Are these still problems? (Issues from our 2000 Cruise)

[Rence]

We took our first Disney Cruise in January of 2000. 4 day cruise on the Magic (before advent of the 7 day cruises). We are about to take our second cruise in December (7 day eastern on Magic).

By and large we had a great time on our last cruise. However there were a couple of areas where we thought that DCL was lacking. I read a couple of forums at the time and it seemed that many others shared our feelings.

The fact that I do not see those same issues being discussed makes me think that the problems have been resolved. Just thought I would check in and verify. So looking for any updated input on these items.

FOOD:

Food was good, but not great and not always readily available. The cruise was my first, but my partner had been on four other cruises on different cruise lines and he rated Disney food the poorest. Outside of meal time food was hard to come by. The small walk up places always seemed to be closed whenever we were hungry. Later in the evening your only choice was room service. We did not want to go back to our room and wait for room service.
One night there was a small table setup with a few desserts on it in Beat Street and another night the wait staff wandered around the ships with a couple of trays of sandwhiches. Both of these seemed like they were just thrown together to quiet passenger complaints and weren't really very good.
On the forums at the time there were several postings from other folks with the same statements. Good, not great, and not always readily available.
I think that this problem was been resolved because I now read postings with folks raving about the food. It also seems like they have added more food choices and options and that late night food is available. I'd be especially interested in hearing from folks who have taken several Disney cruises over the years. Have you seen an improvement in these areas?

DRINK PUSHING:
We felt that the handing of alcoholic and other special drinks was really heavy handed. It wasn't just offered to you, but pushed on you. If an offer was made, and you declines, it would be followed up by two or three attempts to talk you into buying a drink. We reached the point where the next time it happened we were going to guest services and complain.
It was also bad with pushing specialty drinks on kids at dinner. Waiters would walk up to small children and offer them a premium drink. The question was typically put to the child with the waiter standing with their back to the parent. Of course the child is going to say yes and the parent had to basically chase down the waiter to be the bad guy and say no. We witnessed this several times by different waiters. We also read several forum messages complaining about the same tactic. Several parents had to scold the wait staff and make it clear that all drink offers were to be addressed to the parents and not the child.
Because everyone on the ship was using the same heavy handed tactics we presumed that this is how they were trained.
Is this still a problem? We don't mind being offered the drinks, but when we say No Thanks, we expect that that's the end of it.


On our comment cards at the end of the cruise, we complained about both of these. I don't see either of these being discussed as a problem so I am hopefully that DCL has changed its ways in these areas.

 

[Doucia]

We just came back from the Magic...

The drink pushing issue wasn't really an issue for us at all. We don't drink, so I didn't find there was any pushing.

The food....
We found the food wasn't all that great. We have cruised before and this was our major complaint. There wasn't that many choices on the menu either. The last two nights we dined at Palo's which was the food we are accoustumed to on cruises
At night, the only thing offered was pizza...unless you ordered in room dining.
I found this to be a problem because I like to snack on something low fat at night...there wasn't anything available.

Kim

 

[AnnMorin]

We have cruised on other lines but have stuck with disney the past several years as they have pleased us the most. In my opinion the food was as good or better than other lines. Palo's food outrates any that I have had at sea. As for the snacking issue what we do is order ahead of time from room service and put it in our stateroom fridge for later on. The tuna is GREAT!(and they will bring it in a bowl if you don't want the bread) the all hands on deck is a favorite of ours too. When it comes to the drinks I have never seen a problem (but then again I do like to imbibe ) DS only asked for a smoothie once and it was not offered he just wanted to try one. He was so pleased with the lemonade at the free drink station that is all he wanted to drink.At dinner if you don't want your children being offered smoothies just pull your server aside and say so. Beleive me that he or she will go out of their way to make you happy! The small tip they get added on for the smoothie is much less than they are hoping you give them at the end of the week!!

 

[KaitlinsMom]

Just back -

Drink pushing was not an issue for us - They just do it on the first day when they want you to buy the soda card or the wine package, after the first day, we didn't see any pushing at all!

Food was not the best in our opinion - It gets better as the days pass (why, I do not know) - But we really weren't thrilled with the food - We never ate at Palo, but have heard that it is just spectacular!

Karen

 

[padisneyfan]

Just on the 10/11/03 Magic. I didn't find drink pushing a problem. The food has improved in the dining rooms from my last cruise in 2002. I do agree that between main meals, it is slim picking. Room service menu is very limited and had trouble at times getting them to answer the phone. Pluto's stand is fast food (hamburg, hot dogs, taco, chicken tenders), none which was very good and closes around 10pm. The pizza is horrible. We did Palo's brunch which was ok and did not do dinner there as last year I wasn't that impressed with it. At Beat Street they had pizza each night and a few desserts. The one time they had the Midnight buffet it was closed when we left Beat Street after one of the shows.

