The WISH - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Review)

[o&smom]

Why do you say that? What about the Wish is less "ship" than the other ships?

I have not cruised the Wish yet, but from what I have seen, I have felt that I might be disappointed by the lack of connection to the water. It seems like a lot of the lounges and hang out areas are beautiful but more in the center of the ship with not many windows. I love to be able to see the ocean as I enjoy the ship.

 

[tvguy]

Disney was always very clear that it would be a second gate. Not sure what you are talking about.

Well, I missed that memo.

 

[Kwami]

I have not cruised the Wish yet, but from what I have seen, I have felt that I might be disappointed by the lack of connection to the water. It seems like a lot of the lounges and hang out areas are beautiful but more in the center of the ship with not many windows. I love to be able to see the ocean as I enjoy the ship.

So far, I've seen big porthole windows in Keg & Compass, Cove Cafe, and Nightingales and there are lots of windows in The Rose. Luna and The Bayou are certainly inside. Hyperspace Lounge has the fake window to space and whatever. I don't know about all of the smaller cafes and bars.

On the Dream, for instance, Cove Cafe and Meridian have windows. I'll grant Vista Cafe since the nearby seating has windows. Skyline has the fake windows...

 

[SL6827]

And 2 in the rainforest room.

This was to sell more passes there. Pretty greedy I think.

 

[Cheburashka]

While I haven’t sailed on the Wish yet, what I have seen suggests to me that they are doubling down on a target market: families with young kids and die hard Disney fans.

I would say it's strictly to appeal to families with pre-teen kids, not die hard Disney fans. Die hard Disney fans are the ones complaining the most about the Wish, because it doesn't have well-planned adult spaces and it doesn't have the meticulous Disney theming (which is different from in your face IP) that die hard Disney fans appreciate.

 

[Cheburashka]

I have not cruised the Wish yet, but from what I have seen, I have felt that I might be disappointed by the lack of connection to the water.

Do any hallways on the Wish have big portholes like they do on the Fab Four?

 

[Cheburashka]

The Wish will be at least as successful as the other Disney ships and Disney will make tons of money sailing it. From a business perspective, that's not "a fail".

The money it makes will be primarily due to it being the only Disney ship regularly sailing short cruises to Castaway Cay, and now the only ship that ever does so from PC, and not due to its design. People won't have a choice if they want to pair a short cruise with a WDW vacation- they'll have to sail the Wish because nothing else is available with DCL's new ship schedule.

I really don't like the Wish design, but even I've booked it because I really, really want to do a 3-night to Castaway Cay this winter, and the Wish is now the only ship that offers that. If any others of the Fab Four were available, I'd sail them, but they're not.

I booked the Wish for its itinerary, not its design, and most families likely will, as well. As much as some veteran cruisers on these boards long for more sophisticated itineraries, DCL's bread and butter are still the cruises to Castaway Cay, and especially the ones sailing out of Port Canaveral that can be combined with a trip to Disney World. With DCL's current schedule, that's going to force a lot of people such as myself onto the Wish by default, not by ship preference.

 

[Cheburashka]

Yes this ship is very different but if they want to keep up and outdo these other cruise lines they should be worrying about updating Castaway. The new Coco Cay for Royal beats Castaway big time with that massive pool alone. We absolutely love Castaway, but going to that private island of RCCL beats it out.

Castaway Cay is the most popular destination DCL offers, bar none. Most cruisers are quite happy with it the way it is, and don't want it turned into a water park.

 

[Kwami]

The money it makes will be primarily due to it being the only Disney ship regularly sailing short cruises to Castaway Cay, and now the only ship that EVER does so from PC, and not due to its design. People won't have a choice if they want to pair a short cruise with a WDW vacation- they'll have to sail the Wish because nothing else is available with DCL's new ship schedule.

I really don't like the Wish design, but even I've booked it because I really, really want to do a 3-night to Castaway Cay this winter, and the Wish is the now the only ship that offers that. If any others of the Fab Four were available, I'd sail them, but they're not.

