My husband, 10 year old son and I ventured out for our first cruise on the Disney Wonder for Spring Break. I have poured over the reviews for months and I am glad I did not take the negative ones to heart. Our experiences were clearly much different.

Again, I have nothing to compare the process with, but certainly embarkation and debarkation was a piece of cake. We got to the ship early as to have the most time possible on the first day. We were one of the first groups on and went straight to lunch at Parrot Cay. I am not a fan of buffets but this one certainly puts all other to shame. The variety was amazing and everything we tried was hot and fresh. We liked it better than the The Beach Blanket Buffet, mainly due to it being easier to maneuver around the buffet to see everything and the seating availability. The Beach Blanket Buffet has different food on two different sides of the restaurant and because it does not lend itself to a second pass you don't know you missed something you like until its too late. Which happens often for kids. If the weather is even slightly questionable you are stuck inside with very little seating.

We had rain and cool weather for the first few days so our son spent some time in the Oceanears Lab, which he enjoyed very much. We got a tour on the first day and realized it was dark in only the portion of the room where they show movies but will lit in all other areas. We were also pleased to see that adults let into the lab, once the ship left Florida, were only there to retrieve their own child and could not leave with a child if their key and password did not match. To our surprise they had special activities just for our sons age group, a tween group, to get them out and about on the ship (accompanied by lab staff of course). He did it only a few times but he liked the time he went up to the teen loft without the teens there. We were pleased with this option for him. Read more