SOMEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC — Port Canaveral has welcomed most of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships, each of which has held the title of world’s largest cruise ship, but with Wonder of the Seas’ arrival, it marks the first time the Orlando market has gotten a hold of one in its first year of service.
Wonder of the Seas debuted out of Port Everglades in the spring, but began year-round service from Port Canaveral in November. The ship comes in at 1,188 feet long, 217 feet wide with 18 decks and 2,867 staterooms.
Its gross tonnage is 236,857 with a 7,084-guest maximum capacity, the highest among all Oasis-class ships.
The line held its official naming ceremony on Dec. 10, ahead of which it took news media members on a two-night preview cruise.
Just like its sister ships, Wonder of the Seas brings the familiar neighborhood concept that helps travelers avoid feeling like they’re crammed on a ship with thousands of fellow cruisers.
“The neighborhoods ebb and flow like neighborhoods in any community,” said Royal Caribbean President and CEO Michael Bayley. “When we’re designing the ship, we give a lot of thought to the natural cadence of the movement of people during the day.”
A lot of the features found on board are familiar to the class, including the signature Central Park open space carved out of the middle of the ship, the Boardwalk at the aft with its own carousel, and the top-deck three-waterslide attraction The Perfect Storm.
It’s also once again home to the twin dry slides called the Ultimate Abyss, which allows thrill seekers to climb into its signature angler fish entryway and twist their way down 10 decks below in just seconds.
The ship, though, has other features that set it apart.
At the top of the list is bacon. OK, it’s a Southern restaurant concept called The Mason Jar, within which bacon makes several notable cameos, such as the garnish along with a cherry in a drink called the “Far From Manhattan.”
The restaurant, though, is more than just spirits. It’s comfy, homey chairs, a live band with a smiling portrait of Dolly Parton overlooking the stage and a geographic hopscotch across Southern states on the menu.
It’s certainly not the only specialty dining on board with the return of the two-deck molecular gastronomy cuisine offering Wonderland, plus mainstays 150 Central Park, Chops Grille, Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar, Hooked Seafood, Izumi sushi and teppanyaki, Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade and Johnny Rockets, with costs ranging from around $10-$70 per person among the options.
There’s plenty of complimentary dining on board as well including the Windjammer buffet, Park Cafe in Central Park with the line’s roast beef Kummelweck sandwich, El Loco Fresh with its seriously tasty hot sauces, Boardwalk Dog House, Sorrento’s pizza and others.
Those on liquid diets will find plenty of options including the robotic bartender-staffed Bionic Bar, traditional Schooner Bar, Cantina Fresca, Boleros, Cask & Clipper, Rising Tide Bar, Wipeout Bar (near the FlowRider), Trellis Bar in Central Park, Solarium Bar and The Lime & Coconut concept that’s been rolled out across much of Royal’s fleet since debuting aboard Navigator of the Seas in 2019.
And, don’t worry, there’s also a Starbucks.
Most of the bars and restaurants are peppered across the eight neighborhoods so there are gastronomic options around every corner, although sometimes it takes a long walk to reach that corner.
With the ship’s enormity, the cruise line also decided to pull most of its suites into one neighborhood, making it the only Oasis-class ship with eight. The other Oasis-class ships have seven with Central Park, Boardwalk, Pool & Sports Zone, Entertainment Place, Royal Promenade, Vitality Spa & Fitness Center and Youth Zone.
Other changes on Wonder include offering only one FlowRider surf simulator while opening up space for an underwater-themed outdoor play area for families called Wonder Playscape, with mini-golf, slides, climbing walls and an interactive touch mural. The whole space lights up with neon at night with a vivid orange octopus lording over it.
Another change is the addition of the new Vue Bar that took the place of one of the cantilevered hot tubs found on other Oasis-class ships that allows for a nice vantage of the ocean.
It’s also the third ship after Symphony of the Seas and Spectrum of the Seas to feature the priciest suite available — the Ultimate Family Suite complete with its own slide, Lego wall, digital game table, hot tub and stairwell that plays music as you walk on the steps. Costs vary, but can quite often hit $25,000 or more for a one-week cruise.
The ship’s size also comes to the forefront when sitting in the main dining room that spans three decks, or choosing from the hundreds of tables across the buffet that’s now the largest in the fleet.
But the details in each space make cruisers feel more like they’re moving among intimate spaces. At times, beholding the size of the ship is a treat, like people-watching in a large city or enjoying the breeze created by the wind tunnel amid Central Park.
But the details can be welcome distractions as well, from the Alice in Wonderland-decorated elevator doors adjacent to Wonderland to the red Mustang parked on the promenade to the white leather and red velvet couches inside the somewhat hidden comedy venue The Attic.
Just as on several other Royal Caribbean ships, the stage has been set for big shows in three media: traditional theater, an ice skating rink and the massive AquaTheater, each with a new show unique to Wonder of the Seas.
The ship’s AquaTheater has a massive clamshell feature at the aft of the ship that helps stave off the elements at showtime, and with musical homages pulled from movie scores like “Interstellar” and “The Matrix.” The all-female diving, aerobatic and tightrope-walking performers embrace their show’s name, “inTENse,” with 55-foot high dives and even a patented whirling water-and-light display that looks similar to fireworks.
“It’s a frenzy. It’s meant to be chaos. It’s an emotional experience for that cast every night. Sometimes they’re in tears,” said Royal Caribbean’s vice president of entertainment Nick Weir. “We thought we should max this one. Let’s turn everything to 10. More dives than we’ve ever done. More volume. More motion. More everything. Everything turned to 10.”
While the ship may be big, the mini ice rink Studio B, which is open for cruisers to try their frozen sea legs upon during part of the sailing, is home to a more technicolor treat with the skating show “365: The Seasons on Ice.” It opens with The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” and migrates through a potpourri of musical stylings while projection lighting coupled with seriously talented skating routines replete with spins and flips is similar to viewing a kaleidoscope.
There’s also a black-light puppet show for kids on board, and the occasional surprise “stowaway piano” player who makes appearances randomly on the ship’s elevators.
For the main stage show in the Royal Theater, though, the line has created a sequel for “The Effectors” superhero offering that debuted on Odyssey of the Seas, this one titled “The Effectors II: Crash ‘n’ Burn” because superhero shows need sequels, Weir said.
Even if Marvel movies aren’t your cup of tea, 48 choreographed drones that play a central role to the storyline are appropriate to the ship’s name while the music is a combination of familiar popular tunes along with some catchy original songs.
Technology ought to get top-billing as well with a memorable laser-light sequence and an eye-tricking routine in which live actors trade spaces with digital versions in giant smartphones.
“This is all clever stuff for a cruise line” Weir said.
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