This is not a vacation...there's a lot of planning and stress each day to try and force memories. To see all the characters you will spend most of your cruise standing in line. Tickets to see popular characters sell out fast, and even with a ticket you will stand in line for an hour or could even still miss out. You will not get to see/meet all the Marvel characters on Marvel day...it's a huge mess of running around on a crowded boat trying to find the characters or stand in 1-2 hour long lines to try and meet Captain America, Thor, or Captain Marvel. Everything is Marvel thu including random announcements on the speakers but it's heard to hear. If you are handicapped or have dietary restrictions...avoid this ship! Elevators are tiny and slow. We used the narrow stairs the whole time...the stairways are small and covered with kids laying across the floors. The kids pool and water area was broken and closed most of the cruise (including sea day) and their family pool fits like 5 people. Plus, the pool is hard to get into. The tiny pool is unlike anything I've seen and makes no sense. Most of the ship doesn't make sense, poorly laid out and impractical. There's also chairs around the pool, not loungers. The adult pool is normal and twice the size of the family pool but you will see kids walking thru often cause the adult area is in between elevators/stairs and activities...instead of being isolated at the front like on most cruise ships. The soda isn't really "free", only at dinner Service and at the only drink station on the boat located on the top deck in the back. Yes even if you just want a water, you have to go to the top back deck. I literally was dehydrated and starving the whole cruise. Food is horrible...like out of a freezer and microwaved. I had hair in my food, shells on seafood, and food was often raw. The servers definetly need better training. Service each meal was rediculously slow. We waited 10 minutes after seating each meal just to get water and bread. And orders were often wrong. Also, their are very limited food options. If you miss breakfast at 8am in the dinning room, your screwed. There's no food options until 11:30. Dinning rooms are only open for an hour for breakfast and lunch. Room service literally consists of like 3 options: salad, tomato soup and cheese burger. It's not real room service like on any other cruise. Not enough bathrooms. There's one 2 stall bathroom that's hard to get to in between 2 dining rooms, and it flooded during dinner. Seriously, how do you not have bathrooms next to restaurants? Oh and the pool deck had one single stall bathroom inside by the elevators which was hard for kids to get to. The pirate show is not as cool as it was on the Dream. No Jack Sparrow. It's kinda lame actually. The shows put my kids to sleep or we left from boredom. The diner show at Animators Palate and Rapunzales restaurant were amazing...but that's the only entertainment we enjoyed. The characters try to interact but my kids just didn't want to stand in long lines all day, very boring. And the pool and weird hot tubes were impossible to enjoy. The ship is small, overcrowded, filled with unsupervised whiny children running every where and snobby adults fighting to get spots in line or block the view for kids at shows. The deck shows are very hard to see with so many adults pushing to the front and not enough deck space. If your kids not on your shoulders, they won't be able to see anything. The Marvel deck show is cool if your lucky enough to see it. Definetly not nearly worth the price or headaches. My kids also got sick for most the cruise. They have been on 8 cruises and this was the first time ever getting sick. Guest services was not helpful, dining rooms were slow, room service was useless. Not a single person tried to help my sick kids, couldn't even get clean sheets and the beds down for my kids to rest after calling all day for assistance. Needless to say we will stick with Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruises. There's too many restrictions, rules, and procedures...not enough options, flexibility and not relaxing. You can't just go and enjoy. Oh and our excursion was cancelled the day of with little other options or things to do. Read Less