I booked the Wish for its itinerary, not its design, and most families likely will, as well. As much as some veteran cruisers on these boards long for more sophisticated itineraries, DCL's bread and butter are still the cruises to Castaway Cay, and especially the ones sailing out of Port Canaveral that can be combined with a trip to Disney World. With DCL's current schedule, that's going to force a lot of people such as myself onto the Wish by default, not by ship preference.

You might be right. I don't think we'll know how the Wish's theming and design is working out for a while, yet. The folks posting here probably aren't typical of Disney's overall cruise population.

So far, I rather like the Wish's design. Some of the criticism (e.g. lack of a walking track) is legitimate, but I think that a lot of it is overblown just because people don't like when things change. I wonder if everyone will still feel the same once Disney's worked out the bugs, fixed up the unfinished areas, added more staff, etc. and we've gotten used to the new theming and design. I guess we'll see!

 

[asgur5]

The money it makes will be primarily due to it being the only Disney ship regularly sailing short cruises to Castaway Cay, and now the only ship that EVER does so from PC, and not due to its design. People won't have a choice if they want to pair a short cruise with a WDW vacation- they'll have to sail the Wish because nothing else is available with DCL's new ship schedule.

I really don't like the Wish design, but even I've booked it because I really, really want to do a 3-night to Castaway Cay this winter, and the Wish is the now the only ship that offers that. If any others of the Fab Four were available, I'd sail them, but they're not.

I booked the Wish for its itinerary, not its design, and most families likely will, as well. As much as some veteran cruisers on these boards long for more sophisticated itineraries, DCL's bread and butter are still the cruises to Castaway Cay, and especially the ones sailing out of Port Canaveral that can be combined with a trip to Disney World. With DCL's current schedule, that's going to force a lot of people such as myself onto the Wish by default, not by ship preference.

Miami really aint that far from orlando and when you factor you can fly out/into miami rather then have to travel back to orlando after the cruise then the difference in overall road travel time for interstate or overseas travellers is only an hour or so. its an option from wdw.

 

[asgur5]

Castaway Cay is the most popular destination DCL offers, bar none. Most cruisers are quite happy with it the way it is, and don't want it turned into a theme park.

Thats not true. A lot of cruisers complain that its inferior to the other cruise line islands.

 

[asgur5]

Well, Disney Cruise Line is such a small part of the Disney business not sure can blame the stock decline on the cruise line.
And as others have mentioned, the first cruise was NOT typical of the Disney passenger. Few children, and adults than will be normally cruising.
No, Disney Cruise Line is not perfect.
> For our family, having the late seating dinning shows BEFORE dinner was something we didn't like especially on port days. We look forward to a nap before cleaning up on port days, then a show after dinner. But it apparently works for the majority of Disney cruisers
> Disney was our kids second cruise, and they sorely missed a nightly midnight buffet. But is apparently works for the majority of Disney cruisers.
> And a cruise Vlogger could not believe that on the Wish that Disney continues with no casino. It was a deal breaking for him, but not for the majority of Disney cruisers.
Like I said, Disney isn't for everyone, but they are filling ships at above market rate fares, so they must be doing SOMETHING right.

The cruise may have been more weighted towards adults then kids but i thought that the pasenger count was still over 1000 below maximum. So even if the kids/adult ratio goes back to normal then there still may end up being more adults on a maximum capacity cruise.

 

[Cheburashka]

Miami really aint that far from orlando and when you factor you can fly out/into miami rather then have to travel back to orlando after the cruise then the difference in overall road travel time for interstate or overseas travellers is only an hour or so. its an option from wdw.

There are no 3 nights sailing out of MIami in winter. There are only a small handful of 3-night Miami sailings even at other times of year. There are no regular 3-night Miami sailings.

Most families are also not going to drive between Miami and Orlando in the middle of their vacation, particularly when Port Canaveral is available and much closer. A lot of families don't have cars when they're on vacation, and take the convenient DCL transfer bus to and from Port Canaveral.

