Fantasy vs Wonder - aft staterooms

[dishee]

So I've read that the aft staterooms on the Fantasy suffer from engine rumbling. Is that the same for the Wonder aft staterooms? What are the other cons/pros to the aft staterooms? and does the Wonder have staterooms with extended verandahs like the Fantasy does? TIA

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So I've read that the aft staterooms on the Fantasy suffer from engine rumbling. Is that the same for the Wonder aft staterooms? What are the other cons/pros to the aft staterooms? and does the Wonder have staterooms with extended verandahs like the Fantasy does? TIA

The vibrations (not just engines rumbling) are on the Fantasy. The other ships, you can (sometimes) feel/hear the engines, but not all the time like on the Fantasy.

 

[Marc D]

A few years ago (2018?), we felt terrible rumbling in a mid-to-aft room on Wonder for our entire cruise. The problem at that time was so bad that people posted videos on YT of items falling off the desks and tables in staterooms. However, that was a Galveston-based itinerary, which involves two long open sea portions at full speed at the beginning and end of the cruise. We went back on Wonder a year after, sailing out of Florida, and didn't notice any rumbling.

All the ships in the fleet went into a dry dock for engine work last year in France. We hoped they would fix the rumbling issue but recent reports from Fantasy indicate that ship's problems were not solved. Maybe they solved it on Wonder ?

 

[Cheburashka]

The Fantasy is notorious for severe aft vibrations.

 

[sethschroeder]

Just got off wonder and teeth were rattling in every dining location even Cabanas.

I would never want an Aft cabin on that ship. Never experienced anything like it on the Fantasy or as bad.

Glad we had a midship/forward stateroom on 6.

 

[yowcruiser]

The Wonder does not have rooms that are truly facing back - there are some slightly larger verandah rooms toward the back side of the ship, with the accessible stateroom on each side on deck 5 and 6, and the accessible Concierge rooms on Deck 8. Rooms such as 7X34, 6X52, 5X50 have slightly larger verandah but they do not extend the way that the rooms facing back (such as 9176) do on the Fantasy. We have been on some of those on the Magic and Wonder and they are often fairly quiet from a foot traffic perspective. We had quite a bit of engine vibration on Deck 7 aft on the Magic, but did not experience such on the Wonder on deck 5... even at top speed

 

[Cheburashka]

Just got off wonder and teeth were rattling in every dining location even Cabanas.

I would never want an Aft cabin on that ship. Never experienced anything like it on the Fantasy or as bad.

Glad we had a midship/forward stateroom on 6.

You had a rocky sailing, and that can happen on any ship. I sailed aft on the Wonder three years ago and had no issues with vibration beyond the very mild vibrations that are typical in the aft of every ship.

Bottom line: If the OP is concerned about vibration or movement, he or she should book a midship cabin. Aft cabins always get some minor vibration at least, and forward cabins are the most prone to motion. All it takes is difficult weather to make either of those usually minor issues more pronounced.

 

[sethschroeder]

had a rocky sailing

It was smooth sailing with minimal movement anywhere else.

This was actual vibrations from the engines not movement from the seas.

Like I said nothing close to this on the Fantasy and nothing like this on the Encore NCL either.

 

[Akck]

It was smooth sailing with minimal movement anywhere else.

This was actual vibrations from the engines not movement from the seas.

Like I said nothing close to this on the Fantasy and nothing like this on the Encore NCL either.

We were told it was because they had to run all engines for the sea conditions. It was especially bad in Tiana’s for one lunch. Our room was aft on deck 6 and we initially felt the vibrations, but it became background “noise” where it didn’t bother us.

 

[princesspeaony]

FWIW the Wonder was not using a number of the Concierge 1BR aft rooms earlier this month, due to vibrations, we were told. And would agree that there was significant rumbling when we ate in Tianas that first night…we were glad we moved more forward.

 

[beavismom]

We were told it was because they had to run all engines for the sea conditions. It was especially bad in Tiana’s for one lunch. Our room was aft on deck 6 and we initially felt the vibrations, but it became background “noise” where it didn’t bother us.

We were aft on deck 6 on that cruise as well and rarely noticed the vibration other than in Tiana's and that was mostly because the chandeliers vibrate so much. The vibrations are there, but how much it might bother you is subjective. We did have a pretty strong headwind heading down to Cozumel, and the 2nd night was rougher due to having to go at a higher speed to compensate. I think that is a fairly common occurrence on this route.

 

[dtrain]

We stayed AFT 7620 (secret verandah) on The Wonder for Mexican Riviera 7 night and she shook so bad we couldn’t sleep at night. There were shims inserted into all the ceiling/wall connections showing it’s a known problem. Avoid at all costs, book mid or foward.