Day 1 Disney Magic and not impressed

[mjr0483]

I also did Anthem of the seas RCL and all MDR years ago and it was fantastic.

update. We just had lunch at Cookies and it was great. The service is great as well as the people will carry your trays to your table. I do like CocoCay a little better for the pool. But Castaway Cay has a total Typhoon Lagoon vibe minus the slides and lazy River.

 

[Vacaybound]

Hoping your experience improves. When we sailed, we choose sit down options.

 

[tidefan]

I also did Anthem of the seas RCL and all MDR years ago and it was fantastic.

update. We just had lunch at Cookies and it was great. The service is great as well as the people will carry your trays to your table. I do like CocoCay a little better for the pool. But Castaway Cay has a total Typhoon Lagoon vibe minus the slides and lazy River.

I have heard that. It very much could be that because COVID our Oasis experience was different.

Nothing wrong, BTW, with RCCL, but there are other options out there…

 

[mjr0483]

Covid is ruining

I have heard that. It very much could be that because COVID our Oasis experience was different.

Nothing wrong, BTW, with RCCL, but there are other options out there…

Covid is ruining everything. Rapunzels only had hook hand, Rapunzel and Flynn. All are trying to save money and scrimping. I think MDR experience has been going down for years even pre Covid.

 

[Kwami]

Or at least they used to be. I always looked forward to that as my embarkation day lunch, but after boarding the Magic in October, the chicken strips were a different type and not as good. I hope that was a one-off (it was the Magic's first USA cruise since reopening), and that the chicken strips will be the type they used to have when I sail on the Fantasy next week.

I had chicken strips for the first time on my February cruise and they were pretty good. I don't have any previous DCL chicken strips to compare them to, though. But they weren't gross or anything. So, here's hoping for better chicken next week!

 

[Alaska777]

I also did Anthem of the seas RCL and all MDR years ago and it was fantastic.

update. We just had lunch at Cookies and it was great. The service is great as well as the people will carry your trays to your table. I do like CocoCay a little better for the pool. But Castaway Cay has a total Typhoon Lagoon vibe minus the slides and lazy River.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise! Even if you like other lines better, I hope you guys get to relax and have some fun.

 

[Cheburashka]

I had chicken strips for the first time on my February cruise and they were pretty good. I don't have any previous DCL chicken strips to compare them to, though. But they weren't gross or anything. So, here's hoping for better chicken next week!

Yeah, they weren't gross (never had gross food on DCL), just not the same quality I was used to. I'm hoping they were just leftovers from some British brand because the Magic had recently returned from England & we were the first American cruise.

Glad you had good ones on the Fantasy. Hoping I get to board on Saturday and taste them myself. I'll just be so happy to be onboard, really. Port testing anxiety has set in, now that the cruise is so close.

 

[mygiantrobot]

Anyone really enjoy the food?

Me? I think 95% of it is great, 5% of it is fine to good. Never had a terrible meal on DCL.

 

[Snowwhyt]

It is our first Disney Cruise ever. We sailed Royal and get the unlimited specialty dining. So Disney has some big shoes to fill. We should have sat down at Rapunzels for lunch. We did the buffet. I was out voted. It is also Marvel cruise. So let’s see how the menus lay out. But they two nights for the duplicates seemed to be the same. Will keep updated.

I’ve sailed 7 DCL and 1 RCC.
for levels of food worst to best:
RCC buffet
DCL buffet few more options
Food on pool deck DCL = RCC
RCC MDR
DCL MDR
Up-charge Dining Rooms DCL = RCC
(so if I’m honest the Palo brunch on DCL was not at all to my liking during Covid last month) Palo dinners were always excellent.

Good to know about the robotic bartender and virgin drink costs. Hoping to give that a try.

 

[dwg]

it’s funny you say RCL is all up charge. Maybe you are confusing DCL. Disney is up charge everything. RCL has unlimited Wi-Fi. Disney I am afraid to even turn it on because I don’t know what the bill will be. RCL has prices on their bar menus and DCL doesn’t so you don’t even know. Wow you get free soda in a couple locations and at dinner. For $12 a day for the price of 2 lava smoothie s you get unlimited soda at ALL locations and smoothies and virgin drinks including shakes at Johnny Rockets. And unlimited virgin drinks from robot bartender.
We ate at Rupenzels Royal table last night and it was ok. And the 3 of us each got something different and my wife was on the bathroom floor all night and is now missing Castaway Cay. The service is the same we get on Royal. The difference is Disney characters and Disney theming and entertainment. Not worth paying 50% more.
I do agree Carnival burgers are the bomb. But if you go unlimited with RCL Johnny Rocket’s is included.
RCL pizza much better and better casual options.

It seems to me that you had your mind made up about Disney Cruise before even stepping on board the ship and there is nothing Disney could do to make you happy. So the difference in price you paid for the Disney vs Royal Cruise can never be justified since Disney Cruise will never meet your expectations. Based on your expectations it seems a Disney Cruise is not for you. It certainly seems that you will be much happier on the Royal Cruise. This is not meant as a criticism. There are many cruise lines and everyone has to decide for themselves which cruise lines they like best. My BIL loves Royal and would never take a Disney Cruise.

