Disney Cruise: Best Dining, Bars & Fun for Adults on the Wish
In my last blog, my husband and I were getting ready to go on a Disney cruise. Today, I’m taking you with us and sharing all of our tips, tricks, and favs! We had originally planned to go on the cruise over New Year’s, but we got sick and had to cancel. We were able to reschedule it to May, and I think it just worked out so much better. I wasn’t going to share the last cruise, because I was so tired after Christmas. This time, I was refreshed and so excited to share!
We did this cruise a little bit differently to show you how to do it the adult way, and we didn’t go to any of the normal dining rotation restaurants. That being said, we’ve done these restaurants in the past, so we didn’t just avoid them. Instead, we wanted to try some new places and show you the underdogs. The other thing about the restaurants is, being two people, you risk being seated with someone else, which is not my jam. Even though it might not seem that way, I am the most introverted person, and I just want to have a romantic dinner with my husband.
Before we get started, I want to be fully transparent. We were upgraded to Concierge Guests on this trip; we did not pay extra for this. Our original booking for the New Year’s cruise was in a porthole cabin, and it was about double the price due to the holiday. When we re-booked, Andre explained the situation, so in order to make it fair, Disney thought upgrading us was something nice that they could do for us. Andre is also a very good negotiator, so he got us hooked up! Hopefully this goes without saying, but I never share this stuff to boast or brag; I’m just sharing our experience. The Concierge service gets you access to Concierge Hosts that will help you with bookings, and whatever else you need during your trip. You can get on the boat super early, butt all the lines, get Dole whip on demand, and get access to exclusive lounges & quiet, adult only areas. In the lounge, you can get complimentary cocktails, snacks, and beverages that you can take back to your room. It was amazing!
Now, are you ready to cruise?
Day One
We got on the boat at about noon and had some lunch, then watched the SpaceX launch, which was sick! We had a really good little room setup. It was Rapunzel themed, and we had a balcony. It was so cute! The last time we stayed on the Wish, we had a Cinderella themed room, which we also loved. I think the rooms have different themes on each floor.
We get asked all of the time about which Disney ship we like better. We’ve been on the Fantasy, and this was our second time on the Wish. One random thing I will say is that we like the quick service a lot more on the Wish than the Fantasy. There are so many more options in the Festival of Foods area, from barbecue, to tacos, to pizza, etc. It’s really fun!
After lunch, we went to check out the gym and get our workouts in, then we headed to the Rainforest Room. One tip I would give you is to secure the Rainforest Room as soon as you get on the boat. It’s basically one big lounge area for adults only, and it’s very dreamy! It’s quiet; you can chill and take a nap on one of the sleeping pads. There are heated beds, a dry sauna, a steam sauna, different emotional showers, an ice room, and a foot bath area. It’s amazing! The one on the Wish is much bigger than the one on the Fantasy. I think they figured out that people really liked it, so they expanded it on the Wish. I will say that the price was higher for this one than what we paid on the Fantasy. However, it’s far superior, so I understand.
We did some shopping, looking for random treasures as usual. The winners of the day were Mickey and Minnie exclusive cruise captain Park Pals. I had to have them! I also found a Stormtrooper popcorn bucket that I thought would be perfect for Andre’s Star Wars themed office. I think you can also get the popcorn buckets in the parks!
Our first night was amazing. We had drinks at The Rose before dinner that were so good. We met some people on board that were there with their grandkids and children, and they asked us why we chose a Disney cruise. We explained that we love Disney and it’s our thing, but there is an adult way to approach it. After drinks, we watched the hockey game at the Keg & Compass pub, which was sick!
Day Two
We stopped in the Bahamas. We were surrounded by cruises! We actually saw another Disney cruise, which was really cool. We started the day with a light breakfast of Mickey waffles at the Concierge Lounge. Then, we went to the Cove Café. It’s an awesome adult only area; the whole back of the boat is all adult only. We just chilled there, got in the hot tub, did some reading, and went in the pool. Later on, we went to the gym to work out, and got massages. Post massage, we went back to the Rainforest Room. It quickly became our favorite thing on the cruise!
Our night was insane. We went to the Concierge Lounge for pre-dinner drinks, then went to The Rose. We tried to go to Hyperspace Lounge (the Star Wars bar), but ended up feeling like it was more of an after dinner type of place. For dinner, we went to Palo Steakhouse. It was everything! Our experience was 10/10 amazing. I would say this experience was far superior to the experience we had on the Fantasy. On the Fantasy, it felt like a more casual Italian meal. On the Wish, it was a full steak dinner, and just felt a lot fancier.