We were a family group of ages girl 4, boy 5, mom 45, aunt 50, dad 52, and myself the grandmother 76. It is hard to find a family vacation that will suit such a disparate group, but we settled on a Disney cruise out of Cape Canaveral. This was a good choice. Since the little ones could go to the "kids club" for many happy hours and give their parents a break, and there was a small adult pool area for we single women to escape the noise, it worked quite well for everyone in our party. The children were kept so busy and happy, they cried when they had to leave the ship at the end. For the children and their parents it was a great success. Adult areas were a disappointment. There was no library. When I inquired I was directed to Cove Cafe, the extra pay specialty coffee area. It had 5, count 'em 5, books! There were a few old magazines, too. No other reading material was on board. Disney movies played on outdoor screens, in an indoor theatre and all were available on the stateroom TV all the time - which is what they wanted us to watch. The adult pool was tiny with an attached bar, so it was usually crowded. Mostly people stood in place chatting with drinks in hand, their buckets of beer on the side of the pool. It was impossible to swim. The children's pools were larger but with kids in water wings, throwing beach balls and splashing about it was not a place to swim either. We had adjoining balcony staterooms 8520 and 8522 which are quite far forward, but this was intentional to try to get away from some of the noise and thumping of children's feet running up and down the corridors. Amidships was where the atrium with loud music, kids screaming, shouted amplified instructions for games, and endless lineups for meeting the Disney characters went on day and night. Many families with babies and small children tended to have cabins amidships or aft where it was quicker and easier to go up to the buffet and the children's pools. Being forward was quieter and the little ones were able to nap in the afternoons if needed. It also my single daughter, who found the constant noise (and unrelenting music even piped into the hallways) rather oppressive as the week went on, was able to retreat into our quiet stateroom for a break. The ship is huge. It was a long way to walk from forward to aft. As the grandmother with fairly recent foot surgery, and I arrived with a folding wheelchair, anticipating the long walks. My single daughter pushed me in my wheelchair at times, but the hallways are carpeted making pushing it a bit difficult, so more often I walked slowly with my cane. On the other hand, the wheelchair was handy as sort of a double stroller to push the little ones around when their legs were tired. I saw some other older people who had rented electric scooters from Disney to get around the huge ship, and if you have someone in your party who has mobility issues, I would recommend that instead. The Caribbean ports were fine, and Castaway Key was lovely as a beach day. But Falmouth Jamaica was not a Jamaican experience, it was no different than a nice shopping mall in Florida. Designed with a new pier including a large new pretty shopping area fenced off from the rest of island, there was not much to do except shop. Beaches were 30 minutes away and to get out of the fenced area to find a taxi involved a long walk through all the shops to a gate at the end with security guards. We didn't bother. The adult pool was vacated. Most of the regulars had gone ashore, so I was actually able to have a couple of short swims that day in the adult pool. . Embarkation and debarkation went smoothly. Restaurant service was excellent. We were assigned dinner each night in one of the 3 restaurants. Two were nice, especially Royal Court, but Animator's Palate had screens all around the room, and a constant Nemo show running with loud dialogue. It was meant to entertain the children but they weren't interested, and we adults couldn't hear each other speak. So since we were assigned that room for three nights on a 7 day voyage, we were not happy. After one night in Animator's Palate we didn't go again and were forced to eat elsewhere. However, we were able to eat in an extra pay adult specialty restaurant, Palo, while the children were looked after in "kids club". It all worked out in the end. The ship is kept spotless, and the crew are constantly cleaning both inside public areas and the outside of the ship. Despite many small fingers and little runny noses, with hand sanitizer gel and cleaning wipes everywhere, we never were concerned about germs or getting ill on board. Read Less

Went on this cruise because a friend at work had taken a 3 day Disney cruise to see if it was worth the cost. She came back raving so we thought we'd give it a try. We've been on about 5 other cruises on different lines but never did Disney because of the cost. Embarkation: Spent the 3 days prior to the cruise at WDW and used Disney travel to get to the pier. They picked up our luggage at our hotel room in the morning. We went to the lobby of our hotel to get ready to go on the bus. Everything was seamless and well organized. Didn't see our bags until we got to our cabin. When the bus got to the port, we got off, spent about 5 minutes going through security another 5 minutes to check in and get on the ship. It was that fast and easy. Cabin The ship was more than we expected. Disney details and magic everywhere. We got an oceanview cabin on deck 2. The room was slightly larger than other cabins we've been in before with a ton of storage. The 2 bathrooms (1 with a shower and 1 with a toilet) was really nice. The only annoying thing was having to use your card to get the electricity to work. Read reviews that said to take a throw away card to use instead and this worked like a charm. The bed was absolutely fabulous! THE most comfortable bed we've had on a cruise and we've been on about 5 others on different cruise lines. The TV had most of the more popular Disney movies available complementary. We watched them while getting ready and went through about 5 of them. Dining The rotational dining was a lot nicer than I thought it would be. The buffet was amazing. On other cruise lines the buffet is good but seems an afterthought. Most food in the buffet on other cruises can be hit or miss. The food in the buffet on Disney is perfect every time! It was as good as some of the MDR food on other ships. The food in the main dining rooms was fabulous! My wife and I have noticed over the years that the quality of the food in the MDRs on other ships has slipped since the emergence of specialty restaurants. The cruise lines want to upsell the specialty restaurants and so they save the really good food for them and allow the MDR food to slip in quality. Not so on Disney! The MDR food was great. We chose the late dining time to avoid as many children as possible. Disney didn't miss a trick. They sat us with 2 other couples who were virtually the same as we were. We were all within a few years apart in age. It was very enjoyable. Entertainment The entertainment was Disney. There were mostly really good shows. A few non-Disney ones that were generally pretty good. The late night entertainment was the only good late night entertainment we have experienced on all our cruises and went to it every night. There was so much to do all day every day. Much more than others. The Disney Cruise Line app was fabulous. It took all the info from the Navigator and put it in an electronic form. You could save the things you wanted to do and they'd send you a reminder. Service The service was top notch. Have never had bad service on any cruise. This was a step above those however. Disembarkation Easiest I've ever experienced. The main thing about Disney is the little details everywhere that immerse you in the whole experience. They're everywhere and too many to list. Even if you aren't a total Disney Geek you'll love it. If you are a Disney Geek you will be in heaven! Read Less

