justcrusin
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2010
About us
both my wife and I have hospitality / culinary management backgrounds and have worked for several different major hotel chains. This was our first Disney Cruise, but we have been on 6 Carnival, 4 Royal Caribbean and 1 Princess. This is only our second cruise with the kids, both girls 3 and 6. Food and good customer service are most important to us. We favor Carnival lately because we find the food has been better and more consistent then Royal Caribbean. Princess was a flop in all areas.
We flew in from Baltimore on Saturday afternoon to avoid any weather issues. We used Execucar for transportation from the airport and from the port back to the airport. They were excellent and we will use them again. We stayed at the Westin in Long Beach Saturday night and the accommodations were perfect for what we needed.
Customer Service
We found everyone on the ship to be very helpful and knowledgeable. Servers were excellent with the kids, even making a make shift bed for them at Animators when the both fell asleep on show night. One exception was a host at Beach Blanket Buffet who didnt seem to know that there was a kids line and an adult line.
Entertainment
This is Disney and they get entertainment. The shows were excellent and kept the kids attention for almost every second we were in attendance (possibly the adults too for that matter). Do not miss the Tea With Friends, the girls couldnt get enough of it and were even seated at a table for 2.
Characters
Great interaction with the characters! If you are looking for the kids to have the opportunity to meet the characters do not go to the park, go on a cruise. There were several meet and greets with the characters everyday. Princess time was limited to a few sessions. We had several unexpected character interactions. Mickey popped up on the pool deck as we were pulling into PV. Minnie came out on deck 4 and high fived my wife while she was running. Goofy showed up at quiet cove pool one day and put a hilarious improv show that had everyone laughing.
The Ship
We had an outside cabin with a large porthole on deck 2. I found the cabin to be ample space for the 4 of us with plenty of storage. The cabin is layed out well and the split bathroom is a huge help. The cabin is starting to show its age a bit. Chipped tiles in the bathroom, stained tub and a faucet handle and drain in the shower that barely worked (this didn't affect our trip at all). The public areas of the ship are very well maintained and with the exception of Goofys pool they are in great condition. Goofys pool could use a good sanding and repainting. Incidentally I know Goofys pool was designed to have a stage over it, but it is a difficult pool if you need to watch your kids in the water. Goofys pool and Mickeys pool were closed several times during the week for accidents 3 hours at a time. Parents need to do a better job of policing when their kids need to go to the bathroom.
The Wonder has the best layout of any ship we have ever been on..period. It is super easy to navigate and Disney does a great job with directional signs. Honestly the more we cruise the more we like this ship size (70,000 to 85,000 GRT)
Kids Club
This is Disney and they get kids, or the kids get them. The kids couldnt say enough good things about the time the spent in the club. On average they choose to be there 4 or 5 hours in a day, usually broken into 2 segments.
Food
Wow! We were impressed. There wasnt much that we didnt like. Loved the bread baskets and specialty spreads every night. Among the highlights was Tritons dinner. Best escargot ever. All of the pastas and chicken dishes we had were excellent. Fishes and beef were also very good. Least favorite menu was the Island menu in Parrot Cay. Honestly, we never really care for any island night menu that they have on any ship. Plutos and Goofys had excellent fast fare. Palo for brunch and dinner was excellent. Room service was fast and good. Breakfast in the dining room was excellent, as were the added touch of Krispy Kremes on the BBB breakfast buffet Pizza was just O.K., but far behind RC and Carnival. Only area we saw for improvement was the salads both in the dining room and in Beach Blanket. Not that the ones we had were not good, but the selection was super limited.
Retail
Good selection for men and kids. My wife wishes they had more t-shirts that were designed specifically for woman. We found the prices consistent with what you would pay at one of the parks.
Embarkation/Debarkation
Among the most organized of any cruise we have been on. Love that Disney does not rush you out of the staterooms like Carnival and RC do.
Overall Impression
We are hooked. We booked our next cruise on board. Now if we could just find a way to cut the price in half that would be excellent. This cruise was a bargain since kids sailed free for us. Cant wait to sail the Dream in 2012.
