Now I understand why people don't love the Wish

[Drfate102]

Really? It felt way more cramped and narrow compared to the other ships. We had a really hard time shopping there. It was overly warm (and I run pretty cold, always have a sweater with me) and just set up really odd in how narrow it was.

I have been on the Magic, Wonder, Dream and Wish within the last 12 months, and the Wish does actually have the largest Mickey's Mainsail, but it also has Sea Treasures mixed into it which might be why it seems smaller. The Dream and Fantasy also have choke points in their layout as well.

I really do believe that in around 5 years the Wish will be just as beloved as the classic four ships. Does it have some problems, yes, and I think splitting the elevator banks into to two and putting a lib around the buttons solves 90% of those problems as the Wish actually has the most elevators of all the ships. The outside promenade deck is really nice, even if it doesn't go all the way around. It has a huge open area at the front and is the only Disney Ship where you can go to the bow. My wife loved that there was a performance spots all over the place. On the other ships, we usually keep hitting the same entertainment spot the entire cruise, but the Wish we were bouncing around a lot.

Is it my least favorite ship, yes, but I would sail her again in a heart beat. I am looking forward to the Treasure, Hull 3 and the former Global Dream once they are all done.

 

[jrapps]

The Dream and Fantasy launched a year apart from one another and yes they did make changes, but part of me wonders how many of those changes were already baked into the design before the Dream even sailed. They knew that the Fantasy was slated for 7-night cruises, and added things like Satellite Falls because they knew adults would need more things like that on longer cruises. They really didn't make any major structural/space/layout changes.

They have 2+ years between Wish and Treasure so one can hope they can do more, but if it's only minor, I feel they can make HUGE improvements by doing just a few simple things:

• Deck 11, remove those 2 circle bars and relocate them more FW or Aft, make more room for lounge chairs and pedestrians
• Redesign entrance to Marvel so its not in front of the elevators. The hallway leading to it needs to be on the side somehow so people coming off the elevators don't run into the queue.
• Swap Mickeys Mainsail on Deck 5 with the waste of space that is the Deck 3 Enchanted Castle Jewelry, Royal Regalia, Once upon a time, 3 Wishes, and Treasures Untold. They seriously have about twice as much sq footage dedicated to upscale shopping (purses, jewelry, watches) as they do for standard merchandise. For the entire cruise I was on those shops were always dead empty, while Mainsails was claustrophobic.

If they can do larger more structural changes, they seriously need to think about how they allocate non-guest space. If you look at the deck plans for the Dream/Fantasy, the amount of deck space that is crew-only is vastly smaller than that on the Wish, especially in the deck 2-5 area. On the Dream, Animators and Royal share a kitchen, saving a LOT of space. Deck 4 is almost all guest area with the Walt Disney theater, the 300+ seat movie theater, shutters, DVC, Vista Cafe, a jewelry store, D Lounge, and the entire adult district! But on the Wish, decks 3-5 25-30% of EACH DECK is taken up by crew/kitchen space near the back of the ship.

Looking at the deck plans (IMO) you get a good feel for how claustrophobes the Wish truly is. Most of the dining/shopping/entertainment guest areas are in-between the 2 elevator banks (which are closer to each other than the FW and AFT elevators on Dream since there's only 2 of them). The older ships do a better job of spreading that out. Everything isn't quite on top of each other.

 

[dwg]

The Dream and Fantasy launched a year apart from one another and yes they did make changes, but part of me wonders how many of those changes were already baked into the design before the Dream even sailed. They knew that the Fantasy was slated for 7-night cruises, and added things like Satellite Falls because they knew adults would need more things like that on longer cruises. They really didn't make any major structural/space/layout changes.

They have 2+ years between Wish and Treasure so one can hope they can do more, but if it's only minor, I feel they can make HUGE improvements by doing just a few simple things:

• Deck 11, remove those 2 circle bars and relocate them more FW or Aft, make more room for lounge chairs and pedestrians
• Redesign entrance to Marvel so its not in front of the elevators. The hallway leading to it needs to be on the side somehow so people coming off the elevators don't run into the queue.
• Swap Mickeys Mainsail on Deck 5 with the waste of space that is the Deck 3 Enchanted Castle Jewelry, Royal Regalia, Once upon a time, 3 Wishes, and Treasures Untold. They seriously have about twice as much sq footage dedicated to upscale shopping (purses, jewelry, watches) as they do for standard merchandise. For the entire cruise I was on those shops were always dead empty, while Mainsails was claustrophobic.

