elsawasajedi
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2020
- Messages
- 212
Yes, yet another review of the Wish. We went August 15-19 and my TA knows I'm gaga for details so she asked me if I would be willing to write up my notes (that may be why some of the grammar is awkward - did a replace on names).
As always YMMV!
Non functional things:
Uncharted adventures (super sad)
Aladdin (less sad - just saw it on the fantasy)
Rooms:
Bathrooms: New foot nightlight in the part of the bathroom with the toilet is a positive. Definitely don't have to bring your own nightlight. However, for some unexplained reason they ditched the round bathtub layout in the wish. Why? It was so convenient I don't get it. No overhead shower either just the one on the hand held.
Decor: The decor in terms of art/paintings was nice but the rooms matched the rest of the ship's decor which for us wasn't a plus. I get its supposed to feel like a floating castle and not a ship but everything was SO white in terms of overall decor. Prefer Dream/Fantasy type decor. We just didn't like the overall decor of the ship versus Dream/Fantasy.
Cabinets: What cabinets? What drawers? They swapped all cabinets for shelves except this really narrow almost closet type cabinet next to the murphy bed area. There are virtually no drawers now for stuff, the refrigerator inexplicably is now a drawer? Shelves are annoying and though our cruise was very quiet (almost no motion whatsoever - no idea if that's because the sea is calmer in summer vs winter when we went or because we were in the Bahamas only this time and for the Fantasy cruise we were more in open ocean down to the VI), if it is choppy at all I'm not sure I'd want to worry about stuff on shelves. I have no idea why they thought that those curved shelves on the end of the closet were a plus - it makes walking around more narrow, especially with the....
TV: WHY DID DISNEY DO THIS. I've heard its even worse in the interior staterooms but moving the TV from the cabinet area to the bed area without an arm to be able to make the TV move back on the other side of the curtain where the kids are was possibly the dumbest design choice ever. Yes, the TV is bigger but it also makes the walkway around the bed feel very narrow. And the deluxe family verandah rooms on the wish are the smallest yet. Magic/Wonder>Dream/Fantasy>Wish - they keep shrinking these rooms. And for some reason they put the ladder to the bunk on the other side of the bunk this time so walking around I cracked my toe pretty good on that ladder.
Furniture: No chair for the vanity just a circle stool which I don't think will hold up over time and because the room is smaller there's no second chair.
Verandah: We were on a bump out so ours was a little bigger than others but this was actually pretty nice.
Outlets: Upgrade over the Fantasy/Dream in terms of number, especially if you bring an outlet converter. They had actual USB outlets too.
Random: our wake up calls did not seem to work??
Ship layout:
Oh boy this is a doozy. So positives were that the bars (nightingales, Bayou, coffee bars etc) felt very incorporated in the ship versus the dream/fantasy where they kind of stuck a whole bar area off in the corner of the ship. Some people said that they felt it was chopped up but i can see that versus if you're used to being stuck in a bigger corner of the ship. For us it was good. So, cons. The two elevator bays are a BIG problem not just because there are only two but because the ship layout forces traffic to funnel through them in some areas versus a layout where theres a walkable outside ring that you can opt into the center of for elevators. Pirate night was a mess - you had people walking through other people in an elevator lounge on deck 12 to get to a set of stairs in the back to get to deck 11 and debarkation on shore days was same thing - elevators drop you into a sea of people floor 1 that have no where else to go/line up. We didn't walk the promenade deck (that's getting a lot of bad press) but we definitely experienced the random dead ends people talked about quite frequently. And getting to Cove/adult area is a MESS. there's only one way you can get there the other way around gets you entangled in cast only areas around the aquamouse.
Laundry - the laundry on the 8th floor is BEAUTIFUL but I question the decision to only have 1. Though its large enough certainly to likely service the whole ship I would be super annoyed if I was deck 4 AFT trying to go all the way up there. And I dont know why they chose to have it be something you see while in the 8th floor forward elevator lobby. And that's the only entrance in. There's multiple ways to get out but only one way in. But there's ironing boards, sinks etc that people definitely used.
