Unfortunately, worst vacation we ever had

[DMMarla07860]

funny but it wasn't even on my radar. When I said to my husband what if we have Covid? He thought I was being a drama queen. I'm feeling well now although I still tested positive this morning. I haven't left my house since getting home Saturday night. Supplies are running out. I may need to look into Instacart.

and in my boredom I booked a four night stay for our anniversary in July. hehehe

I knew there was a chance of getting it going. I am feeling well besides a cough, and still positive, dad is finally negative. I'm stuck inside as well.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I knew the Disney + sailings would be a hot mess as they tried to jam people on the ship

 

[emmabelle]

I knew the Disney + sailings would be a hot mess as they tried to jam people on the ship

I have to imagine they made money or they wouldn't have done it but all those free 3rd and 4th passengers? idk?

 

[Jsoenning]

We actually went on the Carnival Mardi Gras in February after cruising Disney 4x, I figured I would hate it and honestly, we loved it. We dined at different restaurants, the service was fantastic, the kids loved the teen club and activities and said they'd go back on the MG in a heartbeat. For a fraction of the price, I am inclined to try out new options.

We went on the Carnival Breeze over Thanksgiving last year and I found the free food options to be superior (other than the actual Thanksgiving meal, which is not surprising considering we all have the food we grew up with).

Guy's burgers, Guy's barbecue (though wife wasn't a fan but I enjoyed the bbq sauce options), the Italian restaurant was free for lunch and had an amazing lasagna, Iguana place that is like a Freebirds burritos, the omelet station, sea day brunch (amazing pancakes, fluffiest & likely highest calorie content I've ever eaten), etc.

Having done the three lines last year, to me the food quality order was Carnival, Disney and then Royal as a distant last place, and prior to kids we were loyal to Royal...in fairness to Royal it was the closest to restarting and you could tell the staff was struggling. We did do all specialty restaurants on Royal so that may have caused me to grade them harder since we were paying extra. Best meal was Johnny Rockets.

 

[DCLDVC1]

Sometimes Vlogs give a misconception of what is good and what isn't as its based on personal opinions and clicks. That is why I avoid them all for the most part and just go and try things myself.

Agreed. I think a lot a vloggers aren't willing to say anything negative about Disney because they don't want to lose access to media events, free cruises and whatever other perks they receive.

 

[Princesca]

I’ve heard their new ships are quite an improvement - they’re really making an effort to shift their public perception.

A friend of ours just started selling Carnival so I would like for this to be true so we could help him out. As it is, Carnival doesn't sound like our cup of tea, but I'd be happy if that was changing!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Sometimes Vlogs give a misconception of what is good and what isn't as its based on personal opinions and clicks. That is why I avoid them all for the most part and just go and try things myself.

I'll kinda get more precise here. I wouldn't discount vloggers for the sake of them being vloggers but it would be something to keep in mind if someone is brand loyal especially with Disney as a poster is correct Disney is someone who can and does yank people's passes if you will easily. Sometimes travel agents can give less brand loyal advice too though at times they can still stray into being too positive for the sake giving a really good impression. I watched a really good in-depth tour of the ship I'll be on in a few months for Seabourn and it was from a travel agent, while you could tell they wanted to stay more positive they did give some feedback such as wondering why a space outside was not being utilized and discussing deck plans with ways to get to places in terms of being out in the elements to get from door to door.

I've found there to be a better balance when you find passengers who are more established travel vloggers/bloggers who travel different lines, different itineraries and different times of the years or travel agents. There's some Seabourn passengers who have sailed other lines as well who have posted videos/vlogs and in-depth accounts. This is primarily their occupation those that I've seen and they don't hold back. Giving the good with the bad.

Gary Bembridge is one of the main people I've watched when researching cruise lines. I don't always agree with his opinion but he gives a fair outlook with pros and cons there and from many different levels and ships. He even did one for DCL and has multiple videos about it. Once you view his videos then it's up to you to see if that is an issue same for other more travel oriented vs brand oriented travel vloggers. For example he took a recent cruise on Regent Seven Seas and comments about the types of activities on board. We'll be on a Seabourn cruise with similar such restrictions of activities. However, to us it's not a con. While things like go-karts, slides, and zip lines and other such things are really cool, we're also the type of couple that can be perfectly content with a drink lounging away at the bar listening to a piano or a performer. I'm actually really excited for the show An Evening with Tim Rice on our ship which is a concert style performance which included even Disney songs although I know they redid the show (to keep it fresh) they may still have Disney songs in there.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As for nothing to do in port, I suppose it does all depend on how you cruise.

