Wonder. Thoughts, Observations, a report.

[CanHardlyWait]

OK, so if you were following. The dog is home and is now eating again. This did kill St Thomas. I was taking videos of us docking when the call came about him being taken to the vet. Spent Megan's Bay day in cabin on phone. Then that night as things settled down we went to chops and were planning St Maarten for next day. Cold, chills, and fever set in. Never mind, pushing forward. Well next morning came and went. Didn't feel well enough to get up till 1pm. So while we did PDCC and loved it. Spent entire day. The other ports and beaches are on the list for Icon next May. (Again, still have to pay it off!)

So I won't do a day by day. But hit some points.

Windjammer:

Based on all reviews I was expecting the worst here. This was not the case at all. In my official review with Royal Caribbean almost everything received a 5 out of 10. From me that's high praise. Windjammer got a 7 or 8. I really thought it was very good. A few exceptions. Raw chicken once. Zero excuse for food poisoning. Meatballs that you could chip a tooth on. Really don't know how you can turn ground beef into a weapon, but they did. And a carving station that 2 out of 7 days had nothing to carve. Potatoes, veg, brown gravy, and no meat. I asked, they weren't waiting for more to be brought out. They just had none those days. Looked ridiculous. But gravey on burger with potatoes and veg is OK with me. 

MDR:

The food on the plates is so small it's crazy. 2 bites and your done. Nobody asked if we wanted more and we weren't going to ask. It was good, it was warm, it just was barely there. It was doll house food. My only ongoing complaint was fatty beef. The head waiter spent so much time with his "head up there", it was all I could do to keep from asking him to check for cancer while he was there. I'm not big on that sort of thing. Say hello and walk away. If you ask me how it's going 6 times in one hour, you have asked too much. By weeks end he got the message. His invite to galley tour for free was a nice touch. Again, fighting "colds" was problem. I was half dressed and told to give up. Coughing etc. Not sure if they would have let me in. Not sure it would have been right thing to do with germs anyway. I grew up in a restaurant kitchen and went to culinary school at 20 so nothing would have been new to me. But it was a freebie and I think the head waiter and I finally got each other so was sad I wasn't up for it.

Shows:

Despite starting to get sick mid week. We went to every show. Multiple per night. Also swam in solarium everyday and got sun. Just was hard to get day started. The shows were really very good. Voices is the only show we missed. I was actually surprised how much I like the tap show. It was funny. DH is obsessed with The Effectors. He has watched on YouTube twice since we got home. I could watch the gymnast in the tap show all day. LOL. But shows were fantastic. Water show was the best hands down. I'm never getting the black soot out of my clothes, but was a fantastic show.  Anyone else notice how multiple shows use the music of Edith Piaf??? Non je ne regrette rien was used in multiple shows.

Solarium:

Solarium was nice. A little to hot. The pool is ridiculously small. And don't anyone bring up the Chinese. They don't swim? Everyone thought it was a hot tub and asked before getting in. Never found it impossible to get a chair. They will remove stuff laid out early in the morning, so don't even try it. Also, it's just not necessary.

Speciality Restaurants:

This was my biggest surprise and disappointment. Yes, the beef in chops was good. Other then that, nothing special about specialty. Mason Jar was OK. The brisket was nothing but fat. 3 bites and all I could find was fat. Nothing special. And Giovannis Italian was the worst. We both had high hopes and we shocked. The apps were OK and that's being kind. The pasta was, had to have been,tasted like, it was from a can. It was that bad. I'm 100% convinced it was can spaghetti. I don't think you can fake that. Pasta in Windjammer was 100x better. This was big surprise and major disappointment. The Windjammer beat out speciality dining hands down. The beef in chops being the exception. But I would not eat at Giovannis again for free. I joked after each course about what crime against humanity was coming out next. LOL. Now I spent the first 40 yrs of my life in NYC, Brooklyn, Hoboken, Jersey City, etc. So my Italian food expectations are high. But even still crap is crap. LOL.

