Disney Wonder Tips

[jlmarr]

Disney Wonder Tips

Our DS is taking his GF on a cruise out of San Diego, his first cruise as an adult, and first cruise in about twenty years, so I thought I would throw together some tips and brain farts for him. Any useful things I've missed? Anything actually incorrect?

• You can take plates of food/drinks back from the buffet and counter service on deck 9 to your room.
• Daisy’s Dee-lites for pre-made sandwiches and salads. Pinocchio’s place for bratwurst, chicken tenders, etc. Both good when Cabañas buffet is closed.
• The bartender at Signals, the adult pool bar, says he can make a Konk Kooler, the Castaway Cay specialty drink. (We ran out of time and didn’t get back there.)
• Bring pic ID, room card, cash if you leave ship. Don’t use credit cards in MX.
• Cove Cafe for good coffee (for $) and complimentary treats on deck 9 mid-ship. “Better than Starbucks” says TM.
• 24 hour free coffee/tea/soft drink kiosk is on deck 9 aft.
• Top point of stars on carpet in hallway points to ship “forward”, other way is “aft”.
• Turn on your Airplane Mode once ship leaves port so you don’t get hit with roaming charges.
• Hair dryer in drawer by TV plugs into 220V next to TV. There is a built in light duty hair dryer in one of the bathrooms.
• Adult pool has a bar and hot tubs. Family pool has snack bars including soft serve ice cream, plus a huge screen showing Disney movies. Kids pool has slide and splash play area.
• Main dining room menu includes a few “lighter fare” items that are the same every night.
• Animators Palette show has been completely redone and the finale is pretty good. (Be sure to do a good drawing. )
• Terrific presentation of Frozen in the Walt Disney Theater. Don’t miss it even if you don’t like Frozen.
• Nice musical show to go with dinner at Tianas Place.
• Nice little *free* gym through the Senses Spa on 9 forward. Great view looking forward out of the ship. Rainforest room in the spa is $30/couple for a full days use - looks interesting.
• Bring shorts, swimsuits, sunscreen even if you don’t think you’ll use them. Gives you the option.
• Mickey ice cream bars are a hidden option on the dining room menu every night.
• Ten picture digital package costs $150. TIP: get pictures taken every chance you get, select the ten best at end of cruise. (We only had pix taken twice, so picked best poses from those two sessions)
• San Diego Amtrak station is modest 1/2 mile walking distance from the cruise terminal. Lyft $12-13.

• Once there, hand off your tagged bags to a Porter and tip him $2-3 per bag. You will then need to queue up on the street side of the cruise building, queues organized by assigned arrival times. After being allowed into the building there are a series of queues as part of processing. We’ve seen better at other cruise ports, just be patient.
• Be sure to pack a carry-on with medication, contact solution, a change of clothing, a swimsuit, sunscreen, sunglasses, sandals or other items you’ll want to have immediate access to.
• Ifffff you buy the wifi package, look for a low data mode on your phone so your 300mb package doesn’t deplete in 20 minutes like Terri’s did.

• Gratuities are automatically paid to your room attendant and dining room servers. You get a sheet on the last night saying who got paid how much, with some small envelopes. You don’t need to do anything with those envelopes, or you can kick in some extra $$$ and deliver that directly. (This is also when you find out the full name of your crew members, e.g. Svetlana Ristic from Serbia.)
• Gratuities for drinks are automatically added (18%) when you are served. No need to add more, although there is a line item to do that. Just sign the tab and hand it back.
• When you are disembarking you can opt to keep your bags with you and depart on your schedule. Leaving on your own time enables you to miss the rush for Uber/Lyft. Otherwise they want tagged bags in the hallway the night before and wait for your group to be called. Maybe you have a train to catch.
• Also on disembark day your server will suggest you go to the dining room for table service. We always have the best intentions of doing that, and always go to the Cabañas buffet instead.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Disney Wonder Tips

Our DS is taking his GF on a cruise out of San Diego, his first cruise as an adult, and first cruise in about twenty years, so I thought I would throw together some tips and brain farts for him. Any useful things I've missed? Anything actually incorrect?

