3 Night Wish - Oct 14 2022 - Completed

[ukintheus]

Well, it has just been wayyyy too long since I have done a trip report!! Life got in the way, and we were among those that got our Wish cruise for July 2022 cancelled, so those things combined led to a severe lack of cruising!! We decided to go ahead and book a 3 night on the Wish anyway, just so we could say “been there, done that” and we have used the 50% off cruise fare that DCL offered for our cancelled cruise to do an 8 night Alaska this September! So, yay for cancellations!!

This cruise is just the two of us. Sad update to follow so skip to the "Thursday travel day" part if you want to just see Wish photos and stuff and want to avoid it. I started writing this trip report back in November 2022. Mum’s health wasn’t good for a lot of 2022. She had a fall and fractured 2 vertebrae in May and recovery took a while with my sister flying in and out to help out. In July she fell again and broke her hip and, at 94 years old, the recovery was slow. Then, for some reason unknown to everyone (including her I might add ) in September she just decided she was done with life (all very dramatic and quite unlike her). My sister flew in again to help out and we had 24-hour nursing care plus began hospice help. Life however was not quite done with HER! (we all explained to her it doesn’t work that way – ha ha) and so this cruise date was looming for us and, because there really was nothing that would indicate that she was going to go any time soon, we decided to take it. It was a difficult decision at the time, but she was OK the whole time we were gone. Fast forward to Christmas and she was doing a lot better and then between Christmas and New Year she fell AGAIN while the nurse was out of the room getting her breakfast. Hospitalized with multiple fractures of the pelvis she now finally had her trifecta of reasons to be gone from this earth and sadly she passed away on January 3rd. Just blah and yuck and all the things that go along with losing your Mum. She was cremated here in the US and we had her funeral in England in February and life was hectic. Hence this trip report was never finished. I got the photos uploaded but just didn’t finish getting it written. I decided that I wasn’t going to write it, and now here I am almost 8 months later throwing it out there because it was our first time on the Wish and I write these more for myself as a reminder of the vacation more than anything else and because Mum would have loved to read it.


So here we are!! The day before our cruise, October 13th, which was thankfully not a Friday. Due to the crazy amount of time it’s been between now and then, this is going to be done solely on my memory which is about worthless so there will be way more photos than there are notes.

Thursday, October 13th – Travel to Orlando​

The countdown is on and we’re ready to hit the airways!



We had an early afternoon flight so decided to get on the road with plenty of time to work our way through a ton of road construction at Houston Intercontinental.


Plenty of time means you have time for the obligatory airport overpriced wine. Vacation officially begins now.



The flight to MCO was uneventful and on time, although the plane was packed. We had a window and aisle seat but the lady in the middle seat agreed to switch so we could sit together. I think she only spoke Spanish but we figured it out.



We had booked to stay at the Hyatt at MCO as it is so convenient and I booked it with DCL so it would be connected to our reservation. By 4 pm we had landed, picked up our luggage, checked in and were headed down the loooooong hallways to our room.



You can no longer open the doors onto the little verandah they have. I *think* I’m remembering that someone decided to commit suicide from one of the floors of the hotel a few years ago. If that’s true (and I’m remembering right) then I guess it makes sense they’ve got them all locked.



King room with all the usual stuff.



We were going to hit McCoys up for dinner and decided to get a drink first. There was some big convention thing going on so lots of people wandering around and they had the whole area next to McCoys set up for a private evening reception.



Yummy drinks! I think mine was a MaiTai and Scott’s was a Manhattan.



Scott had forgotten a charger for his phone so we popped down to the shops in the airport to get one. It was crazy-expensive. I can’t remember how much now but one of those where you just buy it knowing you are handing stupid money over for it.

We decided to skip dinner at McCoys and opted for the sampler appetizer at the bar instead. Thai Chicken, Jalapeño meatballs and hummus. It was all really good and hit the spot nicely.







And for dessert a chocolate martini for me and a scotch of some kind for Scott. In the background is the featured phone charger which probably cost more than the drinks.



It was about 8 pm and even though it was really early we decided to call it a night and go back to the room to watch some TV and have an early night in anticipation of the big day tomorrow. Boring. As usual.