Justin
We flew in from Baltimore on Saturday afternoon to avoid any weather issues. We used Execucar for transportation from the airport and from the port back to the airport. They were excellent and we will use them again. We stayed at the Westin in Long Beach Saturday night and the accommodations were perfect for what we needed.
Customer Service
We found everyone on the ship to be very helpful and knowledgeable. Servers were excellent with the kids, even making a make shift bed for them at Animators when the both fell asleep on show night. One exception was a host at Beach Blanket Buffet who didnt seem to know that there was a kids line and an adult line.
Entertainment
This is Disney and they get entertainment. The shows were excellent and kept the kids attention for almost every second we were in attendance (possibly the adults too for that matter). Do not miss the Tea With Friends, the girls couldnt get enough of it and were even seated at a table for 2.
Characters
Great interaction with the characters! If you are looking for the kids to have the opportunity to meet the characters do not go to the park, go on a cruise. There were several meet and greets with the characters everyday. Princess time was limited to a few sessions. We had several unexpected character interactions. Mickey popped up on the pool deck as we were pulling into PV. Minnie came out on deck 4 and high fived my wife while she was running. Goofy showed up at quiet cove pool one day and put a hilarious improv show that had everyone laughing.
The Ship
We had an outside cabin with a large porthole on deck 2. I found the cabin to be ample space for the 4 of us with plenty of storage. The cabin is layed out well and the split bathroom is a huge help. The cabin is starting to show its age a bit. Chipped tiles in the bathroom, stained tub and a faucet handle and drain in the shower that barely worked (this didn't affect our trip at all). The public areas of the ship are very well maintained and with the exception of Goofys pool they are in great condition. Goofys pool could use a good sanding and repainting. Incidentally I know Goofys pool was designed to have a stage over it, but it is a difficult pool if you need to watch your kids in the water. Goofys pool and Mickeys pool were closed several times during the week for accidents 3 hours at a time. Parents need to do a better job of policing when their kids need to go to the bathroom.
The Wonder has the best layout of any ship we have ever been on..period. It is super easy to navigate and Disney does a great job with directional signs. Honestly the more we cruise the more we like this ship size (70,000 to 85,000 GRT)
Kids Club
This is Disney and they get kids, or the kids get them. The kids couldnt say enough good things about the time the spent in the club. On average they choose to be there 4 or 5 hours in a day, usually broken into 2 segments.
Food
Wow! We were impressed. There wasnt much that we didnt like. Loved the bread baskets and specialty spreads every night. Among the highlights was Tritons dinner. Best escargot ever. All of the pastas and chicken dishes we had were excellent. Fishes and beef were also very good. Least favorite menu was the Island menu in Parrot Cay. Honestly, we never really care for any island night menu that they have on any ship. Plutos and Goofys had excellent fast fare. Palo for brunch and dinner was excellent. Room service was fast and good. Breakfast in the dining room was excellent, as were the added touch of Krispy Kremes on the BBB breakfast buffet Pizza was just O.K., but far behind RC and Carnival. Only area we saw for improvement was the salads both in the dining room and in Beach Blanket. Not that the ones we had were not good, but the selection was super limited.
Retail
Good selection for men and kids. My wife wishes they had more t-shirts that were designed specifically for woman. We found the prices consistent with what you would pay at one of the parks.
Embarkation/Debarkation
Among the most organized of any cruise we have been on. Love that Disney does not rush you out of the staterooms like Carnival and RC do.
Overall Impression
We are hooked. We booked our next cruise on board. Now if we could just find a way to cut the price in half that would be excellent. This cruise was a bargain since kids sailed free for us. Cant wait to sail the Dream in 2012.
Justin
Great review. Thank you for including what you liked and didn't like. We've only sailed on the Wonder, but my family also really liked the size and layout of the ship. 
I would like to thank, Andres & Purta for being our servers and Gede was the best room host. Other than getting home a bit later than plan due to our late arrival at San Pedro I enjoyed very minuite of the cruise (execpt being sick).
