May 1 - 4, 2003

by Tim Larison, CLIA Master Cruise Counsellor (MCC)

In May 2003 my wife and I took a 3 night Disney cruise that I had won in a Disney travel agent sales contest. While thrilled to be taking my third Disney cruise, a few questions immediately popped into my head:

Would a 3 night cruise seem too short? I'm used to 7 night cruises!

How would the Disney Wonder compare to the Disney Magic? The latter ship I had cruised on twice before, but this would be my first time on the Disney Wonder.

We had already visited the two ports on this cruise (Nassau and Castaway Cay) - would we find new and exciting things to do on this cruise?

Below I will answer these questions, and give the highlights of our trip.  If you want a condensed version of this report, click on the picture link to the right.. I have included some recommendations (preceded by the words "TIP") throughout the report.

Wednesday, April 30th

We picked early May for our cruise because we had sailed at this time in 2000 and found the weather in the Bahamas to be wonderful - warm but before the intense heat of the summer, and before hurricane season.

Unlike our previous Disney cruises, we decided to fly in the night before and stay at the Orlando airport Hyatt Hotel. Our flight arrived at 9:15 pm. We quickly claimed our bags and were checked into our room at the Hyatt in no time. We were glad that the Hyatt was located in the main terminal building; we did not have to venture into the heavy rain outside to catch a shuttle to another hotel. The Hyatt's interior airport terminal location is a big advantage over the other airport hotels.

We found the Hyatt personnel well versed in the Disney Cruise Line. At checkin we received a letter telling us that DCL representatives would meet us in the lobby the next morning, and to have our bags tagged with our ship's stateroom number and outside our hotel room by 9:30 am in the morning.

Our room at the Hyatt was large and comfortable. Included in our room rate was a free continental breakfast at the hotel restaurant. TIP: Though the Hyatt is more pricey than many airport hotels, I recommend it as a great place to stay the night before your cruise. I am willing to pay a little more for convenience, and the Hyatt certainly is a hassle free place to stay the night before a Disney Cruise.

Thursday, May 1st 

We awoke to gloomy skies outside as the rain of the night before was still in the area. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel, and met the Disney Cruise line folks in the lobby at 9:45 am. Checkin for the cruise transportation was fast and easy. Soon we were escorted to a bus that would take us to Port Canaveral. We were on the road by 10:15 a.m. Our luggage had left by truck earlier - we would not see our bags again until we were in our stateroom on the Disney Wonder.

We arrived at the cruise terminal at 11 a.m. After going through security, we quickly checked in for the cruise. We had all our documents ready (cruise documents, birth certificates, photo id's) which sped the checkin process considerably. Even though there were approximately 50 people at the terminal when we arrived, we found ourselves second in line to board the ship after our rapid checkin!

We waited about an hour and 15 minutes before Disney allowed us on the ship. We were glad we among the first in line. We quickly went to the opening buffet at Parrot Cay. The "peel and eat" shrimp at the buffet was very tasty, as were a number of other entrees. TIP: One benefit of boarding the ship early is that you get to eat the opening buffet at Parrot Cay instead of at the ship's regular buffet on deck 9. We found the buffet at Parrot Cay to be better than our last Disney cruise when our late arrival forced us to eat at the deck 9 buffet instead. Disney will say it's the same buffet, but we noticed the quality at Parrot Cay to be better. 

Parrot Cay is the least popular of the three restaurants in the Disney Wonder's dining rotation (Tritons, Animator's Palette, Parrot Cay). We picked our night for Parrot Cay to eat at the adults only restaurant "Palo" instead. Eating the opening buffet at Parrot Cay still gave us a chance to see this tropically themed restaurant.

