Disney Wonder - 4 day Cruise from Melbourne Review

[Kangakid]

Hi All - just back from the 4 day cruise on Disney Wonder.

We were a family of 10 (3 families, Son & Wife and 2 children (11yo, 4yo) and Daughter and her Husband and 2 children (8 yo & 3yo).

We had 3 verandah rooms between us.  Ian and I had a double room and the rest had a room that could hold 4.  They utilise the sofa for one bed and a drop down bunk for the other bed. The verandah staterooms - have a bathroom with a shower over the bath and handbasin and a separate toilet room with handbasin in there.  The quality fittings in the bathrooms were some of the best we have seen in our over 20 cruises to date.

The ship was absolutely immaculate throughout - for a ship that is 24 yo it was in pristine condition.  Disney obviously put a lot of effort in maintaining the ship.  To say we were impressed with the maintenance of the ship is an understatement.  

The ship has an adults only area (pool, hot tubs, bar and coffee shop) they also have 2 bar areas (Cadillacs and the Pub)which are also adult only venues.  I was surprised that they had many activities during the day for adults only.

The kids are catered for extremely well as you would expect from Disney.  The queues to meet the characters were loooong - sometimes over 1.5hour wait to see a favourite character.  But everyone was in good spirits.  The staff inform you if there is a cut off point - so you can go elsewhere and see another character if you miss out on that particular time.  The character viewings are numerous during the day and night - so it can be a bit of wait with queuing and standing for long periods.

Food - you are rotated through 3 restaurants for dinner.   You will have the same wait staff that follow you from restaurant to restaurant.  Have to say the restaurants can be quite chaotic.  There is 2 dinner times early (5.45pm and 8.00pm).   No buffet is open for dinner -Cabanas the buffet is open for breakfast and lunch only.  We found the food fine- they had plenty of seafood available at lunches - (prawns and Alaskan crab claw things) never seen these on other cruises.  They have a roast and Mexican - along with typical buffet fare.  They had more than enough to satisfy your needs, not. a huge choice but still plenty to eat.

They also have food areas outside the pool area - such as pizza, burgers, hot dogs and souvlaki.  There is also a section that does salads and nice sandwiches and those poke bowls that are very popular.  All soft drinks are included in the cruise fare.  Also the ever popular soft serve ice cream.

Shows - were absolutely brilliant the best we have seen- they are full production shows - not just the usual song and dance you get on main stream lines.  Absolutely top class.

They had fireworks on 2 nights on our cruise - Marvel Hero night and Pirate Night - these shows are held on Deck 9 followed by a fire work display -these shows were also top class.  It was a bit chilly on deck and the wait time was over an hour if you wanted to get a spot where you could see.

We really enjoyed our Disney cruise - I was a bit hesitate before boarding as the price was so expensive - it cost us for 2 of us in the verandah stateroom over  $US2,900.00 for the 4 night cruise (this included gratuities of $US14.50 per person per day).

Now for the million dollar question - would we as grandparents do this again - probably not  but never say never- but I am sure my grandchildren would definitely do it again.

 

Cheers V

 

[MicCanberra]

Thanks, very interesting.

[MMDown Under]

Thanks for your enjoyable review.  As a lover of seafood, prawns and Alaskan Crab Craw things sound appealing.  Can you please explain the latter, small and fat or long and thing?  Did they also have wild salmon?

I may just have to settle for Pete's at The Spit for me fresh seafood. 

What was the cost for a solo versus a double?

[Kangakid]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Thanks for your enjoyable review.  As a lover of seafood, prawns and Alaskan Crab Craw things sound appealing.  Can you please explain the latter, small and fat or long and thing?  Did they also have wild salmon?

I may just have to settle for Pete's at The Spit for me fresh seafood. 

What was the cost for a solo versus a double?

Marion, the prawns were a decent size, they had them next to the Alaskan Crab claws which were long and thin.  They also had garlic prawns in the buffet one day as well, I can attest the prawns were yummy.  I didn’t try the Salmon, but did have cod bites and sole (which was rolled) all very yummy.

I am not sure of the cost for a single room.  But I wouldn’t hesitate in getting an interior on Disney we have always sailed in balcony rooms, but on Disney activities on the go all day until 11pm.  We were only ever in our room to shower and get changed for dinner…

 

cheers V

[MMDown Under]

3 hours ago, Kangakid said:

Marion, the prawns were a decent size, they had them next to the Alaskan Crab claws which were long and thin.  They also had garlic prawns in the buffet one day as well, I can attest the prawns were yummy.  I didn’t try the Salmon, but did have cod bites and sole (which was rolled) all very yummy.

