Anyone else Upset with the OCT 25 thru NOV 1 cruise?

[CastawayJP]

Look if you were not there then dont comment. We arent new do Disney or DCL
In our family alone we have on 20 cruises between us all and 90% of them have been wonderful. I dont like to travel on holidays regardless but when you do travel you expect something fun for the holiday especially when your with someone like DISNEY. We went at Christmas in 2004 on the wonder and I didnt expect Santa to coming down the chimney, but Santa was there so was Mrs. Clause and the ship was decorated with beautiful christmas trees and gingerbread house, etc. Not everyone believes in santa but he was there.
It is about a level of expectations, service, and organization. Disney failed the cruisers in all these areas whether the cruisers know it or not. Repeat cruisers know or should know that things were way off. In fact they were so way off that Christian the assistant cruise director was calling a meeting on saturday because of all the complaints and rumors he had heard. So we are not the only ones complaining!!!

I think it is unfair to compare Halloween to Christmas for decorating purposes. To most of the world Christmas is celebrated as a holiday season culminating on December 25th. Halloween (for most Americans) is a one day event, and except at Target does not warrant several days of decorations. If you were to poll DCL customers I think you would find the same thoughts.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I think it is unfair to compare Halloween to Christmas for decorating purposes. To most of the world Christmas is celebrated as a holiday season culminating on December 25th. Halloween (for most Americans) is a one day event, and except at Target does not warrant several days of decorations. If you were to poll DCL customers I think you would find the same thoughts.

I agree it is unfair to compare Halloween to Christmas for decorating purposes.

I'd much rather see decorating and special activities for christmas then halloween if I was on a cruise.

but anyway sorry to the OP that you didn't have a great cruise

 

[wwwosie]

OH AND IT IS DISNEY FAULT KIDS WERE RUNNING HOG WILD THEY CHANGE THE 11-13 YEAR OLD CLUB TO WHERE THE KIDS COULD CHECK THEMSELVES IN AND OUT REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE PARENTS WANTED! I TOOK MY KID TO CLUB AND LATER ON THAT DAY I FOUND OUT SHE HAD BEEN SWIMMING, HANGING OUT IN THE ARCADE, AND WONDERING AROUND DOING AS SHE PLEASED, WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE!!

I am really sorry about your bad experience on DCL. But I don't think it's Disney's fault that the kids are running wild all over the ship. When kids are allowed to check themselves in and out of the clubs without notifying the parents, then it is us, the parents, who need to set the parameters of what can or cannot be done if a kiddo is out of the clubs. The expectations need to be set before sailing, or shortly thereafter. And if kids choose NOT to EVER check into OQ you really cannot blame disney for their behavior.

I also agree that 25 pieces of candy are just about right for anyone on a cruise, after all, there are so many other treats to be had, like mickey bars, cookies, etc. When we went to the MNSSHP every station only gave us 1or 2 pieces.

About your undercooked scallops: I assume you've had them before and know that if you over cook them you might as well use them as hockey pucks right? Did you send them back?

Again, sorry you had a bad experience. I hope you let DCL know about your dissapointment.

 

[CruiseBoundnKY]

I have to say that we agree with the original poster. This was NOT a good cruise.

Trick or Treat was definitely lacking. Not much candy, not much hype, not much fun.

The food was not as good as we remembered it. Was never so glad to get back and go to Cracker Barrel in my life

My son got sick in our bed one night while it was just me and him in the room. I stuck my head out the door and seen my state room attendant and yelled for help. He told me to call upstairs I thought that meant that he was coming, but no someone else came to my rescue.

I agree with whoever said that if this had been my first, it would have been my only. We did NOT rebook onboard.

Our asst. server was ill and not there 2 nights and the final breakfast. Needless to say our drink service stunk!!! Even when he was there it stunk actually. I love our server, we had him before and i requested him but this new guy was not so great.

