News Construction Underway on Fourth Wish Class Ship

[ToTBellHop]

Why couldn’t they build 4 Dream-class ships instead of this trash?

 

[cjkeating]

We found the entrances to the specialty dining area very confusing also, you’d either have to walk up stairs through the buffet area or get off the elevator on deck 12 and then walk through completely unmarked doors. We stumbled across the sports court attempting to find the specialty dining, that was another odd area, had we not stumbled across it I don’t think we’d have known it even existed.

I started to write this but then found explaining this so confusing I gave up! I feel like whatever route you take to the adult dining it is weird. You can get there via the buffet or via the light up stairs to a teen(?) club or via the Incredi-zone. And then I think you end up at some doors with frosted glass. It was all hilariously stupid.

Contrast this to the classy lift foyer entrance from the Magic/Wonder and it is a world apart.

Many of this issues would be resolved on subsequent trips with a little ship knowledge but we weren’t impressed enough to sail on the Wish again either, which kind of makes familiarity solving problems irrelevant.

Same. The Wish was a one and done. I'm doing the Treasure as a) I find some of the theming more appealing and b) to give the Wish class a second chance but unless I have an epiphany I'll be sailing on the 1st four ships for the foreseeable after this.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Why couldn’t they build 4 Dream-class ships instead of this trash?

Trash is a bit harsh but I agree with the sentiment, the Dream and Fantasy are near perfection.

The spa area specifically is spectacular, It’s wild we went from ships where you can sit in a hot tub, lay on a hot bed, or sit in a sauna and watch the world go by to ships where you sit in the middle of the ship and don’t have a single view of anything but walls, the fact non spa guests look down on you from the walkway above just adds salt to the wound.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Trash is a bit harsh but I agree with the sentiment, the Dream and Fantasy are near perfection.

The spa area specifically is spectacular, It’s wild we went from ships where you can sit in a hot tub, lay on a hot bed, or sit in a sauna and watch the world go by to ships where you sit in the middle of the ship and don’t have a single view of anything but walls, the fact non spa guests look down on you from the walkway above just adds salt to the wound.

I had the unlucky mix of sailing on Wish as my second Disney cruise (after Dream) and having awful dining staff. We almost quit on DCL altogether after that. We only booked another because we love private islands and wanted to see Lookout. Thankfully, cruise 3 was Magic and lovely. We will return as long as it’s not Wish-class.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I had the unlucky mix of sailing on Wish as my second Disney cruise (after Dream) and having awful dining staff. We almost quit on DCL altogether after that. We only booked another because we love private islands and wanted to see Lookout. Thankfully, cruise 3 was Magic and lovely. We will return as long as it’s not Wish-class.

Price point for DCL has me looking elsewhere after 2026. I only hope I can convince the others we’re sailing with next year to do the same.

 

[mickEblu]

Can someone wake me up when one of these newer ships comes to the West Coast?

 

[HauntedPirate]

Can someone wake me up when one of these newer ships comes to the West Coast?

No problem, Mr Van Winkle.

 

[HauntedPirate]

He is responsible for the design and engineering of the ship, its structure, and its layout. He is essentially the architect and structural engineer while Laura Cabo and her team are essentially interior designers.

He’s a Project Management Executive who oversees things. Maybe Disney assigns different responsibilities to their PM’s vs the rest of corporate America?

 

[mickEblu]

Price point for DCL has me looking elsewhere after 2026. I only hope I can convince the others we’re sailing with next year to do the same.

I’m willing to pay a little Disney tax but the value for us West Coasters just isn’t there because the inventory is so low. I’m just not paying 7k for a week cruise (or 4-5k for 3/4 day cruise) on the Disney Wonder to see the Mexican Riviera that I’ve seen already 5 times. I also don’t want to fly to a cruise again. Did that for a 7 day Caribbean cruise on the Dream/ a few days in Miami and it was great but it’s a one and done. The allure of a cruise for me is the convenience. I want to park my car in Long Beach or San Diego and be done.

