Disney Dream adult only area drinks harassment?

[josiekiera97]

Hi. Just a question... Me and my sister (both adults) and our mum are going on the 11 night transatlantic sailing from Southampton to New York on the Disney Dream at the end of September this year. In preparation for this trip I was listening to some of the DCL podcasts and on one Erica mentioned how badly they were pestered by the wait staff constantly offering them drinks even when they had said no minutes beforehand. Now me and my sister don't drink alcohol and my mum won't be 'day drinking' as such so after hearing this on the podcast it made me worried that we will bugged by them all the time since they will see us without drinks and it will ruin our experience. We want to take advantage of the more peaceful adults only area and am worried this will ruin our trip experience as its such a long cruise.

Do you have any experience of this?
Is it as bad as she mentioned?
Do you have any suggestions to circumvent this problem? If needed I will make a sign and take it with me lol.
Any advice is welcomed! Thanks

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi. Just a question... Me and my sister (both adults) and our mum are going on the 11 night transatlantic sailing from Southampton to New York on the Disney Dream at the end of September this year. In preparation for this trip I was listening to some of the DCL podcasts and on one Erica mentioned how badly they were pestered by the wait staff constantly offering them drinks even when they had said no minutes beforehand. Now me and my sister don't drink alcohol and my mum won't be 'day drinking' as such so after hearing this on the podcast it made me worried that we will bugged by them all the time since they will see us without drinks and it will ruin our experience. We want to take advantage of the more peaceful adults only area and am worried this will ruin our trip experience as its such a long cruise.

Do you have any experience of this?
Is it as bad as she mentioned?
Do you have any suggestions to circumvent this problem? If needed I will make a sign and take it with me lol.
Any advice is welcomed! Thanks

My experience (on DCL as well as other lines) when we sat down a server would come and ask, and if we said "no" they would place just a napkin on the table to signal that we were asked.

 

[auntlynne]

I have never been pestered. Typically, cruise servers will place a napkin on the table, indicating you have been offered an order.

And if someone comes around, you can politely give a little head shake or hold up your hand in a no-thank you wave.

(You see the napkin story is not just mine. Jinx on @PrincessShmoo! She hit enter while I was prattling on.)

The only “pestering“ I have seen on DCL is boarding day, when they are selling beers in a cooler bag. Even then, they don’t bother you if you have the head/hand shake and a smile.

 

[Geomom]

We've never been bothered before. Of course we also usually have a non alcoholic beverage from the free beverage station on the pool deck with us (water, iced tea, vitamin water, etc.), so we already have 'something' to drink.

 

[anjuan]

My experience has been the same as others. I've been asked once and then they leave me alone.

 

[holula]

I’m the same as others. They ask once and leave you alone. They may circle back an hour later just to check you’re still fine.

 

[lorimay]

Never an issue.... white napkin down and they leave you alone.

 

[Karin1984]

I did the transatlantic westbound last year, no problem. I don't drink either. Never been bothered or pestered.

However... I did have one weird incident. One bartender asked me why I don't drink alcohol, when he gave me my second mocktail on the cruise. I answer about alcohol issues my father had (no issue for me to talk about it), he was taken aback for a second and then went on that maybe I should try alcohol one day. He dropped the topic after my firm 'no, I will not drink alcohol one day'. it was a bit weird. This was in a bar, not on deck.

I have a post of mocktails in my trip report. In case you would like inspiration for something non alcoholic
https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...-to-new-york-18-30-sep.3897742/#post-64342220

When someone tells me that they are constantly pestered, etc. I always take it with a grain of salt. People who have an issue like to exaggerate. Disney is not the cruiseline to make huge amounts of money from the alcoholic drinks. If they did, they would have introduced overpriced drink packages. It doesn't make sense for Disney to push it.

Only reason why it could happen if there are CMs in need of extra tips. But the OP makes it sounds as if it wasn't one person, it was all the staff. And that I have a hard time believing.

