The Disney Wonder is indeed wonderful except in one area: Dining. Both the food quality and the dining options were substandard. When I worked at Disneyland for 3 years we were told that high menu prices are justified ONLY IF the food is first rate. On the Disney Cruise we were served steaks that were tough, shrimp that had a definite bad taste from being too old, dry chicken, and cheaper cuts of meat that we had to cut the gristle and fat away. The food is very fancy but not very good. Cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean cost less than half the Disney cruise and have better quality food and dining options. As to the dining options, other cruise lines offer a buffet with a wide selection as an alternative to the sit-down dinner. On the Disney Wonder the buffet, “Cabanas”, offered only menu service. Room service menu was very limited and while you can order a full breakfast on other cruise lines, Disney Wonder offers you only a Continental Breakfast similar to what you would find in the lobby of Motel 6. Other than the expensive and hard-to-reserve “Palo” the dining choices become extremely limited. If you want something other than the sit-down dinner your best bet is the low quality fast food served outside by the pool. A warmed over slice from Pinocchio’s Pizza can be had most of the day. There are other places with snacks but very limited times. The Crown and Fin Pub has hot dogs with stale buns for 1 hour (10:30 to 11:30). Tried ordering a pretzel from the Pub and was told they had to be ordered in advance. Please don’t get me wrong: Everything else was outstanding. Great service and caring, helpful employees, wonderful shows, amazing program for our kids, immaculate ship, easy embarkation, and everything else you would expect from a first-class expensive Disney cruise. Walt Disney once sampled the food at the Employees Cafeteria at Disneyland and said, “I wouldn’t serve this to my dog!”. Very soon the food was upgraded to the same wonderful food served to the guests. I hope Walt’s successors will do the same for the food quality and availability on the Disney Cruise Ships. Read Less

We were a party of 7 adults (from 20 to 76 years old) all on our first cruise. We departed from New-York and disembarked in Quebec City. Both embarkation and disembarkation went exceptionally well. We never felt like there was almost 2000 people getting on and off the ship. The Disney Magic is a wonderful ship. We enjoyed that it it not too big or too small. We had plenty of public rooms to hang around and every single decor detail was perfect. The ship is in really good shape for its age. Crew members are working day and night on repainting and cleaning, making the ship look as new. The most outstanding thing is the cleanliness. From the pools to the lobby to little corners of public spaces. Everything shines and crew members are cleaning 24/7. The furnitures all over the ship looked and felt high quality. We were 3 adults in a cabin and 4 in the other. We were anxious that the single beds would be uncomfortable for adults, but they happened to be very comfy (my 20 years old sister is very picky and said she slept very well in those beds). We all had great nights of sleep. The deck 2 is really quiet all day and night. The cabin is so big that we had enough room and private space for 4 adults ! There is more than enough storage space. The split bathroom (one with toilet and sink and the other with bathtub/shower and sink made getting dressed and everything really smooth with 4 adults in the same cabin. The thick curtain to split the cabin in two was also really useful. The food on the ship was overall very good and better than i expected (i read a lot of reviews before cruising). We tried the specialty restaurant Palo for dinner. The food was good but not exceptional. We wouldn't recommend it, since the food in the main dinning rooms was really good. The service was outstanding in all the complimentary venues. There was a lot of variety in the buffet menu and the offering was different every time we went. The food at Lumiere's for lunch was excellent and the service really smooth. The ambiance was perfect when we wanted to escape the noise of the buffet and have a 3 course meal for lunch. We knew that Disney Cruise Line was renowned for its onboard entertainment and we learned why. The quality of the shows is amazing. Even the older ones in our party, who don't know a lot about Disney Characters and Movies, had a wonderful time. It really was outstanding for a ship of that size. There was always something to do all day long. We never managed to do everything. One great thing was that the pools were heated, which was perfect for colder Fall weather. We enjoyed the quiet adults only pool. There wasn't as many kids as we expected on the ship and we don't see them a lot since they are spending most of their time in the kids clubs. We chose a Disney cruise for the outstanding guest service and our expectations were exceeded ! Every crew member was friendly and very professional. That service is worth the price ! The excursions were a little too expensive. We visited a Hydro-electric Dam in Baie-Comeau and we enjoyed our tour, but the price was a little bit too much. For the other ports, we walked around by ourselves since the ship was docked close to everything. Special mention to Saguenay, where the welcoming celebrations were amazing ! The fireworks in Québec were also incredible ! Reminded us of the ones in Disney World ! We already booked our next Disney cruise for next September ! Read Less