Bars:
Hyperspace Lounge - Disney is using a reservation system for this and you can connect to the ships wifi in port before boarding and snag 1 time each of an adult time block and a family time block (so 2 times but ones adults and ones kids). There were people who tried to do this in port but they were all gone and the app was crashing - we were successful. So people need to do this IMMEDIATELY upon getting to port. Connect to the wifi - check for this and any other last minute openings in things like tastings etc. Hyperspace will have "open house" times that don't serve cocktails for people to see it too - but they will strictly enforce reservation times for the other times. It's not that you can't get in they just will wait to see if those who have the reservations don't show. The good news is though that people don't really hang here for long periods. It's cool but there's something missing from like the walls or something and it really turns into a one and done experience not somewhere you go to hang so availability frees up as the cruise goes on even if you don't score a reserved time. Anecdotally we learned from cast members that 11 Kaibur Crystal (5000 dollars) cocktails were ordered on the first sailing - so it is selling. They didn't even have the stuff to make the 250 dollar cocktail when we sailed and they had JUST restocked the glassware https://wdwnt.com/2022/07/hyperspace-lounge-souvenir-cups-disney-wish/ when we went and they had been out of it for weeks. We tried the entire menu but Pickled Mynock was great and Moons of Endor was AMAZING.
Nightingales - really great piano bar and the lady they had on the piano was fantastic. It's right off the atrium and it does incorporate into the feel of the ship very well. Cast struggled with the smoke bubble guns (which there were a lot of smoke bubble type cocktails all over the ship - definitely a thing on the wish). The Step Mother was very very good but definitely felt some guilt over drinking Blanton's in a cocktail.
On the Bayou - absolutely gorgeous. The frozen absinthe cocktail was amazing and will definitely be something we crave. The Bayou also has live entertainment at times - overall the Wish really stepped up the game on live entertainment.
The Rose - this place is a dream alcohol wise but layout is sad. I have never seen so many actual french champagnes by the glass on a menu. Fantastic and the signature rose cocktail is beautiful and worth the experience. But ultimately we were sad at the lay out. It's on the side of the ship and doesn't feel as intimate as meridian on dream/fantasy (and dream/fantasy) have the ability to go outside on deck to enjoy your cocktail/drink - that's not an option here. And while the floor to ceiling windows are nice there's no lights so its pitch black/nothing at night. Meridian was illuminated in aft. While the champagne selection was impressive, ultimately as a replacement to Meridian this missed the mark for us.
Triton Lounge - did not go in. Karaoke bar.
Keg & Compass - sports pub atmosphere we just briefly toured. The fact that they charge money for food here is ridiculous to me.
Entertainment:
Shows: Did not see the magician/juggler/AGT person they had in place of Aladdin. The new original was good - funnily enough we made sure to go see the Finding Nemo musical at Animal Kingdom (ITS SO GOOD - TELL EVERYONE TO GO SEE THIS) and when we saw Crush's song in the new original musical on board we were actually pretty stoked. The new original musical was pretty fan service-y but decent. Think we like the dad/daughter original one we saw on Fantasy better. We've seen a bunch of reviews saying Little Mermaid was meh - we thought it was pretty good! Popcorn is back at shutters.
Luna - because uncharted adventures wasn't operational we didn't experience anything in Luna but there was always something happening here it seems and people seemed to be having a good time! Liked the fact it was 2 levels that was cool.
Movies: did not experience
Pirate Night: This threw us for a loop - we thought Pirate night would be on the third night when we were in Castaway Cay but they made it night 2. We switched some other stuff around and made it work but I cannot believe the Pirate deckshow/fireworks wasn't until 10:15pm. Way too late with kids. It was good though its apparently different from the other one that we never experienced and Jack Sparrow repelling in is always a good time. They had all the pirate backdrops available in the lobby for pictures but no bandanas or eye patches were given out. Same pirate night menu as always which for Daughter is a favorite since she loves the beet salad.
Sail away
Was super fun!
Hero zone: did not make it here.
Olaf's Picnic: did not experience and would not buy even if it wasn't sold out. Ridiculous price.
Character encounters: Our only other experience was on the fantasy where they put two characters together - this time really it was 4 characters in the atrium usually but all on different floors. The timeblocking for character encounters was tight and some were really only out for that actual 30 mins they said they were going to be. We did get the "royal encounter" booked which is ticketed for day 2 and 4 but its an invaluable time saver versus standing in 15 min lines trying to get all the princesses which are separately possibly available throughout the week (and out at the same time as each other and other characters) and then obviously you get the Disney photographers if you're buying the photo package (BUY.THE.PACKAGE.). So for anyone that is getting a DCL xfer (which always gets boarding group 2), the 30 day check in at midnight should prioritize as we did the Royal Gathering event. Major heads up for anyone who is a Star Wars (and I suspect Marvel) fan. They had two Star Wars character encounters in the Cargo Bay kids area - Stormtroopers and Chewbacca (which turned out to have bonus Rey!). The lines for these were LONG. If this is important to you line up at least 20 mins in advance. We didn't go try to get pictures with Ant Man or Spiderman but its totally possible that the same thing happened. You couldn't touch/hug the characters when we were there but I guess that's changed now.
