Unpopular Opinions

[dcassetta]

My unpopular opinion is that hugging it out is too risky. I'm afraid I might get shivved in the back.

Or ebola!

 

[wcw57]

Shivved?!?! U are either old like me, read a LOT of Raymond Chandler, or watched a LOT of George Raft movies.............

 

[Sunshine2U]

Since I was kind of grumpy in my last opinion I feel compelled to add my favorite unpopular opinion:

I don't care if our food/weather/itinerary/staff are great or not. When I am on a Disney cruise I am in a happy place. My opinion is not that I spent too much money to receive anything other than exceptional service. It's that I spent too much money to let a misstep along the way keep me out of a happy state of mind.

 

[wcw57]

and that's part of the problem with being a newbie on Disboards. Your expectations can be REALLY high and UNREALISTIC. If the server does anything less than memorize your social security number, history of childhood diseases, and food preferences while juggling flaming souffles and telling snappy cruise jokes, he/she is a failure...or so it seems.

Of course, the serving team WE had on the Magic was, in fact, less than stellar.

 

[jdb in AZ]

and that's part of the problem with being a newbie on Disboards. Your expectations can be REALLY high and UNREALISTIC. If the server does anything less than memorize your social security number, history of childhood diseases, and food preferences while juggling flaming souffles and telling snappy cruise jokes, he/she is a failure...or so it seems.

Of course, the serving team WE had on the Magic was, in fact, less than stellar.

Don't forget the servers who know your blood type and are compatible so they can give you a transfusion if you have a shark encounter at Castaway Cay, or get mugged in Nassau.

 

[perditax]

and that's part of the problem with being a newbie on Disboards. Your expectations can be REALLY high and UNREALISTIC. If the server does anything less than memorize your social security number, history of childhood diseases, and food preferences while juggling flaming souffles and telling snappy cruise jokes, he/she is a failure...or so it seems.

Of course, the serving team WE had on the Magic was, in fact, less than stellar.

Unpopular opinion: I don't want highly personalized service. I don't need a drink waiting for me. I'd rather not make polite chit chat (at least, not at length) during every meal, or have someone nag me to eat more at Palo. I'd be 100% fine with "polite but efficient". In fact, if there was a polite way I could assure them they'd get full tips and could spend more of their time with other guests by giving me a little space, I would.

 

[runnerchick]

okay, I'm going to say it - didn't like sitting with another family at dinner....(love it at the Biergarten - different atmosphere).

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I don't mind arriving later (on DCL transfer bus from WDW). Being "first on" isn't that important.

 

[TinkRose]

I know we haven't cruised yet (first one is this September), but I've been looking at the wine packages and they seem like such a huge racket!! Why do people pay that much for wine? I've compared the prices that Disney is charging to our local liquor store prices (and keep in mind I'm in Canada so prices are higher than the US) and the price of wines is 2-3 times what I would pay in the liquor store!! So no we will not be ordering a wine package and will instead bring our own onboard.

If you compare the prices to restaurants not liquor stores they are not too bad, in fact they are cheaper than many of my local restaurants. You can get as many bottles as you want. You don't need to get the 7 night (bottle) package if you won't drink that much on a 7 night cruise, you can get a 3 to 5 bottle package. It is a 25% price break compared to the bottle price in the MDR's. I like the wine packages, maybe that is an unpopular opinion...we share with our large family, though.

You can bring your own wine on board in your carry on but it should be consumed in your room or if you like you can bring it to the restaurants and pay a $20 corkage fee per bottle.

 

[mlayton14]

This may be very unpopular, but I really dislike MOST of the reimagining of the Magic. The new atrium lighting borders on gawdy/tacky while the old chandelier was beautiful. They made an already small Mickey pool even SMALLER to make room for a splash area that no one used when we were there. The addition of the aquadunk seems to be a bust all things considered - when I sailed last year there was never a wait to go on it.
Cariocas was our least favorite MDR - do we really need a tacky painted curtain of Rio de janero tacked onto the wall at dinner time to make us feel like we are in Brazil, really?.Last but not least the ducktail looks ridiculous and obviously welded on after and is an ugly addition to a beautiful external design. I understand though I guess they feel they needed it for some reason for efficiency,
Overall it seems like they were trying to make the Magic a mini-Dream but ended up with something half way and lost a lot of the original charm in the process.
I will say however that I loved cabanas and the new animators palate !

 

[Flhokie]

Oh gosh....the pirate night buffet was awful! The mob in Cabanas acted like it was the ONLY food ever offered the entire cruise.

Unpopular opinion.....when someone comes on here asking about other cruise lines to save some money and the same posters chime in about how miserable they will be and how much they are going to be nickled and dimed. I love RCCL, but for now I'm paying through the nose for DCL because of my kid's ages. I've only been on one DCL and honestly don't think DCL is worth the upcharge. It was awesome, but not nearly the rainbow dusted magical unicorns prancing down from the pixie heavens that I read about here.

I have to agree with you. We sailed DCL because of DD's age, love for Disney and a special experience, but will be sailing RCCL (or another line) in the future. The only exception might be a great FL resident rate on a short getaway. We enjoyed our cruise, but don't feel it's worth the major up charge either--and especially since DD hated the kid's club due to the bigger kids (having pre-schoolers with middle schoolers is ridiculous). DD had done the nursery on one line & kids club on another (3-6 together) and loved it. While we were impressed with the kid's club facilities on Disney, we were not impressed with the program.