This was our 22nd Disney Cruise. We have been on all the ships but the Magic is still the most magical. We were on the transatlantic cruise that left Dover on Sept 9 and arrived in NY on Sept 20. We had four days at sea to cross the Atlantic. The staff, entertainment, food was all top notch. There was lots to do during the day when at sea. Cooking class, cocktail tasting, movies, workshops with a Disney executive, q and a session with Broadway stars, character breakfast, frozen character meets, princess gathering, characters everywhere, the lists go on and on. We had the second seating which means dinner was st 830. Fine with us. Our servers were Bianca from South Africa and MerthA from Indonesia. Lovely hardworking. We were very pleased. We had dinner In the main dining room every night except for one dinner at Palo. We always love Palo! I could eat nothing but their antipasto and be fine. The new Rapunzel dining experience was terrific. Great singing and music and character interaction. We stopped in Portland England and took excursion to Salisbury cathedral. It was excellent. And in Cork Ireland to see Blarney Castle. When we got across to Canada we had two stops in Nova Scotia snd one in New Brunswick. Tours we took were good and the weather wAs perfect. In fact the entire crossing was very good. Mainly sunny although chilly. But there were lots of swimmers because the adult pool was quite warm. We brought our disabled adult daughter and her best friend. And they had the usual great time tracking characters and watching movies. We came into NY about 5 am. We like hundreds others got up to see the statute of liberty. Another magical moment. . We were in an ocean view on 6, 6010. Perfect for us. Close to elevator. Read Less

My family thoroughly enjoyed our Disney cruise on the Magic. We flew from the US to London and used Disney transportation to get to the departure port of Dover. Disney employs local people to do the ground work such as greeting and driving as well as leading tour groups in each destination. Because these are people who live in the destination areas, they are able to provide more interesting and varied commentary on the locations and Disney seems to do well with vetting and training to ensure that they live up to the Disney standards for customer service. As an example, we had a guide in Cobh, Ireland who serenaded us with Irish folk songs as our bus meandered back to the ship from Blarney Castle after making us all laugh with his dry humor. Our cabin was an outside room with a balcony. At about 300 square feet, it never seemed crowded, even with four adult sized occupants (mom, dad, and two teens) in it. We arranged with our cabin host to have the kids' bunks kept open all week. There was still plenty of space to walk back and forth between the desk and the lower bunk to access the balcony and the part of the room closest to it. We did not have any issues with noise, though we were located on deck 8. The food on the ship varied from just ok to truly scrumptious. The fast service places on deck were decent but not memorable. The buffet at Cabanas was constantly changing and we did find that they quality of the food there was hit or miss. Nothing was inedible, but some dishes were quite bland or seemed to have too many ingredients thrown in to "elevate" them. My husband loved the eggs benedict. I had a curry dish one lunch that was fantastic. The kids always found something they liked. I had informed the staff in advance that I am gluten intolerent. My server went above and beyond to make sure that I always had something palatable to eat. Each night she showed me the dinner menus for the next evening, and took my order in advance. She also went as far as to preorder gluten free Mickey waffles for my breakfast at cabanas and a gluten free pizza from Pinnochio's for my lunch. The three main dining rooms on the Magic are Rapunzel's, Lumiere's, and the Animator's Palate. The food is equally good at all three. What makes these places different from one another is the theme and entertainment. The Animator's Palate is my favorite. The sketches on the wall screens change and light up along with accompanying music. The waitstaff become part of the show as dinner ends. Because our cruise was in England, Ireland, and Scotland in September, we did not take much advantage of the pools on board, despite the fact that they were heated. Mainly these were utilized by younger children and their parents. I felt bad for the lifeguards on duty, who wore winter jackets with their shorts and had few charges to watch. I have heard about people fighting for deck chairs on other cruises, but this was certainly not an issue for us! The live shows (I saw three different musicals in my week on board) were Broadway quality. Each was just an hour long and over too soon for me, though perhaps a better length for younger audience members. These shows feature familiar music and characters along with some very cool special effects and actors frequently run up and down the aisles as part of the performance. I have saved the best for last. The most memorable part of this cruise for my family: the Disney cast members. Many Disney employees went above and beyond to make the week a great one for us. Mariya and Anto, our servers, were so fun and helpful. Davisson the photographer always went the extra mile to make my shy teen smile. Our host, Ferdie, was efficient and accommodating. Some people may hesitate to choose the older ships in the Disney fleet because they are smaller and older. Disney has done a great job of updating the Magic and I think it is a perfect size. The magic and the Wonder can carry 2,400 passengers. The Dream and Fantasy have a capacity of 4,000 passengers each! I am not sure that we would get the same feeling of knowing our cast members or fellow passengers if there were twice as many people on board. Read Less

