Disney Cruise On The Disney Wish

Over New Year’s, we joined our extended family for a Disney Cruise on the Disney Wish. Here is the first of three blog posts about our trip! If you’d like to see the video version, check my Instagram highlight.

Our Disney Cruise Trip Recap!

We had a wonderful time aboard the Disney Wish over holiday break! My extended family has been talking about taking a Disney cruise for years, and we finally felt that all four grandchildren were ready. My sister is a travel advisor and did all the planning for us. We just had to pay up! I highly recommend you reach out to her if you are planning a Disney cruise (or any trip for that matter!). We were able to get staterooms side-by-side, which was great to have the cousins chat from the balcony and make plans. 

Disney Wish Itinerary (4 Nights)

Our cruise length was perfect for first timers. We visited two islands and had one day at sea. I have lots of thoughts on the islands, so stay tuned for those posts coming soon! 

• Depart Cape Canaveral
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island)
• Day at Sea
• Arrive Cape Canaveral

Traveling To Cape Canaveral

We flew down the day before, which is always recommended for cruise travel. We ended up having quite the day of delays between our flight getting diverted from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale, and then our scheduled Uber getting cancelled. We had to wait for an Uber at the airport which took a long time. Eventually we made it to our hotel – the TownPlace Suites Cape Canaveral – where Grammie and Pea were waiting for us! I booked the hotel night free using Marriott Points, and it was a nice, new, clean hotel. Would recommend! 

Super late dinner after arrival

Oatmeal with cottage cheese and coconut at the free breakfast!

Boarding The Ship

The next morning, we took our time checking out and took a walk to a park. At noon, our Uber came to haul all six of us to the cruise port. There was also a hotel shuttle, but it was $10 a person, so Uber ended up being cheaper (My sister and her fam met us there). The port was only about 2 miles away. 

As from a long line of traffic to unload luggage, getting on the boat was fairly easy. Disney requires you to upload all of your documents ahead of time so that check-in was easy. We had a 12:30 check-in time, and while there were crowds and lines, they all moved quickly. We were aboard in probably 20 minutes or so! 

Deck Lunch

We bee-lined to lunch before going to our room because everyone was hungry! This was the only time we ate lunch on the deck because it tended to be quite busy. There were stations for pizza, tacos, burgers, and more. I hit up the DIY taco bar (paired with a Corona!) and the tacos were delish. I’ll talk a bit more about the ship’s cleanliness when I get to dining, but we were VERY impressed. There are hand washing stations everywhere, and most of the food is served to you so there is minimal touching among guests. 

Our Stateroom 

After lunch, we went to check out our stateroom and unpack. We were on the 7th floor (room 7034 to be exact!) and had a lovely balcony view. Our room had a queen bed for the adults and two bunks for the boys which came from the converted couch and down from the ceiling! While it was definitely cozy, it never felt crowded. There was also a nice curtain to divide the sleeping areas so we could have a light on and the boys were in the dark.

We also had a welcome gift from our travel advisor! There is a mini fridge drawer in the room to keep drinks cold. You are also allowed to bring a six pack aboard, and my sister brought some gluten free beers for herself. 

The Bathroom

I loved that the bathroom had two separate areas for the toilet and shower. We definitely used both at the same time many times. If someone was showering, you could still wash your hands on the other side. The bathroom was quite nice!

We unpacked our clothes into the closets and drawers. I do think they could have had more drawers on the kids’ side.

Exploring The Ship

We explored the ship a bit before the sail away party around 4:00! 

Still dressed up for Christmas

The Kids Club

Aka the Oceaneer Club aka the most popular spot on the ship! When we arrived, the kids club had an open house so adults could walk through it. We had three kids under 10 (Birch, Avery, and Emerson) who could go to the club. Mazen’s age group (12) was only allowed in The Edge club for tweens. At first we thought this was a big drawback that Mazen couldn’t be with his cousins, but he ended up going to Edge a lot and made friends there, so it all worked out. 

The Star Wars room at the Oceaneer Club

Each child was given a wristband that they needed to sign in that we returned on the last day. They could choose to go in from the lobby or through the slide! They also had the coolest handwashing station ever where you put your arms into tubes of swirling water and soap. So easy for kids! 