Despite getting sick half way (still am) we had a really good time. Shows were great. Ship was good. Could have been cleaner. Public restrooms went hours without being touched. MDR food was crazy small but OK. Windjammer was huge surprise. Speciality dining a massive letdown and something I wouldn't do again. Maybe chops just for the beef. El Loco fresh OK. Pizza kinda bad. But enough food that specialty dining is so unnecessary. Do it for the experience, not the food. Nothing "special" about it. Did the zip line before I started getting sick. It was a blast. Wanted to do the slide, but never had the chance. Avoided the boardwalk area after 2 sets of clothes had black spots all over them. Have to pack some $5 t-shirts to go back there. Have about $100 worth of clothes that may be garbage now. Gonna Oxi and pray.

But a good time was had. Lessons learned for next year. Internet for wifi calling a must. Speciality dining, I'll save my money. Cheap crap t-shirts buy many. Crew is VERY happy with cash tips. Had all kinds $1,$5,$10,$20. Yet kept giving out $20. LOL. They seemed most pleased. Gave cabin attendant $20 per day. We said morning service but he worked around whenever we left room. 

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I got so far. It was a good time despite dog being sick, then us getting sick. Shows we're great, food is livable. But a good enough time to keep paying off Icon for next May. 

[CanHardlyWait]

Oh, and the straw that broke the camels back. Roomservice. (Remember that) LOL.

3 attempts.

First 2 times called and stayed on hold 57 and 58 min and gave up. This was bet 11pm and midnight.

3rd time was 12 noon. Food showed up at 324pm. We told him to take it away. Went to guest services and got refund. 

Can't speak to limits on orders, but can say they make it as hard as humanly possible to order anything. 

So I still don't know what and if they limit orders. Too much work to find out. LOL.

[CanHardlyWait]

The staw was reference to past. Again, a very good time was had.

[OCSC Mike]

Thanks for following up and glad the dog is doing OK. Will be boarding Wonder on Sunday.

Nice to hear a positive WJ review. I've always found the MDR portions way too small.

[tingtang]

What was wrong with the dog?   

[CanHardlyWait]

42 minutes ago, tingtang said:

What was wrong with the dog?   

He develops bad bacteria in his stomach. This causes the runs. He has to be put on pro biotic's.

Unfortunately at the same time he went on a hunger strike. 

Even after pro biotic kicked in he wouldn't east or drink. He is only 9lbs to begin with, so this becomes a problem fast. He lost 2lbs.

We got him and he started eating and drinking like crazy. 

Next time he will be on pro biotic in advance. As for eating and drinking we can't make him. He's about to turn 3 end of August. Next May will probably be last cruise. As he gets older we will have to find land trips and take him with us. I won't do the non eating when he gets too old. 

But pro biotics really work wonders for bad stomachs in dogs. Many times caused by build up of bad bacteria. Can clear things up in 24 to 48 hours max. 

 

[CanHardlyWait]

Another thought.

Windjammer:

The wash your hands guy in the evenings. He plays a ukulele and sings wash your hands to his own beat. He has a great voice and is fantastic. Last night they held up a mic and he sang 2 songs. He is worth the trip. They need to give him a spot in a bar to sing proper. 

[CanHardlyWait]

Another thought:

We had an inside GTY. The smallest with just a bed no sofa. Got upgraded to larger cabin with sofa. That was nice surprise. 

[Xaa]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it in spite of the sickness and doggie issues.

Don't be shy about asking for a second plate in MDR.  I generally start by asking for 2 apps and 2 entrees most nights.  The portions are small, but they are endless.

I never get Room Service.  Even in hotels, it always seems like a pain and takes too long.  Of course I'm not up at midnight when there are few options, but I would personally never expect much from Room Service anywhere.  Still, if they are going to offer it, 1 hour hold times and 3 hour fulfillment is just insane.