After being blown away with the service provided by Disney cruise lines last year, we opted to book another cruise during our trip. We picked British Isles with the same Disney Magic that we sailed last year. Let's recap from my last review, everything was perfect except for the food. I had to go out of my way to truly rate that food as below average. It was not enjoyable at all. I wrote about it here and I wrote to Disney about it. I also included my concern in the survey they ask you to fill out on the last day. I was quite happy to see that Disney Magic was dry docked a few months before our cruise which means during our cruise, the ship was already refreshed and cleaned. The biggest change we noticed was changing Cariocas dining to Tangled-themed dining. For my family and I, it was a welcomed change. Rapunzel's table now offers live entertainment for the diners where Rapunzel goes around singing and taking pictures with the guest. A nice addition compared to the dull and dark Cariocas dining experience. Food, now I'm sure many wants to know how the food is, I am happy to say that the kitchen has improved 180 degrees. The food offering was great! Dinners was spectacular and enjoyable. Everything was seasoned well and executed very well. They erased my worse fear of a poor dining experience. Foodies can now rejoice! Service. As always, 100% on point. Our main steward Esther (table 15) provided the best experience possible. Her skills match those of Michelin-rated restaurant servers. Disney should be pleased to have her on-board. Her skill-set and attention to detail is top-notch. She deserves to be moved up to management. It would be a shame and a disservice to her skills and knowledge if she stays as a steward. She was very attentive, quick, and caring. She really took care of our table 15. Her assistant Irena was also good but not as good as Esther. She had her challenges as the days went on but proved herself on the last day that she can hang. Our room steward Jojo has always been spectacular ensuring our room is always clean and stocked up with items that are always needed. His attention to detail is also appreciated. Little things that he did that other guest may not have notice doesn't go unnoticed with me. For example, we have very long iphone charging cables. We used the USB ports on the clock right bedside the bed, I guess he noticed that it was always hanging to the floor, one day I came back to notice that he wrapped it with Velcro to keep it clean and tight. He arranges our papers on the table for us and bathroom has always kept clean and hair free. Spa. This was such a treat. Our 3 year old daughter gifted us a couple's massage spa by going to the Oceaneer's club for 2 hours. Our 75 min couple's hot stone spa was amazing. Disney employs very good masseuse who has "the touch". My wife and I feel asleep and felt relaxed & recharged after the treatment. It was very pricey at $400+ for 75 minutes but well worth it. Oceaneer's club. This is probably my only qualm with Disney's offering. The oceaneer's club caters to kids between 3 to 12 years old. I feel that the gap is too big. We were able to use it twice for my 3 year old. one for 1 hour and the other one for 2 hours when we went to the spa. Both times, I saw my daughter just on the ipad playing alone. At home, she does not get any ipad time unless we're on vacation which we allow her unlimited time with the ipad/iphone except on bus rides and dining. There was very little interaction for the staff to push kids to do activities that are more mentally and physically challenging. I know they cannot force kids to do what they want but, offering a structured activities will allow the kids to do things as a group...like school. The ratio of staff to kids is pretty good so I did not understand why this is not done. After the 2nd time our daughter was there, we decided as a family to just stay together and we're fortunate that our daughter loves to be with us. Because of these little to big improvements and continued high level of service, we put a open deposit down for a possible 2020 cruise again. Read Less

