This week the wait was finally over and we were able to experience
sailing on the Disney WISH during its inaugural season! This is one of
the most highly anticipated trips of the year for me. We have been
sailing Disney Cruise Line since our kids were little and made our
the way through the seas on all four of the previous Disney ships and from
the moment we knew the WISH was coming, there was no question that we
had to keep up the streak of having sailed on every one of the Disney
fleet!
We chose the 4 Night Bahamian from Port Canaveral which has stops at
Nassau and Disney’s Castaway Cay (private island) as well as a
beautiful day at sea. Disney WISH is only hosting 3 and 4 night
itineraries during its inaugural season. Just a note here, many
folks ask me what I would recommend for a first cruise and the 4 night
itinerary is always my answer. It is long enough to experience all
your rotational dining locations, experience a day at sea, and get
familiar with the ship and the crew without feeling rushed. This also
is short enough to give first time cruisers a taste of sailing the
seas with Mickey without committing to an entire 7 night itinerary or
longer, which could be quite overwhelming for those that haven’t
experienced cruising before.
The Disney WISH is the 5th in Disney’s ever growing fleet of cruise
ships. She is by far the largest in the fleet thus far and the first
in an anticipated 3 new vessels to be added over the course of the
next several years. These additional ships have yet to have names or
dates of the first sailing released to the public. Without a doubt, they
will be highly celebrated announcements in the theme of all the other
ship’s fanfare. While I could never cover the entirety of my
experience in one blog, I would love to give you an overview of my
sailing and I will touch on more specific topics in future blogs!
After all, the food alone deserves its own dedicated article in this
foodie’s opinion! But, without further chatter, let’s get to it!
At first impression, the WISH is an absolutely stunning ship. Its
sheer size is breathtaking, not to mention the fact that it is
pristine inside and out. As you may know, Rapunzel is the icon gracing
the aft of this gorgeous vessel. This sculpture is adorable as well in
its own right. Upon entry, the Grand Hall. (Taking place of the usual
Atrium) is outstandingly beautiful. Cinderella’s statue is there to
greet guests and if you are paying very close attention, you may just
find that she is not alone in the sculpture! Golds, purples, blues,
and LOTS of sparkle make this hall live up to its grand description. I
found this entrance to be very spacious. However, to note, unlike the
other ships in the fleet, WISH has no midship elevator on its
entrance deck, while this made for a later space for guests, as we
progressed through our sailing, we found this to be logistically
challenging when navigating the ship. Having only an aft and a forward
set of elevators is definitely not what I am used to in sailing on the
rest of the Disney ships. And I just have to note one other
outstanding feature of the space. The Grand Hall has a slide directly
into the kid’s club check in, so if you have some impatient little
ones, down the slide they go!
Next up are the staterooms. We were in a category 4A which is a Deluxe
Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. I found this to be a super
spacious stateroom and it can actually sleep 5 guests! There are 4
separate beds in the space of this particular stateroom. The main
queen bed, a ceiling bunk, a pull out bunk from the couch, and a Murphy
bed in the wall. This style stateroom also boasts a split bathroom and
tons of storage. This was definitely a plus in keeping the room neat
and clutter free. Our theme was Moana, but each deck has rooms themed
for a specific character! The artwork in the rooms was beautiful and
the shower/tub seemed larger as well than the other vessels. This room
is about 284 square feet of space not including your verandah. I do
love the fact that the extra beds are tucked away neatly during the
day by your stateroom host or hostess and that provides nice living
space in the room. When the beds are away, you have a full sized
couch, a table, and a desk.
I know you’re still thinking about that kid’s club slide though,
right? Me too! So let’s slide right into Disney’s Oceaneer Club!
These spaces have activities and counselors for children ages 3-12.
Various themes and areas throughout the space play toward the
different age groups and interests. There is Marvel Super Hero Academy
featuring Avengers: Mission Training, Star Wars: Cargo Bay where kids
are on a mission to protect the ship, Fairytale Hall where you can
read with Belle, do art projects with Rapunzel, or even hang out in the
Sommerhus with Anna and Elsa, to a kid friendly WD Imagineering Lab
and Mickey and Minnie’s Captain Deck where kids can go wild with
science, technology, engineering, and more! Got teenagers that are too
cool for school? Well, Disney has hangouts for them as well! Edge
hosts kids 11-14 in a New York style loft hangout, while Vibe gives
kids 14-17 a funky pop art style space with floor to ceiling views of
the ocean! So what if you have extra small littles? The It’s a Small
World Nursery provides babysitting services for tiny ones ages 6
months to 3 years!
There are several pool options on the ship. I will say that I found
each of these spaces feeling smaller than on the other ships. The main
pool deck for families had 6 smaller tiered pools as opposed to the
typical one or 2 large family pools in the central area. There seemed
to be more seating in this particular area. These did seem to handle
the crowd well, however, the Chip and Dale family quiet pool and the
adult area pools were small and very crowded at times. We found the
adult area the most difficult to get a comfortable spot in for all of
us, but the infinity pool and the space itself are beautiful
aesthetically. My best suggestion is to get out to the pool earlier,
especially on a day at sea, and get a spot, but be courteous to your
fellow guests and don’t take spots you don’t need!
I was super excited, of course, about the new options on this ship for
main rotational dining. These are concepts we haven’t seen on the
other ships and I was anxious to give them all a try! 1923, named for
the year the Walt Disney Company was founded, celebrates animation in
its golden era combined with tastes from the golden state of
California. I loved the menu here and was very pleased with our meal!
Worlds of Marvel was one experience I was super excited about. The menu
was unique and I tried several things that I loved, but the length of
the dinner was a little long for my taste. Lastly, Arendelle: A Frozen
Dining Adventure was the unexpected highlight of the rotational dining
experiences. If you know me, you know I am not the biggest Frozen fan
so the success of this experience shined even brighter for me. This
contemporary Nordic style meal combined with an interactive diner show
and character experience was so filling and fun! All Frozen fans have
dreamed of with regards to a dining experience can be found here at
this celebration of the Royal engagement of Queen Anna and Kristoff! I
do also want to note that Mickey’s Festival of Food, which is the
quick service option for the pool areas was a really cool shake up for
food options! BBQ, Tacos, Pizza, you name it, they had it!
As typical of Disney Cruise Line, the Broadway style shows were so
well done. We were able to catch The Little Mermaid and Aladdin and
both were excellent with twists! The costumes, the special effects,
and the actors were wonderful and I was happy to see a familiar blue face
joining the entertainment crew of the WISH. These shows are
Overall, my first take on sailing the Disney WISH is good. Being the
inaugural season, I feel like there are still some staffing kinks to
work out, especially in the dining teams. The layout of the ship was
definitely an adjustment for those familiar with Disney Cruise Line
but seemed to leave first time guests unbothered. I think there are
some improvements that can be made, but again, I am erring on the side
of this being a new vessel in its first season on the sea. I know that
Disney will continue to put forth the effort to continuously improve and
reach that high standard we are so accustomed to with the DCL product.
I am very happy that I experienced the sailing and kept up my streak
of sailing all ships on the fleet! I am happy that cruising is back
and look forward to many more adventures on the sea with Captain
Mickey, Captain Minnie, and the crew!
