A vent about our recent Disney Magic sailing experience.

[jiminyC_fan]

Just debarked the Magic yesterday and I didn't find fault with upkeep, and I thought the food was so much better than our June Fantasy sailing. Palo dinner was lacking, but main dining was much better than I was expecting. So - everyone will have different perspectives. I prefer the Dream class ships, but not having to fly to port sold us on the Bermuda cruise. Weather was fairly dreadful, and seas were rough, but I'm still glad we sailed.

Thank you for your review.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Thank you for your review.

Why didn't you thank the OP for their review? Any review should be thanked IMO.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

NCL has an actual Broadway/West End show on several ships now, and are trying to push for more.

It does seem like the cruise lines are trying to get better entertainment available to people whether it's live music based like a singer or band or shows to watch. I think they are trying to maintain guests used to cruising since so much of the new trends are these very varied ships with go cart tracks, multiple slides, zip lining, etc.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I will say that Tisa, the main entertainment person, was FANTASTIC on the Magic. We skipped out on our bad table dinners early some nights to make sure we caught her stuff.

 

[jimmymc]

I've heard a lot of complaints about food on the Magic and Wonder over the years. Every now and then they will have a season with good food, but overall it's average to bad.

I've heard the kitchens aren't very well designed, so they end up not being able to do a lot of fresh cooking, but that doesn't change the fact that you're eating most of your meals for the week at what would be a bad restaurant on land.

 

[MalvernPa]

I will say that Tisa, the main entertainment person, was FANTASTIC on the Magic. We skipped out on our bad table dinners early some nights to make sure we caught her stuff.

We were on the Canadian Cruise, and we LOVED Tisa. Agreed, she was fantastic and very fun.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Why didn't you thank the OP for their review? Any review should be thanked IMO.

Pretty sure it took you time to research out if I did or didn't. I don't feel the need to respond because I think you are just looking for a debate.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Pretty sure it took you time to research out if I did or didn't. I don't feel the need to respond because I think you are just looking for a debate.

I've read the thread keeping up with it and didn't notice any other thank you to someone. Was odd seeing that given your first comment on the thread which was not hard to remember. It was an observation. We must disagree I guess because it's nice to give credit to anyone who shares a review, positive or negative otherwise it's like singling out one person but that's your prerogative, I just noticed it. FWIW there were other posters who gave positive things about their experience. I found those comments just as helpful as the OP's experience in expectations. The dry dock is probably a very important part of the conversation as people are hoping for minor or major things to be addressed

 

[happycamper47]

I've heard a lot of complaints about food on the Magic and Wonder over the years. Every now and then they will have a season with good food, but overall it's average to bad.

I've heard the kitchens aren't very well designed, so they end up not being able to do a lot of fresh cooking, but that doesn't change the fact that you're eating most of your meals for the week at what would be a bad restaurant on land.

We've never gotten a bad meal on the Wonder and that has been our "most cruised".

 

[Tokelau]

I have a long rant on our recent experience. We sailed on the Disney Magic out of NYC on Oct 16th. I have sailed with Disney 8 times including this sailing and have been on all the ships lack there of the newest Wish. We have always had wonderful trips and I have to say this was my worst experience I have had on Disney.