There are many factors that will influence overall ratings: The ship, the food, the service, the destination visited/itinerary. These are all within the cruise line control. Weather, how smooth the ride was is much more subjective and can sometimes make an ok trip wonderful or the other way around. Being on the Disney Magic for 10 nights, on the once a year Norway-Iceland-Scotland cruise proved to be pretty magical. This was my 4th Disney Cruise (Bahamian and Caribbean before, on the 3 other ships) and this one was the best by a far margin - primarily due to the destinations visited but also the top notch service, excellent food, and great entertainment throughout Ship: The Magic is the oldest ship in the Disney fleet and at time, it will show as it is a bit more prone to maintenance issues and minor deficiencies than other ship. However, this is also a ship that is very special to Disney and they are taking great care of it. Common areas are in great shape and the Magic is overall is really nice mid-size ship. Its size allows you to get to know staff, other people on the ship and experience almost all areas - especially on such a long itinerary Cabin: Standard Disney cabin with Verandah. Verandah is oversized with a whitewall due to far AFT position. Other than a smell coming from the drain, this was a pleasant room: Comfortable bed, nice balcony, ample space, nice split bathroom with full bath/shower. Being far AFT, it is subject to some shaking - and I did find it to be a tad too much on a few occasions while cruising - (normal for these rooms to shake a bit when boat goes in reverse or turns around) Dining: Food quality was excellent at all main rotational dining restaurant. A bit disappointed though in the food one one of the night at Rapunzel Royal Table. Presentation and taste was great throughout. Main buffet (Cabanas) served really good quality food throughout the trip - but lacked a bit of variety. Very interesting options in the quick serve areas (eg: Gyros/schwarma), good pizzas from Pinocchio. Pretty good soft-serve ice cream too (better than what they have in the Caribbean, and it does actually have time to freeze!) Entertainment: This is Disney. Disney Dream show is a great finale. Kids Club has plenty of activities Shore excursions: Pretty decent in Kristiansand, Alesund, Stavanager and Reykjavik - although pricey. Less impressive in Invergordon. All in, would do it again in a heartbeat. Disney is a notch above the other cruise lines and on this cruise, they really went "all in". Read Less

We were a group of 11, spanning in age from 73 to 3. All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves and were more impressed by the cruise than we expected to be. Our cabins were even better than we hoped, and were very comfortable both for those in our party traveling solo and for our families of 3 and 4 to a cabin. The highs: 1. Easily, the most friendly and engaging staff on the ship were the photographers. Special kudos to Coco, Derek and Tobias for truly making our 3 year old have the time of her life! Seeing them was almost as wonderful as seeing the characters themselves by the end of the 7 days, and the cruise would have been much less memorable without them. Faby, from the hotel staff, too, went out of her way to make our daughter feel welcome and special. 2. The shows were truly fantastic. I can't imaging creating shows that would appeal to an audience as diverse in age as ours, but Disney did it. The teenagers in our group even went back to all three shows on the repeat nights because they enjoyed them so much. 3. The condition of the ship was fantastic. Being 20 years old, we were not sure what to expect, but DCL has done an incredible job maintaining and constantly painting. 4. The character appearances were great and well organized. Everyone in line was excited to be there, too, so even waiting wasn't a bother. The just ok: 1. The food, overall, did not impress. I am not sure how I could expect 10,000 meals per day that the kitchens turn out to not feel mass produced, but I feel that the theme parks do it a lot better than the cruise line. No one in our party ever had a "wow" dish, and some of the food just completely lacked flavor overall. No one got sick and everyone had plenty to eat, so no real complaints, but we were all expecting more (well, except the 3-year old). 2. The pool decks were disappointing. Maybe we were picturing in our minds much bigger cruise ships with elaborate pools, but there was not much here beyond a large hole filled with water and movies playing. The weather wasn't terribly warm, so it wasn't a big deal, but I would be hesitant to take this ship if it were operating a more tropical schedule. 3. The excursions are a difficult subject to rate, but overall we didn't think they were worth the money except for the tour to Santiago de Compostela. The excursion desk, too, was not very helpful in arranging our tours (we had a party of four that wanted to tour Lisbon, but were not able to book online even though all the others worked fine. Once onboard we figured out that each bus apparently had three seats open, but they were not able to move a party of two from one bus to another to allow our party to travel together.) Also, one group in our party was on a tour where the tourguide themselves was unaware of how to get her group from the bus parking lot to the sites in another port, and the bus driver got lost on the drive back to the ship.) The not good: 1. The bar servers were downright rude and purposefully unhelpful. I'm not sure if it was more apparent because the rest of the staff was generally quite pleasant, or because we were not drinking during evening hours, but it was remarkable. In the promenade lounge, one server was unable to tell us the difference between the "specialty" and the "standard" sangria, other than to condescendingly tell us that one was specialty and one was standard... and then walked away. In the cocktail lounge, one server told us that she could not get coffee, because it would be too long of a walk for her and not worth her time. 2. The nickel and diming was incredible, and prices are not posted. It leaves a very poor taste in your mouth to be offered a "welcome cocktail" immediately after boarding, never advised of a charge, and then to be asked for your "key to the world" without explanation, and brought back the bill some time later. Similarly, outside the movie theater, there is a popcorn and candy stand. Popcorn has gotta be included, right? WRONG... and there are no signs or prices to advise you of it. Even the kid operating the stand didn't know the cost, he had to pretend to ring it up first. 3. The internet is shockingly expensive and unreliable. Recommendation: don't even bother signing up. Enjoy everything else, and turn on your phone only when in port. 4. The kids club. This was probably the most surprising thing to us. We only went during open houses twice, so maybe it can be different, but we were shocked by how the programming essentially consisted of kids sitting by themselves playing Disney games on ipads. It didn't feel good, and even our 3 and 12 year old didn't want to do back after the open houses. Overall, though, we did enjoy ourselves. Knowing now what we do, we would probably enjoy a second cruise more, and eat more in port and ask questions about charges in advance of ordering on board. Read Less

