Crowds, lines, pushing etc. questions

[my3kids]

I've read some reviews where passengers loved the ship but wouldn't go back because of the crowds. I read remarks of other cruise lines' passengers not being in the frenzied rush the DCL passengers were to get places. People have stated there were lines for everything, people would push others around to jockey for a better position....kids running out of control with plates of food. On the flip side there are plenty of reviews of the trip being incredibly relaxing and care free.

So what gives....Is it a week by week difference? When we travel to nice resorts there are children there, but they are never running wild....no one pushes other guests to get the prime spot for the beach chair to be set up.

I know it is family oriented and that is why we selected this over any other line, but for a family that expects children to follow the rules, be quiet when appropriate, and aren't used to children or adults being disrespectful in situations like theatres or dining rooms, are we going to be thrilled or disallusioned?

I'm not trying to start any arguments.....just opinions on what to expect. I appreciate all your advice and observations.

 

[CarolAnnC]

I have cruised on the Magic with a full ship and never experienced any problem with crowds at all. In fact I was amazed it was a full ship as it was no where near what I consider to be a "crowd".

I do not understand about the "lines for everything" either. Your dinner seating is a reserved table, so no need to worry about lining up early for a good seat... On embarkation day I went over to the spa and got my ressies without waiting long either. Perhaps the Palo's and Flounders lines may be longer, but that is only the first day when one would need to line up for those ressies.

The pools do get crowded, especially on sea days, but you can always find seats above it on deck 10, at least I always have. Never saw any pushing though.

As far as how children behave, each parent can only control their own child. The same as a WDW vacation - there will always be children that are quiet and those who are not. Although DCL does a wonderful job of keeping children happy with so many clubs and activities, it still is a family oriented ship with many children on board. As a single mother of teens, I can say that I have not been bothered by noise or disrespectful people or children on the ship. I have been so pleased with my 3 previous cruises, that I am now planning Disney cruise number 4.

 

[NaturallyMe222]

I have sailed with Disney two times and have never had the problem with lines or pushing children. I'm wondering if this is because my children are teens. I'm thinking that maybe the lines are for autographs and pictures with the characters onboard?? Both of my cruises with Disney have been so quiet.. and very relaxing and yes the ship was booked. Once again we are sailing with Disney in May 2002 and since both previous cruises were so wonderful and not stressful at all...we have invited a friend to come along for each of my teens to enjoy it with.

 

[Coach]

My DW and I were also on a fully booked cruise on the Wonder. We had late seating for dinner and had no problems at all with rowdy kids. As a matter of fact I could not believe how quit the dinners were but also the decks and pools. Also Castaway Cay was not bad at all, of course we were at the adult beach but on our way back the family beach did not look at all busy.
I guess it's who you talk to and their opinion of crowded and crazy.

Coach

168 Days till Disney

 

[Lisa F]

Admittedly, I don't read every post that comes across here, but my perception of DCL based on the posts here is just the opposite. From everything I've read, DCL handles potential crowd/line situations better than most other cruise lines (ie disembarkation).

When we cruised last january, I was extremely disappointed to learn at the port that our cruise was completely booked. I had booked during the lower season purposefully and when disney offered the $99 three day cruise, we learned that our ship was more full than the previous NYE cruise.

I coudln't believe how empty the ship felt, even completely booked. I don't remember ever waiting on a line except to get on the boat and to get back on the boat from castaway cay (because everyone was getting back on at the same time). We had late seating for breakfast on the last day and watched the progress of the line while enjoying the company of our tablemates for one last time from lumieres and got off the ship when the line had dwindled to nothing. As far as pushing and crowds... well, I don't recall ever being pushed or crowded. The ship is more than comfortable, it's downright luxurious, even at capacity.

Lisa

 

[my3kids]

Whew! What you each have said is what my idea has been as well. I couldn't imagine it was as negative as some of the reviews were....no one would ever go if everyone felt that way. I'm glad to hear more postive stories regarding lines, crowds and behavior. Thanks for the experiences.

 

[Firefighter Mickey]

Reviews are in the eye of the reviewer. For some people, more than one person waiting to get something is a line - for other people, more than 20 is a line.

