Disney Wonder 4 Night Bahamas Cruise (2008)
Our 6th time sailing with Disney was one of our best! In this report we’ll tell you the story of our October 2008 Disney Wonder Cruise. While we won’t attempt to describe everything you can do on a Disney Cruise (there are whole books devoted to that topic) we’ll discuss the activities/features we enjoyed most.
By
Travel Agent Tim Larison, Master Cruise Counselor (MCC)
With contributions by
Travel Agent Anne Larison, Andrew (age 14) and Josh Larison (age 14)
October 2008
Our Staterooms
With two active teenagers we decided on this cruise to book two staterooms – one for Anne and I (left above), and one for the boys (right). Our two category 11 inside staterooms (5627 and 5629) worked out very well. Disney’s inside staterooms are the largest of any we have had on our sailings on 9 different cruise lines, and it was nice to have even more room with two staterooms (and two bathrooms!).
We liked the deck 5 aft location. On a couple of evenings we attended late night movies in the nearby Buena Vista theatre. When the movie was over after 1 a.m. we only had a short walk back to our rooms. We found the aft location of deck 5 quiet and very accessible to the buffet and pools on the top decks and the restaurants on the lower decks.
Another thing we liked about our location – the Muster drill was in Parrot Cay! Best Muster Drill we have had on our Disney cruises, as it was very comfortable sitting in the restaurant as the crew went over the safety information. On our previous cruises we always had the Muster drill on an outside deck with the sun in our eyes!
The only negative – our room 5627 was right next to the utility room where the cleaning supplies and linens were stored. When the stateroom stewards accessed this room we could hear the noise next door.
Anne says:
“Upon arrival we found that the boy’s stateroom was not set up for two, the beds were together (same as our stateroom). We were able to find the cabin steward shortly after arriving to request that the beds be separated. He indicated it would not be a problem and the beds went from one to two by the end of the evening. I have always found the staff on the Disney cruises very accommodating and willing to help and answer any and all questions.”
Andrew says:
“It was nice to have our own stateroom. Me and Josh could sleep in and come and go from our room whenever we wanted. We had so much more space than the last time when we shared a room with Mom and Dad.”
Dining
Overall we thought the food on the cruise was excellent – better than what we have had on our previous Disney cruises. The highlights:
Opening Buffet at Parrot Cay
Always a favorite of ours, I especially liked the peel and eat shrimp. There were a wide variety of entrees to choose from, and I saw more ice cream and dessert options than I had in the past.
Disney serves the buffet at both Parrot Cay and at the Beach Blanket buffet on deck 9. Though the food is similar we definitely prefer the Parrot Cay location. You have much more room at Parrot Cay and it is easier to access the many food choices.
Rotation Dining
We had excellent meals at our three “dining rotation” themed restaurants in the
evening – Parrot Cay (tropical), Animator’s Palette (cartoon), and Tritons (formal). The themes were not new to us yet we still enjoyed having a different setting for dinner each night. Our waiters provided very good service – frequently refilling our drinks and meeting our special requests. One night Anne and I asked for Mickey Bars for dessert (even though this isn’t listed on the menu) and they were delivered promptly – we love Mickey Bars!
Anne says:
“There is usually a good selection of both entrees and appetizers at each of the dining locations on the ship. I very much enjoy trying exotic appetizers that I wouldn’t spend the money to buy at home.”
Josh says:
“The food on the cruise was great. I had steak almost every night for dinner and I liked it every time.”
Andrew says:
“The food was pretty good. Disney didn’t have much of a pasta selection (my favorite), so I had beef most of the nights.”
Palo Brunch
Only 100 of the 2700 passengers onboard get to experience the Palo Brunch – this was my favorite meal of the whole cruise! I loved the shrimp, Margaretta Pizza, my main entrée Chicken Parmesan, and other delicacies. There was so much food to choose from! I liked this meal even better than our Palo dinner.
Our waiter Zoron from Bosnia (pictured above) provided excellent service – describing the many food choices available, making his recommendations, and answering any questions we had.
Anne says:
“I always enjoy any meal, brunch or dinner at Palo. We started off with complimentary mojitos, yum! I get a little overwhelmed with all the choices at the Brunch. As Tim said, our waiter, Zoron, did an excellent job of pointing out the many amazing food choices and desserts. You can go back to the buffet as many times as you want, but Tim and I chose to move on to the pizza and main course. At the brunch there are many breakfast choices for the entrée, but we were ready for lunch.”
