DCL - The Great, the Good, and the, "this needs to be better" - Observations

[kaykels]

The original post was a screaming riot! Brutally honest, I loved it and agree with everything, including Palo. Liked it, didn't LOVE IT. It was worth the $10.00 to get away from the kids one night but I missed the reg. dining rotation because my servers were THE BEST!!!! My filet was just okay. I think they need to add more "fancy Italian dishes" like saute' dishes served at Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill, like veal marsala with asparagas tips, or chicken picata with crab.... ect. The menu is boring. Can't see paying a cover charge for pasta.

GREAT: Still dreaming about the white chocolate mousse at Tritons !!!!!! WORTH THE COST OF THE CRUISE!!!!! Well, Almost
And I LOVED LOVED LOVED the strawberry crepes at the midnight buffet on Tropical Night!

 

[JLSE50]

Originally posted by NancyDVC .... And on Thursday I had arranged for a birthday cake for my friend. It was delicious! Lots and lots of chocolate. Someone made a boo boo in the kitchen and it said Happy 88th Birthday! Now she is no where near 88 so our head server quickly wipe off the seond 8!

I would like to see some variety in the "light" area of the menu. It was the same 3 items every night. If you are on a restricted diet or just watching what you eat it can get boring very quickly!

....and my Mom can't understand why at every buffet (even breakfast) there were cold cuts!

If they made a B-day cake for my friend, I would have left the 88 on there and told her how good she looked for her age. She would have gotten a kick out of it too--at least the friend I am thinking of.

Since I eat the same two or three meals all the time for dinner, having three choices would seem like normal. But I do see your point.

Cold cuts for breakfast sounds great for an Atkins dieter! More protein and different from eggs. Thanks for the info, if I EVER get to cruise again, I will look for that.

Jan

 

[mrsltg]

Curious if Melwin was your waiter or your assistant waiter?

Hi Cotomom - Melwin was our waiter. He and Melinda were paired together about 2 months ago. As I said, they were FANTASTIC!

Erin

 

[Grumbo]

....and my Mom can't understand why at every buffet (even breakfast) there were cold cuts!

I know in France and Germany cold cuts are served with breads for breakfast and is an accepted meal for many Europeans. Wasn't really my "cup of tea" but our German friends served it to us often and when they stayed with us we got an assortment of cheese and cold cuts especially for them for breakfast

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[mmouse37]

I agree with why the cold cuts are there.....I never understood it until I went to Paris....every morning there were cold cuts for breakfast. I found out that for Europeans that is quite natural.

DCL is just trying to please as many as possible!!

MJ

 

[ldb1030]

Funny how 2 people on the same cruise see things so differently! Oh well, personal opinions I guess!
We had a great time and Palo was PERECT! Our server was Ann-Marie from South Africa! Never ever felt rushed! She was wonderful and even saw us the last morning at breakfast and stopped to say hello!
Food there was PERFECT as well!
Can't wait to go back in 06!!

 

[fcrouch]

what we liked best about Palo was that it was quiet - not the large dining room noise - so it was a good change of pace - the food was a little better we thought as made in smaller quantities - but I think what makes Palo nicer is it is small and quiet. I'd gladly pay the extra for that.

 

[Dancind]

Our only DCL cruise (so far) was two years ago. We loved Palo, but I do agree about the desserts. I wasn't really impressed with anything except the brulee and souffle. We went on a Celebrity cruise last year, and I would rate them well below DCL in every area except desserts! They had an amazing pastry chef on that cruise. All the desserts were wonderful, and we got in the habit of stopping by the tea spread each day to try the special cookie of the day, they were the best I've ever had! And DD ate way more than her share of cheese stuffed croissants at tea. When the pastry chef was introduced at one of the cooking seminars, he got the loudest ovation by far! So DCL, time to hire a new pastry chef!

It sounds like some kids that are too young for the clubs are being taken to the adult programs, like the entertaining seminars. Yes, that would be very distracting. DCL usually has family activities planned during the day, so it is inconsiderate of the parents involved to do this. On Celebrity, there was often NOTHING we could do with our 12 yo DD, and the kids program was abysmal. Not a family oriented cruise at all. I tried to take her to an art lesson once (Chinese painting, which she happens to be good at), and they wouldn't let us stay. We won't be back. Good desserts just aren't enough.

