My Disappointment on the Wonder

[Muppetmama]

Here is the problem in a nutshell: the Wonder is used to 3 and 4 night cruises. They are trying to stretch the activities and the CHARACTERS over 7 nights. It's not working.

I agree with everything in the good, bad and ugly Wonder post about lousy service, no clean linens, and the slow dinners. Add to that an overall dirty and poorly kept ship (I mean really when 5 kids a night have to pick different Karaoke CD's because they skip I think it's time to do something) with stained carpets and chipped furniture, a staff that is mainly new and not trained in Disney ways as far as I can tell, no characters at check-in and sign up-s for the tea party upon embarkation (which meant tickets were gone by 12:30). The number of kids and their behavior was a problem, but that's because kids were sailing free and the staff wasn't prepared. There was always a kid in the oceaneers club with an icepack for some injury. However, my main complaint was the characters.

When we sailed on the Magic in 2009 we were so impressed by the number of characters, their role in the kids' club activities, and how they would just stroll in to the kids club at various times to say hello. This did not happen on the Wonder. The character appearances for the first three days was goofy and pluto, pluto and goofy, goofy and pluto, and yeah finally mickey. Onboard were the fab 5, and chip and dale. These all had sailor outfits, tropical outfits and pirate outfits. Only Mickey had formal wear. There was also Daisy in a sailor outfit, Peter Pan, Hook, Jack Sparrow, Lilo and Stitch, and five princesses (Tiana, Ariel, Belle, Snow White, and Cinderella). That was it. On the Magic there was also Wendy, Smee, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, Dopey, Jojo, Aurora, Pinocchio, and Jiminy Cricket. The cruise director told me they "try to keep it fresh". I think that is an excuse to cover up for a lack of preparedness for seven day cruises.

On the Magic, Goofy stopped by the Lab to dance at the welcome aboard party. Not on the Wonder. On the Magic, Wendy stopped into the club to color with the kids. Not on the Wonder. In fact, Storytime with Belle was a horrible experience. She read her story so fast I couldn't even understand her. She led the kids up to the slide, and told them to slide down while she went down the stoars. Without waiting for half of them to return she finished her story and left. Now my daighter is crying and so am I. It was as if she couldn't give the kids 10 minutes of her time.

If you are sailing on the Wonder, and have never cruised Disney before, you will have a wonderful time. If you have sailed before, lower your expectations, because it isn't the same.

 

[lmhall2000]

We sail in 30+ days! I am so sorry for your experience...thanks for sharing, please if you can send a note to guest communications...I hope that Joel or whoever is in charge of concerns will read these experiences.

Many families make huge sacrifices to make these cruises happen...we would not be able to sail on Disney without kids sail free, but I hate to think that we get sub par service because the ship is not prepared. I know our cruise is one of the more packed ones, so I'm already gearing myself up for disappointments...but...when you read consistent quality issues even from huge Disney fans...it can not be overlooked. We had hoped to book the Fantasy for our 20th anniversary...but now, the world is looking a lot better....

Tara

 

[maria-fan-22]

Many times with the characters its due to them not having a CM that can be that character at a certain time. The Crew deserves their time off and expecting that they work all day long for 7day and then over again is ridiculous. Maybe YOU should have lowered your expectations. The characters you met were MORE than enough for most people. They can't have every character out all the time, it doesn't work that way. All of the Disney ships deserve a break in expectation because of all the new crew on each ship. The Wonder also deserves some because she is doing cruises that are longer then her normal routine. The characters are honestly the smallest reason for why I choose Disney. You listed many characters and that should be enough.

Everyone sailing on the Wonder, Have a GREAT cruise! It will be a special week!

 

[Kailua's Belle]

Okay, all these negative reviews are really starting to worry me. I am nowhere near as critical as most people who take the time to post trip reports and reviews and usually take them with a big grain of salt. Heck, when we went to Disneyworld I was so worried about our dining spots but ended up loving everywhere we ate. I'm hoping that experience will hold true for our MR cruise next month.

 

[MTmomma]

Many times with the characters its due to them not having a CM that can be that character at a certain time. The Crew deserves their time off and expecting that they work all day long for 7day and then over again is ridiculous. Maybe YOU should have lowered your expectations. The characters you met were MORE than enough for most people. They can't have every character out all the time, it doesn't work that way. All of the Disney ships deserve a break in expectation because of all the new crew on each ship. The Wonder also deserves some because she is doing cruises that are longer then her normal routine. The characters are honestly the smallest reason for why I choose Disney. You listed many characters and that should be enough.

