A First Timer's First Impressions - Magic to Bermuda

[Ronneeaght]

Hello All! I was planning on doing a trip report on our cruise to Bermuda, because I know that there aren't a lot of them out there for that itinerary and the ones that are were so helpful before we set sail. But then we went on our cruise and our trip report would be a lot of "and then we went on the Twist n Spout a few times and then we went back to our room and watched Mickey's Clubhouse." So I figured instead I would just post a few thoughts I had in hopes that they help some people considering/planning for their cruise. Mods, feel free to move this to the TR thread if I'm mistaken about where it should go.

Our cruise was myself, DH, and DD4. This was our first Disney cruise and DDs first cruise. It was also my first Disney experience as I've never been to the parks before. We decided to go on this cruise because I heard that it is easier with small kids than the parks since you have your room with you all the time. We definitely found that to be the case.

 

[Ronneeaght]

1. The customer service is truly top notch. Before we went on our cruise, I'd heard that even though DCL is so expensive, the service makes it worth it. I didn't really understand how service could be a differentiating factor, so I wasn't going in with a clear idea of what that meant and I was super impressed by what I saw. It started before we even left port. At the end of the muster drill our muster attendant told a mom with a fussy baby in a stroller to get a head start before he released the rest of us. Throughout the cruise crew members were quick to open doors, smile at us, and engage us. We were seated with another family of three with a daughter right around the same age as ours. The two girls took turns being overstimulated (one or the other was under the table at some point at each meal). One night, the other mom was holding her daughter in her lap, and our server cut up her steak for her on his own initiative because he could see that she would only have one hand free to eat. He obviously had many responsibilities, and so to take the time to do that was, in my opinion, excellent service and par for the course of what we saw throughout the cruise.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am happy your experience was such a good one!

 

[Ronneeaght]

2. Disney gets it right with the MDR experience. Eating in the MDRs was a magical experience. Our rotation was ARRLA, which was perfect for us. (By the way, before the cruise I did fall into the trap of thinking that we would rotate through the three restaurants on the first three nights and so almost put a note in our reservation asking for Lumiere's on the third night so that we'd hit up the other two on the first two nights. I'm really glad I didn't.) Starting our cruise off in Animator's Palate couldn't have been better. I won't spoil it if you haven't experienced it, but it was a great show for distracting little girls who weren't excited about sitting still, and I actually choked up at the emotional conclusion. The show in Rapunzel's was delightful in a more interactive way. The food in all three restaurants was delicious. We actually had a Palo dinner reservation for night 5 that we cancelled because we wanted to get back in AP and loved the food and experience in the MDRs so much. That turned out to be an excellent decision as the seas were VERY rough the last night, and I wasn't able to make it through dinner.

I also really liked that our service team travelled around with us. On the first night, DD4 was a little grumpy and standoffish, but by night three she was calling out to our server and assistant server anytime they passed anywhere close asking for high fives, and by the last two nights she ended dinner with a hug from each of them. If we had a new team each night, I don't think this relationship would have been there, and again it made it easier for her to sit through a longer dinner than she is used to. We did get the "excellent" speech a couple times, but it was very subtle and I don't think I would have recognized it had I not heard about it here. We felt our servers were excellent and gave them the best marks with a clear conscience.

 

[Ronneeaght]

3. Skipping dinner and the show can be magical, too. As much as we loved the MDRs, we did skip them the night that we were in Bermuda because we didn't get back from our (non DCL) excursion until halfway through dinner. Since we were in our bathing suits already, we went straight up to the pool deck and found that we were the only ones both on the Twist n Spout and in the kids pool. At no point on our cruise were the water slide lines long, since it was a bit cooler on the sea days, but still it was nice to run up the stairs to a green light indicating we could go down the slide, and since I actually liked the Twist n Spout a lot, I felt less guilty not keeping a line of kids waiting, haha. It was also special to be the only ones in the kiddie pool. We closed that down and then watched Cinderella on Funnel Vision with a plate of French fries for DD and a hot chocolate with Bailey's from the Cove Café for me.

 

[Ronneeaght]

4. The app was nice in some respects, but I missed the paper navigators. Ok, so I obviously never got to experience the paper navigators on prior cruises since this was our first cruise, but while planning I spent a lot of time looking at the ones that Scott posts (huge thank-you to anyone who has posted them there). I was used to that format, so it took some time to get used to the app. I know that we could have asked for the paper ones from our host, but I did like having the schedule on my phone so I had one less thing to carry around. It was nice to see when things were happening throughout the cruise, rather than just one night in advance. I also really liked having the dinner menus available, as sometimes when we first got to the table we were distracted getting DD4 situated. Having at least an idea in advance made that less stressful. What I missed was the ease of seeing everything in one place rather than scrolling, and I had a harder time figuring out when the kids clubs would be in open house mode. DD4 wasn't really interested in going into the clubs without us, and I wish that we would have taken more advantage of the open house activities.

 

[lklgoodman]

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed your cruise. I totally agree with all your points about the app vs the paper navigator. We did our 5th cruise earlier this year and it was first time we didn't get the paper navigator each night. I never realized how excited I had been on our previous cruises when we would return to our cabin each night to see the navigator waiting on the bed. At least we still have the towel animals and chocolates each night waiting for us. They better never do away with those!

 

[I❤MICKEY]

When you left NYC what side of the ship was the Statue of Liberty on?

 

[bobyetman]

When you left NYC what side of the ship was the Statue of Liberty on?

It's on the right /starboard side

 

[ScooterScott44]

...I never realized how excited I had been on our previous cruises when we would return to our cabin each night to see the navigator waiting on the bed.

You can still get them. I made a habit on our last cruise to go by the guest services desk after dinner and pick up one or two copies for bedtime reading.

 

[Ronneeaght]

When you left NYC what side of the ship was the Statue of Liberty on?

It's on the right /starboard side

Yep. We were on the left/port side and so didn't see her. Our tablemates saw her out their window as they were getting ready for first seating dinner. We got to see Manhattan sliding by, though, so I'd say good things on both sides. (We were both on deck 2).