Disney Blasphemy! The good, the great, and the not so great on our recent Fantasy Cruise.

[Disneyland_emily]

We had a similar MDR team- they weren’t awful but they were far from good. We struggled for beverages/refills all week, kept putting the butter in front of my dairy free toddler so we had tears EVERY night etc. we struggled so bad on her allergy we’ve pulled it off our next cruise and will manage.

My husband loves the MDR experience or I’d have stopped going on night 2 (of 7)

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

We only sail over school holidays, yet out of five cruises (including one on each ship) we have only found kids' behavior to be occasionally annoying on one single cruise. And this is coming from a strict teacher with little tolerance for hijinks. So no one need assume that annoying kids have to be a feature of a DCL cruise.

 

[Karin1984]

I think your review is pretty mild. Besides the food and the servers, it sounded like a good cruise with a few hickups.

The only issue is, for you to have a good vacation, these two aspects needed to be up to standard and above. They weren't , so the only conclusion that makes sense is to not sail DCL again.

If there was another aspect of the cruise that was more important then these, your total view would have been different. But it's okay, it's your opinion.

My servers on the Magic weren't very great either, 6 out of 10. And the food was ok, not mind-blowing, but for me, it is not a very important aspect.

 

[LeeLeeK]

Thanks for the review. I'm sorry that your cruise didn't live up to your expectations. I'm not one who thinks DCL is perfect.

I have found that kids on Disney ships can be the worst. Many parents think they can stop parenting once they step on board and kids do tend to run a bit wild because many Disney parents give their kids more freedom because it's "Disney" (I personally don't agree with that line of thinking). I will definitely say something to a kid though, most especially if a kid is touching food at the buffet. Then I guess I'll have to deal with some entitled parent for saying something to their kid.

The meet and greets have gotten worse since they stopped taking items at guest services to be autographed. That takes up quite a bit of time now. You actually need a plan how to "attack" the lines to get photos.

I'm also with you on the food. We've never found it to be as exceptional as people say. Kind of mid-chain restaurant level. Cabanas is just so-so and the BBQ on Castaway Cay is not good at all.

I like the newer/bigger ships but don't want the short itineraries on the Dream so we've been on the Fantasy more. We've also had our worst serving team on the Fantasy - and our worst room! So we do stray from DCL from time to time. Hope your next vacation or cruise is better!

When did they stop taking items to be autographed at guest services?

 

[Dug720]

When did they stop taking items to be autographed at guest services?

Several years ago when it became overwhelming and even with a 2-per-Stateroom limit the crew members VOLUNTEERING their time to sign were not able to keep up with the demand.

Thank the internet. It’s why we can’t have nice things.

 

[BCV23]

We only sail over school holidays, yet out of five cruises (including one on each ship) we have only found kids' behavior to be occasionally annoying on one single cruise. And this is coming from a strict teacher with little tolerance for hijinks. So no one need assume that annoying kids have to be a feature of a DCL cruise.

If you are referring to my suggestion to try to avoid summer, I just meant that with many more children sailing the odds increase that there may be a group of out of control children on board. That's why I said it was a small suggestion.

 

[hardis5]

Good review and the points on service rang true for us. We've had phenomenal to poor MDR teams and what we've noted was the really good head servers know their weak teams, and will help out with and direct their other teams to carry some load so service does not suffer as much as it could have otherwise. I don't hold this against the weak teams but the head server recognizing and trying to give us the best possible experience with what they have.

Combine a weak head server with a weak serving team, you have little hope and the MDR experience will likely be subpar from DCL norms.

We use those head server check-ins if needed rather than the cursory nod with a full mouth.

Great Remy and Palo experiences only would amplify the MDR mistakes and subpar experience.

I think kids running amok becoming a bigger societal issue and not unique to DCL alone and see worsening each year we cruise. As parenting styles become more "relaxed", people feel more entitled and self-absorbed in their own time and their kids can do no wrong (ok this is me becoming a fuddy duddy), unless cruising on a line with fewer kids this is something one would find difficult to avoid.