I'm really glad you pulled through.

[ScottD]

So happy to see that you, not only went, but seemed to enjoy it in the most part. I feel like if you didn't read all of the stuff you read and let it get to you before hand, you would have enjoyed it even more.  Thank you for the update, and glad the dog is good!  

[tonyfsu21]

14 hours ago, CanHardlyWait said:

OK, so if you were following. The dog is home and is now eating again. This did kill St Thomas. I was taking videos of us docking when the call came about him being taken to the vet. Spent Megan's Bay day in cabin on phone. Then that night as things settled down we went to chops and were planning St Maarten for next day. Cold, chills, and fever set in. Never mind, pushing forward. Well next morning came and went. Didn't feel well enough to get up till 1pm. So while we did PDCC and loved it. Spent entire day. The other ports and beaches are on the list for Icon next May. (Again, still have to pay it off!)

So I won't do a day by day. But hit some points.

Windjammer:

Based on all reviews I was expecting the worst here. This was not the case at all. In my official review with Royal Caribbean almost everything received a 5 out of 10. From me that's high praise. Windjammer got a 7 or 8. I really thought it was very good. A few exceptions. Raw chicken once. Zero excuse for food poisoning. Meatballs that you could chip a tooth on. Really don't know how you can turn ground beef into a weapon, but they did. And a carving station that 2 out of 7 days had nothing to carve. Potatoes, veg, brown gravy, and no meat. I asked, they weren't waiting for more to be brought out. They just had none those days. Looked ridiculous. But gravey on burger with potatoes and veg is OK with me. 

MDR:

The food on the plates is so small it's crazy. 2 bites and your done. Nobody asked if we wanted more and we weren't going to ask. It was good, it was warm, it just was barely there. It was doll house food. My only ongoing complaint was fatty beef. The head waiter spent so much time with his "head up there", it was all I could do to keep from asking him to check for cancer while he was there. I'm not big on that sort of thing. Say hello and walk away. If you ask me how it's going 6 times in one hour, you have asked too much. By weeks end he got the message. His invite to galley tour for free was a nice touch. Again, fighting "colds" was problem. I was half dressed and told to give up. Coughing etc. Not sure if they would have let me in. Not sure it would have been right thing to do with germs anyway. I grew up in a restaurant kitchen and went to culinary school at 20 so nothing would have been new to me. But it was a freebie and I think the head waiter and I finally got each other so was sad I wasn't up for it.

Shows:

Despite starting to get sick mid week. We went to every show. Multiple per night. Also swam in solarium everyday and got sun. Just was hard to get day started. The shows were really very good. Voices is the only show we missed. I was actually surprised how much I like the tap show. It was funny. DH is obsessed with The Effectors. He has watched on YouTube twice since we got home. I could watch the gymnast in the tap show all day. LOL. But shows were fantastic. Water show was the best hands down. I'm never getting the black soot out of my clothes, but was a fantastic show.  Anyone else notice how multiple shows use the music of Edith Piaf??? Non je ne regrette rien was used in multiple shows.

Solarium:

Solarium was nice. A little to hot. The pool is ridiculously small. And don't anyone bring up the Chinese. They don't swim? Everyone thought it was a hot tub and asked before getting in. Never found it impossible to get a chair. They will remove stuff laid out early in the morning, so don't even try it. Also, it's just not necessary.

Speciality Restaurants:

This was my biggest surprise and disappointment. Yes, the beef in chops was good. Other then that, nothing special about specialty. Mason Jar was OK. The brisket was nothing but fat. 3 bites and all I could find was fat. Nothing special. And Giovannis Italian was the worst. We both had high hopes and we shocked. The apps were OK and that's being kind. The pasta was, had to have been,tasted like, it was from a can. It was that bad. I'm 100% convinced it was can spaghetti. I don't think you can fake that. Pasta in Windjammer was 100x better. This was big surprise and major disappointment. The Windjammer beat out speciality dining hands down. The beef in chops being the exception. But I would not eat at Giovannis again for free. I joked after each course about what crime against humanity was coming out next. LOL. Now I spent the first 40 yrs of my life in NYC, Brooklyn, Hoboken, Jersey City, etc. So my Italian food expectations are high. But even still crap is crap. LOL.

