Classic ships - what, if anything, "offsets" the absence of MDA?

[squirk]

So far, we have only sailed on the Dream and Fantasy, and over the years, Midship Detective Agency has been a staple for my kids. Even as they've grown into teens and young adults, they still look forward to it every time we sail.

This coming spring, we are sailing on the Wonder, which, of course, has no MDA. The Mom's Panel positions "Frozen" and "Tiana's Place" as alternatives that "offset" the absence of MDA. While I am looking forward to both of these options, they are clearly not the same thing as a shipwide scavenger hunt featuring "magic" paintings.

I fully understand that the classic ships are a bit older and smaller than the Dream-class ships, and that even with refurbishments and upgrades, there is still not going to be complete parity between the two classes in terms of features and entertainment options. I'm just wondering if there is something unique to the Wonder in the same vein as MDA that I am overlooking?

Please and thank you.

 

[BadPinkTink]

You should check previous navigators for your itinerary. Usually there is Anna's Chocolate Hunt, which is a Frozen themed scavenger hunt if your itinerary is doing Freezing The Night Away Deck Party.

 

[lklgoodman]

We've been on the Wonder twice(2014, 2018). I can't think of anything unique that would be equal to the MDA. Of course it has the standard pools, twisty slide, shuffleboard, sportcourt. We'll be going on the our third Fantasy cruise next month. I enjoy the MDA also. Although the Wonder doesn't have it, I really enjoy the ship. The shows in AP are better and so is the character breakfast. I feel like the character breakfast on the Fantasy is rushed. Much more relaxed on the Wonder. I loved the Frozen show, we went to it twice on our 2018 sailing, I'm glad it's now on the Fantasty. Tiana's place is a lot of fun. They didn't have the New Orleans area when we were on her, but it looks fun. Maybe Jo(club host, not sure if that is her title) will be on the Wonder, she is hilarious.

 

[cvjw]

We are regular fantasy cruisers with older sons who went on the magic earlier this year. We were not fans of the older, smaller ship. We missed the putt putt golf, the MDA, deck 13, meridian, etc. The lack of pool loungers and adult only areas were deal breakers for us.

 

[SamFaniam]

We are regular fantasy cruisers with older sons who went on the magic earlier this year. We were not fans of the older, smaller ship. We missed the putt putt golf, the MDA, deck 13, meridian, etc. The lack of pool loungers and adult only areas were deal breakers for us.

I understand some of the issues that you mentioned, but I am confused about your pool loungers and adult only areas comment. In my mind the classic ships have a much better adult pool area. And they certainly do have the adult club area. I think the Keys and Cadillac lounges and wonderful.

 

[SamFaniam]

So far, we have only sailed on the Dream and Fantasy, and over the years, Midship Detective Agency has been a staple for my kids. Even as they've grown into teens and young adults, they still look forward to it every time we sail.

This coming spring, we are sailing on the Wonder, which, of course, has no MDA. The Mom's Panel positions "Frozen" and "Tiana's Place" as alternatives that "offsets" the absence of MDA. While I am looking forward to both of these options, they are clearly not the same thing as a shipwide scavenger hunt featuring "magic" paintings.

I fully understand that the classic ships are a bit older and smaller than the Dream-class ships, and that even with refurbishments and upgrades, there is still not going to be complete parity between the two classes in terms of features and entertainment options. I'm just wondering if there is something unique to the Wonder in the same vein as MDA that I am overlooking?

Please and thank you.

Ask at guest services about scavenger hunt activities. There are no moving pictures on the classic ships, but we have done some different activities like Anna on the Wonder and Thugs on the Magic. They may have others. Also, people have creatEd their own that you can google.

 

[cvjw]

I understand some of the issues that you mentioned, but I am confused about your pool loungers and adult only areas comment. In my mind the classic ships have a much better adult pool area. And they certainly do have the adult club area. I think the Keys and Cadillac lounges and wonderful.

No deck 13 on the classic ships. When we cruised on the magic, all the pool loungers were full, even in the adult only area. We have never had that happen on the fantasy, and we have been on sold out cruises. We hated having to work so hard for a place to sit at the pool. We also didn’t like how the kids area was right past the adult only area on the magic - there were kids constantly running thru.

 

[squirk]

You should check previous navigators for your itinerary. Usually there is Anna's Chocolate Hunt, which is a Frozen themed scavenger hunt if your itinerary is doing Freezing The Night Away Deck Party.

Thanks. This is one of the new NOLA itineraries, so I don't have any precedent.

I didn't know about the Anna or Thugs scavenger hunts. Thanks to everyone for the heads-up!

 

[Disneypeach]

on the Magic last July in addition to the frozen and thugs mentioned above, there were scavenger hunts at guest services (or maybe where port adventures was located.) They were worksheets with photos of various things on the ship that you had to find....think special places or decorations. Fun to do. I imagine that kind of thing is also on the Wonder.

 

[SamFaniam]

No deck 13 on the classic ships. When we cruised on the magic, all the pool loungers were full, even in the adult only area. We have never had that happen on the fantasy, and we have been on sold out cruises. We hated having to work so hard for a place to sit at the pool. We also didn’t like how the kids area was right past the adult only area on the magic - there were kids constantly running thru.

I guess our experiences have been reversed. I’ve rarely had an issue with kids in the adult only pool area on the classic ships, but found that happened much more often on the Dream class. I’ve always attributed that to the presence of the concierge cabins. I’ll admit, we don’t care for the Satellite Falls area.