Disney Wish Review

[Norf9]

Just got off a 3 day cruise on the wish and I thought I would post a mini review as most of the ones I saw before the cruise seemed rather negative. 

We sailed out of Port Canaveral and stopped at Nassau and Castaway Cay. I goofed earlier and thought we had to complete the safepassage stuff before we could check in so I ended up with a pretty late arrival time (1:45PM).  I kept checking and was able to get a 1:30 arrival time about 3 days before the cruise. Due to various timings in dropping off my rental car and taking the shuttle I arrived at port Canaveral early at 12:55. When we arrived no one checked the PAT and we were directed across the street to the testing area. Over there no one cared about the port arrival time and they gave our kid the test and we waited for the results. (Note: I only mention this as everyone we talked to before the cruise said the opposite and that we would be turned away if we showed up early) We ended up going over to the check in area at 1:25 or so and they let us in and we checked in without issue.  I don't know how strongly they are enforcing the PAT at checkin as we were technically allowed in early, but by the time we got there they were boarding all groups so I don't know if we had an earlier time if my experience would have been different.  Lines were very short but I'm not sure if that was due to the new port arrival time enforcement or if it was just that we boarded so late. At any rate, the checkin process was very fast as everything is now setup online before the cruise and you pick up your keycards on board. We waited maybe 2 minutes in line before getting checked in.

 

We booked room 6588 which is a "Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah". I had never booked this room type before (I'm more of a fan of the cove balconies) and it turned out to be a great decision as we had a crib in the room for our smallest and the extra room length meant that it would fit without blocking any of the walking area.  The stateroom looked brand new (as it essentially was) and everything was in good working order. The room itself had a pullout sofa bed and a bed that could be lowered from the ceiling. One thing I did notice is that the bed on the wish is noticeably taller than the other ships and our large suitcase was now able to be slid under the bed. I also liked a lot that the minifridge is now more of a pullout drawer which makes it easier to load and unload. Also there were a ton of usb ports added to outlets in the room so I didn't need to bring chargers for our phones. One thing I didn't like was that all of the us outlets in the room had that child safety feature on them where you have to push in the plug just so or else it won't go in.  They were all still new so it took a bit of finesse to insert our plugs.  We are silver so we had a gift waiting for us in our room. Instead of the sling-bag, we had a very nice wish inaugural sailings themed bag.

 

I saw a lot of negative comments about the food on board, but that was not our experience at all. I thought everything was on-par with the previous Disney cruises we took. One big change was that the buffets are no longer self-serve and you have crew members handing out the food. I do like that this is more sanitary, but it did seem to slow things down in certain areas. The icecream dispensers by the pool are now behind a counter and you have to be served by a crew member. The new BBQ station is great, and I think adds a lot to the poolside dining options. The new themed restaurants were ok. The Arendelle restaurant was a big hit with the kids. The 1923 had the best food in my opinion but was also more like a traditional restaurant. The worlds of Marvel was probably my least favorite. The interactivity with the cylinder on the table was cool and the kids had fun with it, but I thought that the never-ending avengers videos on the screens felt more like I was trapped in an ad then any real entertainment.

 

We did an open house tour of the kids club read and it was very well done. Our older child ended up spending a few hours in there each day and had a blast. The nursery was open during the sailing (however you could not reserve times on the app before the sailing). We didn't end up using it as this was a fairly short cruise and each day was a port day.

 

The line for the aqua mouse was vey long (over 60 minutes) during normal times on the ship, and it seemed to break down frequently for 15 minutes at a time. We ended up testing it out while we were docked at Castaway Cay. It was…ok. The ride starts with a very slow video presentation (that could be removed without any loss) and then goes into a more traditional waterslide.  The ride itself was short and at least in my opinion was not worth the wait time.  They also have a smaller Toy Story themed waterslide that would have been fun but was not well designed. The slide is very slow and pretty much 50% of the adults riding it reported getting "stuck" while sliding down.  We also walked though the adults-only area just to take a look. The pool as others mentioned was way too small.  I didn't spend much time in this area as it was a pretty short cruise and we always seemed to have other stuff going on.

