Just getting off the Wonder...

[JW9DVC]

I didn't because I didn't see anything that seem life threatening or be a health hazard but let's just say that it makes Carnival look like an even better value now in our eyes. We did comment about it on the comment card, though.

As for the host, the room was cleaned every day... I haven't lessened the gratuity because it's not something I do but I did not write "excellent" on my card and did not mention his name on the card when we named the CMs who gave us the best service.

Sometimes if you do point it out. They would be quick to fix the issues. Possibly they are waiting for the contractor from dry dock to come aboard and see these issues for possible work guarantees.

I would not compare this time to Carnival as this is not the norm for DCL. It is however the norm for Carnival.

 

[seacruise]

When your sailing on a ~20 year old ship, don't expect every inch of it to look brand new - even after a major dry dock. We were on a HAL ship in Feb that was less than a year old and there was already little sports of rust, wear, etc. in places. A lot of what you see depends on where something is in its maintenance cycle. Take the constant varnishing of the verandah railings for instance. They can't revarnish the whole ship every week. Sometimes you may get a balcony that just had its railing varnished, sometimes you may get one that is schedule for the following week and looks warn.

What I have found on Disney though is that if you mention a problem to them, it will be addressed. It may not be possible to be fixed in short order, but they will take care of you. We had a mattress issue on DCL a couple of years ago. They didn't have a replacement, but they went out of their way to try and make it better (egg crate pad on top, etc.). Even bringing gifts to our cabin for the kids (which was totally unnecessary).

 

[mevelandry]

We had Dr Stange also

Correction from my previous post: no Dr. strange on our cruise.

 

[mevelandry]

When your sailing on a ~20 year old ship, don't expect every inch of it to look brand new - even after a major dry dock. We were on a HAL ship in Feb that was less than a year old and there was already little sports of rust, wear, etc. in places. A lot of what you see depends on where something is in its maintenance cycle. Take the constant varnishing of the verandah railings for instance. They can't revarnish the whole ship every week. Sometimes you may get a balcony that just had its railing varnished, sometimes you may get one that is schedule for the following week and looks warn.

What I have found on Disney though is that if you mention a problem to them, it will be addressed. It may not be possible to be fixed in short order, but they will take care of you. We had a mattress issue on DCL a couple of years ago. They didn't have a replacement, but they went out of their way to try and make it better (egg crate pad on top, etc.). Even bringing gifts to our cabin for the kids (which was totally unnecessary).

I know. It's just that a lot of people brag about sailing with DCL because the ships always look brand new. It was my first time on a classic, I had only sailed on the Dream (with DCL). Based on reviews and because she was fresh out of dry dock (where it seemed like they re-did all exterior parts from scratch), I was expecting her to look brand new everywhere.

When I sailed on the Carnival Victory, I expected some parts not to look brand new. But they charged 229$/pp for an inside room for 4 nights. On DCL, we paid 800$/pp for an inside room for only 3 nights. For that price, I expected the Quiet Cove to be in a much better shape.

As I'll be cruising on the Carnival Vista later this year (625$/pp for 6 nights for an inside room), because the ship was built 2016, I will expect it to be in great shape...

 

[ohMom]

well i'm sorta bummed to read this too, I"ll be sailing with Bartman on 4/23. hopefully the bathroom issued are being addressed, that is not ok. Personally, the Wonder is our favorite ship, last time we sailed her before her overhaul, we did Alaska 2015. We didn't encounter issues then, I wonder if the bathroom issues are similar to problems the Magic had after it's re-imagined drydock?

 

[mattj009]

My wife and I were also on the 4/6 Wonder cruise. We only saw our room steward once the entire cruise as well, but everything was clean, and the towel animals were funny. That was good enough for us. We didn't notice much wear and tear, but maybe we were just focused on having as much fun as possible in three days, and not looking for damage to photograph. The Wonder looked great to us - especially in all of the refurbished areas, from the kid's pool areas to Tiana's and the After Hours clubs... If you want to find problems on an 18-year-old ship, you're going to find it.

 

[GrumpyGoat]

I'm not gonna lie, With the exception of the designs (classic on Wonder, Vegas style on the Victory... It's a matter of taste some prefer the first, some prefer the latter), I did not think that the Wonder was in a much much better shape than the Carnival Victory.

We loved almost everything about our cruise but having tried another cruise line in October, DH and I don't feel like the premium on DCL is really justified.

