DCL Confessions

[Boogie70]

I didn't wear any shoes on formal night. I tried, but they hurt so bad... and you couldn't see because my dress was so long. LOL!

 

[southerngirl528]

I didn't wear any shoes on formal night. I tried, but they hurt so bad... and you couldn't see because my dress was so long. LOL!

I can relate to that!!! Those ships are BIG, and I like to take the stairs as much as possible, but what I have painfully learned on cruise ships is what I previously thought were relatively comfy dress shoes, become torture devices! SERIOUSLY. Women's dress shoes are notoriously uncomfortable, even painful the higher the heel goes (or the pointier the toes!), but when one has to hike the length of 3 football fields AND navigate stairs??

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We still call it Downtown when we stay at SSR. "Catch the boat to downtown". Some how they seem to get us there every time.

 

[lklgoodman]

I can relate to that!!! Those ships are BIG, and I like to take the stairs as much as possible, but what I have painfully learned on cruise ships is what I previously thought were relatively comfy dress shoes, become torture devices! SERIOUSLY. Women's dress shoes are notoriously uncomfortable, even painful the higher the heel goes (or the pointier the toes!), but when one has to hike the length of 3 football fields AND navigate stairs??

Plus add a sometimes swaying ship!! I was tempted to wear my slippers on our last cruise, my dress wasn't long though. Perhaps I could get away with it if I were to buy Minnie slippers. lol!

 

[southerngirl528]

Plus add a sometimes swaying ship!! I was tempted to wear my slippers on our last cruise, my dress wasn't long though. Perhaps I could get away with it if I were to buy Minnie slippers. lol!

For real! I like the Minnie slippers idea.... Or maybe ballet slippers in the right color? It would be like going barefoot!

 

[bfamily5]

For real! I like the Minnie slippers idea.... Or maybe ballet slippers in the right color? It would be like going barefoot!

Gloria on Modern Family wore them in the parks...it seemed to work for her! lolol!

 

[Burgundy Rose]

I'm so happy I found this thread as I needed a place to confess that we're just back from a 3-night Bahamian Dream Cruise and I went hungry a couple of times. The food quality in the MDR was really disappointing and I'm NOT a picky eater. I do eat at a variety of restaurants. Our last night, we skipped going to the last restaurant on our rotation and grabbed delicious Philly Cheesesteaks from Fillmore's Favorites instead (just typing this sounds insane but it was better than any of the entrées we'd had at any meal). What I absolutely loved was their tea selection and the POG juice in Cabanas, as well as the Hands on Deck Platter from room service and their daily cake selection.
I should also say that it's entirely my fault - I never mentioned the issue to anyone, not wanting to be rude, even though my servers were absolutely adorable. I did mention it on my comment card. Next time, I'll book Palo and Remy meals.

 

[southerngirl528]

I'm so happy I found this thread as I needed a place to confess that we're just back from a 3-night Bahamian Dream Cruise and I went hungry a couple of times. The food quality in the MDR was really disappointing and I'm NOT a picky eater. I do eat at a variety of restaurants. Our last night, we skipped going to the last restaurant on our rotation and grabbed delicious Philly Cheesesteaks from Fillmore's Favorites instead (just typing this sounds insane but it was better than any of the entrées we'd had at any meal). What I absolutely loved was their tea selection and the POG juice in Cabanas, as well as the Hands on Deck Platter from room service and their daily cake selection.
I should also say that it's entirely my fault - I never mentioned the issue to anyone, not wanting to be rude, even though my servers were absolutely adorable. I did mention it on my comment card. Next time, I'll book Palo and Remy meals.

Thanks for sharing your "confession" with us. And I'm glad to hear the philly cheesesteak was great! I'll have to check it out on our Fantasy cruise in a month!

Please know that your servers want you to be happy, and it's okay to ask them for alternatives. Most often they can provide other options than what is on the menu. There have been a couple of times that I ordered multiple app's, soup and salad and called that dinner. It's all about what YOU want.

 

[Burgundy Rose]

I know but everything looked so lovely on the menu and yet tasted really off to me. The fish on the second night was very obviously frozen for example. It's not so much the dishes themselves that I minded (again, everything sounded so delicious in the description, I had a lot of trouble choosing!) but the execution. My asparagus soup was so bland and didn't taste like asparagus at all for example. I was afraid that if I asked my servers for something else that sounded good, it wouldn't taste good once on my plate, if that makes sense.

I really don't want to offend anyone by posting this (hence why I posted it on this thread), I was just really disappointed in my meals on the cruise (as a comparison, nearly all of my WDW meals were absolutely excellent, but I did spend a lot of time searching for the best places prior to going as food is important to me). I know the food on the ships is really popular so it might be that I was just having a rough couple of days.