Pools: Pools were good - thought that the lay out and concepts of the main deck pools was great especially for watching movies on deck. There are apparently more pools in forward which people found confusing (deck layout again is a massive issue). Did not visit the infinity pools in cove because deck lay out and timing. Deck gets REALLY hot in the sun.
Aquamouse: This was as advertised - an 'attraction' at sea but the line was pretty massive. 45 mins minimum and it wasn't as open/more enclosed (obviously to watch the short film) as the Aquaduck so there was only one part where you saw the outside which for Me wasn't as cool but everyone liked it. Not enough to do it multiple times though. One and done.
Spa: The person at the desk when we booked day passes to Rainforest charged us for a 4 day pass and screwed a couple of other things up which was annoying because the lines to talk to guest services the entire cruise were CRAZY long. Even if you booked an appointment to talk to guest services you could easily wait an hour past your timeslot. If you need to talk to guest services call at like 7am. The rainforest room was nice - they had the chairs and the ice room was really cool. Did miss the different showers. Hot tubs outside were nice but IDK why they designed it to be so enclosed outside - there was no view of the ocean at all. Think we prefer the rainforest room layout in Dream/Fantasy.
Atrium stage: At one point later at night one night they brought out a duo who kind of did a routine that included the sort of short summary of disney plots that Olaf did in frozen 2 explaining the frozen backstory to the people trapped in the enchanted forest. Was pretty funny.
Kids club: Kids loved being able to slide down into the kids club areas. They loved the cargo bay area, playing stacks. They were asking to go back all the time.
Tastings: We managed to snag an old fashioned tasting while in port before boarding that had freed up. At 100 dollar per person this was pricey but the alcohol they used was seriously top shelf. To the point where we were like "OMG we can't believe this is being used in a cocktail, this is sacrilege." Was completely awesome, would do again in a heartbeat. The only sad thing was that ours was in Cove Cafe - we would have loved to get into the one that was in Hooks Barbery which we didn't get to visit and heard amazing things about. Cast in the tasting was exceptional.
Dining:
I had originally put in a request to start in Arendelle thinking that I would get 2 nights in Arendelle due to a 4 night rotation. I called a couple of sundays before the cruise date to ask something else (side note - the person I talked to said sunday mornings were the best time to call - I was shocked I got through immediately) but wound up asking to confirm that request was in place and discovering that for the 4 night these are the rotations:
Arendelle-1923-1923-Marvel with Marvel for breakfast on debarkation day
Marvel-Arendelle-Arendelle-1923 with 1923 for breakfast on debarkation day
1923-Marvel-Marvel-Arendelle with Arendelle for breakfast on debarkation day
I immediately made a request to switch a preference for starting in Marvel instead and we are super glad we did. Pirate night was the second night and I think doing pirate night in Marvel, especially as the first night in Marvel, would have been super awkward. Similarly, we wanted to end with 1923 as we had heard it was the most upscale and thought it would be a nice treat for the last nite. This worked out fantastically and I would recommend making this request for every single 4 night Wish reservation. Marvel, while great, doesn't really fit in with the rest of the ship. It's a great first experience getting on board but it would have been odd doing wish stuff for 2-3 days then plopping down into marvel. Then you get two nights in Arendelle and pirate night kind of fits in when the frozen entertainment isn't around. And i can't imagine doing crazy early breakfast on debarkation day in that neon blue.
The wine list is the same in all the MDR restaurants and its on the struggle bus (exception: sparkling wines). No one asked us about purchasing a wine package and candidly we wouldn't have. Cannot emphasize this enough - as people who like Pinot when we got the Skywalker Pinot on the Fantasy it was definitely not worth 31 dollars/glass. What we did in the second (non pirate) night in Arendelle and the last night in 1923 (and I will do this on every cruise going forward) is ask our server team to see if we can get a menu from Palo/Remy/Enchante and see if those wines are available to order from (they did do this for us and the sparkling flight from Palo wine menu was AMAZING).
Individual restaurant reviews:
Marvel - very well themed very well done. The souvenir quantum core sippers were super cool. The trio cocktail flight (Wakanda Tasting Lab) in here was the best one we had on ship. Side notes - all flights seemed extremely good value. As far as food goes - we tried the smoked salmon, the bao buns and the hearts of palm ceviche. All good. We also tried the berebere spiced pork chop (if anyone is a Sanaa/Tiffins/Jiko fan this one is for you!) and one or two others I dont remember but the standout (and this will be in every case/restaurant) was the lighter note or vegetarian menu options. Simply fantastic all over the ship but in this case it was the Lamb Shawarma Salad. Unmissible/best thing on the menu. Did not do dessert we ran up to shop when Mickey's mainsail opened. The entertainment was very good and we had a good table on the aisle for when the characters come through.