 

One sort of strange thing was the horns. I'm used to hearing the Disney horn play a little tune when we leave port. Now they run though a medley of 3 or 4 different tunes which seemed less fun. It's nitpicky but I wish they would have just stuck with one tune. Also they now give a warning before the horn sounds which can be good if your kids are noise-sensitive.

 

As far as the bars and common areas go, I thought it was good. It's an interesting idea to have 2 smaller movie theatres. I'm not sure how well that works as we never had a chance to  watch a movie (because the cruise was so short). The new Orleans themed bar was really cool looking. We did a brief tour of the galaxy's edge bar. As others have mentioned it's way too small and I wish they had either put two on the ship or had made it bigger. Reservations were able to be booked via the app and seemed to have some availability when we looked. I can't really speak to the quality of the drinks as we didn't make use of it other than the open house on the first day. The character experiences were kind of lacking. They are still social distancing the characters from your kids which sort of defeats the purpose.

 

Overall, I thought this was my favorite ship and we would 100% book it again. However, this was probably our first and last 3 day cruise as it's just way too short and we spent too much travelling and prep for what is essentially a 2 day vacation.

[Oceansaway17]

On 8/9/2022 at 10:31 AM, Norf9 said:

Just got off a 3 day cruise on the wish and I thought I would post a mini review as most of the ones I saw before the cruise seemed rather negative. 

 

One sort of strange thing was the horns. I'm used to hearing the Disney horn play a little tune when we leave port. Now they run though a medley of 3 or 4 different tunes which seemed less fun. It's nitpicky but I wish they would have just stuck with one tune. Also they now give a warning before the horn sounds which can be good if your kids are noise-sensitive.

 

Overall, I thought this was my favorite ship and we would 100% book it again. However, this was probably our first and last 3 day cruise as it's just way too short and we spent too much travelling and prep for what is essentially a 2 day vacation.

 

yes I watched the WISH leave port on PTZ web and I found the horn to be rather awful sounding.

They need to bring back the horn to sound like the other ships in the fleet.

 

Question, how was the food in Marvel restaurant?  You Tubers have been rather negative on this one.

[SuiteLiving]

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

yes I watched the WISH leave port on PTZ web and I found the horn to be rather awful sounding.

They need to bring back the horn to sound like the other ships in the fleet.

 

Question, how was the food in Marvel restaurant?  You Tubers have been rather negative on this one.

 

The chicken schnitzel was horrible.  The Turbo and Rib Eye were both really good.

[Oceansaway17]

Just now, SuiteLiving said:

 

The chicken schnitzel was horrible.  The Turbo and Rib Eye were both really good.

okay   I just know that if I booked a 4 day, just my luck to get Marvel twice.

 

I would like to have a say which rotation I got.

[SuiteLiving]

15 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

okay   I just know that if I booked a 4 day, just my luck to get Marvel twice.

 

I would like to have a say which rotation I got.

 

I believe one of those menus would be the Pirate night menu so you'll only get the regular Marvel menu once.

 

1923 was the most comfortable of the 3 restaurants in my opinion, the tables weren't on top of one another and the server stations weren't out in the open like in the others.  The menu doesn't generally matter much to me as I don't think the DCL food is all that special.  It's fine for what it is but that's about it.

[lovetotraveltx]

On 8/10/2022 at 4:56 PM, Oceansaway17 said:

okay   I just know that if I booked a 4 day, just my luck to get Marvel twice.

 

I would like to have a say which rotation I got.

It's never guaranteed, but you can call ahead of your cruise and request a dining rotation.

[Oceansaway17]

2 hours ago, lovetotraveltx said:

It's never guaranteed, but you can call ahead of your cruise and request a dining rotation.

ok thanks.

[Oceansaway17]

On 8/10/2022 at 6:14 PM, SuiteLiving said:

 

I believe one of those menus would be the Pirate night menu so you'll only get the regular Marvel menu once.

