A Drinker’s Guide To The New Disney Cruise Ship: Disney Wish

With Disney Wish, Disney Cruise Line gets as creative with bars and beverages as it is with its films.

Dive into hyperspace, dip your toes into the bayou, or get an old-fashioned shave while sipping an Old Fashioned at some of the many bars and lounges on board Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Disney Wish.

Christened on June 29, 2022, Disney Cruise Line (DCL) made a clear choice to elevate the adult offerings on their newest class of ships. With no less than 13 beverage outlets scattered throughout the ship, there’s no shortage of drink availability. It’s not just about quantity, as quality and variety abound, with outlets offering themed drinks perfectly attuned to the surrounding.

 “Onboard all of our ships, we are committed to creating unique and exclusive beverage menus.” Says Salah Chetbi, Dining and Beverage Standards and Consistency Manager for Disney Cruise Line. “We also look at trends and try to come up with new ways to innovate and stand out. In addition to having so much great theming on board the Disney Wish, we also got to play with this idea of enchantment, so we added unique elements and garnishes to bring this concept to life.”

Let’s begin with a morning brew. Sure, they have coffee options from around the globe, but you’re on vacation, so why not head over to the Moana-inspired Cove Café for a cold brewed cocktail? I chose the Brew and Sand which includes flavors you wouldn’t think would work together—Monkey Shoulder Whisky, Luxardo Cherry Liqueur, Orange Cointreau, and coffee—and, while you can taste each one, they get along as well as most of the Seven Dwarfs (Grumpy doesn’t play well with anyone).

Next, wander over to The Princess and the Frog-themed bar, The Bayou, where you can order up some beignets to go with a traditional New Orleans Hurricane or a Cajun Michelada. For the absinthe fans, there’s the Absinthe Frappé made with Pernod Absinthe, anisette, and Abita Vanilla Cream Soda.

Lager, And Ale, And Stout, Oh My!

For a cold lager, cider, stout, or ale, step into the nautical-themed Keg & Compass, a pub that will have you singing, “Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of, uh, beer.” From the fruity Luau Passion Orange Guava IPA to the La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Trappist Ale, this is the place for lovers of a good brew. If you want to venture out from the norm, try the dry, crisp, Odin’s Potion Mead, by Helderberg Meadworks. DCL has even branded their own label called Uncharted Beers which includes a lager, an ale, and a stout.

If you need a refreshing drink for your day at the pool, Stop by Wheezy’s Freezies where you and the kids can get blended drinks like Smells Like Berries, a yummy fruit smoothie. These can be spiked for a more adult version. If you’re cruising without kids, or maybe they’re having fun in the kids’ clubs, head aft to the adults-only Quiet Cove where you can take a dip in the infinity pool and order up a Cucumber Honeydew Pop-Spritz made with Irvine's American Dry Gin and Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic.

Men can head to a bar that isn’t a bar, Hook’s Barbery. Listed under the “Spa & Salon” heading, men can get a shave and a haircut, and also a bourbon or a whiskey[CR1].

A Rose By Any Other Name

For a before or after-dinner cocktail, make your way up to deck 12 and just behind the two high-end dining rooms, Palo and Enchanté, you’ll find the Beauty and the Beast-inspired lounge, The Rose. Besides being a wonderful place to enjoy sunset, the soft, yellow lighting, swirling in the shape of roses, along with plush, velvet seating, and roses under glass scattered throughout, create a quiet, high-end ambiance making it the perfect setting for an elegant sip of Gevrey-Chambertin Louis Jadot Pinot Noir or Veuve Cliquot Extra Old Champagne. Just as in the other lounges, mixed drinks are well thought-out and themed to the space. Try the Mrs. Tea, created with SelvaRey White Rum, Belvedere Pear & Ginger, Pique Passion Fruit Green Tea, and Moet Imperial Rosè, or a Royal Wedding, made with Buckingham Palace Dry Gin, Fog Point Vodka, and Lillet Blanc. For a splurge, go for the $50, The Rose. While the tasty drink includes Komos Reposado Rosa, Grand Marnier Cuvee Louis Alexandre, and Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Rosé, it’s the presentation that takes it over the top. The Rose is served under a smoke-filled glass dome that, when lifted, dissipating smoke reveals a simple pink-gold drink in a red-stemmed wine glass. The oohs and aahs follow.