Everyone sailing on the Wonder, Have a GREAT cruise! It will be a special week!

I am starting to get a little perturbed at how nit-picky people are coming across on this! Part of the charachters showing up? Yeah, it depends on wich CM are on board as to wich charachters they are able to bring out. About anyone can hide in a mickey suit, but the princesses? yeah they have to have a passing resemblance, and yeah people DO deserve breaks! It sounds like you were expecting "The World" and got "The State." Ease up a bit will ya?

 

[drparoo]

I simply don't understand (well, maybe I do) why at least three of these posters TODAY have said very similar things in almost exact styles of writing and all have had one or two posts. It's just odd.

Anyway, I'm sorry people had a bad Wonder cruise. For those of you who have cruises coming up but can't or won't cancel, the only thing you can do is have a great attitude and hope that it was a fluke. Worrying is not going to help.

Good and bad reviews are always welcome, but being 100% negative says something about the posters.

 

[disney 2010]

I simply don't understand (well, maybe I do) why at least three of these posters TODAY have said very similar things in almost exact styles of writing and all have had one or two posts. It's just odd.

Anyway, I'm sorry people had a bad Wonder cruise. For those of you who have cruises coming up but can't or won't cancel, the only thing you can do is have a great attitude and hope that it was a fluke. Worrying is not going to help.

Good and bad reviews are always welcome, but being 100% negative says something about the posters.

Funny I also wondered why the posters giving bad reviews to the MR cruises had very few posts .....I'm just saying.......

We leave tomorrow for LA and we will have a WONDERful time!! no matter how many characters we see, how the is food etc.....we will relax and enjoy whatever comes our way

 

[lmhall2000]

I find it more disappointing that follow up posters take every opportunity to diminish the OP's opinion...even the points about it being their 1st post, there must be a conspiracy...OR could it be that they were so sorely disappointed in their experience that they finally had a reason to come here and post something...there are many many who use these boards for research and do not want to post or do not feel qualified to post...I look at all these reports as a community service...
If we want to get paranoid, I'd guess those diminishing the reports are either CM's or related to CM's and therefore taking on a defensive approach, but I won't commit to that stance, but it just shows you how ridiculous it can get.

I get what she's saying about the characters...even on our Med cruise we saw them all over the ship...many came in the teen club and annoyed my son, I'm sure he enjoyed it but he remembers many coming in there...to only see 3 the first 3 days is not typical...sure, it could be that they just missed them, but this poster sailed in 2009 and was comparing it to a previous experience...I find this very valuable...and I'm sorry so many can't thank you for your sharing your experience but yet tell you what should or should not be acceptable to you....


Tara

 

[natyrg]

I simply don't understand (well, maybe I do) why at least three of these posters TODAY have said very similar things in almost exact styles of writing and all have had one or two posts. It's just odd.

Anyway, I'm sorry people had a bad Wonder cruise. For those of you who have cruises coming up but can't or won't cancel, the only thing you can do is have a great attitude and hope that it was a fluke. Worrying is not going to help.

Good and bad reviews are always welcome, but being 100% negative says something about the posters.

yep, thinking the same here thanks for sharing that. We have our first trip as a family (in 10 years) in almost 3 weeks!!! Hope that for those people with bad reviews can send a letter directly to DCL so they can improve.

 

[Lissame]

I simply don't understand (well, maybe I do) why at least three of these posters TODAY have said very similar things in almost exact styles of writing and all have had one or two posts. It's just odd.

Anyway, I'm sorry people had a bad Wonder cruise. For those of you who have cruises coming up but can't or won't cancel, the only thing you can do is have a great attitude and hope that it was a fluke. Worrying is not going to help.

Good and bad reviews are always welcome, but being 100% negative says something about the posters.

I absolutely agree. I have read other posts that said there were characters in the kids' clubs on the Wonder...so which one should I believe?

My kids are older and we've been to Disneyland a zillion times. Characters are not my #1 priority for a cruise. I really think that people complain much more than they praise in general...I've experienced it at the parks so many times.

