Booked on the Wonder- No Worries!! (Just off the 2/13 MR)

[Mcky36]

WE HAD THE BEST TIME EVER!!!

I was seriously worried after reading all the negative trip reports from the first few sailings of the Wonder. But let me tell you, I had a completely different experience! We just got home and we all had a wonderful time. Some of the issues reported after the first few sailings seem to have been worked out. For example:

1. Princess Meet and Greet: They did this at least 3 times. At the first two sessions, they handed out tickets to those near the end of the line, for a final session that was by ticket only. We did this as we were in the line for the second meet that was estimated at about 45 minutes long. When we came back for the ticket only session, we only had to wait about 10 minutes. I thought the process was very smooth.

2. Food: As far as I could tell, they didn't run out of anything! I thought the food was good, but this is obviously very subjective. I don't think the food is the best I've evern had, but we didn't have any true complaints about the food.

3. Character Breakfast: This was admittedly rushed compared to a character meal at the parks. However, I didn't feel like it was so rushed that it ruined the experience. We were able to get autographs and plenty of pictures of each character.

4. Servers: I can only speak to my experience. We were assaigned to Allan and Juni. They were WONDERFUL!! Juni is new to Disney, coming on the ship just a few weeks ago. However, told us that she has worked on many other cruise lines, and she was obviously experienced. I couldn't have asked for a better assistant server. My 6 year old actually cried this morning leaving her!! We have tons of pictures with tears! Our server was Allan. He also went above and beyond with us and we were very impressed! No complaints at all as far as our servers are concerned.

Overall, we were VERY pleased with our experience. The ship was very crowded, but I felt they did a pretty good job of moving lines along and adding additional meet and greets when necessary. Often times the line looked much worse than it actually was.

I can answer any specific questions if you have any. We did the dolphin swim in Cabo, the Paradise Beach Adventure im PV (EXCELLENT!) and then booked privately for a trip to Lands End in Cabo. I guess I should do an official trip report!! LOL!

Edited to add: We were so pleased we rebooked for next year!! Not sure if we'll do the MR as we're still waiting to see where the Wonder goes in the summer. We had not even discussed re-booking prior to sailing, but we had such a good time, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get the 10% off!

 

[MADCLFAN]

OMG..Thank you so much for posting this!!! We are leaving 4/3 for MR and are thrilled! Cant wait ..hit our 40 day count down marker Might even try to upgrade at the port

 

[moomy-san]

They did run out of ketchup packets up on deck... Boy, did that ruin my cruise!!

 

[wallyboag]

I vote for a trip report! I know it's a lot of work, but believe me, myself and a lot of other people will be very interested in reading it and forever in your debt!

Besides character meet & greets may I ask what you waited in line for? I'm not a big fan of lines. Fastpass has spoiled me

 

[szubieta]

Thank you!!! If you have info you would like to share about the Cabo Dolphin Swim, I would love to hear!

 

[mmmears]

Thanks for the review. I am glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

[Mcky36]

I vote for a trip report! I know it's a lot of work, but believe me, myself and a lot of other people will be very interested in reading it and forever in your debt!

Besides character meet & greets may I ask what you waited in line for? I'm not a big fan of lines. Fastpass has spoiled me

The biggest lines were for character meets and pictures around the ship. Depending on the day and time, there were also lines for food at the pools, and for the elevators of all things! We were on Deck 6 so we did a lot of stairs....it was easier to just walk up or down a few flights then to wait for the elevators!

 

[Mcky36]

Thank you!!! If you have info you would like to share about the Cabo Dolphin Swim, I would love to hear!

I guess I should clarify....there are quite a few different dolphin swim options. We did the Dolphin Kids, which is only for kids aged 4-9. According to the description, the kids were only supposed to touch, kiss, pet the dolphins (i.e. no "swimming"). However, they did let each kid hang on to the dolphin and swim around in a small circle....it was a surprise and a big HIT!!

The dolphin center is an easy 5 minute walk from the tender pier. Once there, everyone is given the option of putting on a wet suit. Then they walk over to the pool area where they get life jackets and get in the shallow part of the pool. The dolphins come over and everyone gets to meet, pet, etc. the dolphin. They had the dolphins do tricks for the kids and they did other fun activities. (i.e. the dolphin waved, splashed the kids, etc. ) There was ALOT of interaction.