 

[lklgoodman]

When it comes to booking and planning for our cruises I always do EVERYTHING. In fact my dh never remembers when our cruise will be or where we are going, even when I tell him a hundred times!! When it comes to port excursions, I will ask him what he wants to do and always get the same response that he doesn't care, whatever I want to do is fine with him. We usually cruise sometime in Jan-March. I just paid off our Jan 2018 cruise today. I'm already eagerly awaiting the winter 2020 cruise dates. I'm seriously considering booking a cruise for then WITHOUT telling my dh that I'm doing it. Usually I tell him about the different ones that would work for us, go over the price/date etc with him before booking and then hope he doesn't tell me he doesn't want to go on a cruise again!!! My dh absolutely HATES to do any kind of shopping and when I need/want something I just go buy it myself, he does the same for himself. My birthday, his birthday, Valentine's Day, and our wedding anniversary are all usually close to the time that we take our cruises so instead of buying presents for one another we put the money towards our cruise. I always tease my dh that I think the real reason he likes to cruise is because it gets him out of having to go shopping!! If I book a cruise, I thought of how I would eventually tell my dh. One night at dinner I would tell my dd to ask when/where we are going on our next cruise. I would then answer with the one that I just booked and see if my dh realizes that it's one for 2020, I'm betting he wouldn't!!

 

[southerngirl528]

I really don't want to offend anyone by posting this (hence why I posted it on this thread), I was just really disappointed in my meals on the cruise (as a comparison, nearly all of my WDW meals were absolutely excellent, but I did spend a lot of time searching for the best places prior to going as food is important to me). I know the food on the ships is really popular so it might be that I was just having a rough couple of days.

I don't think anyone was remotely offended, Burgundy Rose. So NO worries!

I am sorry to hear about your experience. I surely have had dishes that didn't turn out to be as tasty as they sounded as well. That happens to all of us. And it can happen a few to several times in a cruise, especially on longer cruises. Please just don't be shy about asking for something else though, even if it takes a few tries. I'm glad you were so resourceful and discovered a great philly cheese steak sandwich! Mmmmm.

 

[lklgoodman]

I know but everything looked so lovely on the menu and yet tasted really off to me. The fish on the second night was very obviously frozen for example. It's not so much the dishes themselves that I minded (again, everything sounded so delicious in the description, I had a lot of trouble choosing!) but the execution. My asparagus soup was so bland and didn't taste like asparagus at all for example. I was afraid that if I asked my servers for something else that sounded good, it wouldn't taste good once on my plate, if that makes sense.

I really don't want to offend anyone by posting this (hence why I posted it on this thread), I was just really disappointed in my meals on the cruise (as a comparison, nearly all of my WDW meals were absolutely excellent, but I did spend a lot of time searching for the best places prior to going as food is important to me). I know the food on the ships is really popular so it might be that I was just having a rough couple of days.

Don't worry about offending anyone, there's been lots of posts about the food quality not being as good as it once was. I think they are more mild when it comes to adding the seasonings to the food. I ordered something on the Fantasy that was absolutely delicious and then ordered the same meal on the Wonder and it wasn't very good on the Wonder. We did Palo brunch on our last cruise and I was somewhat disappointed in it. I ordered the pecan tart/pie from Tiana's one night and thought it tasted like something you'd get out of the frozen section of the grocery store.

 

[FigmentSpark]

The evening before we cruise, we go to Fishlips for dinner. I love LOVE!!! their lobster bisque. It's one of the highlights of my vacation. So when I see lobster bisque on the menu on the Fantasy, I've already got my hopes up for a lovely bowl of soup. It's not. It's nothing like the beautiful, full-flavoured, rich Fishlips bisque. That's so disappointing to me. I enjoy the rest of my meals on the cruise, but that one item is a letdown, for sure. However, if I hadn't indulged in the Fishlips version before my cruise, I might not have been as disappointed with the soup on the cruise.

 

[southerngirl528]

The evening before we cruise, we go to Fishlips for dinner. I love LOVE!!! their lobster bisque. It's one of the highlights of my vacation. So when I see lobster bisque on the menu on the Fantasy, I've already got my hopes up for a lovely bowl of soup. It's not. It's nothing like the beautiful, full-flavoured, rich Fishlips bisque. That's so disappointing to me. I enjoy the rest of my meals on the cruise, but that one item is a letdown, for sure. However, if I hadn't indulged in the Fishlips version before my cruise, I might not have been as disappointed with the soup on the cruise.

Lobster bisque?? LOVE a great lobster bisque!! BUT, I have learned that many of these soups have morphed from the lovely, creamy, pink-orange elixir that I learned to love loooong ago. Seems there is a trend for it to be a dark colored liquid that I do NOT find tasty. I don't know what chef or restaurant started this trend in changing my beloved lobster bisque, but shame on them! So like you, when I see lobster bisque on the menu I want it, BUT I first ask the server if the bisque is a light color or darker. If they cannot answer me definitively, I ask if they can bring me a tiny taste. That way I don't have to send back an entire bowl.