Also, did you ever notice how people go on vacations sometimes bound and determined not to have fun, no matter what happens? And, unforunately, one negative thing happening can ruin a trip for people, and after that event, they look for nothing but the negative.

The worse lines we ever found on the Magic was when disembarking at St. Thomas - there was a lot of confusion about people having to report for immigration, and large groups of people that were scheduled to go on excursions early had to wait, and wait, and wait until they tracked down everyone that hadn't reported to immigration (even after 2 shipwide announcements) - so rather than staging the groups of people getting off the ship (which is what they usually try to do), everyone pretty much croweded into the stairways together, and naturally, there were a few tempers flaring. Not a major problem though, as all of the tours waited for people.

The only other line I encountered was signing up for Palos, and that line moved fairly quickly (in fact, I hesitate to call it a line, but then I got there early). Oh, and we were second in line at Pluto's Dog House one day for burgers - that was a tough line because the food smelled so good.

I can't recall ever waiting in a line for the shows (unless you go there before the theatre opened, and there was really no reason to do that).

Oh, I almost forgot - we waited in a really long line to board this ship, because we arrived when the terminal opened. But that was kindof a fun line because as it snaked around the terminal, we would meet all these strange people wearing lime green ribbons Plus it was fun to watch the kids get their pictures taken with Mickey & Minnie. If we'd have arrived after the line had cleared out (shortly after the ship started boarding), we'd have missed this altoghether.

 

[AUTUMNSAM]

I agree with the previous posters. I encountered no lines at all, on my May 2001 trip. I'm going again this May it was so much fun. I go for the Pin Trading Cruises no children just adults and never came across a problem with children. I also went to the adult beach on Castaway Cay what a great spot I loved it and I'm not a beach person it was just so nice and calm and relaxing and they bring the drinks right to you as you sit on your chair. LOL

 

[Bev J]

We took a 4 day wonder cruise in October, don't know if it was a sold out cruise or not. We really did not experience long line problems, we did'nt make spa or palos' reservations. Only line was to get off for castaway cay, and we expected this, no problem.
Now as for problems with children that is another story. Our kids are 15 and 6. I am a daycare provider so I am used to the antics of kids. At the pool kids were pushy, hitting and downright rude. One girl I guess about 10 or so had her little brother about 2yr old sitting in her lap right at the end of the mickey slide, a very bad spot to be sitting when someone comes down the slide a CM aasked her very nicely to please move to a different spot away from the slide and explained why. She just ignored him, he had to ask 5 times and finally picked up the 2 year old and moved him after several near collisions with kids comming down the slide. No parent ever came around to see what the problem was. The 10 year old told told the CM that the 2 yr old wanted to stay there and would cry if she moved-, what happend to showing respect to an adult?? In the dining room every night the kids from the table next to us , about 5-6 year olds, 3 of them would 'visit' the neighboring tables removing things from the table, bread, crayons, silverware, this was very anoying we asked him to leave and he just kept at it. Asked the server to handle it and he said it was up to the parent to handle the kid. Finially talked to the mom, nicley explained the problem. Next night he just went to someone elses table.
Everyone wants to have a great time on their vacation, but anytime you have alot of kids you will probably have some problems, since some parents think vacation means vacation from keeping after their kids too.

 

[mmouse37]

As far as lines to get into the dining rooms, yes people do line up, why I do not know. As another poster said you have a reserved seat and table. There is no reason to line up. We always wait a bit past 8:30 to get to the dining room. Then we just walk in and sit down. I think it is the anticipation of eating or something that makes people line up.

Yes, there will be lines for photos and autographs. It's simple logistics.....a bunch of characters and hundreds of kids. Of course you will have to wait in line. Does it detract from the experience, NOT AT ALL!!!! I can't believe people would expect that there were no lines for the characters.....all good things are worth the wait and the lines move very swiftly. Disney is very organized this way.

MJ

 

[tiggeress]

The only thing we had to wait for was for Formal pictures. But that's because we showed up late, and the lines had already formed. But still, it did not take away from the wonderful time we had on formal night!