There are NO pictures allowed, whatsoever, but they do have a professional photographer there taking pictures of everything. (These pictures are for sale at the end of the trip. It was $99 for 10 pictures on a CD or you could purchase every picture they took for $189.)

Anyway, the Dolphin Kids excursion lasted about 20-30 minutes in the water with the dolphins. All of the kids had a great time and my kiddos (6 and 5) are still raving about it.

 

[oktracy]

Can you tell us about your experience during the Paradise Beach Resort excursion? My family of four is booked during the 4/3 sailing. I want to know everything!!! Glad you had a wonderful time.

 

[mnsweeps]

I guess I should clarify....there are quite a few different dolphin swim options. We did the Dolphin Kids, which is only for kids aged 4-9. According to the description, the kids were only supposed to touch, kiss, pet the dolphins (i.e. no "swimming"). However, they did let each kid hang on to the dolphin and swim around in a small circle....it was a surprise and a big HIT!!

The dolphin center is an easy 5 minute walk from the tender pier. Once there, everyone is given the option of putting on a wet suit. Then they walk over to the pool area where they get life jackets and get in the shallow part of the pool. The dolphins come over and everyone gets to meet, pet, etc. the dolphin. They had the dolphins do tricks for the kids and they did other fun activities. (i.e. the dolphin waved, splashed the kids, etc. ) There was ALOT of interaction.

There are NO pictures allowed, whatsoever, but they do have a professional photographer there taking pictures of everything. (These pictures are for sale at the end of the trip. It was $99 for 10 pictures on a CD or you could purchase every picture they took for $189.)

Anyway, the Dolphin Kids excursion lasted about 20-30 minutes in the water with the dolphins. All of the kids had a great time and my kiddos (6 and 5) are still raving about it.

Thanks for the info.. We had booked for the Dolphin Swim ($175 each for me and daughter)...we do find it very expensive..Now that you are saying photos cost an additional $100 for CD seems very expensive to me.... Plus I am now thinking if I should switch from the dolphin swim to dolphin kids which is less by $75..

 

[azmommyx2]

I would also love to hear about your experience with the Paradise Beach Adventure. Do you remember what resort you went to? I was thinking it might be the Crown Paradise. We are booked to do the Paradise Beach Adventure and the Cabo Resort Pool Getaway in 3 weeks and would love any feedback. We are also considering just doing a day pass for the resorts on our own but would prefer Disney for the convenience. Thanks for posting. I also have been a bit concerned about the initial reports from the first few cruises.

Kim

 

[Mcky36]

Can you tell us about your experience during the Paradise Beach Resort excursion? My family of four is booked during the 4/3 sailing. I want to know everything!!! Glad you had a wonderful time.

Sure! We met for the excursion at 8:45 in the morning. We were loaded onto buses which drove us about 15-20 minutes away to Paradise Village. It was a nice all inclusive type resort located right on the beach. We had 4 hours to use the pool/beach area. They also provided a buffet lunch that was small, but had good food. (salad, baked chicken, tortilla chips and salsa, rolls, quesadillas, etc. .......) The staff members at the resort were all very helpful and really made an effort to make our short stay there fantastic!

The pool was warm and very nice. There are two large slides that emply into the pool that my kiddos LOVED! Becuase this is an all-inclusive resort, there was an activities director organizing all kinds of activities around the pool if you want to participate. There were plenty of chairs and places to relax around the pool.

The beach is literally 75-100 feet from the pool area. The sand was warm and soft and there were tons of sitting areas there as well. We alternated between swimming in the pool and playing in the sand/ocean.

One thing we didn't realize when we booked the excursion.....all the drinks at the bar were FREE!! They also had servers who came around and took what ever order you wanted. I had several pina coladas and hubby drank a few coronas Of course, we tipped the servers well, but beyond that there was no fee for any drinks at all.....it is all included in the cost of the excursion.

The resort is immaculate. There are servers/housekeepers/etc. everywhere. The bathrooms were very clean. The ice is safe to drink at the resort.

