Joy’s Wish 1/16-20/23 sailing. Stateroom 8690
Cast: Joy and her husband Lynn both middle aged adults.
We decided to drive out from our home in Dallas, Texas for this trip. We spent weekend in Orlando at Universal with our adult sons and their wives in a 2 room suite at Endless Summer surfside pre cruise and do the new Escape Room at Universal on Sunday.
Monday January 16, 2023: Boarding- This morning we woke up and packed up and said our goodbyes to the kids and headed to port at check out at 11 am. Our port arrival time was 12-12:15 and you can arrive about 15 minutes early but no earlier. There was a backup at the terminal so took about 15 minutes to get to drop off our luggage and then park. If you can park on floor 3 you are on walkway bridge level.
Security was quick and our boarding group 10 called so we went right in.
Wish is beautiful but very different walking in from the 4 other Disney ships. They do NOT give pirate bandanas for pirate night but they give fairy godmother wands while boarding so be sure to get one once you board. We headed up to the buffet Marceline Market deck 11 aft and had a nice table outside to enjoy our lunch buffet.
The rooms were open at 2 pm so we headed down to deck 8. Only aft and forward elevators on the Wish and we are on the very back of ship in room 8690. It has an amazingly huge balcony about 4 times size of regular but the room is smaller so only really nice for a couple not a family. We refreshed a bit and took photos. Our luggage came quickly before it was time for Muster. We have in person muster drills again and we are in the World of Marvel dining room for ours so we heading down the stairs for the 3;45 drill. .
Sail away is at 4:45 so we headed back to room to watch from balcony then got cleaned up for the evening. We headed to the show which starts at 6:30 pm Disney Seas the Adventure a bit after 6 pm to get seats. The theater gets crowded, and this is all new shows for us being first time on the Wish. It was a cute show with Captain Minnie and Goofy adventures in the sea with lots of Disney favorite characters. It was shorter than the other shows and we got to hear from our cruise director Jimmy before the show.
Our first night’s dinner at 8:15 pm is in Arendelle’s. It was the Frozen theme picking up after second movie with Queen Anna and Sven’s engagement party happening as the show for us all dinner. We had Anna, Elsa, Sven Olaf and a host character singing and performing all through the meal. At the end of they evening they came around to different tables, not all but most. The menu was good choices with some authentic Norway choices we noticed from our sailing to Norway on the Magic in September of 2022.
Tuesday January 17, 2023 Nassau- Woke up as the ship was pulling into Nassau & watched docking from our balcony. We headed to the Triton to the Making of the Wish presentation. It was very informative. We wandered to ship checking out all the lounges etc, there are a lot more bars on this ship. We had a couple massage scheduled at 2 pm so headed to the Senses spa after lunch. One thing I was surprised to learn is that you do NOT receive a rainforest pass with a treatment like we have on the other ships, it would cost regular price to go after our massage.
Tonight’s show is the Little Mermaid starting at 6 pm so we headed down there a bit after 5:30 to get our seats situated. It was another great show.
Tonight’s dinner in in 1923 so I had brought little pieces to add for our costumes, I had some gloves and long strand of pearls to go with my layered black dress to make it a bit like the 1920’s theme and Lynn had a hat and bottom down shirt to fit for his theme.
I loved this dining room with all of the history, we are at table 504 private table and it was a great location here all alone in a little nook to the side below the Pinocchio art work.
Wednesday January 18, 2023 Castaway Cay & Pirate Night- Woke up docking at. castaway cay. We dressed in our swims suits for Castaway Cay. Debarking was on Deck 1 aft with easy fast off the ship by 9:30 am got towels then took tram to Serenity Bay. You have to get off at family beach and board another to Serenity Bay. We set up in our chairs. Went out on water a few times. The weather was perfect about 80 and sunny, not a could in the sky. There were a few star fish out and some teeny fish and some about 5 inches that were white going around.