We were on the Carnival Pride in May 2003, and overall the food was much better and there was always food available. Pizzza 24 hours/day, deli open the majority of the afternoon and evening. Everynight they had Midnight buffet which always had fresh fruit and salad. I know that some people complain about Carnival, but the food was just so good. Every afternoon, I had a fresh made hamburger for lunch. It was the best hamburg I have had in long time. Only down side is I gained weight on the Carnival cruise. This past trip on the Magic, I didn't gain any weight. Says alot for the food selection.

Nancy

 

[Cruisin]

hmmm, I thought the food was great on the Wonder.

I don't recall having any meal that I did not enjoy.

The only problem I had was that there is just too much food on those plates. They brought me out a piece of Prime Rib that was big enough to feed a family of 4 people with. It was excellent, too. I had some chicken meals that I thought were excellent also.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

We didn't have drinks pushed on us at all. In fact my kids never even asked for a smoothie - They both like them so if it had been offered they would have wanted one.

I did notice that later in the evening (after 8 pm) when we went looking for dessert , Scoops was always closed by them.

 

[jwann]

We loved the food --- always available either on the pools deck (I love the wraps) or by the free room service.

No drink pushing that I saw.

 

[DisneyGator01]

I have always enjoyed the food very much, especially a few of the menu enhancements that happened in the past year. I usually do not eat in the buffet's..I'm just not a buffet person, more a of a squimish, paranoia thing. But I always enjoyed lunch at Tritons, and the chicken fingers or wraps on deck 9.

I never felt a lack of food on the ship. I found it hard to get all 3 meals in a day by the end of a 4 day cruise. Always seemed like food 24/7 to me. Not sure how I am going to make it thru 7 days of eating like that!

Only thing I can agree with is that the room service menu is a little limited, but the things I have ordered on it have been good every time.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

We have sailed on DCL since before there was even a Disney Wonder. Compared to what we had heard from others about other cruise ships, it did seem that DCL was lacking in the food department.

But I have also seen a steady improvement as DCL has continuted to "learn" to run a cruise ship.

Buffet coverage for breakfast and lunch has greatly improved. I'd have to check the Navigators, but it seemed like you at least had a buffet going on somewhere (Beach Blanket, Parrot Cay, etc) between 6 in the morning to about 3 in the afternoon. In addition, I seem to recall the Navigator listed Pluto's Dog House and Pinocio's Pizzia openned something like from 10 in the moring to 10 at night (or something like that).

As for drinks, we did have a problem with our assistant server both asking if we would like wine with dinner tonight (every night) and trying to sell us some special wines bottled specifically for DCL. Otherwise, not an issue.

 

[kajohn]

We sailed DCL in February 2003 and found the snacking and other foods at night extremely lacking.

We had early dinner, so around 10 or 11pm, we were looking for a late night snack. Only pizza! Also, I never once got to eat at scoops! With early seating, I didn't want any food between breakfast lunch and dinner, but late at night would have been a great time for an ice cream or fruit, but that was not to be, they closed up shop very early.

On our Voyager cruise on RCCL the promenade had self serve ice cream 24 hours a day, and a pizza, sandwich and dessert restaurant open 24 hours a day also. Good snack food was never lacking, and all that is in addition to Johnny Rockets.

 

[RefreshedMom]

We got back a week ago from the Land/Sea three day cruise. All in all, the food was good. We did not do a Palo night, possibly next time. Three nights is not enough to learn about the whole ship! We all enjoyed our meals, and often ate half, then passed the entire plate to another family member to try.

We did get the soda sticker for at least three of the four of us. DH never seemed to be at the pool where we were sucking down the diet cokes. At our 8:30 dinner, specialty drinks were never forced on us. I don't recall them ever asking the girls if they wanted anything, just the adults. We did get DD a Shirley Temple each night. And I broke down and got her a Virgin Stawberry Daquiri one afternoon to have on the verandah with me (she felt like the Queen of the Nile).

I did feel that the interim meals (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken tenders) were an okay filler, but something we could get at home. We did discover the chicken wraps and fruit at Scoops, which took us about a day to realize they had them. My older DD would get a wrap from Scoops and then go get fries at the other location.

With the late seating we never needed to eat anything after 10 pm, but if we had the earlier seating, I probably would have ordered room service for a later snack.

Was I disappointed I could not 24 hours a day? No way! We were so busy doing stuff that it was never an issue and we were pretty happy we did not gain any weight the whole trip. We could stand to lose 10 or 70 pounds as it is!

 

[Rence]

Well it sounds like the drink pushing is no longer a problem. On our cruise it was really bad. It was like walking onto a used car lot full of comissioned salesmen who haven't sold a car in two months.

I don't mind being offer "Would you like a ....? ". But on that cruise you could say "No Thanks" and you would get "Oh, come on, you really want one don't you?". Again with the No, and they kept pressing and pressing. It was hard sell all the way.

With regards to offering drinks to the kids, it wasn't just offering, it was very blatant coaxing the kids to agree to the drink and block the parents from being able to stop it. Again I was not the only one who had this impression, we heard other parents on the cruise complain about it and when I came back I read multiple posts on forums from other folks who had the same experience.

