Wish for first Disney cruise (more stable that Fantasy)?

[gpjacobs]

My husband and I are considering a Disney cruise this fall. I've cruised a handful of times before (on Princess and Royal Caribbean, never Disney) and learned that I do better on newer ships that have stabilization technology. That said, I'm leaning toward booking us on the Wish. My daughter will be 9 when we step onboard and is very interested in spending time in the kids club. We likely will stay onboard at Nassau to take advantage of everything on the ship, esp. since the itineraries on the Wish are short.

Here's the rub. Some of the negative reviews on the Wish are making me/us nervous, esp. since the cost per night is much higher than the Fantasy. But most of the criticism stems from comparisons from other Disney ships, but we don’t have that frame of reference. And my daughter has never cruised before at all. All that said, is the Wish a good introductory ship to the fleet and, perhaps more importantly, is it substantially smoother that the Fantasy?

 

[DCLForLife]

My husband and I are considering a Disney cruise this fall. I've cruised a handful of times before (on Princess and Royal Caribbean, never Disney) and learned that I do better on newer ships that have stabilization technology. That said, I'm leaning toward booking us on the Wish. My daughter will be 9 when we step onboard and is very interested in spending time in the kids club. We likely will stay onboard at Nassau to take advantage of everything on the ship, esp. since the itineraries on the Wish are short.

Here's the rub. Some of the negative reviews on the Wish are making me/us nervous, esp. since the cost per night is much higher than the Fantasy. But most of the criticism stems from comparisons from other Disney ships, but we don’t have that frame of reference. And my daughter has never cruised before at all. All that said, is the Wish a good introductory ship to the fleet and, perhaps more importantly, is it substantially smoother that the Fantasy?

The Fantasy is a very stable ship in my experience. The main knock against the Fantasy is that it can have aft engine vibration issues at certain speeds, but it's not an issue for midship or forward cabins (and some people don't even mind it in the aft cabins).

 

[Clarkson U]

I would say as your first Disney cruise - any ship that fits within your budget and time frame of travel will be a GRRRREEEAAATTT!!!!! cruise.

We have been on all ships except Wonder and like them all for different reasons!

I am confident you will have a wonderful cruise so don’t sweat the negative reviews which I agree are mostly people comparing one Disney ship to another ship.

 

[Chrispy97]

you might hear more stories about turbulence and the Fantasy simply because it has more sea days and is out in open ocean more than the Wish.

I noticed motion more on both the Dream and Fantasy than I did on the Wish, but I think that was more weather than ship.

 

[leannak]

I haven't been on the Fantasy, but on our Wish cruise I noticed more ship movement than any of the handful of other cruises I've been on. It wasn't horrible, but I felt it during the stage shows, etc. quite a bit and my family did too. We had good weather so I don't know what was going on.

 

[tvguy]

Every ship built in the last 40 years has stabilization. The weather and route of the cruise are the biggest factors, not the ship.
Not sure any older ships are still in service, but the SS Norway, when it was converted from being the SS France had stabilizers added. My first cruise was on a very small ship, 400 passengers, built in 1957. There were times in rough seas when you could stand in the middle of the ship and look down the hall and see it rising and falling.
Stabilizers, BTW, are like wings on an airplane. They extend out under the waterline. https://cruisedeals.expert/how-cruise-ship-stabilisers-work/

 

[JM_97]

The weather will dictate it more than the ship. I'd go with the Fantasy as I haven't been crazy about the Wish so far, but everyone has different tastes.

 

[Disney_David]

You are in the same boat we were (see what I did there!), with no experience of any other ship I can tell you there was hardly anything I didn’t like and there was lots I loved about our the Wish. We didn’t notice too much motion other than the first night out of port, even then it wasn’t much.

Happy to expand if you want me to.

I already have two 7 nights booked on the Fantasy (one in May). Happy to report back but I imagine you’d be booking before then.

 

[Marc D]

Weather is the main factor, not the ship nor her stabilization systems, at least not in the case of cruise ships built in the last 30 years. Wish will noticeably rock if hit by bad weather so the fact that she may move a bit less than Fantasy if put in the same circumstances is not really relevant. Pick the price and itinerary you prefer.

 

[imbelle]

I've been on all five ships and though the seas were rougher while I was on the other ships, the Wish was the only one that I've felt a significant degree of motion sickness (enough that I had to take meds and skip dinner the last night). That was a bit unexpected as I would have thought that being the newest ship it would be the smoothest sail.

