in those kitchens!Do you have to register or something for the galley tour? I was on a galley tour years ago and it was SO interesting to see. I would love to take my daughter on that tour when we sail in November if it is available!

[momofmeg]

If I remember correctly it was posted in the paper they send to your room everyday. It is ofcourse on the sea day-so look for it in that day's paper. We did not do that as we have done it on other ships although my daughter who loves to cook went to the cooking demonstration and got recipes. By the way-she was told if she especially liked anything at dinner- the waiter could get her the recipe if she asked.

[jaguar9748]

We had 2 sea days so the galley tour was the first sea day. We met in the atrium and were grouped in groups of 20 for the tour. It was fun and we got warm chocolate chip cookies! That night as we were leaving the Parrot Cay restaurant, the chef who had guided our tour was standing at the exit. He beamed at us and asked us how our meal was. It was excellent, of course!

They sell Disney cookbooks in the shop with recipes from WDW and the cruiseline.

[jnnifer01]

Does anyone know when the Wonder was last in dry dock and what they repaired during this time?