Bahamas Cruise Review

We just returned from a 3 day Disney Wonder cruise to the Bahamas

we went with 35 relatives (DH and I, my 6 brothers and sisters and their families and 11 members of my cousin's family) and we had a blast! The ship is beautiful and has quite a few unusual characteristics in addition to the roving characters. They shoot off fireworks from the deck one night which I was told is unique to Disney's ships.
There were, as you would expect, droves of kids but we found a number of spots on the ship that were relatively quiet and kid-free. So you could partake of the hub bub and enjoy the little ones' excitement or you could get away with out any effort.
They have a kiddie pool, a family pool and an adults only pool. There were a number of bars/clubs/cocktail lounges. I was really kind of surprised at how many but I didn't actually count them.
We were in a balcony stateroom which felt kind of small. It had a split bathroom (WC and shower separate) and altho this may be a convenience it also has the effect of making each side really tiny and somewhat tough to manuever in. But for 3 days it was not a problem. I have recently returned from a Princess "down under" for 11 days and was in a suite so this may have impacted the feeling of smallness on this ship.
I never once saw our room steward so I have to say he did a great job of apparently anticipating when we would be gone and when we would return.
The service was hands down the friendliest at sea in my opinion. I have sailed Silversea and Regent, well known for their customer service (as well as RCCL and Princess)and of course that is apples and oranges for the overall trip but I truly enjoyed each and every encounter with staff on the Disney ship both on the ship and ashore. I cannot say the same of any other line but to be fair this was the shortest cruise I have ever been on so I guess fewer opportunities to run into the rude or unhelpful individual. Nevertheless I stick to my statement, everyone on the Disney Wonder seemed genuinely happy to assist with whatever you wanted.
The shows were excellent and the theater was a sufficent size to accomodate everyone who wanted to go without problem.
The dining experience is unparalleled in cruising I think. It is traditional with a twist: each night you and your party go to a different restaurant but your servers and table #s remain the same. So you get the advantage of a waiter who knows what you drink and how you like your food prepared but have a different ambiance and menu each night. And for a mass market ship, the food was very good. They also had the usual buffet and pool grill and pizza.
Disney's private island was fantastic as only Disney can do it. Capt Jack Sparrow, sunken pirate ships and all. There is an adults only beach but we didn't go there. There was an abundance of loungers and hammocks. The beach servers were very efficient. The lifeguards were everywhere so no worries about the little ones.
So if you are kid friendly, this is great trip. It was fabulous the way they accommodated our large group. I would certainly recommend it for family reunions or a trip with the kids/grandkids that everyone can enjoy.

Wonder at Bahamas

Wow - what can say about the Disney experience! It was truly amazing and now has my family hooked on cruising. We sailed on the 4 day Wonder to Nassau, Castaway Cay and a day at sea.

Let's start with embarkation - how slick it was, was amazing. We arrived at the Port at 10:30 a.m. and were allowed into the terminal at 11:00. We went straight to the Non US citizen line and had no wait at all, in the mean time my 4 kids settled into large, comfy chairs and watched Disney movies.

About 12:30 they allowed to board the ship and each family's name was called out as they entered the ship and were cheered on by the crew (made my kids day!). We had the buffett lunch and then proceeded to our staterooms.

Now I was not sure what to expect - after all it is a ship and they cram so many people into it - but we were amazed at the room. We had connecting Cat 9 rooms, so we had 2 shower rooms and 2 bathrooms! 2 king sized bed, 2 single beds and 2 beds that came out of the ceiling (do not know the proper name for them!) We had a huge port hole in each room also.

Meals - they were fantastic! On the Disney cruise ships you keep your servers for the entire duration of the cruise and they follow you to each restaurant for dinner. This is great and my kids loved our servers - they played games with them, knew them by name even when we saw them at other areas of the ship. They had there drinks waiting for us when we sat down to eat and by the end of the cruise knew our likes and dislikes and would bring us extra plates of what we liked.

The shows were excellent and the kids even liked going to the movie theater every night to watch the newly released movies they were showing.

Disembarkation was also a breeze - except for clearing customs! Way too early in the morning for my liking! But I guess it has to be done! We were allowed off the ship at 8:00 a.m. and all of our luggage was color coded to our stateroom so we just went to the Purple areas and found out stateroom group and there sat all of our luggage!

This was the most amazing, enjoyable, relaxing (yet tiring) vacation! We just loved cruising and the kids can't wait to sail on the Disney Magic next!

