Short report on Wonder 1/30-2/3

[nanarn]

Dh and I took 2 dgks on the Wonder after 3 days at WDW. We are mid 50's and have raised(are they really ever raised?) 4 kids. We are have a number of cruises under our belt with 4 other cruise lines. Our dks are 1st and 2nd grade and had never cruised before. They had a ball, and we had a ball watching them(the parents did not go). And that was what this trip was all about, the dgks.

Things we liked about DCL,

Embarkation and Leaving were a breeze, others could take lessons.

No charge on the sodas. Having taken kids on previous cruises it can get very expensive if you pay by the serving.

Scoops by the pool was a nice touch. Once again, others are charging for ice cream that is not in the dining room.

Serving the kids first at dinner was a good plan.

The adult pool is really for adults, and is enforced that way. Way to go DCL.

That being said, would I do another DCL? No, not without kids. The price is one factor, but also some other things. The food was average(my husband said it best, no WOW factor to any of the meals). Room service menu was too limited, and it took us a while to find it(knew it was there from reading these boards). And just way too many kids. I know, I know, this is a kid place, which is why we took the dgks, but Holy Cow! Early Dinner was worse than a school cafeteria in noise factor. Did not hear one song at AP. Kids up and about through the meals, for no reason other than the parents didn't make them sit (and I am not talking about kids under the age of 7). I also thought the "clubs" were a little too many kids for the numbers of counselors. Not dangerous or anything, just some kids seemed to be lost in the group, the few times the dgks went(they had fun, just an observation while picking them up)

We have some "Wonderful" memories, and the Dgks are talking their parents ears off about their "trip". Would I recomend this trip to others? Maybe, would depend on the person. I know that people do go without kids and love the Disney experience. Our experience was what we expected, and hoped for with the kids, and we may go again when the younger dgks get old enough, but not without them.

Any questions?? Fire away!

 

[suzannef]

What a very honest and helpful report. Glad the kids had a great time

Suzanne

 

[Thunderrd]

Hello-Glad you had a good time w/the dgks.

What was your dining rotation? I didn't notice alot of kids up and down during dinner. We were TTAP.

Did you go to any of the shows? What did you think about those? My 2 DS's love the shows. I enjoyed Michael Harrison's show too.

I've got to go but I'll post more about our trip report in a few days.

 

[lookingforward]

Thanks for the report. Your grandchildren are lucky! That is my dream, too. My kid's are only 14, 12 and 6 but I hope that I am healthy enough (since I am already in my 40's) when they have kids to take them on their first cruise. I agree with your DCL observations as well.

 

[nala1128]

We were on the Wonder 4 night from 1/30-2/3 too. We did the land portion at the Poly pre cruise also. We traveled with our 2 kids DD 5, and DS 3. Te kids absolutely loved the entire trip. We were lucky enough to have pretty good weather! We were at the 6PM seating for dinner starting with AP. We didn't see too many problems with other kids in the dining areas. However, here are the two biggest problems that we found:

1) The Mickey pool was totally put of control. So many kids, so little supervision. I only let the kids go in once, and I went in with them. There were kids pushing me out of the way, and randomly splashing other kids. There were a few kids jumping off of the ears into the pool! I am not sure what these parents were doing, but they were certainly not paying attention to their kids. Furthermore, there was a DCL staff member who came over to advise me that there were no drinks allowed in the pool area, but never addressed any of the other safety issues like the kids jumping into 1.5 feet of water. They need a bigger pool, or some posted guidelines for saftey purposes!!!

2) I agree with Nanarn aobut the kids club. There is inadequate supervision. We dropped our kids off the first night, and checked back just as they were about to page us that our son wanted to be picked up. The second night we dropped them off. We came back to the kids club a little later and found our son standing there crying his little eyes out. There were no staff people there with or near him, and he was in plain sight. We could tell he had been crying for a while, because he had that little hiccup that he gets after he has been crying for at least a few minutes. We never got paged or anything else. They definately need a smaller staff to child ratio for the 3-5 y.o. They closed the slide in the kids club early and that was my sons favorite part. My daughter likes the structured activities better so she had a great time, and didnt want to leave!!!

Having been on Cunard, Princess and Royal Caribbean, all before having our kids, we do have something to compare it to. If my DH and I were to cruise alone, we would not choose this cruise line again, however since we will be taking the kids along, we will probably go again in another 18 months or so since it was their first cruise, and truly joyful to have watched them having so much fun!!!

 

[Thunderrd]

I walked around the first morning looking for the meet but I guess I had the wrong places and time.

Guess what I found unpacking today? The alien green mickey things from Home Depot. I forgot where I put them so I never got a chance to use them.

If anyone was at the 8:30 Michael Harrison show my DS was picked after the first boy went and sat on the steps. Michael Harrison told the kids (my DS and another girl about the same age, 8) to kiss and they both took a step backwards. My younger DS thought that was pretty funny and the look on his face.

 

[nala1128]

My DH and I were at that show. It was adorable. Your son did great!!!!

 

[Thunderrd]

http://community.webshots.com/album/268788622wVpnbJ
Here are some pics I took.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Hats off to you guys....you guys are cool grandparents, I know alot of grankids (mine) who would love to have their grandparents at least try Disney once with them.

Yu gave it a try and saw that your DGK had a great time, you were honest about Dcl and that's o.k.You'll have wonderful memories of a great vacation ALONE with your grandchildren.