We're about to take
Disney cruise #15 Feb 9 on Fantasy. This will be our "complete the fleet" cruise, having been on every DCL ship.
I have learned that how good a time you have largely depends upon you and what your expectations are. There are some people who are bored no matter what stimulus is presented to them. We avoid those people, as a rule.
I read what others post sometimes on Disboards and just shake my head that with everything available on the Navigator (movies, talks, food prep clinics, live music, more movies, sunshine, an ocean, a pool, hot tubs, bars), they still can't find something to entertain themselves. What WOULD be entertaining to them? What WOULDN'T be "boring?"
I don't know about everyone else, but my normal life has to keep to a reasonably busy schedule, and when I get on a cruise ship, I love being able to choose to spend a day doing nothing more than moving from one horizontal surface (like my bed) to another (like a lounge chair.) I don't expect to be guided from one organized activity to another like an adult camper (my kids loved that option, though.) The folks who write they just can find anything to DO...well, I'd like to see what they do back home that is so much more stimulating! Or maybe they've just never learned to enjoy being alone with themselves and their thoughts.
DH and I love to stand at the front of the ship on sea days when we are rocking along at a good clip looking out over the ocean spreading before us and drink in great lungfuls of life. We feel so grateful and lucky that we are healthy and in a situation where our life has permitted us to spend a week on a cruise ship. We are NOT going to let meals at a less-than-ideal temperature, people's enormous strollers left out in the stateroom corridors so you can barely walk past them, or lines at the Aquaduck be anything more than a fleeting annoyance. This is our vacation, and I feel I am responsible for how much fun I have, not some less-than-attentive bartender or the person who overfills my water glass at dinner, or even the adults hogging all the loungers by the pool with their towels.
If you choose, you could easily identify plenty of things to feel offended and cheated by. If you are really looking for extraordinary food, a place that has to serve thousands of meals daily probably isn't the best spot for it. For the number of people that need to be served, I think Disney does a great job. We enjoy Palo, which has the advantage of creating meals for much smaller dining groups, but we don't cruise with the expectation of a 7 day gourmet experience, so we are rarely disappointed.
Don't like the idea of lines at the Aqua Duck? Avoid times you know will be crazy busy like the middle of the day on an at sea day. If you go with the attitude you will eventually find a time when the line's not long, you won't feel victimized when the wait times are high. And you will get on. Just wait until it starts sprinkling rain!
So please don't let others cloud your enjoyment of the anticipation leading up to your cruise. It will be entirely up to you if you decide to have a good time regardless of what service snags, wait times, or weather inconveniences may or may not occur. I hope you have a truly wonderful cruise and post a trip report that confirms it...there is so much magic to be found if you make up your mind to look for it.
Please someone talk me off the ledge. It is our first cruise EVER! We have never been on a boat. We have never had any experience with cruising. Wish I hadn't read all these negative comments. It is just making me so nervous. 
!!!!!