We used to be BIG fans of Disney cruises. We just went on our 7th and were rather disappointed. The things that we loved, especially the kids club and character meetings, have been ruined. We took our first Disney Cruise on the Magic my youngest was 3. The Lil' Cruisers (ages 3-5) were in the Oceaneers Club. The Older kids, including my daughter, went to the Oceaneers Lab. It as perfect! Now, all children aged 3-12 are thrown together in a chaotic melee. Our 3 year old granddaughter hated it. She lasted an hour and when we returned to pick her up she was left alone in a chair with silent tears streaming down her cheeks. NOT the Disney I remember and certainly not the Disney my children remember. The characters used to roam the ship decks and Castaway Cay. Now, you endure long lines to get a picture. And gone are the days of turning in your autograph book to get missed signatures. Needless to say, our next Cruise may be Royal Caribbean, who now holds the #1 spot for kids club reviews. They still separate by age groups, so there may be something to that. I really hope that someone at Disney reads this. We were heartbroken by the negative changes. Fortunately, it was a short Cruise. I would've been really miffed had we invested in a weeklong Cruise. Read Less

Jan 27-Feb 3 Southern Caribbean. This was one of the best Disney Cruises we have been on. The service, food, entertainment, ports and condition of ship are all top notch. This is a smaller boat in the DCL line, however it lacked nothing (except the crowded feeling of larger ships). The shows on this boat are not to be missed, especially Frozen. The kids club does an excellent job of making the kids feel not only entertained ,but comfortable. Our children are 5 and 12. Our oldest enjoyed every minute of Edge and our youngest fought us to leave the kids club at pick up time as she was having such a good time. We met so many wonderful people on this boat and felt that was due to the intimacy of the smaller ship. We visited Aruba, Bonaire, Antigua and St. Maarten. We did not care for Antigua as we felt the area right off the ship was full of people haggling us for a taxi, braids... you name it. I would highly recommend booking an excursion in this area or staying on the boat. We enjoyed all the other ports and felt very safe. We cannot wait to book another cruise on the Disney Wonder. Read Less

