Wish 3 Night notes- NOT Concierge

TJ95

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 10, 2015
Messages
27
Posting a few notes because there has been so much discussion on the Wish from the Concierge perspective. We just returned from the 3-night Wish cruise, and we were not concierge. Nor did we pay for Rainforest passes, dining at Palo, etc (it's only a 3 night cruise after all, and we wanted to see all the dining rooms). This was our 9th Disney cruise, so we are fairly experienced with the ships. My family thought Wish was beautiful, although different in look and layout than the others. Some aspects were nice, and seemed to work very well, such as the numerous smaller pools around the deck. Others, like the access to the Quiet Cove adult pool area did not work very well- it's essentially only accessible from one side of the deck, and for those of us who take the stairs instead of the elevators you have to go out on the pool deck to walk up from there. The infinity pool was cool, as were the lounge areas next to it. I did not feel the adult pool area was any more crowded than it is on the other ships, in fact I thought that having the lounge areas next to the infinity pool worked very well. We did miss the dessert case in the Quiet Cove cafe- that was really cheaping out on Disney's part IMHO. Honestly did not think that there were lots of dead-ends like some have reported, and we walked all over the ship (although yes, the lack of the full-deck promenade was a real bummer). For activities, we went to Trivia in Triton's, did a drawing class, tried the Mama's Special beignets in Bayou (very nice) and listened to music in the lounges and enjoyed it. My teenage son had a great time with the Vibe crew. Essentially, the usual DCL activities, and they were great.
We did not request any special dining rotation, servers, etc, and thought the service was comparable to what we've received on our other cruises (although several junior servers we spoke to were so brand-new they had only boarded 1 cruise prior to us, they were clearly trying VERY hard). We were 1923, Marvel, then Arendelle. All were enjoyable- loved the show in Arendelle. The new Aladdin show was playing and we all enjoyed it a lot- includes elements from the live action movie, the original cartoon movie, and a few hints of how DCL has included the Genie in other DCL shows- the genie's jokes were great. Ursula in The Little Mermaid show has a heck of voice and we thought made the show. Highly recommend going pretty early to the theater for the shows, they fill up! The two smaller movie theaters we thought were a major improvement over the classic ships, very pretty, and more leg room between the rows than the other ships- we watched Lightyear in the Neverland Theater. No pirate dinner on the 3 night, but the pirate party and fireworks were fun. We were also lucky with beautiful weather for our day at Castaway.
Our non-concierge verandah room was very nice, and pretty similar to rooms we've had on the other ships in overall layout, furniture, and size. We didn't find the switch from drawers to shelves to be the major storage event that some have reported - our stuff fit just fine (the closet has a huge area of shelving). That said, we are a family of 3 not 4, so your mileage may vary. Although I do agree that the TV placement, as reported by others, is asinine. Our room decor (deck 8) was sleeping beauty, and very pretty.
All in all, a lovely cruise on a beautiful new ship. Clearly, haters gonna hate, but we liked the ship and enjoyed our cruise- glad we took the opportunity to sail on the Wish.
 
Thank you! Were there any variety acts in the lounges? Besides piano/vocalists…
 
Enjoyed reading your review. I am also planning to experience the Wish without concierge and think I will enjoy it without all the bells and whistles too. The pool layout looks really nice as do the MDRs. I was a bit worried about the Mermaid show after some bad reviews so glad you liked it.

The TV placement does seem very silly. I was recently on a new ship on another cruise line that also had larger screen tvs with a fixed/non-swivel format; however, they had TWO tvs: one across from the bed and one across from the couch. I wonder if that was the intent for the Wish and got slashed with Covid budget cuts. That too had its share of weirdness (the kids and I had to simultaneously click to start a movie at the same time on each TV and mute one TV so we didn't have overlapping sound from two speakers) but at least we could all see without having to smoosh together on the bed.
 

Maybe it was a supply chain issue! All the Wish TVs that were meant for the couch are on a ship somewhere!

I enjoyed your review as well. I, too, am not a fan of bells and whistles and too much attention. I am petty self sufficient about most things. Particularly travel! And this forum has been helpful in finding answers to questions.
 
Thank you! Were there any variety acts in the lounges? Besides piano/vocalists…
No, just the musicians and vocalists. Guitar player in the Bayou, and piano in Nightingale's. My guess is on the 3 night cruise, there just isn't space in the schedule for additional performances.
 
Enjoyed reading your review. I am also planning to experience the Wish without concierge and think I will enjoy it without all the bells and whistles too. The pool layout looks really nice as do the MDRs. I was a bit worried about the Mermaid show after some bad reviews so glad you liked it.

The TV placement does seem very silly. I was recently on a new ship on another cruise line that also had larger screen tvs with a fixed/non-swivel format; however, they had TWO tvs: one across from the bed and one across from the couch. I wonder if that was the intent for the Wish and got slashed with Covid budget cuts. That too had its share of weirdness (the kids and I had to simultaneously click to start a movie at the same time on each TV and mute one TV so we didn't have overlapping sound from two speakers) but at least we could all see without having to smoosh together on the bed.
I think the issue with the Mermaid show is expectations- people are used to how it's been done on other cruises as part of the shows (i.e. the big mechanical Ursula, etc), and this approach is different. For this show, and the ship in general, I think the key is to approach it with an open mind and expectations- if you think it will just be a newer shinier version of the other ships, you're going to be very disappointed. Just like the differences between Magic/Wonder and Dream/Fantasy, some things are nice improvements, others don't seem to work as well. And it may be perspective also- some commenters have bemoaned the smaller movie theaters. When was the last time you saw the movie theater full on the other ships? I've NEVER seen that. I much prefer the bigger seats/ more space between rows and additional time flexibility of the 2 smaller theaters.
But yes, some things are just dumb, like the TV placement.
 



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