This is an honest review of a 4 night Bahamian cruise aboard the Disney Wish cruise ship out of Port Canaveral in a deluxe family stateroom with a verandah.
In this review I will discuss the ship, the stateroom, the service, the food, the staff, the shops, the activities, the excursions, and more.
I was hesitant to book a Disney cruise for a variety of reasons.
First, the price – Disney cruises are very expensive and there are a lot of cheaper options.
Second, we have a teenager and I was afraid the cruise might be too kiddish for her to enjoy.
Third, I’m not a big Disney fan and I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it either. Before having kids, we had been on several cruises but we had never taken the kids on a cruise.
The past cruises we had been on were with Carnival and Royal Carribean. They were a lot of fun but they were catered more toward adults. Our youngest is 11 and she loves Disney so we decided to give it a try. We thought since we were probably only going to be doing this once, why not go with one of the newest and best ships?
So we decided to book a cruise on the Disney Wish. We didn’t want to be cramped up together so we splurged for a stateroom with a veranda.
Getting to the Port and the Terminal
The Disney Wish sails out of Port Canaveral out of Cruise Terminal #10. We got excited when we were within a mile of the terminal and we could see the ship. That excitement dwindled when we saw how slow the traffic was moving.
It took about an hour to get pulled into the terminal and parked. I had previously worried about parking but we didn’t have any problem finding a spot in the parking garage and there were parking spots available in the lot outside the parking garage.
Getting Through Security and Checking In
We had all of our birth certificates, drivers licenses, and ticket information in hand, so we didn’t run into any problems.
The lines moved fairly quickly and we were able to get all of our bags checked without any trouble. From there we were able to board the ship and start exploring while we waited for our bags to be brought to our stateroom.
Review of the Disney Wish Cruise Ship
The Disney Wish ship is incredible. The themes and details are beautiful and amazing. So much thought is put into every nook and cranny of the entire ship. It’s the only ship in the Disney fleet that has a princess at the stern instead of a traditional character.
Rapunzel can be seen hanging off the back. When you walk into the main atrium everything looks luxurious and elegant with curved staircases, a giant chandelier, and a statue of Cinderella. The lighting is amazing and gives the entire space a whimsical feel.
On Levels 11 and 12 there are six different swimming pools of various sizes and a giant screen that plays Disney movies, shows live footage, displays information, etc. Just beyond the pools is a food court that wraps all the way around the ship.
There are many great options to good food, drinks, or ice cream anytime you want. On Level 12 there is AquaMouse, which is a water coaster that shoots you through a tube and wraps around most of the top of the ship. It’s a cute little ride that starts out slow with neat animations and surprises of squirting water and then it speeds up and thrusts you through the tube and around the ship.
It is neat and worth doing once but I wouldn’t wait in line to do it twice. Opposite the AquaMouse is the Slide-a-saurus Rex which is an enclosed twisty slide for small kids.
There are tons of themed lounges, bars, and sitting areas throughout the ship. You’ll find lots of little shops as well.
There are two movie theaters – Wonderland and Neverland Cinemas on Deck 4 and the Walt Disney Theater on Deck 3 where all the main shows take place.
If you are cruising with small children you may want to utilize the Oceaneer Kids Club or the It’s a Small World Nursery. They are located on Deck 2 and allow you to check in your small children while you do other things around the ship. There is also a really cool Star Wars type of room by the play area on deck 2 where you can get a picture with Chewbacca and Rey.
If you have kids between 11-14 there is a dedicated lounge area with fun activities for them called Edge. It’s located on Deck 5.. Teenagers 14 – 17 have a fun hangout area with activities on Deck 11 called Vibe. Our oldest daughter liked hanging out at Vibe playing games, and making friends.
Just beyond Vibe is a large recreational room called The Hero Zone that has basketball courts, foosball, air hockey, etc. There are lots of contests that go on there each day like three point shooting contests.
The Disney Wish also has an excellent fitness center on Deck 5 called Senses Fitness Center. You can get in a good workout or walk on treadmills looking out at the ocean. If you need to do some laundry you can find ironing board areas, washers and dryers on Deck 8.