• You can take plates of food/drinks back from the buffet and counter service on deck 9 to your room. Those juice cups from the buffet tend to fall into luggage so be careful. ;-)

You certainly can do this. Be aware there are no trays available for carrying multiple things. And the cups do not have lids.

• Daisy’s Dee-lites for pre-made sandwiches and salads. Pinocchio’s place for bratwurst, chicken tenders, etc. Both good when Cabañas buffet is closed.

Pinocchio's is pizza only. Chicken tenders are at Pete's Boiler bites (also hamburgers).

• Animators Palette show has been completely redone and the finale is pretty good. (Be sure to do a good drawing. )

As long as there are no "technical difficulties". We just got off the Wonder and the Drawn to the Magic night failed. Happily we were in Animator's the next night also (Pirate night) and they gave it another try.

• Nice musical show to go with dinner at Tianas Place.

Just be prepared you may be a bit deaf after dinner. This dining room is the noisiest of the the 3 (and they're all pretty noisy).

• Mickey ice cream bars are a hidden option on the dining room menu every night.

Not "hidden" so much as they are available on the kids menu (and, yes, adults can order off it also).

• Ifffff you buy the wifi package, look for a low data mode on your phone so your 300mb package doesn’t deplete in 20 minutes like Terri’s did.

They're still offering the 50mb free package (sign up by midnight on embarkation day). That was plenty for us on a short cruise.

 

[Hubie]

If you're a beer drinker, the cheapest beer on the ship is the draft in the Irish Pub. And the offered beer glass purchase topside is worthwhile if you drink beer or two every day. You get 22 oz. fills for 16 oz. charge. You also get to keep the glass or just take a coupon to use the next day and on any later cruises. And you can also bring on board a six-pack from any port as long as it's in a proper bag.

 

[KippyKip]

24/7 Room Service?

 

[Travel60]

Be sure to download the Disney Cruise App before you arrive at the port. It doesn't do much until you board, then it contains all the information that used to be printed....dinner rotation, daily schedule of events, etc. The way to access it on board varies by phone. For our Google Fi, it was turn off WiFi, put in airplane mode, then turn back on WiFi. This allows you free access to the ship's intranet (not internet).

 

[brentm77]

Is your first tip that they should steal juice cups from Disney? I'm genuinely confused what you mean about them falling into a suitcase and hope I am misunderstanding.

 

[bigAWL]

You certainly can do this. Be aware there are no trays available for carrying multiple things. And the cups do not have lids.

I haven't cruised yet since the shutdown, but I usually brought breakfast back to the room for my kids on port day mornings while they dragged themselves out of bed to get ready. Ever since they did away with the buffet trays, I have always asked a server if they could find one for me. Sometimes it took them a couple minutes in the back, but they always came through for me.

 

[gatordoc]

• San Diego Amtrak station is modest 1/2 mile walking distance from the cruise terminal. Lyft $12-13.

Note that if you are planning to take the Pacific Surfliner, service has not been fully restored and many routes still have bus service in places due to ongoing track repair. Be sure to check the Amtrak website for the latest updates.

 

[wendlle]

Is your first tip that they should steal juice cups from Disney? I'm genuinely confused what you mean about them falling into a suitcase and hope I am misunderstanding.

You're def not misunderstanding. Unless I am too. Pretty sure it means take juice to your room so you can steal the cups.

 

[brentm77]

You're def not misunderstanding. Unless I am too. Pretty sure it means take juice to your room so you can steal the cups.

If that's the case, that is a terrible tip. And to pass that "tip" on to your children? It's crap like that that results in none of the specialty restaurants or bars on the ships or parks being able to have unique dishes or utensils. Apparently many of the specialty drink glasses on the Wish were mostly gone within weeks.

 

[wendlle]

If that's the case, that is a terrible tip. And to pass that "tip" on to your children? It's crap like that that results in none of the specialty restaurants or bars on the ships or parks being able to have unique dishes or utensils. Apparently many of the specialty drink glasses on the Wish were mostly gone within weeks.

I remember everyone used to steal the artist brush knives from Animators Palate too. So sad.

 

[jlmarr]

Is your first tip that they should steal juice cups from Disney? I'm genuinely confused what you mean about them falling into a suitcase and hope I am misunderstanding.

Ok I edited that out of my post, and no they didn’t come back with any such souvenirs.