We just returned this past weekend from our first Disney Cruise aboard the Wonder - we took the baby (11 months old!) and we had a blast! Here are my thoughts:
Cabins - Booked a Cat. 11 Gty based on opinions on these boards and we felt that it was just too small and confining without the window. We were in Cabin 5139 and had a great cabin steward named Paulito. We are extremely neat and tidy people, so our cabin pretty much looks each day how we entered it on the first day, and so this helped with us not feeling so stuffy. Needless to say, we will be booking a bigger cabin next time although the amenities and quality of this cabin were fabulous.
Food - It was good, but not exceptional. Coming from a restaurant family with my dad being a chef, I am a bit spoiled, but I know how to review each meal on its own merits; more specifically, I didn't compare meals to each other unless we were in the same dining room. All in all, we were very disappointed in Tritons and felt that our food, presentation and selection was much better in Parrot Cay, Animator's and room service.
Servers - Our servers were ok. After having water dropped on me 2 nights in a row, as well as assistant server not remembering our fav drinks (apple juice & lemonade ) the entire cruise, my DH and I felt that they we received average servers. Our main server was better at explaining the next day's events than offering food selections, but all in all, our dining experiences were ok. We did feel that the head servers were extremely arrogant and not interested in anything but securing larger tips (see post below), but that is another can of worms all together. I have allergies and sensitivities, and they did their best to accomodate, but basically I just ate white rice and steamed veggies all week as they didn't really seem too interested in offering other selections.
Entertainment - Fabulous! These performers are great and it shows. We did feel that Hercules the Musical is too adult-oriented and needs to be toned down in regards to sexual inuendo, political jokes, etc... or they should only offer a late showing for adults only. This opinion was shared by a lot of other parents who we talked to throughout our cruise.
Staff - Exceptional! We didn't expect anything less than Disney quality service, so our expectations were definitely met here.
Tipping - Don't want to start a debate, or rile people up, but the tipping situation was a problem. Our servers and head waiter were fabulous on the last night, and very grumpy the last morning after tips had been handed out - this is not acceptable in our opinion. The whole concept of tipping has been lost as it should be for exceptional service, but instead it's used as a wage subsidy. My DH is a banker and their motto is: Always be closing. You need to treat your clients in a good manner, 100% of the time - not just on the last night in order to secure an envelope of tips. Needless to say, this was the most stressful and disappointing part of our cruise.
Castaway Cay - Very beautiful, but hot! We brought along a tent for the baby, and it was still sweltering hot. We left the island early, but greatly enjoyed ourselves while we were there. This is a destination all on its own!
Infants/Kids - We had no problems with our DD, thanks to Disney's care in ensuring that infants have what they need. Didn't use nursery, but we talked to other parents who did, and they said it was phenomenal. As a teacher, I looked into the nursery and Oceaneer's Lab, and I was extremely impressed with the quality of programming, cleanliness, etc... Will not hesitate to use these services when DD is older.
Suggestions/Concerns - The biggest problems were: character interaction, photos, survey limitations & late dinner seating.
Characters - They need to have characters out more times throughout the day, as well as offer Mickey/Minnie formal picture each night of cruise. We were never able to get a photo of both characters and this greatly disappointed us. They need to give each family a ticket that can be used once throughout the cruise to ensure that each family is offered the opportunity to get this photo. We felt that they mostly catered to the early dinner seating people as the times for photos were not doable for those of us with late seating. We were told at least 5 times that, "Sorry, the last family has already been selected, and you'll have to return at another time for photos." My DH and I were ready to scream after 2 days of this since our cruise was only 4 days in length! I know that being a character is hard and hot, but this is the area in which everyone usually wants to utilize in some fashion, and in my opinion, they need to tweak their schedules a bit more.
Photos - The common practice on cruise ships to take lots of photos and then throw them away has got to stop. It's very wasteful and ridiculous! The prices are even more ridiculous, and it's insulting that they would rather throw out photos then give discounts to guests. The photos aren't the greatest quality either, and so this is one area that they need to improve upon. My DH and I did purchase 2 photos and would have purchased a few more, but the astronomical prices (factor in exchange rate and ouch!) kept us from doing so.
Surveys - They take the guest surveys very seriously, but they only allow for bubble answers and no comments. As a teacher with a considerable amount of research expertise, this in itself limits your ability to get fair and accurate assessments - perhaps this is Disney's goal. Regardless, guests must be allowed to write comments on a variety of cruise experiences as this will only serve to give Disney a more realistic picture of what guests like or dislike about cruise.
Late dinner - Disney should ensure that all families if so requested have early seating - especially with an infant. Saw many couples without kids at early seating. I know people have dining preferences, and I myself have low blood suger and eat early myself, but I was able to eat snacks and such to tide me over as we were stuck with the late seating. I'm not important, but my infant is, and it was just too late for her to be up each night - and we are still paying for it this week as she can't fall asleep each night until after 10:00 p.m.
All in all, we had a great cruise and can't imagine sailing on another ship ever again (we've only ever been on Norwegian and it can't even compare to Disney!) We do hope they improve on the things mentioned above as they would only serve to make everyone's cruise even more enjoyable.
