Wonder of the Seas 2/5 - 2/12

[LEMJMcC]

We were on the Wonder of the Seas last week;  it was our first time on WOTS, but our second Oasis-class ship (Oasis in 2018).

 

Room (8642 - Junior Suite):  This cabin had less counter space than Oasis of the Seas, but had a total of four USB plugs which were handy.  The bed was comfortable, but the gap between the mattresses would sometimes open up depending on our "activities".  The balcony was fantastic, but the table was smaller in diameter and shorter than on Oasis.  The balcony chairs were comfortable with their separate foot rests.  I just wish the railing was about 12" lower so as not to block the view of the sea as much.  We did not like the shower - it was a regular sized step-in tub with a glass door that covered only half of the tub length...go figure!  One major annoyance was the creaking noise coming from our cabin door.  We called Maintenance and they removed several ceiling panels, sprayed some lubricant on some of the joints in the door frame, but to no avail.  It sounded like someone was tapping on the door with a set of car keys; one night it was so noisy we had to sleep with earplugs!  Apparently the ship's superstructure was flexing enough to create such noises, though we never noticed anything like it on the other ships (Brilliance, Freedom, Oasis, and Mariner).

 

Room Steward (Dodi from Indonesia): Average, nothing to write home about.  He was very friendly, but not as attentive to details as some of the past stewards-esses we've had.  For example, we ran out of the shower gel in the shower and had to request that it be refilled; I would think they ought to refill those at the start of each cruise.  I requested a bucket of ice to chill a bottle of champagne (which we set out on the countertop) and he brought a small bucket filled with ice, but it was so small the bottle would not fit into it even it were empty...go figure again.  He did attend to the cabin twice each day and did leave some towel art, but not each night surprisingly.

 

Food: We had the UDP for the first time.  We won't be doing it again as it was quite the hassle to get reservations, even for just two of us. 

The best two were Wonderland and Giovanni's:  Villeti (Ukraine), our waiter in Wonderland was terrific and the food very good, especially the short rib! 

We liked Wonderland so much the first try that we went back on the last night of the cruise.  Jason (Phillipines) at Giovanni's was also very good and the food excellent.  We really enjoyed lunch at The Mason Jar, both the food and service was very good and we would have gone back for supper, but had reservations elsewhere.  We ate twice at the Solarium Bistro, one night for dinner with Sudipta (India) as our waiter; he was wonderful!  We went back for breakfast the next day and he went above and beyond to get us some fresh squeezed orange juice when another waitress would not.  Incidentally, the Bistro does not have one of those orange juicers like the Windjammer and the Vitality Café do; so Sudipta had to trek all the way to the WJ to get our juices, thus he earned our high regard.  The food in the Bistro was pretty good, but we both noticed that the selection in it and the Windjammer seemed much less than on Oasis, but that was five years ago!  That notwithstanding, the quality was satisfactory.  We liked 150 Central Park and Hooked the least both in terms of food quality and service.  In 150 CP there was a group of somewhat inebriated couples being very loud and obnoxious using very foul language - very disrespectful to all who were in the restaurant, yet the management did nothing about it.  We finally had to request to be moved to the other end of the room.  This really influenced our overall experience there for the worse.  The food there was not so good either, the veal filet I had was tough and the halibut my wife had was rather bland.  We will likely avoid 150 CP on future cruises.  The meals we had at Hooked were okay, but with a shellfish allergy, my wife was limited to only a couple of possibilities.  Still, we'd go there before going back to 150 CP.  We ate one dinner at Izumi Sushi and enjoyed the food, unfortunately we had such a large lunch at Giovanni's that same day that we could not enjoy really Izumi as much!  Our bad.  We both said we'd love to go back some time when we're not not so full!

 

Ship: Wonder is a huge ship.  This is her beside a Celebrity ship at St. Kitts.

 

Wonder next to Freedom at Coco Cay.

Even with its size though, the sea had its way with her.  We seemed to be in constant motion, rocking up and down and side-to-side.  Aside from the creaking door, we enjoyed the ride as neither of us are subject to seasickness thank God!  We enjoyed the jogging track almost every day and hit the Vitality Café after each workout for a smoothie or freshly made juice. 

