Review of the extended WISH cruise

[jiminyC_fan]

Hi, I am home from the Wish cruise that was extended due to hurricane Ian. We were to take a B2B cruise but the second was cancelled and the first extended. Disney did an excellent job keeping us informed all along the way.

I promised a few here that once I was back that I would type up my thoughts of the ship. I entered into this cruise with an open mind and refused to let the negative reviews affect my opinion and very happy that I took that approach. We loved the ship. We would cruise it again. For the record, we have cruised on all DCL ships. We are adults only.

Yes, the elevators are touchy but it became a conversation starter and a few laughs in the elevators. Only came across one cross lady in the elevator that complained. The rest of the time everyone just made a passing joke and reminded everyone getting on to be careful. It did not ruin our vacation. Yes there are only two banks of elevators but absolutely not an issue for us.

Loved having several pools for the kids. If one had to close due to an "accident" there were others still open. They seemed less crowded and dangerous spread out. The adult pool is definitely too small and crowded. We avoided it. I thought that I would miss the adult section but surprisingly did not.

Absolutely loved deck 11 food. Sorry, I don't know the correct names of all of them. The BBQ was excellent. Not a fan of smoked corned beef so I just skipped it but the rest of the meat and sides were great. The Mexican was just as great. It was nice to have something different compared to the other ships. We didn't feel the need to go to the buffet because of the great food on deck. It was extremely hot around the food so we just ordered our food and went elsewhere. Many complain about the heat but it's easy to just take your plate and find a different location.

Dead ends. Yes, there are dead ends but once you get the layout of the ship it's no big deal. We are the type that like to explore so they did not affect our vacation at all.

Food. We found the food excellent. I've cruise Viking and I would say it's just as good. I think people need to remember that your plate is not made to order on any ship. They are cooking for the masses. Everyone's tastes are different and they will never be able to satisfy everyone. Be open.

Restaurant shows. I am absolutely not a Marvel fan but loved the restaurant. Arendelle was fun and loved the decor. I am Norwegian and it warmed my heart. The show was cute. 1923 was gorgeous and beautifully decorated. People complain about the restaurants being noisy but I found them to be the same as any of the other ships. They complain about how tight the restaurants are. They might be a tad more tight than the other ships but not enough for us to be worked up over.

Cast members were over the top PERFECT. Never came across any unkind, uncaring, unprofessional, unhappy and whatever adjectives people have used. ALL we encountered were excellent.

Shows. Wow. All 3 were great.

Rooms. People complain about the tub drain. Oh good grief. They are off to the side but seriously is a tub drain going to ruin your vacation? Sheesh. Yes, there are fewer drawers on the WISH but it's easy to use the shelves in the closet. There were only 2 of us and we had leftover drawers and shelves. It is doable.

One complaint that I am tired of hearing is that it is too Disney forward and too many kids. If you are booking a Disney cruise what the heck do you expect? You know your tolerance for kids and for Disney. You should weigh all that before booking. That complaint is on them!

Stores. Not enough merchandise and not a variety. I found it disappointing. If you didn't skip early dinner on the first night then you can pretty much count out getting anything that you wanted. The store is tight. You never saw anyone shopping the higher end stores so that pretty much was a waste of space. Unfortunately, the limited amount of specialty merchandise is not exclusive to the WISH. I wish DCL would figure it out.

My heart is still with the classic ships but I would never count out cruising on the Wish again.

 

[Captainkate]

Thanks for the review JiminyC. We are sailing on the Wish in December. We have sailed on the Dream, Wonder and Magic. The ship that feels most comfortable to us is the Wonder. I was wondering if you found the Wish to be overcrowded?
I don't really understand the comment about the elevators being touchy. My first thought was "Do they get stuck?" Do you remember if boarding started before 11:30am. Thanks!

 

[happycamper47]

One complaint that I am tired of hearing is that it is too Disney forward and too many kids. If you are booking a Disney cruise what the heck do you expect? You know your tolerance for kids and for Disney. You should weigh all that before booking. That complaint is on them!