After finishing our yummy buffet lunch, we still had plenty of time to get in line for Palo reservations at the Wave Bands nightclub on deck 3 at 1:30 pm. We were the first in line for Palo reservations, and we got the exact time we wanted (7 pm the first night). TIP: If you choose to eat at Palo instead of Parrot Cay one night, you can quickly see what night you are scheduled for Parrot Cay by looking at your "Key To The World" card. Next to our table assignment on the card were the letters "PTA". This was our dining rotation - Parrot Cay (P), Triton (T), and Animators Palette (A). By learning your dining rotation by looking at your "Key To The World" card, it'll save you a trip to your stateroom and get you in line for those Palo reservations much quicker.

With Palo reservations secured, it was time to explore the ship! We noticed there was little difference between the layout of the Disney Wonder compared to the Disney Magic. The decor was different - generally the Wonder had lighter colors.

Next we checked into our category 8 stateroom - stateroom 5510 on deck 5. The stateroom was spacious, especially for two, and reminded me what Disney always says about its staterooms ("25% larger than most other cruise ship staterooms on average") The stateroom was much bigger than one we had on a Princess cruise in February. 

We liked the forward deck 5 location of our stateroom. We found we could easily go to the mid and aft part of the ship on deck 5. Though we did not have our kids with us on this cruise, the forward deck 5 location is very convenient to the kids clubs and nursery, without hearing the noise from those venues. We also liked the proximity to the movie theatre on deck 5. The Walt Disney Theatre for production shows was only a short staircase away on deck 4.

Rather than attend the sail away party on the top decks, we decided to watch the sail away from a much quieter location on deck 4. TIP: if you want to watch the ship sail away in quiet deck 4 is a great location. This deck has the most comfortable deck chairs on the ship and very few people on it at sail away time. A crew member walked by and said, "You've got the right idea. This is the best spot for sail away."

Soon it was time for our Palo dinner at 7 pm. The 3 night cruise does not have a formal night, so we decided this would be our "dress up" night. While Palo asks that men wear dinner jackets, I found I was one of the few to wear a tie. There were also a few men (about 20%) who did not have dinner jackets.

Palo is one of our favorite restaurants on the Disney Cruise and it did not disappoint tonight. This time there seemed to be more food than on our previous visits (including an antipasto plate and pizza that our waiter said were recent additions). The shrimp appetizer we had was the best appetizer on the whole cruise. The main entree, Filet Mignon, was tasty but not as tender as I have had other places. I wished I had ordered an Italian dish instead. Despite being somewhat disappointed with the main course, the food at Palo was the best we had for the entire cruise.

Our dinner reservation at Palo was at a earlier time than on our past Disney cruises, so it allowed us to see some wonderful daylight views. The sight of the sun setting over the ocean viewed from the restaurant was one of the most memorable moments on this cruise for us.

Dinner at Palo lasted almost 2 hours, so we missed the opening variety show in the Walt Disney Theatre. Instead we saw the Academy Award winning film "Chicago" in the movie theatre on deck 5 at 10:30 pm. TIP: Even if you aren't much of a movie buff, do try to catch one movie on the ship. The theatre is intimate and a great place to watch a film. There isn't a bad seat in the house. We were on the last row in the back, and still could see the large screen easily. Arrive at least 15 minutes early as the seats fill fast 5 to 10 minutes before show time.

We exited the movie at 12:30 am, and returned to our stateroom for the night, anxious for the adventures at Nassau that awaited us the next day.

Friday, May 2nd

We awoke as we were pulling into port at Nassau. The night's journey was a smooth one - we could hardly tell we were on a cruise ship as we felt no rocking of the ship. The rain and clouds we saw in Orlando were not present at Nassau - we were to have a beautiful sunny day here.

The last time we visited Nassau in 2000 we stayed on the ship and skipped the shore excursions. I still recommend this as a possible option for first time Disney cruisers taking the 3 night cruise. It gives you more time to explore the ship and use the pools in less crowded conditions.