If you are a drinker there are many bars throughout the Disney Wish. By far the coolest one is The Hyperspace Lounge. Behind the bar is a large screen that makes you feel like you are traveling through space. It features signature cocktails inspired by the Star Wars movies.
If you’re anything like me, one of the biggest draws of going on a cruise is the food. The Wish is excellent in that department with three themed restaurants, a steak house, buffets, and room service. I will cover that a bit later when I review the dining reservations.
Review of Our Stateroom on the Disney Wish
We splurged to get a larger stateroom with a larger deck. There were four of us and we wanted to have a little extra space. Our room was 10170 located at the very back of the ship.
Because of its location our verandah was one of the largest on the ship, but we found that we did not spend hardly any time on the deck so that didn’t really matter. It also is not a good place to watch the ship leave from the ports.
As for the room itself, it was very nice and it accommodated us well. There was a curtain to pull to separate us from the kids. The couch served as a bed for one of the kids and a pull down bed could be pulled down from the wall for the other one to sleep on. It was a Little Mermaid themed room.
Review of the Dining Options on the Disney Wish
The Disney Wish has a plethora of options when it comes to food. There is a large food court where you can get food anytime you want. There’s also Marceline Market which has every type of breakfast food you can imagine. We loved the food but found Marceline Market was a little too crowded at times.
There is a reservations only steak house if you are wanting something fancier or an upgrade from the food court. There’s also Enchente, which is an adults only Beauty and the Beast themed French-style restaurant. You can also order room service if you don’t want to leave your stateroom.
There are three main restaurants where you will be scheduled to eat dinner each night. They are 1923, Marvel Restaurant, and Arendelle. 1923 is decorated with old sketches from the classic Disney movies.
Marvel Restaurant provides an interactive experience, special effects, and actors get involved with your dining experience. Arendelle if set up to make you feel like you are dining within the Frozen movies. Our first night we ate at 1923. The meal was great, the servers were great, and the dessert was great. But there was nothing out of the ordinary with the experience, unlike the other two restaurants.
On night 2 we ate at Marvel Restaurant. There are giant screens throughout the restaurant that are in sync with the lighting on the walls and ceilings as well as the special lights on the tables.
I assume the primary theme changes fairly often. It was focused on Ant-Man & The Wasp when we were there. Dining at Marvel Restaurant is an interactive experience. The characters come on the screen and talk to everyone to get you engulfed in the plot.
Then near the end you are instructed to engage with the light canisters on your table. It was a really unique experience and I could tell all the kids loved it, especially all the little boys. Toward the end, Ant-man made an appearance in the crowd.
Spider-man made a surprise appearance too and ran through the restaurant. It’s a little dark in there at times and unfortunately two of the servers crashed into each other and spilled water on us. It wasn’t a big deal to us, but they were extremely apologetic and made up for it by bringing the girls free milk shakes inside collector cups from Marvel.
On night 3 we were scheduled to eat at Arendelle. The theme was Anna and Kristof’s wedding. The menus were like wedding invitations. The decor was fantastic, looking just like you were in a Frozen movie. There was lots of special effects in this interactive dining experience.
Elsa came out and turned lots of things into ice. The special effects made it look as if she froze the place. There was fantastic singing and dancing with all the Frozen characters. They even wheeled out Olaf who interacted with the crowd. The show was over the top good and we were highly impressed. The food and desserts were also outstanding.
We enjoyed the food from all three restaurants. The servers were very accommodating and they had no problem letting us order extra desserts or “trying one of each”.
But if there was any room left in our stomachs we would make a visit to our favorite shop on the entire ship – Joyful Sweets. Joyful Sweets is an Inside-Out themed candy and ice cream shop with all the characters from Inside-Out including Joy, Anger, Disgust, Sadness, and Fear. There’s also a big Bing Bong mural just outside in the hallway. They had lots of great treats although they were a little pricy.
Review of the Shows on the Disney Wish
Disney doesn’t waste any time setting the tone. There was a high energy show right when the cruise began. The singers / dancers were very good and the choreography was amazing. Our expectations for the rest of the cruise rose a few notches after the opening act. We did not catch every show during the cruise, but the ones we did see were fantastic.
