Inaugural Kick Off Sailing
I recently had the good fortune to be invited aboard Royal Caribbeans inaugural sailing of its newest ship, Wonder of the Seas. The Wonder is currently the largest cruise liner in the world, and upon arriving at the port, it presents as such. It is massive! For all intents and purposes, it is an 18-deck tall floating resort, and it is pretty amazing.
Upon boarding the ship on deck 5, you are immediately welcomed in to the promenade area of the ship. The promenade houses several restaurants and bars, a Starbucks, and several retail shops. The typical Royal Caribbean mainstays, such as Sorrento’s and the Bionic bar can be found here. In true Royal Caribbean fashion, there was a mid-1960’s Ford Mustang convertible parked in the middle of the promenade, as they do with all of their ships.
First Views of the Ship
After a brief tour of the promenade deck, I proceeded to deck to 15 to check out one of my favorite decks on an Oasis Class Cruise Ship: The Lido Deck (or pool deck). A few things that are new and exclusive to the Wonder are located up on Deck 15: The Mason Jar, and the Wonder Playscape. The Mason Jar is southern comfort food restaurant, with farmhouse style décor. In addition to being a premium dinning destination (The serve both brunch and dinner), The Mason Jar features a country band that plays on the “Front Porch” in the evening, this would be a great time to check this place out (without needing a reservation) and grab a drink.
After a brief tour of the Mason Jar, I continued outside to check out the Wonder playscape. The Wonderscape is a giant play area with all of the obstacles being comprised of various creatures of the sea. I will say, I initially checked out this area mid-day, and it was definitely impressive (Especially if you are travelling with younger children), however it is worth taking a second look after dark. The way this area is lit up in the evening is amazing. This is a great area for little ones, as there is plenty of space for them to run, jump, and climb. There is a mini golf course in this area as well, which was pretty awesome, and quite a bit better than any of the ones I have previously seen on other ships. I would also recommend checking out the mini golf at night 1) for obvious reasons, because it’ll be cooler, and 2) because it is all lit up and it quite a sight.
One additional thing I did take note of, which is also on deck 15, was the solarium on the Wonder. While all of the Royal ships have these Solarium areas, the Solarium on the Wonder is quite a bit larger than that of other ships. The Solarium is an adults only quiet area of the ship. There is plenty of lounge space, a couple of bar areas, hot tubs, and wading areas in the Solarium on the Wonder
Room Tours
After checking out our cabin, we were able to tour all of the other various cabin types that the Wonder has to offer. Since this sailing was for media and invited travel advisors, we had a unique experience to view the gorgeous suites available to guests. Normally, room tours are not available as the ship is alway full of guests or changing over from one sailing to another.
We started with the Royal Loft Suite. It is more amazing than you could imagine. The Royal Loft is a two floor suite, furnished to the maximum. The Royal Loft Suite comes in at 1,524 square feet of living space, plus 843 square feet of balcony space.
Next, was the Ultimate Family Suite, which was equally as amazing and a unique addition to only newer Oasis Class Ships. The Ultimate Family Suite is also two floors, the stairs to the second floor are actually piano keys, and there is a twisty slide on the far side of the second floor which can be used to return to the 1st floor of the suite. In the family suite, there are multiple big screen tv’s and a “media room” that contains every type of video game console a kid could imagine.
After touring the “Dream Suites”, we proceeded to tour all the the rest of the cabin categories. There are literally cabins in every size and shape one could imagine, the one that stuck out to me was the handicap accessible suite, which is set up for passengers in wheelchairs. It was clear that Royal Caribbean really put a lot of thought and consideration into the size and modifications of these rooms in order to make cruising as inclusive as possible.
After a long first day, we hit the Main Dining room for dinner, Playmakers for an after dinner drink, then off to bed because the next am was our first and only port of call, Perfect Day Coco Cay!
Our "home away from home"
After checking out the latest and greatest features of the ship, I went down to my room as it was finally ready. One thing I will note here is that, as I board the ship, I give all of my bags and luggage to the porter to be delivered to my room. This will allow you to explore the ship, and possibly hit the pool or bar area and relax as you are waiting for your cabin to be ready (In most cases your cabin will not be immediately accessible as you board). By carrying on just a small bag of essentials, you can easily explore the ship while waiting for your cabin. We were provided an Oceanview Balcony Cabin for the weekend. The cabin seemed spacious for the two of us, there was a small sofa and a queen bed, along with a standard (aka small) bathroom. A fairly standard exterior cabin, maybe slightly more spacious than I have been in on smaller ships.
(Another) Perfect Day at CocoCay
We started with breakfast at the wind jammer, then off to CoCo Cay for the Day. It really was a perfect day at CoCo Cay. The weather was amazing, there is so much to do on the island. One tip, if your are heading towards the beach on the far side of the island, take the tram! It can be quite a walk in the heat, totally worth the wait for the short tram ride. We hung out at the beach, walked through the open air market, stopped at the swim up bar in the pool and made a final stop at the snack shack. We made “secret” chicken sandwiches, which are made by combining the chicken sandwich and the mozzarella sticks from the snack shack. There are so many activities, we didn’t have time to explore the all, darn I guess we’ll have to go back. Unfortunately, from there it was back to the ship, as we wrapped up our weekend and our short sailing.
Why Wonder of the Seas should be your next family vacation destination
The Wonder is the perfect ship, in my opinion, for those with families. The ship is so large, you will never run out of things to do, and there really are activities for every age group. While most Royal Caribbean ships offer similar things, the Wonder is just so much larger and it really takes things to an unparalleled level. The Wonder is the largest, and newest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet, and it most definitely presents as such.