If they can do larger more structural changes, they seriously need to think about how they allocate non-guest space. If you look at the deck plans for the Dream/Fantasy, the amount of deck space that is crew-only is vastly smaller than that on the Wish, especially in the deck 2-5 area. On the Dream, Animators and Royal share a kitchen, saving a LOT of space. Deck 4 is almost all guest area with the Walt Disney theater, the 300+ seat movie theater, shutters, DVC, Vista Cafe, a jewelry store, D Lounge, and the entire adult district! But on the Wish, decks 3-5 25-30% of EACH DECK is taken up by crew/kitchen space near the back of the ship.

Looking at the deck plans (IMO) you get a good feel for how claustrophobes the Wish truly is. Most of the dining/shopping/entertainment guest areas are in-between the 2 elevator banks (which are closer to each other than the FW and AFT elevators on Dream since there's only 2 of them). The older ships do a better job of spreading that out. Everything isn't quite on top of each other.

I hope you are right. From your points especially the Marvel entrance. I decided to email DCL after our Wish cruise regarding my concern over the Marvel entrance que and how it is a safety hazard. I never got a response. Hopefully they at least looked at the email and will take a serious look at improving the que. I think this is a perfect example of unintended consequences due to the design of the restaurant. At the very least maybe they could open the doors to the restaurant earlier so that the crowd does not get big enough to block the elevators.

 

[MomOTwins]

We are going in a few weeks and have been on the other 4. What is it you like?

I’ll chime in.

I loved the show they do in the atrium the chandelier and ceiling lighting up to the tune of Wish Upon a Star.

I loved the cabins. The artwork in each room was gorgeous. We had frozen but walking down the halls saw some of the other rooms and each one was beautiful. Plus the bathrooms were really nice—the soft lighting at night was such an improvement and I loved the showers.

I loved that the multiple family pools meant we were no longer shut out or forced to crowd in one pool when some kid had an accident.

I loved the greater variety of characters: the addition of the princes with their princesses (Naveen, prince charming etc.), Moana, Fairy Godmother, Kristoff and Oaken at Arendelle—it was nice to see some new characters you don’t usually find on the other ships or in the parks.

I loved all 3 MDRs. I thought Marvel would be blah but it was very fun! 1923 reminded me of a hybrid of Animators Palate (because of all the animation history in the display cases) and Hollywood Brown Derby from the parks—very elegant and superb food. And the dinner show at Arendelle was well done, though it had some misses on the food.

I LOVED the sail away show compared to the one on the other ships. Great song and performances and sooooo many characters!

My kids LOOOOVED the kids club and I liked that parents could join them at certain times in certain rooms for character greetings or family activities like the star wars creature game.

There were tradeoffs too of course. I did miss the hot tubs but the extra family pools were a fair exchange. I also would have liked a mini golf but I did enjoy the hero zone as an alternative. Overall, I would definitely love to sail again on the Wish sometime.

 

[jrapps]

I loved that the multiple family pools meant we were no longer shut out or forced to crowd in one pool when some kid had an accident.

Did you actually see what happens when a pool goes down? Goofy Pool & Pluto pool share a water system since one is just above the other...same for Donald's and Daisy's pool. So when one goes down, they BOTH go down.

I do agree that 6 smaller pools is better than 2 medium sized pools. But the Adult pool is a joke. They need to cut the wasted space between Hero Zone and Cove area in half, make a larger cove café, and make the adult pool at least 2x larger.

I will agree with everything about the food...oh the food was so good....

