Muppetmama
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2009
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.
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.