 

[Drfate102]

I haven't been on the Fantasy, but on our Wish cruise I noticed more ship movement than any of the handful of other cruises I've been on. It wasn't horrible, but I felt it during the stage shows, etc. quite a bit and my family did too. We had good weather so I don't know what was going on.

This is odd, when we did the Wish, it was the smoothest cruise we had ever been on. There were times that we were shocked when we found out that she was moving.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

My husband and I are considering a Disney cruise this fall. I've cruised a handful of times before (on Princess and Royal Caribbean, never Disney) and learned that I do better on newer ships that have stabilization technology. That said, I'm leaning toward booking us on the Wish. My daughter will be 9 when we step onboard and is very interested in spending time in the kids club. We likely will stay onboard at Nassau to take advantage of everything on the ship, esp. since the itineraries on the Wish are short.

Here's the rub. Some of the negative reviews on the Wish are making me/us nervous, esp. since the cost per night is much higher than the Fantasy. But most of the criticism stems from comparisons from other Disney ships, but we don’t have that frame of reference. And my daughter has never cruised before at all. All that said, is the Wish a good introductory ship to the fleet and, perhaps more importantly, is it substantially smoother that the Fantasy?

The biggest thing I would encourage you to consider here is the Route of the sailings that you are looking at.

The Wish does Interior Bahamas and doesn't go out into open ocean. The Fantasy does Eastern itineraries which can go around the Bahamas into the open Atlantic and will usually find more ship motion.

We have been on 11 DCL cruises, you really can't go wrong with any ship. We sailed on the Wish this last November and LOVED it. We cannot wait to sail on her again and many others would agree. It is a change from the classic ships but the amenities and offerings on board are amazing.

The Fantasy has had propulsion issues for quite some time that result in some ship movement in the Aft. Because you are travelling longer distances, you are more likely to be moving at a higher speed on the Fantasy and will typically feel more ship motion. In order to avoid this, I always encourage people to book rooms lower down in the ship if they are concerned about ship movement. I always do better on decks 5/6/7/8 than I do on decks 9/10/11 on the larger 3 ships.

Fall can be a challenging time to cruise as you are contending with hurricanes and lots of ocean activity. One week the ocean is smooth as glass and the next week its White caps for miles. If you want the smoothest oceans sailing from Florida, usually the earlier in Hurricane season the better.

Lastly, and most important: Think about the length of the cruise. If you are on the Fantasy and (most likely) book a 7 night, and the ship motion bothers you, that's a LONG 6 days to wait to get off at the end. If you are on the wish with a 4 night, you are really dipping your toe in the experience and finding out if a longer cruise would be a good fit. I would encourage a 3-4 night on the Wish first.

Starting with the Wish isn't a misstep in my mind as this is the direction DCL is moving in for the future. As a first time cruiser, you won't be fighting your previous experiences on DCL ships and get to look at things in a fresh new light.

This is all opinion of course. No matter what you do, enjoy your vacation!

 

[Marc D]

This is odd, when we did the Wish, it was the smoothest cruise we had ever been on. There were times that we were shocked when we found out that she was moving.

That’s not odd. It simply means that not all cruises sail in the same sea conditions.

 

[gpjacobs]

The biggest thing I would encourage you to consider here is the Route of the sailings that you are looking at.

The Wish does Interior Bahamas and doesn't go out into open ocean. The Fantasy does Eastern itineraries which can go around the Bahamas into the open Atlantic and will usually find more ship motion.

We have been on 11 DCL cruises, you really can't go wrong with any ship. We sailed on the Wish this last November and LOVED it. We cannot wait to sail on her again and many others would agree. It is a change from the classic ships but the amenities and offerings on board are amazing.

The Fantasy has had propulsion issues for quite some time that result in some ship movement in the Aft. Because you are travelling longer distances, you are more likely to be moving at a higher speed on the Fantasy and will typically feel more ship motion. In order to avoid this, I always encourage people to book rooms lower down in the ship if they are concerned about ship movement. I always do better on decks 5/6/7/8 than I do on decks 9/10/11 on the larger 3 ships.

Fall can be a challenging time to cruise as you are contending with hurricanes and lots of ocean activity. One week the ocean is smooth as glass and the next week its White caps for miles. If you want the smoothest oceans sailing from Florida, usually the earlier in Hurricane season the better.

