Just off Wonder - a few thoughts

[IHateSnow!]

A little background

1. Diamond on RCCL, have also cruised Carnival, Princess, Disney

2. This trip there were 7 ranging from 12-72 in 4 balconies. 
3. 3rd oasis class ship

 

Parking was a nightmare. PC is only 45 min from home.  We got to the pier about 12:30 and got the last 2 spots in the lot. Had to take 2 cars due to group size.
 

Boarding was super easy.  We had 7 times ranging from 11:00-2:30. 2 of our party went about 11:30.  The rest at 12:30 or so.  No issues with times.   Security didn’t even check everyone’s documents.  RCCL check in did, but did not check my oldest’s parental letter or the documents linking our names (always take, don’t always need)

 

The ship is beautiful, but it’s definitely not my favorite.  I can’t pinpoint it, but I just wasn’t a huge fan. I loved the Allure.  I liked Harmony.  This was OK.  It felt like venues like restaurants, windjammer etc had less capacity for a bigger ship.  One of the things I’ve always loved about Oasis ships was that they never felt horribly crowded, even though there were a lot of people. This didn’t feel that way.  
 

I’m also not a fan of the reimagined Giovanni’s.  Mason Jar was good, Playmaker wings were better than I expected, El Loco was good, Chops was amazing.  The dining room was so-so and I was really disappointed in windjammer.   
 

I wasn’t a fan of the entertainment options outside of the ice show which I couldn’t get reservation for. I did catch a little bit of the aqua show, and the talent amazes me, but it wasn’t my cup of tea (it wasn’t bad, just not for me). 
 

My take on a lot of things is this: Royal is struggling like everyone else in the service industry to fill spots, and recoup the billions lost during shut-down so they’ve made cuts. And it’s noticeable. I plan and execute large scale events for a career. I see it across the board.

My husband and kids ate their weight in soft serve.  Giovanni’s wine bar - amazing.  All in all I had an amazing trip. 
 

Will I cruise again, absolutely. Will I adjust my expectations, yes. Will I purchase the UDP? Probably.  Will I cruise on the Wonder again? Probably not. 

[sonogal]

We also just got off Wonder yesterday. This was my 10th RCL cruise and 20-something cruise overall. Food was definitely subpar to all previous RCL cruises, very disappointing.  Weirdly,  anything that was a cream or sauce was very runny. I love the bread pudding and vanilla sauce but it was like pouring water over the bread pudding.  We typically love main dining food but this was a disappointment for sure. Getting on Indy tomorrow so hoping it's better.  

 

Overall the shows were decent but not spectacular.  The ice show and comedians were excellent,  the rest so so. We were very disappointed to not have a Broadway show on board like the other ships do. The aquatheater show was great but had no theme so about halfway through,  it felt like there were just doing the same thing. The last 15 minutes were the best. The Effectors show was good but this was #2 and if you didn't see #1, which we didn't,  it was hard to know the underlying theme. 

 

I love Royal and will continue to sail them but I agree with the poster above,  won't be returning to Wonder. 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

 I tend to agree with your observations.  We were on for Thanksgiving week.  We didn't do Chops as our last two experiences on Oasis and Allure weren't up to prior standards.  However, 150 CP was outstanding.  We were in an OS and we aren't a fan of the new Suite sun deck layout.  We like the OS's being steps from the SL/CK and sun deck.  I would do another Oasis ship, but not sure it would be the Wonder.  

[molly361]

Also just off the Wonder. Loved the ice show. Left after a few minutes of Taps but heard that it gets better. Had terrible service at Hooked. Noticed that it looked like masks on some staff was making a comeback towards the end of the trip

[Beeline Cruiser]

15 hours ago, IHateSnow! said:

I wasn’t a fan of the entertainment options outside of the ice show which I couldn’t get reservation for. I did catch a little bit of the aqua show, and the talent amazes me, but it wasn’t my cup of tea (it wasn’t bad, just not for me). 

 

Seriously, isn't entertainment why people sail Royal?

[GTO-Girl]

We sailed on the Wonder a couple of weeks ago and we loved it!  

