Christmas 2005 Disney Magic Experience

[yodel]

Hi fellow dissers. We did the 10-day Christmas cruise on the Magic in 2004 and just returned from cruising on the Magic this Christmas (12/24-12/31 2005). We noticed that the ship was looking tired and not as polished. Did any of you notice this as well? Also, we weren't as impressed this time with the cruise as we were last year. Simply put, the ship is starting to show her age ... but what's most surprising is the dramatic change from last Christmas to this Christmas. It's almost as though Disney has cut-back on their maintenance crew and don't have enough people to keep the Magic in ship-shape.

However, our biggest dissappointment was our server. Everything was great until she received her tip on the Friday night from us ... but after that she was extremely grumpy and had the nerve to tell our son to hurry up and make up his mind at Breakfast. We gave her a full tip and were very surprised to see the switch. Her name was Shantol ... have any of you seen this before from her? Needless to say this left a terribe taste in our mouths and I don't think we'll cruise with Disney again for a long time.

 

[mym]

sorry you had such a bad experience on your cruise. we've have had shantol on a previous cruise, sounds like the same person. she was not that great for us either

 

[Muushka]

Gosh, that is sad about the server. I don't understand that. And also sad to hear the Magic is getting old......

Hope you enjoyed your cruise otherwise!

I was wondering. We were on the Wonder and received a beautiful lithograph specially made for the Christmas cruise. Did the people on the Magic recieve one also? I thought it was a great surprise.

 

[yodel]

Yes, we received the Don "Ducky" Williams lithograph as well. It was a very nice gift. The added bonus was that Don was on our ship and available to us to sign the lithograph. We had 2 staterooms, so we were able to get get 2 copies and get both of them signed as well.

 

[princessmomma]

Everything was great until she received her tip on the Friday night from us ... but after that she was extremely grumpy

We had to same experience with our server too! He is not very pleasant the next morning for breakfast. I started wondering if the recommended amount is an insult and isn't good enough anymore. Maybe he thought he went above and beyond the call of duty and deserved more. It really left a sour taste in my mouth too.

 

[yodel]

That is very interesting. Seems as though Disney needs to sit down with their servers and get them to ensure that follow-through on the magical experience right through to the end. It's too bad that this happened too ... I have now booked a cruise with RCCL instead.

 

[budwmn]

On our second DCL cruise our server made an interesting remark on the last morning. He said, " Good Morning. Please forgive me if me if I seem abrupt (or some word to that effect), but we are always quite pressed for time in the morning because we have to get the ship ready for the next cruisers. Thanks for your understanding."

As a result, we took absolutely no offense and have remembered this on subsequent cruises. I can understand being confused by the change of behavior on the last morning, but they have 30 - 40 minutes to take orders and deliver food. They are under a lot of pressure.

 

[Aisling]

We noticed that the ship was looking tired and not as polished. Did any of you notice this as well? Also, we weren't as impressed this time with the cruise as we were last year. Simply put, the ship is starting to show her age ...

Wow, I must have lower standards than you, because I just got off the same cruise, and the Magic looked like a ship right out of drydock, shiny and new.
However, this was my first cruise on the Magic, so I have nothing to compare it to.

It's a shame about your bad server experience. We were lucky, and got Deneval from Jamaica and Ronette from South Africa...both friendly and efficient til the end.

 

[fidldidi]

We were on the Magic the week before Christmas and I actually thought the ship looked in great condition. I thought it was looking better than the Wonder looked to me a year prior. Our room was great, clean, in working order, as was the rest of the ship in my opinion. I continue to be impressed when I see CMs polishing the metal on the back of pool furniture and things like that. The only thing I found that was out of order on the ship was an ice machine at the drink station, and when I returned a few hours later it was fixed. I was actually expecting the ship to be showing her age more, and I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed.

Our servers were also good, as was our stateroom attendant. He did a superb job on our room and the most impressive thing was that we never really saw him. He just magically came in and out and made the room clean and beautiful.

So, we had a really good experience overall.

 

[Disney Lover Linda]

We just returned from Christmas cruise also. Overall wonderful cruise, great weather, good people on ship. I did notice a little wear and tear on the ship since we last cruised but nothing that effected my enjoyment. Our servers were not very good the first day or 2 but got better has week went on and were very gracious and friendly on our last morning. No complaints there. Decorations were beautiful, Mrs. Clause was great. Santa was odd looking though;they gave a nice Pooh pillow to my daughter's age group. My on big disappointment was Christmas dinner. My lobster was dry and they did not serve with butter. I got the chocolate yule log for dessert - yuke! IT WAS AWFUL! I only took one bite. The food did get better later in the week and Palo was WONDERFUL! The new Goofy's Galley near Mickey Pool is great. Fresh fruit, salads, fresh sandwichs, really nice addition. Big screen at family pool was really nice. Our stateroom attendant Margaret was SUPER! I'd do it again any day.

