Wonder 2-Night A Mess

[JakeRambo]

This was our third 2-night cruise on the Wonder, fourth time on the Wonder. What a mess! The good: the improvements are great. Crown and Finn improvements were subtle but enhanced the experience, Azure is great, and Tianna's is fabulous!

The bad: DCL and the Wonder crew felt like they were "phoning it in." The MDRs were clearly understaffed. Our assistant server was working double the normal tables, poor thing looked like she was going to pass out. We never met our head server. Two at our table had allergies, it was like dining had never encountered an allergy before. Our meal was 1hr-1.25hr longer than everyone else, we walked out after they closed it down both nights. Food quality was not as good as usual.

Entertainment was awful. The Walt Disney Theater was great as usual, but cruise staff put on relatively few events. What they did have were half-hearted, "B-team" type experiences. Bingo was race to finish each. Few jokes, limited interaction, none of the usual fun (B-11 completely ignored 8 times). No Match Your Mate, adult club host raced through the evening events so fast she ran out of material before the show was supposed to end.

I really got the sense they gave a lot of folks the weekend off and filled in with back-ups. Altogether very disappointed, completely inconsistent with a DCL experience.

 

[Shanti]

This was our third 2-night cruise on the Wonder, fourth time on the Wonder. What a mess! The good: the improvements are great. Crown and Finn improvements were subtle but enhanced the experience, Azure is great, and Tianna's is fabulous!

The bad: DCL and the Wonder crew felt like they were "phoning it in." The MDRs were clearly understaffed. Our assistant server was working double the normal tables, poor thing looked like she was going to pass out. We never met our head server. Two at our table had allergies, it was like dining had never encountered an allergy before. Our meal was 1hr-1.25hr longer than everyone else, we walked out after they closed it down both nights. Food quality was not as good as usual.

Entertainment was awful. The Walt Disney Theater was great as usual, but cruise staff put on relatively few events. What they did have were half-hearted, "B-team" type experiences. Bingo was race to finish each. Few jokes, limited interaction, none of the usual fun (B-11 completely ignored 8 times). No Match Your Mate, adult club host raced through the evening events so fast she ran out of material before the show was supposed to end.

I really got the sense they gave a lot of folks the weekend off and filled in with back-ups. Altogether very disappointed, completely inconsistent with a DCL experience.

How disappointing, especially given that even 2-night cruises on DCL aren't cheap. Yuck. Thanks for sharing. In your shoes I'd probably write DCL to complain.

 

[MunFam]

I'm curious if it was the crews first solo sailing. When we were on the 2015 WBPC cruise, all the "old crew" was training the new crew. There was a full entertainment cast trade off (characters, handlers and performers in the show). Everyone was getting off in San Diego and all of the new cast stayed on. Many of the dining servers and housekeeping crew were also finished with their contracts when we "landed" in San Diego.

However, I will say, we also encountered less than stellar service (Housekeeping) and disappointing food allergy service in the MDR on our cruise as well.

 

[MUN]

This was our third 2-night cruise on the Wonder, fourth time on the Wonder. What a mess! The good: the improvements are great. Crown and Finn improvements were subtle but enhanced the experience, Azure is great, and Tianna's is fabulous!

The bad: DCL and the Wonder crew felt like they were "phoning it in." The MDRs were clearly understaffed. Our assistant server was working double the normal tables, poor thing looked like she was going to pass out. We never met our head server. Two at our table had allergies, it was like dining had never encountered an allergy before. Our meal was 1hr-1.25hr longer than everyone else, we walked out after they closed it down both nights. Food quality was not as good as usual.

Entertainment was awful. The Walt Disney Theater was great as usual, but cruise staff put on relatively few events. What they did have were half-hearted, "B-team" type experiences. Bingo was race to finish each. Few jokes, limited interaction, none of the usual fun (B-11 completely ignored 8 times). No Match Your Mate, adult club host raced through the evening events so fast she ran out of material before the show was supposed to end.

I really got the sense they gave a lot of folks the weekend off and filled in with back-ups. Altogether very disappointed, completely inconsistent with a DCL experience.

I hope you noted your displeasure on your comment card and reduced the tips to your head waiter and server accordingly.

MUN

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

This was our third 2-night cruise on the Wonder, fourth time on the Wonder. What a mess! The good: the improvements are great. Crown and Finn improvements were subtle but enhanced the experience, Azure is great, and Tianna's is fabulous!

The bad: DCL and the Wonder crew felt like they were "phoning it in." The MDRs were clearly understaffed. Our assistant server was working double the normal tables, poor thing looked like she was going to pass out. We never met our head server. Two at our table had allergies, it was like dining had never encountered an allergy before. Our meal was 1hr-1.25hr longer than everyone else, we walked out after they closed it down both nights. Food quality was not as good as usual.

Entertainment was awful. The Walt Disney Theater was great as usual, but cruise staff put on relatively few events. What they did have were half-hearted, "B-team" type experiences. Bingo was race to finish each. Few jokes, limited interaction, none of the usual fun (B-11 completely ignored 8 times). No Match Your Mate, adult club host raced through the evening events so fast she ran out of material before the show was supposed to end.

I really got the sense they gave a lot of folks the weekend off and filled in with back-ups. Altogether very disappointed, completely inconsistent with a DCL experience.

Bummer, our cruise on the Wonder was the worst service of any cruise we've ever taken, (including other cruise lines). I figured they just had an off cruise, but I guarantee had that been my first Disney cruise, it would have also been my last. We're booked again on her for Alaska next year and I'll probably book the 10/5/18, 2 nighter on Wednesday when booking for silver opens.

