Anyone Getting Tired of the Same Old, Same Old?

[FreeTime]

I know the argument that those who take a Disney trip each year, or to Las Vegas, Gatlinburg, the beach, etc. could be applied to cruising. The argument of it is tradition, we love it, etc. But, as I am on a cruise now I am finding it is the same experience from years ago. Same Match Your Mate questions. Same pirates night menu. Same shows. I thought trying DCL again would be a break, but it is just plain boring! I find that on a land trip, visiting the same place multiple times tends to have more variety. The only value I find in cruising now is the destinations.

Frequent sailing families - Why do you sail for the same experiences time after time?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

I love the water. I love being on a moving ship. I love the all inclusive floating resort and waking up in a new destination.

Ive now done 3 Disney cruises, with a 4th booked for 2025. All of my cruises have been different routes, different ports.

On my last cruise I only went to one main theater show. I don't go to the adult entertainment.

I love early morning sunrise with coffee and pastries, I love a morning swim and hot tub on a quiet ship. I love getting off at a new port, exploring a new city or area and then coming back to the ship.

Each cruise I do different things, I spend the time between cruises reading trip reports and watching YouTube to see other peoples experience of the ship. Each year I discover new things to try, new things to do.

 

[cvjw]

Cruise #15 in a few weeks. All but 3 on the fantasy. We don’t care that everything is the same, it actually makes the fantasy feel like a vacation home. Some cruises we never leave the ship except for castaway. We love satellite falls, walking on deck 4 and being near the ocean. Everything else just doesn’t matter to us - we cruise to relax.

 

[holula]

I love being on the ship (although the menus do get a bit boring after a while) but I think they could do with some new ports. That’s one area DCL really struggles with.

 

[DonaldEsquire]

I’ve only been on two so far, so I haven’t gotten bored of anything yet, but I see how someone could. That said, I still don’t think I would personally get bored because I’m cruising mostly to relax with a side of being entertained rather than the other way around. In my two cruises I still haven’t even done most of what’s offered adult entertainment-wise. I have yet to attend meet your match, trivia, Bingo, etc. There’s also enough itineraries available to keep the variety up for me for at least several more years, but hopefully with the rapid expansion of the fleet it means more new and interesting itineraries rather than the same or similar itineraries just from different home ports or different days of the week.

 

[nmoody1]

It's a shame that it's been left to stagnate. But it's easy money.

Menus don't change (what DOES the executive chef od DCL do?), shows remain the same or just copied from ship to ship. Even the merchant has become samey.

They don't mix things up with characters - I even find the cruise director jokes repetitive. But I guess I'm part of the problem as i still come back

That said, we have started to try new cruises.... so far I've found much of their offering to be repetitive too - but less robotic than disney

 

[Lesverts]

I do find it weird that cruise lines don't update the menu on a yearly/biannual basis. Food trends and tastes change and evolve. Disney isn't the only one with menus stuck in the past.

 

[FreeTime]

I love being on the ship (although the menus do get a bit boring after a while) but I think they could do with some new ports. That’s one area DCL really struggles with.

I agree with both of this. The menus are stale. Would like to see new ports.

 

[cvjw]

They don't mix things up with characters - I even find the cruise director jokes repetitive. But I guess I'm part of the problem as i still come

We have unfortunately sailed many of our last cruises on the fantasy with Ashley as the cruise director. She says the same thing at the same time on every cruise. Even her jokes are the same. Delivered in the same over exaggerated tone.

 

[CamColt]

That's a good question that I'm having a hard time coming up with a specific answer for.

I think in general, I cruise for the relaxation of it, not the activities. I've seen most of the shows so I often skip those. CC is my favorite place on earth so I don't mind going there again and again (currently up to 30 visits there). The other islands, I can take or leave, so I don't mind repeating them. For example, after doing the Eastern last year, we did it again this year and stayed on board in Tortola. We got a rainforest room pass for that day (that was new for us). We enjoy the menus very much so I don't mind them being repetitive, once or twice a year. Even when we go to Vegas, (about once a year) we have our must do restaurants that we repeat each trip. We enjoy the adult activities at night and while the actual activities may be the same, the "show" is always different based on the host and participants. And sometime there are new variety acts (we saw JunNk for the first time this summer) but even the ones we have seen multiple times still entertain. Lastly getting to know the bartenders and our servers (or seeing our favorite servers) is always fun.

I guess the short answer is we enjoy the experience so much that we don't mind repeating it.