 

[NAB]

I’m so sorry for your lost. You didn’t post a picture of her but I can picture all of you on your last cruise. The memories you all made on those cruises.

I have been reading your trip reports for a long time but usually don’t post.

Can’t wait to hear more of your trip . We were on the Wish during the hurricane in Sept .

 

[ukintheus]

Quick note just to say how ridiculous it is to try and create notes 8 months later. But, I'm going to act like I remember something other than what is obvious from the photos.

Friday, October 14th – Go day!!​

We followed the instructions given to us at the front desk when we checked in and left our bag with our luggage tag in the room and went down to meet in the Lobby bar (sadly not open ) at 8 am. I had heard a rumor that this wasn't as quick as it would make out and sure enough there were long lines everywhere. We both grabbed a complimentary coffee from the lobby on our way to queue up. This was the line to check in to join the next line.



Once you got on the official list you went and sat back down and they called by group and walked you over to the lobby where you waited for an elevator downstairs. I don't remember what group we were but suffice to say that after getting there at 8 am, we were on a seat on the bus about 9:30 am which I suppose wasn't awful (yes it was ) but it seems like something they could simplify fairly easily and I hope for the sake of others they have by now.



It was a typical trip to Port Canaveral with the usual trivia.



It was getting close to 10:30 when we got that first sight of the Wish as we were going over the bridges. Scott snapped this one as I had a headrest in the way.



Pulling into the cruise terminal and she's a beauty! Still shiny and new and sparkling in the sun.



We weren't long in security and we were checked in and into the terminal to take these photographs from the outside viewing area by 10:45 am.







It was fairly warm so we didn't hang around long and went back into the terminal to hang out until boarding group 2 was called. While we were waiting the family of the day were announced and they were from Essex!!! (Where I'm from.) They were very "English" and were both embarrassed and thrilled all at the same time.



Waiting....waiting...waiting.....



One of us (no prizes for guessing who!) got impatient sitting down and went and took photos around the terminal.





One of us got onto the app and looked to see what the navigators were saying.



They started boarding at about 11:45 am and group 2 was called about 11:55 am. Of course you needed your battle axe to beat your way through the crowds to get to the entrance to the queue. Still don't understand the need to completely block the entrance when your group isn't being called. Never will.









One quick tap of the card and we were in...kind of...but it counts.

 

[ukintheus]

I’m so sorry for your lost. You didn’t post a picture of her but I can picture all of you on your last cruise. The memories you all made on those cruises.

I have been reading your trip reports for a long time but usually don’t post.

Can’t wait to hear more of your trip . We were on the Wish during the hurricane in Sept .

Thank you for the kind words. Did you do a trip report??? I'd be all about one done during a hurricane!!

 

[ukintheus]

We looked around the atrium for a little while. It really is a beautiful ship and it has a slightly different feel to the others but not crazily so. By now I had looked at so many photos online it was nice to see it in person.



Scott got very busy with the camera.





Quick balcony appearance by Rapunzel.



We decided to get going and check out as much as we could. We passed The Bayou next. I loved the theming here.





And then we had our first struggle with the elevators. Everything I had read about the buttons came to fruition in that first trip and all the buttons were pressed by someone who just tried to lean back to make way for others. We did eventually make it up to Deck 11 despite stopping on every floor.





But we had an end goal and that was Marceline Market! We wanted to try and grab a bite before the crowds hit as we hadn't eaten yet and our tummies were telling us they were ready!



Burning calories with all these long walks before we stuff ourselves.



I really liked the layout of the buffet and we found a quiet spot close to the back where we could get up and grab stuff that looked good. First up. Curry for the win!! It was really good.



Scott got a selection of cold seafood. I just can't even try those cold mussels but I probably stole a shrimp of his. I usually do even though I could easily go and get my own.



My second plate was a bit more of the things I love. The lamb wasn't great this time though, or at least not as good as I remembered.



Quick photo of the dining area while Scott was off scoping out his next plate, which wasn't photo-worthy apparently.



I got this for dessert and have no clue now what it was.



