This review was written by good friends and experienced cruisers. It is posted with additional comment.
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Sorry this has taken so long but I have no excuses. Feel free to
use as you see fit.
Disney Wonder Pacific Coastal Cruise 5 Nights- San Diego to
Vancouver BC with a stop in San Francisco
Airline - Alaska is one of the best. Good planes and always
on time. Baggage was available by the time we reached the claim
area.
Transportation to hotel. We took a cab that cost $17
Hotel - Stayed at the Residence Inn Bayside. Great location
across the street from the cruise terminal. Hotel is unique in that it
shares a lobby, eating area and elevators with a sister property, the Spring
Hill Suites. Highly recommend this hotel. It was great and everything
worked just fine.
Embarkation - Disney had made a big deal about only showing up at
our assigned time. So we did only to be put in a long line with Celebrity
Infinity passengers who all happened to be there early. The line was
horrific. The port staff was trying to be nice by telling us just to
enjoy all of our fellow passengers.It was a nice day but the line moved
painfully slow. After getting inside the gate, we had to proceed to the
ship to drop off our luggage and then get back in another long line that ran
the entire length of the port building. Once you got inside there was a
completely packed queing line that eventually led to Security. And yes we are
still commingled with our friends from Celebrity After getting through
security, we were led to an almost empty bank of Disney check in lines.
This took 2 minutes and we were ready for our picture. Very organized and
quick. A minute later we were on the ship and heading for our cabin.
Not so fast. The cabins were blocked off--Not ready. The
whole process was not the way you want to start a cruise.
The Disney Wonder- Good ship. They did have a major water
leak that caused a lot of pipe banging one day.
Cabin - We had an aft balcony cabin. Two small bathrooms.
One with a shower and sink and the other with the commode and sink. We
grew to like this arrangement.
Passengers - Surprising number of kids on board in the middle of
May. Happy group of travelers.
Dining - Another new plan for us. We stayed at table 25 with
our same table mates and waiters but rotated to 3 separate dining rooms.
We had the second seating at 815 which is too late for us, but we
survived. Food and service were excellent.
Buffet - Always crowded all day long. Good choices.
Photos - Best system we have seen on cruise ships. Lots of
photographers always around. They were especially helpful and
accommodating as we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. System is all
digital and you don't have to stand in long rows of printed pictures.
Disney uses face recognition technology. So you go to their photo
computer and put in your cabin card and just like magic there are all your
pictures. The system isn't perfect but when the pictures weren't of
us we just hit a button and they disappeared. There is an option of
getting your pictures on a flash drive or prints. We bought the 10
picture flash drive for $150. Disney isn't pushy on the photos. The
staff was always willing to help take pictures with our camera.
Internet Service. Another first for us. The cost was
by the Mb not by the minute as we were used to. They gave us the first 50
Mb free but we found out we went through that in very few minutes. Not
sure what caused the high use rate. The next 100 Mb were $19 so we didn't use
our phones much at all. Lots of cruisers were confused by the billing system.
Entertainment - Exceeded our expectations and they were already
high. The production shows were the best we have seen. And the shows on
the outdoor decks were fantastic. How about really good fireworks too !!!
Meet the Disney Characters - All day long the Disney
Characters are available to meet and greet. Not each one is there all day but
if you had time at 11 you could count one one or two being available Most
of the time the lines were reasonable and they didn't make you hurry.
It was a pleasant experience. There is a set place and time for each
Disney really handled this well.
Movies - First run Disney movies were available along with all the
classics.
Shopping - High priced Disney merchandise along with the usual
high end classics.
Disembarkation - The best ever. Again a unique system.
You go to your last dining room and table and have a nice breakfast.
About the time we finished , our character and color was called and we
proceeded directly to the gangway. We were off the ship in record time.
There were plenty of baggage helpers and we found our bags in a minute.
Next was Canadian customs which took another 30 second with NO lines.
We estimated that it took us 10 minutes from the time we left the dining
room until we were through customs. We rented a car at National which was
right in the terminal and 3 hours later we were home in Issaquah
Value - We loved the cruise but it was very expensive. It was
really fun and we have fond memories but we have them on more reasonably priced
cruises We recommend Disney Cruises if you have the money.
Ned and Carolyn
