Disney Wonder Review

4.0 / 5.0
574 reviews

Disney Wonder - Bahamas

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Disney Wonder
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Bless3
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Oct 2007
Traveled with children

Our family cruised on the disney wonder on a 3 night cruise from October 25th to the 28th. We are experienced travels who have been on many nice vacations, although this was our first cruise experience. My husband and I traveled with our children ages 6, 4, and 16 months. We had a wonderful time, although it was a fast paced vacation and not a relaxing trip. We would cruise on disney again someday, but would choose a longer cruise next time, so that we would have more time to relax and not be on the move constantly to try to do and see everything in 3 days. Next time we would go on a cruise, we would also choose to fly in at least the day before. This time we traveled the same day as sailing and it was too stressful. We were at the tail end of people embarking onto the ship and missed some of the activities and food and settling in time before the safety drill started. The disney wonder is a beautiful ship. It was the nicest looking ship in the port. everything is elegant and very clean. Our state room had just enough room for us and plenty of bed space for our family of five. The split bathroom does help. The verandah was very nice to have. It was great to step out onto it and watch us sailing and docking into the ports. The disney ship seemed to have the most verandahs than the other cruise ships that we saw at the ports. The safety drill was very quick and smooth. All of our service was very good. The activities were lots of fun. The sail away party was great. Watching the boat pull away from shore as people waved to us with their big Mickey Mouse gloves was neat. All three restaurants were nice. We liked Tritons the best and parrot cay second best. Animator's Palette was ok, but we were expecting more of a show after all we had heard and read about it. On the last night it was our sons birthday and they brought a cake out to him, sang to him, and he got a birthday badge to wear so that everyone on board knew it was his birthday. The food was decent but very bountiful. All inclusive is so nice. Anytime you want something, it is there. Beach blanket buffet was nice for breakfast. It is crowded and you feel like you have to eat fast, just because the atmosphere is kind of quick and crowded. All the food available by the pool areas was good and readily accessible. Our kids liked the pool areas. The mickey mouse pool was very fun for kids. Our 16 month old could could only go in the ears of the mickey mouse pool or the fountain area. This was fine for her because she is not that into the pool scene yet. If you had an older toddler though, that wasn't potty trained yet, I would advise waiting to cruise until they were out of swim diapers. How could you tell a child around 2 or 2 1/2 yrs. old that they couldn't go in the pool. Our two older kids liked the waterslide. The water slide is only for kids though. I wished that adults could have gone down it. The other family pool that was under the big screen tv was nice too. It is a deeper pool, so your kids either have to be good swimmers or you need to go in with them. The adult pool looked very nice, but my husband and I didn't use it because we were always with the kids. We checked out the oceaneers club a little bit, but did not stay long. Our kids didn't really want to be left there. It was ok and well ran, but it was too much like a regimented school program or day care. I just kept thinking that my kids go to enough school and kids programs that why should they have to be in something like that when we are on vacation. It was kind of dark and gloomy in there too. We go on vacation to spend time together, so we didn't leave our kids in there or use the kids club at all. The live shows at night in the Walt Disney theatre are superb. We saw all three shows. We liked Disney Dreams and the Golden Mickeys the best. Hercules the Musical was good, although we liked the other show better. The comedy in Hercules was really funny, but it was more for adults. Our kids didn't really understand the Hercules concept, because it is a character and story that they do not know very well. I thought there would be more stores on the ship. Mickey's Mates has all the disney stuff and cruise ship merchandise. The other store has more upscale disney merchandise. Shutters, the photo store, where you go to see and buy the photos they take of you on the cruise was organized very well. It was very easy to find your pictures and they were helpful in helping you select photo packages to accommodate the number of photos you wanted to buy. The pirates of the Caribbean party was lots of fun. Loads of dancing and it was cool to see Mickey fly down from the top of the ship. The fireworks were cool. Disney is the only cruise ship that has permission to shoot off fireworks while at sea. The fireworks were short and they only shoot off one at a time, but it was a very fun touch. Stand on the top of the ship, deck 10 on the port side, to see the best for the sail away party and the pirate party. The late night buffet is unbelievable after the pirate party. They were handing out whole turkey legs, loaded nachos, crepes, cookies, ham, and more. You will be looking down onto the show and the crowd. For the evening parties and activities after