Unpopular opinion -- DCL veteran here: I loved the Wish

[John VN]

Sorry, what is YC concierge?

YC Concierge is MSC's Yacht Club Ship in a Ship take on what a Concierge Experience should really be. Separate upper deck forward cabins with internet + all drinks included and Private Butler, large sweeping Lounge with full bar/food, large sweeping private Restaurant, large sweeping upper deck outside lounge, pool, hot tubs, full bar, grill/food area plus separate area on Ocean Cay Reserve YC area with full bar plus exclusive LUNCH SERVICE many cabanas with your cabana serviced by your Butler.

 

[anjuan]

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed it and glad to hear a good review? My biggest concern was addressed but not really confirmed that it's ok.

Kids walking through the adult area never bothered me, so the fact that is resolved is a non issue to me. The small adult area and lack of chairs is my issue. From your review it sounds as though it is in fact small? Is it bad? Were there any lounge chairs in the sun near by? In over 10 cruises on the Dream and Fantasy I have never had an issue getting a lounger in the sun. And THAT is how I spend just about ever day. That is really my top priority on any cruise.

When I walked through the adult area there seemed to be a lot of loungers on both sides in the sun, so I don't think you'll have that much of a problem there (granted I didn't check it out during busy times like an afternoon sea day). What there is extremely little of in the adult area was seating in the shade. As someone that burns really easily but likes to spend time on deck that was the biggest problem with the adult area for me.

 

[indylaw99]

We just got off a B2B and really did like the ship as well! We were concierge, but aside from loving the new lounge, we didn't really use the concierge stuff much (although the lounge is a HUGE improvement). I completely agree about not caring about the ship layout being different. And the elevators didn't bother us at all. We did miss the beautiful glass elevators... but the locations weren't a problem.

We didn't love the menu choices at Arendelle and Marvel, but we aren't super adventurous eaters. We actually discovered after eating at each of them twice that the foods we chose the first time were not as good of choices for us as the foods we chose the second time... which were our "backup" choices for each menu! So you might be surprised about what you like and what you don't. But the Frozen dinner show was so good that we didn't even care much what we were eating. My kids are 19 and 21 and did order some things off the kids' menus now and again.

We did both Palo brunch and dinner and loved them both as much as when we have done the brunch on previous cruises. We actually ate more at the brunch than we did the dinner! We also really liked the 1923 food and ended up eating at the Mickey and Friends stations a couple of times over Marceline Market just because it was really busy and the choices at Mickey were plenty for us.

We went to the adult pool at about 2pm on Castaway Cay day and it was almost empty! Great time to get pics in the Infinity Pool if you come back to the ship a bit early.

The shows were hit or miss for us. We would have been super happy if Aladdin was running because it's one of our favorites from the other ships. But the rest of you cruising soon will likely get it because we heard it was almost done. We liked Seas the Adventure best, but they also brought in a surprise juggler one night to take the place of the Aladdin night.

The Mickey and Minnie pirate deck party before dinner was really fun. My girls liked that better than the after dinner deck party... except that the after dinner one had fireworks. They said they didn't really know the music for the second one so they didn't like it as much (IIRC it was 70s and 80s rock). They also liked some of the periodic entertainment in the Great Hall like the "guess the character" game. It's a huge area so it's easy to pop in and see those shows at the last minute.

We're not huge Star Wars fans but we did do Hyperspace Lounge. It was cute but not as good as Oga's and was $70 worth of wasted drinks because none of us liked what we got. Maybe we just ordered the wrong things? We would have been happy with just popping in and looking around for a few minutes and not ordering the drinks, in retrospect.

I'm glad we did the B2B because there was so much to see that we didn't even see half of it after our first 3 day leg. Even after 7 days we didn't see it all!

 

[jiminyC_fan]

DW and I seriously had thoughts about TRYING a 4 day/3 day B2B WISH after hearing from her sister (she recently sailed a 4 Day Concierge and was very pleased with most everything) until I watched some WISH Concierge Lounge videos. This might sound strange but we are not FULL SHIP IMMERSION cruisers meaning that every aspect of the ship must be taken into consideration for us to enjoy a cruise. Onboard activities aren't important, shows aren't important, décor is not important but what is important is the Concierge Immersion Experience for the dollars paid.

DW just booked a B2B July 2023 YC Concierge for $2,000 less than a WISH Verandah and $7,000 less than Concierge.

I don't book concierge on Disney. I've found for that kind of money I can cruise with Viking on a smaller ship of 900 with all levels of the ship treated equally and all areas of the ship are equally accessed. It includes wine and beer at meal time and an excursion for everyday of your cruise. I compared DCL prices with Viking when booking our first Viking cruise in Europe.

