Just got off a four night sailing on the Wish to both Nassau and Castaway out of Port Canaveral. Prior sailing was a four night on the Magic out of Galveston to Progresso, MX earlier this year. We sailed as a family of four with two kids of Oceaneer Club age. We also did the photo package both times.
Pros for the Wish
- The Wish has significantly more to do than the Magic. The Aqua Mouse, Hero Zone, multiple pools, quick service dining, shops, theaters, lounges, bars, and grand hall were all a pretty significant upgrade from the Magic.
- The staterooms are overall nicer. We did a verandah both times, and the Wish wins for more outlets, and a glass shower door alone.
- Dining staff. Our servers, as well as multiple servers we spoke with had been on the Wish since launch. They really had it down to a science and everything worked like a charm.
- Better cafe/bar selection. Between Cove, the Bayou, Wishing Star, Hyperspace lounge, Hook’s Barbery, Luna, and Enchanted Sword, drinks were never far, and always high quality.
- The Grand Hall > Atrium. It felt much less congested, and way easier to get from decks 3-5 on the Wish than the Magic. Also the chandelier is gorgeous, and the multiple Goodnight moments made for an awesome experience.
- Oceaneer’s Club. There’s more to do for the kids, and the options for drop off with the slide were so much more convenient than having to wait in a pickup line to drop your kids off.
- Photo moments. The Wish has a significantly better space for photos, and we were able to get tons of really great photos.
- Wait times. The Magic has lots of lines everywhere due to its size, and aside from the AquaMouse, I don’t think we waited more than 5-10 min in line for anything we wanted to do.
- You can actually get to the front prow of the ship on the Wish.
Cons for the Wish
- The Wish is a confusing ship to navigate. The lack of central elevators REALLY hurts this, as you have long traffic jams of people trying to get on the elevators. Normally we’d opt for the stairs when we could, but needing to get from deck 2 to pick up the kids to go to the pool deck on deck 11 meant we’d had 9 flights of stairs to climb. No thanks. Also certain elevators not going past deck 11 meant you were waiting longer if you needed to get to deck 13.
- Dining Room experiences. Rapunzel’s Royal Table has a better princess experience than Arendelle, Animator’s Palette outshines Worlds of Marvel in almost every way, and 1923/Lumiere’s were fairly comparable. We lucked out and got Animator’s Palette for Pirate night as well which is absolutely amazing.
- Pirate Night. Captain Mickey zip lining between the funnels will always be a highlight, and Captain Jack on the Wish didn’t really have the same effect.
- Stateroom TV placement. While we were rarely in the stateroom outside of winding down for the night or getting ready, when we were, my kids wanted to watch something, and the TV being in front of the main bed made for some awkward viewing angles.
- Hallway moments. On the Magic, it was super common to run into a character while walking somewhere and get a quick photo with them or even just a quick interaction. On the Wish, I don’t think this happened once.
Stray Observations
- The food is overall better on the Wish, but Worlds of Marvel was the worst menu between the two ships.
- There felt like there was significantly more for adults to do on the Wish than the Magic. Not that there wasn’t stuff to do on the Magic, but the Wish had lots more smaller options.
- Not a dealbreaker, but I like that Deck 4 on the Magic goes completely around the ship as opposed to the Wish not having a full loop.
- It felt like the Wish had more merch/shopping variety than the Magic between Mickey’s Mainsail and Treasures Untold.
- The Wish has beautiful decor/theming, but I still prefer the art deco style of the older ships.
- Possibly a controversial take for this last one, but I feel like we ran into significantly more “Disney entitlement” from the crowd of the Wish compared to the Magic. I don’t know if this was due to time of year, Sailing out of FL vs. TX, or because it was a Halloween cruise, but I saw a lot more grown adults having tantrums on the Wish.
- Castaway Cay was way more fun than I thought it would be.
Overall, both cruises were great. I’d say on the whole I enjoyed the Magic more, but we’re looking at a 4.5/5 for the Magic and a 4/5 for the Wish. Curious if anyone else shares these thoughts or has insight on anything.
Next up: a cruise on the Destiny, and a soon-to-be-booked sailing on Fantasy/Dream.