 

[n2mm]

This was a very good review and I can see how having a less than great dining team can cause problems. My last cruise the assistant server kept disappearing and we didn’t get refills. I spoke to the dining room server, though he asked how everything was for our first night and the next day we had a new assistant server. We didn’t expect that would happen, but the rest of the meals went smoothly.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

OP, it sounds like ultimately you did not think the experience was worth the cost. We have also come to that conclusion with dcl, especially during vacation periods. We think that the children on dcl tend to be more spoiled and indulged than children on other lines. We had a server on dcl tell us that we were abnormal parents for dcl because we really held our children in check and did not give in to their demands. She said we reminded her of her own parents. Must be pretty bad for a server to say that because we are not strict parents by any means, but we do force our children to be polite and not make unnecessary demands on the staff. Our kids are forced to order from the menu in front of them without adjustment, for example, a little bit of “adversity” goes a long way in making your child appreciate how lucky they are to even be on the cruise.

 

[mevelandry]

I always appreciate honest feedback! I am going into our first cruise on the Fantasy (next month) with pretty low expectations. I know we will have fun and can look for ways to enjoy ourselves, but there is no convincing me that the food will be incredible or kids won't be there getting on my nerves!

We are attempting it but will probably get back to our WDW vacations after this one.

That's the best mindset. With low expectations, there is more room for nice surprises!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

If you are referring to my suggestion to try to avoid summer, I just meant that with many more children sailing the odds increase that there may be a group of out of control children on board. That's why I said it was a small suggestion.

It was a good suggestion. I was just trying to reassure newbies that school vacation cruises don't have to be problematic.

 

[doublesided]

We went in June on our first cruise and we were unimpressed as well although we did enjoy the experience. The food was mediocre at best, they weren't prepared for our food allergies until day 3 and although we loved Alaska, the cruise itself didn't live up to everyone's reviews. We have a 12 year old and he was horrified by some of the actions of other kids--a bunch of tweens were taking cups of hot chocolate and putting them in the elevator for people to trip over. Our kid did go to the Edge occasionally but overall wasn't impressed by the kids stuff there but he's an older soul. He went to the younger club for about 10 minutes and then we gave back the band, it was way too young for him. Will we cruise again? Maybe someday with friends if the price is right but we aren't emotionally tied to make it a Disney cruise. Note that we go to the parks twice a year and have visited DL as well. The cruise was fun but not any more magical than a WDW vacation.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

Yeah I hope our second cruise this upcoming November lives up to the hype again. We did a 4 night on the dream last year and it was amazing in many regards including our dinner service team.

It helps that we're pretty low maintenance folks. We like to look at the menu beforehand earlier in the day so we have an inkling of what we want to eat. We also usually only drink water with meals and we stay very hydrated throughout the day (we live at high altitude so it's a habit) so refills don't make or break our meal. The food was above average in our case (compared to banquet/wedding food) and we were happy with it.

 

[Dug720]

We went in June on our first cruise and we were unimpressed as well although we did enjoy the experience. The food was mediocre at best, they weren't prepared for our food allergies until day 3 and although we loved Alaska, the cruise itself didn't live up to everyone's reviews. We have a 12 year old and he was horrified by some of the actions of other kids--a bunch of tweens were taking cups of hot chocolate and putting them in the elevator for people to trip over. Our kid did go to the Edge occasionally but overall wasn't impressed by the kids stuff there but he's an older soul. He went to the younger club for about 10 minutes and then we gave back the band, it was way too young for him. Will we cruise again? Maybe someday with friends if the price is right but we aren't emotionally tied to make it a Disney cruise. Note that we go to the parks twice a year and have visited DL as well. The cruise was fun but not any more magical than a WDW vacation.

Curious if you had notified them of the allergies ahead of time? Ships have limited storage and cannot be as randomly prepared for unannounced allergies as a land-based restaurant. If not reported in advance - especially if they are complicated - it may well have taken that long for them to be able to onboard food that would work.

Even when people do report, if others do not it affects everyone. I was on a RCCL cruise in the Med and just before Venice (at about the halfway point) they ran out of the good gluten-free bread and some other gluten-free things because many more people were claiming gluten-free than had reported it in advance. My server said they will order a percentage over the reported amount, but in this case many more than that we’re claiming gluten-free. They were able to restock some in Venice, but it could have been really down to eggs and lettuce and chicken and steak as about the only choices for us by the end of the cruise otherwise.