We had to meet the buses at about 2:00 for the trip back to the ship. I wished we would have had another hour because we weren't ready to leave!

 

[Mcky36]

Thanks for the info.. We had booked for the Dolphin Swim ($175 each for me and daughter)...we do find it very expensive..Now that you are saying photos cost an additional $100 for CD seems very expensive to me.... Plus I am now thinking if I should switch from the dolphin swim to dolphin kids which is less by $75..

I totally understand! The price is the reason we went with the Dolphin Kids. I was okay with the $105 cost for the kids, but I still don't think I would pay the adult price for me to do it. My husband and I sat in the oberservation area just a few feet away from where the activity took place and we were able to observe all the interaction and watch the dolphins jump, swim, and interact with the kids. Unless you really have your heart set on being in the water with the dolphins, I would say save the money and watch from the observation area.

The pictures are high quality and professionally done, but I definitely would have preferred to just take our own pictures for that price! Of course, I HAD to have pictures of the kids with the dolphins so we forked over the money!

 

[adminjedi]

Thanks for the report. We are thinking about Feb 2012 MR on the Wonder!

 

[mnsweeps]

I totally understand! The price is the reason we went with the Dolphin Kids. I was okay with the $105 cost for the kids, but I still don't think I would pay the adult price for me to do it. My husband and I sat in the oberservation area just a few feet away from where the activity took place and we were able to observe all the interaction and watch the dolphins jump, swim, and interact with the kids. Unless you really have your heart set on being in the water with the dolphins, I would say save the money and watch from the observation area.

The pictures are high quality and professionally done, but I definitely would have preferred to just take our own pictures for that price! Of course, I HAD to have pictures of the kids with the dolphins so we forked over the money!

Okay thanks..I will definately cancel my bookings tomorrow .. $175 plus $155 = $330 is crazy money plus $100 - $189 on top of this for photos is ridiculous..

 

[AZPirate]

It is great to hear about your experiences with your excursions, especially because we have the same two booked for our March 13th trip. What time was your Dolphin Kids reservation? Ours is 10:45 but we are not scheduled to be in port until 11:15. Are ship times and local times different? Or is this something to do with DST? How was the shuttle to shore handled for this excursion?

 

[disney 2010]

This voyage carried a lot of disers

We also really enjoyed our vacation! I read some of the negative comments but looking back you make your own fun and enjoyment! Not all the food was great but some of it was incredible!

The service was excellent! Our serving team was Violetta from Peru and Jorge from Columbia and they we happy fun and efficient..did magic and origami for the kids and made them ( 10+14) feel special

We were able to upgrade at port and the suite and concierge services we so far beyond our usually day to day life we felt very spoiled and privileged to get this opportunity!

Our port days were fun. We did the zip lining in PV and LOVED it the guides were great ( although clearly working on getting a good tip in the end ) We felt very safe! The ride there is an hour though through the back roads of PV not exactly the scenic route but true heartlands of Mexico.

In Cabo we did the whale watching. Great trip, really nice boat, saw some whales and the arch, got beverages and chips and salsa,learned some info about whales and they played music etc....however you pay for these pleasures and service.

We also saw whales and dolphins off the ship in Cabo for no addition charge there are TONS of water taxis that will tour the nearby arches and lovers beach etc for a much cheaper rate.

On our other Cabo day we made our way to the beach and enjoyed our time there. This was our first trip to Mexico so we had a new experience with the people selling stuff. I had read there are not aggressive which is true but the are everywhere and it is NON_STOP if people offering the same items. Ignoring them is out of the question but "no thank-you" was repeated over and over and over again. We did however buy some nice souvenirs form these people as well! We enjoyed this day a lot but it was really a new experience for all of us!

The tendering process seemed to go without incident but we never left in a rush or without and excursion.

I will watch this thread for any questions people may have

 

[coffman6]

Hi! WHere did you stay the night before the cruise? and what car service did you use from the airport? Thank you for your report!!

 

[Andromeda9mm]

Hi there,

I leave in T-minus 6, Feb 27th.

I would love any quick review of embarkation/debarkation.

Thanks peeps!

Meredith in Utah

 

[Jewelss37]

Can you please post Navigators... Thanks!!!!