Cruise Curmudgeons of the World Unite

Don't get me started.

:lmao:

Yeh....and ask him about the REAL princesses vs. the 'wannabees'.

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Curmedgeons...look away from the screen.....

Angelic Jennifer....I would have killed to have been able to do that when I was young! Got to participate in the Disneyland parade a few times (in my 50's!) and that was such a treat!

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Yes, dear Angel, sweet Jennifer: we love it too, five or six times; we pay well for the experience, more than we have on Princess, Celebrity, Carnival or that awful Norwegian. Plus, we have two more Disney cruises already scheduled. And then we love to complain about it before we surreptitiously schedule another Atlantic crossing on the Magic!

The few. The proud. The Curmudgeons!

Yep, 5 down and 4 booked, the two soonest is a back-to-back on the Dream. I reckon it will open up a new world of possibilities for me. I'm looking forward to Remy with eager anticipation, watching every episode of Upstairs/Downstairs I can get my hands on and planning my passive-aggressive evening wear.
 
There is another thing that annoys me (what just one?), and I really am probably alone in this ... It's the big mural of Walt Disney leaning on the piano where they altered it to remove the cigarette he was smoking.

For pity's sake the man smoked and drank whiskey!

I know why they did it, but they should have just selected another photo from the 10 billion of him and not tried to alter history because it was not politically correct.

Every time I see it it sends chills down my spine. I can't help thinking of the photos that Stalin had Trotsky airbrushed out of.
 


...
:worship:

Thank you so much for the laugh :thumbsup2

Ex Techie
You're quite welcome. And since you SNIPped me, there's another grumble.

Fellow curmudgeons: If you've been around these dozeboard yakrooms very much, you've seen the 8-screen-long collection of near-duplicate photos of Mouseluvvrrr2117's towel monkeys that TinkyDinkyluvvsPooh302 has then quoted in full just to say "cute!"

And then PanmanJonsWifeluvsSmee17a copy-quotes that to say "You're so right. I looooooove towel art!

So, fellow crankypantses: You click Quote. Then you select and delete all that you don't want and put in elipses ... (or SNIP, as extechie did) so everyone doesn't have to read my entire scree about the Mickey Pool Poopetraters. Or at least scroll through it, grumbling. Be sure to keep the bracket/quote at top and bottom, though.

and I'm still not joining.
 


For example ....
Be sure to keep the bracket/quote at top and bottom, though.

and I'm still not joining.

But I was so hoping to meet you at a Curmudgeons meeting on a future cruise!! We can meet in an obscure location during the sail away party (after all getting announced as "the Curmudgeon family") and we can make matching tees to wear to dinner with jean shorts that say "Don't do the Dance" or "I tip well, please don't beg" or some other cleverer phrase that you curmudgeons can come up with.

Please continue to make me laugh! :worship:
 
For example ....

But I was so hoping to meet you at a Curmudgeons meeting on a future cruise!!
...
and we can make matching tees to wear to dinner ... [that have some] phrase that you curmudgeons can come up with.

Please continue to make me laugh! :worship:

I didn't say I'm not a curmudgeon, just that I'm not joining. But I'll be watching. (Digs through bottom drawer looking for 40-year old gift T-shirt that says "Don't go away mad, just go away.")
 
Those aren't stuffed toys. They're familiars.

:lmao::lmao:

:lmao::lmao::lmao:




(ONCE I came very close to bringing my stuffed Tigger with me...but to leave on the bed........)

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That's no fun... besides... You know who can run quite amuck on the ship... :scared1:

:lmao:

Yeh....and ask him about the REAL princesses vs. the 'wannabees'.

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Oh, yes, that's a whole other thing that really annoys me.

Don't forget the flow chart... :thumbsup2

You're killing me!:lmao: You hid it well on the Panama cruise!:rotfl:

:dance3::dance3::dance3:
 
I'll go along with pluralses. My DA (no, not dying a##, my Dear Aunt) and her kids always called the grocery store down the hill "Safeways." I think they were posessive, not plurals. See? I can complain about a complaint.

As for grammar: The Personal Navigator has the same canned superlatives about every show, every activity on every cruise (among the three, soon four ships). Why do we still see grammar, spelling and punctuation errors?

-- Curmudgeon Club-crasher Bob

P.S. My DW insists the D stands for Darling. Maybe it's Daring. We know what it'd be if she called me her CH!

I highlighted the spelling errors and showed them to Guest Services. The CM looked at me like I was crazy. She did tell me she was sorry for the inconvenience :lmao:
 
I highlighted the spelling errors and showed them to Guest Services. The CM looked at me like I was crazy. She did tell me she was sorry for the inconvenience :lmao:

I never gave it back to them, but I sometimes make notes on my own Navigator, correcting typos and grammatical errors.... just somehow makes me feel better. I used to read them aloud to others in my cabin, but realized they had little or no appreciation for the significance. :confused:
(I think it bothered me even more to find written blunders when I sailed on Regent. I paid a lot more for those typographical errors!)


But I love DCL & I learned early on how to navigate the pitfalls and traps. It only took ONE time for me to know to avoid Deck 9 on a sunny sea day...hastened by the child who slammed into me, surprising both of us, and leaving a child sized wet stain on my clothes, not to mention a bruise. And it only took two or three times for me to learn to avoid the pictures with the captain... :rotfl:


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My first great DCL disappointment happened on our very first cruise. It was a 4-night on the Wonder.