Day Three
Day three was our day at sea. We were in the middle of nowhere, and the ocean was so smooth. It was so surreal! We got up and walked over to Marceline Market, which is the buffet. It was lovely and a superior buffet to the Fantasy. The last time we were on the Wish, we didn’t even step foot in the buffet. We hung out outside drinking our coffees; it was hot outside, but gorgeous. We also tried out the Enchanted Sword Café which was really good!
We had a beautiful afternoon. We went to the gym, and it was packed since we were at sea. Then, we went to the Rainforest Room and had a nap. We decided to book Andre at Hook’s Barbery for a hot shave. As we were booking him, the Concierge asked if I wanted to go to the Tangled Salon while he was at Hook’s. That was at 5:00, so we had our cocktail hours separately. I got a really adorable pedicure while I read my book and had some bubbly. It was a really cool experience! Even though we weren’t together, we both got sucked into buying products. We came from a place of “yes!” We both got eye cream, he got an exfoliator, and I got Japanese body oil. It’s all from a really amazing brand called Elemis, so I’m not mad about it!
As we were getting ready for dinner, I realized I wanted to tell you about the bronzer I’ve been using. It’s a dupe for a very expensive version, which I didn’t like. This one has drugstore pricing and smells of tropical vacation coconuts. Plus, it blends way better. I love sharing a good product! You guys also loved when I shared my favorite tinted moisturizer. It goes on white, then magically blends itself into your skin tone. I recently found another one that’s similar, but instead of moisturizer, it’s a tinted serum. It’s so freaking good. You’re supposed to pump it onto the back of your hand and mix it with foundation, but I just put it straight on my face. There are little microbeads in it and I love it.
A big question I got on my last blog was about the motion sickness bracelets I used. I wore them during the whole cruise. A lot of you said that you struggle to even go on a boat in a lake, and wondered if you would be able to handle a cruise. Let me tell you, your girl struggles! Night one into morning one always seems to be my worst. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking I might be sick, but I talk myself off the ledge, and I’m usually good for the rest of the trip. The way I get through it is by taking a Bonine every eight hours, which seems to work. It’s non-drowsy, so it keeps me from feeling like I need sleep. I also make sure I stay very hydrated, and of course I’ve got the motion sickness bracelets as well. The bracelets have a pressure point on them that really helps. I’m sure people are wondering what I am wearing, but I got cute ones!
Before dinner, we went to Hyperspace Lounge. We bought souvenir glasses there that are so cool. They were super reasonably priced for how cool they are. I live for a cuppie! I thought these could also go really well in Andre’s office, along with the Stormtrooper popcorn bucket. We went back to the Keg & Compass pub for dinner which was fantastic. Us Canadians were watching playoff hockey in the middle of the ocean, how perfect is that?! After dinner, we checked out The Bayou lounge. It was amazing!
Day Four
We had a fun morning/early afternoon at Castaway Cay. We went snorkeling, and I was determined to see every single statue under the water. It was amazing! Castaway Cay is so pretty. We opted for lunch on the boat, and decided to book another massage, because it was THAT good the last time. Of course, we also got our routine workouts in, and took one last trip to the Rainforest Room.
On the last cruise, I didn’t stick to my workouts super well, and came home feeling “blah,” lacking energy, and kind of having post-cruise blues. This time, I stuck to my workouts on the boat, and I really think it’s because of the new program that I’m following. In the app, you can track your progress, water intake, cycle, etc. You can choose programs with little to no equipment so you can do them at home, or you can select full gym equipment if you’re going into a gym. The app will show you what equipment you need for each workout, and you can go through each of the moves & see a little video on how to do them. What’s cool is that once you hit “start” on the workout, it will time each move and rest for you. You can also pause the workout at any time. If you finish a move before the timer is up, you can hit the “next” button to move onto the next move or rest. It’s awesome. To me, it’s so motivating, so obtainable, and I’m seeing progress, so I’m sticking with it!
For our final dinner, we went out with a bang! We went to Enchanté which is a Lumière themed restaurant, and I had the cutest Belle style dress to wear. I got the chef menu because I thought I would get steak, and I did. There was even caviar! It was the most luxurious, bougie dinner I’ve ever had. The sunset was insane, the wine was insane, and it was such a beautiful, beyond incredible experience.