Despite getting sick half way (still am) we had a really good time. Shows were great. Ship was good. Could have been cleaner. Public restrooms went hours without being touched. MDR food was crazy small but OK. Windjammer was huge surprise. Speciality dining a massive letdown and something I wouldn't do again. Maybe chops just for the beef. El Loco fresh OK. Pizza kinda bad. But enough food that specialty dining is so unnecessary. Do it for the experience, not the food. Nothing "special" about it. Did the zip line before I started getting sick. It was a blast. Wanted to do the slide, but never had the chance. Avoided the boardwalk area after 2 sets of clothes had black spots all over them. Have to pack some $5 t-shirts to go back there. Have about $100 worth of clothes that may be garbage now. Gonna Oxi and pray.

But a good time was had. Lessons learned for next year. Internet for wifi calling a must. Speciality dining, I'll save my money. Cheap crap t-shirts buy many. Crew is VERY happy with cash tips. Had all kinds $1,$5,$10,$20. Yet kept giving out $20. LOL. They seemed most pleased. Gave cabin attendant $20 per day. We said morning service but he worked around whenever we left room. 

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I got so far. It was a good time despite dog being sick, then us getting sick. Shows we're great, food is livable. But a good enough time to keep paying off Icon for next May. 

Obviously cruise ship food is not at a level playing field with land based restaurants. You can’t expect much. I find the speciality dining at least provides a decent portion size and the experience is worth the price. I didn’t think Giovanni’s was bad at all. Maybe it was just an off night? 

[CanHardlyWait]

Make no mistake. A very good time was had. Dog worries killed a day and we fought colds as best we could. But a great time was had.

[tonyfsu21]

14 minutes ago, CanHardlyWait said:

Make no mistake. A very good time was had. Dog worries killed a day and we fought colds as best we could. But a great time was had.

I agree re: MDR. The portions are way too small and the food quality has taken a turn for the worse. I no longer find it worthy of 1.5 hours of our time. The windjammer or speciality dining seems to be a better fit for my family. Interestingly enough, we stay in sky class and never really considered dealing with the coastal kitchen which might be decent. 

[Sweety]

Glad that your dog is eating and doing well. I worry about my babies each time I go on a cruise.

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

I agree re: MDR. The portions are way too small and the food quality has taken a turn for the worse. I no longer find it worthy of 1.5 hours of our time. The windjammer or speciality dining seems to be a better fit for my family. Interestingly enough, we stay in sky class and never really considered dealing with the coastal kitchen which might be decent. 

I already mentioned agreeing on the MDR portion size. That's one of the reasons my wife and I haven't liked it for a long time (well before any covid/menu changes). We've mostly been WJ people with a couple specialty dinners thrown in. So since we seem to have similar opinions...

Give CK a try. We were in our first ever GS last year on Harmony and enjoyed it (think we ate there 3-4 nights out of 7). The night one filet was excellent. Some nights weren't as good. It's not specialty dining but it was much better than the MDR in our opinion. We'll be in another GS Sunday on Wonder (courtesy of my in laws) and we're eating there every night (their preference but I'm not complaining).

I'll wind up heading off to have some extra snacks/meals elsewhere (sometimes my wife or niece will tag along just to see what the WJ has or whatever) but my wife's family is used to me eating more than anyone so it's fine.

They also like to have breakfast in CK every morning and that was good too. I get up early so I usually have something from Park Cafe or WJ with my morning cappuccino and then have my 2nd breakfast later with them.