(Also we need a little break from the Mouse)

I didn't because I didn't see anything that seem life threatening or be a health hazard but let's just say that it makes Carnival look like an even better value now in our eyes. We did comment about it on the comment card, though.

As for the host, the room was cleaned every day... I haven't lessened the gratuity because it's not something I do but I did not write "excellent" on my card and did not mention his name on the card when we named the CMs who gave us the best service.

Overall, I think it's impossible to make a comparison between Carnival and Disney. Maybe the Wonder looks a little drab (I noticed some of this even before the dry docking) but I've heard of only one instance of an illness outbreak on a Disney ship and that was resolved very quickly. I looked at the CDCs records of cruise ship outbreaks for the last ten years and the is only the one incident on a Disney ship (in 2016.)

And that's not the worst thing. Carnival has had a history of on board fires, most recently in 2013 and 2015. The 2013 fire aboard the Carnival Triumph left the ship adrift in the Gulf of Mexico for several, most of that time without working air conditioning and toilets.

No thanks. I'd rather go back to sea on a US Navy warship than cruise on Carnival...

 

[mevelandry]

My wife and I were also on the 4/6 Wonder cruise. We only saw our room steward once the entire cruise as well, but everything was clean, and the towel animals were funny. That was good enough for us. We didn't notice much wear and tear, but maybe we were just focused on having as much fun as possible in three days, and not looking for damage to photograph. The Wonder looked great to us - especially in all of the refurbished areas, from the kid's pool areas to Tiana's and the After Hours clubs... If you want to find problems on an 18-year-old ship, you're going to find it.

I took hundreds of pictures during the cruise. I simply zoomed and reframed one or two of them to present proof of what I was writing in my review.

 

[mevelandry]

Overall, I think it's impossible to make a comparison between Carnival and Disney. Maybe the Wonder looks a little drab (I noticed some of this even before the dry docking) but I've heard of only one instance of an illness outbreak on a Disney ship and that was resolved very quickly. I looked at the CDCs records of cruise ship outbreaks for the last ten years and the is only the one incident on a Disney ship (in 2016.)

And that's not the worst thing. Carnival has had a history of on board fires, most recently in 2013 and 2015. The 2013 fire aboard the Carnival Triumph left the ship adrift in the Gulf of Mexico for several, most of that time without working air conditioning and toilets.

No thanks. I'd rather go back to sea on a US Navy warship than cruise on Carnival...

Maybe I did not explain myself correctly: I meant that the issues I encountered were not important enough to complain to guest services ... and simply stated an example of what would be a good reason to complain.

Never have I ever compared the way both cruise lines deal with outbreaks because --to my knowledge-- it did not happen on any cruise I've been on.

Now, if you don't want to cruise with Carnival, then don't. It's your choice.

I will cruise on Carnival, NCL, RCCL, Princess... Any other popular cruise line I can afford, for as long as I can.

 

[cgolf]

Here are a few examples of what I was talking about. Those were taken in the Quiet Cove (adult pool). There was obviously no improvement made in that section during the dry dock.

I would expect this on an old Carnival ship but on DCL, I was not expecting that the age would show that much.

View attachment 230715 View attachment 230716 View attachment 230718

You know in the past I would have

Here are a few examples of what I was talking about. Those were taken in the Quiet Cove (adult pool). There was obviously no improvement made in that section during the dry dock.

I would expect this on an old Carnival ship but on DCL, I was not expecting that the age would show that much.

View attachment 230715 View attachment 230716 View attachment 230718

Ya know in the past I would have defended DCL, and the classics, as they are by far and away my favorite ships, but know more. With the upscale prices now, items like this need to be taken care of. Not sure I want to go here because of the reaction from some, but if the public areas look like that, you have to wonder if the areas that really matter are being neglected too??? It is kind of sad to see, when we started cruising DCL, you wouldn't have seen stuff like that, either that or the pixie dust blinded me.

If DCL is going to charge big prices, the ships and service need to be top notch.

 

[mevelandry]

You know in the past I would have


Ya know in the past I would have defended DCL, and the classics, as they are by far and away my favorite ships, but know more. With the upscale prices now, items like this need to be taken care of. Not sure I want to go here because of the reaction from some, but if the public areas look like that, you have to wonder if the areas that really matter are being neglected too??? It is kind of sad to see, when we started cruising DCL, you wouldn't have seen stuff like that, either that or the pixie dust blinded me.

If DCL is going to charge big prices, the ships and service need to be top notch.