I have posted before that I worked myself into a frenzy last summer before our family Disneyland trip because of a huge number of negative posts about crowds, decline in food quality, poor shows, etc at Disneyland. I was almost in tears not wanting to go on our trip because of the enormous number of negative posts about what was happening there.

Guess what? When we got there--it was an amazing time. With the thousand+ people on the cruise, the people who have negative things to say (especially when things are new) far outnumber the people who have a delightful time and bother to post about it.

From the negative Wonder posts about the food I've been reading I was expecting food like my kids' school cafeteria. Then I just read the first installment of Stinkerbe11's trip report, complete with photos of the buffet on the first day. The food looks awesome to me! Loads of fresh fruit, a whole thing of shrimp...I'm going to be in heaven!

 

[disney 2010]

I find it more disappointing that follow up posters take every opportunity to diminish the OP's opinion...even the points about it being their 1st post, there must be a conspiracy...OR could it be that they were so sorely disappointed in their experience that they finally had a reason to come here and post something...there are many many who use these boards for research and do not want to post or do not feel qualified to post...I look at all these reports as a community service...
If we want to get paranoid, I'd guess those diminishing the reports are either CM's or related to CM's and therefore taking on a defensive approach, but I won't commit to that stance, but it just shows you how ridiculous it can get.

I get what she's saying about the characters...even on our Med cruise we saw them all over the ship...many came in the teen club and annoyed my son, I'm sure he enjoyed it but he remembers many coming in there...to only see 3 the first 3 days is not typical...sure, it could be that they just missed them, but this poster sailed in 2009 and was comparing it to a previous experience...I find this very valuable...and I'm sorry so many can't thank you for your sharing your experience but yet tell you what should or should not be acceptable to you....


Tara

I appreciate and respect everyone's opinions on the boards and when I saw the first MR ugly review with one or two posts my initial thought was that person must have been very unhappy to have never posted before and suddenly decided to share their disappointment.

When I saw that second MR negative post by a "newbie".....

Coincidence? Maybe....

 

[lmhall2000]

I appreciate and respect everyone's opinions on the boards and when I saw the first MR ugly review with one or two posts my initial thought was that person must have been very unhappy to have never posted before and suddenly decided to share their disappointment.

When I saw that second MR negative post by a "newbie".....

Coincidence? Maybe....

Maybe I'm a Pollyanna, I do always see the positive in most...but more that I am informed..I am sailing in 30 days...so I have been reading every cruise meet of each MR sailing...consistently, there are complaints across the board...when I was researching for Med cruises last year (same approach, subbing for meet threads) there were VERY few complaints..mostly related to weather which Disney can not control...these are completely service related so I tend to believe them and not hold to any conspiracy theories...follow the facts..they add up.

Tara

 

[smb6]

There has definately been a lot of negative reviews lately about all three ships....

I am looking forward to our very first cruise (ever) on the Wonder this May and while I know we will have a wonderful time, I do have concerns.....

Personally, I could care less about the characters. My kids will enjoy them some, but my kids will be more than happy just being on the ship.....
*With that said, I disagree with the poster that said we should lower our expectations because they have new staff. I respectfully disagree- the price tag was not lowered and I expect top notch service even if the long cruises are *new* to the Wonder and even if the staff is new.....

My biggest concern out of all the negative reviews is the dinners- I'm not worried about not liking the food despite that many people have said the food is bad, we are so NOT picky and I'm confident the food will be fine with us- but I am worried about incompetent servers and overly drawn out dinners... I want the correct food and served as quickly as possible..... No two hour dinners please....

We are a super easy going bunch, not picky, and super excited about the cruise- I have zero intentions of cancelling this cruise and I know we will have a great time. But I do not discredit the negative reviews. Especially when there are this many, there is likely some truth and validity to the complaints....

 

[maria-fan-22]

My biggest concern out of all the negative reviews is the dinners- I'm not worried about not liking the food despite that many people have said the food is bad, we are so NOT picky and I'm confident the food will be fine with us- but I am worried about incompetent servers and overly drawn out dinners... I want the correct food and served as quickly as possible..... No two hour dinners please....

We are a super easy going bunch, not picky, and super excited about the cruise- I have zero intentions of cancelling this cruise and I know we will have a great time. But I do not discredit the negative reviews. Especially when there are this many, there is likely some truth and validity to the complaints....