Pretending that the hour-long drive between Orlando and Port Canaveral is pretty similar to the 3-4 hour drive between Orlando and Miami is disingenuous.

 

[mmouse37]

So far, I've seen big porthole windows in Keg & Compass, Cove Cafe, and Nightingales and there are lots of windows in The Rose. Luna and The Bayou are certainly inside. Hyperspace Lounge has the fake window to space and whatever. I don't know about all of the smaller cafes and bars.

On the Dream, for instance, Cove Cafe and Meridian have windows. I'll grant Vista Cafe since the nearby seating has windows. Skyline has the fake windows...

The Bayou was very popular and should have been bigger....should have been at least the same size as Promenade Lounge on the classic ships. Could never get a seat. It is smack in the middle of the deck so no views to the water unless you look through the Diamond International shop on the side of it. The high end shops were basically empty all day. Don't understand their decision to host a Diamonds International shop onboard. Aren't there enough of them in each port? That space could have been used to make the Bayou bigger. Mickey's main sail was packed all day long with hardly room to walk around in. No where did I see a "toy section" like on the other ships with things for kids. My feeling was it was geared more towards adults who didn't really want to see kids around.

MJ

 

[Karin1984]

Don't understand their decision to host a Diamonds International shop onboard. Aren't there enough of them in each port?

It would be interesting to know how much the non-Disney shops are paying Disney for the store space. It surely was high enough for Disney to go for it.

Either shops like Diamonds know Disney guests spend in their shops in port and want them to buy more. Or it is the other way around, Disney guests buy less than other cruiseline guests and this is a test to lower the threshold.

As Disney is a premium brand, the stores know the guests have money.

 

[holula]

I don’t understand the decision to have so much store luxury space either. When I recently sailed on the Fantasy there was almost no one in the higher end store or Diamonds International.

 

[Karin1984]

I don’t understand the decision to have so much store luxury space either. When I recently sailed on the Fantasy there was almost no one in the higher end store or Diamonds International.

I wouldn't be surprised that the number of sales they need to make per cruise to break even is very low. Maybe 1 sale per cruise is enough to make it worth it.

 

[mmouse37]

Sure, but what makes it look and feel less nautical? To be honest, unless I was outside or looking through a porthole, the other ships never felt all that nautical, either.

It definitely has a more hotel feel than ship. Line of sight to the water is not as evident as on the other ships.

MJ

 

[Jillpie]

We are huge users of the adult pool, and I knew the minute I saw the artists renderings, I would never book this ship. Why were adults without children (or with them, but want the adult pool time) weren't given the MOST thought and attention? After all, the kids don't pay for these cruises, make Mom and Dad happy first!! This pool is an utter joke and embarrassment. I saw pictures of the first cruise, and all people could do was stand there inside the pool, not sit at the edge and stretch their legs out, just stand there. And can someone explain the two structures next to it, I thought they were going to be hot tubs, but in the pictures, adults are putting their feet in the water but their bodies are exposed completely with no water. What is that?? So, so disappointed and will never book this ship.

 

[Jillpie]

I'm willing to be that there's more adult-only outdoor space on the Wish than on the other ships and that's without even counting the new spa outdoor area. The pool area in the back isn't the only space. It wraps around both sides, extending all the way to the elevators on starboard side and out to the Aquamouse boarding area on port side. There's also an additional adults-only sun deck one deck up.

There are also more bars and lounges and a larger spa, all of which are for adults.

EDIT: Well, maybe the Dream-class ships have more outdoor space with Satellite Falls. I was thinking of the Magic-class ships.

Still, it's quite a stretch to say that the new ship doesn't have enough adult stuff.

It doesn't matter what space is allocated to the adults, what matters is that you can't get into the actual pool, because well, it is made for about FIVE people!!!! It was an after thought, for the people that fork over the money to Disney, they just didn't care. It doesn't sell, or make them money. So short sighted. Because I'll never book this ship because of the ridiculous pool size.