Day 1 Disney Magic and not impressed

[Geomom]

Enjoy MDAS! Glad your wife is feeling better. Just enjoy the cruise, right now don't think about how much more this cruise cost than your others, live in the moment. You can know DCL is a one and done for you and still enjoy it. DCL may not be the right cruise line for you, it's also possible you'd prefer the larger Dream class size ships if you're used to Royal, but there's definitely more upcharge possibilities on the larger ships. At least you're doing a unique cruise with the MDAS!

 

[mmouse37]

There is no right or wrong opinion on this. People prefer different ships/lines for different reasons. And food...that is so subjective. We have never had a bad meal on DCL or any other line we were on. I am not expecting 5 star dining on a mass market cruise ship. Some think Cabanas has food similar to McDonalds, I don't...I think Cabanas food is great (except the MM waffles...those are always too dry). Right now the options may be a little more limited than pre Covid but I have never said "this food is gross".

Heck, I am not shopping for it, prepping it, cooking it or cleaning it up so that is a win for me. I know that is my opinion and yours may differ. We all cruise for different reasons and that is OK. There are so many other aspects of DCL that draw me back all the time. I have cruised many of the different cruise lines but always sail back to DCL. Plus, there are deals now to make it even more appealing!!!

MJ

 

[imahistorygeek]

Even better, we felt, than Princess was Virgin Voyages, though that is adult only. However, the food on Virgin is the best at sea IMHO. There is no MDR, they are all "specialty" restaurants and are included. No buffet either, a "food hall" type place where items are cooked to order. To top it off, the ice cream is "gelato" style and included, and there is a place where you can get all the gummy bears, twizzlers, and taffy you can eat (and who doesn't like that!) (Also, the Ms. Pac Man tabletop game is free of charge, and dang, it took me back to the 80's...)

The food on Virgin was outstanding for cruise ship fare. We want to sail Virgin again just for the food.

 

[John VN]

There is no right or wrong opinion on this. People prefer different ships/lines for different reasons. And food...that is so subjective. We have never had a bad meal on DCL or any other line we were on. I am not expecting 5 star dining on a mass market cruise ship. Some think Cabanas has food similar to McDonalds, I don't...I think Cabanas food is great (except the MM waffles...those are always too dry). Right now the options may be a little more limited than pre Covid but I have never said "this food is gross".

Heck, I am not shopping for it, prepping it, cooking it or cleaning it up so that is a win for me. I know that is my opinion and yours may differ. We all cruise for different reasons and that is OK. There are so many other aspects of DCL that draw me back all the time. I have cruised many of the different cruise lines but always sail back to DCL. Plus, there are deals now to make it even more appealing!!!

MJ

Totally agree ^^^

DW and I don't care much for activities on the ships or Port excursions or outstanding food or ---- in other words ---- being on a ship and away from normal daily life is all we need to be happy. Once we did Concierge on DCL we were hooked just like the OKW 1 Bedroom so when we found other Concierge Cruising for fewer dollars with more perks we left DCL and the "magical experience" for $$$ saved with more pampering.

What ever floats your boat.

 

[dreynolds1982]

I think this is why I'm glad I a) don't cruise a lot....like only been on two cruises my whole life, and b) haven't been on a Disney cruise since 2010. Meaning I won't have the tons of comparison points that cause me to think "man, this was so much better pre-COVID" or "I miss when they did this or that." Not that there is anything wrong with any of those opinions, but sometimes ignorance is bliss

 

[kps7795]

We are second guessing our July cruise. We enjoy our meals and really dont want to pay extra for Palo/Remy. I know people tend to be negative about the food at the parks (11 trips to WDW) mostly we have enjoyed it with a very few exceptions. We do eat at buffets at WDW. From looking at videos/blogs the pre Covid Cabanas looks good, lots of salads, wraps, fruit? Fries tend to be the worst anywhere but we know that. After spending time on this thread people are not impressed with the MDR food either? Our PIF day is in May for an Alaskan cruise aboard the Wonder. Anyone really enjoy the food?

I love the food on DCL. My family and I went to Alaska twice on the Wonder. I can honestly say that I have never left a MDR dinner not satisfied. Some dinners are obviously going to be better than others, but the food is excellent. Keep in mind that some people just aren’t happy and will always find something to complain about.

 

[mullysisters]

Thank you to everyone who responded. Not to say that we only care about eating but we have a few little eating preferences (no meat, we do eat finfish or flatfish as I call them ie salmon. It's just our lifestyle choice we dont label it ) So we love to see the are lots of plant based options and salmon, seabass etc. We are reassured !