 

[RedHead0186]

I will add my experience to the others in that we have never been pestered.

We did once say "not now," so the server left us alone for a while and then came back about an hour or so later (with a very appropriate "just checking back" type of thing). But we of course had opened the door by saying "not now" (which was absolutely true), and he remembered that when he came back. And we were ready for drinks by then anyway, lol.

 

[kiford]

My experience is that they're attentive but not persistent. Sometimes if you see them approach and you don't want anything, you can make eye contact and just shake your head, and they'll move on without asking. Likewise, if you make eye contact and indicate you're interested, they'll rush over. I'd never describe my experience on 12 DCL cruises as pestering.

 

[Erica1016]

We're not alcohol consumers on a cruise. DH doesn't drink at all and I do only on occasion. One of our favorite things is how DCL has not pestered us about it at all. We've only ever had them ask once and then they place the napkin down so they know and no one bothers us again. As all the other posters have said, I don't think you'll have much of a problem! Enjoy!

 

[auntlynne]

They may have been flirting with Erica. Since she has a partner, she may not have thought of it as attention. Or a set of persistent servers.

Scowl if you start being bothered. Or just flirt back.

 

[Cheburashka]

I've sailed DCL nine times and have never had a problem with this.

 

[CastawayCayLover]

I've done 31 cruises and it is one of my biggest pet peeves with DCL (Quiet Cove and Serenity Bay), not to the point of not sailing with them again but I do get annoyed and will occasionally have to tell servers to stop asking, I know you're there and I'll tell you if I want something. Usually they'll get the message in a reasonable amount of time, but there have been instances where they've been persistent. One trick I've heard that works if they are being persistent is to tell them you're a recovering alcoholic - they seem to back away after hearing that.

 

[DisneyDad0315]

Hi. Just a question... Me and my sister (both adults) and our mum are going on the 11 night transatlantic sailing from Southampton to New York on the Disney Dream at the end of September this year. In preparation for this trip I was listening to some of the DCL podcasts and on one Erica mentioned how badly they were pestered by the wait staff constantly offering them drinks even when they had said no minutes beforehand. Now me and my sister don't drink alcohol and my mum won't be 'day drinking' as such so after hearing this on the podcast it made me worried that we will bugged by them all the time since they will see us without drinks and it will ruin our experience. We want to take advantage of the more peaceful adults only area and am worried this will ruin our trip experience as its such a long cruise.

Do you have any experience of this?
Is it as bad as she mentioned?
Do you have any suggestions to circumvent this problem? If needed I will make a sign and take it with me lol.
Any advice is welcomed! Thanks

I have been sober for 9+ years and Disney Cruise Line never once pushed any drinks on me. I am also a big fan that DCL does not have an "all you can drink" package. It is night and day vs the Carnival cruise that I took.

 

[auntlynne]

I've done 31 cruises and it is one of my biggest pet peeves with DCL (Quiet Cove and Serenity Bay), not to the point of not sailing with them again but I do get annoyed and will occasionally have to tell servers to stop asking, I know you're there and I'll tell you if I want something. Usually they'll get the message in a reasonable amount of time, but there have been instances where they've been persistent. One trick I've heard that works if they are being persistent is to tell them you're a recovering alcoholic - they seem to back away after hearing that.

Quit looking so friendly!

 

[Jestocost]

If anything, my recent experience has been a lack of servers on the deck compared to prior years.

 

[lilsonicfan]

If you hang out in Cove, or one of the lounge areas in the daytime, a server will come ask if you want anything. I don’t think anyone has ever “pestered” me.

 

[soniam]

We are rarely offered drinks. Either we already have them or maybe we look like we should be cut off We usually have to get our own.

 

[Flcruising]

Rarely offered drinks, certainly never pestered, never seen anyone pestered. Now I have felt pestered by the spa folks. But that's a different story...