Wonder or wave runner?

[jwblane]

Got back from a 4 night on the Wonder out of San Diego down to Cabo San Lucas and back. It has been 23 years since my last cruise which was also a Disney cruise. Maybe my memory is fuzzy at this point, but I don’t recall the ride being so bad.

Anytime we were in the dining areas of the boat (aft) the ship was shaking rather violently. Shaking to the point that one night at dinner the wait staff reseated us to a table more in the middle of the resturant because they thought the table was shaking too badly to serve us (wish I had videoed it). I had written the shaking off to the fact that they had a lot of sea to cover in a short amount of time and they were just running it wide open. But now I am wondering if there was something else. Am I just pointing out the obvious, or should this have not been so bad?

Then on the final night of the cruise, I felt like I was on a wave runner from the feeling of the ship running up the waves and diving into the next one. I know they mentioned winds in the 30+ knot range that night and can cause some decent waves, but maybe this ship isnt big enough to handle them.

We want to do another cruise because we enjoyed the experience as a family, but just wanted to know if this was typical and I just don’t remember it, or was this something out of the ordinary.

 

[Marc D]

Only Fantasy and Wonder have been plagued by such aft rattling. I don't know if the latest Fantasy dry dock addressed the problem, but it has been a kwown issue on Wonder for years.

 

[JWelch62]

I will note that San Diego to Cabo is almost a full speed run for the Wonder. It's about 880 nautical miles, and to get there with one sea day means running at 20 knots or better. That definitely will exacerbate the problem. I don't know when you sailed, but there has been quite a bit of storm activity off the coast lately. That could account for the "wave runner" motion you describe.

My wife and I have sailed 10+ times on the Wonder. We've only ever had issues sailing into Galveston in the winter. We have had some rattling on other cruises, most notably in Tiana's Place, but nothing terrible.

 

[TRTRguy]

I experienced the same issue on wonder in April to Cabo and back. Only time after a cruise I've experienced disembarkation syndrome. I've also done back to back before and had no such problem even with rough seas for a night.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

There were complaints of really aggressive vibration in the aft of the ship on the Wonder this summer in Alaska. It sounds like sailing conditions were less than favorable with the wind. Also, on the magic and the wonder the stabilizer fins work best in the Forward/Mid section of the ship. Aft is left wanting.

We sailed on the Fantasy before and after the shutdown, the vibration was a bit better but still wouldn't book an aft room.