 

[scoobysgirl]

My adult daughter and I sailed for 7 days in November on the Wish. This was our first cruise ever. We did a 3 day then a 4 day. I must say, I don't understand all the negativity. we LOVED every minute of our cruises. we had no problem whatsoever with the elevators, after a few days we got around the ship just fine. The food was outstanding. We did a placeholder and plan to take another cruise in October on the Wish. When the Treasure is completed we will book her. But, honestly, I absolutely loved the Wish. The crew were so very nice, always smiling...our servers that traveled with us to each rotational dining were outstanding. We could not have had a better time. Maybe there were glitches here and there...but all in all...100% fun. Can't wait to go back. The only thing I wouldn't do again is the fish extenders. That was kind of a pain, but we wanted to do it at least one time. But we did the rubber ducky thing, and that was fun and I'd do that again.

 

[jrapps]

I thought of other changes I would make

Not only would I move the Mainsails gift shop down to replace all the Jewelry shops on Deck 3, I would eliminate Hyperspace Lounge from Deck 3. Its way too small where it is, and that is prime window real-estate, they could double the size of Nightingales, or add something else that helps to open the space and make more windows and let in natural light. Then move Hyperspace to Deck 5 where Mainsails is now. This would also work REALLY WELL if on a future ship they had a Star Wars restaurant where Arendelle is now.

Get rid of all the wasted space for the DVC, Vacation planning areas. I know they make money by selling more vacations to people, but not at the expense of the current vacation. They have DVC space on Deck 4 AND 5, and another whole "planning area". I would replace the DVC area on Deck 4 with Shutters, get rid of the vacation planning area, 2nd DVC space, Shutters, and Edge on 5, that opens up A LOT of space, put a small high-end jewelry store and an open-air bar lounge instead. And move Edge either by Vibe or back into the smoke stack. The large suite-in-smokestack is such a waste of space.

I would blow up the whole area with Bibbidi Bobbidi, Untangled Salon, Hooks Barberry, and the Wishing star cafe. Rip it ALL out and make a larger D-Lounge type space, or better yet swap all that stuff with the Triton Lounge/pub. Move the hair salon stuff right in front of Senses, then use that space to make one larger open-air lounge/pub style place.

Push World of Marvel back further aft like Arendelle and consolidate the non-guest space that is in front/back of that dining area. This will enable them to make a better entrance/queue for it, and maybe reclaim some of that space for more guest area.

If possible, also push Walt/Roy Disney space to the aft of the elevator bank. The split design just feels weird to me.

Make both the Port and Starboard sides open to walking back towards Cove/Adult area on Deck 13

Put mini golf where the Chip n Dale pool is now on Deck 14. Is it just me, or is it just weird there is a pool all the way top/forward seperate from anythign else? It's not a concierge-only space...it's just up there all alone.

Finally, I wish they could make Luna bigger..but there really isn't much space to do that where it is. And they have to make the movie theaters bigger but again, really no room to do that.

 

[scoobysgirl]

I’m reading all the good and bad and will make our own opinions when we get there. I find we love the trips for the experiences we have as a family rather then boat specifics.

We absolutely loved the Wish. The food is stellar, we loved the Joyful Sweets ice cream shop...that was fun and delicious. We loved the trivia game at the Bayou...so much fun. Did like the shops, Mickey Mainsails was fun...spent too much money!! The crew are just so nice...helpful in every way. Found I got around just fine after a few days. We were there for 7. The cabins are gorgeous, so big and spacious. had so much fun watching the funnel vision..Pirates of the Caribbean. The cruise director was so much fun...my daughter asked her if she could take a pic with her...she was so gracious to her. All in all, wonderful time...and we really, really loved Marceline Market. We could have eaten all our meals there...just amazing.

 

[bakerworld]

We've sailed on the Wonder, Magic, Dream and Wish. We like different parts of all the ships. The Magic we like the main pool bar and the sports bar. The Wonder we enjoyed the sports bar. The Dream we liked the forward adult area. The Wish we enjoyed the adult area, the funnel vision area, the sports bar, the tiered presentation room, and the small stadium sitting theater.

 

[brentm77]

We absolutely loved the Wish. The food is stellar, we loved the Joyful Sweets ice cream shop...that was fun and delicious. We loved the trivia game at the Bayou...so much fun. Did like the shops, Mickey Mainsails was fun...spent too much money!! The crew are just so nice...helpful in every way. Found I got around just fine after a few days. We were there for 7. The cabins are gorgeous, so big and spacious. had so much fun watching the funnel vision..Pirates of the Caribbean. The cruise director was so much fun...my daughter asked her if she could take a pic with her...she was so gracious to her. All in all, wonderful time...and we really, really loved Marceline Market. We could have eaten all our meals there...just amazing.