Arendelle (Pirate Night) - same Pirate Menu as all the other ships. Daughter craves the beet carpaccio - I think we ordered like 2. Fennel orange quinoa salad was good. Falafel was ok/dry - and we think the stir fry would have been better served as a cold dish but that's us. Son ordered the lamb shank with green beans and parsnip mash and it was good. Side note - this was the only place/time on ship that triggered motion sickness for me. The vibration here in dock/while we were pulling away from Nassau was pretty strong and while I dont get sea sick I get car sick so I think that vibration mimicked car motion and I started to get motion sick.
Arendelle (actual MDR night) - Anna's Koltbord was unmissible absolutely awesome. The Baked Scallops were something else - came in a giant puff pastry over the bisque and was a very neat presentation. Very impressive dish. The Jarlsberg tart and chilled asparagus also good. Son had the Kjottkake which was very good and the lighter note salmon salad was awesome as was the potato lefse. Chicken was a miss/overcooked. Troll Family's Rock Chocolate Bar was AWESOME. Must have. The entertainment was nice but I think it really depended on where you were sitting. Tables closer to stage were obviously better. We were in a middle table (the tables were all packed together I guess this is what it looked like pre covid when they talked about crammed dining rooms) kind of back in a corner. By this time I had requested a different wine menu and I got a french bourdeaux from st. emillion that was very good. Can't seem to find that menu on the internet - not sure it might have come from Enchante? whatever it was it was 13.75/glass and well worth it.
1923 - Husband ordered the Lillet experience in terms of cocktails which comes with some fun pairings. It's a nice experience but wasn't my thing. I had the Degustazione Bollicine Ferrari sparkling wine flight from Palo's menu which was awesome. Insane value for 30 dollars. We ordered the ahi tuna was very good and we're pretty meh/picky about ahi appetizers. The tortelloni was good as are most disney cruise pastas and the duck confit pastilla and fennel, pear, tatsoi sald were also good. I think we ordered the burrata too but I don't remember? Son had the rack of lamb which was cooked perfectly and Husband had the moroccan spiced kabocha which was also very good. The tortiglioni pasta was pretty good but the standout was hands down the lobster salad from the lighter notes. Not even just because lobster - it was just a really well balanced salad. We got the Blueberry lemon bavarian cream and the flourless almond orange cake for dessert - also good!
Marceline Market - was nice, its a buffet. They had charcuterie boards which was nice.
Festival of Foods - OMG. The BBQ is SO.GOOD. There were always lines for the BBQ. Which was awkward because the doors to the elevator on deck 11 opened right into it so traffic flow was really awkward at times (see above). The kids loved the chicken fingers from the grill and the pizzas were in fact an upgrade from the other pizza place we had on deck at the fantasy. We didn't have time to try Donald's cantina which was disappointing it looked really good and always had a line.
Pool deck cocktails - non existent
No one walking around for frozen drink orders and the beer/wine/seltzer lists were nice/more expansive but it just felt like a downgrade.
Palo - didn't experience
Enchante - didn't experience
Cove cafe - didn't experience other than the tasting.
currents bar on deck 14 Husband passed by briefly - didnt experience but seemed chill
Inside out sweet bar: Overall kind of disappointing. Thought there would be much more here like there was on the Fantasy. Tried a carrot cake brownie....just ok.
Coffee bars - the number of coffee bars/machines on the Wish seems to have tripled at least. From like 2 on the Dream/Fantasy to like 6.
Shopping:
I cannot emphasize this enough - if someone wants to get merchandise they need to go to Mainsail as soon as it opens (basically leave dinner right after dessert if you are main seating or do what we did and skip dessert). Cast members let us know that restocks are not consistent (see notes about glassware in Hyperspace Lounge) so they can definitely run out of stuff not just early on your cruise but they may not be getting restocks for weeks on stuff either. So if you are thinking about buying something, absolutely do not wait.
The shop on the pool deck (Dory's Forget Me Knots) has some very cute kids shirts - definitely check that out.
Art on demand - this was really cool. We loved a lot of the art on the ship and the ability to order like this was pretty awesome. I can't remember seeing this set up on the Fantasy but this is definitely really neat.
Overall:
Overall the Wish is a nice ship but we prefer the Fantasy. We haven't sailed the Dream yet but can assume with similar layout that we'd also prefer the Dream. This may be heavily influenced by the fact that the Wish is running the Dream's old itineraries and 4 nights simply isnt long enough. If you live in Florida it may make sense to drive over there but for all the traveling one has to do 4 nights simply isnt enough time and they are making back2backer's disembark AND pack up all their stuff right now too. It could also be influenced by some things weren't working but I dont think so - plenty wasn't operational on the Fantasy when we went in Dec because COVID.