 

[Kwami]

I don't book concierge on Disney. I've found for that kind of money I can cruise with Viking on a smaller ship of 900 with all levels of the ship treated equally and all areas of the ship are equally accessed. It includes wine and beer at meal time and an excursion for everyday of your cruise. I compared DCL prices with Viking when booking our first Viking cruise in Europe.

OK. But Viking doesn't usually offer 3/4-night Bahamas cruises. None of Viking's cruises allow kids. None of Viking's cruises visit Castaway Cay. None of Viking's cruises have Disney entertainment. Etc.

I'm sure that Viking is a fine product, but it's clearly aimed at a different audience. I'm not sure why you'd even bother to compare them here. And for what it's worth, not everyone is equal on a Viking cruise, either. People who pay for the best suites get free laundry services, better snacks and drinks in their rooms, and other services. Sure, there's no concierge lounge or concierge staff, but it's still not all equal.

 

[CastawayCayLover]

OK. But Viking doesn't usually offer 3/4-night Bahamas cruises. None of Viking's cruises allow kids. None of Viking's cruises visit Castaway Cay. None of Viking's cruises have Disney entertainment. Etc.

I'm sure that Viking is a fine product, but it's clearly aimed at a different audience. I'm not sure why you'd even bother to compare them here. And for what it's worth, not everyone is equal on a Viking cruise, either. People who pay for the best suites get free laundry services, better snacks and drinks in their rooms, and other services. Sure, there's no concierge lounge or concierge staff, but it's still not all equal.

Why do you feel it's necessary to defend Disney whenever there's a less than flattering post about how wonderful DCL is?

 

[John VN]

Why do you feel it's necessary to defend Disney whenever there's a less than flattering post about how wonderful DCL is?

As with all things Disney or whatever --- LOYALTY --- nothing wrong with that IMO

 

[happycamper47]

Why do you feel it's necessary to defend Disney whenever there's a less than flattering post about how wonderful DCL is?

I have to agree with @Kwami people want to make comparisons that are Apples and Grapefruits in order to complain about DCL. We've done Carnival, Princess, HAL and DCL and they are all completely different experiences and clientele. In our opinion DCL is still the best overall, despite the higher cost, as they all have some glitches.

 

[KKKKCS]

Hi all!

Ok, some background: we are Platinum, and have sailed on all of the other DCL ships, and at least 50-60% of the sailings on Concierge. Admittedly the Dream is my favorite. But really -- I *LOVED* the Wish.
I read all these criticisms, and I see where they're coming from, but all good. Here's my take:
-Layout and flow -- ok so the Wish is laid out differently and the flow is different. - ok so it takes one fun day of exploration to get yourself acclimated and see where things are. No problem. I actually like the layout.
i LOVE how the adult bars are scattered throughout instead of being in just one dedicated adult area. The bars are beautiful and makes of more more lively and busy atmosphere during the day.
-pools are too small? -- ok so the pools are small only because they divided and separated them, that way if there is an "accident" in one they only have to shut down ONE and there are several others that people can use.
-small adult area far away -- ok fine it's small but the complaint from other ships was that too many kids were walking through the adult area, so not that it's tucked away: problem solved!
-only 2 elevator banks! : for us I didn't see any problem at all.
-Palo is no longer a buffet: still an awesome brunch and one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten at
-Enchante -- dinner was amazing!!
-shows: wow, Seas the Adventure is worth the price admission
-food: every restaurant was amazing. hello performers are Arendelle, wow!
-concierge: best lounge ever.
-cut backs: ok I agree with this here, no more pirate bandanas, or organized castaway 5k, or bar snacks.

I see all the criticisms and mixed reviews. But from a platinum member who has sailed all the ships, honestly the Wish is amazing. Don"t be discouraged by the reviews, Disney Cruise Line knows hows to run and awesome cruise for the whole family!

My wife just got back from a B2B on the Wish and she tells me that all the kid pools were shut down at once one day, so she asked, "Did someone have a number 2 accident?" The cast member replied that, yes there was an accident and since all three pools share the same water flow, they all had to be shut down and cleaned. I think your idea of separate supply would have been a great thing to avoid having to close all 3 for 1 number 2.

 

[Kwami]

Why do you feel it's necessary to defend Disney whenever there's a less than flattering post about how wonderful DCL is?

I don't, though. I'm simply pointing out that there's no reason to mention Viking here because they offer a very different product that wouldn't work for most Disney customers. It's nothing to do with brand loyalty or anything like that.

 

[CamColt]

Let's remember to keep this thread on topic.