Christmas 2005 Disney Magic Experience

[fidldidi]

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


grim

So, we were on the cruise the week PRIOR to you all, and we also had a "policeman" pulled from the audience, who also threw the balls back at the juggler on stage. And I thought it was all spontaneous... bummer! Still funny, though!

 

[mym]

3xthecharm,

sorry your dining experience wasnt as good as it could have been. the head server should be responsible for any food allergies you have...they honestly just scraped the food off? who did you have? besides that i hope your cruise was good!

 

[minniegrl]

Hi all!

DH and I were also on the Christmas cruise, and thought that the ship looked great. We cruised on the Magic in November of 2003 and I thought it looked just as good, if not better.

We also had Deneval and Ronette for our servers, and they were wonderful. They did seem a bit rushed on the last morning, but were never curt or rude. I did realize that they had to get the ship ready in a matter of hours for the new cruisers, though. We tipped above the recommended amount simply because I thought the recommended amount was too low for the service that they provided. Even if the food wasn't 5-star, the sheer amount that we ordered in order to try everything that we wanted would have cost more than the recommended tip suggested. Deneval and Ronette were great with the kids at our table, playing and joking with them, and always called them by name. They were always concerned with whether or not we were enjoying our meal, and were ready and willing to bring us a replacement in the event that were were NOT enjoying our meal. What else can I say?

Palo was excellent, as usual. I came on planning to ask for Marco for every meal at Palo, but we ended up with Emanuelle for brunch and tea, and he was an excellent server, also. Not only did he engage us in conversation and joke with us, he was very attentive and made excellent recommendations for already excellent food. We did have Marco for our dinner at Palo, and as usual he brought practically everything on the menu for us to try, which is one of the reasons I adore him. Ok, I'll tell the truth....its the accent. That is REALLY why I adore him.

I did feel like there was so much going on that there was no possible way to get to everything that I wanted to get to, and while I do understand that they need all those activities to cater to a wide variety of interests, I was disappointed that so many things were planned for 7:30, which made it hard to watch the entire show and still get to dinner on time. (taking a breath now)

I only had one motion sickness episode this cruise, which was great since we had 25 ft waves last cruise and I spent the first two days with my head in the toilet.

We had a great cruise, with great friends, and many great experiences. I do think that maybe you really need to love Disney to go on a Disney cruise.


Minniegrl

 

[missmulan]

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?

YES! We were on the 12/10 Magic and had Shantol from Jamaica too!
I've reported on several post about how unhappy I was and I am glad to find that I'm not the only one. She was NOT GOOD. She was grumpy even before tip night. She rolled her eyes a few times when my DS couldn't make up his mind or too slow to respond. I don't know if it's her culture but it was certainly not very Disney of her. I let it roll off my back and just accepted it as her background/culture. Some woman are stronger than others in different countries. We also gave full tip.

What made it nice at dinner was her Assistant Server ANASTASIA from Russia. She was nice. Anastasia forgot to refill drinks or even bring any on one night but she tried really hard.

Even tho' she made this a "not so nice experience" at dinner, it will not deter me from any future cruises.

 

[Muushka]

We also gave full tip.

I know I will get flamed for this , but I would not give someone who gave poor service a full tip. She is lucky she was not my server!

On the other hand, I will give extra to someone who goes above and beyond.

On our first cruise we gave extra to both the server and the assistant because they were that good. This last cruise our server was great and the assistant was not great, but he was not bad. We gave him (assistant) the full tip. He did not go above and beyond, but our meals were not unpleasant because of it.

I used to work with the public (medical setting) and tips were not part of the reward for doing a good job, but I was not grumpy with any of my patients and I certainly never rolled my eyes at their strange requests! Yes, I know that my salary was much higher than a waiter's, but the point is that people who work with the public need to treat them properly, especially if your livlehood is depending on it!

 

[minniegrl]

Muushka - I don't think that your comment deserves a flaming at all. Bad service should equal a bad tip. More power to you if you actually go through with it! (admittedly, i don't always go through with it when i should)

As for the rude female Jamaican server, we had Deneval on the Christmas cruise, and he was also Jamaican. He was not at all rude, was very patient and helpful, and was always always pleasant. It sounds like maybe she's just not a pleasant person. I mean everyone has bad days, but when her name consistently comes up in a negative way, there's something more going on. I'm glad we didn't have her!

 

[dannyb]

I, too, sensed a little disappointment on the part of our server, and we left a little more than the recommended tip (about 20% more). We figured it was appropriate to tip a little better due to the holiday. Perhaps he thought it appropriate, too, only more so.

We thought the ship was in great shape (it was our 3rd time on board) and we particularly enjoyed the enhancements following the drydock.

 

[nskjerven]

Gotta give my 02 cents

The service was great... even though we came late....
The ship was shinning....even when Wilson was whinning...
Pictures galore...from the 3rd floor...
Missing our new buds....in their fancy new duds...
Trying to recapture the Magic...makes Nan's poems tragic....

okay back to my old self....

twas the night before rum....yo ho yo ho...isn't there another cruise out there for me???

 

[Aisling]

Gotta give my 02 cents

The service was great... even though we came late....
The ship was shinning....even when Wilson was whinning...
Pictures galore...from the 3rd floor...
Missing our new buds....in their fancy new duds...
Trying to recapture the Magic...makes Nan's poems tragic....

okay back to my old self....

twas the night before rum....yo ho yo ho...isn't there another cruise out there for me???

Nan You deserve a prize that that lil diddy!

 

[Disney Lover Linda]

Hey LynnTarrant- we were across the hall, 7503! I had the Disney Christmas clings on the door. You were lucky, you had a window! I missed that this time, we had a cat. 10. It was nice but impossible to know whether it was day or night. I really liked our area, quiet and like I said before, Margaret was a great stateroom attendant. I had my fingers crossed for an upgrade sincewe had guaranteed Cat. 10 when we booked but it was not to be. It was a super trip - went way to fast. At least I have WDW to look forward to in July.

 

[risajs]

Hey we were your next door neighbors with the 2 year old who was always running in the hall! I would rebook that location again in a heartbeat. You are right about it being so dark in the room. I had wanted that this time around so the kids would be able to nap in the room. It also made for some late mornings, though, and next time we'll get a porthole, but I liked the quiet and the dark.

Risa

 

[Cali disneygirl]

We had Shontol on our December 17 -24th cruise and she was good majority of the time. I do know that she only had a couple more weeks left before she got off of the boat after however long they go (6 months or 6 weeks maybe?) at a time. She seemed ready to get off the boat when we had her but was always nice. Her assistant server Anastashia was great. We tipped them both equally because we thought she did as much if not more work. She was always smiling and was very nice to the kids. We did not give our tips until the morning we were leaving.

 

[glass-slipper]

We had Shantol on our 1/7 cruise and I wasn't happy with her at all! She was nice when she wanted to be and very pushy with the alcohol. I'm not a big drinker and ordered iced tea at dinner, so did DH. She actually asked me why I didn't drink. Was there something in my past, did I use to drink and stop??!! I was shocked! Really too personal, but I did say I just wasn't a drinker. She then asked if we were celebrating a special occassion, maybe we'd like a drink then. She also kept pushing smoothies and virgin daquairs(sp) on my kids. It was uncomfortable. I felt like she was out after the extra gratuity, we ended up tipping her less than the assistant server who did more work and was nicer!