 

We took in about 5 minutes of Effectors 2 then walked out when one of the female performers started rubbing her butt in front of the whole audience...come on, really?  We thoroughly enjoyed Tap Factory though and would definitely recommend it!  The aqua show was too similar to what we saw on Oasis, so that was kind of a let down and we're glad we didn't waste much time with it.  We discovered rather pleasant live jazz in Central Park on two different nights and really enjoyed that.  The large movie screen I've read so much about was a non-issue, though it did have some entertaining movies on it (we liked the dog-themed ones best), there was never any accompanying sound, so the stillness and peaceful atmosphere of Central Park were nicely preserved.

 

Shore Excursions:

We hiked Mount Liamuiga on St. Kitts.  Seven miles roundtrip with some very very rugged terrain and technical sections. 

Even being in decent shape we breathed heavily and sweated a lot!  Our guides were great though.  That excursion started off on the wrong foot though, but ended well.  We met up with the group on the ship and were escorted to a building in which were several long lines for various other excursions.  A guide told us to get in the back of the line and quickly walked off.  I picked the line I thought she had pointed to and confirmed with the last guy that I was indeed in the right place.  The wife needed the restroom so she took off and as soon as she did, the line moved!  I had to stay where I was so as not to lose her, but as a result, we missed the shuttle to the trailhead and had to pay $80 for a taxi ride!  That's the most expensive potty break we've ever experienced!  In the end I still think it was worth it...a very unique experience for us.

On St. Thomas our snorkeling excursion was cancelled on St. John Island due to a red flag day there, so we opted for one going to Xmas Cove on St. Thomas.    The powered catamaran ride over the choppy sea was an absolute blast! 

The snorkeling was rather pitiful tough.  Still, the water was clear and beautiful and we did enjoy ourselves.

Coco Cay was packed as Freedom of the Seas was there alongside Wonder.  We did some snorkeling there and saw several beautiful fish and a couple of sting rays.

 

The Crew

The crew of Wonder were really very friendly, though we did tire a bit of the constant push to rate servants 10 on the post-cruise survey.  Also it seemed some of specialty restaurants tried very hard to convince us to come back to them for future meals.  We would have gladly obliged some of them if we could have secured reservations.  We had a couple's massage right off the bat on embarkation day and the masseuses were really very good and when we told them we had another appointment right afterward and weren't interested in any other products they were very respectful and did not push anything.

 

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our voyage on Wonder of the Sea very much and are so very thankful for the opportunity and ability to have experienced it.  We relaxed, exercised, enjoyed marital bliss, ate all kinds of good food, saw many incredible sites, met some very nice people, and learned a thing or two about cricket and what life is like on St. Kitts and St. Thomas.

 

Bon voyage to all who are looking forward to their next cruise!  We're already discussing our next one!

[cruisegirl1]

Thanks for the nice review. We are heading on wonder next month. We are back to back, and have the dining package for the second week. 
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[crewsweeper]

Appreciate your review and thoughts.  We're on board in April with UDP.  Will most likely try all the specialty venues.  Except for Mason jar, we've eaten at the others on Oasis class ships. Short Ribs are the best thing on the menu at Wonderland.

Looking at ice show and aqua show but maybe give Voices a go too.  I've seen Tap Factory and Effectors, not a fan of either.  Glad to hear there's jazz in Central Park.

Hopefully our door won't rattle.  

Edited February 14, 2023 by crewsweeper

[PhillyFan33579]

I am on Wonder right now for the third time in the last six weeks. I have been to every speciality restaurant on this ship and all of them were very good to excellent both service wise and food wise. However, food is very subjective so I understand other people might feel differently about food.  
 

In my opinion, the ice skating and Aqua shows are outstanding. I have seen them both multiple times and enjoy them every time. Effectors is pretty boring in my opinion, although I did enjoy the drones portion of the show. Voices is one of the worst shows I have seen on any RCI ship. The singing is not very good and I don’t get the show using both live singers and singers on the screen. Having said that, I have friends and people I have met during these cruises who really liked Voices. Finally, Tap Factory is my favorite show on Wonder. I have gone to several shows on every cruise and love it every time. However, I am a big fan of tap dancing, so my opinion is likely biased. 