I don’t have a ton of photos from the kids club because adults aren’t allowed in on normal hours. But the kids loved it! They went for a few hours each day which was SUCH a nice break for us to exercise or lounge.

In addition to the ongoing activities, they had character visits and special events that kept it interesting for them. The cutest part is that when they’re ready to be picked up you get an alert through your app that says “Birch would like to be picked up now.” It was formal enough that it was cute! 

The Pools + Waterslides

You can see them all here! The white tube is the Aqua Mouse, which is a tube water ride that the kids LOVED! There were also Disney movies playing all.the.time. that you could watch from the pools. The line would get long at times, but if you went at an off-peak time you would walk right on. The yellow slide was great for littler kids. The multiple pools were on the small side, but they were HEATED which was so nice! And there were plenty of life jackets you could borrow if you have a young swimmer. 

(It looks really crowded here because this was during the sail off party on the top deck! It was not usually this crowded)

Toy Story Splash Zone

The two younger kids in our group loved playing here for an afternoon. Again, the water was WARM and that was so key on a chilly day! We really appreciated that because cold water would have made this area miserable. 

The Laundry

For those wondering, the laundry room was great!! We did laundry twice in four days (I know, I know) and it was so lovely to have our airport travel day clothes clean for the return trip as well as workout clothes not stinking up the room. Each load costs $3.50 that we just swiped onto our stateroom card. And the best part was the app told us when the load was done so we could promptly switch it over. I brought two laundry pods from home, but you could also purchase soap with your card. 

There were tons and tons of machines available. And ironing boards too! While the $7 x 2 we paid to do laundry was nominal, I do think it would be nice just to have this cost included given what we paid for the cruise. 

The Fitness Center

We went to the fitness center a handful of times. They had lots of equipment, Peloton bikes, weights, and even a cycle room. 

One of my only complaints I had about our ship was that there wasn’t a circular walking track. There was a track, but it had stairs in the middle of it and it didn’t go all the way around the ship so you kept having to turn back. I love to walk on the upper decks if possible. 

The view from the fitness track looked into the spa garden.

HyperSpace Lounge

There were several lounges on board, but my favorite was the Star Wars themed HyperSpace Lounge! Going inside felt like you were entering a ship with a push-button sliding door, and the screens went into hyper space periodically! They also had the best drinks with an iPad menu. Check out the bubbles of smoke! 

Adults-Only Area

It took me til the last day to find the adults-only area; it was that secluded! The chairs were extra plush, there was a private bar and coffee shop, and an infinity pool (which sadly, I never got in). 

Entertainment

Live Shows

We went to two live shows while at sea: The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. They were both AMAZING! Lots of great singing, dancing, costumes, special effects. I also loved that they were both roughly an hour so attention spans could tolerate them, and on our day at sea they had a manatee at 2pm for those who needed to be in bed by 8. 10/10! 

Smaller Shows

There were also shows and music going on in the grand hall at various times. We stopped to listen in on occasion. 

Silent Disco

One night, we found a kid-friendly Silent Disco! This was so fun. My only complaint was it only lasted 45 minutes and the next night it was after bedtime. 

Deck Parties

There were deck parties each night, but I rarely stayed up late enough. One was pirate themed! And on New Year’s, they had a kid-friendly countdown at 7:30 and another at midnight. Mazen was the only one to stay up for the midnight fireworks! 

Blog Posts To Come:

• All of our buffet meals and theme dinners (Wednesday)
• Our two island stops (Friday)

Overall Review Of Our Disney Cruise

We had a great time, and we really loved the cruise! My overall impression is that this cruise is perfect for people with kids in the age group of toddlers to tweens. Compared to other cruise lines, Disney is VERY expensive. I would not recommend going if you don’t have kids unless you are a Disney fanatic. The cruise for us was all about the kids! Having so many kid-centric things (from the kids club to lower sinks in the bathrooms) was perfect for our family of kids ages 5, 6, 8, and 12. If you have older kids, I would tell you to pick another cruise line and save yourself some money. That said, there were some things that Disney did so well. See below!