I decided to go on the tour of the ship. I was rather excited as I was hoping to learn more about the framed Disney art and be afforded the opportunity to ask questions.

Silly me, silly me. I had confused this tour with a tour given by a the Chicago Architectural Foundation with a highly informed docent.

Our Disney docent was hardly decent.

It was a cast member from the overly perky cheerleader staff. I believe they are considered part of the entertainment? You know the same folks that herd you onto the buses for tours.

Anyway, I digress, I then followed her around with ship with the group where she spoke at great length about ... the carpeting. I kid you not, and I'm not exaggerating it was basically a tour of the carpeting on the Wonder.

- The manufacturing of the carpeting
- The pattern of the carpeting and what the pattern means based on the floor
- The meaning of the pattern of the carpeting
- The built in directional queues in the carpeting

She only deviated from this carpet-rich ship's tour when we were on the Promenade Deck and she addressed the paint and the seam between the forward and aft sections.

Not one mention of any of the artwork.

When we were on deck 5, I had the audacity to ask her about the Bird Alphabet prints and asked her who the artist was and whether they were originals. Those are a real favorite of mine because I think they're very well done and are whimsical had humorous.

The overly perky cast member's eye's narrowed for a split second when I could see behind her eyes that she thought I was a goon for asking such a stupid question. She then resumed her plastered-on smile, shook her head and continued to talk about the Deck 5 carpeting.
 
As I am on a roll, I'll go onto another annoyance --- Disney "Experts."

I'm not referring to the guest speakers they have from time to time, but to other guest who have decided that they are experts. I've run into them on several cruises.

Typical lair of the Disney Expert - Cove Cafe. I have found that these experts usually lurk around Cove Cafe and favor sitting on a bar stool where they can bore, excuse me, chat with whoever might saddle up to the bar for a coffee.

Typical gender the Disney Expert - Male. I'm not quite sure why, but these self-appointed experts are typically men.

If you want to spot one of these Disney Experts, the best time of day is between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. I suspect this is when junior is in the pool and the wife is having herself rubbed with almond butter, seaweed and grape jelly.

They are usually blasting hot air about some piece of micro-Disneyana either about the theme parks or the ships. Though I have never heard one spout trivia about the carpeting on the ships.

But they will let you know that they have personally licked every lightbulb on Main Street and have a pair of Walt's used socks framed in their den.

Oddly enough they never seem to be very good when it comes to any knowledge about the actual films of Disney, especially anything prior to the feature length films.
 
Anyone think Disney should entirely do away with autograph books?!? They make the lines waaaay too long.

I've always HATED these. They're not real, kids, they're costumed people. And I've been behind the scenes at WDW in the laundry area and seen the gloves covered with ball point pen marks. Ack.

What else bothers me as a curmudgeon? People who spend thousands on the "art" at the art auctions. Really? You have to come on a cruise to show everyone else how much money and lack of sense you have?

And I hate the bingo. It's too expensive. I'd rather pay less and get some cheesy prizes than pay a fortune and not win anything. Boo yah.
 
I decided to go on the tour of the ship. I was rather excited as I was hoping to learn more about the framed Disney art and be afforded the opportunity to ask questions.

Silly me, silly me. I had confused this tour with a tour given by a the Chicago Architectural Foundation with a highly informed docent.

Our Disney docent was hardly decent.

At least your able to admit your mistake.
That CM probably did her best you provide you with the information she was given. I'm sure at the end of the tour she was equally "over it" as you were!

What your Curmudgeoning report of the ship tour doesn't say is how you responded to Guest Services, nor how you asked what information the tour would provide.....
Nor any response from any feedback. Nor any comments as to how the tour could be better? (you seem particularly photographically focused, and maybe some of the tour enjoy the carpet :confused3)
I'm all for Curmudgeoning in life now, but a solution always helps everyone rather than just complaining without suggesting what "might make something better" even if that something might not change!

Just give that Hyper Cheerleader Cruise Staff Bus Pushing person a break if you can.
And even if you didn't think it was good, or what complete Disney sugary unimportant misinforming C*ap, say thanks to them personally at the end, and then say they answered everything they could, but the tour need's more information, or the tour guides need to have more training on wood paneling or pictures or marble.
I'm sure that even thou that's their job, it can be C*ap enough as it is working 70+ hours a week when just doing what your told to and no (that's what I was told to say answers).

It does mean a lot to them and did to me.

Please keep the Curmudgeoning to activities that a sole CM is not responsible for, more for the Cruise Director or DCL shoreside people that tell you what to do and what to say! :thumbsup2

Ex Techie
 
For example ....

But I was so hoping to meet you at a Curmudgeons meeting on a future cruise!! We can meet in an obscure location during the sail away party (after all getting announced as "the Curmudgeon family") and we can make matching tees to wear to dinner with jean shorts that say "Don't do the Dance" or "I tip well, please don't beg" or some other cleverer phrase that you curmudgeons can come up with.

Please continue to make me laugh! :worship:

Oh, I must have one of those! :thumbsup2

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