My thoughts on The Wish

[foolish-mortal]

I'd sailed the Magic, Fantasy and Dream previously and just sailed The Wish this past week. I hadn't wanted to sail on it at all based on the feedback and reviews I'd been reading. I was very hesitant to try it. A cruise is an investment of money, vacation time, etc. and you don't want to be disappointed. But I went with my mom, sister and sister-in-law and these were the only dates that we could make work. I was especially hesitant because they had never sailed on DCL before. I wanted them to fall in love with Disney cruising the way I have and I didn't want it to be a bad experience for them.

We absolutely LOVED The Wish! We were so impressed and loved everything about it. It's such a beautiful ship. I will agree that it's laid out differently and it took us a bit to find things. But to us it wasn't a big deal at all. It didn't feel awkward or chopped up. It was just a little different from the other ships. We had a hard time finding The Rose, even after having gone up a couple times. But the CMs were always available to help show us how to find it.

We really liked all of the different spaces. There are lounges and shops and coffee bars everywhere you turn. So many cool places to go to. The dining rooms felt slightly more crowded but not much more than the other 4 ships. We really liked the adult pool deck. There was so much more seating there. We could even see Funnel Vision from a big, round lounge on the deck. Lots of lounge chairs and rockers. The rooms are gorgeous!!! The art and details around the ship are exceptional.

I would say my only disappointments were that Deck 4 doesn't go all the way around. I'm not a fan of this but it certainly didn't impact my cruise in any way. It's minor. And I wasn't a fan of Arendelle. It was loud, chaotic, and I'm just not a fan of dinner shows. I would rather have a quieter dinner in a beautiful setting. But I knew this going in and it was only one night. I'm still glad I experienced it. But if I cruise on The Wish again I would probably skip. We LOVED 1923. I wish I could go there every night. Theming and food were amazing. And 2 people in my party liked Worlds of Marvel the best. They are Marvel fans so they were blown away. I'm also not a huge fan of the high priced shops, but I just didn't go into them. It didn't affect me.

Overall I'm soooo glad we ended up sailing The Wish. I wouldn't hesitate to sail it again.

 

[westie55]

Thanks for sharing this review. I'm cruising on the Wish for the first time later this year (my family's first cruise) and the reviews have made me nervous. I agree that it's a lot of money and I really want everyone to love it. Having said that, I think the rooms on the Wish look a lot nicer and more modern than the staterooms on the other ships. They look rather dated to me in comparison.

How were the lines? The other thing that worries me is people saying it's endless waiting for elevators, for characters, or dining, for the shows, for the AquaMouse, that the pool deck is a crowded mess, and that you can't find tables at Marceline Market. What was your experience with lines for characters, food, and elevators?

In Disney World or Disneyland I have the system pretty well figured out so we never wait long for anything. Any tips for minimizing wait times on the Wish?

I can't wait to go; I wish my cruise were sooner!!

 

[onesam319]

What was your experience with lines for characters, food, and elevators?

We have been on all 5 ships, most recently on the Wish. We have not experienced lines for characters, but food and elevator lines didn't seem any different than the other ships. If you want to use the forward elevators right when the show lets out, you have to wait on elevators on all the ships. Just be sure that you get on the elevator that goes to the deck you want. Look above the doors to see which decks are available for that elevator.

As far as dining, my absolute favorite was Arandelle! We did a B2B and loved it just as much the second time. In our cabin, the shower with glass door was a great improvement over the old curtain setup.

Lines at quick service on deck 11 may look long, but they move quickly. Enjoy the Wish!

 

[foolish-mortal]

Thanks for sharing this review. I'm cruising on the Wish for the first time later this year (my family's first cruise) and the reviews have made me nervous. I agree that it's a lot of money and I really want everyone to love it. Having said that, I think the rooms on the Wish look a lot nicer and more modern than the staterooms on the other ships. They look rather dated to me in comparison.

How were the lines? The other thing that worries me is people saying it's endless waiting for elevators, for characters, or dining, for the shows, for the AquaMouse, that the pool deck is a crowded mess, and that you can't find tables at Marceline Market. What was your experience with lines for characters, food, and elevators?

