Four Night Sailing on Disney Wish

We recently returned from a four-night adventure on the Disney wish. While the weather could have been better, this cruise line and ship excelled at making our family feel entertained and excited during this holiday season voyage.

Itinerary

The Disney Wish currently sails on a three-and-four-night itinerary through the Bahama’s. This includes Nassau and its private island, Castaway Cay. For those on a four-night itinerary, you also get one additional day at sea.

Ports of Call

From a family perspective with two little children barely in elementary school, Nassau doesn’t offer a lot to do until your kiddos are a bit older. Have kids eight and up? You may want to check out getting a day pass at Atlantis should you dock here.

We unfortunately didn’t have the opportunity to get off the ship in Castaway Cay due to weather – so this report will not talk about all the fun things to do on shore at Disney’s private island.

Disney’s Oceaneer Club

The Oceaneer Club on the Disney Wish is where kids can have a great time in a safe environment. It's tailored for young cruisers who are potty-trained through the age of 10 and offers a range of age-appropriate activities. Kids get to meet characters, play games, do crafts, hear stories, etc. There is always something for kids to enjoy. The club is staffed by Disney-trained counselors, ensuring that kids have a fun and secure space while parents explore other offerings on the Disney Wish.

Parents register their kid with the club and the staff will give your kid a magic band and secure it to their wrist. This is a safety measure that allows the counselors to know where your kid is inside the club when you want to pick them up as it’s rather large.

On the Disney Wish, there is a slide located off the main hall on Deck Three, where your kids can get checked in and slide down into the kid’s club. It was a hit with our children, as I’m sure it will be with yours.

Food – Presentation and Taste

The wish has three main dining halls (Arendale, Marvel, and 1923), offers a buffet (Marceline Market) and has a couple adult-only specialty restaurants. Starting with the buffet off the pool deck, it’s your standard buffet-type food. In addition to the buffet, Disney Cruise lines provides free soda, coffee and hot chocolate at the machines just outside the buffet area. Additionally, you can get ice cream, some Mexican fare, BBQ or a burger and fries if you’d like.

The presentation of the food in each of the table-service restaurants is like a fine dining experience with multiple servers taking care of you and a menu that puts a twist on normal dishes to elevate them a bit. However, the taste of the food throughout our 4 nights left a bit to be desired and was very bland. We tended to hit our food with a good bit of salt before eating it.

Entertainment

Disney is by far, first and foremost, an entertainment company, and this is where it does not disappoint. Character interactions were everywhere throughout the cruise. There were plenty of opportunities to meet the typical Disney characters (Mickey, Minney, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, etc) and princesses (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Belle, Tiana, Moana, etc.) Additionally, you could meet Star Wars and Marvel characters throughout the cruise also.

Disney Wish also offers two Broadway-style musicals to enjoy. Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. Both were quite enjoyable to watch as the acting and singing were well done.

Disney Cruise lines are also the only cruise line with Fireworks at sea, which is usually done on a pirate-themed night.

Two of the Disney Wish’s dinner areas (Arrendale and Marval) have shows during dinner. The Arrendale show was great, and in the middle of the show, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristof and Oaken made their way around the dining hall to meet with each table. The Marval show was visually appealing, however it left a bit to be desired as it felt more like a distraction from dinner rather than an immersive experience with interactions. Spiderman did make an appearance and went to each table to say hi to the kids, which was a nice touch.

The final restaurant, 1923, has artwork from many of the classical Disney movies. Being on a four-night cruise, we ate at this restaurant twice. The first night I didn’t really appreciate the artwork and the theming as much as I did after the second time dining there. You can walk around and read the notes on original Disney drawings and appreciate the creative process that unfolded bringing those magical characters to life.

Cabins

Cruise cabins are known for being notoriously tiny. Disney’s cabins are like other cruise lines with three notable exceptions. The first – Disney Cruise Lines split their bathroom into a toilet and sink, and a shower and sink. I haven’t been on another mainstream cruise line that has done this. The second is that Disney gives you a full bathtub where many other cruise lines only give you a shower outside the Suite level. The final is that Disney raises their main beds up higher to allow for full-size luggage to be stored under the bed. This was incredible as it allowed us to not take up the closet space with empty luggage after we unpacked.

Having been on many different cruise lines before – I was really taken away at how Disney managed to produce top-notch entertainment both scheduled as well as on the fly – when our weather wouldn’t let us dock at Castaway Cay and we ended up with a second at sea day. The cruise line itself tends to run at a bit of a premium price tag, but it’s my opinion you get more out of it in terms of entertainment, beverages (nonalcoholic) and overall level of service when compared to other mainstream cruise lines.

I would highly recommend a family vacation on a Disney Cruise. Our family will be looking at the photos we took and revisiting the memories of the cruise for a long time to come.