Glad you liked it, but your comment about the spacious cabins seems off. The cabins are smaller than the other ships, right?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My adult daughter and I sailed for 7 days in November on the Wish. This was our first cruise ever. We did a 3 day then a 4 day. I must say, I don't understand all the negativity. we LOVED every minute of our cruises. we had no problem whatsoever with the elevators, after a few days we got around the ship just fine. The food was outstanding. We did a placeholder and plan to take another cruise in October on the Wish. When the Treasure is completed we will book her. But, honestly, I absolutely loved the Wish. The crew were so very nice, always smiling...our servers that traveled with us to each rotational dining were outstanding. We could not have had a better time. Maybe there were glitches here and there...but all in all...100% fun. Can't wait to go back. The only thing I wouldn't do again is the fish extenders. That was kind of a pain, but we wanted to do it at least one time. But we did the rubber ducky thing, and that was fun and I'd do that again.

How many of the original Disney ships have you been on? It seems that most of the comments regarding disappointment with the Wish are from people who've cruise with Disney prior to going on the Wish.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

They have got to do something about the elevator buttons, though. For real. We were "Elfed" so many times in full elevators just because when you get enough people in, you can't help but stand next to the buttons. And they were full more often than not!

View attachment 736456

Yes! My husband was complaining the entire trip about the elevators, and we also heard so many other guests complain. There's no sound whatsoever when an elevator arrives, and the doors are recessed enough that unless you're looking at the specific elevator you don't know it's stopped on your floor. (Eg, you're looking at the wrong side of the elevator bank.) We'd also press a floor button and it wouldn't light up, but someone would graze the panel with their back and every floor would be selected.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

Did you actually see what happens when a pool goes down? Goofy Pool & Pluto pool share a water system since one is just above the other...same for Donald's and Daisy's pool. So when one goes down, they BOTH go down.

I do agree that 6 smaller pools is better than 2 medium sized pools. But the Adult pool is a joke. They need to cut the wasted space between Hero Zone and Cove area in half, make a larger cove café, and make the adult pool at least 2x larger.

I will agree with everything about the food...oh the food was so good....

The adult pool was WAY too small. And the bench area in it is awkward. The ledge seat is extra deep, dips down at the back (I guess so people can "recline" and there's sort of two tiers to it?) but I saw several people lean back and fall over because they didn't realize there's a dip.

 

[Kwami]

Glad you liked it, but your comment about the spacious cabins seems off. The cabins are smaller than the other ships, right?

Some of them are, especially the family verandahs. Many other categories are the same size. Some are larger.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We've only been on two cruises so far, first on the Fantasy and recently the Wish. Our waiter and his assistant, as well as our room steward, on the Wish all said the Fantasy is their favorite ship hands down.

I mention in another comment that we also thought the elevators were poorly designed, and we heard many other guests also complaining about them.

I don't love Frozen, no desire to ever visit any Nordic countries, and the actual dining room at Arendelle didn't really impress me, although the performance was fun. I just wasn't excited about anything on the Arendelle menu. It seemed very seafood-heavy, and unfortunately I don't eat seafood except for fish (I think I had sea bass the first night and had the waiter leave the shrimp and scallops off the pasta the second night).

I was more looking forward to the food at 1923. The actual dining room was beautiful. We really liked the cases with the art, design pieces, etc. However the food needed more seasoning - the pasta was flavorless, chicken was okay. I'm sure it has to do with a lot of guests liking more plain food, but the ships seem even worse than the parks in terms of finding non-bland food. Even if a lot of park quick service is chicken strip and burger-heavy, we can find more interesting food at table service restaurants. I feel like on the ships we'd maybe need to go to Palo for food that's seen a spice rack or had garlic/onion added.

Marvel was by far my favorite of the three main dining rooms. We're into all the movies and tv shows, which obv helps. Clearly a lot of guests didn't really care about the show though, because a lot of people left partway through. We also liked the food the best, which I wasn't necessarily expecting.