I cannot believe that adults would do such a thing in the hot tub. I was in both of them. ewwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[justhat]

I read this as I am thinking about cruising this period in the future. Honestly, I wouldn't have thought that there would be anything more for Halloween than one day. In fact, the trick or treating wasn't even in my mind and I'm glad to see they have that as I'm sure my kids would enjoy it. The amount of candy wouldn't bother me at all as we don't let them eat more than 5-10 pieces total anyway, over the course of a few days. So 25 pieces would be fine, particularly since I didn't think they'd have any trick or treating.

The weather stuff stinks though. We were on the 5 night in September, right before the dry dock, and we had t miss our 2nd CC stop cause of the hurricane and essentially had 2 pretty crappy sea days, but what can you do.

To the last poster, on our Med cruise last summer, our asst server was sick and missing 3 days of the cruise. Maybe more actually, it seemed like a long time. The replacement guy was actually better, so it worked out to our advantage, but I can see that being a pain otherwise.

I think the issue with your son getting sick in the bed is that a special crew has to deal with vomit. I know when a kid at the table next to us vomited at the character breakfast the servers wouldn't go near the table and a special crew came in so fast and disinfected the whole area. Maybe room attendants are the same and vomit always has to be handled by the special team, but I don't really know.

 

[cdavishb]

We were on this cruise as well and had a great time. I thought the adult costume contest in the atrium was great. Mr. and Mrs. Claus on a cruise, Ursula, and Brent Davies were all great. The shows were great. The food (especially Palo) was great. I fully agree that the cruise was never billed as a halloween cruise. I've been on the ship on 2 previous halloweens and this year was better than last. If people went on this cruise to celebrate Halloween, then I suppose that it would dissappoint. I think Disney tries hard to please everyone but can't. People have very different levels of expectation and many find anything to complain about. Others are just greatful to be on such a beautiful ship in the warm waters of the Caribbean.

As in all places, people (including teens) will misbehave. I have seen bad behavior on the ship, at the Polynesian Resort, the Magic Kingdom and all other places I have vacationed. That is the fault of parenting---not DCL.

I am sorry that the original poster did not enjoy the cruise. I have been on 10 disney cruises since 2000. Both with and without children. I enjoyed them all and think that Disney does the best. It will never be perfect.

The line for re-booking was very long the last 2 nights. It seems that most families really enjoyed the experience.

 

[LovableGluttons]

Was everything absolutely perfect? No.

Did I get my hard earned money's worth on this cruise?

I sure did!

My son is 12 and found the OceanQuest club pretty lame too.

Luckily, he made some great friends and they had Jurassic Park video game competitions in Quarter Masters, snacked together, saw movies together, played Wii, and got along very well.

I rebooked onboard too!

 

[lbgraves]

Posting on a public forum opens yourself up to comments that both agree and disagree with your view. Please remember the DIS board guidelines. Everyone is entitled to their opinion whether or not it agrees with yours.

3. NO FIGHTING/SARCASM: While we'd like to think that a Disney fan site is always lighthearted, there are times when there are disagreements. Let's face it, there are certain topics that can transform any of us into a raging "Donald Duck." When you sense this is happening, we ask that you step away from the discussion before it escalates into a fight. Just like Mom always said about fighting, we don't care who started the argument and we don't want it on the DIS. (Okay, she didn't say the part about the DIS, but you know what we mean.) No attacking others and no sarcasm please. Either will result in an infraction.

 

[kritter]

That is to bad that you did not enjoy your Halloween Cruise. Two years ago we were on the Halloween Cruise and had the best time ever. My kids got more candy than they knew what to do with. We had a HUGE Dis Trick or Treat it was AMAZING!!!!!!! DCL did a Great job with decorations, etc. We did celebrate it on the 30th as the 31st was the Pirate Party night and a port day. But the kids did not seem to mind.

We cruised three weeks ago also and even though we had a hurricane out there the captain and crew did a WONDERFUL job rerouting us around the storm and the entire cruise was PERFECT!!!!!!!

I look forward to my next cruise in Aug. 09!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[karibritt01]

So sorry the cruise was so awful for you. Sounds like there were specific things that upset, and the effect snowballed to ruin the rest of the cruise.