This time we really wanted to do a Nassau shore excursion, so we picked the "Discover Atlantis" tour. We scheduled our tour for 1 pm, which gave us time in the morning to have a wonderful leisurely breakfast at Tritons, and to catch a morning movie ("Holes") at the movie theatre on deck 5. TIP: If you take the "Discover Atlantis" tour sign up for the one at 1 pm instead of 11 am. The ship doesn't leave port until 10:30 pm on Nassau day, so you'll have plenty of time on the island, and the later tour allows you to eat breakfast and lunch on the ship (saving the cost of a lunch on Nassau).

After our morning movie we had a quick lunch at Scoops on deck 9. TIP: A new addition to the free food offered on deck 9 are "wrap" sandwiches at Scoops. I had a chicken wrap sandwich which was very good. The also had a seafood wrap and a vegetable wrap sandwich. The wrap sandwiches are a nice alternative if you don't feel like the traditional fast food fare also offered on deck 9 (hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.)

The Discover Atlantis tour featured a short harbor cruise followed by an escorted tour through the Atlantis resort. The highlight of the tour was the big aquarium we saw at Atlantis. It had a wide variety of sea life for display (sharks, eels, unusual fish, etc). It was one of the best aquariums I have seen. The Atlantis resort also had a large casino and some beautiful pools. On this day we skipped the casino and admired the other parts of the resort - perhaps this is a place we will want to stay on a future visit. TIP: In the shore tour descriptions Disney tells you the Discover Atlantis tour requires much walking. They are not kidding! If you have problems walking long distances this is not the tour for you. I noticed some of the kids on the tour were tiring at the end. I personally liked all the walking - the exercise helped offset all the food I was eating onboard the ship!

Our Atlantis tour took the entire afternoon. We decided not to stay and explore Atlantis on our own (the last ferry returns at 5:30 pm though you can stay later and take your own water taxi back to the cruise terminal).

We were back on the Disney Wonder in time to see the Hercules show at 6:30 pm in the Walt Disney Theatre. This is my favorite of the Disney production shows onboard - a light hearted telling of the Hercules story with good music and some good laughs.

At 8:30 pm we went to Tritons for our dinner seating. Tritons is a beautiful restaurant - I liked the decor even better than Lumiere's on the Disney Magic. The restaurant had light colors and a beautiful large mural of Arial, King Triton, and other characters of the Little Mermaid animated film on one interior wall.

We were seated at a table for six. Our dining companions were a young couple from California and a single father from Florida traveling with his 12 year old daughter. We soon discovered the young couple had won their cruise by going all the way in the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" game at Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim. It was interesting to hear their story on how they won the prize. The husband said his final question was  "Where was the first synagogue built in the U.S.?" He correctly answered Rhode Island (I would not have known that). He said he didn't know an earlier question - "What network did Walter Cronkite appear on?" Good thing this youngster had a "ask the audience" lifeline for that one as the older members of the audience helped him get the right answer ("CBS"). The couple told us they were the ninth winners in the Millionaire game to win a free cruise, and that there had been 39 total winners of the grand prize since the Millionaire game was started in the Disney theme parks (in the early years the grand prize winners got a free trip to NY to see the taping of the network Millionaire show). Disney paid for their whole trip - airfare, transfers, cruise, and tips.

We found that Disney was not getting much money from our table on this cruise. In addition to the Millionaire winners, I had won my cruise in my agency's sales contest, and the father and daughter had paid for their cruise on a greatly reduced Florida Residents special.

The food at Tritons was good. My wife's beef tenderloin was the best entree we had on the cruise. The ravioli I ordered was nothing special, but the appetizers and desserts were very good. TIP: Order the beef tenderloin at Tritons if you want the best entree.

After dinner I was hoping we could see a standup comedy act in one of the ship's nightclubs. I discovered that there are no comedy acts on the 3 night cruise (other than a short act in the opening variety show). We had enjoyed the comedy on our Disney 7 night cruise in November so this was one feature we missed on this shorter cruise. We were going to attend the dueling pianos show, instead, but after our long day at Nassau we decided to retire at 11 pm to rest up for our Castaway Cay day on Saturday.

