Disney Wish Cruise Review
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
The Disney Wish Cruise Ship is the newest and largest ship in the cruise line. The Wish is unmatched in its beauty. The food is amazing and evening shows are very enjoyable!
Check here for more reviews of our Disney experiences.
Disney Wish Cruise Ship
The first observation that I made when stepping onboard the new Wish cruise ship is how beautiful it is. The Grand Hall is the room that you first enter and it is magnificent!
Just the experience of being on the ship made our family feel awestruck. Stepping onto the Wish is a rare opportunity to experience Disney magic and luxury at this level.
Daily and evening entertainment makes a top notch vacation for our family! The Little Mermaid and Aladdin are the feature shows on the Wish. We cruised August 15 – 19th and the next group was the first to see Aladdin. Based on past cruises, I’m sure it’s a wonderful show!
A day at Castaway Cay is our favorite single vacation day of the year! Just hanging out on the perfectly manicured beach, playing in the sand, floating in the ocean or laying in the shade is hard to match.
My son always does the Castaway Cay 5K first thing in the morning. It’s not official yet in 2022, but hopefully it returns soon! Our other cruises have been during the winter months so the water has been cooler but this trip the water temperature was perfect!
The Food
There are 3 restaurants to enjoy in the evening with formal dinner seating and excellent food! They are Arendelle; A Frozen Dining Adventure, Worlds of Marvel and 1923.
Our favorite was dining in Arendelle. The show and singing are a lot of fun, especially with a daughter dressed like Elsa.
1923 is the year Walt Disney started the company and has fun drawings. It served our favorite food option – a filet mignon.
Worlds of Marvel is interactive with a recorded show on screens as well as a visit from characters at the end.
The buffets on the pool deck are also excellent and offer fantastic variety.
What Is There to Do on the Wish?
- Meet Characters like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck & Daisy Duck
- Meet Princesses like Belle, Cinderella, Tiana, Rapunzel and Moana.
- Sit by the pool and enjoy a Disney movie on the large screen called Funnel Vision while enjoying a drink of the day in the Caribbean sun.
- Pirate Night is a special themed event with a show on the pool deck and fireworks. The Wish has its own unique pirate show called Pirates Rockin Parlay Party. The restaurants all serve pirate themed food. Captain Hook, Smee and sometimes Jack Sparrow come around to meet guests.
- Cool off in one of several small pools of varying depths.
- Ride the Aqua Mouse water coaster or the Slide-A-Sauraus Rex yellow slide.
- Little kids can play in the Toy Story Splash zone.
- Sit in the adult infinity pool
- Do trivia, crafts, bingo, karaoke, learn to draw classes, and endless other scheduled activities in Luna and the other lounges
- Enjoy live singers in the bar, visit the piano bar, enjoy a themed drink at Hyper Space Lounge which is Star Wars themed
- Kids love non-stop activities in the kids clubs on the ship and during the day at Castaway Cay
- Relax at dinner where a head server and assistant server will be with you each night as you rotate through the restaurants together. The themed atmosphere and menus are always unique
- Go to Broadway quality shows in the evening in the main theater
- Watch only in theaters Disney movies in two smaller movie theaters
- Go to the Hero Zone for basketball, golf or Incredibles inflatables, but know that themes change daily
Disney Wish Deck Plans
The easiest way to find the deck plans on the ship is next to the elevators on every floor. We appreciate that the deck plans are the shape of the ship with key areas clearly marked.
Even if directions aren’t your strong suit the deck plans are very easy to follow.
If I’m not near elevators I just ask one of the 1,500 crew members for help and they are very willing to offer guidance.
We spent most of our time doing activities, shows and restaurants on decks 3, 4 & 5. Enjoying the pools, drinks and buffets on decks 11 & 12. Sleeping and cleaning up on deck 8 in our room 8010. We did go to deck 1 to get on and off the ship at Castaway Cay.
Dining Options
For breakfast and lunch we enjoy Marceline Market, a buffet or Mickey’s Festival of foods which is a small food court. These dining options are on the pool deck with soft serve ice cream and open soda fountains. There is common American pizza and BBQ, a taco bar, seafood selection and more elaborate international offerings. Disney Cruise line food is excellent!
Great attention to detail is obvious when you see the decorations in the ceilings. Look up as you walk for more intricate detail. I just love the entry way to the buffet, Marceline Market.
Disney Staterooms
The staterooms or guest rooms also have great attention to detail that adds extra beauty to the experience.
Our family typically purchases a GTY ocean view room with a portal. Our room isn’t assigned until a week or two before cruising, but on a 3 or 4 night cruise we don’t care.
We love being able to look out at the water and views, but we don’t spend enough time in the room to need a verandah or outside deck.