Palo Dinner
I have enjoyed many a fine dinner at Palo in the past; on this cruise my meal was 
good but slightly disappointing (not as good as the brunch). I had a chicken dish and a pasta dish which were just average, and the Margaretta Pizza was not as good as the pizza I had for the brunch two days before. Also in the past our Palo waiter brought many different dishes to sample; this time nothing additional was volunteered so we ordered an extra pasta portion off of the menu.
The chocolate soufflé dessert was excellent – the highlight of my meal! We also had a reservation right when the restaurant opened at 6 pm and we were fortunate to get a window table. It was very special to watch the sunset over the ocean as we dined.
Anne says:
“As Tim said, we had a great view of the ocean. Not only does the ‘no children’ policy make this restaurant a nice break for parents, but the atmosphere is romantic. Also the wait staff is in no hurry to get you out of there, so you can enjoy a leisurely dinner and eat, drink and be a couple!”
Breakfasts
We ate breakfast at three different venues on our cruise. When we had time for a relaxing breakfast Tritons was our choice. At Tritons we ordered off of the menu and we were treated to the fine service of the Disney wait staff. My favorite here was the made to order omelet. We also had a good selection of pastries and other breakfast items to choose from (that’s Josh on the left deciding on a breakfast pastry). The hash brown potatoes I thought were subpar – just a patty like you get at McDonalds.
Our favorite breakfast buffet was at Parrot Cay. I liked the omelet station (can you tell I like omelets? J) and the large selection of breakfast foods.
The Beach Blanket buffet is good for a quick breakfast. We dined here on our last morning of the cruise instead of going to our assigned dining rotation restaurant. Had we eaten at our dining rotation restaurant we had to arrive by 6:45 am; instead at the Beach Blanket we ate at 7:30 am and had a leisurely disembarkation off of the ship afterwards.
Snacks
I liked the self serve ice cream (available 7 to 11 pm) at Goofy’s Galley as a replacement for Scoops that we had seen on our previous Disney cruises. On a couple of nights we enjoyed an ice cream while watching a sports event on the big screen above the family pool. Goofy’s Galley also offered Wraps and fruit.
Anne says:
“They have the best cookies at Beach Blanket buffet. After eating a meal there I always finish with a big, soft chocolate chip cookie. Even if it is not after a meal, I will often venture in when the buffet is open to enjoy another cookie for my snack.”
Josh says:
“My favorite snack was the pizza by the pool. It was really warm and cheesy.”
Andrew says:
“The Grill and Pizza were also good for quick lunches or snacks.”
Itinerary
Our four night cruise featured an experimental itinerary:
Sunday depart from Port Canaveral
Monday day at sea
Tuesday Nassau, Bahamas
Wednesday Castaway Cay
Thursday return to Port Canaveral, a.m.
Disney scheduled the “at sea” day on the first full day of the cruise for select September and October sailings. Normally the “at sea” day is on Wednesday. Having experienced both itineraries we prefer the “at sea” day on Wednesday, though we couldn’t tell much difference.
We have been to Nassau many times before, so for this voyage we stayed on the ship throughout the cruise except for our day at Castaway Cay. We’ll discuss life onboard and Castaway Cay below.
Activities Onboard
For our time onboard we planned our day around the activities listed in our 
Personal Navigator – a newsletter delivered to our staterooms the night before. The Navigator had a comprehensive listing by the hour of activities for families, teens, and adults.
On such an active cruise one of the features Anne and I enjoyed most was just relaxing on the deck 4 lounge chairs, reading a book or gazing out at the open ocean. Like on our past Disney cruises we found deck 4 a quiet spot to watch our sail away from Port Canaveral, too.
Anne says:
“In addition to all of the other activities we have listed, there are a few special parties. The sail-away party is always fun with music and characters to get the voyage off to an exciting start. Then on one night there is a special pirate themed dinner with the pirate party and fireworks show to follow. There is even a special buffet with the pirate theme for those who are ready to eat – again! The decks get really crowded for the pirate party and fireworks but it is so much fun you can’t help but get into the action and dance to the music.”
Josh says:
“The ship was huge but I liked how it was easy to find your way around. Some of the activities that I enjoyed were ping pong, foosball, and shuffleboard.”
Andrew says:
“There was always something that you could participate in or play. I enjoyed the pool, the movie theater and shuffleboard.”
Teen Club
Josh says:
“The teens club was cool because there was a lot of stuff to do in there. I only
went in twice because none of the scheduled activities really excited me.”
