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Thoughts on Wonder

olesiabr

By olesiabr,
in Royal Caribbean International

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The Fun Researcher

The Fun Researcher

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On 2/1/2023 at 10:03 AM, olesiabr said:

I feel like in general this class of ship has its emphasis inward: the promenade, central park, even boardwalk with very little reminding you that you are at sea. 

 

Overall, I would cruise on this ship again,  but I think my favorite size is voyager class. 

Totally sums up my feeling of Oasis class, and I agree that Freedom/Voyager classes are still our favs. We'll see if that changes when we try Quantum class in March.

 

Having said that, our cruise on the Allure this past June was amazing.  Great service, food quality, entertainment, and 8 night southern itinerary.  I knew about the "lack of connection to the ocean" from our first Oasis cruise, so I know what to expect going in.  I don't shy away from Oasis class as much anymore.

 

 

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Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

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2 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

@olesiabr @The Fun Researcher

As someone that has Voyager booked for my Starter Cruise.  I am curious why you prefer that class?   

Keep in mind I haven't sailed Wonder yet, but the Voyager class seems to be "the sweet spot" between plenty of amenities and the number of passengers.  They tend to cost less than the newer Oasis class ships, and that matters to me.  

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HappyTexan44 Great Review Rare

HappyTexan44

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1 minute ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Keep in mind I haven't sailed Wonder yet, but the Voyager class seems to be "the sweet spot" between plenty of amenities and the number of passengers.  They tend to cost less than the newer Oasis class ships, and that matters to me.  

 

Interesting.   When I was trying to decide I made an excel sheet of the possible ships for our date range and location.  I listed all of the amenities on each ship, and the lowest price for each.  The next biggest ship above the Voyager was one of the new big ones, and was twice the price and one more day.  I decided that for our starter cruise, Voyager was the sweet spot.  Since I'm never been, I am curious on other people's reasoning.  

 

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Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

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8 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Interesting.   When I was trying to decide I made an excel sheet of the possible ships for our date range and location.  I listed all of the amenities on each ship, and the lowest price for each.  The next biggest ship above the Voyager was one of the new big ones, and was twice the price and one more day.  I decided that for our starter cruise, Voyager was the sweet spot.  Since I'm never been, I am curious on other people's reasoning.  

Wow, I can be obsessive, but I have never made an excel spread sheet! 

I do take notes to compare, and these are the things I check -- pretty much in this order: 

 

- A departure port to which we can drive -- this is always cheaper than flying.  

- Island stops -- we prefer a cruise with a nice mixture of at-sea days and island stops, and we prefer certain islands over others.  

- Price 

- Amenities 

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The Fun Researcher

The Fun Researcher

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32 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

@olesiabr @The Fun Researcher

 

As someone that has Voyager booked for my Starter Cruise.  I am curious why you prefer that class?   

Ship is large, but not ridiculously so.  It feels plenty big and has never felt overcrowded

 

Great connection to the ocean.  The walking deck (deck 4?) on the sides and back of ship are great for ocean views and just sitting on one of the benches/chairs, as well as the helipad in the front of the ship(which is super cool at night to see the stars and just feel the warm strong Caribbean breeze at night)

 

The large central promenade on deck 5 is a great central location for grabbing coffee, pizza, drinks etc and makes navigating the ship very easy and intuitive.  It also quiets down at night and is just a beautiful place to hang out.  We love the large promenade versus other cruise lines that use "centrums" which are just circular areas in the ship and make it feel cramped and chopped up in our opinion.

 

Ice rink.  Great show and time for open ice skating

 

Putt putt golf, flowrider...

 

Great pool deck (especially if the ship has been AMPED like the Navigator, Mariner).  It's not split up like Oasis class.

 

Beautiful 3 tiered Main Dining Room

 

Hope that helps.

Edited by The Fun Researcher
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orville99 "Live from...." Rare

orville99

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1 hour ago, HappyTexan44 said:

@olesiabr @The Fun Researcher

 

As someone that has Voyager booked for my Starter Cruise.  I am curious why you prefer that class?   

When we got on Wonder for the first time last month, we had a dozen future cruises booked on her all the way through April 2024. We had intended to book six more on board to take us through April 2025. Within one day we realized that Wonder was not the ship for us, so we booked those six cruises on Adventure (Voyager class) instead. By the time we got to San Juan on day four and had access to our AT&T phone again, we called C&A and moved all the remaining Wonder sailings to Mariner and Adventure. 


The size, focus on connection to the sea, and ease of flow throughout the Voyager class makes all the difference.

 

The sad part is that we really loved the other four Oasis class ships, but Wonder sacrificed function and comfort for a sterile cubist oriental design fighting with a Miami south beach art deco “vibe”. 

Edited by orville99
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jas67

jas67

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These shutters on Wonder of the Seas do open. I was on this ship over New Years and I did open the shutters to let the breeze in. You can open as wide as you want or adjust to what is comfortable for you. Love the ship. It is beautiful. One disappointment for us was that there was no production shows other than Voices which only had 2 shows early on at the start of the cruise.

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olesiabr

olesiabr

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According to hubby, he saw cigar smoking on the designated side of the pool deck (port?.)  I haven't seen a cigar lounge.

 

InTENse, ice show and Voices were all good.  Haven't been on a ship with a Broadway play,  so can't compare!  TAP and Effectors still coming up.

 

So far I have liked the Voyager class the most.   What used to be huge now considered mid sized😅

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allisonb22 "Live from...." Rare

allisonb22

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On 2/1/2023 at 10:03 AM, olesiabr said:

I feel like in general this class of ship has its emphasis inward: the promenade, central park, even boardwalk with very little reminding you that you are at sea. 

 

We just got off Wonder and I felt the same way! I don't know why I never felt this way on Oasis, but on Wonder it seemed to stick out more to me that there weren't any great ocean views. I do like all the options of places to hangout but miss the feeling of being at sea

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topanga49er

topanga49er

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Hi We are going on the 3/19 Wonder cruise.  Because this was our pre covid booking that got pushed a million times, we were able to snag a 1br ATS for great deal. Excited because that aft balcony will give us all the sea views we need.  This is our third Oasis class.  Was just on Freedom, and my personal thought is that it was a bit small, but that's just me.  Looking forward to Icon, which should be amazing.

Voyager was our honeymoon cruise 20 plus years ago, and we loved it!

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Newbieflorida

Newbieflorida

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On 2/2/2023 at 3:37 PM, olesiabr said:

20230202_163215.thumb.jpg.4811335b8d5919f8de0d792997314f70.jpg

Just home today from Wonder. Glad you posted this picture, as I didn't take one. But these vents made all the difference in the world! Found Solarium to be quite comfortable with vents open! Not stuffy at all. Not the best place to be if you want to "tan" due to the cover overhead. Didn't think it was noisy at all. My only issue with Solarium was there didn't seem to be many servers walking around taking drink orders as in the past. Oh well, tough life, I just had to go get it myself!!

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nimbex1970 Great Review Rare

nimbex1970

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Love the Allure/Oasis and hoping to add the Wonder to that list.  Sailing in May

 

If anyone can respond with Adventure Ocean experiences or if there is a crap table in the casino, would be appreciated.  Happy Sailings everyone. 

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2chiefs

2chiefs

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On 2/3/2023 at 9:23 PM, FlatFooted Freda said:

Hah. That was frozen custard. DH is an ice cream snob. Wouldn't touch the stuff! 😜

I think you meant frozen "ice milk" or "yogurt" because frozen custard is richer and much more flavorful than regular ice cream.

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