Disney Wish - First reviews from the media cruise - biased?

[Disney Mickey&Minnie Fan]

We are on the maiden voyage and the following DVC sailing and couldn't be more excited about our upcoming adventures. We have two kids that will be sailing with my wife and I, but they re both adults now. This will be our first Disney sailing where all of us can enter the adult areas and restaurants. Kind of looking forward to that, although it's a little odd to have drinks in a bar with your kids. All of the coverage by influencers, mainstream media and video bloggers has only heightened our anticipation to get on board and explore. We have sailed nearly every itinerary category Disney offers, although these next two cruises are about the ship and not the destinations. Lately we have been on Celebrity and RCCL cruises and can't wait to get back to Disney. Super excited about Enchanté and the new Palos concept. Both restaurants look amazing and the Rose bar, especially at night looks to be a fantastic place to hangout. I appreciate that DCL kept the fundamentals of their cruise concept, such as split bathrooms and rotational dining of which we missed with the other cruise lines, but are pushing experiences to be more encompassing and immersive. The Celebrity Apex was nice, but kind of boring and the RCCL ships were just generic. The Disney Wish looks to be anything but that... 12 more days!

Enjoy your cruise! Please report your experiences on the Dis Boards after your trip.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

Agree the Aquamouse looks super underwhelming. My 10 year old is bored of all the slides and wants to do RC instead. The reviews I’ve seen the Wish is more geared towards little kids or hardcore Disney fans (I am the latter but gotta keep kids happy). Hope they add some big water slides to lighthouse point or we will switch over to RC for the tween/ teen years.

Just keep in mind, They charge for some of them. It costs 100 bucks per person per day to use the water park on Coco Cay.

 

[CamillaF]

I will be a first time cruiser on the wish...

Now Great. I never cruised ever and Disney is gonna be my first. I canceled my dream cruise cause of Covid last year for the holiday party and got the wish instead for Christmas holiday party for 50 dollars more. I haven’t looked at any photos but this thread now has me worried about even trying

No kids but HUGE Disney fans

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/worst-things-disney-wish-cruise-ship/

 

[CamillaF]

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/worst-things-disney-wish-cruise-ship/

I really like the this writer. I find he is balanced and fair. In the post you can find a link to his 10 favorite things as well. Over all he says that it’s a wonderful cruise with a few issues that may be a deal breaker for others will be the best cruise. Enjoy. Don’t worry about what everyone else says. I am sure you will have fun!

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/worst-things-disney-wish-cruise-ship/

Thanks. I am avoiding actual photos of the inside of the ship, and just reading the info lol I don't want to see any photos of the inside. Want to be surprised

 

[DisneyMusicMan]

This thread is hilarious!

Honestly, I can’t remember many things that Disney “introduced” that didn’t get slammed by the fans. Everyone hated the idea of the Gondolas and Riviera Resort, but now everyone loves them.

If it’s too similar to something great in the past, then we complain it’s not different enough. When they go in a different direction, then we wonder why they strayed from what worked. In the end, most (not all) of the things they do are pretty good. And they have reasons for their decisions, even if we don’t agree with them.

For example, the Hyperspace Lounge. Sure, it’s small. Super popular today, so it’ll be packed. Eventually, hype will die down. Then, they can’t make the venue smaller. The size is what it is. For example, in Keys/Cadillac, Skyline, etc, I rarely see the venues filled even near capacity.

As for the bloggers and the instagram’ers. Let them have their first cruise. Even they admit that not everything was functioning. This gives the company “free” advertising, and allows them to continue to iron out the kinks. I’m reserving judgement until the first few paid cruises go by. And even then, until I’ve experienced it myself. Everyone’s opinion will be different.

 

[brentm77]

This thread is hilarious!

Honestly, I can’t remember many things that Disney “introduced” that didn’t get slammed by the fans. Everyone hated the idea of the Gondolas and Riviera Resort, but now everyone loves them.

If it’s too similar to something great in the past, then we complain it’s not different enough. When they go in a different direction, then we wonder why they strayed from what worked. In the end, most (not all) of the things they do are pretty good. And they have reasons for their decisions, even if we don’t agree with them.

For example, the Hyperspace Lounge. Sure, it’s small. Super popular today, so it’ll be packed. Eventually, hype will die down. Then, they can’t make the venue smaller. The size is what it is. For example, in Keys/Cadillac, Skyline, etc, I rarely see the venues filled even near capacity.

As for the bloggers and the instagram’ers. Let them have their first cruise. Even they admit that not everything was functioning. This gives the company “free” advertising, and allows them to continue to iron out the kinks. I’m reserving judgement until the first few paid cruises go by. And even then, until I’ve experienced it myself. Everyone’s opinion will be different.

Nah. It's pretty easy to get a feel for whether something will appeal to you after seeing hours of video. I personally want to try the Wish if it switches to long sailings, but also think people are justified in forming a general opinion based on so much content.