---

Tiggress

Cruising next: Aug. 3rd 2002 Western Caribbean

 

[disboo]

We cruised in January, and the ship was full. Despite that, we did not have any lines except for a brief wait to make Palo's reservations - and even then we didn't stand in line. We were given a number, then sat in the lounge until the number was called. The only lines we saw were folks waiting for pictures with the characters,a dn they seemed very relaxed and easy going. Oh, wait, i did have to stand in line to meet Captain Henry - for less than 5 minutes.

As for the kids, it couldn't have been more pleasant from an adult's point of view. We saw kids, but literally never saw offensive behavior on this particular trip. The kids going to and from their clubs were well mannered. We ran into pre-teens going up and down the elevators for fun, but they were polite and respectful, and they weren't interfering in the operation of the elevators.

I never felt that the ship felt crowded. the only time I was fully aware that the ship was full was at Castaway Cay when I was snorkeling, and came up and looked at the beach - there were a lot of people on that beach! But, when I was on the beach it was pleasantly full, not obnoxiously crowded.

Having said all that, I wonder if the cruise in January may have had a lower percentage of elementary/middle school age children.

And, compared to four days in the parks - well, there is no cpmparison. I love WDW, but on the cruise you are relaxed, pampered and coddled. It is a wonderful experience, and we go back in November!

 

[wsurrettema]

I didn't think the lines for most situations on the Magic were that bad, but there were a few things that really bothered me about my recent trip.

First of all, we went on a prime week, so I expected the number of children on the cruise to be quite high. However, you cannot prepare yourself for how busy the pools may be. While there were no "lines" per se, the mickey and goofy pools were unbelievably crowded.

The lines to the dining room were non-existent for us....we got seated immediately and service was excellent.

The biggest complaint I have about lines and such was the scheduling of characters in relation to the first dinner seating. Most of the character appearances were scheduled from 5:30 to 8:30. So, if you had first seating for dinner, you had a very small window of opportunity to get pictures either just before or just after dinner. Of course the lines during this time were really long.

Another issue with scheduling was the movies... My kids were *dying* to see Harry Potter on the cruise. Unfortunately, the movie started at 3:30 and ran for about 2.5 hours. So, we got to see about 3/4 of the movie before we had to leave and get ready for (formal night) dinner.

The little things... I guess...

Walter

 

[FLeisure]

Agree with much of what has been said. Disney lines are no different from other cruise ships. You will find lines at Dinner time if you venture down 10-15 mins before meal time, at the portrait galleries, when disembarking the ship straight after it has docked, when characters are about, etc. The lines are no worse than any other cruise line and can be avoided if you just take your time and plan accordingly.

The ship is large enough for you to be able to find a quiet spot even if the pools are crowded. You don't have to lie by the pool - use the pool and then go to one of the quieter areas - that's what we did......we went to the back of the ship where there was no-one !

The only line I found ridiculous was the security line at Port Canaveral. I've said enough about that in the past

 

[daltonsdodisney]

I haven't cruised yet, but will be this month and I get the same anxious feeling after reading posts, etc... I was the same way planning my trips to WDW after reading Birnbaums and message boards. I think we obsessive planners have a need to find out the tips and details to make everything run smoothly and get the most out of our vacations. By reading these posts, we know what time to line up at Palo's to get ressies, we know we need to get off the ship early to get a hammock, etc.. The same is true at WDW. I knew the best seat for the parade, which rides to hit first, what building to request at my resort. It almost contributes to the frenzy. Sometimes I think the ones better off are the people who don't do much planning, just show up. At least they don't know what they missed. Oh well, that's just not me. I want all the info that's out there. Hopefully, I won't be doing the shoving!

 

[Diz-Me]

We just returned from our second 4 day Wonder cruise on a full ship (April 21-25) and we rarely encounter crowds or lines. The Disney Dreams show was a packed theater - go early to get a good seat. The childrens pool area did seem crowded and there were crowds whenever the characters appeared; but that was all we noticed. Palo's reservations were quick and well organized. The Castaway Cay family beach didn't really get crowded until about 11:00. We were among the first off the boat at 8:30 and I was quite surprised that the chairs on the CC beach didn't fill up sooner.