Hi everyone! For those that don’t know me, my name is Patty Uram. Last month my family and I had the pleasure of returning to sailing aboard the Disney Wonder out of New Orleans. You may ask, how was it… of course WONDERful!! Let me tell you a little more about it!
Our family are veteran Disney cruisers, and this marked cruise #5 with DCL. We are a family of 4- myself, my husband Eric and kids Charlotte (9.5) and Leo (7). Our first cruise with DCL was back in 2016 when Leo was just 1.5 years old.
This was a new ship to our family, the recently facelifted Disney Wonder. (We have sailed on the Dream and Magic previously). We sailed 6 nights out of New Orleans and stayed in a Family Verandah Stateroom. There were 2 ports of call, Costa Maya and Cozumel. The cruise was not crowded at all, in fact calculating it out to about 30% capacity for our sailing.
Based out of Michigan, we were ready to escape the winter, by choosing a February cruise and boy did we get out in the nick of time!
This cruise was a little different than in the past due to COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines, and that didn’t slow us down.
Items to consider and complete prior to onboard:
- All passengers over 5 years old need to be fully vaccinated
- The Check In Process is done entirely online 30 days prior to your sailing
- Activities such as the Youth Activities, Port Adventures and Onboard Adventures are available to pre-book when check in is complete.
- Safe Passage opens up 15 days prior to sailing, allows you to upload your vaccination card and declare/upload information if you had COVID in the past 90 days. Two of the four of us were cleared to sail because we fell into the 90 days, my husband and son were tested at the port.
New Orleans- arriving to the Port:
In New Orleans we stayed at the Hilton- St. Charles, one of the preferred hotels from Disney Cruise Lines. The Hotel was beautiful! It was just a 10 min ride to the French Quarter and walk to morning beignets. The morning of departure there was a cruise line rep in the lobby of the hotel assisting with questions and confirming transportation to the port if purchased with DCL.
Important to note, Port arrival times are very strict and you will be turned away until your port time. Our port time was 12:15pm and arrived right on time with no issues! Mask on and stay on for any inside activities, and character visits for the next 6 days.
When we arrived at the port, luggage was taken by the porter, then we stood in line to enter the COVID testing area. A room of excited and nervous guests filled the room along with many testing tents. Each person completed their own rapid test with the help of a staff member.
After testing, we anxiously awaited the results of the COVID tests for Eric and Leo while waiting to go through Security. As passengers’ tests came through on email there were waves of cheers, and we were right there with them! There were a few families we did see turned away which was devastating to be so close to sailing. My recommendation is to take COVID tests leading up to your cruise before getting to the port.
Once through security, there is another queue to verify passports and vax cards. I was asked for the check in QR code and that acted as our Key to the World card until we made it to our room.
First stop was to the lounge for all passengers to make sure the DCL Navigator App was properly set up. This contained all reservations previously made, as well as a schedule of events and dining locations each night!
Once set up we were off to find your muster location and check in via app. That was different than the traditional everyone line up on the deck at once, and much preferred! Kids thought of it as the first adventure of the trip, a scavenger hunt to find it.
Next stop was our room, to drop off our carry-ons. Waiting on the fishhook next to our door, our keys in an envelope! Lunch at Cabanas (buffet) was a must! The buffet was revamped, and it is all glassed in so it was no longer self-serve. The drink area was the same way. I really liked this change, it moved people along and one of the many safety precautions we had seen onboard.
The afternoon consisted of exploring the ship- we saw all the lounges, kids clubs, spa, waved to a character or two, then off to the pool! The pool deck had its own safety precautions in place, there was a queue if the pool was at capacity, and the family hot tubs were limited to one family at a time for 15 min. Because of the reduced capacity, we did not wait long for chairs, pools, hot tubs or the waterslide at any point in the week.
Disney Dining did not disappoint either! Disney has many dining options throughout the day, but when it comes to dinner there are 3 main dining rooms where guests rotate dining each night, adults only, Palo (reservations needed) and Cabanas. Because we were on a 6 night cruise, we rotated through the dining rooms twice. 4 courses every night and if you chose to do lunch in the main dining rooms, 4 courses also. You are never far from food or the complimentary soft drinks, coffee, tea and hot chocolate! To help with social distancing, dining times were staggered seating for both main and second dining as well as empty tables in between.
- Tiana’s Place- Transforms guests back to New Orleans. This was our first dining rotation- night one was a meet and greet with Tiana and Louis the Alligator. The second night on day 4, was a Mardi Gras Celebration. Highly encouraged if you have Mardi Gras gear to bring it!
- Triton’s- Features all your under the sea friends in a beautiful mosaic in the dining room. The first dinner there was a Princess Promenade through the dining room. On the second dining at Triton’s, Mickey and Friends joined us for a magical celebration.
- Animator’s Palate- Enjoy as you watch Disney scenes come to life before your eyes! The first dinner had a guest appearance by Mickey in his Fantasia gear. The second dinner we were all asked to come up with our own drawing. Magically, towards the end of dinner, our drawings were brought to life! This was a new dining experience for us and WOW that was amazing!
Around the ship there is so much to do. Throughout the week I think we tried everything! Again social distancing at its best. Hand sanitizers everywhere with attendants, every other row blocked off in the theaters and distance between families.
- Catching up on favorite Disney movies on the Funnel Vision at the main pool
- Meeting characters all around the ship
- Kids went to the kids clubs many times thru the cruise where they have different activities, games and special meet and greets.
- Played Disney Trivia
- Played BINGO
- Sang at Family Karaoke every night
- Dressed like Pirates on Pirate Night
- Watched Fireworks at Sea on the pool deck, yes Disney is the only ship with Fireworks!
- Took a Mixology Class
- Attended a Champagne Tasting
- Had a couple spa mornings in the Couple’s Villa- included a 75 min massage, private verandah with hot tub and day bed! Sweet ending of fruit, chocolate covered strawberries and tea.
- Channeled our inner Artist at Animator class
- Did craft projects
- Watch three well-orchestrated Broadway worthy shows- The Golden Mickey’s, Frozen and Dreams
- Adulting in the adult only section of the ship- our favorite hangout, The Cadillac Lounge listening to the talented Wil Pearson
- Stops at Costa Maya (Exploring the marketplace) and Cozumel (Swimming with Dolphins)
I can say the Uram family did not let me leave the ship without putting down a placeholder for a future cruise! (Did you know that a placeholder saves you 10% on your next sailing and good for 2 years from placing it?) I highly recommend that to my clients- its $250 per stateroom (you can reserve up to 2 staterooms, this is something I always do) and it’s fully refundable if you do not use it in the 2 year period. Also, you let your agent know, and they handle it from there!
As always, on the last day we said goodbye to the wonderful crew and new friends we met along the way. It was a bittersweet day, but Disney Cruise Lines I can say we will see you again!
Patty is a Gold Castaway Club Member and would love to help you plan your Disney Cruise Line vacation. Reach out to Patty at patty@thewdwguru.com.