[AandD]

20 hours ago, CanHardlyWait said:

OK, so if you were following. The dog is home and is now eating again. This did kill St Thomas. I was taking videos of us docking when the call came about him being taken to the vet. Spent Megan's Bay day in cabin on phone. Then that night as things settled down we went to chops and were planning St Maarten for next day. Cold, chills, and fever set in. Never mind, pushing forward. Well next morning came and went. Didn't feel well enough to get up till 1pm. So while we did PDCC and loved it. Spent entire day. The other ports and beaches are on the list for Icon next May. (Again, still have to pay it off!)

So I won't do a day by day. But hit some points.

Windjammer:

Based on all reviews I was expecting the worst here. This was not the case at all. In my official review with Royal Caribbean almost everything received a 5 out of 10. From me that's high praise. Windjammer got a 7 or 8. I really thought it was very good. A few exceptions. Raw chicken once. Zero excuse for food poisoning. Meatballs that you could chip a tooth on. Really don't know how you can turn ground beef into a weapon, but they did. And a carving station that 2 out of 7 days had nothing to carve. Potatoes, veg, brown gravy, and no meat. I asked, they weren't waiting for more to be brought out. They just had none those days. Looked ridiculous. But gravey on burger with potatoes and veg is OK with me. 

MDR:

The food on the plates is so small it's crazy. 2 bites and your done. Nobody asked if we wanted more and we weren't going to ask. It was good, it was warm, it just was barely there. It was doll house food. My only ongoing complaint was fatty beef. The head waiter spent so much time with his "head up there", it was all I could do to keep from asking him to check for cancer while he was there. I'm not big on that sort of thing. Say hello and walk away. If you ask me how it's going 6 times in one hour, you have asked too much. By weeks end he got the message. His invite to galley tour for free was a nice touch. Again, fighting "colds" was problem. I was half dressed and told to give up. Coughing etc. Not sure if they would have let me in. Not sure it would have been right thing to do with germs anyway. I grew up in a restaurant kitchen and went to culinary school at 20 so nothing would have been new to me. But it was a freebie and I think the head waiter and I finally got each other so was sad I wasn't up for it.

Shows:

Despite starting to get sick mid week. We went to every show. Multiple per night. Also swam in solarium everyday and got sun. Just was hard to get day started. The shows were really very good. Voices is the only show we missed. I was actually surprised how much I like the tap show. It was funny. DH is obsessed with The Effectors. He has watched on YouTube twice since we got home. I could watch the gymnast in the tap show all day. LOL. But shows were fantastic. Water show was the best hands down. I'm never getting the black soot out of my clothes, but was a fantastic show.  Anyone else notice how multiple shows use the music of Edith Piaf??? Non je ne regrette rien was used in multiple shows.

Solarium:

Solarium was nice. A little to hot. The pool is ridiculously small. And don't anyone bring up the Chinese. They don't swim? Everyone thought it was a hot tub and asked before getting in. Never found it impossible to get a chair. They will remove stuff laid out early in the morning, so don't even try it. Also, it's just not necessary.

Speciality Restaurants:

This was my biggest surprise and disappointment. Yes, the beef in chops was good. Other then that, nothing special about specialty. Mason Jar was OK. The brisket was nothing but fat. 3 bites and all I could find was fat. Nothing special. And Giovannis Italian was the worst. We both had high hopes and we shocked. The apps were OK and that's being kind. The pasta was, had to have been,tasted like, it was from a can. It was that bad. I'm 100% convinced it was can spaghetti. I don't think you can fake that. Pasta in Windjammer was 100x better. This was big surprise and major disappointment. The Windjammer beat out speciality dining hands down. The beef in chops being the exception. But I would not eat at Giovannis again for free. I joked after each course about what crime against humanity was coming out next. LOL. Now I spent the first 40 yrs of my life in NYC, Brooklyn, Hoboken, Jersey City, etc. So my Italian food expectations are high. But even still crap is crap. LOL.

