This guest trip report was written by Cynthia, who sailed on the October 18, 2021 sailing on the Disney Wonder from San Diego. It was a 4 night cruise that stopped in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. You can start the report from the beginning here.
Day 4: At Sea and Final Thoughts
Today, a day at sea, is the final day of our cruise. We started our day with a quick breakfast at Cabanas and then headed out to check out some of the spaces that we had not visited before. First stop was the Marvel Super Hero Academy. Thor and Spiderman were there to say hello to all.
Next we headed to the Atrium and found Tiana, Rapunzel, Ariel, Belle, and Moana.
We spent the rest of the morning walking around the ship trying to do all the last minute activities, shopping and enjoying our favorite spots on the Wonder. I loved Deck 4 and found that this area was always very quiet. Needless to say, I enjoyed spending time relaxing and taking in the ocean air.
Because of the reduced capacity on this cruise, we never ran into any crowds on the pool deck or any other areas of the ship. Here is a picture of the pool deck on a “busy” day.
The biggest change we found on board was the Cabanas experience. Basically, only half of the Cabanas space was utilized. The space that was used was divided in half with each area having the same offerings. Between the two buffet areas was a shared space for the cold meats, cheeses, pastries, and yogurts. Depending on the meal, there was also a cold cereal and fruit station or salad bar. It appeared to me that the normal Cabanas selection was reduced by about 50% with only the most popular dishes available. I found that there were enough choices each day, but not the variety that I was used to seeing. The service however was great. The wait staff was quick to seat you and get you whatever you needed. There was no need to go to the drink station and request a drink because the wait staff was glad to make the drink run for you.
One of the other little changes you will see on board as a result of new Covid protocols is the new touch pads in the elevators.
Throughout the cruise, the cast members were constantly cleaning the elevator touch pads. We always felt that the ship was very clean and we greatly appreciated the efforts of the cast members.
We decided to spend part of the afternoon in the Buena Vista Theater watching Jungle Cruise. Social distancing in the theater was required. When you arrived at the theater, a cast member directed you to available seats. Guests were seated in every other row with several empty seats between parties.
Basically the theater was limited to about half capacity. The showing we attended was filled to the allowed capacity.
After the movie was over we headed back to our cabin to pack so we could leave our luggage outside our cabin door before heading to Palo for dinner. First order of business was removing the magnets from our door. We love our magnets from all our previous cruises!
After packing, we changed our clothes and headed to Palo just in time to admire the sunset. It was the best sunset of the cruise.
We finally made our way to Palo. I love the Palo decor. It is always so relaxing and quiet. It was especially quiet on this cruise. The service and food were as wonderful as ever.
The dinner menu at Palo changed and I was interested to see if the new concept impacted the overall experience. Previously, Palo dinner was a set price and you could order anything on the menu. Now there are two options. You can select the pre-fixe dinner at a cost of $45 per person. If you choose this option, you select an appetizer, salad, entree and dessert from a list of pre-selected options. For each course, there are two options to choose from. The other option is to order a la carte.
Here is the actual menu from our Palo dinner.
My husband and I both decided to order a la carte as we felt the fixed menu options were quite limited and not our favorites. For starters, we ordered the heirloom tomato salad and the prosciutto di parma pizza. Both were fresh and amazing. Our main entrees were the pan seared salmon and the osso bucco. We loved both. My husband also ordered a side of pan roasted wild mushrooms. He said they were very good. For dessert we shared the chocolate souffle.
We were lucky to have Ritesh as our server for the night just as we had at brunch. He was great and I would highly recommend requesting him as a server if you dine at Palo on the Wonder.
As for cost, without the tip, we spent about the same amount by ordering a la carte as we would have if we ordered the pre-fixe dinner. However, by ordering from the a la carte menu, we had the exact meal we wanted. Overall, we enjoyed our Palo dinner, but Palo brunch is still our favorite Palo dining experience.
After dinner, we headed back to our cabin. On our way, we admired the bright moon over the ocean.
When I got back to the cabin, I had a gift waiting for me – our room attendant left me a magnet as a birthday gift. What a great gesture!
Speaking of gestures and wonderful crew members, I really enjoyed spending time talking to crew members about their experiences during the Covid shutdown and how they felt returning to cruise life. All said the same thing – they were thrilled to be back on board. Throughout the cruise the crew members were available for anything we needed and wanted to do whatever was necessary to make our cruise magical. Thank you to the entire crew including the officers, counselors, entertainment staff, characters, housekeepers, lifeguards, and wait staff for a wonderful time.
As we disembarked the ship early the next morning so we could get on the road ahead of the Friday traffic, there is not much to share about disembarkation other than to say that the process was organized and quick!
We had a fabulous time on our cruise and we were thrilled to be back aboard a Disney cruise ship. We are anxiously anticipating our upcoming cruises on the Dream, Wish and Magic. Until the next guest blog, happy sailing!
I have a message for a manager who works for Disney Cruise Lines Vacations.
If you would give me a current address I will send it in the mail.