Tiger
Cabins - Booked a Cat. 11 Gty based on opinions on these boards and we felt that it was just too small and confining without the window. We were in Cabin 5139 and had a great cabin steward named Paulito. We are extremely neat and tidy people, so our cabin pretty much looks each day how we entered it on the first day, and so this helped with us not feeling so stuffy. Needless to say, we will be booking a bigger cabin next time although the amenities and quality of this cabin were fabulous.
Food - It was good, but not exceptional. Coming from a restaurant family with my dad being a chef, I am a bit spoiled, but I know how to review each meal on its own merits; more specifically, I didn't compare meals to each other unless we were in the same dining room. All in all, we were very disappointed in Tritons and felt that our food, presentation and selection was much better in Parrot Cay, Animator's and room service.
Servers - Our servers were ok. After having water dropped on me 2 nights in a row, as well as assistant server not remembering our fav drinks (apple juice & lemonade ) the entire cruise, my DH and I felt that they we received average servers. Our main server was better at explaining the next day's events than offering food selections, but all in all, our dining experiences were ok. We did feel that the head servers were extremely arrogant and not interested in anything but securing larger tips (see post below), but that is another can of worms all together. I have allergies and sensitivities, and they did their best to accomodate, but basically I just ate white rice and steamed veggies all week as they didn't really seem too interested in offering other selections.
Entertainment - Fabulous! These performers are great and it shows. We did feel that Hercules the Musical is too adult-oriented and needs to be toned down in regards to sexual inuendo, political jokes, etc... or they should only offer a late showing for adults only. This opinion was shared by a lot of other parents who we talked to throughout our cruise.
Staff - Exceptional! We didn't expect anything less than Disney quality service, so our expectations were definitely met here.
Tipping - Don't want to start a debate, or rile people up, but the tipping situation was a problem. Our servers and head waiter were fabulous on the last night, and very grumpy the last morning after tips had been handed out - this is not acceptable in our opinion. The whole concept of tipping has been lost as it should be for exceptional service, but instead it's used as a wage subsidy. My DH is a banker and their motto is: Always be closing. You need to treat your clients in a good manner, 100% of the time - not just on the last night in order to secure an envelope of tips. Needless to say, this was the most stressful and disappointing part of our cruise.
Castaway Cay - Very beautiful, but hot! We brought along a tent for the baby, and it was still sweltering hot. We left the island early, but greatly enjoyed ourselves while we were there. This is a destination all on its own!
Infants/Kids - We had no problems with our DD, thanks to Disney's care in ensuring that infants have what they need. Didn't use nursery, but we talked to other parents who did, and they said it was phenomenal. As a teacher, I looked into the nursery and Oceaneer's Lab, and I was extremely impressed with the quality of programming, cleanliness, etc... Will not hesitate to use these services when DD is older.
Suggestions/Concerns - The biggest problems were: character interaction, photos, survey limitations & late dinner seating.
Characters - They need to have characters out more times throughout the day, as well as offer Mickey/Minnie formal picture each night of cruise. We were never able to get a photo of both characters and this greatly disappointed us. They need to give each family a ticket that can be used once throughout the cruise to ensure that each family is offered the opportunity to get this photo. We felt that they mostly catered to the early dinner seating people as the times for photos were not doable for those of us with late seating. We were told at least 5 times that, "Sorry, the last family has already been selected, and you'll have to return at another time for photos." My DH and I were ready to scream after 2 days of this since our cruise was only 4 days in length! I know that being a character is hard and hot, but this is the area in which everyone usually wants to utilize in some fashion, and in my opinion, they need to tweak their schedules a bit more.
Photos - The common practice on cruise ships to take lots of photos and then throw them away has got to stop. It's very wasteful and ridiculous! The prices are even more ridiculous, and it's insulting that they would rather throw out photos then give discounts to guests. The photos aren't the greatest quality either, and so this is one area that they need to improve upon. My DH and I did purchase 2 photos and would have purchased a few more, but the astronomical prices (factor in exchange rate and ouch!) kept us from doing so.
Surveys - They take the guest surveys very seriously, but they only allow for bubble answers and no comments. As a teacher with a considerable amount of research expertise, this in itself limits your ability to get fair and accurate assessments - perhaps this is Disney's goal. Regardless, guests must be allowed to write comments on a variety of cruise experiences as this will only serve to give Disney a more realistic picture of what guests like or dislike about cruise.
Late dinner - Disney should ensure that all families if so requested have early seating - especially with an infant. Saw many couples without kids at early seating. I know people have dining preferences, and I myself have low blood suger and eat early myself, but I was able to eat snacks and such to tide me over as we were stuck with the late seating. I'm not important, but my infant is, and it was just too late for her to be up each night - and we are still paying for it this week as she can't fall asleep each night until after 10:00 p.m.
All in all, we had a great cruise and can't imagine sailing on another ship ever again (we've only ever been on Norwegian and it can't even compare to Disney!) We do hope they improve on the things mentioned above as they would only serve to make everyone's cruise even more enjoyable.
Tiger
As long as the system does NOT allow you to DELETE any pics (so you don't "accidentally" delete someone else's pictures!! 
) this would be such a cool concept!! 
, if you know what I mean.