 

[dinnysuw]

Disney enforcing their own rules - this is a biggie for me as well, but less for Disney enforcing than the fact people can't be responsible enough for their own actions and follow the rules that make life more civilized for everyone. It is the nature of our "me" society. Way too many people today feel like, "I've paid good money for this vacation and I'll do whatever I darn well please." You can see this is some of the posts of people ticked and expecting special compensation because the weather caused DCL to make changes to their itineraries. It's a shame that we have to look to a company to enforce rules that we should be able to live by.

ALLEARS-you said it perfectly! How often do i go somewhere with my children and see parents allowing there kids to do something even my 9 years olds know is wrong. it is very frustrating. I am fortunate that i have two children who, although are far from perfect, have a great sense of right and wrong and know there are consequences for wrong actions. rules are rules, and are not made to be broken although some feel that they are not made for them! If i see someone on the cruise "breaking" a rule-will i run and "tattle" of course not-unless it is a danger/harm to themselves or others-or of course they have a screaming toddler in an adult activity!
darcy

 

[invaderzim]

mrsltg

Excellent report. I thought your comments were not judgemental, but observant and to the point.

I agree with a lot of what you said. The photographers are never spread out enough or on a varied enough schedule. There are plenty of us up on deck without children or teens who wouldn't mind a candid photo or two.

We did Palo's for brunch and found it excellent. The variety was wonderful and the main dish choices very attractive. Like another poster said, it was nice to be in a place without children running around.

My BIGGEST gripe this past cruise (8/28) were the children and lack of restraint. They were running around the adult clubs at 10 p.m. at night (8, 9 and 10-year-olds)! Where were their parents? Also, chaos in the movie theater -- and constant picture taking? I wrote a letter to Disney expressing their need to station CMs at Beat Street entrance after 9 p.m. and in the movie theater for supervision. We, too, would like to enjoy the movie -- not have kids running up on the stage performing in front of the screen like "Rocky Horror Picture Show"! You can blame the parents for lack of supervision and structure, but DCL must take some blame for lack of presence of authority and not sticking to the rules!

 

[TCROMW1013]

We also found the food to be so, so. I know it was my fault, but by the last night we felt like we would get our servers in trouble if we did not check "Excellent" for everything. So we lied a little. The food was definitely edible but by day 6 I was having a hard time finding anything appealing.

As for Palo, we enjoyed it. I did not order a filet because we have a steak house here that is so good everything else pales. So I ordered the lasagna. Very good.

 

[invaderzim]

Oh, that was the other thing this past cruise -- the new menus! Must say both my DH and I were disappointed in the lack of variety compared to our last two cruises. There was a LOT of beef and chicken on every night, and yet the alternative menu is steak and chicken! Made no sense.

But, we always managed to find something to eat. When our cruise spilled over three extra days, we ended up ordering dinner from room service one night and watched a movie. Now that was fun. Definitely going to do that a couple of times next year.

Of course, our favorite night is the Captain's Gala -- with the lobster tails!

 

[txaggie94gigem]

did you say there are new menus out on the ships? are these different than the menus posted here and throughout the web from this spring and summer?

 

[Mjasp]

When we were "lost at sea" on the 8/28/04 10 night Western, DCL came up with 2 new menu's for us.

 

[woody64]

Couldn't agree more about Melwin!!! He is the best. We had him and Paula in Feb. and they were great. Paula was leaving to get married. He even "forced" me to have 2 lobster tails.

We have loved Palo the 2 times we have eaten there. We had 6 pm ressies and never felt rushed and had Marco from Italy both times. He is awesome. Food was very good and he kept bringing things to sample.

 

[invaderzim]

I don't know if the menus are different than what you had this spring or summer, but they were far different from what we had two years ago. We personally thought the variety was smaller and the dishes less imaginative. Also, we didn't think the deserts were half as good as last time. Don't get me wrong, the food was still good, just too much beef and chicken! But I must have enjoyed something because I put on 5 pounds.