 

The Solarium is huge and with it being climate controlled it is such a nice place to spend the day.  The open air Vue bar was so cool and a perfect place to be at sailaway!!!

 

We thought the new design of the Windjammer worked well and it felt so much bigger than the WJ on other Oasis class ships. In fact we liked it so much that we ate a lot of our meals there.  We are not big foodies so we did not try any of the specialty restaurants

 

We did not care for Voices and left before the show was over.  We did not try to book any of the other shows…

 

We cannot wait to book the Wonder again…..

 

 

[orville99]

We are on Wonder in less than 2 weeks. Since we don't cruise for the entertainment, haven't been to any of their shows since the restart and rarely went before the shutdown, don't do any of the specialty restaurants other than Izumi, have avoided the MDR for years, spend the majority of our days on board enjoying the privacy of our balcony and the sounds of the ocean, and have been to most Caribbean ports too many times to care whether we get off at any of them any more, we are actually looking forward to trying another new ship that provides enough space for everyone else to do whatever it is they choose to do while we enjoy each other and the peace that sailing brings to the soul.

[Oceansaway17]

11 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am on Wonder right now for the first leg of a B2B. Overall I have been impressed with the ship much like every other Oasis class ship I have been on. So far I have only one complaint, outside of the weather being on the colder side until a few hours ago. Voices is without question the worst show I have seen on any RCI ship. It was the first show I have seen that I wouldn’t go see again. 
 

Also, and maybe the previous posters are new to RCI, but the name of the cruise line is Royal Caribbean International. It’s not RCCL or RCL as previous posters have posted. I realize everyone may not be loyal to RCI like me, but you should at least know the name of the cruise line you have cruised on at least once. 

Curious who is the captain and c director on this sailing? I had capt Rob in April who was take out captain

Glad to see the ship was able to dock at Coco Cay but I bet pool was cold

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

4 hours ago, Beeline Cruiser said:

 

Seriously, isn't entertainment why people sail Royal?

Nope

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

We are on Wonder in less than 2 weeks. Since we don't cruise for the entertainment, , have avoided the MDR for years, spend the majority of our days on board enjoying the privacy of our balcony and the sounds of the ocean, and have been to most Caribbean ports too many times to care whether we get off at any of them any more, we are actually looking forward to trying another new ship that provides enough space for everyone

Ditto, we didn't get off the Wonder during our Thanksgiving week cruise since we couldn't dock at Coco due to high seas.  We never went to MDR.  I did breakfast a few mornings in Windjammer.  I never found it crowded and the layout is better than on some other ships.  We had two great dinners and service at 150 CP.  Ask for Rosetta to be your waitress.  We just enjoy our sea days and port days when most people leave the ship.  You will enjoy the "new ship smell".  We found everything much more contemporary than the Oasis and Allure we have been on.  Only big issue our kids found was with the Abyss dry slide.  If the slide or rugs you slide on get damp the slide drags and is very slow even to the point of people coming to a stop inside the tube.    

Edited December 26, 2022 by ATSEAMYLIFE

[PhillyFan33579]

11 hours ago, molly361 said:

Also just off the Wonder. Loved the ice show. Left after a few minutes of Taps but heard that it gets better. Had terrible service at Hooked. Noticed that it looked like masks on some staff was making a comeback towards the end of the trip

Just my opinion, but  Voices  was the worst show I have. seen on a  RCI ship law. . 

[TheHawk1]

7 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

The Solarium is huge and with it being climate controlled it is such a nice place to spend the day.

That was one of the few things I didn't like about Wonder.  It always felt warm and stuffy in the Solarium, compared to the pool deck, where there is always a breeze when the ship is moving. Much prefer the open air Solarium design on the older Oasis ships.

[GTO-Girl]

32 minutes ago, TheHawk1 said:

That was one of the few things I didn't like about Wonder.  It always felt warm and stuffy in the Solarium, compared to the pool deck, where there is always a breeze when the ship is moving. Much prefer the open air Solarium design on the older Oasis ships.

we never used the Solarium on the other Oasis class ships because it was always so hot in there.  
 

The Wonder’s solarium felt great to us…..so sorry you didn’t enjoy it.

