I was just browsing on these boards, actually preparing for an upcoming Carnival Cruise. My family of 5 went on a Disney Wonder cruise last year - Feb 2004 - a 3 night cruise, and our 1st cruise. We are husband and wife (at the time we were 41 and 39), and our 3 daughters were 12, 10 and 6.
Our
Disney cruise just wasn't up to our expectations, which as many have said, were raised pretty high by the testimonials on these boards. I also felt that the total experience we got (ship, food, excursions, activites) wasn't really worth the (high) price we paid (and I booked more than a year in advance). That's why this year we're giving Carnival a try. My expectations aren't as great with Carnival as they were with Disney, so maybe I won't be so easily disappointed. But, I also won't have spent as much money!
Off the top of my head, here are our Disney Wonder Positives:
Embarkation, disembarkation went very smoothly.
Registration for kids clubs actually went smoothly, too, but we registered the kids on board
Decor of ship & public areas are beautiful, flow of ship is easy to learn, easy to get around.
Verandah is very nice and was worth extra expense
Disney toiletries provided in stateroom bathrooms were very high quality.
Food quality was pretty good, but selection seemed limited. It seemed like the same entrees were served every night, regardless of dining room rotation, especially for kids. My husband did both love Palo, however, and would highly recommend it - both the food & the adult time.
Kids really enjoyed watching Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen on the cruise in the movie theatre (1st run Disney movie) - before it was in theatres!
Disney shows were entertaining, but we didn't get as excited about them as some people.
Castaway Cay is beautiful & clean. We had the best time of our cruise on Castaway Cay day, and wished we could have spent more time on the island. Wonder docks in Nassau until very late at night, but for some reason on Castaway Cay you have to be back on the boat by around 3pm, I think. Not enough time!
Disney Wonder Negatives (with the caveat that this is just my personal experience - no flames, please. I truly think it's good to read both (all) sides of any story):
Kids clubs - not enough computers/equipment for # kids in clubs, no real "get to know each other" type activities to generate bonding (even on 1st night). Staff also seemed to pick favorites and ignore the rest of the kids. OK so my kids weren't chosen as favorites... Our kids were only in the kids clubs that very first night - and never again. Our girls promised to try out the clubs the first night so we could enjoy our grownup dinner (at Palo). They stuck it out that night, but never wanted to go back because they were bored, and they said the counselors really didn't do much to get the kids to know each other, so it was hard to make "friends", and the activites were boring. They met more kids, who were friendlier, at the Mickey Pool and at the deck parties. So, my husband and I didn't have much alone time, but we did enjoy the cruise as a family.
Stateroom - we were in 8558 - Cat 4 Family Stateroom with verandah. The room did have enough bedding for the 5 of us, but when the murphy bed was down, not only did you have to climb over it to get out onto the verandah, it also completely blocked the "steamer trunk" storage area - which was where all 3 kids' clothes were. You could not open the steamer trunk at all while the bed was down. So, my husband and I had to lift up the murphy bed every morning ourselves and hold it up (and it was very heavy), while the girls quickly got their clothes out. For the life of us we couldn't figure out how to put the murphy bed away into the wall - safely - without letting go! Also, the bedding for our twin/queen bed (comforter/bedspread) was threadbare, pillows were about 1/8 inch thick, mattress was extremely saggy, and the walls & floor of the room definitely showed signs of lots of wear & tear. I was kind of surprised. Stateroom hostess didn't replace toiletries or tissues when we finished them. Also didn't give us enough towels (only gave us 3 each day!) Had to ask for more toiletries and towels. Also, she never made even 1 towel animal! Surprising after all the testimonials... but maybe Wonder has been refurbished since our cruise.
Servers - I suppose we were unlucky enough to get servers who were just about to have time off the boat (they told us how excited they were for their time off). I guess our servers were just sick and tired of waiting on cruisers. Yet have read glowing reviews of lots of servers on these boards. Our head server wasn't very friendly and the asst server ended up doing almost everything for us - but we had to track him down all the time. The head server actually had the nerve to ask us how much we paid for our cruise! That was about the extent of his conversation with us. We really aren't picky people & weren't expecting much from the servers, except - well - service, but I had read many accounts on these boards about servers remembering everyone's likes & dislikes and performing magic tricks, etc. So, wasn't what I was expecting. The maitre d' also came up to us on the last night of the cruise basically begging for tip, even though he had never been asked to do anything for us, and had never even stopped by our table! We didn't make any special requests, and didn't ask for multiple courses or anything...
Pools - very overcrowded (although I didn't expect the pools to be empty, I was a bit surprised. You could basically just stand in the water), lots of kids in the hot tubs (even though I don't think they weren't supposed to be), babies in diapers in regular (goofy) pool. I have kids so I know how tough it can be to enforce rules... So I informed the parents about no-diaper policy for that pool & they glared at me & just ignored me. I also told the kids they weren't supposed to be in the hot tubs (my own kids weren't). I then had to track down several (3-4) Disney employees before one of them finally asked the woman to get the baby out of the pool. Lifeguard was nowhere in sight.
Overall, nothing was really terrible on our cruise, but our family's experience of the Disney Cruise wasn't as great as everyone else's on this board seemed to be, and it definitely didn't seem like it was worth the cost. We've been on lots of vacations to all sorts of places & countries, paid much less, and actually enjoyed it more. We've been to Disney World 3x and had a blast each time. I'm posting hoping it will be valuable for someone to read all honest opinions about Disney, both the good and the not-so-good.
I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone has...
but would've given anything to jump ship and get on the Magic.