Day Five
The boat docked around 8 AM, so we got home pretty early. I’m going to recap the trip and give you the lowdown of the highs, lows, favorite parts, and try to answer some common questions I received.
We didn’t buy a lot on the cruise, just a couple of tchotchkes. The Loungefly backpacks were not that exciting; the one that I got on the last cruise was so much better than what they had available this time. My favorite finds are definitely the Mickey captain Park Pal, Stormtrooper popcorn bucket, and the glasses from Hyperspace. I gasped when I found the Park Pals; I was so excited! We immediately put the popcorn bucket and glasses in Andre’s office when we got home, and they look so good!
One of my favorite parts of the cruise was our last dinner at Enchanté. I would say it was one of the top three dining experiences of my entire life! Palo Steakhouse was also phenomenal. Beyond the dining, Rainforest Room, and Castaway Cay, the underdog moment for me was my trip to the Tangled Salon. It was so special and relaxing, I loved it! I feel like we really succeeded in four days of just chilling and relaxing.
As far as restaurants go, if you don’t have kids, the Marvel restaurant (Worlds of Marvel) is a hard pass. It wasn’t my favorite food nor ambience, but it was fun the last time since we were with a bunch of friends. The Arendelle restaurant has a show & the food is phenomenal, and the 1923 restaurant is awesome. Cove Café, The Bayou lounge and Hyperspace were all amazing as well. Our favs that we kept going back to were the Keg & Compass pub, and the Concierge Lounge. Adult-wise, the one bar we didn’t go to (although we did try) was Nightingale’s. We walked in, and it was completely empty. It wasn’t a vibe, so we decided not to sit down.
I would also like to give a huge shout out to the staff! There are amazing crew members on these ships, but there are a couple that will make your trip so special. We kept going back to the pub because it was such a vibe. If you go on the Wish, you have to say hi to Julian and Saro, from Angie & Andre. We had so much fun with them! The Concierge staff was also incredible, through and through.
Something I love is sharing the Disney inspiration for our home. I took so many photos of the Keg & Compass because I thought we could do Andre’s office in our Canada home as a whiskey, Keg & Compass inspired room. The ceiling was a Peter Pan style pirate map, which was so cool. There was also really cute woodland wallpaper in some of the elevators. I was thinking we could recreate that in the powder room in Canada. I found a really cool set of artwork in one of the staircases that’s all Bambi themed, which I think would be perfection in our Bambi room at the Disney house. I have lots of inspo that I’m very excited about!
If you can do the adult only areas, Disney cruises are superior cruising experiences. We’ve done several Royal Caribbean cruises, and I prefer Disney. They’re just more magical and more fun, especially as a Disney lover.
As I mentioned, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the Wish compared to the Fantasy ship. The Fantasy was amazing; it outdoes the Wish in adult only areas. They’re next level on the Fantasy! The Rainforest Room on the Wish is far and wide superior to what was on the Fantasy. I just think the sheer size of it makes it so there aren’t a ton of people on top of each other, which is amazing. On the Fantasy, it was basically just a small room. The quick service on the Wish also wins because of the variety!
Now, the one negative part is that there are a ton of kids, but being on a Disney cruise, I can’t be mad at that. Even in the adult only areas, there were a lot of parents that didn’t abide by the rules and just didn’t care that their kids were in an adult only area. You could see that the staff tried to enforce it, but it must be super difficult. I found that other than the Rainforest Room, it won’t always be quiet. You can’t really escape it, and you just get used to it. I wouldn’t say that was a damper for us, but if it bothers you, I wouldn’t recommend doing a Disney cruise.
The only other negative part for me was having motion sickness. This water baby is struggling more and more with motion, and I don’t know why. Even off the boat, I have dock rock, which is basically when you still feel like you’re moving, even when you get off the boat. Like I mentioned earlier, it seems to be the worst in the middle of the night. This has happened on three different cruises now! Maybe I need something stronger than Bonine and the bracelets. A couple of people have recommended the patches you put behind your ears, but if you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear them!
The last thing I will say is that it wasn’t a bad idea on Disney’s part to upgrade us, because now we’re a little bit broken, and we’re going to want to cruise the Concierge way every time, lol. It’s a magnificent experience, but I’m sure we will change our minds when we see the price!
Needless to say, we had an epic time on an incredible trip. Thank you for being a part of it! I hope this helped you if you are planning a Disney cruise. I’m so excited that I want to book the Treasure ship now. If you’ve been, drop your tips and favs in the comments!
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