Despite getting sick half way (still am) we had a really good time. Shows were great. Ship was good. Could have been cleaner. Public restrooms went hours without being touched. MDR food was crazy small but OK. Windjammer was huge surprise. Speciality dining a massive letdown and something I wouldn't do again. Maybe chops just for the beef. El Loco fresh OK. Pizza kinda bad. But enough food that specialty dining is so unnecessary. Do it for the experience, not the food. Nothing "special" about it. Did the zip line before I started getting sick. It was a blast. Wanted to do the slide, but never had the chance. Avoided the boardwalk area after 2 sets of clothes had black spots all over them. Have to pack some $5 t-shirts to go back there. Have about $100 worth of clothes that may be garbage now. Gonna Oxi and pray.

But a good time was had. Lessons learned for next year. Internet for wifi calling a must. Speciality dining, I'll save my money. Cheap crap t-shirts buy many. Crew is VERY happy with cash tips. Had all kinds $1,$5,$10,$20. Yet kept giving out $20. LOL. They seemed most pleased. Gave cabin attendant $20 per day. We said morning service but he worked around whenever we left room. 

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I got so far. It was a good time despite dog being sick, then us getting sick. Shows we're great, food is livable. But a good enough time to keep paying off Icon for next May. 

 "Crew is VERY happy with cash tips. Had all kinds $1,$5,$10,$20."  I started carrying a bunch of $1, $5 and $10 for tips. Works great starting at embarkation all the way thru the cruise.  We dont tip quite as much to our attendant, but I give him or her a tip the first day, halfway through and at the end. We are not high maintenance, but I think we get a little better service tipping the attendant before the end of the cruise.

[CanHardlyWait]

2 hours ago, AandD said:

 "Crew is VERY happy with cash tips. Had all kinds $1,$5,$10,$20."  I started carrying a bunch of $1, $5 and $10 for tips. Works great starting at embarkation all the way thru the cruise.  We dont tip quite as much to our attendant, but I give him or her a tip the first day, halfway through and at the end. We are not high maintenance, but I think we get a little better service tipping the attendant before the end of the cruise.

Tipping daily as you go sure gets you attention. LOL.

[bobroo]

I am happy to hear that you finally chose to tip the crew. Not tipping is really upsetting to us diehards.

 

[GatorCruiser]

Suite lounge on wonder is amazing 

[OCSC Mike]

23 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

Suite lounge on wonder is amazing 

Will be there in a few hours. Looked very nice on videos.

[ScottD]

18 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Will be there in a few hours. Looked very nice on videos.

Have fun! looking forward to your review

[Starrynight0154]

On 6/1/2023 at 7:48 PM, OCSC Mike said:

Thanks for following up and glad the dog is doing OK. Will be boarding Wonder on Sunday.

Nice to hear a positive WJ review. I've always found the MDR portions way too small.

Let us know how your cruise on Wonder is going. Love that ship, getting back on it in a few months. 

[OCSC Mike]

Going great after 20 hours.

I’ll have a review after. Pretty much bailed on any type of long live report on day one. Too busy between food, drink, and activities (plus extended family makes things hectic as I expected).

Just woke up in CocoCay. If today is a bit more relaxed (it should be) I may try a semi-live report but it would be brief without pictures.

[GatorCruiser]

9 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Going great after 20 hours.

I’ll have a review after. Pretty much bailed on any type of long live report on day one. Too busy between food, drink, and activities (plus extended family makes things hectic as I expected).

Just woke up in CocoCay. If today is a bit more relaxed (it should be) I may try a semi-live report but it would be brief without pictures.

Make sure you hit up the vue bar and of course the bar at mason jar 

[OCSC Mike]

15 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

Make sure you hit up the vue bar and of course the bar at mason jar 

Brunch at Mason Jar tomorrow & we may go there for the late night menu at the bar one night.

I’m not a whiskey/bourbon guy but some of the stuff looked good.