First the Magic is really showing her age. Her exterior areas are all rusted in many areas and the flooring on deck 4 and deck 9 all have areas where the rubber is peeling out and don’t even have a coating on them anymore, very faded. They do try and keep the areas around the pool nice but leave the immediate pool area and they look very bad. Quite a few areas had various missing or broken pieces to them. Plenty of lights around the ship were out and not replaced. The carpet around the ship was shredded and showing the flooring underneath. Many areas of carpeting also could have used a good shampooing cause of the noticeable dirt and stains. The really sad thing I saw was that the main lobby chandelier has large sections peeling off of it. We didn’t go looking for things just everywhere you looked something just stuck out. There were plenty of things around this is just some of the things and happen to photograph.
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The dining experience wasn’t good. This was something we were really looking forward to. We sailed on the Dream just last year and we thought everything was great with the food. This sailing we had so many issues with the food. To start it off at the breakfast buffet the scrambled eggs which was boxed eggs which we are fine with was undercooked. They were egg soups, very watery in the dish pans you served yourself from and this was for all the egg dishes that had scrambled eggs in them even ones with toppings added in. Not even firm at all. Even the MDR had this egg issue. The bacon was flavorless and limp and we love bacon. The Mickey waffles were soggy also from them steaming each other in the serving pan. They had the churro Mickey waffles one day and those were good but they didn’t come back. I did find a dish called Chicken Congee at breakfast I tried which turned out to be good tho it looked terrible like a yellow mush. It became my go to item at the breakfast buffet. Sadly the last morning they over salted it so it was inedible. The lunch buffet also had issues with food being over cooked or bland lacking flavor. I found if you kept to the premade foods that they only had to heat up to serve they were fine. Room service was some of the better food we had but they served us a side of chips with our grilled cheese that was the crumbs from the bottom of the bag and didn’t give us our coleslaw. They also gave us honey mustard to go with our hot wings which was strange we asked for blue cheese and they gave us Honey Mustard and Ranch. The Duck in Diner was where I had my biggest issue happen. I ordered the impossible burger and they told me it would take a while to make to make sure it was cooked correctly. Told them it was fine I was in no rush. When they finally gave me the burger I sat down with it but it looked off. So I cut it in half and it was raw inside. Poked my finger in it and it was cold and mushy. So I had stood there waiting for my food cause they said they wanted to make it cooked correctly and they still served me a raw meal. The Pinocchio pizza window was passable but the more specialty pizzas went quick and they hardly made them. They only usually had cheese, pepperoni or sausage. My DH big issue was the roast beef sandwich from Daisy’s Delights. He got the sandwich shortly after they opened so the food should have been it’s freshest. Well when he bit into it he immediately spit out. It was all mush like it had sat out all night. I went and got one to see if it was just one bad sandwich. It wasn’t it also was mush.
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The main dining was ok. I am disappointed that dishes I have ordered many times have changed and not for the better. Our server kept asking me and my DH if our meal was ok and if we wanted anything else but had to keep telling him that we didn’t care for something and no thank you to picking something else. They seem to have changed the recipes or the new crew are not making them the same anymore. I miss them having Cabanas open for table service. That was one place you could get a good and hot meal every time cause they made it fresh just for you not a whole dining room.

I am so happy that the Dream will be the ship we get out of NYC next year cause this sailing made me really sad about how Disney has slipped so far from trying to make sure you have a a good vacation. I did see plenty of Earning my Ears name tags on this sailing but I don’t believe this should have affected the sailing as much as it probably did. I did fill out the questionnaire at the end of the sailing and made sure we noted all the problems. I am sure there will be many here ready to argue in defense of Disney but seeing and experiencing the decline at WDW and now Cruise Line I find it hard to give Disney a pass anymore. I hope Disney redeems itself when we sail on the Dream next year but if we experience what we did this sailing we will sadly have to give Disney time to get their act together.

I have a long rant on our recent experience. We sailed on the Disney Magic out of NYC on Oct 16th. I have sailed with Disney 8 times including this sailing and have been on all the ships lack there of the newest Wish. We have always had wonderful trips and I have to say this was my worst experience I have had on Disney.