 

[KKB]

I am just EXHAUSTED from travelling w/ 26 family members (12 children), and illness plagued my family the whole week (and continues!)

We did have a wonderful time. Not much downtime! Seems we were running children from activity to activity to meet up w/ cousins. Luckily DH & I had Palo ressies for brunch and dinner--and I cannot say enough about the magnificent food & service (especially cutey Anton ) there! The wives also had brunch there--FABULOUS! But 3x in 2 days was a bit filling!

DH & I did leave the kids at clubs to hit casinos in St. Maarten--fun, but that is where we spent the most of our cash! (CASH, not ship account... ). And Thurs. night since the kids club was open until 1AM we did hit the adult bars together.

Kids had a BALL, maybe too many activities to choose from. A week at the Jersey shore w/ the cousins was far more relaxing! A cruise w/ the immediate family might be more relaxing, or one w/ older kids (ours are 5-10).

DD had earache all week--pumped her w/ advil daily, and it finally ran its course. I was ill pirate night/St. Thomas--might have been my transderm patch. Never bothered me on last cruise, but I gave it up w/ no ill effects after. DS5 had stomach issues last day--he had to miss Castaway Cay (DH & I tag-teamed). I was ill on trip home. Thought it was a bad sandwich at the airport, but older 2 were sick last night, and DH isn't doing well, so we must be running something through.

From kids perspective, Disney is the way to go. From an adults perspective, we saw no definitive differences from our Princess cruise last year. We did LOVE Palo, and Diversions is a wonderful sports bar--the nightclub area is terrific. But the disco on Princess got more action than all of Beat street put together after 11PM! (We were thrilled to get the Alamo Bowl on TV, even in the rooms, so the boys could watch! Go Huskers!)

I would like to try Disney again in about 5 years. DH & I will stick w/ Princess or similar lines for just us. Verandah was necessary to get 5 in one room--would like to get Cat. 3 next time w/ HUGE verandah, but 2 connecting rooms may be more in price range. DH & I didn't feel we needed a balcony. (although, let me tell you, MIL's Cat. 3 w/ 2 large bathrooms, & virtual DECK for a verandah--THAT was nice!)

Ports were nicer than Western....Castaway Cay is AMAZING! We didn't get to Princess' private island last year due to hurricane damage. It will be nice to compare.

We loved our servers & room steward. All very patient w/ us as we rotated tables (6 families), sick kids, etc. Family photos turned out wonderful!

Great fun, but not as relaxing as I had hoped. Still recouperating!

Kris

PS Met most of disers, but SADLY very little time w/ them--MIL was expecting a LOT more together time than I anticipated! Well, we can chat now!

 

[Muushka]

Snip..... My on big disappointment was Christmas dinner. My lobster was dry and they did not serve with butter. I got the chocolate yule log for dessert - yuke! IT WAS AWFUL! I only took one bite.[/

We were on the Wonder and sounds like we may have had the same menu. I had remembered that the lobster last year was not all that great, so I got the turkey and am glad I did after your description! No, I don't cruise DCL for the great food.... Now PALO is a different story

 

[peterandvicd]

[FONT=Fixedsys]We just came off the DEc.24-31st Cruise. We had 11 people all together. I have very high expectations, and The Disney Magic exceeded them. The ship was spotless, the service was great, and I gained 5 pounds off of the great food. We were so happy that we have a group of around 40 people that are booked for Dec. 30, 2005 -Jan. 6th, 2006. I have been on 10 cruises, and this was by far the best. [/FONT]

 

[risajs]

This was our first Disney cruise, too, but my husband and I both commented about what wonderful care was taken to keep the ship clean and in chape. We thought it was beautiful.

Margaret was our room attendant, as well. We were in 7501. I loved the room - very quiet, and LOVED Margaret. She was SOOO sweet to our 2 year old. Our server was Reshet (or something like that, from India) and Sara from England. They were good, but not excellent. The food was good, but mostly a mixed bag. Some of the desserts were just tasteless. The baked Alaska on the last night was a farce. The food in Palo's we found to be very good for both dinner and brunch. Aleksander was our server and did a very good job.

Our 10 yo son had an excellent time and cried on the way home from missing his new friends and the fun he had. The girls in Flouder's were WONDEFUL and very accomodating to our requests. We went WAY beyond our 10 hours and I was frankly, quite surprised that more folks did not take advantage of this service. Alayna had a great time there. They also gave us snapshots of her with Snow White and Cinderella, a large wall size growth chart, and a Disney suitcase with color-in designs, in addition to her many artistic creations.

I personally thought Christmas Eve was one of the most magical nights in my life. We were right next to the tree during the lighting and the "snow" was great. My only complaint was that the lines were so long, my 2 yo didn't get to sit with Santa.

