dr&momto2boys
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2006
- Messages
- 3,831
I'm just back from our 1st Disney cruise. We sailed on the Magic to Eastern Caribbean including Tortola on 9/12/09. In case anyone is wondering about this first timer's thoughts, comparisons to other cruise lines, and how what I read on the DIS proved to be true, here you go...
Embarking was pretty similar to other cruise lines. DCL's terminal was cleaner and everyone was friendlier than I remember on other cruise lines. At the time we arrrived (about 1pm), the line for Castaway Club (returning cruisers) was longer than the regular check-in! But no line was too long.
I really didn't like the buffet offered for lunch at Topsiders upon boarding. Few items appealed to me and I didn't think there was enough to choose from. (I'm really not a picky eater.) I didn't try the buffet for lunch or dinner the rest of the trip.
The whole ship was very clean and everyone was very friendly. The staff ratio seemed greater per passenger than I had experienced on other lines. (I'm not sure if it is, but it did seem that way.)
While the pools were crowded on sea days, the Mickey pool was still very usable. The goofy pool wasn't at times. The splash zone was rarely busy at all. (Only when the Mickey pool closed for cleaning--which happened twice mid-day that I noticed.)
The staff was very good about removing towels saving seats that weren't being used around the pools. They also enforced the rules about keeping non-potty trained kids out of Mickey pool. (At least the obvious ones, like infants.) They did all of this very politely.
Every great thing you read about the kid's clubs are TRUE! The clubs, IMO, are what makes the extra money for DCL cruises worth it! I didn't think we'd use them as much as we did, but the kids loved them and really wanted to go there! We observed and checked on them a lot and were really impressed! My kids were in the 3-4 group, by the way.
In my opinion, the food ranked third out of my three cruise line experiences. It was good, but not great. Our dining service experience was also just okay. Third out of three lines. Just our experience, sorry! Palo was excellent though! I hated how our servers kept expressing that they were going to give us "excellent" service and pretty much begging that we rate them that way on the survey. At times, it was excellent when they cut up fruit for our infant. But the whole week they never got the hang of the fact that I wanted decaf coffee with dessert. I was the only one at the table, I always wanted it, half the time they never got around to asking until halfway through dessert or never offered at all. I also requested a baked sweet potato for dinner for my infant every night (the night before) and only got it once. Once we got a baked russet potato and once we got a mashed potato, but most of the time we got nothing.
The shows ranked first out of the three lines we've been on. Although I did like the Welcome show better on Carnival--where they involved the audience and we got to enjoy inside jokes for the rest of the cruise.
Debarkation was far superior on Disney than I had ever experienced before. MUCH faster and smoother than ever. Especially the final debarkation, but also at the ports. Not saying there weren't any hang-ups, there were especially at Castaway Cay, but it was still the best experience I had.
I really liked that they gave you towels to use at port and collected them upon reboarding. I like that you could have free soda at meals and at a station if you were willing to get it. (I'm not even a soda drinker, but I just think that's nicer than other lines.) I think it's nice you can bring drinks/alcohol on board if you desire. We didn't do that either. We did bring a case of water in a duffel bag. We told the lugage carrier what it was, and he offered to carry it on-board anyway. We weren't expecting that, but it was nice!
Overall I did like DCL best, but it really was the kid's club that made it clear cut!
Embarking was pretty similar to other cruise lines. DCL's terminal was cleaner and everyone was friendlier than I remember on other cruise lines. At the time we arrrived (about 1pm), the line for Castaway Club (returning cruisers) was longer than the regular check-in! But no line was too long.
I really didn't like the buffet offered for lunch at Topsiders upon boarding. Few items appealed to me and I didn't think there was enough to choose from. (I'm really not a picky eater.) I didn't try the buffet for lunch or dinner the rest of the trip.
The whole ship was very clean and everyone was very friendly. The staff ratio seemed greater per passenger than I had experienced on other lines. (I'm not sure if it is, but it did seem that way.)
While the pools were crowded on sea days, the Mickey pool was still very usable. The goofy pool wasn't at times. The splash zone was rarely busy at all. (Only when the Mickey pool closed for cleaning--which happened twice mid-day that I noticed.)
The staff was very good about removing towels saving seats that weren't being used around the pools. They also enforced the rules about keeping non-potty trained kids out of Mickey pool. (At least the obvious ones, like infants.) They did all of this very politely.
Every great thing you read about the kid's clubs are TRUE! The clubs, IMO, are what makes the extra money for DCL cruises worth it! I didn't think we'd use them as much as we did, but the kids loved them and really wanted to go there! We observed and checked on them a lot and were really impressed! My kids were in the 3-4 group, by the way.
In my opinion, the food ranked third out of my three cruise line experiences. It was good, but not great. Our dining service experience was also just okay. Third out of three lines. Just our experience, sorry! Palo was excellent though! I hated how our servers kept expressing that they were going to give us "excellent" service and pretty much begging that we rate them that way on the survey. At times, it was excellent when they cut up fruit for our infant. But the whole week they never got the hang of the fact that I wanted decaf coffee with dessert. I was the only one at the table, I always wanted it, half the time they never got around to asking until halfway through dessert or never offered at all. I also requested a baked sweet potato for dinner for my infant every night (the night before) and only got it once. Once we got a baked russet potato and once we got a mashed potato, but most of the time we got nothing.
The shows ranked first out of the three lines we've been on. Although I did like the Welcome show better on Carnival--where they involved the audience and we got to enjoy inside jokes for the rest of the cruise.
Debarkation was far superior on Disney than I had ever experienced before. MUCH faster and smoother than ever. Especially the final debarkation, but also at the ports. Not saying there weren't any hang-ups, there were especially at Castaway Cay, but it was still the best experience I had.
I really liked that they gave you towels to use at port and collected them upon reboarding. I like that you could have free soda at meals and at a station if you were willing to get it. (I'm not even a soda drinker, but I just think that's nicer than other lines.) I think it's nice you can bring drinks/alcohol on board if you desire. We didn't do that either. We did bring a case of water in a duffel bag. We told the lugage carrier what it was, and he offered to carry it on-board anyway. We weren't expecting that, but it was nice!
Overall I did like DCL best, but it really was the kid's club that made it clear cut!
So let me add a few more thoughts.