I agree the kids running in the halls is out of hand. We didn't have anyone knocking on doors and such, but they were constantly running up and down the stairs and playing in the elevators. At one point, they were playing a hide & seek/tag sort of game, and almost knocked people down the stairs with the running. I think this should be up to parents to keep a better eye on their kids, and set/enforce better rules. But ultimately, the responsibility does fall on Disney. If you go to a public pool, you see the lifeguard call down rowdy kids when parents won't. At WDW or a mal, security will deal with people causing problems. DCL needs to step up and find a way to fix this problem.

We had no issues with the food. I tried the scallops at Lumiere's. It was my first time trying scallops... and honestly, how would you know they were raw?? They were rubber!

 

[cnj]

We were also on this cruise. We gave it a 8.5 out of 10. There were some things that could have been better. The food in the dining rooms was actually not as bad as I remembered, but not great either. Palo was wonderful! The ports were wonderful. As far as the Halloween thing goes, I believe DCL gave 2 different trick or treat maps for the ship. There were a lot more stations that were not on our map that we found along the way. My children received a lot of candy. They loved trick or treating on the Magic. It was over very quickly, but they did not seem disappointed.

My husband and I did bring costumes to dress up, but decided that due to the lack of activities for Halloween, we would just skip the festivities. I do think they could have had a little more going on.

That said, we booked this cruise for the double dip factor. It just happened to fall on Halloween (my own personal favorite holiday, by the way). I was really disappointed to learn we would be sailing during Halloween. I knew they would not be doing that many things to celebrate it. I told the kids they would not get a lot of candy, and I would get them some when we got home. I did not need to do that, because they still have so much left over.

We did not rebook onboard. This was our third cruise with Disney, and we want to wait until the new ships are built.

We did not have the trouble of the kids running through the hallways. We were also Aft on deck 6. So, that could be a factor. If that were happening, I would be livid as well. I hope they can get a handle on that.

Anyway, I feel so lucky to be able to have taken a cruise and be home safely with my memories. I hope you can find some happiness in your memories, as well.

 

[slindamood]

What delayed the ship leaving from the port?

FWIW, on Key West day, it's usually late morning (11 a.m. or after) before guests are allowed to disembark, which does make for a shorter day.

The ship waited for late arriving guests. At sailaway from Port Canaveral, we were toward the front of the ship over the captain's area . The workers were ready to release the ropes and the officer seemed ready but was watching the bus arrival area. About 5:15, maybe a bit later, a DCL bus pulled up and a family of five ran off, into the terminal and then onto the ship. Immediately after that the ropes were released and we sailed.

At Key West we had to go through US immigration and customs because we were arriving from Mexico, not from the port as usual. I assume that there is no immigration or customs when going from a U.S. port to another U.S. port.

At Key West we got off about 11, but all aboard was 4:45. We had to be shuttled by trolleys to and from the downtown area because we were docked at the navy pier, not the usual pier. We got to town towards noon. The shuttle back took over 20 minutes to board, go through security at the navy gate where we each had to show photo ID and KTTW cards, get to the ship and go through security again. Our driver to town also acted as a tour guide and it was really interesting.

As I said in an earlier post, we had a great time on this cruise and were thrilled to go to Key West. It was about the right amount of time for us. Although some things were not as planned or different than usual, it made it interesting. In travel, you have to roll with the punches, or the waves as the case may be.

 

[CODisneyFans]

I'm sorry that you were disappointed with your cruise.

We sailed with you and had a great time. Our children were excited when they woke up to find cobwebs throughout the ship and the giant carved pumpkins. They enjoyed the trick or treating and were happy with the amount of candy they received. They wore their costumes trick or treating, to dinner, and to the parties in the kids clubs.

Our cabin was on deck two, the same deck as ocean quest, and didn't have any trouble with the 'tween crowd, outside one incident where all of the elevator buttons were pushed.

We didn't have any problems with the food, but we didn't get the chicken nuggets from deck 9.

We would definately book another Halloween cruise.