For a drink and a song, take a seat in Nightingales. With the name taken from Cinderella’s song, Sing, Sweet Nightingale, this refined piano bar keeps with the musical theming while also keeping things classy. Offering a good selection of reds, whites, Champagne, and sparkling wines, their variety of “Bubble” cocktails are a must try. Divided into “Air Bubbles,” straight-forward Champagne and fizzy cocktails; “Smoke Bubbles,” topped with a bubble of smoke shot from a smoke gun just before serving; and “Ice Bubbles,” where your drink is enclosed in a bubble of ice that you break into with the gold-colored mallet served on the side.

A Galaxy of Drinks

Finally, the most talked about bar on the ship, the Star Wars Hyperspace Lounge. First, with a maximum capacity of fewer than 50 people (or aliens, perhaps), this bar is way too small for the amount of (well-deserved) hype it’s received. And, as it’s inspired by the bar on the yacht, First Light, owned by Dryden Vos, part of the Han Solo story, some older Star Wars fans might be disappointed not to find the most unusual alien band and patrons from Mos Eisley Cantina in the original Star Wars movie. Still, as Danny Henke, Creative Director for Disney Imagineering says, “This has been an amazing collaboration between LucasFilm, Industrial Light and Magic, and Imagineering, as well as our wonderful cruise line partners. On our existing ships, we’ve never built a space that’s dedicated to adults that’s themed to one of our stories.”

Guests enter the lounge as you would expect to enter any room in the Star Wars galaxy, through a door that opens with an audible, woosh, when a button next to it is pressed. What’s revealed is an industrial-style room lit in muted purple and accented with futuristic circles of gold and blue lights. Trinkets collected from across the universe can be found throughout. The real highlight, though, is the screen stretching the length of the bar and offering a window on the galaxy, with some recognizable Star Wars universe spacecraft whizzing by. Here and there, the stars become a blur and you’re blasted into hyperspace.

Order up some of the drinks brought in from galaxies near and far and you may just start seeing those aliens. Try The Chancellor, from the planet Coruscant. This blend of James Hennessy Cognac and Calvados Menorval 1972 is served in a metal-plated spiked goblet and topped with a smoke bubble. Or maybe order a Freetown Reserve brought from Tatooine. It starts with a blend of bourbon and aged port filtered through an impressive infuser looking like something from a science lab. The infusion includes Masala tea and a spice blend which then drains into a beaker. It’s blasted with a puff of ginger smoke before being poured into a glass over a blue Hyperspace ice cube (with the Hyperspace logo, of course).

The $5,000 Cocktail 

You can’t mention the Hyperspace Lounge without talking about the Kaiburr Crystal, otherwise known as the $5,000 cocktail. Yes, you read that correctly.

Guests are provided with a secret code that, when entered, opens the Star Wars-themed Camtono container revealing a silver cup filled with the main cocktail of Camus Cognac 4.16, yuzu and kumquat, and Grand Marnier Quintessence. This main cocktail is surrounded by three silver shot glasses containing a Pappy Van Winkle 23, a Taylor’s Kingsman Edition Very Old Tawny Port, and a Watenshi gin. The cups are yours to take. But wait, there’s more. The drink also comes with flowers and personalized sparkling wine from Skywalker Vineyards delivered to your stateroom, as well as an invitation to George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch. Enchantment? Available if money is no object.

While you may think of a Disney cruise as one for kids, with the Wish, Disney has made it clear they’re as committed to creative adult spaces and quality beverages as any other cruise line and, with creators of Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel on their team, their drinks, bars, and lounges turn fantasy into reality.