I was on the Wonder before its last major drydock and at the time, found a few deficiencies. After having been on the Magic last summer, I noticed that Disney has been spending a bit more time taking care of the Wonder and the ship appears to be in great shape for a 20-year old ship. This cruise featured a relatively unique Southern Caribbean itinerary for Disney, where they spend less than a month a year. Stops included Antigua, Bonaire, Aruba and St.Marteen. Most islands had their charm - with the potential exception of St.Marteen which is still in rough shape one year after Irma. Service in the main dining room was beyond excellent. Great attention to details, and allergy concerns. I made a comment around the food not being to its usual standard on night 3 and let's just say that food quality (and quantity) was not an issue on any other nights afterward. I found the buffet in Cabana to be a little better on the Magic during a European cruise. Food at Cabana's was generally quite overcooked - although no complaints on overall quality and quantity. Our main server team was one of the best we have had. We also met throughout the ship other dining staff that we had on previous cruises and they remembered us. We had brunch and dinner once at Palo and the experience was excellent as always Kids club on Disney is always excellent. This particular cruise had a little less programming than usual - with a bit more open house time. Still plenty to do for kids though. Both the Club and Lab are very modern and have been regularly updated throughout the years. The main Disney shows were good, with the highlight being Frozen. The non-Disney entertainers on this group were ok but I have seen better on other DCL cruises. Photography staff were very friendly and efficient. We recognized a few staff from a previous cruise, and they did recognize us as well - and this led to some great memories. The one area where the Wonder is a bit weaker is on board water activities. Only one main, relatively small pool (for families) and one water slide. Adult area is well maintained with good entertainment and drink options. Loved this DCL cruise and already booked on next year's version of this cruise. Very adequate gym, forward, on Deck 9 with great "bridge-like" views The port of San Juan as an Embarkation port is a bit underwhelming but check-in was very quick and so was boarding once it started. The port is in the midst of major renovations so it will probably look great in a few years from now. On shore excursions, we had 1 excellent one, 2 very good ones, and one so-so. Value for money on some of those wasn't great, but this is typical of cruise lines booked port adventures. Read Less

We loved pretty much everything about the cruise we went on. We were a little worried, thinking, how much better can it be over Royal Caribbean. The price was more than double what we could have done on RCI, but our daughter really wanted to go on a Disney cruise, so we gave it a shot. Well, the saying, you get what you pay for, totally fits in this situation. We flew to San Juan a day early and stayed at Marriott's Stellaris Resort & Casino. The reason we chose this hotel is because it is the hotel that Disney offers transportation from. We met at the Disney desk in the morning, when told to meet, and were relatively quickly put on a tour bus heading to port. When we arrived at port, we were told to NOT get into line. Once everyone was off the bus, we were lead around the huge line of people, directly to the front of the security line. That was a great perk for the transportation. The whole boarding process was WAY smoother than we have ever experienced on RCI or NCL. Mickey and Minnie made an appearance for photos too. The ship, although ~20 years old, was extremely well maintained. It looked pretty much perfect all over. While we were onboard, there was activity from the staff to fix random things, keeping everything looking good. Their activity was never in the way though. Our cabin was 6142. The cabin itself was great. The layout was really nice, with plenty of room. The bed was a lot better than any other cruise for us. Our daughter slept on the pull out sofa, which was actually quite comfortable. This cabin has the Navigator's Verandah, so it was surrounded by metal walls and did not have a glass railing, but metal. It was still very nice, with plenty of room to see around. The only negative I have about the cabin was the noise. We never herd noise from other cabins, but we heard noise and felt a lot of vibration each time we came into port and left port. I am pretty sure it was every time the side propulsion was used to move the ship sideways. Our cabin host was fantastic, and always figured out our schedule to get in when were not there and be done before we came back. A few days, we had pretty odd schedules and assumed we would run into her, but we never did. Our dining attendants were also fantastic. Not only was the service impeccable, but the food was also amazing. Our waiter pretty much demanded that we order everything that we think we might like, so we had several meals each night. Everything we had was very good, and we are pretty picky eaters. Our daughter became a big fan of Pete's Boiler Bites, so would sometimes skip dinner, but was still with us. They made her feel right at home and did not make her feel bad for not eating in the dining room. The entertainment was a lot better than we expected. The acting/singing/dancing was similar to what you would see on Broadway. The character experiences were really great as well. Not only the planning/intervals of them coming out, but also the actual characters. They didn't just stand there and be in a pic. They interacted with each person as they came up through the line. The southern Caribbean is great, and the ports are very nice. We had a great time at each port. We made excursion plans through Disney on all but one port. During the St. Maarten excursion, which was through Disney, the only complaint I have is that we were handed off 3 or 4 times to different representatives, who didn't really make it clear what we were doing. We were just following them, but during the hand-off, communication would have decreased the confusion. We absolutely loved it, did the $250 future cruise booking, and are already planning another. That should speak for itself. Read Less