Prefacing this with saying I agreed with a lot of your points.

For the OP they were saying the particular port didn't have much to do unless you did an excursion which sounds like your traveling party did. I haven't been to this particular port but I know there can be ones out there that lack things for tourists to do outside of just booking excursion. Things like small museums or points of interest within relative walking distance to the port are some of the things I can think of or an easily accessible nearby beach. Another example most of our ports on our upcoming cruise are in Greece and part of the charm for these places is just the towns itself walking through the quaintness with the colors and cobblestones which you can easily do yourself or you can book an excursion that will have a guided tour for at least part of it. OP said they did a St. Thomas beach day without knowing Tortula is there a nice beach accessible without doing an excursion an nearby to the port?

I doubt it's this particular port and more that there are probably hundreds if not thousands out there in the entirety of the world that probably end up that way for someone. I read about how interesting or not interesting a particular port is all the time on the Seabourn FB pages I'm on. It's a valid complaint but I think should be taken on the entirety of the cruise, if multiple ports are so blah that lends one to think the itinerary may need to be tweaked by the cruise line or a lesson learned that type of itinerary is not for a particular person, but not necessarily just one port.

 

[Kingkonig]

This is good to hear! Carnival gets pretty beaten down for cheap booze cruise party time, but I don’t know if it’s a historical rep vs. actually how it is now. We went on Carnival 20+ years ago and haven’t been back, but maybe we will look into their new ships.

In my experience it is more of a "3 day booze cruise" vs a "week long cruise" thing. On any of the big 3 (NCL, Carnival, Royal) a short cruise will have the party crowd, since it is a long weekend with an unlimited drink package. For longer durations, you'll have less of that activity going on, just based off of the duration and price. I think Carnival has been working to change their public perception, but I'd say they still are the ones who get the hardest rap for booze cruising.

Though I'll say that Disney lacking a drink package and not having a casino on board remains a selling point to me.

 

[DCLMP]

We’re on Royal now. The mdr is only 50% full due to all the dinner options. We’re in and out in 45 minutes. Food and service have been great. Room host great. Guest services is beyond awful so is the excursion desk. Entertainment is meh. The ship is fantastic. The best ship I’ve been on.

There is good and bad on every cruise line. I’ve had enough great cruises on Disney to overlook the bad ones.
This being my second cruise on Royal I’m finding it harder to overlook some of the negatives. I’ll see how I feel when we get to the Finish line.

I can’t find an itinerary next Summer on any cruise line that I like. Because of that we’ll probably be back on Disney next Summer. I know what to expect.

 

[Mango7100]

What ship? Please post a review when you are home!

 

[DCLMP]

What ship? Please post a review when you are home!

Odyssey. We had some itinerary changes so sea days stacked in the front and we are coming up on 6 straight port days. I can’t say enough great things about the Wifi. It’s as good as at home. I can stream anything Netflix or Prime no problem. It’s also been a life safer having to rebook tours. Disney has no excuses for its poor wifi.

It’s the best designed ships Ive been on. tIt’s the size of the Fantasy, but as easy to get around as the Magic. Everything just makes sense. Being that it’s a new ship I was expecting one of those gigantic ships. I was pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to port and saw the size. It’s about 30% smaller than their other new ships. Maybe the built it for Europe or potentially Norway or Alaska I’m not sure.



We had a lot of hiccups and poor customer service with the itinerary changes, but I’m hoping the rest of the cruise finishes like it started and I leave with a positive opinion.

Like I said food and service has been top notch. I’ve always thought the food is better on European cruises. Our Food was also very good on the Magic last year in Europe.

 

[Dug720]

We went on the Carnival Breeze over Thanksgiving last year and I found the free food options to be superior (other than the actual Thanksgiving meal, which is not surprising considering we all have the food we grew up with).