I am not sure of the cost for a single room.  But I wouldn’t hesitate in getting an interior on Disney we have always sailed in balcony rooms, but on Disney activities on the go all day until 11pm.  We were only ever in our room to shower and get changed for dinner…

 

cheers V

Seafood sounds delicious.  Did you meet Mickey or Minnie or did you have another favourite character? 

[Ozwoody]

What a great review, Disney sounds like it's not only a wonderful kids cruise line, but has not forgotten their parents. thank you for putting the time in to give us great insight into the line which is new to Australia.

 

Regards

John

 

 

[aussielozzie18]

Thank you for coming back and posting your review.  Full production shows, adults only areas and no buffet for dinner were interesting to read about.  Pleased you had such an enjoyable time with your family.

[MMDown Under]

Reading a review of Brilliance of the Seas, the author gave an unsatisfactory review comparing to her TEN cruises on Disney.  Can you imagine ten cruises on Disney.  She did say you get what you pay for!

Can someone please explain to me why our currency is so weak and why cruiselines don't take this into account when they are charging for extras on top of the high cost of the cruise.  

[Jean C]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Can someone please explain to me why our currency is so weak and why cruiselines don't take this into account when they are charging for extras on top of the high cost of the cruise.  

Haha, don't forget the Kiwis, our currency is even weaker 😪

[MMDown Under]

6 hours ago, Jean C said:

Haha, don't forget the Kiwis, our currency is even weaker 😪

Yes NZ is expensive.  However no taxes etc, what you see is what you pay, so no tipping place.  Loose change in a jar for staff is OK.  The last time I caught a taxi to the airport in Brisbane, the Cabbie reached to the back to give me the 20c change.  (Ladies sit in the back of taxis.)

[MMDown Under]

On 11/14/2023 at 1:11 PM, Kangakid said:

Marion, the prawns were a decent size, they had them next to the Alaskan Crab claws which were long and thin.  They also had garlic prawns in the buffet one day as well, I can attest the prawns were yummy.  I didn’t try the Salmon, but did have cod bites and sole (which was rolled) all very yummy.

I am not sure of the cost for a single room.  But I wouldn’t hesitate in getting an interior on Disney we have always sailed in balcony rooms, but on Disney activities on the go all day until 11pm.  We were only ever in our room to shower and get changed for dinner…

 

cheers V

Would you believe I found Wild Alaskan Red Sockeye Salmon in Coles supermarket today and it was marked down close to use by date!  I didn't know they sold it!  Wild salmon is the best.  Most salmon sold in Australia is farmed salmon.  

[mr walker]

12 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Can someone please explain to me why our currency is so weak and why cruiselines don't take this into account when they are charging for extras on top of the high cost of the cruise.  

Ask 10 economists & you’ll get 10 different answers. The value is somewhat based on the strength of the Aus economy vs other countries. People make & lose lots of money trying to make money on Fx rates.

 

The cruise lines are not making extra, just charging in $A to the equivalent USD amount.

Its less than 10 years ago when the $A was higher than USD & our cruise bill was less in $A than USD - we were happy then 😁

[Cruisers47]

4 minutes ago, mr walker said:

Ask 10 economists & you’ll get 10 different answers. The value is somewhat based on the strength of the Aus economy vs other countries. People make & lose lots of money trying to make money on Fx rates.

 

The cruise lines are not making extra, just charging in $A to the equivalent USD amount.

Its less than 10 years ago when the $A was higher than USD & our cruise bill was less in $A than USD - we were happy then 😁

Yes, I remember it well!🥳

 

Eileen

[MMDown Under]

2 minutes ago, mr walker said:

Ask 10 economists & you’ll get 10 different answers. The value is somewhat based on the strength of the Aus economy vs other countries. People make & lose lots of money trying to make money on Fx rates.

 

The cruise lines are not making extra, just charging in $A to the equivalent USD amount.

Its less than 10 years ago when the $A was higher than USD & our cruise bill was less in $A than USD - we were happy then 😁

I have cruised solo in six berth, four berth, and two berth cabins.  How do young solos afford to cruise now?  I know it is cheaper to fly overseas to UK/Europe/USA now.  But you can't compare flights to a cruise, unless you stopover en route, which we have done lots of times  

[Kangakid]

On 11/14/2023 at 5:36 PM, MMDown Under said:

Seafood sounds delicious.  Did you meet Mickey or Minnie or did you have another favourite character? 

We did meet Mickey and the Princesses, the boys meet Chubucka and the Storm Troopers.  I think my favourite was either Ariel, or Tiana, but every character was fantastic, Goofy was always goofing around…

[MMDown Under]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:14 PM, Kangakid said:

We did meet Mickey and the Princesses, the boys meet Chubucka and the Storm Troopers.  I think my favourite was either Ariel, or Tiana, but every character was fantastic, Goofy was always goofing around…

Looks like characters have changed since my girls were little.  Goofy was a favourite.