 

[KashasMom]

We are enjoying this cruise. I just don’t see how people think this warrants a 50% premium over other cruises. And yes we still prefer Oasis class ships on RCL. Staying on deck 8 and walking through Central Park to dinner every night is amazing. We still crave the food at Jamie’s Italian. Water show, skating show, laser tag, surf simulator, zip line, rock wall, carousel and mini golf all on the same ship. The activities don’t even compare.

My daughter had one bad experience in a Disney club when she was 3 and would never go back. So she started outgrowing Disney cruises when she was 7 and that's when we went on Oasis. She loves all the "active" activities on Oasis class and we love that there are more pools than Disney's 1 tiny adult pool! Harmony's slides are AWESOME! We love that there is a dinner buffet option for those nights we don't want to do the while MDR thing and I loved that she could come in the specialty restaurants with us (unlike Disney). We love that there is a family friendly show that we enjoy EVERY night. We could deal with a Disney cruise if there were more pools - that you actually had space to do more than stand up in - but honestly, we find Disney cruises (other than the Merrytime) kind of boring.

And don't get me started on the whole "Excellent" speech from the servers. That is such a turn off, and we have never experienced that on any other cruise line or any other land based restaurant. Just DCL.

Completely agree with all your comments about the food. The "excellent" speech is SO OBNOXIOUS! On one of our cruises our waiter gave the speech FIVE nights out of seven. I DREADED going to the dining room each night. If there was a dinner buffet option, I would have gone there instead. I now know better and would speak up the first time I heard it - letting the server know if I heard it again, I would be sure NOT to tip.

 

[Alaska777]

My daughter had one bad experience in a Disney club when she was 3 and would never go back. So she started outgrowing Disney cruises when she was 7 and that's when we went on Oasis. She loves all the "active" activities on Oasis class and we love that there are more pools than Disney's 1 tiny adult pool! Harmony's slides are AWESOME! We love that there is a dinner buffet option for those nights we don't want to do the while MDR thing and I loved that she could come in the specialty restaurants with us (unlike Disney). We love that there is a family friendly show that we enjoy EVERY night. We could deal with a Disney cruise if there were more pools - that you actually had space to do more than stand up in - but honestly, we find Disney cruises (other than the Merrytime) kind of boring.





Completely agree with all your comments about the food. The "excellent" speech is SO OBNOXIOUS! On one of our cruises our waiter gave the speech FIVE nights out of seven. I DREADED going to the dining room each night. If there was a dinner buffet option, I would have gone there instead. I now know better and would speak up the first time I heard it - letting the server know if I heard it again, I would be sure NOT to tip.

What is the Excellent speech??

 

[KashasMom]

Day 2. Castaway Cay was great. Very typhoon Lagoon. the Island is beautiful.Food and service was great.
Dinner at L was good and the little character show was cute. Highlight of the day was Tangled show. It was fantastic.
Funny that my wife came over on the tram later in the day and spoke with a person that sailed like 10 times on DCL and was bashing RCL on up charges. Where does this RCL is up charge city and Disney isn’t. Can someone explain this to me? It seems to be a thing in DLC fans heads about RCL but I don’t see it.
Up next tomorrow is MDAS.

Oh, the up charge thing is their mantra. They think it justifies the extra cost of Disney. But I think with the exception of Disney's "FREE" soda, the rest of the charges are the same (spa, specialty restaurant, bingo, alcohol, specialty coffee, etc.). They also don't like t-shirt sales and such. Seems it's okay to buy a bunch of overpriced Disney merch though, but those RC t-shirts on display are trashy. Most of the time, those comments come from people who haven't actually sailed another cruise line though. I don't even pay attention to them anymore.

 

[KashasMom]

Totally agree ^^^

DW and I don't care much for activities on the ships or Port excursions or outstanding food or ---- in other words ---- being on a ship and away from normal daily life is all we need to be happy. Once we did Concierge on DCL we were hooked just like the OKW 1 Bedroom so when we found other Concierge Cruising for fewer dollars with more perks we left DCL and the "magical experience" for $$$ saved with more pampering.

What ever floats your boat.

Agree about the perks for Concierge guests on other lines. That and itineraries are 2 places Disney is severely lacking!

 

[KashasMom]

What is the Excellent speech??

A the end of the cruise you get the Guest Comment Card to fill out. The waiter tells you that you MUST give "excellent" for EVERYTHING related to dining. I found this particularly annoying since you may have had good service but food quality was not. Your server should not be responsible for the quality of your food. (Obviously I understand that your sever wants you to be happy with your meal.) The server will tell you that everything depends on your "excellent" from his raises to his promotions to his time off. What's really funny about the card is that it asks if you've been pressured to give the answers you did.