In room 8010 on the Wish we had a Princess and the Frog theme with a beautiful picture of Tiana above the large bed that may have been a queen, but felt like a king sized bed.
There are separate rooms for the toilet and shower and each room has a sink.
The kids sleep on bunk beds. The couch converts into a bed and the top bunk pulls down from the ceiling.
We felt like there was more room in our stateroom on the Wish than on the Dream.
All of the space is very efficiently designed to maximize use.
Each room has a stateroom host or house keeper that comes in several times a day when you leave to change towels, make the bed, fold or unfold the bunk bed, remove trash, etc.
Tips & Tricks:
- The characters have different costumes for formal night, sailing away, Castaway Cay, pirate night, etc.
- To meet several princess at once you need reservations that can be made ahead of time, in the app when you board or by going to customer service.
- Kids can get a magic wand while boarding to bring to the opening night show and otherwise enjoy.
- Pirate Night goes later into the night, fireworks are around 10:45 EST, so rest up and be ready.
- The chandelier in the Grand Hall does something special at midnight!
- During the sail away party find a more secluded bar in the adults only area to grab a drink – the main pool deck is crazy
- There are cubbies by the Aqua Mouse entrance to store your shoes, phones, etc.
- Stop by HyperSpace Lounge several times to ask for last minute cancellations, there’s a good chance you may be able to snag a spot for cocktails
- Some people dress-up, some are casual, some have Disney clothes, some don’t – most important is don’t stress over vacation. Wear what makes you happy, doesn’t take too much time to put together and doesn’t blow the budget.
- Reviews of the Disney Wish Cruise have been mixed so far. Remember you will find what you are looking for! Just go with the attitude to enjoy the vacation and you will!
What Makes This Disney Cruise Special
- The slide to get to the Oceaneer Club or kids club for ages 3 – 10 is fun! Adults can ride during the open house the first day.
- Dinning in Arendelle and enjoying a show with Anna, Elsa and friends.
- Interactive show while eating at Marvel and the donut sundae – my kids are still talking about that one!
- The Aqua Mouse has a different show each day on the ramp up to the water ride.
The Kids Club – Oceaneer Club, The Edge & The Vibe
My kids absolutely love going to the kids clubs! There are lots of spaces with different themes and other activities are often scheduled to make things extra fun.
Disney Wish Hyperspace Lounge
Exclusive to the Disney Wish Cruise and difficult to get reservations to the Star Wars themed Hyperspace Lounge is a unique experience.
A cast member unlocks an automatic door to allow guests access to the starship bar. There are windows to look out as you travel around the galaxy.
The drinks are over the top and typically have special effects!
What We Didn’t Like Compared to Other Disney Ships
Even on a family cruise we had trouble finding a spot at the adults area. It was so small and crowded even on our day at Nassau when we stayed on the ship we didn’t stay.
The Wish ship is bigger and much more crowded than other ships. The size isn’t an issue, the amount of people made all of the lines much longer like food, character meet and greets, restrooms, etc.
The restaurants feel much tighter space wise, but that’s not a make or break issue for me.
At the sail away party (that we love) my husband waited in a very disorganized line and wasn’t even given the souvenir glass he had to pay for. It was a stressful start to the cruise the way the bar was managed, not the typical Disney experience.
Granted we were on inaugural sailings where full entertainment was not available and health restrictions certainly impacted the extent of several activities I thought there would be more to do.
Customer service isn’t what it used to be. The lines were ALWAYS considerably longer, the online queue was ridiculous and thank goodness we didn’t need to call-in before our cruise.
While we found that the elevators to be in good locations to get to activities, They could be crowded rather quickly. Also it could be difficult to let someone off the back without getting off to let them out. There seemed to be lots of passengers who experienced someone trying to back out of the way for someone and ending up pushing all the buttons on the elevator to make it a slow ride up or down.
The biggest downside we see is that you definitely pay a premium to sail on the new ship.
Should you Sail on the Wish?
I truly believe that you will find what you are looking for. If you focus on enjoying time with family, relaxing and finding the good you will!
We recommend doing a 4 night or longer cruise as the 3 night cruises just go so fast, especially for all the extra testing that is done in 2022.
Also be sure not to break the bank for this experience. We recommend choosing a cheaper cruise or saving up a bit longer.
More Disney Articles:
When visiting the parks we enjoy dining at Be Our Guest Restaurant and Chef Mickey’s Restaurant.
The All-Star Movies Resort is the place we stay the most, but we also enjoy Wilderness Lodge & the Caribbean Beach Resort.
oh my goodness, what a fun trip!! Everything looks like a blast and perfect for families. We really need to start traveling more. Your vacation pics always make me wish we were better at scheduling trips.