Dinners aboard Disney Cruise Line are generally slated to last AT LEAST 1.5 hours. If you have late seating(like ours) they may last 2hours. My family likes the slow paced dinners and I would assume that many other do to. So if you don't want 2 hour dinners, Pluto's is open on deck 9.

As for posts like this. I am sure that their cruise was NOT 100% negative like their review. I choose to only 100% believe posts that seem to post the whole story.

 

[rhinosbiggestfan]

We went on the second MR cruise and thought it was WONDERFUL. My brothers and sisters loved seeing the characters (as did I!)!--my littlest brother actually almost knocked over Mickey giving him a hug!

 

[2littlegirls]

We were on the MR last week. Our dinner was one of our highlights. We had late dinner but our fantastic waitstaff (from Head server down) gave us a wonderful exprience under an hour. Becuase our girls didn't last that long! One word....enjoy. Get off the boat see Mexico and have a great time.

 

[smb6]

Dinners aboard Disney Cruise Line are generally slated to last AT LEAST 1.5 hours. If you have late seating(like ours) they may last 2hours. My family likes the slow paced dinners and I would assume that many other do to. So if you don't want 2 hour dinners, Pluto's is open on deck 9.

As for posts like this. I am sure that their cruise was NOT 100% negative like their review. I choose to only 100% believe posts that seem to post the whole story.

We have main seating for dinner. I believe it starts at 5:45? If it lasts 2 hours (and possible more) then it ends at 7:45pm? That is not very much time to prepare for late seating? I don't want to eat at Pluto's, I want to eat in the dining room. When I go to nice restauraunts they usually pace the food according to the customer- some people that want a slow dinner (like you ) get just that- a slow dinner. Some people (like me) that want a faster dinner, get a faster dinner. Why could they not do this? Any competent server should be able to do this... I'm not expecting lightning speed, but based on my personal experience with eating in restauraunts and based on some positive, detailed reviews I have read in the past for DCL- I feel like this is a reasonable expectation/request....

 

[smb6]

We were on the MR last week. Our dinner was one of our highlights. We had late dinner but our fantastic waitstaff (from Head server down) gave us a wonderful exprience under an hour. Becuase our girls didn't last that long! One word....enjoy. Get off the boat see Mexico and have a great time.

That length of dinner time is more to my liking..... And I have heard others state they were served in an hour or so also..... I hope we have an equally good experience! Thanks for sharing....

 

[justhat]

Regarding the characters, we've been on the Magic and Wonder and seen different characters on each cruise, each time. Aurora was my daughter's favorite princess (I think she changed to someone else now...), and sometimes she was on board, sometimes she wasn't. And *most* of our cruises were on the Magic (2 on the Wonder, 6 or 7 on the Magic). So it just goes to show that they rotate.

And I simply can't believe that only Goofy and Pluto were out the 1st 2 days. So in the Navigators where they list the character appearances, they only listed those 2? For 2 days?

And Alice and the Mad Hatter must have been on board if the tea party sold out by 12:30pm. Oh, and every cruise we've done on the Magic, you can get the tickets as soon as you board, so I am not sure how that is different.

The Wonder usually doing 3/4 night cruises means nothing. DCL does week long cruises every week, plus longer ones, and the Wonder will be doing MR cruises, and Alaska, for week long cruises for the foreseeable future. You really think they don't have enough linens?

 

[justhat]

We have main seating for dinner. I believe it starts at 5:45? If it lasts 2 hours (and possible more) then it ends at 7:45pm? That is not very much time to prepare for late seating? I don't want to eat at Pluto's, I want to eat in the dining room. When I go to nice restauraunts they usually pace the food according to the customer- some people that want a slow dinner (like you ) get just that- a slow dinner. Some people (like me) that want a faster dinner, get a faster dinner. Why could they not do this? Any competent server should be able to do this... I'm not expecting lightning speed, but based on my personal experience with eating in restauraunts and based on some positive, detailed reviews I have read in the past for DCL- I feel like this is a reasonable expectation/request....

They can and will do this, but keep in mind several of the dinners have shows in them. So if you're in and out in a hour, you'll miss the shows.

We don't really like to linger at dinner much either, only because our kids just don't have the attention span once they are finished eating (plus they are used to going to bed early, so they usually get a little grouchy). The kids do like the shows though. So generally we drag it out a bit so that we finish just before the show starts, then we can leave immediately after the show.