As always YMMV!
Non functional things:
Uncharted adventures (super sad)
Aladdin (less sad - just saw it on the fantasy)
Rooms:
Bathrooms: New foot nightlight in the part of the bathroom with the toilet is a positive. Definitely don't have to bring your own nightlight. However, for some unexplained reason they ditched the round bathtub layout in the wish. Why? It was so convenient I don't get it. No overhead shower either just the one on the hand held.
Decor: The decor in terms of art/paintings was nice but the rooms matched the rest of the ship's decor which for us wasn't a plus. I get its supposed to feel like a floating castle and not a ship but everything was SO white in terms of overall decor. Prefer Dream/Fantasy type decor. We just didn't like the overall decor of the ship versus Dream/Fantasy.
Cabinets: What cabinets? What drawers? They swapped all cabinets for shelves except this really narrow almost closet type cabinet next to the murphy bed area. There are virtually no drawers now for stuff, the refrigerator inexplicably is now a drawer? Shelves are annoying and though our cruise was very quiet (almost no motion whatsoever - no idea if that's because the sea is calmer in summer vs winter when we went or because we were in the Bahamas only this time and for the Fantasy cruise we were more in open ocean down to the VI), if it is choppy at all I'm not sure I'd want to worry about stuff on shelves. I have no idea why they thought that those curved shelves on the end of the closet were a plus - it makes walking around more narrow, especially with the....
TV: WHY DID DISNEY DO THIS. I've heard its even worse in the interior staterooms but moving the TV from the cabinet area to the bed area without an arm to be able to make the TV move back on the other side of the curtain where the kids are was possibly the dumbest design choice ever. Yes, the TV is bigger but it also makes the walkway around the bed feel very narrow. And the deluxe family verandah rooms on the wish are the smallest yet. Magic/Wonder>Dream/Fantasy>Wish - they keep shrinking these rooms. And for some reason they put the ladder to the bunk on the other side of the bunk this time so walking around I cracked my toe pretty good on that ladder.
Furniture: No chair for the vanity just a circle stool which I don't think will hold up over time and because the room is smaller there's no second chair.
Verandah: We were on a bump out so ours was a little bigger than others but this was actually pretty nice.
Outlets: Upgrade over the Fantasy/Dream in terms of number, especially if you bring an outlet converter. They had actual USB outlets too.
Random: our wake up calls did not seem to work??
Ship layout:
Oh boy this is a doozy. So positives were that the bars (nightingales, Bayou, coffee bars etc) felt very incorporated in the ship versus the dream/fantasy where they kind of stuck a whole bar area off in the corner of the ship. Some people said that they felt it was chopped up but i can see that versus if you're used to being stuck in a bigger corner of the ship. For us it was good. So, cons. The two elevator bays are a BIG problem not just because there are only two but because the ship layout forces traffic to funnel through them in some areas versus a layout where theres a walkable outside ring that you can opt into the center of for elevators. Pirate night was a mess - you had people walking through other people in an elevator lounge on deck 12 to get to a set of stairs in the back to get to deck 11 and debarkation on shore days was same thing - elevators drop you into a sea of people floor 1 that have no where else to go/line up. We didn't walk the promenade deck (that's getting a lot of bad press) but we definitely experienced the random dead ends people talked about quite frequently. And getting to Cove/adult area is a MESS. there's only one way you can get there the other way around gets you entangled in cast only areas around the aquamouse.
Laundry - the laundry on the 8th floor is BEAUTIFUL but I question the decision to only have 1. Though its large enough certainly to likely service the whole ship I would be super annoyed if I was deck 4 AFT trying to go all the way up there. And I dont know why they chose to have it be something you see while in the 8th floor forward elevator lobby. And that's the only entrance in. There's multiple ways to get out but only one way in. But there's ironing boards, sinks etc that people definitely used.
Bars:
Hyperspace Lounge - Disney is using a reservation system for this and you can connect to the ships wifi in port before boarding and snag 1 time each of an adult time block and a family time block (so 2 times but ones adults and ones kids). There were people who tried to do this in port but they were all gone and the app was crashing - we were successful. So people need to do this IMMEDIATELY upon getting to port. Connect to the wifi - check for this and any other last minute openings in things like tastings etc. Hyperspace will have "open house" times that don't serve cocktails for people to see it too - but they will strictly enforce reservation times for the other times. It's not that you can't get in they just will wait to see if those who have the reservations don't show. The good news is though that people don't really hang here for long periods. It's cool but there's something missing from like the walls or something and it really turns into a one and done experience not somewhere you go to hang so availability frees up as the cruise goes on even if you don't score a reserved time. Anecdotally we learned from cast members that 11 Kaibur Crystal (5000 dollars) cocktails were ordered on the first sailing - so it is selling. They didn't even have the stuff to make the 250 dollar cocktail when we sailed and they had JUST restocked the glassware https://wdwnt.com/2022/07/hyperspace-lounge-souvenir-cups-disney-wish/ when we went and they had been out of it for weeks. We tried the entire menu but Pickled Mynock was great and Moons of Endor was AMAZING.