I heard people saying the same thing about not pre-judging Webslingers before they actually rode it, but it was exactly like it appears in the videos and is a very mediocre ride, as many expected.

Sure, some comments here are super nitpicky, but veing nitpicky seems reasonable when spending a small fortune for a few day vacation. Some are just sharing opinions, even about unimportant details, because it's fun to debate frivolous things sometimes.

There are many vacation destinations I know I wouldn't enjoy, or wouldn't enjoy as much as others, without actually experiencing them. Can I be surprised? Sure, but that's usually the exception and this would be an awfully expensive gamble if it didn't look like it fit your tastes.

EDIT: I just noticed a small detail I really like. They have a digital board outside Marceline market with the hours. I never seem to know when the buffet/cafeteria will close, so that's handy.

 

[DisneyMusicMan]

Nah. It's pretty easy to get a feel for whether something will appeal to you after seeing hours of video. I personally want to try the Wish if it switches to long sailings, but also think people are justified in forming a general opinion based on so much content.

I heard people saying the same thing about not pre-judging Webslingers before they actually rode it, but it was exactly like it appears in the videos and is a very mediocre ride, as many expected.

Sure, some comments here are super nitpicky, but it's not like people aren't spending more money than some people make in half a year for a few day vacation. Being nitpicky seems reasonable under the circumstances.

There are many vacation destinations I know I wouldn't enjoy, or enjoy as much as others, without actually experiencing them. Can I be surprised? Sure, but that's usually the exception and this would be an awfully expensive gamble if it didn't look like it fit your tastes.

I agree it’s possible to get a feel for how the experience will be after watching videos, no doubt. I agree about the price as well. If you’re not 100% sold, it’s a big gamble. Easier to pay that kind of money for an experience that you know you’ll enjoy (like others are saying…Dream, Fantasy, WDW, other cruise line, etc).

But, in your example about WEB, the videos were the actual experience, so people were assessing the full experience.

My assertion here is the videos released are not of the full and final experience. Those will come starting next week. People are justified in making any opinions they want. Who am I to tell people what to think? I’m only saying they’re making opinions on a partial product.

And, in general, I feel like Disney gets a lot of criticism for whatever they release. Sometimes people are right (I don’t think WEB is a great attraction either), and sometimes things are better than people think they’ll be.

Will the Wish live up to hype when it’s a final product? Who knows? Let’s see.

 

[brentm77]

I agree it’s possible to get a feel for how the experience will be after watching videos, no doubt. I agree about the price as well. If you’re not 100% sold, it’s a big gamble. Easier to pay that kind of money for an experience that you know you’ll enjoy (like others are saying…Dream, Fantasy, WDW, other cruise line, etc).

But, in your example about WEB, the videos were the actual experience, so people were assessing the full experience.

My assertion here is the videos released are not of the full and final experience. Those will come starting next week. People are justified in making any opinions they want. Who am I to tell people what to think? I’m only saying they’re making opinions on a partial product.

And, in general, I feel like Disney gets a lot of criticism for whatever they release. Sometimes people are right (I don’t think WEB is a great attraction either), and sometimes things are better than people think they’ll be.

Will the Wish live up to hype when it’s a final product? Who knows? Let’s see.

Fair enough. I get your point. Some fans do tend to be overly picky, if not downright ridiculous sometimes before we have enough info. I'm no exception. I really thought the slide would look tacky from the drawings, but changed my mind when I saw the real thing. Disney made it look great.

 

[asgur5]

About the only way I see cruising on Disney again will be if I take my granddaughters. As they are 3 years old, and 4 months old that probably won't happen for about 12 years and even the Wish will probably have been through a couple of dry docks and remodels.

Wouldnt you want to take the kids before they turn 12 when disney actually will most appeal to them? My oldest is 8 and the magic of disney is already starting to wear off. Our 5 year old is the perfect age though.

 

[asgur5]

Do you remember which things the Wish does better?

Going by the article, the kids clubs, restaurants, fast food service, staterooms, dinner entertainment and lounges are all better on the wish then the other ships.

 

[tvguy]

Wouldnt you want to take the kids before they turn 12 when disney actually will most appeal to them? My oldest is 8 and the magic of disney is already starting to wear off. Our 5 year old is the perfect age though.

No. My kids were 11 and 15 on our first cruise, and 12 and 16 on our Disney cruise. Seemed like the perfect age because they could really appreciate all the ship had to offer. But our cruises were FAMILY vacations, time to spend all our time together. Shows, trivia contests, on deck sports, meals (and trying new and different foods). My daughter, the 12 year old did go to a music trivia contest in the kids club and was appalled at how little the Castmember running it knew about music. She didn't know Paul McCartney had been in a group before Wings.

We took both kids to Disneyland at age 4, way too young. They really didn't appreciate the park until about age 8, and by then they didn't need naps and didn't have meltdowns.