My guess would be that someone in management decided that they needed to increase beverage service profits and were pressing the crew to push the drinks. Possibly even sometype of incentive reward for meeting quotas. It was just nasty and it sounds like they have done away with that behaviour. It was so not Disney.


My take on what I have read here regarding food is that food quality has improved since 2000. I didn't have any bad meals on the cruise, for the most part the food was good, just not great.

Quantity seems to have greatly improved with many people on here saying the portions were large. On our cruise the men at our table were constantly hungry the potions were so small. It wasn't until halfway through the cruise that I learned that you could order two entrees which most of the adults at our table started to do, just to get enough to eat.

It sounds like there is better food coverage during the day and a little bit better into the evening, but still not like on other cruise lines.

Some great suggestions regarding ordering roomservice ahead of time and storing it in the room.

 

[jrabbit]

Regarding the "Pushing of Drinks" On our last two cruises (2003 & 2003) I felt that they did NOT push drinks. Even at the sail away parties where you are wandering around from server zone to server zone, I would say NO once and NEVER be asked again - by any server. I don't know how they marked me, but they sure did. In the clubs, you would say no and they would place a napkin in front of you (either face up or down) to let all of the other servers know that you didn't want anything. If you decided that you wanted a drink, just flip your napkin over and someone would be by shortly to help you.

We have cruised DCL since 1999 and NEVER felt that the food was just average - it was always very good. And always in huge portions. Time for personal stats: over 6 feet tall, approaching 300 lbs - ok NOT a tiny guy. It doesn't matter if we have early or late seating - having anything to eat after dinner is not an option - just to full (and only with one entree/appetizer/dessert!!) After the first full day on the cruise my whole family stops eating lunch (and they ARE tiny). We will grab some fruit from scoops in the afternoon and we are set until dinner time.

DS and DD have grabbed some food from Plutos - hot dogs and hamburgers - they looked better that what you can get at a fast food joint. I have had a couple of pieces of pizza and thought that they were very good (try the bbq chicken!! )

If you are used to $50/person meals you might be disapointed in DCL's menu, but for most of us it is very good, with lots of different choices.

 

[KimDisFan]

I have always found the food good on DCL. Cruise RCCL this past June and felt the dining room meals there were not up to par as DCL. But on RCL the cafe in the Promade with 24/7 service can't be beat.

The cheese tray from room service is always good, and we always kept cookies in the room as well. My BIL would have the chicken fingers for breakfast, lunch, snack and evening snack every day.

In the evening, if you don't see any snacks ask, my FIL was looking for the nacho and cheese that was in one of the bars the night before, they weren't out at the time, but the CM went to the galley and got him some. Love that DCL service, they never let you down.

Also, no drink pushing, on the 1st night let them know we were not drinkers, after that they usually had our usuals (Coke & Diet Cokes) ready for us when we were seated.

 

[swandiverpatt]

As far as snacks, I think we planned ahead and had an apple or banana from Scoops in the room. We had early seating for dinner and I truly don't remember needing a snack after that! A drink maybe, but not a snack!

I remember looking at the late buffet on Deck 10 on Nassau day and truly not being able to eat anything since I was full from dinner at Tritons! I'm hoping for early seating this time, too, so we don't have to go to bed with that full-belly syndrome!

 

[ThreeCircles]

Originally posted by swandiverpatt
I remember looking at the late buffet on Deck 10 on Nassau day and truly not being able to eat anything since I was full from dinner at Tritons!

This is SOOOO true Swandiverpatt!!!

After four cruises I have yet to eat at the late-night tropical buffet or the midnight dessert buffet!

 

[Bbgrizzle]

We've done two 7-days: May 2001 (Eastern) and May 2002 (Western).
I thougth the food was pretty good and we never experienced any drink pushing.

However, if you don't like being pressured to buy something, don't get a facial in the spa. They are pretty pushy about getting you to purchase their beauty products.

 

[Sebastian_the_crab]

We cruised on the Wonder 10/23-10/26. To me their seemed to be a pair amount of drink pushing, but not to the point of excessive. We politely said "No thanks" and that was it.

The food to me was great! Correct sized portions (for the most part) and good variety. PALO on the other hand... well ??? My wife says "it's not for me". That's a polite way to say it wasn't as good as it could have been. Italian is not my favorite, so I can't camplain about what I know I don't like. PALO is more of an overpriced Olive Garden, without the good bread.

Overall the dining was great. I just wished at 3 am it was easier to get a samwitch. But hey, can't have everything!

 

[Padre Disney]

On our 10/2 cruise we bought one of the special drinks in the glass. We kept returning to our room to fill it up with what ever we wanted. We took that glass with us almost everytime we left our room. At one of the late night deck dances we forgot our glass. We had people bug us every 2 minutes for a drink. After a while Dh got tired of people bugging us and returned to our room and got our glass. Solved that problem right away. As soon as they saw we had a glass they walked right on past. (It only had ice water in it)

I have my glass already packed for out next trip.

We thought they had great food and lots to pick from.

When we took the kids on a 7 day we told them ahead of time NO special drink unless they asked us first. We did allow them to have one special drink only at dinner time. Worked for us.