 

[Budzooka]

I’m with the majority so far in that it’s about relaxing and getting away much more than seeing exotic places or fine cuisine. I have taken 6 DCL cruises and have yet to repeat the same itinerary. I could see how it could get stale and that’s why we only go once every 18 months or so and would never consider a back to back.

 

[cedricandsophie]

25 plus cruises in it never gets old. At least that’s what my disabled adult dsughter and her best friend say. It’s the place where, like the Disney resorts inciuding aulani, where they can be gone from morning ti night and I never worry. As long as she loves it we will go on at least one cruise a year.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Just got off the transatlantic which was cruise number 28 for me. Certain things I do expect each and every sailing vut I agree the menus and certain activities do get old if you cruise regularly. We ecen didbt go half the time to our dining cause the menus just didnt appeal us anymore…. They did have some new game shows and activities but it made me laugh they pretty much did daily art of the shiptour…

 

[Dug720]

Other lines (well, at least RCCL and Celebrity) are the same - menus rarely change (and OMG the keyboard outrage when they do - it's a catch-22 "We want them to change - but you changed them wrong!!"). Shows are the same - in some cases the same class of ship have quite literally the same show with a few differences. It's not just a DCL thing.

BUT there are multiple cruiselines out there, so if you're bored with one, you can always try another.

 

[Qc-007]

Has somebody got a real answer as to why the menus don’t change a bit once in a while ? We don’t need a overhaul every year, but what about at least one appetizer, one main course and one dessert per menu, once a year ? It doesn’t seem much and it would be (?) appreciated by return cruisers.

Years without a single change on a menu seems a bit lazy.

 

[DCLMP]

I know the argument that those who take a Disney trip each year, or to Las Vegas, Gatlinburg, the beach, etc. could be applied to cruising. The argument of it is tradition, we love it, etc. But, as I am on a cruise now I am finding it is the same experience from years ago. Same Match Your Mate questions. Same pirates night menu. Same shows. I thought trying DCL again would be a break, but it is just plain boring! I find that on a land trip, visiting the same place multiple times tends to have more variety. The only value I find in cruising now is the destinations.

Frequent sailing families - Why do you sail for the same experiences time after time?

Yes to all of that. We have run through all of DCL's itineraries. The only one we haven't done is Panama. We are going to Japan next year and hoping for new European itineraries in 2026.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Has somebody got a real answer as to why the menus don’t change a bit once in a while ? We don’t need a overhaul every year, but what about at least one appetizer, one main course and one dessert per menu, once a year ? It doesn’t seem much and it would be (?) appreciated by return cruisers.

Years without a single change on a menu seems a bit lazy.

I used to work as a chef, so this is may opinion based on my experience.

In large scale catering, when you have to feed thousands of people week in week out, you need a system where there is very little change. Theres a lot of work behind the scenes involved with changing menus on such a large scale as on Disney ships. Things which most people would not realize, from sourcing the products, to the cost of products, to teaching the kitchen staff to make it, and much more.

 

[JM_97]

Disney sticks to what they know with their cruise line for the most part. Many of their customers will keep coming back because they like the familiarity.

 

[Disney Legend]

First world problems!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Has somebody got a real answer as to why the menus don’t change a bit once in a while ? We don’t need a overhaul every year, but what about at least one appetizer, one main course and one dessert per menu, once a year ? It doesn’t seem much and it would be (?) appreciated by return cruisers.

Years without a single change on a menu seems a bit lazy.

On Seabourn one of the restaurants on the ships (the only one that required a reservation but no additional cost) it was helmed by Thomas Keller made to be similar to an American steakhouse and he had high demands on just what could be served there. In fact he also would not let his food be served outside making an amazing space outside behind the restaurant go unused for dining. That partnership has now ended after 8 years and the restaurant is now an Mediterranean one that has been rolled out through the fleet this year. It's gotten mixed reviews but there were a lot of complaints on the FB pages for TK Grill from past guests about the menus hardly ever changing. We only got to eat there once before the switch over but the steak there was the best we had on the ship and we liked the food so we'll see how the new restaurant goes.

I'm not saying this is the case with other cruise lines but sometimes there are reasons why menus rarely change, partnerships, convenience of the availability of menu items (because no one likes it when some food item runs out and the ship can't get more on the subsequent ports), difficulty of the menus in being able to replicate them as well as customize them as needed if guests wish to change parts of the order, and more. I'm with you in liking an adjustment every now and then but there's also truth in that when people don't get the item they've had for cruise after cruise as in it's been changed, discontinued, etc they can get very upset (there was the whole grandma's cookie outrage on Seabourn that had me thinking on guest behavior lol).