Nightingales - really great piano bar and the lady they had on the piano was fantastic. It's right off the atrium and it does incorporate into the feel of the ship very well. Cast struggled with the smoke bubble guns (which there were a lot of smoke bubble type cocktails all over the ship - definitely a thing on the wish). The Step Mother was very very good but definitely felt some guilt over drinking Blanton's in a cocktail.
On the Bayou - absolutely gorgeous. The frozen absinthe cocktail was amazing and will definitely be something we crave. The Bayou also has live entertainment at times - overall the Wish really stepped up the game on live entertainment.
The Rose - this place is a dream alcohol wise but layout is sad. I have never seen so many actual french champagnes by the glass on a menu. Fantastic and the signature rose cocktail is beautiful and worth the experience. But ultimately we were sad at the lay out. It's on the side of the ship and doesn't feel as intimate as meridian on dream/fantasy (and dream/fantasy) have the ability to go outside on deck to enjoy your cocktail/drink - that's not an option here. And while the floor to ceiling windows are nice there's no lights so its pitch black/nothing at night. Meridian was illuminated in aft. While the champagne selection was impressive, ultimately as a replacement to Meridian this missed the mark for us.
Triton Lounge - did not go in. Karaoke bar.
Keg & Compass - sports pub atmosphere we just briefly toured. The fact that they charge money for food here is ridiculous to me.
Entertainment:
Shows: Did not see the magician/juggler/AGT person they had in place of Aladdin. The new original was good - funnily enough we made sure to go see the Finding Nemo musical at Animal Kingdom (ITS SO GOOD - TELL EVERYONE TO GO SEE THIS) and when we saw Crush's song in the new original musical on board we were actually pretty stoked. The new original musical was pretty fan service-y but decent. Think we like the dad/daughter original one we saw on Fantasy better. We've seen a bunch of reviews saying Little Mermaid was meh - we thought it was pretty good! Popcorn is back at shutters.
Luna - because uncharted adventures wasn't operational we didn't experience anything in Luna but there was always something happening here it seems and people seemed to be having a good time! Liked the fact it was 2 levels that was cool.
Movies: did not experience
Pirate Night: This threw us for a loop - we thought Pirate night would be on the third night when we were in Castaway Cay but they made it night 2. We switched some other stuff around and made it work but I cannot believe the Pirate deckshow/fireworks wasn't until 10:15pm. Way too late with kids. It was good though its apparently different from the other one that we never experienced and Jack Sparrow repelling in is always a good time. They had all the pirate backdrops available in the lobby for pictures but no bandanas or eye patches were given out. Same pirate night menu as always which for Daughter is a favorite since she loves the beet salad.
Sail away
Was super fun!Hero zone: did not make it here.
Olaf's Picnic: did not experience and would not buy even if it wasn't sold out. Ridiculous price.
Character encounters: Our only other experience was on the fantasy where they put two characters together - this time really it was 4 characters in the atrium usually but all on different floors. The timeblocking for character encounters was tight and some were really only out for that actual 30 mins they said they were going to be. We did get the "royal encounter" booked which is ticketed for day 2 and 4 but its an invaluable time saver versus standing in 15 min lines trying to get all the princesses which are separately possibly available throughout the week (and out at the same time as each other and other characters) and then obviously you get the Disney photographers if you're buying the photo package (BUY.THE.PACKAGE.). So for anyone that is getting a DCL xfer (which always gets boarding group 2), the 30 day check in at midnight should prioritize as we did the Royal Gathering event. Major heads up for anyone who is a Star Wars (and I suspect Marvel) fan. They had two Star Wars character encounters in the Cargo Bay kids area - Stormtroopers and Chewbacca (which turned out to have bonus Rey!). The lines for these were LONG. If this is important to you line up at least 20 mins in advance. We didn't go try to get pictures with Ant Man or Spiderman but its totally possible that the same thing happened. You couldn't touch/hug the characters when we were there but I guess that's changed now.
Pools: Pools were good - thought that the lay out and concepts of the main deck pools was great especially for watching movies on deck. There are apparently more pools in forward which people found confusing (deck layout again is a massive issue). Did not visit the infinity pools in cove because deck lay out and timing. Deck gets REALLY hot in the sun.