We had lunch about noon here and it was delicious as always. We headed back to ship a bit after 1 pm to enjoy the adult pool area and deck. We checked out the Cove Café too. The adult pool is like an infinity pool over the aft and has a cooling pool and then hot tubs but they were always pretty occupied. We then went to room to shower and dress in our pirate costumes, since it is pirate night and headed to the Walt Disney theater to watch Avatar the Way of Water. The movie would play a couple times this afternoon and evening in the big theater since there was no other show tonight since it is pirate’s night.
After the movie we up to deck 12 and saw the end of Muppet Treasure Island on the Funnel vision getting our spot for the 7:45 start of the Pirate deck party. It was fun and then we headed to 1923 again for our pirate menu dinner.
We watched the 10:30 pm fireworks and then turned in for the night.
Thursday January 19, 2023 Day at Sea-
We woke up to find the Wish docking in Fort Lauderdale. We turned on our phones and downloading e mails etc and I put up some photos on Facebook. Did not pay for any internet since we all have iPhone we can text with the kids and family free so we don’t bother with Wi-Fi on a short cruise. Our stateroom host Sam said it was a medical emergency with crew member, hopefully will be okay. Later on, in the days announcements the Captain told us the same thing.
Today is my crafts day, but somehow I missed making the bag, which was what I most wanted to do, but we made buttons first in Triton. They were really cute and then a Memory page in Bayou.
Next it was time to get our photos with the Princesses at Royal Court at 11:45 time frame. This is nice you go through and see all 5, Moana, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Belle and Tiana. We did end up buying our photo with Belle later in Shutters. We did some shopping in the gift shops and decided to eat at 1923 for lunch. We sat in Walt side since our dinners were in Roy said. It is the same layout but different memorabilia.
We later went to the Star Wars Hyperspace lounge and got a great table, not too busy and I got a delicious Berken’s flow it is chocolate and coconut flavor drink.
Tonight’s show is Aladdin, so we headed there about 6:05 to get good seats and enjoyed. I do remember Aladdin as a show on Magic back in very early 2000’s so this was similar but more technology so advanced but we both thought very good.
After Aladdin, we headed to Luna for Disney’s uncharted adventure. You use your
DCL navigator phone app to participate and at end Mickey and Minnie come out which was best part in my opinion.
Tonight’s dinner is World of Marvel. Antman & Wasp present Miracles from Molecules in screens around the room and lots of clips of Marvel movies. At the end Antman & Wasp come through the dining room because the mission involves the ship. It is a great dinner show
After dinner, we had to go back to room to pack up and get luggage out by 10:30 pm and went to sleep.
Friday: January 20, 2023 Debark-
Woke up about 5 ship getting through channel at Port Canaveral and fell back asleep until 7 am. We got showered and dressed and packed up carry ons. Went to pick up photos we bought and had printed. Then breakfast at Worlds of Marvel at 8:10 am. We said our goodbyes to our wonderful dining service team and had dropped off our questionnaire coming into the dining room.
Waited out side on deck 4 for our orange goofy to be called. We left ship about 9:45 and got luggage easily and had about 15 minute line to go through customs then across to parking lot on and road by 10:35 am. Got to Orlando just after 11.
Final Thoughts- We both though the Wish was absolutely stunning. It had the Disney feel but yet so different than the other 4 ships that we really had to learn our way around. The adult pool area is a good location no kids can walk through but does seem a bit small. We loved our stateroom 8690 because the balcony was so large but that said the room was smaller which could be bad if the weather is not good. It would not be good fit with guests either in room it would be hard to walk around if the third bed was down. Everyone noticed the elevators are missing in mid so it took a bit to get used too, but there were stairs in the main decks, 3 4 and 5 so that helped getting around. I liked all the new dining, as a Disney fan I did not find 1923 boring, since I loved seeing the history and lots of guests dressed up in 1920’s so it made it fun too and it is nice to be able to chat with your table mate instead of always having a show too I think. The deck 11 food had usual choices but I missed the salad one option but you could make a salad out of Donald’s bowls. We really enjoyed all of the shows on this ship, all new and fresh.
