Luxury, joy and dare I say, magic, are the reasons why cruising with Disney is always an absolute pleasure. These days, when health and safety are a major priority when we travel, we felt very comfortable traveling during a pandemic on the Disney Wonder. There were pitfalls to traveling during covid but there were some pleasant surprises!
Disney Wonder Cancellations:
This trip has been cancelled on us twice, In March 2020 and February 2021.
This time around, 3 days prior to this sailing, we were informed that one of our ports of call, George Town, Grand Caymans is cancelled due to the island still being closed and is being replaced with a day at sea. This itinerary already had 8 sea days. It did not feel like a good enough replacement especially when their 7-day cruises were redirected to other Mexican ports.
Disney returned our $43 port fee, and their explanation was that they, “hoped the Grand Caymans would be open in March.” It felt like they made zero backup plans for this cruise.
Cut to embarkation day. My fiancé, Levi and I had the highest anxiety imaginable waiting in the New Orleans cruise terminal for our mandatory covid test results. We were convinced that this trip would be taken from us moments before boarding. We kept refreshing our emails every 10 seconds to see if we were cleared to sail. Then it happened, we got the negative test results! We’ve been waiting for 3 years and finally get to board! We are overjoyed!
The crew announced our names as we entered the ship. Along with other families, we are greeted with a mini dance party with Captain Mickey It was such a sweet welcome. I missed the sail away deck party but the addition of Mickey to the welcome greetings made our first moments on the Wonder extra special. Now on to the cons and pros!
Disney Wonder’s Covid Cons:
Masks are required indoors.
The social distancing put in place in certain sections of the ship made no sense. In the Crown and Fin Pub, the social distancing is mismanaged because the tables that were close together were open but the ones far away are closed. Unless you arrived 20-30 minutes prior, it was nearly impossible to find a seat for trivia.
The same went for any adult show in the Azure lounge. Entire rows are closed with guests sitting 2 chairs apart. This means lines would form 30 minutes prior and if you showed up 5 minutes to show time, you were unlikely to find a seat.
Seating in the Walt Disney theater is also spaced in that manner, but we never had issues with finding somewhere to sit due to its size.
In the gym, masks were optional. Yet, the rainforest room could only be rented for $200+ because you don’t wear a mask in there. If you can be maskless in the gym, the spa should be fine. I missed the rainforest room’s inexpensive day passes.
While I am very thankful for Disney doing their best to keep everyone healthy, a lot of their process felt unnecessary or poorly planned.
Disney Wonder’s Pros:
In terms of daily health safety, every morning on our navigator app we were reminded of contacting the health center if we had any symptoms of Covid. I am very thankful that we were completely healthy the entire time and never heard about anyone getting sick.
On to the good news! This cruise had entertainment and locations open that were stated to be closed on their website. The sports deck was open! Ping pong and foosball were available with adjacent hand sanitizing stations. There were fireworks and no one had to socially distance or go to a specifically scheduled viewing time as stated on their site. We also had 2 deck parties which are listed as “temporarily suspended”. The Freezing the Night Away Frozen Deck Party and the Pirates of the Caribbean Deck Party. I am unsure if they were scaled down productions, but everyone had a great time dancing and watching the shows.
Mask mandates have already been changed on board. Certain social distancing practices were let go during our cruise, due to the CDC changes that were happening on March 11th . Moving forward, certain practices won’t be put in place and things will return to normal. Even if they aren’t and you feel comfortable, go and enjoy yourself! Even these minor inconveniences did not put a damper on the incredible experience that is a Disney Cruise Line vacation.
Looking to sail but not wanting to be around a bunch of kids? Be sure to check out my 3 tips to having a child free Disney Cruise
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