We watched “Seas the Adventure” where Captain Minnie put Goofy in charge while she was away. The props and special effects were great in the production as Goofy kept ending up in the middle of other familiar movies. Our youngest daughter really enjoyed it.
We were there close to the Fourth of July so there was a pirate show with tons of action, amazing acrobatics, and a great fireworks show.
Captain Jack Sparrow even found his way into the middle of it. That was followed by a live concert by a very talented pirate band. They played family friendly songs that would also appeal to most people of any age. They played some Journey, Guns & Roses, etc. We liked it and the kids loved it.
We wanted to watch at least one of the big musical presentations that wasn’t targeted towards just kids, so we made our way to the Walt Disney Theater to watch Alladin. It was unbelievably good. The actors, singers, dancers, props, etc. were all outstanding. Genie stole the show. It was really good but also very funny. It was just like the movie except Genie slipped in some pop culture stuff just for laughs.
Taking an Excursion to Atlantis Aquaventure Waterpark
The excursion to Atlantis included a day-pass to Atlantis Aquaventure. They took us over to the resort by bus. Unfortunately the weather was bad and it rained a lot. However, Atlantis was incredible. You don’t have to ride any of the slides to enjoy Atlantis.
The giant aquariums (Ambassador Lagoon), casino, shops, lagoon pools, etc. will give you plenty to do. But you need to plan your time wisely if you are with kids. With only about four hours to spend we had to plan ahead and figure out exactly which waterslides to do first so we could get in all the good ones before it was time to leave. If you end up in the same situation I recommend doing these things first.
- Leap of Faith
- The Abyss
- Rapids River
- The Falls
- The Drop
Our Day at Disney Castaway Cay
I can’t accurately review Disney Castaway Cay because of the terrible weather we had when we were there. It was pouring rain the entire day. They gave everyone ponchos as we left the ship. The island itself was really neat.
There were nice beaches, a fun waterslide in the ocean, and lots of other things to do in normal weather. There were trolleys that would take you around the island. Unfortunately, there was just too much rain to enjoy it. We let the kids play for a short time, snapped a few pictures, and headed back to the ship dripping wet.
Review of the Service on the Disney Wish
The service was outstanding at every level. Each staff member we encountered was overly nice and helpful. Our room was always cleaned and tidied up anytime we left and returned. The fold down bed was always ready when we returned after dinner.
Each day there would be new towel art waiting for us when we returned to our stateroom. The best ones were Pirates of the Caribbean themed.
The service at dinner was top notch as well, and we fell in love with the food staff, especially Agung. He even made special origami creations and gave them to the girls.
Things We Did Not Like About the Disney Wish Cruise
- The Internet Service – There were various packages available. All I wanted to do was be able to get on the regular internet but that was only allowed with the most expensive package. Lesser packages allowed you to get on social media sites like Facebook, but if you wanted to access anything other than the cruise website you had to pay a hefty price for it.
- The Phone Service – It was difficult to figure out what to do to access the internet through our phones. We got hit for hundreds of dollars in roaming charges for texting pictures to each other.
- Leaving The Ship – We didn’t realize we would have to show our birth certificates when we were getting off the ship. I had to scramble to find them within our bags.
- Reservations Were Full – I considered getting my wife a spa treatment but they were fully booked before the cruise even set sail. The Bippity Boppity Boutique which did hair, makeup, etc. for kids was also fully booked.
- Really High Prices – The gift shops and on the ship were really overpriced for things like mouse ears and toys.
Overall Rating for the Disney Wish – 4.5 Stars
We definitely had some setbacks. One of our daughters had a bad ear infection, it came a storm while we were at Atlantis, and it rained the whole time we were at Disney Castaway Cay.
In spite of that and the negative things I mentioned above, the overall cruise was so fantastic that I would still give it 4.5 stars out of 5. Our youngest daughter loved it, our teenager loved it, and we loved it. We made memories that will last forever. I highly recommend cruising on the Disney Wish.