Disney Wonder Cruise

We have never done a Disney cruise with small children. We didn?t start cruising until our daughter was 13, which put her in the teen club area. In any of that groups that sailed with on DCL the youngest child was 10 years old (and not much of a Disney nut). And with this recent 10 night cruise, my husband and I actually went kid-less for the first time. And this particular cruise had significantly fewer children onboard compared to our previous cruises. I think that this had a LOT to do with the fact that the 10 and 11 night specialty cruises were planned for mid-September, after school had started for most. The ship wasn?t totally void of children, it just was a lot fewer children than we?d ever seen on a DCL cruise before; there was mix of those on a year-round schedule and on break, and some children that were young enough that their parents felt comfortable taking them out of school for a week and a half. I didn?t not go up to Aloft to take a head count of teens, but I?d heard through other guests onboard that the teen count was fairly low.

My husband is not much of a Disney fan. He likes the occasional trip to the theme parks (preferably with several years between trips), but he is not one that ?has to do all that is Disney.? He does not eat, drink, sleep, live and breathe Disney. He has banned Disney décor in our house. With that said, he LOVES cruising with Disney, and so far DCL is the only cruise line he has ever experienced (that?ll change in 2007).

The Disney Cruise Line really doesn?t go overboard (all puns intended) with the Disney feel on the ships. Yes, you have characters and Disney themed activities, and the Broadway style shows are Disney themed, and let?s not forget about the Disney souvenirs that can be purchased. But you don?t have to be inundated will all that is Disney all of the time unless you choose to do so. And as adults traveling without small children, we truly appreciate that.

What really sets DCL apart is that although it is Disney, and there are Disney elements throughout the ship, it is not a ?kiddie? atmosphere. I don?t feel like I?m in Toontown or Fantasyland at Disneyland or in the middle of Seuss Landing at Universal Studios Orlando. Instead, Disney Cruise Line?s ships are very elegant and cater very much to the adults as well as to the children. They are truly a purpose built cruise line, with the purpose being to meet the needs of all family members, not just children. And they succeed in our opinions.

Step into the Cove Café which is an adult-only sanctuary and you can quickly forget that you are near anything Disney, and you quickly forget that somewhere there are children onboard the ship. We escaped to the Cove Café on several occasions, mostly because hubby wanted a mochachino. The Cove Café has a full-service bar, including several coffee specialties. It also has several computer terminals for internet access (of course, assuming you have signed up for an internet access account). This also serves as a wireless hotspot for those of us that cannot bear to leave the laptop at home. The café also has comfortable easy chairs to sit in and headphones along the wall where you can pick the music you want to hear.

Another adult-only haven that can quickly help you forget Disney, children, or anything else in the ?real world? is the Vista Spa. I still have sticker shock when I walk into any cruise line?s spa, but I can?t seem to stop myself from booking at least one massage. There?s something different about being pampered on a cruise ship versus the massages I can get back home at the local day spa. J We opted for the Couples Massage on the 10 night cruise, and my husband went back another day for a follow up massage. Other than the price, we were quite pleased with the massage therapists and the services received. Our table mates also RAVED about the cabana massages available on Castaway Cay (which are priced higher than the same services onboard the ship).



THE CONDITION OF THE SHIP

As always the Disney ships are in good shape. The Wonder is actually due to go into a 2 week dry dock starting this Sunday (Oct. 1st). On the 10 night cruise I took some time to wander around the ship and look for wear and tear. It is there (cracked tiles, minor tears in lounge chair fabric, etc.), but you really do have to be looking for it. And compared to some other cruise ships out there that are in dire need of sprucing up, the Wonder really does look good. Overall, the wear and tear I did find did not take away from the Disney atmosphere.

DRY DOCK

The Senior VP of Operations, Tom Wolber, was on the 10 night cruise and he gave a presentation that was part of the adult behind the scenes series of seminars. He gave a presentation that covered recent changes, like the addition of the Flying Dutchman (from the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie) to Disney?s private island Castaway Cay. He also went over some of the upcoming changes that will be implemented during dry dock:

§ Installation of the Ariel View TV outside on deck 9 by the family pool (the Magic got this last year during dry dock).

§ Addition of a toddler splash zone under the Mickey hand of the children?s pool area (this may be something the Magic does not currently have)

§ Upgrading the adult pool area to include new teak wood furniture, and waterfalls cascading from the spas to the swimming pool (definitely something the Magic does not have)

§ The OceanQuest area that was added to the Magic last year will not be added to the Wonder this year. On the Wonder this area will remain as conference rooms. However, the Wonder will still get the simulators installed in the Oceaneer?s Lab for the kids.

