Disney Wonder Reviews

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We had an absolutely amazing time. The service was outstanding - I kept having to tell the waiter not to cut up my children's food. The kids kept begging to go back to the kids club because they were having so much fun. They mostly went to the oceaneer club (awesome slide/treehouse play area) but went to the oceaneer lab if there were any particular events they wanted to do there. My daughter (age 3) loved seeing the princesses - make sure to sign up early at guest services for the princess tea (free) if you want to go - tickets run out fast but some people got in on standby as well for no-shows. Several times we were walking around the ship and we would turn a corner and randomly run into a character. If you are on the ship on a port day, take advantage of the mostly empty ship to see characters if they are available - there was virtually no lines to see the princesses on the day we were in Victoria - the princesses were wandering around trying to find kids to talk to. They had a great show at the end where the kids got up on stage and sang and danced with mickey and minnie for the parents. The weather wasn't great so we only used the pools on the first day in port in LA. I get motion sick easily but only got sick once on the one really rough day at sea. After the first day we didn't really notice the motion of the boat. We got first seating (watch out if you are booking online - it automatically puts you in the second seating so you have to change it if you want the first), which was nice since it was closer to the kids' normal dinner time, but irrelevant for bedtimes since the show is afterwards (vice versa for second seating). We never had any real problems getting seats for the shows (which were fantastic and the kids loved them - they put the shows live on the stateroom TVs if you can't make it to one, but it really doesn't compare to going). We didn't usually arrive until right before showtime but there were always seats left near the front left - an angled view, but it was close up for the kids to see and we were close enough to have the glitter/streamers/bubbles/snow fall on us. If you have mobility issues, make sure to go through Cadillac lounge to get to the show - my mom sprained her replaced knee right before the trip and was in a wheelchair then used a cane but we didn't know about the secret entry until the last show (you can't use it with a wheelchair but if you can walk down a short hallway then they will take you though the door near the stage). We didn't do much for excursions. My husband and son rode the cable cars in San Fransisco, we skipped Victoria and we met up with friends to go to the Vancouver Aquarium (not an advertised excursion so few people knew about it but it is only a 10 minute cab ride from port). We had a great time - we did a week in Disneyland first and actually enjoyed the cruise even more than Disneyland. We can't wait to go again!

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I had originally booked a Christmas Cruise and was later informed it was cancelled and not given a reason. Booking a year in advance I was excited to get a great deal but when it was cancelled told I had to pay the price it had increased to when they cancelled - NOT when I placed my deposit. Things went down from there. Trip was on and off again, but my travel agent equally frustrated with the cruise line gave me her commission to make things work for me. On board I got the handicapped room which was roomy - although nothing special. Often went to the spa to get better water pressure. The room creaked so much at night you could hardly sleep and I awoke several times when the bathroom door kept opening and slamming until furniture was placed in from of it. Food was wonderful. Small portions for kids, but that's okay. Ate a few meals in the Pala which was well worth the extra $15. High tea also lovely. Couldn't make any reservations online, but found many things available once on board. Same with salon. Better deals too to purchase once on board. My daughters got a pedicure and for $70 returned with smeared polish and said their lady complained a lot about "having a bad day" and "not really into it". I spoke to the manager and they each had their nails redone while I cancelled my pedicure. Wish I had done that with my facial. No steam, massage, or anything extra. I could of washed my face and gotten same result and saved over $120. Steam rooms were great and I spent lots of time there. Fitness area had workshops that had you sit for an hour only to get a marketing rip-off advertisement at the end. Couldn't believe Disney was actually saying they had a magic pill only they sold that solved detox issues. Didn't even show us the pill or anything and yet the trainer insisted they were upfront at the beginning about what they were selling. Family games also overpriced. $40 to play 4 games of Bingo - really? Charges for the arcade, and pool so overcrowded my girls never got to go. They were too tall for kiddy slide and too young for adult pool. No teen activities that interested them. Went to decorate a t-shirt only to learn it was a 6inch foam cut-out - not even a real t-shirt! Excursions were overpriced too and my friend booked herself and we got better and cheaper that way. The Pirate Cruise was so crowded and the food was poor. We had use of a small portion of the beach and kids stood in long lines to kayak and go on banana boat which was blown up once there. I met many that had done this cruise several times, and I don't get it. I'd rather go to Club Med where I'm treated better my kids are entertained all day and I never have to get out my wallet the entire week. I felt after being overcharged at the beginning was bad enough, but to be constantly hounded for more money for drinks, kids entertainment, family games, use of steam rooms at spa and etc. that I had wished I'd done the Carnvial for half the price. The shows were great, but moms would save rows of seats and despite coming early to be seated, I found myself in a desperate search to sit with my girls only to be kicked and have food thrown at me by kids from behind. A lady next to me requested 4 times from a father to stop the kicking/food throwing and he just laughed. Although announcements made to not save seats, it was allowed. No management enforcement - too concerned using people to sell over-priced drinks in theatre. Money, money, money. Don't think this is what Walt had in mind.