[nimbex1970]

thank you so much for the great review!

 

[nimbex1970]

11 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am on Wonder right now for the third time in the last six weeks. I have been to every speciality restaurant on this ship and all of them were very good to excellent both service wise and food wise. However, food is very subjective so I understand other people might feel differently about food.  
 

In my opinion, the ice skating and Aqua shows are outstanding. I have seen them both multiple times and enjoy them every time. Effectors is pretty boring in my opinion, although I did enjoy the drones portion of the show. Voices is one of the worst shows I have seen on any RCI ship. The singing is not very good and I don’t get the show using both live singers and singers on the screen. Having said that, I have friends and people I have met during these cruises who really liked Voices. Finally, Tap Factory is my favorite show on Wonder. I have gone to several shows on every cruise and love it every time. However, I am a big fan of tap dancing, so my opinion is likely biased. 

when you finish your lovely sail, please get back and give a full review.  If you get a second to take a picture of the kiddo splash pad, would be appreciated.  Thank you!

 

[danoconnl]

19 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

Food: We had the UDP for the first time.  We won't be doing it again as it was quite the hassle to get reservations, even for just two of us. 

 

 

was the hassle that the times you wanted weren't available?  We had the UDP on our last cruise and we are planning to get it for our next cruise on Wonder.  Just wondering what the specific issues were.

 

Thanks for the review

Dan

[JeffT237]

20 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

We were on the Wonder of the Seas last week

Thanks for the review, we are looking forward to our upcoming Wonder cruise in a couple of weeks.  How was embarkation day at PC?  I've heard some stories of really long lines, even though we have a 10:30 boarding time we're expecting that most passengers get there early. 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Thanks LEMJMcC for a great review. We'll be on Wonder for the April 30th sailing in 8644. We also have the UDP and appreciate your honest comments. 

[Donsyb]

Sorry to  didn’t enjoy 150, that was the best meal we had on Oasis.  You might want to give it another chance on a different ship.

[George C]

It seems rare that anyone but me didn’t like 150cp , we tried it on oasis and allure and doubt I will go back. We love UDP , we had a advantage being in a full suite with concierge making our reservations. Thanks for the very nice review. 

[orville99]

Question for 

13 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am on Wonder right now for the third time in the last six weeks.

Has the Solarium Bistro gone back to made to order mains and table service for dinner? When we were on her in January, everything was served buffet style, and the offerings were quite limited.

[crewsweeper]

35 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Question for 

Has the Solarium Bistro gone back to made to order mains and table service for dinner? When we were on her in January, everything was served buffet style, and the offerings were quite limited.

Be curious on this too.  On the Odyssey last spring the Bisto was all buffet.  Heard this was now fleet wide.

[LEMJMcC]

4 hours ago, danoconnl said:

was the hassle that the times you wanted weren't available?  We had the UDP on our last cruise and we are planning to get it for our next cruise on Wonder.  Just wondering what the specific issues were.

 

Thanks for the review

Dan

Yes and trying to get them all arranged on embarkation day.  We went straight to Izumi, and we boarded an hour BEFORE our assigned time of 11:30 AM and still the line at Izumi went all around the dining room as folks were trying to make all their reservations for the week.  I had mine all laid out with second and third options and still had to take some 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM slots - it took me a good 20 minutes once I got to the fella taking reservations; BTW< Izumi Hibachi was COMPLETELY booked for the whole week when my turn finally came, and I stated above, we boarded early and went straight there.  Looking back, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze, at least for us.  I wish better success!

[LEMJMcC]

3 hours ago, JeffT237 said:

Thanks for the review, we are looking forward to our upcoming Wonder cruise in a couple of weeks.  How was embarkation day at PC?  I've heard some stories of really long lines, even though we have a 10:30 boarding time we're expecting that most passengers get there early. 

We were slated for 11:30 AM check-in.  We arrived and parked by 11:10 and checked in about 11:20 AM.  Since we had a Junior Suite, we were directed to the suite line and were checked in almost immediately.  We were onboard the ship in less than 10 minutes from the time we walked into the terminal at PC.

