anyone on recent Magic cruises notice....

[lillygator]

service changes? like different cm's, not the typical Disney service?

 

[kcashner]

Over the past year there have been LOTS of new CMs as they train people in order to have enough CMs for the Dream and then the Fantasy. I saw many people in training, many promoted to new positions, but really didn't see a drop in service. FYI, I last got off the ship in October.

 

[woody73]

Anyone on recent Magic cruises notice . . . service changes? like different cm's, not the typical Disney service?

When did you sail?

Woody

 

[SILLYANDI]

We cruised 2 weeks ago and we did notice a ton of new people, a ton of trainees and a few clueless ones. Not enough to affect our trip negatively in any way, but DH and I both noticed.
A few examples:
we got on the ship and an officer greeted us and directed us to Parrot Cay for lunch. I asked him if Rockin Bar D was on level 3 or 4 (I always get confused) and he said "what is that?" I said the place where we do dining changes and Palo reservations and he said "what is is called?" I told him again and he said "Maybe try deck 5."

We saw more than a handful (at least 50 that we actually counted) employees with the "earning my ears" tabs under their name tags.
When I was up early every port day to download photos and enjoy the quiet there was a new employee tour. Every single port morning I saw a new group of 15-20 of them between 7-8AM.
Our assistant server had been there 2 weeks and was wonderfully kind and nice but SLOW, confused about a lot of things and our poor head server was really earning her money working with him.

As I said before, didn't dampen our spirits or take away any pixie dust but it was not the same vbery high level of service we have had on previous cruises (give those newbies a few months and it will not be noticed at all I would think).

 

[jlwhitney]

I was told by my Palo server that there would be 200 new CM in December...so it sounds like there just might be!

 

[lillygator]

When did you sail?

Woody

gee that seems almost....... well w/e

may 09, but had a family member off a cruise in December 2010 and the service sounded horrible and they had been on 2 prior Disney cruises and were scheduled on an Alaskan next year but canceled due to treatment on this cruise.

we are booked on the alaska for 11 and thinking of cancelling a well.

 

[woody73]

. . . had a family member off a cruise in December 2010 and the service sounded horrible and they had been on 2 prior Disney cruises and were scheduled on an Alaskan next year but canceled due to treatment on this cruise.

we are booked on the alaska for 11 and thinking of cancelling a well.

If it's any consolation, we had a DCL Alaska cruise booked for 2011, but canceled it after our last cruise.

Woody

 

[lillygator]

???? due to service issues?

 

[gomagic]

We were on the first week of December. We noticed lots of new CM's and there was a slight difference in the service from our previous cruises. If it would have been our first cruise we wouldn't have known the difference. That being said, everyone we encountered seemed as though they were trying their best to do an outstanding job and the familiar faces from previous cruises were working as hard as ever.

 

[cmash95]

it's going to be a bit touch and go for at least another year because they have to train staff for the fantasy and I think the magic is now going to be the training ship. It used to be the wonder but since the wonder is going to be on the west coast and they really want seasoned staff on the dream and fantasy, that leaves the magic. Just take that into consideration when booking cruises this year and early into next year. Also, just because service was a bit slow or below expectations on one cruise, doesn't mean it's going to be that way on another, especially another ship and a totally different itinerary.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

it's going to be a bit touch and go for at least another year because they have to train staff for the fantasy and I think the magic is now going to be the training ship. It used to be the wonder but since the wonder is going to be on the west coast and they really want seasoned staff on the dream and fantasy, that leaves the magic. Just take that into consideration when booking cruises this year and early into next year.

That's my concern. We have a trip scheduled for next January...We are pretty easy going, but this is a big expense and I'd hate to see the legendary DCL service be sub-par. Hopefully they keep a decent balance of seasoned crew along with the trainees.

 

[lillygator]

Disney charges a premium and I really don't think we should be stuck with a ship full of cm's earning their ears for that price.

 

[Gigi22]

From what we saw on our Dec. 4-11 cruise on the Magic, there were a number of CMs scheduled to leave the Magic on Dec. 11. A lot of contracts were ending.

 

[gomagic]

From what we saw on our Dec. 4-11 cruise on the Magic, there were a number of CMs scheduled to leave the Magic on Dec. 11. A lot of contracts were ending.

We were on the same cruise. The final morning at breakfast it seemed a little more hectic than usual because of the # of servers who had ended their contracts that day. Several of them stopped back by the dining room before they left to say their final goodbyes to their guests. The servers who during the week were "earning their ears" were put to the test for sure.

 

[wdwishes1990]

We were on the first week of December. We noticed lots of new CM's and there was a slight difference in the service from our previous cruises. If it would have been our first cruise we wouldn't have known the difference. That being said, everyone we encountered seemed as though they were trying their best to do an outstanding job and the familiar faces from previous cruises were working as hard as ever.

My sentiments as well. Significant service difference from the Med cruise in August, however it was not for a lack of trying --- simply a lack of experience. The bar for me was so high based on our first cruise anything short of phenomenal would have seemed different.

 

[tvguy]

Funny, it isn't like they haven't known the new ship was coming on line for several years. You'd think they would phase in new castmembers slowly, instead of in groups, so there would be no impact on service.

 

[kcashner]

They have been phasing in new CMs for the past year, increasing the numbers greatly since last summer. The large group of new hires started in December as CMs were being sent to Germany to open the Dream--a few in November, most in December. Contracts have been shorter and vacations longer in order to put on more new people and have them trained. People are always leaving the ship and new hires coming on, you just don't normally see a group of 200 on one cruise.

Essentially the company doubled its work force in order to open the Dream, and will increase it again in preparation for the Fantasy. The Magic and Wonder each carry 2500-2700 guests with 1000 CMs, the Dream will carry slightly over 4000 guests with 1800 CMs at any time...and then you need to factor in vacations. The goal I was told was that each ship would have 1/3 to 1/2 long term employees and the rest would be new but fully trained people as of January. I'm not sure where the concept of one of the ships being a "training ship" came from--both ships have been training lots of new people for the past year. In addition, many long time CMs have been promoted to new positions and often rotated to the other ship at the time of the promotion. Each CM was asked which ship they wished to be assigned to, and those preferences were followed as much as possible.

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

Disney charges a premium and I really don't think we should be stuck with a ship full of cm's earning their ears for that price.

I agree.

 

[Mr. Disney 652]

I agree 100%. I said to my DW that we thought it was different. The wait staff seemed preoccupied and it appeared tense at points. After day 5 I figured out they were training a bunch of new people for the Dream.