 

[Dug720]

I don't mind arriving later (on DCL transfer bus from WDW). Being "first on" isn't that important.

I actually do agree with this... The primary reason I've been on the first bus from MCO is that I've stayed at a Hampton Inn close to the airport, and I'm always up early (my body is used to it from the school year, and while it adapts to time changes pretty well, it still tends to wake on schedule) and would be climbing the walls if I hung around until check-out time. I'm pondering staying at a WDW property for my Spring Break trip as THAT will help keep me occupied.

 

[BrytEydBelle]

Just off the four night Dream and wanted to add mine. I was worried that a four night cruise would be too short (normally I have to be forced off 7 night cruises on RCL or Carnival), but I found the shorter cruise perfect and fit in all my key must dos.

I absolutely loved it (and did rebook onboard) but four days on a ship with that many kids is as much as I can take without getting annoyed. It is a struggle as I love Disney but dislike children. I think a seven day would go from fun to me getting snippy so no longer DCL cruise for me : )

 

[MelSpees]

Just off the four night Dream and wanted to add mine. I was worried that a four night cruise would be too short (normally I have to be forced off 7 night cruises on RCL or Carnival), but I found the shorter cruise perfect and fit in all my key must dos.

I absolutely loved it (and did rebook onboard) but four days on a ship with that many kids is as much as I can take without getting annoyed. It is a struggle as I love Disney but dislike children. I think a seven day would go from fun to me getting snippy so no longer DCL cruise for me : )

I'm sorry kids bug you so much. Did you use the adult only areas? I'm wondering where you had so much interaction that it was bothersome. The shows? Glad you enjoyed the cruise anyway.

 

[perditax]

I'm sorry kids bug you so much. Did you use the adult only areas? I'm wondering where you had so much interaction that it was bothersome. The shows? Glad you enjoyed the cruise anyway.

Second this. We're you able to utilize the adult areas, and was 18+ enforced?

 

[Crush518]

The character setup IMO was a mess...Had no idea you needed tickets to see half of the characters and half of these characters were hidden ticketed events that no one knew about it....WHen I went to guest services at 4 first day they said all of the tickets were sold out...HOw is that possible and where did everyone else already know this? I know Frozen is popular, but on a boat like this, everyone should be given opportunities to see all the characters and not have to go through a hide and seek ticket adventure just to see characters published beforehand and act like everyone gets a chance to see these characters...

Finally the last day was a non ticketed meet the princess on Disney Dream, I was first in line and on the app, it seemed as though their would be at least 4 princesses there, but now only 2 were there.....In the morning they had ticketed event with 4 princesses, does not really seem fair to do it this way....My kids were happy regardless, still not very well thought out IMO...

 

[Ofinn]

Just off the four night Dream and wanted to add mine. I was worried that a four night cruise would be too short (normally I have to be forced off 7 night cruises on RCL or Carnival), but I found the shorter cruise perfect and fit in all my key must dos.

I absolutely loved it (and did rebook onboard) but four days on a ship with that many kids is as much as I can take without getting annoyed. It is a struggle as I love Disney but dislike children. I think a seven day would go from fun to me getting snippy so no longer DCL cruise for me : )[/QUOTE

 

[Ofinn]

Just off the four night Dream and wanted to add mine. I was worried that a four night cruise would be too short (normally I have to be forced off 7 night cruises on RCL or Carnival), but I found the shorter cruise perfect and fit in all my key must dos.

I absolutely loved it (and did rebook onboard) but four days on a ship with that many kids is as much as I can take without getting annoyed. It is a struggle as I love Disney but dislike children. I think a seven day would go from fun to me getting snippy so no longer DCL cruise for me : )

The Dream probably has the most kids. The offseason longer cruises have less. There were a lot less kids on our SC cruise last September, and I'm expecting a lot less on our upcoming Hawaii cruise.

 

[Dave2425]

The character setup IMO was a mess...Had no idea you needed tickets to see half of the characters and half of these characters were hidden ticketed events that no one knew about it....WHen I went to guest services at 4 first day they said all of the tickets were sold out...HOw is that possible and where did everyone else already know this? I know Frozen is popular, but on a boat like this, everyone should be given opportunities to see all the characters and not have to go through a hide and seek ticket adventure just to see characters published beforehand and act like everyone gets a chance to see these characters...

Finally the last day was a non ticketed meet the princess on Disney Dream, I was first in line and on the app, it seemed as though their would be at least 4 princesses there, but now only 2 were there.....In the morning they had ticketed event with 4 princesses, does not really seem fair to do it this way....My kids were happy regardless, still not very well thought out IMO...

All of that info is on the front page of the Navigator you get when checking in.

 

[Crush518]

Problem with that was we did not get on boat until 330...We had zero choice as we were coming from Pop Century and they told us what time we had to met and when....How was it fair for all the tickets to be gone before you even got a chance to be on the boat? So lesson here I guess is do not stay at a "value hotel" and go to the boat, you will not get to see any characters...