 

[twoprincesses12]

We are huge Disney fans, Disney cruise fans and while I’m sure we’d enjoy ourselves on the Wish, we are thinking of changing to a different sailing because:
- I feel like the Wish skews heavily princess theme and families with young children. I really think the other ships just have more for all ages, including 13 year old boys lol (which is who we are sailing with on the Wish)
- I agree with you that entertainment is to be expected during some dinners on DCL. However there is more of that on the Wish. 2 out of the 3 restaurants. Where as the other ships may have: Enchanted Garden and Royal Palace where you don’t have that.
Some will want loud dinners with characters and for others one dinner like that is enough.
I think it’s ok to say that for my family (and many others) the overall princess theme of the Wish and shows around every corner are enough to maybe cancel their sailing. Or just defer it… or change to another.
It’s an expensive cruise, we have been wanting to get back on DCL, but I really feel (right now, this will probably change) that the Wish, although beautiful and innovative in many ways, doesn’t cater to everyone in the family like their other ships do. It’s ok it’s different. It’s great actually. Why would they build a carbon copy of the other ships. It’s a lot of $ though for us to go and “try” to find things we’ll enjoy and try to avoid princess overload.

I have been closely following the Wish as we will be taking our 2 non Princess loving teen girls - since we are using funds from our last onboard booking in 2020 right before Covid- in just a few weeks. It is not a great value and does not meet our usual cruise criteria & I admit we are going for the novelty of the new ship! But….I have seen many things I think they will enjoy even though we passed on the Royal Gathering. New water slide, the change in pool layout may heighten the experience , obviously all the movie and entertainment options. They live on the pool deck and in between the theaters and the Kids clubs and family dinners …..& we have made great cruise friends on Disney ships over the past 10 years. Let’s not forget Captain Minnie and waving at characters they love along the way. My girls still tell the story of riding the elevator with Stitch when they pressed all the floors! (Which may not be an unusual event on the Wish anyway…)

 

[asgur5]

No. My kids were 11 and 15 on our first cruise, and 12 and 16 on our Disney cruise. Seemed like the perfect age because they could really appreciate all the ship had to offer. But our cruises were FAMILY vacations, time to spend all our time together. Shows, trivia contests, on deck sports, meals (and trying new and different foods). My daughter, the 12 year old did go to a music trivia contest in the kids club and was appalled at how little the Castmember running it knew about music. She didn't know Paul McCartney had been in a group before Wings.

We took both kids to Disneyland at age 4, way too young. They really didn't appreciate the park until about age 8, and by then they didn't need naps and didn't have meltdowns.

someone knew that paul mccartney was in wings but not in another group before then?? That seems utterly bizarre.

mind blown.

 

[asgur5]

I have been closely following the Wish as we will be taking our 2 non Princess loving teen girls - since we are using funds from our last onboard booking in 2020 right before Covid- in just a few weeks. It is not a great value and does not meet our usual cruise criteria & I admit we are going for the novelty of the new ship! But….I have seen many things I think they will enjoy even though we passed on the Royal Gathering. New water slide, the change in pool layout may heighten the experience , obviously all the movie and entertainment options. They live on the pool deck and in between the theaters and the Kids clubs and family dinners …..& we have made great cruise friends on Disney ships over the past 10 years. Let’s not forget Captain Minnie and waving at characters they love along the way. My girls still tell the story of riding the elevator with Stitch when they pressed all the floors! (Which may not be an unusual event on the Wish anyway…)

Oh im totally pressing all the elevator buttons on the wish and then pretending it was the elevators fault.

 

[Bestdisdad]

You can literally find fault in anything. The wish looks amazing and what one person thinks is not good or whatever the next might find amazing. I can’t wait to board the wish august 5th . Been to port canaveral to see the ship and in person looks magnificent so we’re super excited to explore and check out all the immersive new hangouts!

 

[Winston Wolf]

I wouldn't trust any early reviews regardless of who's giving it or who's paying. The people going early are the highest affinity group and most likely to LOVE it just because it's something shiny new Disney.

 

[tvguy]

someone knew that paul mccartney was in wings but not in another group before then?? That seems utterly bizarre.

mind blown.

You and my daughter.

 

[Sparkly]

Wouldnt you want to take the kids before they turn 12 when disney actually will most appeal to them? My oldest is 8 and the magic of disney is already starting to wear off. Our 5 year old is the perfect age though.

I was older then that for my first trip to WDW and I loved it. Even as a teenager.

 

[Disneygirlxo91]

To me it seemed like the media cruise was full of young tiktok stars who have never been on a Disney Cruise - I felt it was a weird mix of choices.

Honestly I was so excited to eventually go on the wish but I’m putting it off for awhile. I just am not that interested anymore I am sure it’s wonderful and I still look forward to trying it just some things in the layout at least in the ship tours just don’t make sense. I watched a video tour of the adults area and it was PACKED and I have a feeling those sailings weren’t very full so that’s concerning I feel like they are pushing to pay for the rainforest room which I will gladly do on the other ships and I will at least do one day on the wish but it just seems interesting