The rest of the ship looked so good in comparison... That might be why this section stood out. (Also it's where we spent most of our time during the day).

I still think the Wonder is a great ship that has a lot to offer. I wouldn't pay more for it (especially since I want to take a break from the Mouse for a while) but if it was more affordable, I would go back.

 

[cgolf]

The rest of the ship looked so good in comparison... That might be why this section stood out. (Also it's where we spent most of our time during the day).

I still think the Wonder is a great ship that has a lot to offer. I wouldn't pay more for it (especially since I want to take a break from the Mouse for a while) but if it was more affordable, I would go back.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Magic and the Wonder, but you aren't the first to point out the aging of the classics, maybe they do need some work. I think at the current prices I would start to notice more things, who knows. Hopefully the classics will become more affordable, because we too would likely go back

 

[Trera]

Don't get me wrong, I love the Magic and the Wonder, but you aren't the first to point out the aging of the classics, maybe they do need some work. I think at the current prices I would start to notice more things, who knows. Hopefully the classics will become more affordable, because we too would likely go back

I think when the new ships are added to the fleet, Disney will need to refurbish the classics or they will have to lower the prices.

 

[Tinked]

Thanks for the movie list.

 

[mevelandry]

I think when the new ships are added to the fleet, Disney will need to refurbish the classics or they will have to lower the prices.

I wish they would do that but I kinda doubt it will happen.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Sometimes if you do point it out. They would be quick to fix the issues. Possibly they are waiting for the contractor from dry dock to come aboard and see these issues for possible work guarantees.

I would not compare this time to Carnival as this is not the norm for DCL. It is however the norm for Carnival.

I do find this to be the "norm" on DCL - I sailed the Magic in October 2010 which was not long after one of it's refurbishments (not it's big one but one where they replaced pool deck materials, and other stuff) and the adult pool area had rust spots and other not so great looking spots that had not been touched during the dry dock. I don't think that DCL gives enough attention to the adult pool areas during their dry docks.

 

[cgolf]

My wife and I were also on the 4/6 Wonder cruise. We only saw our room steward once the entire cruise as well, but everything was clean, and the towel animals were funny. That was good enough for us. We didn't notice much wear and tear, but maybe we were just focused on having as much fun as possible in three days, and not looking for damage to photograph. The Wonder looked great to us - especially in all of the refurbished areas, from the kid's pool areas to Tiana's and the After Hours clubs... If you want to find problems on an 18-year-old ship, you're going to find it.

If I were paying 3,999 for an inside stateroom for a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise in February of 2018 for 2, in the past a cheaper time to travel and only cruise that interested me during that time, I would expect the ship and crew to be top notch over the other options we would have priced, Celebrity, RCCL, and Princess. Now that they have raised the prices, I will have higher expectations the next time I cruise DCL. This comes from someone in the past who has defended the slight wear and tear on the classics.

 

[Judyat]

We did the Wonder a year ago. Did the Panama canal two weeks. This was well before the Wonder did the dry dock. We didn't notice any of the problems discussed here. Our room steward was wonderful and we saw him in the hall every day as was the 2 weeks abroad the Wonder. Guess we would see most of those so called flaws as part of the aging process although I have to say we didn't see them or for that matter notice any mold or the flaws mentioned. We had a verandah on deck 7 midship. Love it.

 

[richkaryn]

We felt the exact same way! We thought the food on the Wonder was exponentially better than the Dream. Also, what you mentioned about your room steward above-we saw ours when we first got to our room and didn't see him again until we were leaving to head to breakfast our very last morning. We saw our steward on the Dream constantly!

We noticed that with our stateroom host on the Wonder vs Dream too....we saw her once or twice...on the Dream we saw Rian off and on all day and he made sure to call out to us/check on us any time he saw us come in/out of room on Dream. So we were a little surprised to have the opposite on the Wonder.

 

[mevelandry]

We did the Wonder a year ago. Did the Panama canal two weeks. This was well before the Wonder did the dry dock. We didn't notice any of the problems discussed here. Our room steward was wonderful and we saw him in the hall every day as was the 2 weeks abroad the Wonder. Guess we would see most of those so called flaws as part of the aging process although I have to say we didn't see them or for that matter notice any mold or the flaws mentioned. We had a verandah on deck 7 midship. Love it.

If you read the whole thread, I have posted pictures of the mold and rust I was talking about. It is highly possible that it appeared within the last year or even after the dry dock... Who knows.