Aquamouse: This was as advertised - an 'attraction' at sea but the line was pretty massive. 45 mins minimum and it wasn't as open/more enclosed (obviously to watch the short film) as the Aquaduck so there was only one part where you saw the outside which for Me wasn't as cool but everyone liked it. Not enough to do it multiple times though. One and done.
Spa: The person at the desk when we booked day passes to Rainforest charged us for a 4 day pass and screwed a couple of other things up which was annoying because the lines to talk to guest services the entire cruise were CRAZY long. Even if you booked an appointment to talk to guest services you could easily wait an hour past your timeslot. If you need to talk to guest services call at like 7am. The rainforest room was nice - they had the chairs and the ice room was really cool. Did miss the different showers. Hot tubs outside were nice but IDK why they designed it to be so enclosed outside - there was no view of the ocean at all. Think we prefer the rainforest room layout in Dream/Fantasy.
Atrium stage: At one point later at night one night they brought out a duo who kind of did a routine that included the sort of short summary of disney plots that Olaf did in frozen 2 explaining the frozen backstory to the people trapped in the enchanted forest. Was pretty funny.
Kids club: Kids loved being able to slide down into the kids club areas. They loved the cargo bay area, playing stacks. They were asking to go back all the time.
Tastings: We managed to snag an old fashioned tasting while in port before boarding that had freed up. At 100 dollar per person this was pricey but the alcohol they used was seriously top shelf. To the point where we were like "OMG we can't believe this is being used in a cocktail, this is sacrilege." Was completely awesome, would do again in a heartbeat. The only sad thing was that ours was in Cove Cafe - we would have loved to get into the one that was in Hooks Barbery which we didn't get to visit and heard amazing things about. Cast in the tasting was exceptional.
Dining:
I had originally put in a request to start in Arendelle thinking that I would get 2 nights in Arendelle due to a 4 night rotation. I called a couple of sundays before the cruise date to ask something else (side note - the person I talked to said sunday mornings were the best time to call - I was shocked I got through immediately) but wound up asking to confirm that request was in place and discovering that for the 4 night these are the rotations:
Arendelle-1923-1923-Marvel with Marvel for breakfast on debarkation day
Marvel-Arendelle-Arendelle-1923 with 1923 for breakfast on debarkation day
1923-Marvel-Marvel-Arendelle with Arendelle for breakfast on debarkation day
I immediately made a request to switch a preference for starting in Marvel instead and we are super glad we did. Pirate night was the second night and I think doing pirate night in Marvel, especially as the first night in Marvel, would have been super awkward. Similarly, we wanted to end with 1923 as we had heard it was the most upscale and thought it would be a nice treat for the last nite. This worked out fantastically and I would recommend making this request for every single 4 night Wish reservation. Marvel, while great, doesn't really fit in with the rest of the ship. It's a great first experience getting on board but it would have been odd doing wish stuff for 2-3 days then plopping down into marvel. Then you get two nights in Arendelle and pirate night kind of fits in when the frozen entertainment isn't around. And i can't imagine doing crazy early breakfast on debarkation day in that neon blue.
The wine list is the same in all the MDR restaurants and its on the struggle bus (exception: sparkling wines). No one asked us about purchasing a wine package and candidly we wouldn't have. Cannot emphasize this enough - as people who like Pinot when we got the Skywalker Pinot on the Fantasy it was definitely not worth 31 dollars/glass. What we did in the second (non pirate) night in Arendelle and the last night in 1923 (and I will do this on every cruise going forward) is ask our server team to see if we can get a menu from Palo/Remy/Enchante and see if those wines are available to order from (they did do this for us and the sparkling flight from Palo wine menu was AMAZING).
Individual restaurant reviews:
Marvel - very well themed very well done. The souvenir quantum core sippers were super cool. The trio cocktail flight (Wakanda Tasting Lab) in here was the best one we had on ship. Side notes - all flights seemed extremely good value. As far as food goes - we tried the smoked salmon, the bao buns and the hearts of palm ceviche. All good. We also tried the berebere spiced pork chop (if anyone is a Sanaa/Tiffins/Jiko fan this one is for you!) and one or two others I dont remember but the standout (and this will be in every case/restaurant) was the lighter note or vegetarian menu options. Simply fantastic all over the ship but in this case it was the Lamb Shawarma Salad. Unmissible/best thing on the menu. Did not do dessert we ran up to shop when Mickey's mainsail opened. The entertainment was very good and we had a good table on the aisle for when the characters come through.