Guy's burgers, Guy's barbecue (though wife wasn't a fan but I enjoyed the bbq sauce options), the Italian restaurant was free for lunch and had an amazing lasagna, Iguana place that is like a Freebirds burritos, the omelet station, sea day brunch (amazing pancakes, fluffiest & likely highest calorie content I've ever eaten), etc.

Having done the three lines last year, to me the food quality order was Carnival, Disney and then Royal as a distant last place, and prior to kids we were loyal to Royal...in fairness to Royal it was the closest to restarting and you could tell the staff was struggling. We did do all specialty restaurants on Royal so that may have caused me to grade them harder since we were paying extra. Best meal was Johnny Rockets.

I have never understood the fascination people have with Guy Fiyeri. Everything I've had of his has been greasy and barely edible. Certainly not a selling point for me.

And they have a LOT to do to overcome the party ship vibe they oh so carefully cultivated when most of GenX was in our formative years.

 

[AquaDame]

I can’t say enough great things about the Wifi. It’s as good as at home. I can stream anything Netflix or Prime no problem. It’s also been a life safer having to rebook tours. Disney has no excuses for its poor wifi.

I have had a very good experience with Disney's Wifi FWIW since the upgrades around the same time they went to 24 hour periods instead of data packages. I don't try to stream to be fair, yet video clips online and all the sites I went to loaded quickly and without errors. My husband and I took turns and had no problems sharing one package either. We've used it on the Wish and Fantasy.

 

[Ronneeaght]

I knew the Disney + sailings would be a hot mess as they tried to jam people on the ship

You are a wise man. For some reason I just thought, “Oh, what a great deal!” without even considering that 2k other people would be having the same thought. Sooooo crowded.

(We had a fantastic time, but will attempt to avoid such crowds in the future).

 

[MomOTwins]

You are a wise man. For some reason I just thought, “Oh, what a great deal!” without even considering that 2k other people would be having the same thought. Sooooo crowded.

(We had a fantastic time, but will attempt to avoid such crowds in the future).

So true! We’ve never seen crowds as intense as our cruise on the Fantasy in March with the promotion. People were sitting on the floor at Bingo and at the nightly stage shows because there were not nearly enough seats for everyone, and we never once were able to use the pools during the daytime because there were never any loungers and the pool was packed shoulder to shoulder (pro tip, we went at night after first dining had the place to ourselves). No regrets though—still a fun cruise.

 

[Kingkonig]

I have never understood the fascination people have with Guy Fiyeri. Everything I've had of his has been greasy and barely edible. Certainly not a selling point for me.

I'm not a big fan of the type of food that he is most known for, but similar to most celebrity chefs, it is all about the name, the brand, and the presentation. Plus the kind of food that he makes is extremely enticing to drunk people - a large portion of greasy food.

 

[DCLMP]

I have had a very good experience with Disney's Wifi FWIW since the upgrades around the same time they went to 24 hour periods instead of data packages. I don't try to stream to be fair, yet video clips online and all the sites I went to loaded quickly and without errors. My husband and I took turns and had no problems sharing one package either. We've used it on the Wish and Fantasy.

The Wi-Fi kept going down when we were on the Wish. They did offer refunds.

 

[Dug720]

The Wi-Fi kept going down when we were on the Wish. They did offer refunds.

No matter how good any upgrades are (heck, Celebrity is using Elon Musk’s supposedly superior satellites and they still have issues), you are on a moving (obvs unless in port) vessel in the middle of the ocean so there will be times it doesn’t work.

That is why I caution anyone trying to vacation without letting their work know they are to have some kind of back-up when/if the internet goes down for multiple days which is rare on land barring something massive like the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville in 2020 which took out the AT&T network for a few days.

 

[emmabelle]

The Wi-Fi kept going down when we were on the Wish. They did offer refunds.

The internet on the Fantasy was terrible. My husband got the highest level and for two devices so he would be able to use his cell and laptop without having to keep switching. Even though his company paid for it, I still said that he should go get a refund. It's the principle of the matter and it was very expensive.