Again, I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy your trip, but I wanted to post my point of view for anyone who had a trip booked over Halloween 2009.

 

[ariel7303]

I wasn't on the cruise...but I'd have to say that I would have been upset with my kids if they complained about only getting 25 pieces of candy after all the money I spent so they could be there. I would have assumed that Halloween would have been "part of the experience" not the reason we were on the ship. Then again, I don't count Halloween as a Holiday...just a night of fun.

OP...Sorry you didn't have a good time. Hopefully next time will be better for you.

 

[debster]

I was on this cruise and it was one of the better ones! We were busy all the time. I have 3 children too that ALL got bags full of candy. They split the map into forward cabins and aft cabins, everyone got the Mid Ship clues. We just hit them all.

To be upset about Disney with the teens I don't really understand. I know they have some play in it, but where are the parents? I have an 11 year old and would never let him just run the ship. I think people get a false sense of security on Disney and let their kids run around too much. This is no way Disney's fault.

Weather, well Disney certainly can't help that. Key West ended up being our favorite port of the week.

The cruise was far from perfect. This was our 5th Disney Cruise. I would agree with one of the above posters, I would rate it an 8.5.

We booked this as a double dip. I was surprised how much they actually offered for Halloween!

Late Dinner. That is all I have to say. My youngest is 4 and we STILL request Late Dinner. Early dinner you just rush around. Its not Disney's fault that sail away was delayed. We enjoyed the sail away quite a bit.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but to blame Disney for some of the items you did was incorrect.

I think the OP's thread is a bit unfair. Maybe you should travel Carnival and see the difference, I think you will be back.

And yes, we did rebook on board.

 

[BelleEm2]

Is anyone else slightly peeved at the OP's grammar? No offense, or anything... But capitalizing every first letter of every word just makes me a tiny bit upset. And typing in all caps is perceived as yelling, FYI. I don't think we at the DIS have done anything wrong to warrant that...

As for your apparent God-awful time, I'm sorry. Still, I think that a little relaxation would have made the trip all the more enjoyable for you. Next time, buy your kids a bag of candy before embarking (as if 25 pieces are not enough, in addition to all of the rest of the food on board) and tell them to stop complaining. Stay away from chicken fingers. And, intercourse in the hottubs? HAHA! I don't think Disney could've controlled people like that if they tried...

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Is anyone else slightly peeved at the OP's grammar? No offense, or anything... But capitalizing every first letter of every word just makes me a tiny bit upset. And typing in all caps is perceived as yelling, FYI. I don't think we at the DIS have done anything wrong to warrant that...

As for your apparent God-awful time, I'm sorry. Still, I think that a little relaxation would have made the trip all the more enjoyable for you. Next time, buy your kids a bag of candy before embarking (as if 25 pieces are not enough, in addition to all of the rest of the food on board) and tell them to stop complaining. Stay away from chicken fingers. And, intercourse in the hottubs? HAHA! I don't think Disney could've controlled people like that if they tried...

excellant, but to be fair it took me two years to work the caps locks button!

 

[CanadianCruiser67]

Everyone has different expectations coming into a vacation.

We work hard, to earn our money for vacations and expect either the same or a better experience than the last.

I'm awfully sad to read about your experience on this cruise.

Perhaps a letter directly to Disney Cruise Line would help and they may offer an incentive to Cruise with them again that is satisfactory to you?

I believe Customer Service does not end when the vacation is over, if the experience was bad, you would tell your Travel Agent right?
They would want to know if you did not have a good time.

On the language issues recently brought up, the OP was upset.
I'm not sure I would have reacted the same, but when one is truly upset you write what you feel.
Hence my suggestion of writing or calling those who are responsible.

On the kid's knocking on doors, was this part of the Halloween Trick or Treating? Or was this just kid's playing pranks?

Apparently some others had a different experience which was more positive.

This poster's experience is sad, but compared to the other people who have had great experiences on DCL, it will not stop me from booking another Cruise on this line.