We ran into Putra, one of our servers from many moons ago on the Wonder. It's always good to see crew you haven't seen in a long time. He was on a different dining rotation to us so we decided to go and see if there was a way to get switched. But first we were on a mission to find Cove and check it all out, plus we were still drink-less, which is just silly.









Well hello!!!





Mission accomplished!



Round the corner was the coffee shop and we went and checked that out while it was really quiet up there.





And then we took our drinks back to sit down by the bar in some comfy chairs for a while. There was hardly anyone up there but we did run into another couple who we chatted with for a little while.





Eventually it was time to get moving again as we hadn't even made a dent in all the things we wanted to see.



We snagged an elevator with nobody in it this time. They are nice and roomy and really pretty.

 

[ukintheus]

We headed to deck 4 to go to Luna where the dining changes were being done. We weren't able to get onto the rotation that Putra was on without giving up our table for 2, so we nixed that idea and carried on with our trip around the ship. Sadly, we never managed to find Putra again before we disembarked.

Tiana and Naveen were doing the wave and greet.



We ran into Captain Minnie somewhere along the way but for the life of me now, I have no recollection of this!



I still am not sure who this is. Fairy Godmother? Wishing Fairy Person?



She was using her wand for magic though!



Belle was doing naff all. Just smiling, folding hands. Good gig if you can get it!!



Thankfully the wishing god/fairy/person managed to get the atrium lights to twinkle at just the right time.



And then we were back off on adventures and got another lift with just us and a mirror. Obligatory lift selfie.



We took a look into all the kid club areas. It's a huge area that they have....hmmm... Cove is suspiciously small compared to this...what are Disney thinking??!!









We found our way to the Enchante/Palo/Rose area even though it's down long corridors that are weirdly out of the way and certainly making you work those steps for that food!





The Rose bar area. Sadly we didn't make it in here again, nor was I able to get reservations for Palo or Enchante. We had a reservation for Enchante brunch but it was rudely snatched away from us when DCL cancelled prior to the cruise.



Palo, which is very spiffy!!





Quick pic of the Rose bar again on our way back through. Imagine how awesome this would be if it were open. And if I were in it with a drink in my hand in this photo.



The elusive, we will cancel your only reservation, Enchante. Not so enchanted my friend....


Do you see the trend here??? Wanna eat?? Walk my pretties...walk...walk off those calories!!!



Lumier reminds you that you have just walked about a thousand miles and look like you are about to fall over.



But, it's a beautiful restaurant and worth the hike people.









And I couldn't resist checking out the bathrooms to see if they live up to their counterparts on the other ships. Confirmation that they do.



I'll wrap up here before we head off to get into our stateroom. To be continued...

 

[NAB]

Thank you for the kind words. Did you do a trip report??? I'd be all about one done during a hurricane!!

No trip report but it was good because they kept us out of bad weather. Plus we were doing a 4 day that turned into a 6 day and our back to back 3 day was canceled. Money back so really only missed one day….lol

Felt bad for the people that flew in because they were told to change there flights twice we drove down from Canada so we were good.

This was our route on those days , kept going into the Atlantic Ocean to miss the bad weather.

Putra! We had him on our dining rotation . It was a great surprise because we have had him a few times before. He remembered us and asked if we asked for him. Didn’t know he was on the ship so no.

 

[ukintheus]

No trip report but it was good because they kept us out of bad weather. Plus we were doing a 4 day that turned into a 6 day and our back to back 3 day was canceled. Money back so really only missed one day….lol

Felt bad for the people that flew in because they were told to change there flights twice we drove down from Canada so we were good.

This was our route on those days , kept going into the Atlantic Ocean to miss the bad weather.

Putra! We had him on our dining rotation . It was a great surprise because we have had him a few times before. He remembered us and asked if we asked for him. Didn’t know he was on the ship so no.

Oh my goodness!! What a trip around the Caribbean you had! I’m glad you didn’t get caught up in the flight problems but that’s a heck of a drive from Canada! Putra is one of our favorites, his smile is contagious.