This was our first Disney cruise and I was so nervous about the amount of money it cost. However, I get the whole Disney cruise thing now. If you have kids it’s the thing to do! The daily entertainment was great. The nightly shows were amazing! Broadway quality. Food was, for the most part good. We found the dining room service to be a bit uneven. Great one night, poor another. We did really enjoy the different themed dining rooms. Castaway Cay was one of the best parts of the cruise. By far the best cruise ship private island I have been to. A few minor complaints: 1) If you want pics with characters be prepared to stand in line. Especially on Marvel day. 2) the kids club is not a technology free zone. The kids are encouraged to play with video games and iPads. I found this very disappointing for Disney. 3) The dining rooms are loud! If your child (or spouse) is sensitive to noise bring hearing protection. Overall a great experience and we will probably do it again. Read Less

We wanted our grand kids to be immersed in Disney, meet their characters, and experience a first cruise with this atmosphere. Upon signing up, and of course it is expensive, many limitations (cancellation, per Disney, is not lenient) , it was essentially impossible, from the get go, to obtain tickets for the kids to see characters at 'meet and greet' (aka, a total overkill to obtain profit ). Wife tried within hours of availability, and many were sold out. To begin with, in my opinion, the characters should be mingling with the kids, freely available, and every effort should be made to make sure every kid can see every character they desire, at some time. One character, Dr. Strange (appropriate) was greeting kids at an impromptu meet (they did have these) , and we were in line, 4 of us left, - he up and just left - never even looked at us. Unbelievable. The food was good, better at the buffet on Deck 9 really, as much of the food in the dining rooms was disappointing really. Tough steaks, lobster that did not even taste like lobster, and just many dishes that were not the quality it used to be. Most of the staff were very, very kind and helpful. If you have an issue however, don't expect it to be addressed well. You'll get all kinds of apologies, typical, and of course the wish for a 'magical day', but not much is done. Sorry, sorry, sorry. We saw a lot of throwing up, and one of our grand kids got it too, last day thankfully. They do try to prevent it, and I personally think something needs to change with how buffets are done -as many people, kids and adults, contaminate the food one way or the other - I don't know the solution, but it absolutely happens frequently. Overall, we had a good time, good cruise. I wish they would skip Grand Cayman, the visit is so short, what can you do ,especially with little kids, and their private island, Castaway Cay, is wonderful. I wish they would just take us there, spend two days or whatever they can there. Far better. That was a good stop. It is expensive, the shows were very good, but again, most things are very competitive to see or get, and so many things you have to get tickets for, sign up in advance - not for me. We have cruised many times over the years, and this seems to be the trend - but I don't like it. I like to be able to go to whatever show, event, as I can. Disney just seems to be becoming more and more commercial, business and profit oriented , and the 'magic' is becoming harder and harder to fine. Read Less

They cost more than a “normal” cruise so we wondered if it would be worth it... The ship is apparently smaller than the newer ones. That said, it was the perfect size for our family with small kids. I think about 2700 guests and almost 1000 cast members weee onboard. There were always new people to see, but we also saw the same people numerous times. It was constantly being cleaned and always immaculate. Cabins were bigger than other ships - a real treat for us with kids. We were also able to get adjoining rooms...a nice feature I hadn’t done before on a boat. Full bath tub was great! We loved the rotational dining! They were able to easily accommodate gluten allergies and special dietary restrictions which can be very worrisome if you’re the one with the issue. Additionally, the servers were amazing and so was the food. We got what we paid for - duck, steak, prime rib, lobster, foie gras, sashimi, truffles...and this was the main dining that was included. The classic dinsey shows were exceptional. The movie theater was a nice touch with movies not yet out and 3D options for others. Kids Club YES!!! My kids loved it...it was huge with so many activities. Spa was run of the mill. Prices were reasonable, but treatments and service were meh. Why do they always have to give their sales pitch at the end? I hate that! We just paid to relax and now you’re going to come at me with $650 worth of herbal supplements? Welcome back, stress. Service was outstanding all around. Obviously, you’ll encounter a grumpy staff member wherever you go, but even with these people working 80 hours a week, a complaint was rare. Ports were great. Shore excursions not really worth it. Overpriced and lacked enthusiasm. We enjoyed the days we hailed taxis best. So we had a slight hemorrhage of funds, but it really was quite magical. Being treated with respect and having to worry about nothing, knowing your kids would be safe for a few hours so you could hang by the adult pool, turning a corner and running into Mickey Mouse...exhausted from the excitement that filled our souls. Read Less