Disney Wonder Review

Disney - It is what it is - poor food included

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Disney Wonder
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tboz1976
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Value for Money
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Dining
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Sail Date: Apr 2010
Traveled with children

This Disney cruise was my 9th overall, first on Disney. I booked our Disney cruise via the website and we had a wonderful time on the Disney Wonder! The booking process through Disney was very simplistic and user-friendly. Disney sent out a "pre-boarding" booklet that includes your luggage tags and all the information you need prior to your cruise. Don't bother filling anything out online and printing as this booklet has all the information needed. You simply fill out the forms and bring it to the port with you. Three days before we sailed we received a message from a Disney cast member informing us that we had been upgraded to a higher category cabin (always a plus). Port and Embarkation: I thought Princess cruises had this down, WOW, Disney blows Princess out of the water on this one. The port is well marked and we had no traffic and no trouble finding the entry point. We arrived at the Port VERY late (3:00pm) due to a business convention earlier in the day, this certainly played into how easy embarkation was. Our bags were taken (make sure you tip) and we were through security and in the cruise terminal in 3 minutes (I parked 20 yards away in an empty parking lot - $45 for the four days). We presented our ID's and credit card to the check-in cast member, he took our pictures, we received our cruise cards, and off we were. We were literally the only customers in the cruise terminal. We walked to the boat, they scanned our cruise cards, and in seconds we were walking onto the boat. The entire process from parking the car to boarding was maybe 10 minutes. As we walked onto the boat, a Disney cast member was there to announce in grand Disney fashion, "The Disney Wonder proudly welcomes the Carlson Family" on the PA system in the atrium. Very well done. Ship: The Wonder is a beautiful boat. The public areas are the cleanest and "newest" looking I have ever seen on a boat. You'd never see garbage or a smudged surface and they are constantly cleaning. Deck 4 is wonderful as it lends itself to the jogging crowd. 3 laps equals 1 mile. The ship is a bit narrow which makes the walkways and atriums smaller than on a normal large class ship. The ship is cut up so much that it rarely feels crowded. I was not a fan at first but fell in love with the concept as the cruise went on. The ship is split 2/3 to kids/families and 1/3 adults only. There is a pool, cafe, club designated for adults only. With the kids programs and nursery on board, I can see why this is a plus. The SPA is the most elegant of any spa I have seen but very expensive. They have two treatment rooms where one can indulge in a 2 hour hot tub soak on a balcony followed by an hour massage - $589 for the experience. The gym is small and lacks a lot of equipment but there is enough there to get through a workout. The Pub is the best on any ship I have been on. Lots of beer on tap (every bar had this - a plus), lots of big screen tv's, and they served hot dogs and chicken wings 24 hours. The Walt Disney Theatre is a standard stage theatre you would find on a large ship. The Buena Vista theatre is a large but hidden movie theatre and offers first run Disney movies. The pools onboard are normal large ship pools with a water slide dumping into one of them. There is a large screen overhanging the other pool area. One major surprise was that Disney does not allow non potty trained children in their pools. They have a small and un-inspired area for these children. Every other cruise we have been on does not have this policy. Disappointing as we were traveling with an infant. The kids rooms (Ocean lab and Ocean club) are truly amazing. This is another reason for the small public walkways as these rooms stretch across the entire boat. There is a large dance club that rarely gets used. There is also a teen club that is hidden in the faux stack that is meant to look like an engine stack. One MAJOR complaint is the elevator system. They are very small and there are not enough of them, three sets (Forward/Mid/Aft). We were constantly waiting on the elevators which could only carry 4 adults comfortably. Staff: We never came across a grumpy or unhelpful staff member. Even our stateroom host and dining room servers knew the activity schedule and were able to advise us. Everyone was friendly and seemed to enjoy their job. Certainly the best service we had encountered on a boat.

Dining: All of the reviews about the food are accurate. The food is terrible, all the way around. The lack of available food service is also a problem. The buffet is only open for breakfast and lunch but closed all other times. The buffet is beyond terrible, it is horrible. The only thing that saves it is the omelet station for breakfast and the pasta station for lunch. There is very little salad onboard, a lot of fried foods. We ate cerial for breakfast as the food was barely edible in the buffet. The rotation cocept is excellent however. Each cruiser is assigned a restaurant on the first night. You then follow your wait staff to a new restaurant each night. We loved this concept. The first restaurant Triton's is considered an upscale dining experience. Nothing exciting about this venue other than the fact that they did have a Tofu option. I have to say, the Tofu meal was excellent. All other appitizers and such were really bland and poor quality. The following night we ate at the Animator's Palate which seems to be everyone's favorite restaurant. You are treated to an animated show for the entire dinner with the climax being a complete color change throughout the entire restaurant dEcor, including your wait staff. I think this is to make up for the food? The third restaurant was Parrot Cay however we never made it there due to our daughter being sick. I did visit the restaurant and they allowed us to order food to take it to our room that evening. This restaurant has a meat driven menu but again, fails on quality. The service was outstanding in these restaurants. They wait staff was always willing to help get you whatever you needed. Very conversational and it seemed like they enjoyed their job. One point to consider: Disney does not put any emphasis on its food. There is not discussion sessions, tours, or chef introduction at any time. It is obvious that food is one of their least priorities. They do have an upscale adults only restaurant which we had a reservation for however we canceled when we heard the food was similar in quality. Why pay $15 a person for the same food. One positive note: Disney does not charge for Soda.

Stateroom: We had a deluxe balcony stateroom which was very large. We were on deck 8, 8588 and were impressed with the size of the room. We were told that b/c there is no casino onboard, they were able to increase the size of the rooms. I would say they are 40 to 50 square feet bigger than a standard cruise ship (including balcony). The best feature about these rooms is that the toilet and bathtub/shower are in two different rooms. Each bathroom area has its own sink as well, a huge plus. There are curtains that separate the sitting area (also extra pull out bed) from the Queen bed. This is nice so that children can sleep and not be disturbed. There is a TON of storage space available in the rooms, the most we have experienced. The beds and couch were comfortable.

Cabin Review

Cabin 4B

Hallway was too noisy, across from crew space. The loading of the luggage was very loud

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