§ The spa & fitness center will be nearly doubled in size, including the addition of villa spa rooms. Unfortunately the expansion of the fitness center effectively ends the bridge tours as we know them today (where you can view the bridge from a catwalk). They will apparently continue giving ?bridge talks? but it will no longer include seeing the bridge itself.

I will be back on the Wonder (as a ?regular paying? guest) for Thanksgiving, and I hope to have some pictures of these changes at that time.



THE STATEROOMS

On the 3 night cruise we had a category 5 balcony stateroom on deck 7, and on the 10 night cruise we had a category 9 ocean view stateroom on deck 2. And on a past cruise on the Wonder (November 2004) we had an inside stateroom. Of course I would have preferred the balcony on the 10 night cruise, but I was not about to complain (with those TA rates, I would?ve taken anything that did not involve sleeping on a lounge chair on deck 9!!!). J



On both cruises this summer we had plenty of space in the stateroom with only two of us in the room. Of course on past cruises with DCL we?ve never had issues with three of us in the stateroom (and our teenage daughter has quite the knack for taking up a lot of room), but I?m not sure I?d want to try cramming 4 people into a stateroom for more than a 3 or 4 night cruise. We had friends with us on the 14 night repositioning cruise (Disney Magic) last summer, and there were four of them in a room (2 adult women, 2 teenage girls). By the 2nd week of the cruise they were ready to kill each other due to the cramped quarters (they swore the room was shrinking ? and it was due to the amount of clutter they were able to generate).



I still love the split bath concept that Disney has on their ships. For anyone unfamiliar with Disney ships, only category 11 and 12 inside staterooms do not have split bathrooms. The split bathroom is two bathrooms in the stateroom, one has the toilet and a sink and the other has the bathtub and the sink. It is very convenient when both of you are trying to get ready at the same time.



Also for anyone not familiar with Disney Cruise Line, EVERY room is a triple with a fair number that are quadruples. This was also something that Disney included in their purpose built ship plans ? every room needed to be able to accommodate a FAMILY, not just a couple.



THE FOOD

Food is such a subjective issue when talking about cruise lines. We like the food on DCL. Out of 10 nights on the cruise there was only one night that I didn?t like anything on the menu and resorted to their ?lighter fare? selection (where they have a steak option, chicken option, and fish option). Otherwise we loved the food on the rest of the nights. The lobster tail was EXCELLENT (not something you normally get on the Wonder because they normally just do 3 and 4 night sailings). The Baked Crab Martinique appetizer was fantastic, the desserts were to die for (wide selection and very yummy!!). I don?t think we tried anything that we didn?t like (although I skipped the escargot, just to be safe J ). In trying to compare to other cruise ships I?ve been on I?d say DCL is in the middle. I?ve definitely had a LOT worse, and occasionally had a little better, but all in all I?ve never been disappointed with Disney.



ONBOARD ENTERTAINMENT

Disney knows how to entertain. The Wonder typically does 3 and 4 night cruises, which makes the entertainment fairly easy to operate. They have their 3 stock Broadway style shows (Golden Mickeys, Hercules the Muse-cal, Disney Dreams), and on the four night cruise they typically toss in a variety show of some sort. On the 10 night cruise we still got the 3 stock shows, but then they added so much more. They flew entertainment in and out of ports to keep it fresh. We had Susan Egan one night (she was the voice of Meg in Hercules, and she was the original Belle in Beauty & the Beast on Broadway). We had variety shows, and we had the infamous cruise talent show (a first for the Wonder crew), and that crew is talented!! I think we were most amazed by the quick service employee (i.e. room service) that played AWESOME classical piano (brought the audience to their feet). And then there were the two women that sang a duet from Wicked. You wonder sometimes what these people are doing working behind the scenes when they have such great talent.



Besides the shows in the theater, other entertainment included Bingo (of course), behind the scenes seminars and tours (we took the galley tour), towel folding, napkin folding, martini/beer/wine tasting, a wide variety of game shows, dancing themes (i.e. 70s Disco, 80s night, etc.), golf chipping contests, live art auctions, sports game watching in Diversions, and tons of activities for kids and families.



