Continued - Disney Wonder Review - Casual Food

Continuing on with our review, this post will discuss food, food venues, and entertainment.

A look north toward the airport and the north side of San Diego Harbor

Food Schedules

Does anything unite or divide passengers more than food on a cruise?  Wait, don't answer that because its rhetorical, and there are probably many things to debate about on a cruise.

Before even discussing the food, I wanted to discuss the next Disney tip...

DCL Tip #3 - Espcially if you are travelling with kids, and your kids get hungry at odd times, make sure you check the daily schedule for food availability on the upper decks.

The aspect of food venue schedules may have been the biggest bone of contention between all of us in our party.  The buffet typically would operate for breakfast between 7am and 9:30am, lunch between 11:30am and 2pm, and at dinner, the buffet functioned as a restaurant with some level of table service.  There are other venues such as Daisy's Delites, Pete's Boiler Bites, and Pinnochios Pizzeria, which were all open after about 11am, but it was a tough transition to make from Princess where part of the buffet is open from about 6am to 11pm, and beyond that, the International Cafe is open 24 hours.  Room service is available and complimentary, but hungry kids don't understand a 30 minute wait and we never ended up trying this.  Additionally, I try to keep food out of the room as it inevitably ends up in a mess.  One morning my youngest was up early at 5:45am, and she was hungry, and there was no food to get anywhere.  Maybe we should have looked harder but this was really a pain as we were walking the decks while my wife and other daughter slept.

But perhaps the biggest issue we took with the wonky buffet hours was that when the buffet was closed, IT WAS CLOSED, meaning doors closed.  As perhaps the only venue on the ship that provides unobstructed viewing areas that are protected from the weather , this was very disappointing as this voyage, and many Alaska voyages run the risk of being cooler, and windier.

Casual Offerings

The food in the buffet was of good quality and presentation - no complaints here.  There was a nice rotating variety as well as some day to day standards.  Every meal we ate we were warming greeted by a crew member with a subtle reminder to wash hands at the hand washing stations.  Following that, the first four buffet items were always the same, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, french fries, and a pea/bean/corn/carrot mix - presumably for the kiddos, although us adults imbied in these favorites as well and found them to be fair to good.

The buffet features 3 indoor drink stations and 1 outdoor.  The outdoor drink station was always open whereas the indoor drink stations were only open when the buffet was open.  The indoor stations included a fountain drink machine, a juice machine, and assorted coffees, teas and hot chocolates.  The outdoor station did not have a juice machine but had everything else.  It's nice that fountain drinks are included in the cruise price, even if only at the buffet and during dining room service in the dining rooms, however I was disappointing to see wax lined, 10oz cups at the outdoor drink station which meant people were constantly going back for more and using new cups per the directions on the machines.  On windy days, the empty cups rolled around the floors and blew in the wind.

The staff works hard to control crowds in the buffet, but due to the limited hours occasionally seats were hard to come by.  There is a nice fantail area for seating however that won't always be practical with cooler weather cruises.

Other casual offerings included the following:

• Daisy's DeLites - a small counter area with soups, sandwiches, fruits and cookies located just outside the buffet near the toddler pool area. Additionally, they offer a variety of soups and rice dishes with a variety of toppings to add (fresh veggies, seeds and nuts, sour cream, shredded cheese etc).  This was particularly a nice touch however I doubt its popularity with the kids.  Hours were from about 11am to 6pm.
• Pete's Boiler Bites - in the childrens pool area at the bottom of the aft funnel.  This spot offered burgers, hot dogs, fries and gyros.  The burger I had was good but it was precooked and kept in a warmer which makes service very fast, but I do prefer a freshly grilled burger.  I didn't try the gyro but it looked good with several toppings.  The shanks were on actual gyros and rotating.  Hours were 11am to 6pm.
• Pinnochios Pizza - just forward of the aft funnel, this spot offered 3 types of pizza.  I'm not sure if they changed from one day to the next.  I only had the pizza once and it was fair, certainly edible, but tasted just slightly better than frozen pizza.  Kids obviously will enjoy.  Can you guess the hours?  I believe it was 11am to 6pm again.
• Self serve ice cream was complimentary and smoothies were extra.  
• The adult area on the same deck had a small coffee shop with some desert snacks.  The vibe is nice for adults, but its location is in the interior of the deck so views outside are through 2 sets of glass so it doesn't have the feel of the Crow's Nest coffee bar on HAL or the International Cafe seating area on Princess.
• Palo is an alternative, fee based dining room located 1 deck above the buffet.  We didn't try it but heard it was good.  The decor was very nice from what I saw.

Palo

Up next - the Dining Room experience