 

[bcwife76]

I'm so, so sorry to hear about your mum So many wonderful travel memories you have written about on here, I can still see her wonderful smile.
Loving all your fab photos so far

I'm so excited for you finally doing Alaska!! Please let me know if you have any Vancouver questions

 

[ukintheus]

I'm so, so sorry to hear about your mum So many wonderful travel memories you have written about on here, I can still see her wonderful smile.
Loving all your fab photos so far

I'm so excited for you finally doing Alaska!! Please let me know if you have any Vancouver questions

Thank you, I remember you losing your Mum too. It sucks but we have the memories.

As a matter of fact I do have some questions about Vancouver! I'll send you a PM once I've got my thoughts gathered on it all.

 

[ukintheus]

I stopped to take a photo of the carpet by the elevator because the carpets were so pretty on this ship. They were also super thick and shedding like crazy as they were so new.



We got down to deck 7 at just gone 2 pm, and so had everyone else. They kept everyone waiting for another 10 minutes before they opened everything up to get into our cabins. I don't remember having to wait as long in the past, but maybe.



Our comfy cabin for the next...oh yeah, 3 nights. Seems so short!!



I know there's been a lot discussed already about theming of these rooms. We aren't picky at all and I honestly don't care what theme my cabin is, they all turn into wine themed to me! The cabin was beautiful though.







The robes are a nice touch. I don't remember if we used them or not but I know for sure on a 7 night we would.



Loved the bathroom and especially not having to fight the shower curtain sticking to you!







We got some swag for it still being tagged as an Inaugural cruise. The Bluetooth speaker/water cup thing is different and we've used it a couple of times, so that's a plus.





The verandah was the typical size, but the chairs and table were different and made a nice change.



And of course you have to take the verandah selfie when you first step out there.

 

[ukintheus]

I remembered to take a photo of our door, which is a miracle in itself. The artwork is all from some very talented folks that generously allow us non-talented peeps to use all their amazing stuff.



Again, very long hallways but pretty carpet!



I had seen so many photos of these light fixtures that it seemed like an obligatory thing to take. Scott is always bemused about this stuff as he's oblivious to the online world of Disney obsessiveness.



And now that I've finished putting on the magnets and taking hallway photos, it's back inside to take more of the cabin.



With a quick break from everything and a looksie to see what's going on with the TV. We really liked the placement of it opposite the bed and we didn't find it a problem to have it sticking out from the wall, but it was just the two of us, so maybe with more people it would be inconvenient.



We hung out in the room for about an hour before our curiosity got the better of us and we decided to get busy exploring again. This cabin had some awesome Halloween decorations. They added to it after I took this and made it even better.



We wandered and took photos and wandered some more. There was a lot to see and we backtracked quite a bit to get where we thought we wanted to be.





At one point I had wandered a deck above Scott and took this of him busily taking photograph 956 of the atrium.





Eh, they come out pretty good though, so...





I went back down to join him and we ventured down to see the rest of the kids club areas. We didn't go down the slide as it was really busy and I would have felt a bit silly as no other adults seemed to be participating.

 

[ukintheus]

It was very cool and we took our time taking a look around it all. And it was a BIG area to look around. Wow!!



























OK, so now we are officially exhausted from all the stuff there was there and we needed to remind ourselves of the token area DCL have thrown our way. This Pina Colava made it allllll better.



A quick pic of the mainly uninspiring menu at Cove bar. It's so small!! I need more choices!



It was time for the safety drill and we had a perfect place to watch it from.



Time for the sail away party and we decided to go and check it out seeing as we were kind of in that area anyway, and it was new to us.



They are a lot of fun and it's always a good way to kick off the vacation I think. This one had a lot going on!!

 

[bcwife76]

Thank you, I remember you losing your Mum too. It sucks but we have the memories.

As a matter of fact I do have some questions about Vancouver! I'll send you a PM once I've got my thoughts gathered on it all.

Sounds good

 

[ukintheus]

All done with the party we decided to go back down to our cabin to watch us leave Port Canaveral. We were right opposite the terminal.





But we couldn't bring ourselves to stay down there so off we went again.

This looked amazing but we never made it down there. Rookies!





Heading out into the ship channel and it was really warm and sunny. We managed to find a spot of shade right in front of the flag.





No luck getting on the Fishlips camera to wave hello to Mum and Maureen, as they zoomed all the way into the verandahs right after this screenshot.