I recommend HAL for those who feel that way...

 

[greensombrero]

Thanks for your report! I am curious how things went on the “extra days” anything notable or unexpected on the food or entertainment front?

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Do you remember if boarding started before 11:30am. Thanks!

Boarding did start before 11:30. We were shocked how many people on the B2B boarded before us.

Thanks for your report! I am curious how things went on the “extra days” anything notable or unexpected on the food or entertainment front?

Entertainment had to get permission to add certain certain things, one being the showing of Hocus Pocus 2 in the theater. We repeated the restaurants and the menu remained the same for each. There was really nothing unexpected. They ran the ship exactly as normal. They did give anyone that asked free internet to contact loved ones and make plans because of the extended stay. It did put a huge strain on the system.

 

[NAB]

Funny you mention the tub drain …lol I complained to my husband because I kept stepping on it. I did love that the shower door opened in or out.

I agree once we found the dead end we didn’t do it again…lol Went to the adult area but just to look around a few times. Didn’t notice until the last night that the Cove Cafe was down the side and you could go inside. We thought the coffee place was Cove Bar…lol

Didn’t miss the middle elevators used those stairs in the middle a lot though.

I too would sail on the Wish again. Not a fan of short cruises though.

We might have crossed paths.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Funny you mention the tub drain …lol I complained to my husband because I kept stepping on it. I did love that the shower door opened in or out.

I agree once we found the dead end we didn’t do it again…lol Went to the adult area but just to look around a few times. Didn’t notice until the last night that the Cove Cafe was down the side and you could go inside. We thought the coffee place was Cove Bar…lol

Didn’t miss the middle elevators used those stairs in the middle a lot though.

I too would sail on the Wish again. Not a fan of short cruises though.

We might have crossed paths.

My daughter and I kept stepping on the drain, too, lol. I absolutely loved the glass shower door and not a curtain!!!

Neither one of us drink coffee so we didn't hit up either one.

We just may have bumped into each other!

 

[jkburns]

I was on this sailing as well and JiminyC_fan, I completely agree with your review. The Wish is beautiful. I thought the crew was well-trained and really great. The Rockin' Parlay Party (leading into the fireworks) was especially fun.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I was on this sailing as well and JiminyC_fan, I completely agree with your review. The Wish is beautiful. I thought the crew was well-trained and really great. The Rockin' Parlay Party (leading into the fireworks) was especially fun.

I love hearing that I'm not the only one that enjoyed the cruise. Did you see a you tube video of us attempting Castaway Cay on Thursday? We slept through the whole thing, lol. Not sure if I can post a link to it??

 

[Flying Fish]

I'm so happy that people on here enjoyed the cruise. We were supposed to go a couple of months ago and had to cancel. We are rebooked for next month, but it seems so many people have negative stuff to day. The dead ends confuses me the most. If that's a problem more than once, it seems the problems is yours, no?

I'm looking forward to it even though I generally hate shorter cruises.

 

[OKW Lover]

Thanks for the excellent review. It pretty much mirrors our experience earlier this year on the Wish. We will be back on board in a few weeks.

 

[lostprincess_danie]

We were on the same cruise. We had a great time, very similar to what you've mentioned, OP.

That tub drain nearly ruined our evening. Young DD was in the tub and accidentally sat on it, cue the freak out as her nice warm bath emptied beneath her.

 

[Lillebelle]

Thank you for the review! I'm getting more hyped for our Wish cruise with every one of these threads I read. Good to know that if I care about shopping I should still prioritize it day 1 (I was hoping maybe things would have settled down after the first wave of cruises but sounds like not so much).

 

[gismo1554]

I was on the same cruise and pretty much same experience. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it as much in all honesty. Its an art gallery at sea which I loved!

The elevators were a pain in all honesty. The buttons were too inconsistent (if you lean too close you set off all the buttons but then sometimes you couldn't even get the button to register you were trying to get it to go) and the fact not all went to specific falls was frustrating. Once you learnt to do the lift tetris then you were fine (get in first lift go as high as you can then press button to go up again to get the lift you actually need).

