Noteworthy Observations and Tidbits from May 31 Eastern

[Pugdog007]

Just back Had a great time. We cruised the Western a year ago, so this was our 2nd 7-night with DCL. A few things I'd like to pass along:

1. Process for securing ressies for Palo and the Spa have changed, and not for the better IMO. Instead of going straight to Palo, you must go to Rockin Bar D and surrender your KTTW and wait for your name to be called. We were in the first group to board and probably waited for 30 mins just to be called to get in line Spa - different procedures booking in different places. Cabana massage booked right outside spa, suriel booked in exercise room, other stuff booked in another room in the back. Seemed kind of crazy to me to have to go to all of these different places. So needless to say, ressies took MUCH longer than they did last year.

2. UPGRADE WAS AWESOME! We were moved from our booked Cat 7 to a Cat 4 a few days before boarding. I don't know why we were selected... but the extra room was great. However, the Cat 4 was on deck 8... great location but a very NOISY room. We heard what seemed to be chairs being dragged across the floor upstairs at all hours of the night.

3. Themed nights and menus did not match what has been posted here as of late. Check my thread on Eastern Dining Rotations for what we experienced. I don't have the specifics on the menu discrepancies, except to say that some items were different from what has been posted here as the new menus.

4. Shows need to change to attract repeat cruisers. Even though some of the talent (Rich Pupura, jugglers) were introduced as "all new shows" they were not. All of the jokes were even the same as last year for performances in the Walt Disney Theatre as well as Rockin Bar D This was a disappointment. There was a new band, Sea Breeze that was awesome! Much better than the Charles Marshall Band that seemed to play the same songs over and over again last year.

5. Soda mug with sticker is much better. We found that you had no problems getting soda with one or the other. Don't try to bring back your old Magic mug expecting free soda all week, they are now using Finding Nemo mugs. Saw many people toting around their old Magic mugs

6. Our server request was not honored, but we were able to change this in Sessions upon boarding. We had to change to 2nd seating in order for our request to be fulfilled. One night our Asst Server called in sick! I always wondered what would happen if servers became ill It was a madhouse that night, with our main server and head server trying to pick up the slack!

7. I found that I much prefer the Western to the Eastern itinerary. 2 straight days at sea is too long. We were not impressed with St. Maarten at all. We also were not overly impressed with Meagan's Bay at St. Thomas. A nice beach, but "one of the best in the world" I would dispute.

8. Spa: We did the surial bath, couples massage on Castaway Cay and I did a facial. Expect a pretty strong sales pitch following a personal treatment such as a facial Despite the sales pitch, I very much enjoyed all of the spa treatments.

9. Palo was awesome! Lasagna was offered in the nightly specials and it was the best lasagna I've ever had! To die for!

10. Budget car rental prior to and post-cruise was easy and convenient. Would recommend this option.

This is getting long so I'll stop now. But all-in-all, a great time and I'm so sad to be back home

 

[Stewblue]

Thanks for the tips! We're sailing on June 28th so are very interested in all current information. Sounds like the ressie shuffle has turned into a "maze and shuffle".

 

[LG123]

Thanks for the information. Sounds like you had a great time. Too bad about the reservations. Just what you want to do on your first day of vacation - wait in line over and over again. Oh well, still can't wait to go.

Happy Cruising!

 

[anitad]

Regarding the Palo reservations, do you know what the procedure is for securing brunch, dinner and tea? Will we have to have 3 members of our party attend the Palo reservations shuffle in order to secure all 3? Thank you.

 

[I Luv Disney Cruise]

Sorry you had a rough time on the things you mentioned. I was on the 17th Eastern and had the exact dining rotation that was talked about in your earlier thread and the menus matched. I guess that shows us that they will change it when ever the feel like it?

The Palo and Spa reservations for us was a breeze. Maybe that was because we were only half-way back in the waiting line to board the ship. We started boarding the ship at 11:50am. My husband and father went straight to Rockin Bar D and my mother and I went straight to the Spa as we boarded. It literally took my mom and I about 5 minutes to make our 4 spa reservations each. So, then we met up with hubbies and sat down to wait to be called and within 10 minutes we got the reservation for Palo's done. By 12:30 we had all reservations done and luggage dropped off in room. I am sorry you had a harder time.

I agree that they need to do new shows, which I have heard there is one new one starting in the fall. I don't know how true that is though.

I am glad you said something about having a stateroom on deck 8, I have often wondered if it would be any better to move up one deck. After hearing your input, I think I will keep our stateroom right where we originally planned it.

anitad: All Palo reservations (brunch, tea, dinner) is done in the Rockin Bar D. I, in my opinion, would have all three of you in there with your KTTW cards that way you get through the process faster and most likely will have a better chance in getting what you want. Also, as soon as you board go straight there, it fills up with people very fast.

 

[mmouse37]

Glad you had no problems with Budget....we had major problems with them after we disembarked on 5/24.

MJ

 

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by anitad
Regarding the Palo reservations, do you know what the procedure is for securing brunch, dinner and tea? Will we have to have 3 members of our party attend the Palo reservations shuffle in order to secure all 3? Thank you.

Once they finally called us, we were able to make both dinner and brunch ressies, although we had to wait in 2 different lines to do so.

 

[taswira]

Do you have any news regarding the "drug bust" of a Cast Member on that sailing? CNN had announced that a DCL Cast Member (male) responsible for stocking the onboard bars was arrested (and fired on the spot by DCL) when he attempted to reboard the ship in St. Maarten with quite a bit of cocaine hidden in his shoe.

Were the guests aware of any of this? I just wondered if this <I>really</I> happened, or if CNN leaked an erroneous story!

 

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by taswira
Do you have any news regarding the "drug bust" of a Cast Member on that sailing? CNN had announced that a DCL Cast Member (male) responsible for stocking the onboard bars was arrested (and fired on the spot by DCL) when he attempted to reboard the ship in St. Maarten with quite a bit of cocaine hidden in his shoe.

Were the guests aware of any of this? I just wondered if this <I>really</I> happened, or if CNN leaked an erroneous story!

WOW! That's the first I've heard of this.

 

[JimB.]

Do you have any news regarding the "drug bust" of a Cast Member on that sailing?

Did not hear this, but I DID notice that all crew members had to have their shoes x-rayed both entering AND leaving the ship. I asked our dinner server about this, and he kinda, sorta, without really answering my question indicate it was due to a "contraband thing" (in his words).

Regarding the Palo reservations, do you know what the procedure is for securing brunch, dinner and tea?

No. It's at the same PLACE, but separate lines. We went to Palo for brunch only, and was in & out in 5 minutes. There WERE however, a fair number of people waiting to be assisted for dinner reservations. BTW, we had the "World Famous Liz from England" (as I put it) for our waitress there.

Great Cruise, WONDERFUL weather. In St. Maarten, do the "Rhino Rider" excursion.