First the Magic is really showing her age. Her exterior areas are all rusted in many areas and the flooring on deck 4 and deck 9 all have areas where the rubber is peeling out and don’t even have a coating on them anymore, very faded. They do try and keep the areas around the pool nice but leave the immediate pool area and they look very bad. Quite a few areas had various missing or broken pieces to them. Plenty of lights around the ship were out and not replaced. The carpet around the ship was shredded and showing the flooring underneath. Many areas of carpeting also could have used a good shampooing cause of the noticeable dirt and stains. The really sad thing I saw was that the main lobby chandelier has large sections peeling off of it. We didn’t go looking for things just everywhere you looked something just stuck out. There were plenty of things around this is just some of the things and happen to photograph.
View attachment 712586
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The dining experience wasn’t good. This was something we were really looking forward to. We sailed on the Dream just last year and we thought everything was great with the food. This sailing we had so many issues with the food. To start it off at the breakfast buffet the scrambled eggs which was boxed eggs which we are fine with was undercooked. They were egg soups, very watery in the dish pans you served yourself from and this was for all the egg dishes that had scrambled eggs in them even ones with toppings added in. Not even firm at all. Even the MDR had this egg issue. The bacon was flavorless and limp and we love bacon. The Mickey waffles were soggy also from them steaming each other in the serving pan. They had the churro Mickey waffles one day and those were good but they didn’t come back. I did find a dish called Chicken Congee at breakfast I tried which turned out to be good tho it looked terrible like a yellow mush. It became my go to item at the breakfast buffet. Sadly the last morning they over salted it so it was inedible. The lunch buffet also had issues with food being over cooked or bland lacking flavor. I found if you kept to the premade foods that they only had to heat up to serve they were fine. Room service was some of the better food we had but they served us a side of chips with our grilled cheese that was the crumbs from the bottom of the bag and didn’t give us our coleslaw. They also gave us honey mustard to go with our hot wings which was strange we asked for blue cheese and they gave us Honey Mustard and Ranch. The Duck in Diner was where I had my biggest issue happen. I ordered the impossible burger and they told me it would take a while to make to make sure it was cooked correctly. Told them it was fine I was in no rush. When they finally gave me the burger I sat down with it but it looked off. So I cut it in half and it was raw inside. Poked my finger in it and it was cold and mushy. So I had stood there waiting for my food cause they said they wanted to make it cooked correctly and they still served me a raw meal. The Pinocchio pizza window was passable but the more specialty pizzas went quick and they hardly made them. They only usually had cheese, pepperoni or sausage. My DH big issue was the roast beef sandwich from Daisy’s Delights. He got the sandwich shortly after they opened so the food should have been it’s freshest. Well when he bit into it he immediately spit out. It was all mush like it had sat out all night. I went and got one to see if it was just one bad sandwich. It wasn’t it also was mush.
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The main dining was ok. I am disappointed that dishes I have ordered many times have changed and not for the better. Our server kept asking me and my DH if our meal was ok and if we wanted anything else but had to keep telling him that we didn’t care for something and no thank you to picking something else. They seem to have changed the recipes or the new crew are not making them the same anymore. I miss them having Cabanas open for table service. That was one place you could get a good and hot meal every time cause they made it fresh just for you not a whole dining room.

I am so happy that the Dream will be the ship we get out of NYC next year cause this sailing made me really sad about how Disney has slipped so far from trying to make sure you have a a good vacation. I did see plenty of Earning my Ears name tags on this sailing but I don’t believe this should have affected the sailing as much as it probably did. I did fill out the questionnaire at the end of the sailing and made sure we noted all the problems. I am sure there will be many here ready to argue in defense of Disney but seeing and experiencing the decline at WDW and now Cruise Line I find it hard to give Disney a pass anymore. I hope Disney redeems itself when we sail on the Dream next year but if we experience what we did this sailing we will sadly have to give Disney time to get their act together.

Yikes! We are booked on the Magic for Mardi Gras week out of New Orleans. I hope they pull things together before February - I was looking forward to the dining options, I'll pass on the raw burgers.

 

[Chica1581]

I’m worried because we are doing Thanksgiving on the Magic. We have never been impressed by MDR food but am worried about bad food. My kids will be crushed if there is no popcorn.

 

[DCLMP]

My cruise on the Magic was great. There are some areas that need a refresh. I expect DCL to take care of that on the next dry dock.

 

[DCLMP]

Were they implying the New York cruisers were complaining more than other guests? We sailed from NYC to Canada last month and in our FB many people complained about the food and they were from all over the country and other countries. We are from NY and I thought the food was fine. Cabanas has no problem other than the eggs were more loose than other cruises.

MJ

I know we've both been on a lot of DCL cruises. You quite a few more then me, but I've always found the food to be decent to good, but nothing spectacular. The eggs in Cabanas are powdered and nasty. If you want real eggs you have to go to where you order them cooked as you like.

The best thing you'll find on a Disney cruise in Penelope's. Love that place. I know it's a surcharge, but way cheaper then any yogurt, ice cream or gelato place where I live.

 

[Budzooka]

I will say that Tisa, the main entertainment person, was FANTASTIC on the Magic. We skipped out on our bad table dinners early some nights to make sure we caught her stuff.