Overall, I'd do it again in a heart beat. Thanks for all the great advice I got from this group, as well.

Risa

 

[domiii]

Looks like there were alot of us on the Chirstmas cruise. The 12 of us had a fabulous, relaxing time. We didn't try to do it all, so we had some down time. We all enjoyed the food, perhaps because we took the recommendations of our servers, Cornwall and Ian, who were just marvelous until the end. Everyone has their own opinion, which is what makes this forum so great.

There were a few cast members that we joked with us the whole trip and they went out of their way to make our time special. They made us feel we were the only ones on the ship! We even got a private backstage tour!

We didn't find the lines to be long, because of DISboard advise, we got to events early. From family portraits to characters meets and autographs. Teenagers got a watch from Santa. Mrs. Claus was alot of fun and took time with us older kids, too. I was impressed that she tended to the younger ones before visiting with us. That's how it should be.

There were crews out daily maitaining the ship. I had only been on the Wonder before, so I can't comment on the comdition of the Magic. It looked great to me.

Six of our party, ages 13 to 21, would have liked more to do. They weren't complaining, though. Just felt more variety would have been nice. Some liked The Stack and others didn't really give it a chance. For the most part, we made our own fun. I doubt we will ever travel together like that anytime soon. That made this trip all the more special to us.

It was a bummer that most of our excursions on CC were cancelled. I was disappointed in the merchandize on the ship and CC. Other than that, I have no complaints, except that I am back to work and it is cold out!

 

[KKB]

I was disappointed in the merchandize on the ship and CC. Other than that, I have no complaints, except that I am back to work and it is cold out!

Hey, Karen!!

Funny, I bought FAR more on the ship/CC than I bought on our last cruise! (admitedly I had more to buy for, but...) I could have bought a lot more! Each of us got 2 tees (one CC, one other), and Jack got the stuffed ship w/ 4 characters as a consolation prize since the poor guy missed CC --I was looking for an excuse to buy him that! NOT looking forward to the credit card bill next month!

I agree, the ship was lovely. Our teens felt the Stack was too old for them (13 & 14). 13yo signed into 10-12 year olds (he just turned), and 14yo pretty much hung w/ her mom (same as at home). Younger kids loved it all--clubs, pools, shows, cousins to play w/ 24/7. Dan & I felt it was fairly similar to our Princess cruise from an adults perspective (though certainly not as relaxing w/ the kids along!), but Disney is the ONLY way to go for kids! I think we will go again in 5 years or so--not until we can afford a Cat. 3 or better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was lovely to meet you (& your DH in towel attire!! )

Happy cruising next year!

Kris

 

[risajs]

Did any of you see my husband, Keith, the "policeman" on stage working with the juggler during the show earlier in the week? That was such a hoot. We just bumped into him in the elevator on the way down to the show and he asked Keith to assist him. That made the cruise all the more sepcial for us.

Risa

 

[grimgrinnin]

Did any of you see my husband, Keith, the "policeman" on stage working with the juggler during the show earlier in the week?

Was He the one that threw the juggling balls back at the juggler? That was too funny.


grim

 

[LynnTarrant]

We were on the cruise and saw your husband Risa even funnier we were your next door neighbours!!! 7502... we also thought that Margaret was a wonderful stateroom hostess.
It sounds as if Disney lover Linda was nearby too as she also mentions Margaret.
This was our third Disney cruise we had a wonderful time and honestly can see very little wear and tear on the ship.

 

[3xthecharm]

We had a great time.

DH works on many ships (navy). He could not get over the great condition of the Magic. He said you cannot imagine the damage salt water does. He had never seen a ship so well maintained considering its constant use.

Our Palo server said that the crew numbers were low due to illness.

The food was very good. I wish they had a few more kid friendly options. I have banned pizza, french fries, buttered noodles, and steak from our kids diets for atleast a month.

Our head server stunk. He messed up many orders. He served my kids foods to which they are allergic many times as a side dish. When I asked him to take it back, he simply scrapped the food off. I had to politely insist that he get a fresh plate of food. But, our assistant server was great. She was wonderful with the children.

Our stateroom hostess, Denise, was great, too. She remembered our kids names and ages. She somehow figured out in which bed they were sleeping and arranged their toys on them.

We spent plenty of family time. Kids were in the club several times. DD5 took a nap most afternoons so she could enjoy her evening. DS8 and DS10 even took a couple. We did the 2pm matinee of the evening shows twice. It worked great for DD5.

I'm not a party girl, so I reluctantly attended the deck parties. My kids loved them. All of young kids easily got close to the stage to see the performance. Several of the kids in our party ended up dancing on stage.

We did leave the ship with a little illness. DD5 had stomach bug by Sunday night. DS10 started Monday morning. It was minor and lasted a day.