Andrew says:
“There’s a lot of space and most of the time you are just hanging out. Like Josh said we really didn’t get into the teen activities – there were better things to do on the ship for us.”
Movie Theatre
The movie theatre on the Disney ship is one of the best at sea. We enjoyed seeing two late night movies. The boys watched Prince Caspian one night, while Anne and I watched Miracle at St Anna on the last night. Both movies started at 11 pm and finished after 1 a.m. Unlike most other cruise lines Disney will offer first run movies on the ship. This gives you a chance to see the most recent Disney films onboard.
Diversions Sports Bar
We watched many of the late afternoon and evening Sunday NFL football games on multiple big screen tv’s at Diversions Sports Bar. This venue is open to all during the day and for adults only after 9 p.m. The manager of Diversions was very friendly; he even arranged for our home town team’s Monday night football game (Denver Broncos vs New England) to be on the big outdoor screen by the family pool so Andrew could watch it after 9 pm. The World Series was also on the pool outdoor screen on other nights. We were told Diversions gets 5 live Satellite feeds and shows most major sporting events.
Andrew and I participated in football trivia at Diversions one night and we each won a Disney Cruise hat.
Family Games
Disney offered a variety of family oriented games throughout the cruise. We enjoyed most a fun golf chipping game in the main lobby in front of Tritons while the ship was docked at Nassau. We each hit wiffle golf balls onto a felt green with a prize for the person who got the highest score.
Anne says:
“There are lots of games offered pool side also. While the boys were swimming in the family pool, the activities staff was having a hoola hoop contest. There is usually music and other fun to keep the kids happy around the pool.”
Evening Shows
We attended two shows in the Walt Disney Theatre – The Golden Mickeys and 
Toy Story the Musical. The Golden Mickeys continues to be our all time favorite show on the Disney Cruise – a stroll down memory lane showing clips of classic Disney films and telling the story of Walt Disney. A must see for any Disney fan! Toy Story the Musical was a new production that we also enjoyed. The props and costumes for Toy Story were very well done and the production was faithful to the tale told in the Toy Story movie. The actor who played the Buzz Lightyear character was especially good.
We attended the 8:30 pm show of Golden Mickeys after our early dinner. For Toy Story we attended a special showing of the play at 2 pm in the afternoon on the “at sea” day. I liked that Disney added this performance as it allowed many kids to enjoy the production while they were fresh and awake in the mid-afternoon.
Disney also had two other shows we did not attend: Disney Dreams and a Comedy show with Alfred and Seymour.
Anne says:
“Of the two shows we saw this trip I enjoyed the Golden Mickeys the most. The show is entertaining and fun. An additional feature is they have a live feed from the lobby that is shown on the screen in the theatre before the show starts. The Hollywood ‘reporter’ interviews kids as they walk the ‘red’ carpet. They answer questions about where they are from and their favorite character. It really adds to the atmosphere. I liked Toy Story, but didn’t love it. I thought the props and costumes were amazing, but I thought the pace of the show was a little slow and I found my mind wandering at times. But the kids in the audience seemed to love it.”
Castaway Clubhouse
On our “at sea” day we were invited to a reception for past Disney Cruisers (the “Castaway Club”) to meet the many crew members and munch on snacks. This was the first time on any of our Disney cruises we attended this event, and I thought it was well worth it. I liked meeting and chatting with the Captain (Captain John). I asked him about Disney possibly cruising Alaska in the future and he smiled and said “you must have access to inside info J” All the crew members were very friendly, especially the cruise director Peter from Switzerland. To conclude the meeting Disney gave away some prizes.
Internet Access
A good internet connection is essential for me to stay in touch with family, friends, and clients back home. I found the Disney Wonder internet service satisfactory. New on this cruise was the ability to access the internet from your stateroom through a wireless connection. I thought the wireless connection worked well – just as fast as when I was logged in at the ship’s Internet Café.
Disney no longer offers an unlimited Internet package; instead on the Wonder they charge 75 cents a minute, $40 for the 100 minute plan, or $75 for the 250 minute plan. I bought the 250 minute plan and found that to be just right for my internet access during the four night cruise.
The internet speed was satisfactory except for the “at sea” day. On this day the internet access seemed 5 times slower than at other times on the cruise. I recommend if you encounter extremely slow connection speeds to logoff and try again a few hours later.
Castaway Cay
The highlight of each of our Disney cruises has been our day at Disney’s Private Island, Castaway Cay, and this cruise was no exception. We again had great weather; we were off the ship shortly after 8:30 am to claim a great spot on the family beach by the hammocks.