Tisa is incredible. We really enjoyed the adult entertainment every evening with her energy and humor.

 

[orangecuse]

We were just on the Magic 10/26. I didn't notice the upkeep things outside the light BUT I'm not one to catch those details usually.

I will say- DCL may have the worst food and food options of any cruise line in our experience. The dinner menus are small and repetitive, cabanas closes way too early, and we got moldy fruit from room service one day which was super gross (yes they apologized- no we did not ask for anything beyond that). We have sailed 11 times and done RCL, Carnival, Celebrity, and DCL on the dream. DCL is the 2x food loser for us now. I don't want that to sound like all DCL food was bad because its not! We had some really good dishes! But Cabanas closing at 2 to never reopen is silly, and the food rating on a whole was meh, compared to some other cruises where thats been the star for us.

The shops were also disappointing because they did not have any Halloween stuff despite this being a HotHS sailing. They said it all sold out on other cruises. They also didn't have the atrium statues and a lot of what they did have seemed to sell out by day 1/2.

We had a great time because duh, its a cruise! But we do have a Merrytime cruise booked for November and the food was bad enough it did give me pause on if we should switch to an RCL or celebrity sailing. I will have to look into more if merrytime offers enough special stuff for us to stick with it.

Oh I also wanted to add our room steward was amazing, and so was the entertainment staff on board as well as the restaurant manager. My kids couldnt even hang through early dining some nights and he and our head server had their food out before some people even ordered so they could eat and go back for a break. Have to give the DCL crew props!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

will say- DCL may have the worst food and food options of any cruise line in our experience.

Which is so opposite of what I would think out of a brand such as Disney. People def. have different tastes though but it does seem to be consistent enough complaint and like the earlier conversation about eggs I can say Disney's eggs even in the resorts at WDW are done in a more runny manner that is not as appealing.

 

[mmouse37]

I know we've both been on a lot of DCL cruises. You quite a few more then me, but I've always found the food to be decent to good, but nothing spectacular. The eggs in Cabanas are powdered and nasty. If you want real eggs you have to go to where you order them cooked as you like.

The best thing you'll find on a Disney cruise in Penelope's. Love that place. I know it's a surcharge, but way cheaper then any yogurt, ice cream or gelato place where I live.

Yes....I never mind the food but I don't think it can be spectacular in the MDRs or Cabanas. Just too many folks to feed at one time.

I agree for real eggs you need to order them.

Palo is usually always a cut above (as it should be since you are paying an upcharge).

MJ

 

[mmouse37]

We were on this sailing as well. We had a wonderful cruise.( I did miss the popcorn and guest services said the shipment wasn’t there— seriously, in NYC !) we had a gorgeous sail away evening.

Maybe it’s hard when we enjoy anticipating and planning the vacation and then it doesn’t meet expectations. Those who have done a route or ship before and loved something want that again. ( and rightly expect it for what they are paying)
The OP helped so many cruisers with info and links, I hate that their vacation wasn’t as great as hoped for.

I know I’ll never have a sail away like the one we did. First time out of NYC, gorgeous weather, only tub of popcorn we got on the sailing, and loving the NYC view. It set the tone for our trip.

I just did a 4 night VV Key West/Bimini on the Scarlet Lady that had me missing DCL so much ! Lovely ship delicious food but not my style at all.

We have sailed out of NYC many times and that sailing had to be one of the best!!! I could not believe how great the weather was all week. I kept expecting it to be cooler than it was towards Canada but the weather in each port was better than I expected!!

I don't begrudge anyone who has valid complaints (and the OP did for sure), especially with the prices DCL charges. It is sad when your expectations don't live up to the experience you actually had. Hopefully, during dry dock DCL will spruce things up and sooner than that get the MDR food/service more on track. I heard tons of complaints about the food this trip.

