Disney Wonder Review
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This is my third cruise with DCL. We took 2 cruises on the Disney Dream in 2012 before trying out the Disney Wonder for the first time. First, even though I will share the good, bad and everythign in between, let me say that I still think Disney is the premiere cruise line for families with children, and for adults w/o children for that matter who seek out the magical Disney experience. We were uncertain about the older Wonder ship, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that the service quality, staff friendliness, shows, kids activities, and ship cleanliness were all superb on this ship just like it was on the newer Dream.
I will quickly go through the list of things I think Disney can and should improve about the Wonder experience to make it even better, but all in all still a great cruise experience. This is out of Disney's control, but the Port of Miami check-in procedures seemed more hectic and chaotic than checking in at Port Canaveral. We arrived at 11:00 for early check-in (that was our scheduled time to arrive), but they didn't clear the ship until 12:15 for those already checked-in to enter the ship. That was a frustrating full hour to just sit around with absolutely nothing to do, no snacks, no nothing in that tiny waiting area. We never had an experience like that at Port Canaveral. Those ships at that Port cleared by 11:00 on both occasions for us.
The food was very good overall, but we did find that the food quality was not quite as good on the Wonder compared to the Dream. Animator's Palate was spectacular as far as the dining room experience. What a neat place to eat dinner! We really liked the atmosphere and food at Triton's too. Parrot Cay was just okay, and unfortunately we got assigned to eat there 2 out of the 4 nights. Our waiters were friendly, but they seemed overworked and stressed out part of the time. The ship was packed (full), so that might have explained why we felt the waiters were so slammed and assigned too many tables. Not their fault. We never once felt this way about the wait staff on the Dream.