Andrew and I immediately headed over to rent a couple of bikes (at $6 per bike per hour). We found the early morning to be the best time to traverse the Disney bike path. We saw very few bikers as we rode all the way to an observation tower on the other side of the Island. Water stations were strategically placed along the path so that you never had to ride too far before quenching your thirst.
I rode a bike on Castaway Cay for the first time on our December 2005 cruise. This time I found the bike path had been expanded to go deeper into the interior of the Island. The observation tower was new, too. We enjoyed our bike ride very much; I think it is great that Disney provides recreation options like this for non-swimmers like me.
Andrew says:
“Dad and I rented bikes and rode down the island’s scenic bike path. There are way too many drink stations so you won’t have to worry about getting enough water. There is an observation tower further in the trail, in which you can see the ship and the whole island.”
Another recreation area away from the water was the Grouper Pavilion. Here we played ping pong, pool, basketball, foosball, and checkers in the open air, shaded building.
Anne, Andrew, and Josh spent most of their time on Castaway Cay snorkeling off of the family beach. They describe this experience below:
Anne says:
“For me Castaway Cay is the highlight of a Disney Cruise. The weather was 
great and the beach is always clean and well maintained. The boys and I had a great time snorkeling. The boys are really pretty new to snorkeling and you couldn’t find a safer location for them to practice. There are plenty of fish and some fun underwater, Disney additions (Mickey and Minnie) and other shipwreck landmarks to discover. We didn’t make it down the beach to the Stingray Swim, but maybe next time.”
Andrew says:
“Snorkeling was the best part of Castaway Cay. Away from all the little kids attempting to swim, there are many different types of fish and wreckage you can view. Mickey and Minnie are also nestled under the water for guests to find.”
Josh says:
“I definitely liked snorkeling the best on Castaway Cay. It was easy to do and I saw hundreds of fish underwater. I went really deep into the water and that was where most of the fish were.”
A day at Castaway Cay would not be complete without a visit to Cookies Barbeque. Here we enjoyed delicious hamburgers, hot dogs, roasted chicken, ribs, and other barbeque specialties. Cookies seems to get better with our every visit to the Island. The highlight for me was the soft serve chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream – I wish they served that on the ship!
Andrew says:
“The food on the island was great, burgers, ribs, chips, cookies, pasta salad, and even banana loafs. Yes, Banana loafs. They have some of the best banana loafs anywhere.”
Pre Cruise Stay – Radisson Resort At The Port
We flew into Florida early and enjoyed a nice 2 night stay at the Radisson Resort At The Port in Port Canaveral. This resort offers free parking during the cruise and a complementary shuttle to and from the port. We found the port transfers to be on time and very efficient.
We also liked our room at the Radisson – a good sized king suite. Anne and I 
had our own king bed and Jacuzzi tub in a room separate from the living room area. The boys slept on a sleeper sofa couch in the living room and had their own tv.
I found the resort’s free internet access to be excellent – I connected a cable to my laptop and found the speeds just as fast as my high speed connection back home.
A small breakfast buffet was included in the room package we purchased. I liked the made to order omelet and waffle station.
Anne says:
This Resort is an excellent pre or post cruise option. There were several restaurants within walking distance. This was very convenient and we didn’t have to drive around town looking for a place to eat.”
Josh says:
“Our pre-cruise hotel was really good and better than I expected it to be. I liked the food at the breakfast buffet and the pool was big. The only thing I didn’t like was that the fold-out bed wasn’t very comfortable. The best thing about the 2 days in Port Canaveral was the mini-golf. Both of the courses we played were fun and had a lot of decorations.”
Summary
Can a family with two teens enjoy the Disney Cruise? Based on our experience we say yes! Andrew and Josh enjoyed different features this time compared to when they first cruised with Disney at age 6. This was the first time they tried snorkeling and bike riding at Castaway Cay, for example. Anne and I once again appreciated the special touches Disney provides for adults (such as dining at Palo).
Josh says:
“My favorite part of our vacation was the cruise. I liked the food, it wasn’t too short or too long, and there were a lot of fun activities that I did on it.”
Andrew says:
“Going to Castaway Cay was the best part of this vacation!”
We’ve taken 6 Disney cruises and have booked hundreds of families on this wonderful vacation since 2002. We’ll help you pick a stateroom, give shore excursion suggestions, and share with you our tips when you book your next Disney cruise with us!