 

[LeeLeeK]

Several years ago when it became overwhelming and even with a 2-per-Stateroom limit the crew members VOLUNTEERING their time to sign were not able to keep up with the demand.

Thank the internet. It’s why we can’t have nice things.

Well that is certainly one way of putting it LOL. I just saw a video about it on the internet. Thank you for the heads up, I appreciate it.

 

[LeeLeeK]

Curious if you had notified them of the allergies ahead of time? Ships have limited storage and cannot be as randomly prepared for unannounced allergies as a land-based restaurant. If not reported in advance - especially if they are complicated - it may well have taken that long for them to be able to onboard food that would work.

Even when people do report, if others do not it affects everyone. I was on a RCCL cruise in the Med and just before Venice (at about the halfway point) they ran out of the good gluten-free bread and some other gluten-free things because many more people were claiming gluten-free than had reported it in advance. My server said they will order a percentage over the reported amount, but in this case many more than that we’re claiming gluten-free. They were able to restock some in Venice, but it could have been really down to eggs and lettuce and chicken and steak as about the only choices for us by the end of the cruise otherwise.

I wondered about this too. I worry about this for our upcoming trip for my DD & DH. I've called, my TA notified DCL, and I have personally emailed them about my DD & DH's food allergies. (thank you everyone on here for your tips about this!!). This post is an important read. Thank you for the question as well as describing your experience while on board RCCL.

 

[doublesided]

Curious if you had notified them of the allergies ahead of time? Ships have limited storage and cannot be as randomly prepared for unannounced allergies as a land-based restaurant. If not reported in advance - especially if they are complicated - it may well have taken that long for them to be able to onboard food that would work.

Even when people do report, if others do not it affects everyone. I was on a RCCL cruise in the Med and just before Venice (at about the halfway point) they ran out of the good gluten-free bread and some other gluten-free things because many more people were claiming gluten-free than had reported it in advance. My server said they will order a percentage over the reported amount, but in this case many more than that we’re claiming gluten-free. They were able to restock some in Venice, but it could have been really down to eggs and lettuce and chicken and steak as about the only choices for us by the end of the cruise otherwise.

Yes we informed them at the time of booking which was months in advance. We had also followed up by email several weeks before.

 

[doublesided]

I wondered about this too. I worry about this for our upcoming trip for my DD & DH. I've called, my TA notified DCL, and I have personally emailed them about my DD & DH's food allergies. (thank you everyone on here for your tips about this!!). This post is an important read. Thank you for the question as well as describing your experience while on board RCCL.

Make sure you really push them on the first night. I was super tired and wishy washy the first night and in turn, our problems went into day 3. If it wasn't for a head server that decided to take us under her wing (the first head server was useless) we would have continued to barely eat. Our allergies weren't difficult (nuts, sunflower seeds, coconut and fruit) but they made it harder than it had to be and didn't give us many choices until she stepped in.

Be prepared to preorder your meals and then even with preordering it took forever for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was quicker since we had our regular team. Honestly if we ever went back on the cruise we wouldn't listen to them and just go to Cabanas. They kept telling us we needed to eat in the main dining room but the last day when we went to Cabanas they made us safe food in half the time.

 

[BCV23]

It was a good suggestion. I was just trying to reassure newbies that school vacation cruises don't have to be problematic.

And a good reassurance it is.

Like you, we've rarely seen bad behavior on a DCL cruise. What the OP observed was so completely out of line.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We only sail over school holidays, yet out of five cruises (including one on each ship) we have only found kids' behavior to be occasionally annoying on one single cruise. And this is coming from a strict teacher with little tolerance for hijinks. So no one need assume that annoying kids have to be a feature of a DCL cruise.

I think kids running amok becoming a bigger societal issue and not unique to DCL alone and see worsening each year we cruise. As parenting styles become more "relaxed", people feel more entitled and self-absorbed in their own time and their kids can do no wrong (ok this is me becoming a fuddy duddy), unless cruising on a line with fewer kids this is something one would find difficult to avoid.

On our cruise this spring, the only time I saw what I would consider rowdy kids was several boys running quickly up the stairs and pushing past people. And then I saw some Edge counselors a little ways behind, and realized that the Edge ship scavenger hunt was taking place. So in our case, the most rowdy kids we saw were just participating in a supervised Edge activity. It's not necessarily all down to "relaxed" parenting.