 

[cjkeating]

The spa area specifically is spectacular, It’s wild we went from ships where you can sit in a hot tub, lay on a hot bed, or sit in a sauna and watch the world go by to ships where you sit in the middle of the ship and don’t have a single view of anything but walls, the fact non spa guests look down on you from the walkway above just adds salt to the wound.

And what makes it even funnier was how they were hyping up the spa so much about the outdoor space etc which on one hand could be cool but they failed to mention the lack of sea views, people looking down on you from above or how the space is then closed when it rains and I've also heard gets too hot in the sun as their is no breeze. So all around another big Wish win...

I had the unlucky mix of sailing on Wish as my second Disney cruise (after Dream) and having awful dining staff. We almost quit on DCL altogether after that. We only booked another because we love private islands and wanted to see Lookout. Thankfully, cruise 3 was Magic and lovely. We will return as long as it’s not Wish-class.

The Wish was my... 8th(?) Disney Cruise and honestly despite 7 great cruises before than I left wondering if I wanted to do another. I did a 3 night Dream cruise last year which (as my 4th favourite Disney ship) just about restored my faith.

Whilst I am happy to cruise Disney for the foreseeable the direction of the Wish class has got me looking at alternative companies which I had never considered beforehand.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The allure of a cruise for me is the convenience. I want to park my car in Long Beach or San Diego and be done.

My GF lives in San Diego and my first cruise was a 4 day cruise to Mexico on the Dream, it was so convenient to just drive to the port and walk across the street. We had fun in Ensenada but it’s not a place we’re aching to go back to, it spoiled me a bit because it was so easy to get to and from the ship.

We’ve since cruised out of FL twice, England once, and our next 3 cruises are on Princess out of Vancouver, then a DCL out of Galveston, and then a Viking cruise out of London, all require flights, all require hotels, etc… cruising is amazing but it often involves a lot of planning, work, and money to get to the actual cruise. It’s a shame there’s not more out of LA, SD… we often look but struggle to find itineraries we want to do.

We have friends in Orlando that cruise all the time, the fact they can drive an hour, park, and simply walk on the ship always makes me a little jealous… as fun as the Caribbean is I think I’d get bored pretty quick doing the “same” (similar) cruise over and over again though.

 

[peter11435]

He’s a Project Management Executive who oversees things. Maybe Disney assigns different responsibilities to their PM’s vs the rest of corporate America?

His background is in naval engineering. I didn’t mean to imply that he single handledly designed the ship. But he is the one who overseas and is in charge of the structural design, layout, engineering, and marine and technical aspects of the ship. Most of the complaints regarding the Wish class revolve around those aspects not the ships interior design and themeing. So the often repeated complaint that they shouldn’t have had someone design a ship that’s never been on a cruise is silly and misinformed.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

His background is in naval engineering. I didn’t mean to imply that he single handledly designed the ship. But he is the one who overseas and is in charge of the structural design, layout, engineering, and marine and technical aspects of the ship. Most of the complaints regarding the Wish class revolve around those aspects not the ships interior design and themeing. So the often repeated complaint that they shouldn’t have had someone design a ship that’s never been on a cruise is silly and misinformed.

Disagree, something on this scale is a team effort, its not like he designed the layout and then the Disney creatives were hand tied into fitting things into those spaces, this is a massive collaboration, she could have changed design flaws before construction began, had she recognized they were design flaws.

She doesn’t deserve all the blame, but she deserves just as much as anyone else involved in the build, as does Iger/Chapek, and everyone else who signed off on the blueprints before they started construction. Some of these flaws should have been glaringly obvious to everyone, especially with all the pre-construction 3D walk throughs they do now, they either weren’t familiar enough with the product to recognize the flaws or simply didn’t care enough to change them before construction began.