Here is my list of things we loved/appreciated:

Cleanliness and Sanitization

I LOVED having sinks and soap in so many places. Hand sanitizer alone does not kill norovirus, and I washed my hands often. There were even a row of sinks going into the casual dining area. Before dinner we were all given hand wipes. The ship was also VERY clean. The staff did a great job clearing tables and there was little trash anywhere (which is impressive since there are so many kids running around!). 

Lifeguards at Pools and Castaway Cay

I was also so appreciative of all the lifeguards! They were everywhere and they were strict (a good think from the parents’ POV). Even when we got off the boat at Castaway Cay, there were lifeguards everywhere watching the play zones and snorkelers. 

Service

The service on board was fabulous. We loved our dinner service team and every “cast member” we met was so kind and helpful. We only have one major complaint on this front and that was on our first day about 25 different people asked if we wanted to buy a drink package. We had politely declined the first few, but it got a bit excessive when new people kept coming up to ask us over and over. Everyone was still nice though!

Drink Prices

You’d expect drinks and wine to be obscenely priced on a cruise ship, but they were not!! Wines were $9-15 (under $10!) and cocktails were maybe $13-15. On Castaway Cay, my margarita was only $8.75!! And it was great. I really appreciated this. And that all soft drinks were included. 

The Shows

They were outstanding! Kid friendly and very Disney. We loved them. 

Themed Dinners

A longer review will come with that blog post, but the dinners were fantastic and the food was very good across the whole ship. There were a few “misses” with dishes we ordered, but overall I’d give the food an A-. The only food-related complaint I have is that the coffee was terrible. Even the paid level of coffee I thought was pretty bad. 

WiFi

It would have been nice to have free WiFi. Thomas and I both paid $88 to have full internet (minus streaming, which was more) on our cruise. I was annoyed to pay that, but once I connected it was great. Communicating with texting was actually pretty important since the ship was so big and our group was all spread out, so we were glad that at least iMessage was free! Mazen could text us without having paid wifi on his phone. This meant he could go to the tween club or stay out later and we knew he could reach out or we could reach him. 

Heated Pools

Such a game changer! Cold pools would have been miserable. They were so warm and the kids loved them. There was only one hot tub that I remember seeing in the adults-only area, and it was small so it was always packed. They need a bigger hot tub! 

Bathrooms Everywhere

There are tons of bathrooms that were always clean, so FYI for those of you who care about this kind of detail.  😉 

Was it crowded? 

There were a few times when it seemed like everyone was in one place, but for a boat as huge as The Wish, it did not feel too crowded to me. It didn’t feel empty, but I did not feel claustrophobic. 

A Few Critiques…

Popcorn Cost Extra

As my sister put it, you could eat unlimited filet mignons but you had to pay for popcorn! Popcorn outside of the shows/theaters was extra. This was so silly to me since our kids obviously wanted some. I guess this just keeps everyone from getting it and making a huge mess / wasting it, but it was just a little odd. 

Character Lines

The only time I saw super long lines was for characters. My kids weren’t that interested in meeting characters, but if you have someone who is, be prepared to wait in a Disney World-esque line. 

Atlantis Resort

This review is coming in a separate post, but we SO regret getting off the boat to go to Atlantis. More on this soon! 

Disembark Timing

We were at port on our last morning before we woke up and we had to be off the ship by 9 or 9:30. The whole morning felt rushed and chaotic. I wish we could have had a little more time to enjoy a final breakfast and get off a little more slowly. I understand they have to turnover the boat, but after such a relaxing time the early morning made for a cautiously early final night and a more stressful travel day. 

Overall Review

If you love Disney, you will love a Disney Cruise! Literally everything from the towels to the music to the shows is Disney branded. There were two new release movies playing (Mufasa and Moana 2) that unfortunately we had just paid to see in the theater! I think Disney Cruises are ideal for families with kids. It definitely felt like more of a vacation for the grown-ups with everything being so kid-friendly. The food options, the expectations, the activities, and the service was all geared towards kids which just makes everything so much easier. 

Disney clearly knows what they’re doing because the whole process was organized and fun. Feel free to ask any more questions you have about specific things in the comments! Or share tips if you’ve done a Disney Cruise and have something to share that I overlooked.