In Disney World or Disneyland I have the system pretty well figured out so we never wait long for anything. Any tips for minimizing wait times on the Wish?

I can't wait to go; I wish my cruise were sooner!!

We didn't experience any of those things. Waits for the elevators were either the same or better than the other DCL ships. Was only congested at times when you expect it (muster drill, everyone going to dinner at the same time, etc.). Was not a problem. The times I saw the Aqua Mouse waits it varied between 20 and 45 minutes. The day we rode it it said 20 minutes and we actually waited less than 10.

Marceline Market was no more crowded than Cabanas on the other ships. Never had trouble finding a table. We ate outside most of the time and could find a table.

We didn't wait in line for any characters or meet and greets so I can't comment on that. But I didn't see anything that looked different from my other cruises. You're going to have such a great time! She's a wonderful ship!

 

[SuperJ]

We went last summer. No waits at dinner, buffet was chaos at the times you’d expect, we had some small elevator waits but we were on the sailing where they changed the elevator buttons over so sometimes one was down for that work l (though they mostly tried to handle it overnight) but it wasn’t a big deal at all. My one major wait complaint was characters - you basically have to be in line before the character even comes out and for something like pirate night, you get one character because all the lines closed up before anyone even came out. For things like the sail away party and fireworks, we just hung back and let the crowd thin before trying to head down and it usually cleared right up in 5-10min.

We actually enjoyed the ship (haven’t been on any of the others) and are going again in April and have the Treasure booked for next year. We liked how clean it was, how open it felt, and really really enjoyed having multiple pools to choose from on the pool decks. We also never felt like any specific deck was too crowded since the restaurants and things are spaced out - only shopping we did was Mickey mainsail and it didn’t feel packed to us. We really liked Arrendelle (the kids were the target age range) and 1923 (though kids said it was boring), but none of us liked Marvel (too loud, didn’t like food). It’s true what they say about focusing on the positive - do that and it will be great. If you want to find things to be unhappy about, you will.

 

[Erica1016]

Overall I'm soooo glad we ended up sailing The Wish. I wouldn't hesitate to sail it again.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it. We have sailed all the ships and we enjoyed the Wish as well. The Fantasy is still my favorite, but after the Fantasy/Dream, I'd probably choose the Wish next. I'm looking very forward to the Treasure!

 

[Mango7100]

Totally agree! Almost didn’t sail on the Wish due to the reviews but we all loved it. I much prefer the bars and lounges spread out compared to all clustered in one area like the Dream. Loved the Rose, the steakhouse additions to Palo, and Bayou was our favorite. Would not hesitate to sail on her again!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Totally agree with your review. We did not do Marvel-not a fan and did Palo that evening. But the Wish is a beautiful ship. And a glass of champagne in the Rose made for a very nice way to pass time in the evening.

 

[georgiagirl2]

I agree wholeheartedly with your review. Just got off the Wish Monday. We might've been on same sailing.

I thought the Wish was gorgeous and loved our Frozen-themed stateroom. The glass shower doors and light switches inside the bathroom were a huge improvement. Loved the bathrobes too.

My BFF and I sailed with a few of our adult children. They had their own Cinderella-themed stateroom.

We appreciated having the bars scattered throughout the ship. Our favorite was The Rose. Someone at work gave me a great tip about going up there right after the sail away party and it was spot on. The five of us were the only ones there aside from two other couples. We sat in front of the floor to ceiling windows and enjoyed some wonderful drinks while sailing away from Port Canaveral. My favorite was called "Welcome Home," which was similar to the Frozen Fractals drink in Arendelle.

We went to Palo Steakhouse the second night instead of Marvel, so didn't experience that dining room but found the food to be really good in 1923 and Arendelle. Service and food in Palo were exceptionally good.

Didn't like that we couldn't walk all the way around deck 4, but we walked anyway and just climbed all the stairs.

I want to take DH for his first trip on the Wish, but we will definitely do the 4-night. Three nights weren't enough time to see it all. Our kids are just starting out in their careers and don't have a lot of vacation time so a 3-night worked best for us this time.