 

[mab2012]

We like Cabanas. Or we did pre-COVID, anyway. Maybe it's just a matter of expectations? I mean, it's a buffet, we don't expect fantastic food. But we never have trouble finding something we want to eat.

We sailed on RCCL last summer for the first time in 10 years, with several DCL cruises in between. I was surprised at how much I noticed the difference. I could eat at Windjammers, it's not like I went hungry, but I often wandered for several minutes before I chose something, usually not very enthusiastically. And the MDR food was fine, but again, several times I didn't really care for what I ordered. Not a problem I ever remember having on DCL.

I don't think the food on DCL is amazing. As others have pointed out, it's mass-produced. But I usually enjoy it, sometimes a lot, and definitely preferred it to RCCL.

 

[Kwami]

What is the Excellent speech??

Disney, like many other companies, uses an absolutely terrible rating system. If you rate your server and your dining experience 5/5 (which is listed as "excellent"), then all is well. If you rate them 4/5 (which is listed as "very good"), then they're penalized. A recent server was telling me that 5/5 is like getting 100/100 and 4/5 is like getting 80/100 and they're expected to maintain a 95 average each cruise. So, even just 1-2 4/5 ratings can ruin their average, which affects raises, job/ship placements, and contract renewals. It's really stupid.

Anyway, because of that pressure, servers almost always remind you to rate 5/5 on the three questions that affect their average, even though they really aren't supposed to. It's entirely Disney's fault that they're in this position, though, so I try not to hold it against them unless they go on about it more than once.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

We just did a back to back Norwegian and Disney and the food on Disney was meh and I had to leave it on my comment card it just sucked

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Water show, skating show, laser tag, surf simulator, zip line, rock wall, carousel and mini golf all on the same ship.

Sounds awful. That's exactly the type of thing that turns me off of the mega-ships.

 

[TeamRiley]

We see it this way:
1. Most cruise lines make tons of money on booze and casinos. Disney is more expensive due to no casino and not a ton of booze.
2. We renamed the last Royal Caribbean ship we cruised on "The Mall of the Sea". I can go to the mall on land. Enough said.
3. On a grand generic level, the food really is better. Part of it is also the variety ( In the main dining rooms ). I like a completely new menu every night. On most others we have been on it is the same stuff with a different name and maybe one new special every night - gets boring.
4. Like being at WDW or DL, for some reason, most people are just plane nicer. Some little kid takes a header on the pool deck - the closest 10 people go to make sure she is ok. I don't know if it is because they are there with kids or family or what, but the A-hòle factor is WAY lower on a Disney Cruise. Perhaps due to less booze. Who knows.

Everyone has their own opinions of course, but having been on a fair number of cruises, this is mine. After a while, the significantly lowered A-hòle and Karen factor becomes more of a pleasure than I originally thought it would be.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

On a grand generic level, the food really is better. Part of it is also the variety ( In the main dining rooms ). I like a completely new menu every night. On most others we have been on it is the same stuff with a different name and maybe one new special every night - gets boring.

Variety and consistency, for me. I've had zero bad meals on DCL. On other lines, I've had better "best" meals, but also some stinkers mixed in.

The only gripe I have in the MDRs is the dipping sauces for bread service. They're all just mayonnaise, basically.

Some little kid takes a header on the pool deck - the closest 10 people go to make sure she is ok.

I laughed way too hard at this.

 

[Kwami]

The only gripe I have in the MDRs is the dipping sauces for bread service. They're all just mayonnaise, basically.

They weren't mayonnaise when I was on the Dream in February. We had a chickpea spread (basically hummus), an olive spread, a mango pepper dip, and a roasted garlic dip. Of the four, only the last one appeared to be mayo.

 

[tidefan]

Disney, like many other companies, uses an absolutely terrible rating system. If you rate your server and your dining experience 5/5 (which is listed as "excellent"), then all is well. If you rate them 4/5 (which is listed as "very good"), then they're penalized. A recent server was telling me that 5/5 is like getting 100/100 and 4/5 is like getting 80/100 and they're expected to maintain a 95 average each cruise. So, even just 1-2 4/5 ratings can ruin their average, which affects raises, job/ship placements, and contract renewals. It's really stupid.

Anyway, because of that pressure, servers almost always remind you to rate 5/5 on the three questions that affect their average, even though they really aren't supposed to. It's entirely Disney's fault that they're in this position, though, so I try not to hold it against them unless they go on about it more than once.

In all fairness, while annoying, it is no more annoying than the person that came by our MDR table each night on Oasis trying to pitch specialty dining (you’d have thought after the first two nights of saying we weren’t interested, they’d have gotten the message…)