dinner it is very hard for the kids to stay awake, because they are so exhausted. Every night we and lots of other families had to carry our sleeping kids back to the stateroom. Bring a light weight stroller if you had a young child or 3 or more kids that and not enough arms among your family to carry sleeping or tired kids. You are allowed to use your stroller on the ship. The high school musical dance party was very fun. My daughters and I had fun dancing and singing. Now Castaway Cay, Disney's own private island was the highlight of our trip. It was fabulous. Have your beach bag packed and your clothes layed out the night before, so you can easily get dressed, have breakfast, and be off the ship early to enjoy your day. Stay on the island as long as you can, before going back to the ship. The ship docks right on the island. It is a 7-10 minute walk from the ship to the beginning of the beaches. There is a tram, but skip it on the way to the beach. Along the walk there are many photo opportunities that you can't miss. We had our family picture in from of the entire ship, with chip and dale, with mickey mouse, donald duck, and a silly fishing scene. The flying dutchman ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is also anchored on the island . This is so cool to see. Make a point to not miss getting your picture taken with Jack Sparrow in front of the pirate ship. It was funny that I ran all the way up the beach carrying my baby and trying encourage my 4 yr. old son to run faster in his flip flops to make the Jack Sparrow photo time by the flying dutchman before it ended. We made it to Jack Sparrow just as the disney worker was roping off the area. When he started to say that they weren't letting anymore people line up, I pleaded for about 3 seconds that I ran with my baby and dragged my son there and he graciously let us through, since I obviously had my hands full. I was so grateful for that. The beach was great. We stayed on the family beach. The beach is totally protected, so there are no waves and no dangerous sea creatures to worry about. Beautiful sand and tons of chairs and plenty of shade with lots of umbrellas and palm trees. If you never snorkeled, this is a great place to learn. There are no waves so it is easy to get in and out of the water. We brought our own masks and snorkels, but rented the fins and the flotation vest that is mandatory to wear if you snorkel. There are hardly any fish to sea, but there are hidden ship wreck items underwater to look for. Look for the sunken Mickey. We have had a lot of snorkeling experience in Hawaii, so it wasn't the best snorkeling for my husband and I, but my oldest daughter loved it. It was the perfect opportunity for her to learn and gain confidence in the calm waters. There are also tubes and rafts you can rent. Be aware that the snorkel and float items do not need to be returned when you rent them. People leave them on the beach. Therefore, towards the end of the day people started taking equipment off the beach to use that wasn't theirs. Our snorkeling fins and my daughter's mask was taken from our pile of personal stuff before we were done with it, when it was obvious we were still on the island. We panicked for a minute that our personal snorkels and masks were taken that we had brought from home, but luckily that didn't happen. The lunch on Castaway Cay was excellent! Tons and tons of food that was good. I wish I could have had more room to eat more. The chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream was good. My son like watching the crab races that day too. If your little girls want to get their hair braided, wait until you get to Castaway Cay to do it. You can get your hair braided on the ship, but there are only 2 women who do it and you need an appointment. On the island you do not need an appointment and there are quite a few women there to braid hair. You can walk right up and have it done. They are very good and quick at doing it too. On the last day there is a disbarking presentation in the theatre that they say one person from your family has to go to. We didn't go to it, because we didn't want to cut our castaway cay time short. It was totally fine not to go to it. There was plenty of info printed up to read in our room. Embarking and disbarking the ship was very smooth. Disney has it down to a science. We loved the fact that our bags were automatically transferred and that we never had to carry our luggage and could bypass check in at the airport. Customs was very smooth and quick. Make sure you read and follow all directions, do all your registering online, have all the proper paper work filled out and accessible and your trip will be quick and smooth. As far as sea sickness, we had no problems. We were prepared with medicines and patches just in case, but we didn't need to use anything. You can feel movement when sailing, but it is not bad at all. If you get a stateroom towards mid ship, that does help. The front and back of the ship does sway more. We had a fun time and would do it again, although not right away. Someday when we cruise again I would wait until our youngest gets potty trained and go on a longer cruise to try to get more relaxation. We would also fly at least a day before and get a non-stop flight without layovers. It was a great cruise for families and there were also many people there without kids!

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Cabin 4A
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