MJ

 

[josa3279]

I was recently listening to a podcast with Len Testa (forgot the name of it) and he was telling a story about his partner Jim was with a Disney executive who recently retired after like 40 years with the company. They were going into the parks and the former executive who had some special type of pass was turned away because he didn’t have a park reservation and they had to go to Epcot and scan in and back to Magic Kingdom due to the reservation system. He was then saying that the big thing that has changed in how the company is run is that the executives no longer walk into the parks, ships, etc. and experience it as the guests do. The former executive even asked to speak with someone to discuss this problem and was given a piece of paper with an email address and told he would have to email his concerns.
In my opinion this has a trickle down effect. Cast members don’t feel like they can accomplish anything because they cant get the support from higher ups and that just hurts moral. Guests like us who have been so used to Disney being able To fix issues then become more frustrated. Disney has always been known for their attention to detail and we guests have been so used to that so we notice these things and expect better. I was one of the people who defended Disney to no end and they could do no wrong in my opinion but I will say lately on my last few trips I have seen things like the OP mentioned in parks and hotels and even in cast members who don’t have the same high spirits they used to, they are overworked and under appreciated. My trips have still been magical and I still plan to go very often (2 more trips booked already) but I see more little things that management is letting slide And it’s not good. On our last trip my wife has a salt intolerance and virtually every time we were at a pretzel stand we asked for one with no salt and if they made them fresh at the stand the cast members made her a fresh one with no salt. We were at Magic Kingdom and one day the stand did this for us. We were there 2 days later and same stand the cast member started making it for us and some manager came by and said don’t do that. The cast member explained my wife had an intolerance and the manager just said we’re no. I was calling out to the manager to ask what was wrong and and she looked at me, I mean directly at me, I said I’m sorry they did that for me two days ago so we came back and just asked again. The woman literally looked at me and turned and walked away, not a word completely ignored us. Look I understand if you can’t do it and we don’t look for special treatment but for years Disney meant ask and if it’s at all possible we will do it. Now I am starting to see little things like the OP and it does make a difference.
Now I know some people will say it’s stupid to complain because they wouldn’t make me a pretzel or a light fixture has a tear but little things can add up
OK go ahead pile on!

 

[auntlynne]

I was recently listening to a podcast with Len Testa (forgot the name of it) and he was telling a story about his partner Jim was with a Disney executive who recently retired after like 40 years with the company. They were going into the parks and the former executive who had some special type of pass was turned away because he didn’t have a park reservation and they had to go to Epcot and scan in and back to Magic Kingdom due to the reservation system. He was then saying that the big thing that has changed in how the company is run is that the executives no longer walk into the parks, ships, etc. and experience it as the guests do. The former executive even asked to speak with someone to discuss this problem and was given a piece of paper with an email address and told he would have to email his concerns.
In my opinion this has a trickle down effect. Cast members don’t feel like they can accomplish anything because they cant get the support from higher ups and that just hurts moral. Guests like us who have been so used to Disney being able To fix issues then become more frustrated. Disney has always been known for their attention to detail and we guests have been so used to that so we notice these things and expect better. I was one of the people who defended Disney to no end and they could do no wrong in my opinion but I will say lately on my last few trips I have seen things like the OP mentioned in parks and hotels and even in cast members who don’t have the same high spirits they used to, they are overworked and under appreciated. My trips have still been magical and I still plan to go very often (2 more trips booked already) but I see more little things that management is letting slide And it’s not good. On our last trip my wife has a salt intolerance and virtually every time we were at a pretzel stand we asked for one with no salt and if they made them fresh at the stand the cast members made her a fresh one with no salt. We were at Magic Kingdom and one day the stand did this for us. We were there 2 days later and same stand the cast member started making it for us and some manager came by and said don’t do that. The cast member explained my wife had an intolerance and the manager just said we’re no. I was calling out to the manager to ask what was wrong and and she looked at me, I mean directly at me, I said I’m sorry they did that for me two days ago so we came back and just asked again. The woman literally looked at me and turned and walked away, not a word completely ignored us. Look I understand if you can’t do it and we don’t look for special treatment but for years Disney meant ask and if it’s at all possible we will do it. Now I am starting to see little things like the OP and it does make a difference.
Now I know some people will say it’s stupid to complain because they wouldn’t make me a pretzel or a light fixture has a tear but little things can add up
OK go ahead pile on!

I’m only to going to pile on by asking if you got that Manager’s name! And then submitted it to someone who might do something. It’s not as much the denial of making an item special order, it’s the turning away and not responding.