This cruise had great ports and two nicely scheduled sea days. It was a great trip! The ship is in beautiful shape. We had wonderful food, terrific service and enjoyed our excursions. The shows on the ship were great though they are repeating them on cruises which is not my preference. We had sailed with DCL several times but had not sailed in Europe until this trip. We did a couple of days pre-cruise in Barcelona and stayed at a DCL recommended hotel (Barcelona Renaissance). It's location and travel to the port were both great. Our DCL excursions in Lisbon (Lisbon Highlights) was a nice overview of a beautiful city. Sailing into and out of this port was breathtaking. We also enjoyed our excursion in Vigo, Spain which took us to a nearby town of Bionia where we toured a fortress and a replica of a sailing vessel like the one Columbus used. We had a stateroom with a balcony and enjoyed a little time out there. Read Less

We selected Disney as they have always provided the best service, food variety, entertainment and shore excursions. This was our second Disney Alaska cruise. This was a 9 day adventure and it took us to places we did not experience before. People ask us, "what about the kids?" Well, Disney has play & pool areas and entertainment set aside specifically for kids. Also, they have clubs and an area called the Quiet Cove, that are restricted to Adults. Kids that venture into those areas, with or without parents, are requested to immediately leave. When we went on shore excursions, just the mention that we were with Disney always seemed to get the guides, drivers etc attention. The entire crew, from the maintenance people to the ship's Captain, are all alert to their guests needs and requests. The was never a problem with the food offered, whether is was at a buffet, dining room or specialty restaurant. There are activities planned from 8:00 am until 1:00 am the next day.Disney is more expensive than some other cruise lines, But, here is where the old saying "you get what you pay for" comes into play. Read Less

This was our first Disney Cruise in Europe and 5th overall. Having traveled other cruise lines, I find Disney to be a step above the rest in quality of food, cleanliness, customer service and size of staterooms. We selected this itinerary mainly for the ports of call, and planned to spend as little time on the ship as possible when at port. Overall I noticed a net decline on the food and shows on the ship. If you have taken a Disney Cruise in the past, the menu is exactly the same - no change. The shows have minor revisions and are repeated on another night. The variety shows were different and entertaining. Our room while spacious vs. other cruise lines, but was very noisy during the late nights. Lodging a complaint only diminished the noise the first night. Adult sections of the ship are the best since most are with their young children and have ample selection of the best pool and bar areas. Definitely a cruise I would recommend if you are traveling with no children, and don't plan to spend too much time in the common areas. Read Less