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We took our 4th Disney Cruise to the Mexican Riviera during Spring Break. This was our 4th trip on the Wonder, so we were very familiar with the ship. In fact, sailing on the Wonder feels like we're at our vacation "home." Dining: Our waiters were great! They interacted with our 10 yr old son and the other children at our table. They remembered not only our drink orders each night, but also our preferences. For example, as a Texas girl, I don't like my steak smothered in sauces, so my sauce was always on the side. My son was always anxious to get back to the Oceaneer Lab and missed dessert each night, so our waiter assembled a plate of cookies and milk for him to enjoy in our cabin later in the evening. He even remembered to send chocolate chip and not oatmeal raisin cookies! Since this was our 4th cruise with Disney, we've made some observations. First, the quality of the waiter is not a direct reflection on the cruise, but on the waiter and if you're not getting the service you believe you should, this should be taken up with the head waiter immediately. Our servers on our 2011 Alaska cruise were not up to par and we should have said something. Second, this cruise was the first one that we've had the first dining time and we noticed a huge improvement in the qualify of the food in the main dining rooms as well as how quickly we received our meals. The first 3 cruises we requested 2nd seating and dinner took 2+ hours. This allows for a more leisurely meal. The food was never that fantastic but we couldn't put our finger on the reason. This time we requested first seating and there was a 110% improvement in the food and the speed to the food getting to the table. We ate the same food we had had on previous cruises expecting a certain flavor/texture, but it was much much better this time. We truly believe the food must be getting "held over" for the second dining and is not as fresh. We're requested 1st seating on our Nov 2012 Western Caribbean and our 2013 LA to Vancouver cruises! Cabin: We had a wonderful stateroom host who ensured our room was always clean and neat! We noticed a couple changes to the room. The have added Velcro to the sliding closet doors so they no longer move back and forth with the movement of the ship. A down side is that one of my nice blouses kept getting stuck to the Velcro. I wish they would have put that up high or down low on the door, but not at hanger level. They've replaced the old bedspreads with the new duvets (I think the same ones used on the new ships.) And, during our cruise to Alaska in 2011, we noticed they changed the clocks in the room to one you can actually see in the middle of the night. The only down side is the clock is entirely too bright. The first night of our cruise, our cabin had unusually LOUD creaking noise and resulted in very little sleep for my husband and I. We mentioned this to our cabin maid first thing and he said he reported it. (He was fantastic all week, so we don't doubt that he did indeed report the issue.) However, when we were in our room getting ready for dinner that night it was obvious the noise had not be resolved. One brief stop to the front desk, and all of a sudden we had the Head Engineer in our room placing little wedges around our room between the ceiling and the wall. Surprisingly this pretty much fixed the issue. They also sent up ear plugs to our room just in case, and asked us to tell them right away if the issue persisted or if we had any other issues during our stay. We received several follow up calls asking if the noise was ok, and they sent chocolate covered strawberries to our room and gave our son a $15 gift card to be used in the arcade to help make up for our first night without sleep. I learned two things here. One, tell the front desk. They know who to call to get quick resolution. Two, Disney does a great job at trying to make a situation "right". Consistency: We chose Disney for our cruises because we've had some fantastic cruises and each cruise has been consistently great. However, Disney does not make any real changes in their programming from year to year. In other words, the Disney Broadway shows on this last cruise were the same ones that were on the other 3 cruises, dating back to our first cruise in 2008. So, we tend to skip the shows every other cruise. this is the same thing with the game shows. We love "Who Wants to Be A Mouseketeer" and "Mickey Mania" but we'd like to see some new game shows and other entertainment. Our son has been in the same kids club since 2008 (he was 6, now he's 10)and he's made Flubber, cookies in the Ratatouille Cooking School, and solved cases in the Goofy Files 4 times now. He needs some new programming. Oceaneer Lab: Some of the counselors remembered our son from our Alaska cruise last year and he made some new counselor friends as well, which he enjoyed. However, now Disney does not segregate the Club from the Lab and so there's very small kids (4 yr olds) in the Lab, which goes through age 11. My son was not interested in several activities because the children participating were so young. He didn't even want to play the Wii because the boys playing were so young. He didn't feel it would be fair to the little ones so he spent lots of time visiting with the counselors and using the computers for individual games. Not exactly what we're paying for when we book a Disney cruise for our son. This huge age range needs to be whittled down, or let the older kids go into Tween club. Ports: Our ports were Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. We booked excursions at both ports, although we did not enjoy these ports like others we've been too and were disappointed in Disney choosing these. We especially didn't enjoy the tendering at Cabo and can't imagine how scary it would have if we would have had small children with us. Embarkation: This was our first time to ever arrive before noon but we were excited to get there this time to get on the ship early. We had to wait and got on around 1pm which wasn't too bad. It was nice to get on and have time to eat leisurely without rushing to finish in time for the safety drill. Right after eating, our son had his swim suit in his day bag, so he hit the pool! Debarkation: This process we found to be very smooth on our cruises out of Port Canaveral since our bags "magically" went from the hallway the night before all the way to Dallas without us having to touch them. However, this was a complete nightmare in Vancouver last year where we had to WAITE for our bags to be taken off the ship and then FIND them at the port, take them through customs, etc. So, this year we did something different. Our suitcases are large rolling bags, so we decided to NOT put them out the night before and take them off with us. That way we also didn't have to wait until our turn to get off the ship. This was AMAZINGLY smooth and will be our choice going forward if we are not at Port Canaveral. Aging Ship: Yes, the ship is aging, needs dry dock time, and overall upgrades. However, through out the week we did notice workers repairing sections of carpeting, painting etc., so they are trying to keep the ship in good repair. This is not to ignore the fact that the bathrooms do need new tiling and paint, the sleeper sofas should be replaced, etc. I assume all of this will be accomplished in the next dry dock and none of this diminished the enjoyment our our cruise in any way.