*I know this is all a bit off topic, but for any seafood bisque lovers out there, the Nordstrom stores in FL have the most scrumptious crab bisque I have EVER tasted as their house soup!!! It is DIVINE. Better than the Ritz-Carlton's! And yes, Nordstrom stores have a bistro that is usually on the upper level and their food is YUMMY. Okay, I'm done.

 

[Pens Fan]

I really don't want to offend anyone by posting this (hence why I posted it on this thread), I was just really disappointed in my meals on the cruise (as a comparison, nearly all of my WDW meals were absolutely excellent, but I did spend a lot of time searching for the best places prior to going as food is important to me). I know the food on the ships is really popular so it might be that I was just having a rough couple of days.

Don't worry, your post wasn't offensive at all. You're just giving your honest opinion. We've never been big fans of DCL's food either. I've always felt that their MDR cooking style is aimed at their target audience (families with small kids), which makes sense actually. While I have enjoyed some things, a lot of their food is overcooked and bland for our family's taste. But everyone is different. A lot of people prefer that, which is why you read on here that some love the food on the ships.

I recall a couple of funny interactions with our wait staff concerning food. Once they had a jerk chicken dish on the menu. Our server cautioned us over and over that jerk seasoning was spicy. He repeated this over and over to each person that ordered it (several at our table did). When the dish came, there was hardly any seasoning at all! We all just cracked up. It wasn't a bad piece of chicken, but it sure wasn't "jerk" chicken. Another time, they had tuna on the menu. Both my husband and I ordered it and asked for it to be served rare, as that's our preference. I thought our poor server was going to have a heart attack. He kept asking us over and over if we really wanted that. Then the head server came over and asked us to confirm our order. Once it arrived (at best medium rare), both the server and head server came by to assure it didn't need to be cooked further. We just assured them it was fine, but got a good laugh after they left. I'll have to say it did make me wonder about the quality of their fish if they were so concerned about serving it rare (which is a pretty common way to serve tuna, BTW).

To get back on topic, I guess I could say that my DCL confession is that we dared to order rare tuna and lived to tell about it!!

 

[southerngirl528]

I recall a couple of funny interactions with our wait staff concerning food. Once they had a jerk chicken dish on the menu. Our server cautioned us over and over that jerk seasoning was spicy. He repeated this over and over to each person that ordered it (several at our table did). When the dish came, there was hardly any seasoning at all! We all just cracked up. It wasn't a bad piece of chicken, but it sure wasn't "jerk" chicken. Another time, they had tuna on the menu. Both my husband and I ordered it and asked for it to be served rare, as that's our preference. I thought our poor server was going to have a heart attack. He kept asking us over and over if we really wanted that. Then the head server came over and asked us to confirm our order. Once it arrived (at best medium rare), both the server and head server came by to assure it didn't need to be cooked further. We just assured them it was fine, but got a good laugh after they left. I'll have to say it did make me wonder about the quality of their fish if they were so concerned about serving it rare (which is a pretty common way to serve tuna, BTW).

I agree with this. We love both good seasonings and nuances of flavors. Your tuna story cracked me up. Been there, done that! I have literally told the server I only want my tuna to wave hello to the stove. JUST wave hello! It seems they "get it" when I look them in the eye and tell them I prefer my good tuna RAW.

 

[i18mulan]

Well, I got flamed for this when I posted it on another thread. My dcl confession is that we did the Castaway Cay 5k but only did the bike loop once. My DS 10 wanted to get the medal sooooo bad and I don't run but I'm not depriving my son of it. So I went hoping to finish the whole course but halfway through, my son said he wants to go back and I'm ready to quit as well. I knew it was hot but I didn't realize it would be THAT hot! He got the medal, I told the CM I didn't finish the course but he gave it to me anyway. I know, I know, I cheated... some might tell me I don't deserve the medal. Oh well, at least my son is happy.

 

[southerngirl528]

I told the CM I didn't finish the course but he gave it to me anyway. I know, I know, I cheated... some might tell me I don't deserve the medal. Oh well, at least my son is happy.

Sounds like to me you were entirely honest and told the CM you didn't finish the course. That was very good of you. NO flaming here.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Well, I got flamed for this when I posted it on another thread. My dcl confession is that we did the Castaway Cay 5k but only did the bike loop once. My DS 10 wanted to get the medal sooooo bad and I don't run but I'm not depriving my son of it. So I went hoping to finish the whole course but halfway through, my son said he wants to go back and I'm ready to quit as well. I knew it was hot but I didn't realize it would be THAT hot! He got the medal, I told the CM I didn't finish the course but he gave it to me anyway. I know, I know, I cheated... some might tell me I don't deserve the medal. Oh well, at least my son is happy.

No flaming from me either, you did your best and it’s freaking hot there! This is said as I’m sitting in my house in AZ after several days of 115 degree highs.

 

[Jenlynn3]

We emptied cheap bottles of wine, filled them with Malibu and tequila, resealed them and brought them on the ship