 

1923 was the most comfortable of the 3 restaurants in my opinion, the tables weren't on top of one another and the server stations weren't out in the open like in the others.  The menu doesn't generally matter much to me as I don't think the DCL food is all that special.  It's fine for what it is but that's about it.

okay that is a relief.    I guess DCL dining is now like a show and dinner.  no quiet conversations unless doing speciality

[Wishesdocometrue]

I just found out that each room has different Princess themed headboard based on the deck floor. Which Princess is room 6588? Thank you! 

[SuiteLiving]

5 hours ago, Wishesdocometrue said:

I just found out that each room has different Princess themed headboard based on the deck floor. Which Princess is room 6588? Thank you! 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sxuVdtXpd0NVlpOFMUJZ-yFsb4U1KPZUd3AC8RN-kl8/htmlview?fs=e&s=cl&fbclid=IwAR0_PIG1DGSZz1tGj5_EBU-XXZlXo3ueIID99FJvtLAmAsAl81BF7jrEGRU#

 

all rooms with their themes are in here

Edited August 14, 2022 by SuiteLiving

[samy29]

We just got back from the Wish last week and tbh, we were very disappointed.

 

we wanted to love it as we went with our five year old twins but we just were baffled with all the hype about this ship.

 

our last cruise, the Quantum of the Seas by Royal Caribbean blew The Wish out of the water and that was from nearly 6 years ago compared to a 2022 ship! 
 

I’ll start with the good, bc it wasn’t a terrible time by any means; the service was great but that’s always been our experience with RC as well so DCL was the same. The two shows we went too were fantastic, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid. We also enjoyed the Marvel night and the private theater to watch movies. The Frozen night was very very bland. The food, a Nordic menu, was too authentically Nordic and flavorless…think boiled potatoes and vegetables and bland meats. 
 

the breakfast dining options were maybe a little better than a hotel continental breakfast. Their Mexican version of chipotle was extremely basic, as they definitely didn’t lean in on authentic Latin seasonings and made it appeal to a more broad palate. Think if Chipotle and AppleBees combined. 
 

The food, although presented well, was so flavorless my wife and I jokingly said this is what COVID must feel like.

 

the pool areas were extremely cramped and limited. In fact I couldn’t believe how few pool options we had. The TRex slide(yellow one) was purely for kids as the water thrust wouldn’t even exit an adult. All the adults has to scoot their way towards the slide exit, and the Aquamouse always had a 30-60 minute wait. The fitness area must have been an after thought as it was practically a cramped cardio room. Treadmills, and elipticals, with some stationary bikes. 

 

the firework show at sea was great, as was the pirate show.

 

what surprised us the most was the amount of adults on the cruise traveling without kids. They would scream and be so over joyed to see costumed characters and waiting for their photos, wearing head to toe Mickey Mouse clothing and gear. I noticed grown adults clapping and jumping when a masked character walked by, and sitting on the edge of their seats during The Little Mermaid. The adult fandom was incredible! We love Disney, and go maybe once or twice a year, but we’re just not obsessed with that concept.

 

we asked a couple in front of us and they said this was their 25th DCL cruise, and I asked have they ever been on another cruise line. They replied no, proudly. And there in lied the issue. They don’t know the wow factor of cruising in an Oasis class ship on Royal Carribean. Here on DCL you felt you were on a boat. The feeling was obvious, from the small rooms, to the narrow hallways. On an Oasis class, you forget your on a ship as there are so many themes and avenues to explore.

the oceaneer club was great and I loved the Star Wars and Marvel themes. Also the split toilet and showers in the rooms were such a good idea.

 

Lastly was the value as the price for our family of four for a four day cruise was nearly $5K for a standard ocean balcony. Our RC cruise, 8 days, with great exotic ports was $4k!

 

I don’t think I will go back on a DCL. Although my kids liked the Star Wars area, the entertainment options on RC far outweigh the dressed characters that so many made a big deal about on DCL. 
 

pardon my criticism. I know bashing anything Disney these days can get you banished in social media prison…but I wanted to love it! I just couldn’t wrap my head around all the hype.