Dream vs Wonder

[Lesverts]

Background:

New to cruising. Have done one on Celebrity, doing another in February. With the cruise in February I'll have gone to every place in the Caribbean I have ever wanted to go with the exception of the Bahamas.

I want to go on a Disney Bahamas cruise in January of 2017 for my birthday. This will also serve as a Christmas/Birthday/Mother's Day present for my Mom. Based on the dates and my birthday I have the option of January 23 on the Dream or January 29 on the Wonder. There is a couple hundred dollar price difference between the two cruises with the same itinerary. Researching the ships and reviews other then age and Remy's there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference.

Question:

Is there something about the Dream that makes those extra dollars give your value? Money is not the issue, but I don't want to spend any unnecessarily if there isn't any additional value to spending that money.

 

[jdb in AZ]

The Wonder "should" undergo a major refurb next fall, so she'll look newer than the Dream. The Wonder is smaller and feels more like home instead of a floating city. Castaway Cay will be less crowded on days the Wonder is there. What size was the Celebrity ship you cruised on?

On the other hand, Remy is really nice. Either is a good choice. You're likely to get hooked on DCL and want to try all four ships.

 

[mlayton14]

I recently sailed the Fantasy after sailing the Magic 2 years earlier just after it was refurbished. The Wonder is sister ship to the Magic and will likely be a clone to it after its own refurb. Let me say that the Fantasy which is sister ship the Dream was the nicer ship in just about every possible way. There is the Aquaduck coaster, more water areas, the restaurants are much nicer themed, and the remaining public spaces are just nicer including a much larger area dedicated to adults.

If you want data instead of individual opinions just look at Cruise Critic guest ratings, the Dream pulled in 86% "love it" while the Wonder pulled in 77%, based on hundreds of reviews.

Look on YouTube for videos of each ship, this will give you an idea of which is more your taste

 

[missyp]

It depends on what you are looking for. I much prefer the Wonder. Our first cruise was on the Dream and our last 3 were on the Wonder. We like the more intimate homey feeling of the smaller ship. We feel the smaller ship offers more personalized service. After you have gone on the aqua duck a couple of times it becomes a been there done that, but after the refurb there will be some sort of water ride on the Wonder as well. Less people on Castaway Cay is a huge plus. I think on these boards you will find as many people preferring the smaller ships as the larger and I would not be surprised if you find more in favor of the smaller. In my opinion far better experience on the smaller with a bit less flash

 

[cruisehopeful]

The Dream is larger and offers more, but that also means there are a lot more passengers on the ship. Granted, I sailed the Dream when it was new (I was on the third cruise and perhaps they hadn't figured out how to deal with the crowds) and we had really long lines for everything. On the Wonder, there is rarely a line and the workers gave better overall service. Dream service wasn't bad by any means, but the people working on Wonder knew/remembered everything about us after the first time they'd see us.

The adult area on the Wonder was quieter. The adult pool on Dream looked fun as there were bar seats in the pool, but they were always full so I never got to experience that.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Background:

New to cruising. Have done one on Celebrity, doing another in February. With the cruise in February I'll have gone to every place in the Caribbean I have ever wanted to go with the exception of the Bahamas.

I want to go on a Disney Bahamas cruise in January of 2017 for my birthday. This will also serve as a Christmas/Birthday/Mother's Day present for my Mom. Based on the dates and my birthday I have the option of January 23 on the Dream or January 29 on the Wonder. There is a couple hundred dollar price difference between the two cruises with the same itinerary. Researching the ships and reviews other then age and Remy's there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference.

Question:

Is there something about the Dream that makes those extra dollars give your value? Money is not the issue, but I don't want to spend any unnecessarily if there isn't any additional value to spending that money.

Our first cruise was on the Dream, followed by 2 on the Fantasy and most recently we were on the Wonder. Disney takes excellent care of their ships and the Wonder still looks excellent.

Overall, we much prefer the Dream class ships the Dream just recently had Satellite Falls added as an adult only pool area that is fantastic! I felt like the atrium felt very small on the Wonder and the main elevators were horribly small with an odd shape to enter/exit.

There were also other things I didn't like as much on the Wonder such as in the cabin level hallways the walls were just an off white with a nice wood veneer frame around the doors. The Dream class ships the entire hallway is the wood veneer giving a warmer feel walking down the halls.

We also didn't experience the more intimate level of service so many people mention the Wonder is so great for. Our experience was the opposite and was actually the best on the Dream, worst on the Wonder. Obviously, your experience may be different.

Bottom line for us is we travel again on any of the ships, (we're really hoping our next cruise will be on the Magic), but if it came down to same itinerary on Magic class versus Dream class, I'd absolutely go with the Dream class. Just my $.02 and whatever you choose I hope you love your cruise.

 

[Lesverts]

Thanks for the help. Just wish the timing had been a little better so I was actually on the ship for my birthday.

jdb. I was on the Summit last winter and will be on the Silhouette this winter. I have looked at staying in the Celebrity/RCL family, but I really want to try DCL.

 

[ahain]

Our experience was similar to Club Disney Chandler.....Our first cruise was on the Dream, followed by the Fantasy, 2 more on the Dream and then Alaska on the Wonder. My very favorite ship is the Fantasy (sister to the Dream). It is a bit newer than the Dream and, since it does mostly longer cruises, life on the Fantasy seems a bit more relaxed. We have experienced excellent service on all three ships that we've been on. While many on these boards prefer the smaller "more intimate" Magic/Wonder, I preferred the larger ships. I did not care for the smaller atrium and smaller elevators on the Wonder. I still remember how awe-inspired I was when we first stepped into the atrium on the Dream for our first cruise. I also prefer Cabanas open station type of buffet rather than the single-file line on the Wonder, but I believe the buffet will be updated when the Wonder goes into drydock. Also, I did not like AP on the Wonder as compared to the wonderful effects in AP on the Dream/Fantasy. My Mom, sister & I will be on the Eastbound Panama Canal next Aug/Sept on the Wonder, so obviously I like the ship and the experience enough to book a 14 night cruise on her! I guess that will likely be the last voyage before her transformation.