THE PORTS

On the 3 night cruise we visited Nassau, Bahamas and Disney?s private island Castaway Cay. In Nassau we did some quick shopping, no excursions, and when it started pouring rain we headed back to the ship. For the 10 night cruise we visited St Thomas, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, and Castaway Cay. Other than Castaway Cay, these were firsts for the Disney Wonder (as well as for us), and in a couple of cases they were firsts for Disney Cruise Line period. In all of the ports we were told the weather was hotter & more humid than normal (I almost melted). None of the tropical storms or hurricanes (Florence, Gordon or Helene) were problems either. We had some residual swells (less than 10 feet) on our first 2 days at sea thanks to Florence, but that was the extent of our hurricane weather.



ST THOMAS ? this was a first for the Wonder (the Magic visits St Thomas on its 7 night Eastern Caribbean itinerary). Amazingly enough, the Wonder was the only ship in St Thomas that day. Quite a few residents told us that during season (November to April) they can have up to 7-10 cruise ships in port at once, meaning 10,000 to 20,000 people in port at the same time. I?m glad we missed the crush of the crowds. With the Wonder being the only ship in port, and only about 2,000 guests onboard, we had the undivided attention of everyone on the island, including the cab drivers and ladies wanting to braid our hair. J We did not do any excursions in St Thomas, which I now regret because if we?d been on an excursion all day we would not have gone shopping. Originally I was going to do a Learn to Scuba Dive excursion through Shore Trips. That was shot down when Shore Trips called to inform me that the dive shop would be closed the day we were in port (for their annual mandatory US Coast Guard inspection). That?s a risk you take when you go to a port/island out of season. J



I now understand why St Thomas is considered the shopping Mecca of the Caribbean. We also learned that some items (i.e. watches) are not as discounted as we would have liked, because the manufacturers put strict restrictions on their authorized dealers. So a Tag Heuer watch can only be discounted 15% maximum, where as Citizen and Seiko watches could be discounted much more (I think 44%). All in all, we spent way too much in St Thomas, although we did get some great prices on what we bought.



ST LUCIA ? we did not do any excursions here either. Instead I had arranged for a day pass from Sandals and we spent several hours at the Sandals Grande St Lucian ? a beautiful resort!! Since the resort was booked solid we weren?t able to see any of the rooms. But we did get a guided tour of the resort and were able to see all of the public areas. It is truly a testament to this resort when my husband commented that he wouldn?t mind flying to St Lucia and spending a few days at the Grande. This coming from a man that hates beaches and thinks swimming pools are so-so.



BARBADOS ? I think we finally decided that this was our favorite island from the cruise. Here we did do an excursion through Disney. It was a land rover & green monkey excursion, although they stressed that the chances of actually seeing monkeys was very unlikely (possible, but don?t hold your breath). We lucked out. As we were returning to the ship we actually got to see a couple of monkeys (unfortunately the pictures didn?t come out too well). The excursion itself lasted 2-3 hours and took us to several parishes (I liken them to our counties here), from the west coast where the cruise port was located to the east coast (to Bathseba and Cattle Basin). We had a great tour guide who was very knowledgeable and shared a lot of information with us about his island, keeping it light hearted with humor. The scenery was absolutely beautiful!! Even without the rum punch, this excursion was excellent and I would recommend it to any client that wants an overall view of the island, great scenery, and a slim chance at seeing a monkey or two.



ANTIGUA (pronounced An-tee-ga) ? again, we skipped the excursions and had a day pass to Sandals. After visiting Sandals in St Lucia we were disappointed with the Sandals in Antigua. The pool area was extremely small and the beach area was overrun by vendors hawking jewelry and catamaran rides. Here we were not given a guided tour of the facility, and weren?t able to see any rooms. I would like to return to Sandals Antigua in the future though, hoping that the areas currently under construction will greatly enhance the property (they claim the pool in the new area will be the largest pool in the Caribbean). Right now I can?t get my husband to agree to return to Sandals Antigua even if the trip was completely free.



CASTAWAY CAY ? this is Disney?s private island off of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, and we have enjoyed every visit here. I did a morning snorkeling excursion on a catamaran that took us out to a reef not too far from the island. It was a nice chance to get some snorkeling done, although nothing breath-taking (a few basic fish pretty much). But it was still a worthwhile excursion for me. My husband (the non-water person) took an afternoon excursion on the same catamaran which was a cruise completely around the island. The highlight of that excursion was the pod of 8-9 dolphins that got up close and personal with the catamaran.

Well, that is it for now.