Lastly, and most important: Think about the length of the cruise. If you are on the Fantasy and (most likely) book a 7 night, and the ship motion bothers you, that's a LONG 6 days to wait to get off at the end. If you are on the wish with a 4 night, you are really dipping your toe in the experience and finding out if a longer cruise would be a good fit. I would encourage a 3-4 night on the Wish first.

Starting with the Wish isn't a misstep in my mind as this is the direction DCL is moving in for the future. As a first time cruiser, you won't be fighting your previous experiences on DCL ships and get to look at things in a fresh new light.

This is all opinion of course. No matter what you do, enjoy your vacation!

It's like you read my mind. After posting this, I was looking at the routes and thought the Wish's route (pending no weather changes) would be easier to manage.

 

[KashasMom]

The Fantasy is a great ship but no matter what, NEVER, under any circumstances, even if they give you a free cruise, book an aft cabin!!

 

[gpjacobs]

The Fantasy is a great ship but no matter what, NEVER, under any circumstances, even if they give you a free cruise, book an aft cabin!!

I'm that woman that will only cruise if I'm midship with a balony. The fresh air does wonders!

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

It's like you read my mind. After posting this, I was looking at the routes and thought the Wish's route (pending no weather changes) would be easier to manage.

My first ever cruise was a 4 night Mon - Fri on the Dream. I made every single wrong decision in one cruise and still had an incredible time!

I still get super motion sensitive whether its planes, cruise ships or you name it so I always take that into consideration with the time of year, etc. We are fortunate to be able to travel in off seasons because we don't have school schedules to work around.

You may know this already, but Cruise ships are measured in Tonnes, The Wish is 144,000 or so and the Fantasy is 125,000 or so. The Wish is really the largest ship in the fleet and it shows.

The other great thing with this cruise is that you are in port most days with the ship tied up and not moving. For our 4 Sailing on the Wish in Nov 22, we had a different schedule than most, we did Sea Day, Nassau, Castaway. This set up was really nice because the ship barely had to accelerate throughout the cruise since we had a whole day to go from Port Canaveral to Nassau. It was one of the smoothest sailings we've ever had. I only felt ship motion on the last night going from Castaway back to PC but that was because we left late from Castaway.

If you see this alternate itinerary available, I'd encourage you to book it. From a Nausea Standpoint it was possibly the best cruise I've ever been on. Your experience will vary with this of course based on the time of year.

 

[kiford]

is it substantially smoother that the Fantasy?

The Wish was so smooth, I didn't even know we'd left Port Canaveral or Castaway Cay. Far smoother and quieter than any of the other ships, although I don't think any of them are particularly bad. I'm typically attuned to the sound and slight vibration of the ships when they begin to pull out of port, but there was none of that on the Wish.

There are things about the Wish that I didn't like (elevators need work, the adult area is too small, high-end shops take up too much room, Cove Cafe is too small and the other two coffee shops were always too busy to grab a coffee, storage in the rooms wasn't up to the same standards as the other ships, wasn't as fond of Marcelline Market as Cabanas) but I still enjoyed it, and I do want to sail on her again because I missed some things. There were other things I did like about her and some things I even preferred. I like that the lounges are scattered about, Hero Zone is much better for some activities than the atrium, two of the MDRs are cut into smaller areas, so you feel more like you're in an intimate restaurant than a dining hall, dinner show in Arendelle was fantastic, the kiss goodnight in the main atrium was lovely, breakfast in 1923 was better than MDRs on other ships, a drink station on both sides of the ship on deck was really handy, some of the room set up was better (night light in bathroom, telephone placement, several USB-A and C ports) was better. It's very different than the other ships but if you've not experienced those, you won't know the difference, and there's still a lot to like.

The Fantasy is a great ship but no matter what, NEVER, under any circumstances, even if they give you a free cruise, book an aft cabin!!

We love aft on the Fantasy!

 

[gkrykewy]

We had plenty of motion on the Wish last September, on the cruise that was extended and went out into the Atlantic to avoid Hurricane Ian. Particularly at night when the ship was moving more quickly, we felt a lot of motion in our cabin (we were up high in a concierge cabin, maybe lower down closer to the center of rotation would have been better on this score). Our daughter threw up multiple times at night- not fun! And there were times when the pools were sloshing from side to side big time. So I do not think the degree of stabilization is a differentiating factor between the Wish and Fantasy.

 

[auntlynne]