(Actually it seemed like a lot of dishes in all three restaurants were seafood or pig-heavy, and I don't eat bacon or pork either.)

Do other cruise lines have the buffets open more often than DCL? It seemed weird to me that Marceline had such limited hours.

We did like the Mexican food stand and appreciated the variety of salsas/hot sauces. But why is the pizza so terrible?? My husband also said the greens at the bbq stand weren't fully cooked, and the macaroni wasn't flavorful.

We were happy with our stateroom. I like the separate toilet and shower rooms on DCL (I understand other cruise lines don't separate the spaces). I really didn't like the round shower we had on the Fantasy and thought the shower on the Wish was an improvement. The decor in the Wish bathrooms also felt higher-end than on the Fantasy.

We did like the ocean view we had for our couples massage on the Fantasy. One couples massage we had on the Wish was in a regular room without any windows, but the other was in a huge room with a large shower, private jacuzzi, upgraded massage tables (still no windows). I don't know if all the massage rooms are different though so maybe some have ocean views?

I can't remember the entrance to the Walt Disney Theater on the Fantasy, but it seemed so understated on the Wish, not at all grand. Also the seats in the movie theaters were like something from the 90s - small and uncomfortable.

They also need a lot more space in the bars. Lots of people standing for trivia.

Most of this sounds negative, but we actually had a great time. We're looking forward to our next DCL cruise. We have a RCCL cruise coming up and while we're greatly anticipating the ports, we are anxious about the actual ship since DCL is all we know and we've overall been very happy with them.

 

[edna mode]

Where are all these dead ends everyone is talking about? I never once walked into one, but admittedly, I didn't just walk around exploring--I'd look in the app where I was going and head there by the most direct route (e.g., if I was going to somewhere aft, I'd walk to the aft stairs/elevator, go the applicable floor and head to the correct side of the ship -- starboard or port before looking for the place I was going). I think I went to every single venue on the ship and never once hit a dead end.

The running/walking path dead ends into doors and stairs. It was different from the other ships where you can go all around the ship many times without obstacles. Many people use it to prep for the Castaway Cay 5K or to just enjoy and evening walk that is no longer good for anyone with a scooter, walker, crutches etc. It was a disappointment after being on so many Disney cruises.

 

[edna mode]

Our big issue was how incredibly uncomfortable the movie theater seats were on the Wish. We love going to the movie theaters on all the cruises. After half the movie, we were dying from the slope on the seats. When the movie ended everyone in the theater was complaining about them.

 

[edna mode]

Yes! My husband was complaining the entire trip about the elevators, and we also heard so many other guests complain. There's no sound whatsoever when an elevator arrives, and the doors are recessed enough that unless you're looking at the specific elevator you don't know it's stopped on your floor. (Eg, you're looking at the wrong side of the elevator bank.) We'd also press a floor button and it wouldn't light up, but someone would graze the panel with their back and every floor would be selected.

SAME!!

 

[scoobysgirl]

Our big issue was how incredibly uncomfortable the movie theater seats were on the Wish. We love going to the movie theaters on all the cruises. After half the movie, we were dying from the slope on the seats. When the movie ended everyone in the theater was complaining about them.

We went to see Wakanda and had no problem with the seats. I had a popcorn with a wine...which was different! I really enjoyed the movie and the theater atmosphere.

 

[DCLMP]

I've now sailed the Wish, the Dream, and the Magic. My least favorite is the Wish. Magic felt intimate. Dream was well-designed and kid friendly. Wish felt big just for the sake of being big. Getting outside to a promenade deck on 4 or 5, doors were unmarked like they didn't really want you going out there. a third bank of elevators was definitely missed. So many dead ends and strange layouts. Festival of foods was very good and most of the staff was stellar. I'd like to try out the Fantasy and the Wonder, but I'm pretty sure I'm done with the Wish.

I had a horrible time finding the promenade deck. Its like they don’t want you to go outside. The gym was in such a weird place on deck 5 next to a bar. The adult pool was opposite the aqua duck…Why? Festival of foods was by far the best part of the ship. I didn’t care for the buffet I prefer serving myself.

I would love to know what exactly the designers were thinking.