Back from 11/10 Wonder - a few notes and thoughts

[Quellman]

That paint really does look amazing!

 

[Steelers0854]

Thanks for sharing this, we are on the Wonder in January for our first DCL cruise and can't wait!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thank you for your write up. I am so glad you liked both Tianna's and the Crown and Fin as those are the two things I am most looking forward to

Did you get to the kids areas at all? As those ar what my kids are most looking forward to

 

[Trera]

Looking forward to cruising the Wonder in 2017 now that she is in Port Canaveral

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Are the pretzels available up on deck anymore? I kind of had my heart set on a cinnamon cream cheese one...... Hope they are still around

I'm not sure where I got the impression that pretzels are on sailings that are 7 days or more. It would make sense, though. Maybe that's when they'll have them.

 

[Rabb it]

Very cool! Great pics thanks for sharing

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The rooms were redone two summers ago, so that may be why it wasn't as pristine as you thought it would be.

The cabinetry like the desk, closet, and steamer trunk replacements were new from this drydock. I noticed right away that the bed/nightstands were a darker wood while the cabinetry was all the lighter like on the Dream class. Also, I was on the 2015 WBPC which was right after the room refurbs were completed previously. We had a steamer trunk for that sailing. I was actually in 2 staterooms on this cruise (problem with the first room so we got moved) and both had the new cabinet that replaced the trunk.

 

[richkaryn]

Sadly the pretzels are no more. I loved the cinnamon one as well.

Agree on Triton's for lunch not being very good. Had a hamburger and it was super dry. Also service was sloooowwww...we were there for 1 hour lunch. The buffet was a much better option for lunch (pumpkin pie on first day, mmh mmh). We stayed on the ship for Cozumel to take advantage of the pools. Note they didn't open until noon so could have gotten off for a while and then back on. Many people stayed on so wasn't as un-crowded as hoped for. Did the slide twice with oldest DD and then someone had an accident in the pool ending the pool day.

Agree on Tiana's and Animators Palette - I had the beignets and the bananas foster sundae for dessert. Bananas foster not worth it but beignets were divine! The waiter recommended the fish for Tiana's main course - not bad but the jambalaya wasn't authentic and fish was only okay. Dancing at Tiana's was very fun with the live band. Had the shrimp pasta at Animators and ended up not finishing it.

The buffet for breakfast was nicer than I remember with eggs benedict and an eggs with avocado version as well.

We skipped Triton's dinner and went to the early Frozen show. Amazing! My 2-year old DD was clapping and singing throughout.

Lines for characters seemed longer and less scheduled character appearances than in the past. Would recommend one parent getting in line 20-30 minutes early unless you want to be late for dinner. Part of what's slowing the lines these days is that everyone wants to take a picture with every phone in the party and every family combination imaginable. My DW and I discussed that could see the same as people abusing getting things autographed at the front desk, could see them eliminating use of personal cameras in the future. Some families took literally 5 minutes to get through. We stood in a relatively short line for Mickey for an hour. That caused us to be late to dinner for Animators Palette and not have much time to make our drawing. The cartoons dancing on the screen and being in the credits as an animator was awesome!

On a plus side there seemed to be many more unscheduled characters roaming the halls and rather than being whisked away by their handlers, they stopped and took pictures / gave autographs.

That reminds me of these 2 20-something "girls" on the Wonder to Alaska this year.....they had to do a full on 80-100 pose, 10 minute photoshoot with every character.....and one would start, then the other would join in for "group" and then the first would bow out to allow the 2nd her solo shoot. It became ridiculous and if we saw they were in line ahead of us we'd skip that one or hang back a little while.

 

[slindamood]

Thanks for posting - informative!
I have booked a February, 3 day girls cruise with DD and DGD age 4, who loves to play she is cooking/running Tiana's restaurant. I think she will be swept away by this cruise. Question: What time is early/late dinner and what are the show times? Thanks!

 

[KashasMom]

Adding to the comment about the children in After Hours, we sailed on the Fantasy in October and noticed the same issue. It's simply unacceptable, and rude. The kids have their spaces on these ships, Disney must enforce the adult sanctuaries just the same. Never had this issue on prior cruises, hope it's not a trend.

I agree with this. People's sense of entitlement is ridiculous! If they aren't going to enforce the rules, why bother having them? Same thing in the theaters (NO reserving of seats) and by the pool (NO reserving of chairs), etc. It's annoying that CM are afraid of passengers in this regard.

 

[mom4fun]

The cabinetry like the desk, closet, and steamer trunk replacements were new from this drydock. I noticed right away that the bed/nightstands were a darker wood while the cabinetry was all the lighter like on the Dream class. Also, I was on the 2015 WBPC which was right after the room refurbs were completed previously. We had a steamer trunk for that sailing. I was actually in 2 staterooms on this cruise (problem with the first room so we got moved) and both had the new cabinet that replaced the trunk.

Since they replaced steamer trunks with cabinets, would that mean the rooms that had double steamer trunks would have bigger cabinets? Also, would cabins that didn't have steamer trunks now have cabinets along with the other cabins? I'm just curious because I really like having the extra storage, so I have taken that into consideration when booking a cabin.

 

[BCV23]

The steamer trunks were replaced with the cabinetry earlier this year. We were on a back to back in February when the trunks were removed rom our cabins. We could even see a pile of the old discarded trunks on our changeover day in Miami. An officer told me the trunks were the last change to be made in the cabins. The bed, couch and other cabinetry had already been replaced over time.