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Did 7 day Mexican Riviera on the Wonder departed 8April2012. Activities are incredible for the kids and decent for adults. Was in a deluxe stateroom which has plenty of room for my wife and 2 kids, age 5 and 7. No need for extra storage at all - talk of over the door shoe hangars for storage seems overblown - we didn't use anywhere near all the drawers or hangars provided. Food was just so-so. Pretty much what I expected - kids loved all the free pizza and ice cream but for adults it's pretty mediocre. You can bring alcohol on board easily - they didn't check bags or really pay attention to the size of the rollaboard. I wish we had brought some beer since the room has a fridge. Wine charge of $20 to bring your own wine. Laundry is available using your key card - no need to bring quarters. No ATM on board so get some cash ahead of time. One thing I wish we would have done is the Princess Tea Party - there are only two times and they fill up fast on the first day. If you get on board after 3pm you have no chance (we live local and didn't come on board until 330 and they were all filled). Otherwise no need to sign up for anything ahead of time. Spa was not good, wife had one service and it was pretty bad. They do offer specials during in port days but the spa is right below the basketball and sports courts so it's noisy all the time and the services are just not good. Overall tho a wonderful experience. Room 1032 was a good room except for the noise on day 2 in Cabo when they pull in to port very early and set up for tenders around 630am. Entire cruise boat is extremely clean. mickey pool was never closed during our entire cruise - no idea what this talk of poop in the pool is all about. Last day, cruising north to LA is typically cool, as ours was, and outside pools are too useful.

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This was our first cruise. We traveled beginning April 1st-8th! We were expecting to have fun....but Disney exceeded our expectations! We have two children ages 7 and 8 and they loved it!!! The positives were the itinerary that was filled with dozens of activities for the whole family, the entertainment, and the service. Our dinner experience was fabulous, as your servers (all three!) follow you from restaurant to restaurant! You visit one of three each night (which all host a different theme). Our servers were amazing, as we have a child with a food allergy. They made him special food, and remembered our drinks each night. My soda was on the table before I even sat down.... The entertainment was Disney Magic all the way! Fireworks and all! The celebration as you leave the Port of Los Angeles is amazing! You really feel like you are going on vacation. Disney is about having a fabulous experience. The shows were truly good enough to be on Broadway. The kids had a million things to choose from--and the movies were fantastic as well! The service was wonderful--from our servers at dinner, to our stateroom host that cleaned our room twice a day! My kids loved to come and see what towel animal he made each night. There is an ice cream machine and ALL the free soda you can drink day and night! My kids probably had 30 ice cream cones this week! The deck parties were the best ever!! Don't miss a single show or a single deck party--it really adds to the experience. Additionally--the characters were so accessible all week--Tiana, Belle, Snow White and Cinderella are the princesses on this cruise--Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy,Pluto, Chip and Dale, and Captain Hook are readily available for photos and signatures....way easier than Disneyland for sure! My husband and 8 year old son enjoyed playing basketball and soccer each night before bed, and my daughter and I loved the princess tea (which you have to sign up for the first day at guest services or you won't get in!) Oh and get to the ship early because while you are waiting to board Mickey and Minnie are there to take photos with your family and you can sign your kids up for the kids club before you even board the ship! It makes the waiting fun. When you board the ship they welcome you by name over the loudspeaker! It's a fun way to start your trip. As with any good thing there are some negatives (though I'd do this cruise a dozen times even with the negatives). The stateroom we had was noisy, noisy, noisy....there was a constant clatter in the ceiling that woke us up several times a night. We traveled with several other families and they ALL had the same experience--and we were on different floors in different stateroom levels as well. This was very annoying considering we had a hard time staying asleep because it was REALLY noisy. Some other minor negatives were: The food in the evening was just o.k. The selection was very good, but it didn't taste great. The Beach Blanket Buffet was great though--both in variety and in taste. The final negative were the pools. They were crowded and kind of small for such a big ship. My kids still had fun, but they could have been a little larger. But, the noisy stateroom was by far the most difficult part of the trip! It was the worst when it was windy! Even with the negatives it was the best family vacation ever and we go on quite a few different kinds of vacations! Hope you have fun on your adventure.....

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