Exciting space stuff to the left. It would be awesome to see a launch someday. We have only ever seen one and that was back in 2000 while we were at WDW.



Shade provider. It was very tempting to ring the bell. But DCL were one step ahead of us and had a security guard there.



$$$$$ I'll just say that.



Making our way out and going past the jetties.



We saw them take down the flag, which I don't ever remember seeing before. Maybe because it's usually at the top of the ship or the back? Regardless, it was photo worthy.





By now it was 6 pm and if you've been keeping score along with me, we'd only had two drinks so we decided to see what was going on at The Bayou. The had a band playing and they were good. It was a great place to hang out.





Scott treated himself to this old fasioned which was faaannccy schmancy! I've got a video of it that I'll add here in a bit.

I had a glass of champagne to keep up.



Hmmm...I'm going to post this anyway, I really don't think the guy was picking his nose, which is what it looks like. (Sometimes I question my photo selections when I'm going through these.)

 

[ukintheus]

And off to the theater to watch the show at 6:30 pm. Busy, busy bees! I remember it being "OK" but I have no real recollection of it, so....yeah, not memorable? And it was the only time we made it to the show so it's just as well we went tonight.



On a mission to hit up as many, if not all the bars, we went to Keg and Compass right after the show. It was a great bar and the server we met was really friendly. We swore we would be back....alas, we failed. So many bars, so little time.



A beer for Scott and a rose for me that was delicious and I made a mental note to try and find it again.



We chatted to the server for so long that it was now time for dinner and tonight we were in the Worlds of Marvel dining room. We got to meet our severs for the next few nights, Andre and Michera.



The tables are close but we had enough room as it was just the two of us that we didn't feel really on top of our neighbors. We can tell you though that they were from Germany because you are close enough to hear the other tables conversations.



I'm sure someone smarter than me has already looked into these things and what they do - microphone the same as on other ships?



As always Disney have the theming on point. Everything was very cool.



I had the Steamed Boa Bun and Scott had the Dill and Meyer Lemon marinated Shrimp





Then I had the White Cheddar and Broccolini Soup and Scott had the Heirloom Tomato Salad.





We both ordered the Rosemary Roasted Beef Tenderloin which I now find very boring and silly of us not to have ordered something else so we could split them and try them both. Ugg..gotta have a do-over.



The show part of "dinner and a show" happened between entrees and dessert. It was cute and entertaining but it didn't blow us away...at all. It was "OK". Kind of predictable and a cheesy at times. I guess they are back to entertaining those kids again.







Time for dessert...yumminess! Quantum Key Lime Pie and Nano Dobos Torta with a Subatomic Sticky Date Pudding thrown in for good measure.







And then we found out that they bring you these little cookie/brownie thingys!! We did try them, but just had a bite as we were full by now.



We thought dinner was good. The food was hot and the presentation was beautiful. The servers were "excellent" and we both really enjoyed it all with the show being a bonus.

We were, however, knackered. It was just gone 10 pm and we decided to call it quits and head to bed. This cutie awaited us.



We found something to watch on telly and settled in to relax and enjoy the waves lulling us to sleep.



Coming up: Nassau, or as we call it, a day on the ship.

 

[Calantha]

Hmmm...I'm going to post this anyway, I really don't think the guy was picking his nose, which is what it looks like. (Sometimes I question my photo selections when I'm going through these.)

Haha! Yes, I have found some unexpected things in my pictures over the years.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

So sorry about your mom I hope she is resting peacefully.

Thank you for this trip report as my family and I are on a similar one this fall on the wish and I am now getting a lot of info from you! Can’t wait to hear about the rest

 

[ukintheus]

So sorry about your mom I hope she is resting peacefully.

Thank you for this trip report as my family and I are on a similar one this fall on the wish and I am now getting a lot of info from you! Can’t wait to hear about the rest

Thank you. I'm glad it can be of use to you. We enjoyed all the Halloween theming and to be honest, I hadn't even considered that when we booked as it was kind of last minute, so it was a bonus for sure.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I'm here! So glad you're writing a trip report. So sorry to here about your Mum.