ETA… I wonder if the others who approved this have experience with cruising, we know Iger loves cruising on his private mega yacht but I’m not sure that translates to recognizing problems on massive cruise ships with 4,000 passengers.

 

[mickEblu]

My GF lives in San Diego and my first cruise was a 4 day cruise to Mexico on the Dream, it was so convenient to just drive to the port and walk across the street. We had fun in Ensenada but it’s not a place we’re aching to go back to, it spoiled me a bit because it was so easy to get to and from the ship.

We’ve since cruised out of FL twice, England once, and our next 3 cruises are on Princess out of Vancouver, then a DCL out of Galveston, and then a Viking cruise out of London, all require flights, all require hotels, etc… cruising is amazing but it often involves a lot of planning, work, and money to get to the actual cruise. It’s a shame there’s not more out of LA, SD… we often look but struggle to find itineraries we want to do.

We have friends in Orlando that cruise all the time, the fact they can drive an hour, park, and simply walk on the ship always makes me a little jealous… as fun as the Caribbean is I think I’d get bored pretty quick doing the “same” (similar) cruise over and over again though.

I dunno there are a lot of destinations in the Caribbean though and you still get Mexico too. Some much variety in culture/ food too with places like Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Here we have a few cities in Mexico. Technically we have Hawaii and Alaska but now we’re getting into one way cruises or multiple weeks territory.

Our three day cruises consist of Catalina and Ensenada. Floridians 3 day cruises include places like the Bahamas and Castaway Cay. We definitely get the short end of the stick haha.

 

[peter11435]

Disagree, something on this scale is a team effort, its not like he designed the layout and then the Disney creatives were hand tied into fitting things into those spaces, this is a massive collaboration, she could have changed design flaws before construction began, had she recognized they were design flaws.

She doesn’t deserve all the blame, but she deserves just as much as anyone else involved in the build, as does Iger/Chapek, and everyone else who signed off on the blueprints before they started construction. Some of these flaws should have been glaringly obvious to everyone, especially with all the pre-construction 3D walk throughs they do now, they either weren’t familiar enough with the product to recognize the flaws or simply didn’t care enough to change them before construction began.

ETA… I wonder if the others who approved this have experience with cruising, we know Iger loves cruising on his private mega yacht but I’m not sure that translates to recognizing problems on massive cruise ships with 4,000 passengers.

I never said it’s not a team effort. The point was that her not having cruised is not really a major issue because the person and teams responsible for the structure and layout of the ship have and have extensive background in the maritime industry. Laura and her team are mostly interior designers and perform entirely different roles.

It’s also important to remember that the items that you and many others consider design flaws were not accidental occurrences. They were intentional design choices. And while many people (including myself) consider some choices to be mistakes/flaws. The Wish class continues to rate highest in the fleet amongst first time cruisers. Since Disney is going from a supply of 4 ships to 13 that is a very important metric.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I never said it’s not a team effort. The point was that her not having cruised is not really a major issue because the person and teams responsible for the structure and layout of the ship have and have extensive background in the maritime industry. Laura and her team are mostly interior designers and perform entirely different roles.

It’s also important to remember that the items that you and many others consider design flaws were not accidental occurrences. They were intentional design choices. And while many people (including myself) consider some choices to be mistakes/flaws. The Wish class continues to rate highest in the fleet amongst first time cruisers. Since Disney is going from a supply of 4 ships to 13 that is a very important metric.

It is noticeable that, compared with say Royal Caribbean, far fewer guests on a Disney cruise use the gym or jogging track. So, while the tiny gym and lack of jogging track may be a significant flaw for me, I recognize it doesn’t impact the majority of DCL guests. The Incredibles blowup course, on the other hand, is incredibly popular and kids love the Oceaneer Club on Wish-class.

The confusing flow around the ship is a bigger issue but I get the impression they fixed this partially on Treasure. For example, the unmarked doors that do, in fact, connect guest areas. I presume they’ll fix these things on Wish’s 2027 dry dock.