Arendelle (Pirate Night) - same Pirate Menu as all the other ships. Daughter craves the beet carpaccio - I think we ordered like 2. Fennel orange quinoa salad was good. Falafel was ok/dry - and we think the stir fry would have been better served as a cold dish but that's us. Son ordered the lamb shank with green beans and parsnip mash and it was good. Side note - this was the only place/time on ship that triggered motion sickness for me. The vibration here in dock/while we were pulling away from Nassau was pretty strong and while I dont get sea sick I get car sick so I think that vibration mimicked car motion and I started to get motion sick.
Arendelle (actual MDR night) - Anna's Koltbord was unmissible absolutely awesome. The Baked Scallops were something else - came in a giant puff pastry over the bisque and was a very neat presentation. Very impressive dish. The Jarlsberg tart and chilled asparagus also good. Son had the Kjottkake which was very good and the lighter note salmon salad was awesome as was the potato lefse. Chicken was a miss/overcooked. Troll Family's Rock Chocolate Bar was AWESOME. Must have. The entertainment was nice but I think it really depended on where you were sitting. Tables closer to stage were obviously better. We were in a middle table (the tables were all packed together I guess this is what it looked like pre covid when they talked about crammed dining rooms) kind of back in a corner. By this time I had requested a different wine menu and I got a french bourdeaux from st. emillion that was very good. Can't seem to find that menu on the internet - not sure it might have come from Enchante? whatever it was it was 13.75/glass and well worth it.
1923 - Husband ordered the Lillet experience in terms of cocktails which comes with some fun pairings. It's a nice experience but wasn't my thing. I had the Degustazione Bollicine Ferrari sparkling wine flight from Palo's menu which was awesome. Insane value for 30 dollars. We ordered the ahi tuna was very good and we're pretty meh/picky about ahi appetizers. The tortelloni was good as are most disney cruise pastas and the duck confit pastilla and fennel, pear, tatsoi sald were also good. I think we ordered the burrata too but I don't remember? Son had the rack of lamb which was cooked perfectly and Husband had the moroccan spiced kabocha which was also very good. The tortiglioni pasta was pretty good but the standout was hands down the lobster salad from the lighter notes. Not even just because lobster - it was just a really well balanced salad. We got the Blueberry lemon bavarian cream and the flourless almond orange cake for dessert - also good!
Marceline Market - was nice, its a buffet. They had charcuterie boards which was nice.
Festival of Foods - OMG. The BBQ is SO.GOOD. There were always lines for the BBQ. Which was awkward because the doors to the elevator on deck 11 opened right into it so traffic flow was really awkward at times (see above). The kids loved the chicken fingers from the grill and the pizzas were in fact an upgrade from the other pizza place we had on deck at the fantasy. We didn't have time to try Donald's cantina which was disappointing it looked really good and always had a line.
Pool deck cocktails - non existent
No one walking around for frozen drink orders and the beer/wine/seltzer lists were nice/more expansive but it just felt like a downgrade.Palo - didn't experience
Enchante - didn't experience
Cove cafe - didn't experience other than the tasting.
currents bar on deck 14 Husband passed by briefly - didnt experience but seemed chill
Inside out sweet bar: Overall kind of disappointing. Thought there would be much more here like there was on the Fantasy. Tried a carrot cake brownie....just ok.
Coffee bars - the number of coffee bars/machines on the Wish seems to have tripled at least. From like 2 on the Dream/Fantasy to like 6.
Shopping:
I cannot emphasize this enough - if someone wants to get merchandise they need to go to Mainsail as soon as it opens (basically leave dinner right after dessert if you are main seating or do what we did and skip dessert). Cast members let us know that restocks are not consistent (see notes about glassware in Hyperspace Lounge) so they can definitely run out of stuff not just early on your cruise but they may not be getting restocks for weeks on stuff either. So if you are thinking about buying something, absolutely do not wait.
The shop on the pool deck (Dory's Forget Me Knots) has some very cute kids shirts - definitely check that out.
Art on demand - this was really cool. We loved a lot of the art on the ship and the ability to order like this was pretty awesome. I can't remember seeing this set up on the Fantasy but this is definitely really neat.
Overall:
Overall the Wish is a nice ship but we prefer the Fantasy. We haven't sailed the Dream yet but can assume with similar layout that we'd also prefer the Dream. This may be heavily influenced by the fact that the Wish is running the Dream's old itineraries and 4 nights simply isnt long enough. If you live in Florida it may make sense to drive over there but for all the traveling one has to do 4 nights simply isnt enough time and they are making back2backer's disembark AND pack up all their stuff right now too. It could also be influenced by some things weren't working but I dont think so - plenty wasn't operational on the Fantasy when we went in Dec because COVID.