 

[nicole1234]

We just returned from the first official sailing of the reimagined Wonder, and it was a great time! Here are a few notes on the memorable things I noticed since I know a lot of people have been curious, along with a small handful of photos. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask.

1. Tiana's Place - This is my new favorite restaurant on the ship. It was great. The theming was lovely, the food was delicious, the show in the restaurant was great, and the beignets passed the taste test of the Louisiana crowd in my group. They were delicious! Our serving team was Derrick and Manuel, and they were wonderful.

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2. Crown and Fin - Loved it! It was a very British pub with a great vibe, and you could see a few small Disney touches such as a print of Roger walking Pongo near the bar. It was VERY full during football games, but it emptied out a bit otherwise and was a casual place to relax. I also appreciated the mini buffet with finger foods in there.

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3. Cadillac Lounge - They did a wonderful job on reimagining this space! It's stunning! It was a wonderful place to chill and relax with a drink. Rodolfo, one of the main bartenders in there, is absolutely incredible, and we enjoyed visiting with him each night. He also taught our mixology class, which was a great experience (even though the vesper martini was, um, not my taste!).

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4. After Hours (adult area) in general - The new theming is really classy and relaxing. We enjoyed it a lot. However, and keep in mind I haven't been on a cruise since 2008, it seemed like there was a lot less enforcement of the 18-and-over rule in the area. A lot of people brought their kids into the spaces, and the kids would hang out for quite a while before eventually going away. That was a little bit frustrating as Disney used to be VERY hardcore about policing these areas, which is appreciated by this adult with no kids.

5. Ship exterior - The new coat of paint is amazing and stunning. It really made the ship pop (not that it didn't already!).

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6. Stateroom - The stateroom was great, but honestly it wasn't as clean as I would have expected after the reimagining. There was an extra coat of dust on some surfaces it seemed, and the bathroom had the remnants of dirty water on the tile. Nevertheless, it didn't really diminish our experience in any meaningful way.

7. Atrium - It's still beautiful.

8. Twist 'N Spout slide - We only did it once, but it was a lot of fun! I kind of wish I had done it another few times.

9. Rainforest Room - Oh man. We took a tour of this, but we didn't buy passes for the duration of the cruise because we toured it about ten minutes before closing time on the first day and would have lost a full day of enjoying it. We tried to purchase a day pass for our final day at sea, but unfortunately they were sold out. Ugh. Had we found it earlier on that first day, we would have bought the package for the full cruise. Oh well. Next time. It was great and relaxing and generally excellent.

10. Frozen - Um, awesome. Totally great. I'm not even a huge fan of the movie, but the show was absolutely phenomenal. This is worth seeing for sure.

11. Other notes - There was still a little work going on during our cruise, but it didn't inhibit our experience in any way (except during my jog on deck four when crew members were trying to maneuver a replacement door around the deck--had to dodge them a few times until they got where they were going). My least-favorite dinner meal was Animator's Palate, though the show was spectacular (getting to see our animations was so fun!). Lunch at Triton's was sub-par, but dinner was excellent. Cabanas was good as well. I felt like the Wonder showed her age in small details, such as a few areas that were really rusted but hadn't been repainted during the dry dock, but aside from that she was still fabulous. It is always amazing to see the older Disney ships still looking classic and majestic next to newer Carnival ships in far worse repair (plus Carnival ships just aren't as pretty).

Thanks for the feed back! we booked our for next december! My daughter wants to do Bibbi Bobbi boutique... Any recommendations on that? Did you see it by chance?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The steamer trunks were replaced with the cabinetry earlier this year. We were on a back to back in February when the trunks were removed rom our cabins. We could even see a pile of the old discarded trunks on our changeover day in Miami. An officer told me the trunks were the last change to be made in the cabins. The bed, couch and other cabinetry had already been replaced over time.

Hmmm....the host we had told us the cabinetry was new. Guess I should've asked him to be more specific.

 

[mareed]

Hmmm....the host we had told us the cabinetry was new. Guess I should've asked him to be more specific.

We already had the new cabinet in place of the steamer trunk in a deck 2 ocean-view cabin over a year ago in early Nov 2015, so perhaps they replaced them over time?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We already had the new cabinet in place of the steamer trunk in a deck 2 ocean-view cabin over a year ago in early Nov 2015, so perhaps they replaced them over time?

The room upgrades were done in sections prior to the Wonder's Panama Canal cruise in 2015 (during her spring cruises). Some of the cabinets may have been replaced (due to damage) during her recent dry dock. No way of knowing.

 

[sturner324]

I'm sorry if this was addressed already, but did the atrium receive an update... at all?

"Still beautiful" sounds like it did not.

Am I the only one who was hoping for an updated color scheme?

 

[Ivan Garcia]

Looking forward to getting in the Wonder from Puerto Rico Jan 2018.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm sorry if this was addressed already, but did the atrium receive an update... at all?

"Still beautiful" sounds like it did not.

Am I the only one who was hoping for an updated color scheme?

Yes, it did. Removed one staircase, relocated Ariel statue, new carpeting, new chandelier.

 

[sturner324]

Yes, it did. Removed one staircase, relocated Ariel statue, new carpeting, new chandelier.

Thanks! I just haven't been able to find photos.