[Jimbo]

13 hours ago, orville99 said:

We are on Wonder in less than 2 weeks. Since we don't cruise for the entertainment, haven't been to any of their shows since the restart and rarely went before the shutdown, don't do any of the specialty restaurants other than Izumi, have avoided the MDR for years, spend the majority of our days on board enjoying the privacy of our balcony and the sounds of the ocean, and have been to most Caribbean ports too many times to care whether we get off at any of them any more, we are actually looking forward to trying another new ship that provides enough space for everyone else to do whatever it is they choose to do while we enjoy each other and the peace that sailing brings to the soul.

Do you eat all your meals in your suite other then  Izumi?

 

Maybe need to buy a large screen Tv and sit and watch something like this all day. Might be cheaper.

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Jimbo

[Jimbo]

19 hours ago, molly361 said:

Also just off the Wonder. Loved the ice show. Left after a few minutes of Taps but heard that it gets better. Had terrible service at Hooked. Noticed that it looked like masks on some staff was making a comeback towards the end of the trip

Did you ask any of the crew why  they are putting the masks back on? Their own choice or instructed to do so from Royal?

Edited December 27, 2022 by Jimbo

[Husky1987]

8 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Did you ask any of the crew why  they are putting the masks back on? Their own choice or instructed to do so from Royal?

On Symphony last month, our cabin steward wore a mask the first 2-3 days, then didn't the rest of the cruise.  I didn't ask but figured she was under some kind of close contact deal that required her to wear one for a certain amount of time. 

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the review.

[denamo]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Did you ask any of the crew why  they are putting the masks back on? Their own choice or instructed to do so from Royal?

On our last cruise a couple of weeks ago, a crew member told us they were new to the ship and were required to wear them for the first five days they were out working.

[little britain]

15 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Just my opinion, but  Voices  was the worst show I have. seen on a  RCI ship law. . 

Loved the simplicity and the pure talent of the sounds. 
Just proves you don’t have to screech and scream -  which most RCI “singers” do because they are under the impression that Louder is Better. 
Saw Voices twice because it was so good 

[island lady]

On 12/26/2022 at 3:42 AM, molly361 said:

Also just off the Wonder. Loved the ice show. Left after a few minutes of Taps but heard that it gets better. Had terrible service at Hooked. Noticed that it looked like masks on some staff was making a comeback towards the end of the trip

 

OMG yes...same thing at Hooked.  My food was decent, Bucky's..."meh"....but the service was sooo bad I thought we were on hidden camera to see how long we would sit there without screaming!  And we were the 2nd people in there for lunch that day.  No excuse.  Everywhere was decent service.  

[island lady]

We enjoyed our time on Wonder.  Was lucky to keep same GS cabin for four weeks that included the TA.  

 

Love...love the set up for all GS cabins on that ship in the "neighborhood".    Same deck as much used CK and the SL.   Plus Suite's sun deck just overhead...instead of half way across the ship.  

 

Service was great in CK, and food was decent in there.  Tried a few other venues for dining...but was not impressed.  Hooked was the worst.  

[orville99]

8 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Do you eat all your meals in your suite other then  Izumi?

 

Typically on a 7 night cruise, we will dine in suite 3-4 times; do WJ 2-3 times, and do Izumi 1-2 times. Breakfast is usually in Chops or CK depending on the ship.

 

BTW, there was no need to be snarky with your TV comment. 

[orville99]

41 minutes ago, island lady said:

Service was great in CK, and food was decent in there. 

How would you rate the food in CK on Wonder compared to other Oasis class ships? We were underwhelmed by the quality on both Harmony and Allure (other than breakfast, which was always good).

[Ourusualbeach]

On 12/26/2022 at 10:22 AM, Oceansaway17 said:

Curious who is the captain and c director on this sailing? I had capt Rob in April who was take out captain

Glad to see the ship was able to dock at Coco Cay but I bet pool was cold

Captain Per.

 

Mike S is the CD. 

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

12 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Did you ask any of the crew why  they are putting the masks back on? Their own choice or instructed to do so from Royal?

Not many wearing masks this week. Could have been a lot of new crew last week.  Newness definitely shows in some areas.