My only real complaint was how small the bathrooms (and overall inside rooms) were. On the older ships the bathrooms even though not split were of a decent size. On the wish the single bathroom in the inside rooms seems very small in comparison. I found it a bit claustrophobic. Luckily as travelling solo just left door open but I wasn't sure how easy they are if you are trying to bath a child in them as the floor space in front of the toilet is tiny.

With the adult pool area, yes the infinity pool was like human soup most days but the foot pools (with water going down the seat area into the foot pool) were usually fairly empty and were so relaxing. I know on the other ships they have more actual pool space but for me this wasn't an issue as I don't usually like standing in a pool anyway I much rather a seated area. I thought I wouldn't like the foot pool but it was just as comfy as being sat in the seated areas on the Dream/Fantasy or the around the pool section on the Magic/Wonder. The hot tub situation was a bit of a disappointment as having only one made it very busy but did manage to get in on Castaway day which was great.

I was actually glad to get the extra days as I think without them I would have missed so much of the ship. It was so big and had so much to see it was hard to fit it all in. It still feels a little bit like the ship isn't quite finished (signage in weird places for example) but I was surprised and although I prob wouldn't rush to sail again any time soon its not written off for future cruises.

 

[jenushkask8s]

I was actually glad to get the extra days as I think without them I would have missed so much of the ship. It was so big and had so much to see it was hard to fit it all in.

We were on the sailing right after yours (10/3) and I was so jealous of your 2 extra days! 4 nights was most definitely not long enough to really experience the ship (or, really, long enough in general)! We will have to do a B2B next time!

 

[Cruzin’Sisters]

I was on the same cruise and pretty much same experience. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it as much in all honesty. Its an art gallery at sea which I loved!

The elevators were a pain in all honesty. The buttons were too inconsistent (if you lean too close you set off all the buttons but then sometimes you couldn't even get the button to register you were trying to get it to go) and the fact not all went to specific falls was frustrating. Once you learnt to do the lift tetris then you were fine (get in first lift go as high as you can then press button to go up again to get the lift you actually need).

My only real complaint was how small the bathrooms (and overall inside rooms) were. On the older ships the bathrooms even though not split were of a decent size. On the wish the single bathroom in the inside rooms seems very small in comparison. I found it a bit claustrophobic. Luckily as travelling solo just left door open but I wasn't sure how easy they are if you are trying to bath a child in them as the floor space in front of the toilet is tiny.

With the adult pool area, yes the infinity pool was like human soup most days but the foot pools (with water going down the seat area into the foot pool) were usually fairly empty and were so relaxing. I know on the other ships they have more actual pool space but for me this wasn't an issue as I don't usually like standing in a pool anyway I much rather a seated area. I thought I wouldn't like the foot pool but it was just as comfy as being sat in the seated areas on the Dream/Fantasy or the around the pool section on the Magic/Wonder. The hot tub situation was a bit of a disappointment as having only one made it very busy but did manage to get in on Castaway day which was great.

I was actually glad to get the extra days as I think without them I would have missed so much of the ship. It was so big and had so much to see it was hard to fit it all in. It still feels a little bit like the ship isn't quite finished (signage in weird places for example) but I was surprised and although I prob wouldn't rush to sail again any time soon its not written off for future cruises.

Where is this foot pool located? In Quiet Cove? Sounds great to me too.

TIA

 

[NAB]

Where is this foot pool located? In Quiet Cove? Sounds great to me too.

TIA

It’s right beside the adult pool. There are actually one on each side of the pool.

 

[NAB]

Jimmy c did you like the horns on the Wish? I usually love hearing them on the other ships but thought there horns this time were off . Maybe it was just me…lol

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Jimmy c did you like the horns on the Wish? I usually love hearing them on the other ships but thought there horns this time were off . Maybe it was just me…lol

I thought the horns were echoing or something. Definitely not clear and crisp like the others.

 

[Sakura1017]

Did they not restock items after the first day? On MV they were constantly restocking throughout the days.