I'm glad this forum exists so that people are able to share their experiences.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

We were on this cruise as well and had a great time. ...... Others are just greatful to be on such a beautiful ship in the warm waters of the Caribbean......The line for re-booking was very long the last 2 nights. It seems that most families really enjoyed the experience.

This mirrors our thoughts from our cruise this past August. I couldn't believe that on a 15 night cruise, the line for rebooking would be so long and we didn't procrastinate until the last day to rebook.

Anyway, I feel so lucky to be able to have taken a cruise and be home safely with my memories. I hope you can find some happiness in your memories, as well.

Well said

We sailed with you and had a great time. Our children were excited when they woke up to find cobwebs throughout the ship and the giant carved pumpkins. They enjoyed the trick or treating and were happy with the amount of candy they received. They wore their costumes trick or treating, to dinner, and to the parties in the kids clubs.

That sounds cool...do you have any pictures of the decorations and pumpkins?


To the OP: Sorry that you did not enjoy your cruise. This thread reminds me of a couple of the extremely long threads regarding behavior of others on the EB PC Repo cruise this past summer that discussed teens/tweens, Quiet Cove behavior, bad shows, etc. Reading these threads, one could have concluded that it was the worst cruise ever. Even though we also experienced some of these items, none of it ruined our trip. Yes, we experienced some bad food, a truly awful show (the singing magician) and even rude behavior from other guests young and old. That said, we found that almost every day brought new and often unexpected experiences which made our trip very special. We too had very high expectations about certain events or items on the cruise, and found that these expectations weren't always met. However, more often than not our expectations were met or exceeded. Even if it wasn't perfect, it truly was a trip of a lifetime for us and we would do it all over again if we could! Like a previous poster said, I hope that you too find some happiness in your memories when you look back on it.

With respect to Halloween -- did you have a chance to do MNSSHP before the cruise? We've done this when cruising in the fall before and it really helps set the Disney mood prior to the cruise.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

We were also on this cruise and I am sorry to hear you had such a bad experience - we actually had a wonderful time. The Halloween decor was understated, but tasteful and worked well. The Halloween trick or treating seemed to be enjoyed by most of the people we saw taking part - obviously it would have been better to have been able to have Halloween activities on a sea day, to allow guests to enjoy the port, rather than having to rush back from Key West to do the trick or treating, but considering DCL worked hard to find us a new port after losing Grand Cayman, there were bound to be schedule clashes caused by the changes but most people were just grateful to be able to go to Key West and not lose a port day completely.

I would also have preferred a halloween themed deck party, but do not really consider the costume competition in the atrium to be a party in any case, and I don't really think this was just held to increase revenue by encouraging the consumption of alcohol - I actually saw very few people with a drink in their hand during this competition. It was just a bit of fun. A lot of people had put a lot of time and effort into their costumes (including my DD, who had painted herself blue), and the person who came as the "horse's rear" was only the winner of the comedy costume award, and it was actually quite funny and not at all offensive.

As far as the food was concerned - I had the most wonderful food at every meal along with outstanding service throughout, and I also had some very acceptable chicken tenders from the counter on Deck 9. However I also understand that everyone's standards of acceptability are very different, but I would find it very unfair to condemn the whole dining experience on board on the basis of a couple of undercooked chicken tenders.

However I suppose I should recognise that we are all very different with different likes, dislikes, priorities and expectations, and it is a shame when an experience such as a hard-earned and long-awaited vacation such as this does not live up to your expectations and leaves you feeling less than impressed. Despite their bad experience, I hope that the OP will be able to reflect on all the enjoyable moments of their vacation and focus less on the negative ones.

My cruise experience was first class from start to finish, I enjoyed some parts of the cruise more than others, but rather than taint my overall wonderful and positive experience by dwelling on the occasional less inspiring moment, I remain grateful that I had the opportunity to take my family on this cruise and enjoy such a magical time together. I will certainly hope to book another cruise, and may well have done so on board, had the lines for rebooking not been so long every time I passed the desk - which in itself is testament to the quality and enduring popularity of Disney Cruise Line.