Disney Wonder Review
A nice experience, but probably not worth the extra $$$ for Disney name
Rating by category
Additional details
By way of background, this is the 3rd cruise my wife and I have been on and second with my 11 year old son (my wife and I took a short Carnival cruise nearly 15 years ago, and our family sailed on RC's Enchantment of the Seas this past summer). We had a good time on this cruise, but have come to the conclusion that the extra money you pay for the Disney name probably isn't worth it for us. Cruise was a 5 night Mexican Riviera cruise with stops in Cabo and Ensenada. I should probably also mention that as Southern California residents we've grown up with Disneyland and have made a few trips to Disneyworld, which we love. I wouldn't say we're Disney fanatics, but Disneyworld is definitely our favorite vacation spot.
Ship: We liked the layout of the ship, particularly the fact that it was a manageable size. It rarely felt overly crowded. A few parts of the ship (like the main theater) look a little dated, but the renovated areas like the kids' clubs and adult clubs (the pub, the Azure theater) look good as new. I liked the decor of the lounge areas, particularly the Crown and Fin pub.
Dining: Eating in 3 different dining rooms was cool. The changes of scenery were nice. The food was underwhelming. A few dishes were really good (like the sea bass at Tiana's), but in general the dishes weren't as good as they looked in the menu descriptions. Service was fine, not exceptional. One thing that would frustrate me was their insistence that the main server present you with the dishes, which often meant food would be brought to the service station and sit there getting colder while the main server was attending to another table. This would happen despite the fact that the head waiter or assistant server were available to serve the food. I was tempted at times to just go and get my own food from the station while it was still warm. Cabanas buffet had decent options and we didn't have too much trouble getting a table. I was more impressed by the service in some of the lounges, where the servers quickly learned what you liked to drink even if you weren't a very regular customer. We ate brunch at Palo, and while the food was very good the service was surprisingly slow. Maybe it was just our server. If I sailed with Disney again I would probably dine there again.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom
Cabin was small, but that's to be expected on a ship. Bed was comfortable. Split bathroom was nice, though both sides were crowded (again, probably to be expected on a ship). In this particular room there was some sort of loud whirring noise that occurred at all hours of the day and night. It wouldn't wake me up from sleep, but made it hard to fall asleep and nearly impossible to fall back asleep on the mornings where I was half-awake. At least it got me out of bed to hit the gym...