[LEMJMcC]

3 hours ago, Donsyb said:

Sorry to  didn’t enjoy 150, that was the best meal we had on Oasis.  You might want to give it another chance on a different ship.

We, too, ate at 150 CP on Oasis and did really enjoy it there, but that was five years ago.  Perhaps that's why we were so disappointed this go around, the bar had been set high on Oasis, but Wonder failed to rise to the occasion.

[LEMJMcC]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

Question for 

Has the Solarium Bistro gone back to made to order mains and table service for dinner? When we were on her in January, everything was served buffet style, and the offerings were quite limited.

Nothing in the Solarium Bistro was made-to-order, at least not for the one supper and one breakfast we enjoyed there.  I do think the choices have decreased in both the Bistro and WJ based on what I and my wife remember from previous cruises.  Still, I thought the food satisfactory in both.  Never a day found us going to bed hungry!

[crewsweeper]

I know a lot of cruisers with UDP head for a restaurant to book meals, especially Chops and Izumi, but isn't there a kiosk or stand for reservations on the Promenade deck like on other Oasis class ships?

[Thisguylikestocruise]

I was on this cruise. I had a similar experience regarding service. Staff was overall very friendly. We tipped a bartender extra on Day 7, because he really went above and beyond. Room attendant was average to below average. Honestly it was the best vacation my wife and I have ever had, probably because it was our first ocean view balcony, first drink package, staff interacting with us more than our last cruise, plus the ship is new and beautiful. The embarkation and disembarkation was smoother than our last cruise from Port Canaveral. 
 

 

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the review.

[LEMJMcC]

13 hours ago, Thisguylikestocruise said:

Room attendant was average to below average.

I don't know what is typical for Cabin Stewards, but ours told us he had 39 cabins assigned to him; and I imagine many of those were junior suites.  Does that sound like a lot or is that average? 

[LEMJMcC]

17 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

but isn't there a kiosk or stand for reservations on the Promenade deck like on other Oasis class ships?

Seems I did see that, but it was later after the hectic period on onboarding.  I wish RCI would allow those who purchase the UDP the opportunity to make their reservations at the time of the purchase, while reserving enough seating for those who purchase individual meals at the specialty venues while on the ship.

[Thisguylikestocruise]

52 minutes ago, LEMJMcC said:

I don't know what is typical for Cabin Stewards, but ours told us he had 39 cabins assigned to him; and I imagine many of those were junior suites.  Does that sound like a lot or is that average? 

39 sounds like a lot. Not sure what average is. We got no towel animals, and it took 2 days to get different pillows that were more comfortable. All the Cabin Stewards greeted us in the hallway, but they looked unhappy. It was the opposite on the rest of ship, where staff were very friendly and morale appeared better.

[Donsyb]

On 2/15/2023 at 7:34 PM, LEMJMcC said:

We, too, ate at 150 CP on Oasis and did really enjoy it there, but that was five years ago.  Perhaps that's why we were so disappointed this go around, the bar had been set high on Oasis, but Wonder failed to rise to the occasion.

We were on oasis last November, so more recently, and it was great.

[molly361]

23 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

I know a lot of cruisers with UDP head for a restaurant to book meals, especially Chops and Izumi, but isn't there a kiosk or stand for reservations on the Promenade deck like on other Oasis class ships?

 

6 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

Seems I did see that, but it was later after the hectic period on onboarding.  I wish RCI would allow those who purchase the UDP the opportunity to make their reservations at the time of the purchase, while reserving enough seating for those who purchase individual meals at the specialty venues while on the ship.

Yes there is but when I was onboard (also early before 11) the line there was very long I guess since that's the first place people see.  I went up to Giovanni's and booked everything and same thing Hibachi was either sold out or I think they want people to book it right at Izumi.  I ended up with the Sushi and loved it.  Was NOT a fan of Hooked.  Service when I was there for both lunch and dinner was pretty bad.  I have the UDP booked for my August Wonder sailing and I think I am going to cancel and just buy separate dining.