 

[ScooterPie]

I'm sorry you had an unenjoyable cruise. Basically there was a shift change after the PC cruise. A lot of crew were replaced as a bunch went on leave.

 

[KayKayJS]

I'm sorry to hear that!! I would be really upset, the 2 nights are pricey. I hope you make sure they get that feedback.

I'm sorry you had an unenjoyable cruise. Basically there was a shift change after the PC cruise. A lot of crew were replaced as a bunch went on leave.

Concerns me for our Alaskan cruise on may 22 as it's the first one. Hopefully they figure out the kinks by then.

 

[AquaDame]

That's unfortunate to hear... the only cruise my husband is interested in me booking on Tuesday is a two night over our anniversary.

 

[cruiser21]

That's too bad. I've sailed on the Wonder 4 times in the last two years. It's my favorite ship. I've always had great service so I don't think that is the norm. I've only sailed out of Galveston and Vancouver to Hawaii so I can't speak of the San Diego sailings. I'll be on the ship again in September and I have no worries. My only beef with DCL is the price. I can't say I've ever had bad service or a bad cruise on DCL. I've also never had bad service on Carnival or NCL that were half the price. I've never missed Castaway Cay either so maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[st0nehedge]

I'm sorry to hear that!! I would be really upset, the 2 nights are pricey. I hope you make sure they get that feedback.



Concerns me for our Alaskan cruise on may 22 as it's the first one. Hopefully they figure out the kinks by then.

Yes, I am a little concerned as well! We are also on this cruise and it's our first one. So, while technically we won't have anything to base it off of, I just hope that the "Disney Standard" quality is up to par. This cruise is my first for myself and my mom.

 

[bcwife76]

Bummer, our cruise on the Wonder was the worst service of any cruise we've ever taken, (including other cruise lines). I figured they just had an off cruise, but I guarantee had that been my first Disney cruise, it would have also been my last. We're booked again on her for Alaska next year and I'll probably book the 10/5/18, 2 nighter on Wednesday when booking for silver opens.

As you know that cruise that we were on with you WAS our first and honestly, it nearly was our one and only but I managed to convince my dh to book a second one and so glad I did. The Fantasy this past January was amazing. So hopefully this August on the Wonder for Alaska is miles above what we experienced in September 2015.

 

[Dug720]

Eek. This is really making me reconsider my 7-night Wonder. I could change to the Fantasy for the same week for not much more...

 

[MUN]

Eek. This is really making me reconsider my 7-night Wonder. I could change to the Fantasy for the same week for not much more...

Perhaps you should probably change then, based on these 2 negative comments.

 

[Geomom]

I'm going to guess that it's the swapping of the crew and the 2 nt part--I could easily see that with a 2 nt there may be staff that are getting 2 nts off as a reward, especially after a long cruise. BTW, I'm not saying that it's acceptable, but I think it's an exception to their usual quality. I would definitely email DCL about your experience.

We had great service on our 1 week Alaskan cruise last year...of course it was our first cruise, but we were happy with our experience. Everyone was friendly that we saw.

 

[Dug720]

Perhaps you should probably change then, based on these 2 negative comments.

Thanks for the sarcasm.

This is not the first time I've seen people having issues with the Wonder and the service. That is what is making me iffy - the mounting reports of service issues.

 

[MUN]

Thanks for the sarcasm.

This is not the first time I've seen people having issues with the Wonder and the service. That is what is making me iffy - the mounting reports of service issues.

Not sarcasm at all. If you are doubting your choice because of a couple of negative reports on the ship, perhaps you should jump ship. I bet you can find negative reports on the Fantasy, Dream, and Magic as well. The only DCL ships that don't have negative reports are the ones that aren't build yet.

 

[Macmaro]

The only DCL ships that don't have negative reports are the ones that aren't build yet.

It's the internet...I bet they're out there.

 

[DisneyConvert]

We did a 4-nighter (std Bahamian itinerary) on the Wonder this past February and had a great cruise.

Only minor challenge, which we noted on comment card, is that "Tiana's" does not seem to be set up for fast service. Stations in front, near stage, are a long way from kitchen. And the mini-shows they have really slow down any extra services you might need between courses.

Tiana's seems like a MDR where one would want to a) either sit a bit closer forward (closer to the kitchen than the stage) and/or B) order everything from the server including coffee and dessert early in the meal, because 1 1/2 hrs later, your server may be too busy twirling umbrellas.

 

[olookasquirrel]

I'm sorry you had an unenjoyable cruise. Basically there was a shift change after the PC cruise. A lot of crew were replaced as a bunch went on leave.

We did the 5 night just before the PC cruise 2 years ago, and I remember our (amazing) server saying that it was PC and then his contract was over. Which makes sense - it's far easier to get back home from the west coast for a lot of the crew. It's surprising that Disney would switch out a big proportion of their crew at once, but I would guess that it's cost-saving if they hold everyone on the Wonder to begin and end on the west coast, and wouldn't surprise me if they do the same with the Magic crew around the UK.

We had the best service ever on that ship. Did the Fantasy a few months ago and our team on the Wonder blew them out of the water. (Didn't help that our last impression on the Fantasy was the show in AP on the last night, so rush for show+rush for last night+inspection the next day).

 

[Dug720]

Entertainment always switches as a team. It does seem weird they would have massive turnover in the other crew teams as well.