 

[tidefan]

Food on pool deck DCL = RCC

On our Serenade OTS, they didn't have any food on the pool deck. On Oasis, it was only "Loco Fresh".

 

[KashasMom]

While I do think people might be impressed by the Disney brand. I don't think there are a lot of people who go to Cabanas and say 'OMG, best food ever!'
Your title is a little click-baity.

So, this is not your first cruise and on your regular cruiseline you pay extra to get better(?) food. My question then would be: Why did you decide to pay extra on Royal?
And what do you think of the buffet on Royal?

The specialty restaurants on the Allure were AWESOME - better than Palo. We didn't pay extra - gift from our TA. And love RC buffet as well. I do think Cabanas is not good - especially breakfast. Cookies is really awful and even the quality in the dining room has really taken a hit over the years. I think the only things I enjoy on a Disney cruise are Mickey Bars!

 

[dhutchin12]

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 and I know my family does too. Truly delicious in the MDR’s. I also enjoy cabanas, love the fries there, and have yet to have a bad meal onboard. We look forward to every meal there and dinner is a highlight of each cruise we take.

 

[mjr0483]

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.

 

[tidefan]

The specialty restaurants on the Allure were AWESOME - better than Palo. We didn't pay extra - gift from our TA. And love RC buffet as well. I do think Cabanas is not good - especially breakfast. Cookies is really awful and even the quality in the dining room has really taken a hit over the years. I think the only things I enjoy on a Disney cruise are Mickey Bars!

The Allure buffet must be quite a bit different than the Serenade or Oasis buffet then...

(Although, that wouldn't surprise me. On Coco Cay, we had the best lunch of the whole cruise and in talking to the chef (my DW has a Gluten Allergy), that whole staff was from the other ship, the Odyssey... We had heard from people that went to the other lunch pavilion (that had Oasis crew) that it was "meh")

Full disclosure. We cruised Oasis during the Omicron outbreak and I don't think they had the same staff onboard much as they kept switching staff on and off between the Grandeur and Rhapsody (the quarantine ships).

 

[tidefan]

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.

It's not in comparison to DCL, it's in comparison to lines like Princess, Virgin, Carnival, Celebrity, HAL, etc.

NCL has quite the upcharge reputation as well...

 

[mjr0483]

Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise! Even if you like other lines better, I hope you guys get to relax and have some fun.

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.

 

[tidefan]

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.

Ah, this is what I was getting at. Of the activities listed, we did the water show (which was amazing, second only to Duel Reality on Virgin), and the skating show, which I could have given or taken. I can definitely see RCCL for those that use all that stuff.

For us, though, we like more activities during the day, live music, etc., and other lines suit that better. That's the great thing about all the lines, they all fill a niche...

 

[Pens Fan]

Honestly one of the reasons we stopped cruising with Disney was because of the food. I know this isn't a popular opinion on these boards (and admittedly I haven't read all of the responses to the OP's post), but for what we were paying the food just wasn't up to par. Now, I'll admit that our last DCL cruise was in 2016 so maybe it's improved. I hope it has! But at that time our take on DCL food was as follows:

Cabanas breakfast was serviceable in the same way McDonalds breakfast is serviceable. It gets the job done - nothing more nothing less.

Cabanas lunch was pretty bad. We kept going back (and that's on us!) but it just wasn't good. We finally realized that the MDR lunch was actually much better - though that did take a nice chunk of time out of your day. Eventually we found the shawarma on the pool deck and that was pretty decent. If you have a local place that serves it this will pale in comparison, but when you consider your other options it's not a bad choice. The rest of the pool deck stuff ranged from inedible (pizza and burgers) to OK (sandwiches and salads).

MDR's were a toss up. On one hand we hate the forced dining rotation as when we are on vacation we feel that we should actually get to choose where we eat (shocker! I know). We've had some pretty good things in the MDR but others not so much. I think our biggest gripe was the consistent overcooking of proteins. Both beef and fish entrees were always overcooked - even when we'd given instructions to our wait staff as to our preferences. We also found the seasoning to be way too bland for our taste. I get it. It's a family cruise line and they are catering to that market. But as a family that seeks out more adventurous flavors - well you're not getting that on DCL.

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.

Now - all that negativity aside we actually booked the Eastbound TA for May as the lure of the Mouse is strong. We did end up cancelling due to the uncertainty of Covid restrictions in Europe, but I don't rule out sailing with Disney again. I've read a lot of things saying that the food has been much better with the reduced capacity on board. I really hope that's true. Disney offers a great overall cruising experience but IMHO the weak spot has always been the food. I truly hope they can fix that.

 

[Cheburashka]

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...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.

A multitude of such activities isn't everyone's idea of an ideal cruise. See the cartoon below for why some people prefer a more peaceful vacation.