Saturday, May 3rd

Castaway Cay day - the highlight of any Disney cruise! We arrived at the island at 8 am to beautiful weather. In our three visits to Castaway Cay on three different Disney Cruises we have been lucky to find great weather each time. 

We ate a quick breakfast at Tritons (again excellent) and we were one of the first ones off the ship at 8:30 am. We took the tram to the adult beach and got one of the prime beach locations. We spent the morning relaxing on the beach. My wife enjoyed snorkeling - she rented a float for $6 on this trip which she said made it much easier to snorkel. She reported seeing all kinds of fish including a small octopus.

We had lunch at the adult barbeque at 11:30 am. The grilled chicken  sandwich was excellent here. TIP: if you are without kids the adult barbeque is less crowded and I think has better food than Cookies barbeque by the family beach. 

In the afternoon we spent more time relaxing on the beach, playing ping pong and basketball at the recreation pavilion, and taking walks around the island. We did not do the parasailing on this trip, but heard from others that this was their favorite shore excursion. Disney had more than one parasailing boat this time which helped handle the crowds for this popular activity.

The only problem with our day at Castaway Cay was that it was too short. We returned to the ship at 4 pm, saying goodbye to this tropical paradise, and hoping that we would return soon on another Disney cruise.

In the early evening we spent some time on the comfy deck chairs on deck 4 as we sailed away from Castaway Cay. The 3 night cruise doesn't have a "at sea" day, so this gave us a chance to relax on deck 4 while gazing out over the ocean (something we enjoyed doing on our 7 night Disney cruise in November on the "at sea" days).

This evening we ate dinner at Animator's Palette. The food here was only average, with the exception of the wonderful cheesecake we had for dessert. Animator's Palette, while not having the best food, is always a very colorful restaurant to eat at.

After dinner we packed our bags and had them outside our stateroom by 11 pm. Our three night cruise was coming to an end, so we went to bed at 11:30 pm in preparation for our long day of travel on Sunday.

Sunday, May 4th

We ate a quick breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet on deck 9 this morning, The early dinner seating people had breakfast at 6:45 am, while we were scheduled to have breakfast at 8 am. Instead we had breakfast at the buffet at 7:45 am and left the ship about 8:30 am. This worked out very well - as we missed the crowds leaving the ship from the early seating earlier yet we exited the ship before most of the late seating guests.

Our flight departing Orlando was on US Air. TIP: When scheduling your return flight consider using an airline that has portside checkin at the Disney cruise terminal. We found the US Air portside checkin to be very convenient. We were able to check our bags for our flight and get our airline boarding  passes right at the cruise terminal. When we arrived at Orlando airport by  bus one hour later we walked past all the long lines at the checkin counters. I saw that US Air, Continental, and Northwest had this cruise terminal checkin service (they may be others - check with Disney to make sure. United did not have portside checkin)

Summary

We really enjoyed our 3 night cruise. Yes, it was shorter than our 7 night cruises in the past, but it seemed longer than we expected. I think having an attitude that this was to be a fun weekend getaway helped, rather than expecting a long vacation. It also helped that we were one of the first on the ship on embarkation day - this gave us some extra hours to explore the ship and get the Palo reservations we wanted.

In comparing the Disney Wonder to the Disney Magic, I thought the two ships were very similar. I liked the decor of the Wonder better - the colors are lighter and the ship had a more open feel to it. The Magic gets my vote for the better food and better entertainment options, though the entertainment offered on the Wonder was still good. Both the Wonder and Magic visit Castaway Cay (weather permitting) which is the highlight of any Disney Cruise in my opinion.

I think the 3 night or 4 night cruise is a good one for first time cruisers who aren't quite sure if they will like the cruise experience. Most likely they will have such a good time they will want to take the longer 7 night cruise the next time. The Disney 3 or 4 night cruise is definitely better than what is offered on other cruise lines. On Disney you will be on a beautiful ship built in the last few years (the Disney Wonder) while other lines tend to use older ships for their short cruises. 

Tim Larison