DCL Disney Magic At Sea UK Residents Only Sailing Summer 2021 General Information

[Markajonea]

the joys! Reservation page is broken this morning

 

[Joshua Kelso]

the joys! Reservation page is broken this morning

Hang in there! I wasn't able to finish my reservation until 6:45am and I was up at 4:50am to start.

 

[Markajonea]

Hang in there! I wasn't able to finish my reservation until 6:45am and I was up at 4:50am to start.

So you’ve done yours today?

 

[Joshua Kelso]

So you’ve done yours today?

No a few days ago.

 

[Joshua Kelso]

Has anyone sailing on the 15th had any additional info regarding breakfast/meal times and what the serving situation will be? Pre-covid did they only let you know your rotational dining schedule the day you arrived?

 

[diablodancer]

Has anyone sailing on the 15th had any additional info regarding breakfast/meal times and what the serving situation will be? Pre-covid did they only let you know your rotational dining schedule the day you arrived?

Yes, pre-covid you found out your rotational dining when you received your key to the world card at check in.

 

[ScrapHappy]

A popular DCL blog is reporting that the sailings from Liverpool are no longer appearing on the DCL website. He has some speculation as to why but it is only speculation. It'll be interesting to see what happens....

 

[mmouse37]

Pre covid you could go to breakfast whenever you wanted. You were not assigned a specific time or place. You could eat in Cabanas which used to be a buffet (who knows now) or one of the main dining rooms would be open for sit down served breakfast.

MJ

 

[meryll83]

A popular DCL blog is reporting that the sailings from Liverpool are no longer appearing on the DCL website. He has some speculation as to why but it is only speculation. It'll be interesting to see what happens....

They’ve been off there for a while… would you mind sharing what the speculation is, as I’m on one them?

 

[gismo1554]

A popular DCL blog is reporting that the sailings from Liverpool are no longer appearing on the DCL website. He has some speculation as to why but it is only speculation. It'll be interesting to see what happens....

They were removed at the point where the first one became 30 days out pretty much. Most speculation is actually that they were taken off as the cruises were so close to the sail date so that DCL could ensure everyone's paperwork is in order. It did coincide with the delay of the UK Freedom day (when all COVID restrictions are meant to be removed according to PM) which did lead to some speculation that like other cruiselines in the UK they had over sold the rooms assuming that the 1000 passenger limit would be removed by the first sailings. This however has now gone quiet as cancellations would have been issued by now if this were the case. Some of the other cruiselines however have been cancelling passengers based on booking date. Also MSC has changed its policy completely to allow for further passengers as the rules have stated that you can sell up to 50% of rooms if all over 18s are vaccinated. Initially MSC were one of the few ships allowing non-vaccinated adults as long as they did a PCR test before getting on the ship. There have been no such issues so far with DCL and I really don't think that they would still be holding on to the reservations if either of these issues were likely. First test cruises are in a week and then first real cruises in about 2 so I think DCL are just covering the time it takes to check all the paperwork by removing them in blocks.

 

[DCLDVC1]

A popular DCL blog is reporting that the sailings from Liverpool are no longer appearing on the DCL website. He has some speculation as to why but it is only speculation. It'll be interesting to see what happens....

It looks like he deleted that post from his blog, FB and Twitter.

 

[diablodancer]

What do people think about characters costumes on these sailings? I’d been hoping there’d be something we haven’t seen before (I’d love the characters wearing masks for the absurdity of it) but was assuming Disney would err towards their ‘once in a lifetime’ assumption given most of the passengers are new to DCL and just stick to the standard costumes. Seeing some hints in Facebook groups now that that might not be the case...

 

[Joshua Kelso]

What do people think about characters costumes on these sailings? I’d been hoping there’d be something we haven’t seen before (I’d love the characters wearing masks for the absurdity of it) but was assuming Disney would err towards their ‘once in a lifetime’ assumption given most of the passengers are new to DCL and just stick to the standard costumes. Seeing some hints in Facebook groups now that that might not be the case...

I'm not expecting anything about this cruise to be better than previous cruises, and possibly quite a few things will be worse.

I am VERY willing to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[steveyjc81]

yeah. Having had 5 previous INCREDIBLE cruises with DCL, My expectations are low.
(In my opinion), the UK market expects less, and they wont have as high a bar to reach. Hope I'm wrong.

I just hope they have plenty of entertainment planned - with reduced numbers in the pools/shows/theatre/kids clubs, I hope they provide more entertainment, otherwise what will people do all day!

How good a barometer these test cruises will be will also be debatable, as I'm sure they will have their influencers/bloggers waxing lyrical regardless.

Again, I really hope i'm wrong...

 

[diablodancer]

yeah. Having had 5 previous INCREDIBLE cruises with DCL, My expectations are low.
(In my opinion), the UK market expects less, and they wont have as high a bar to reach. Hope I'm wrong.

I just hope they have plenty of entertainment planned - with reduced numbers in the pools/shows/theatre/kids clubs, I hope they provide more entertainment, otherwise what will people do all day!

How good a barometer these test cruises will be will also be debatable, as I'm sure they will have their influencers/bloggers waxing lyrical regardless.

Again, I really hope i'm wrong...

Expectations are all over the place going by the Facebook groups. I’ve been surprised at how much people are expecting out of them/how many have no clue about the restrictions onboard. My expectations are likewise not expecting anything like my previous cruises but do think there could be a few different things in stock (partly by necessity but hopefully something for CC members too).

 

[DCLDVC1]

How good a barometer these test cruises will be will also be debatable, as I'm sure they will have their influencers/bloggers waxing lyrical regardless.

Again, I really hope i'm wrong...

You can count on that.

 

[Joshua Kelso]

yeah. Having had 5 previous INCREDIBLE cruises with DCL, My expectations are low.
(In my opinion), the UK market expects less, and they wont have as high a bar to reach. Hope I'm wrong.

I just hope they have plenty of entertainment planned - with reduced numbers in the pools/shows/theatre/kids clubs, I hope they provide more entertainment, otherwise what will people do all day!

How good a barometer these test cruises will be will also be debatable, as I'm sure they will have their influencers/bloggers waxing lyrical regardless.

Again, I really hope i'm wrong...

I'm really not trying to be a downer, just managing my expectations. My thinking was, I've always wanted to try a WDW cruise, and I wanted to support them offering sailings from Liverpool, and we've lost our 2021 WDW trip and our 2022 TDR trip, so we really wanted some Disney.

I just resent the fact that it SEEMS (Happy to be proved wrong) they sold us a holiday they hadn't properly planned out, which is far below my expectations of the Disney Brand.

Any way, eagerly looking forward to some trip reports from the early birds. . And hopefully DCL are quick to react positively and energetically to criticism of the guest experience and improve as they go.

 

[gismo1554]

What do people think about characters costumes on these sailings? I’d been hoping there’d be something we haven’t seen before (I’d love the characters wearing masks for the absurdity of it) but was assuming Disney would err towards their ‘once in a lifetime’ assumption given most of the passengers are new to DCL and just stick to the standard costumes. Seeing some hints in Facebook groups now that that might not be the case...

I think it will be the usual characters as thats what they have available on board. I hope they add masks to them because I think this will make mask wearing on the ship seem more acceptable but I really don't know. Remember they have been in Europe since early doors on the pandemic so they have been unable to go to any of their usual places to get new costumes etc. They will be using whats there or what has been shipped over and I doubt they would spend too much on something that is a one off.

Expectations are all over the place going by the Facebook groups. I’ve been surprised at how much people are expecting out of them/how many have no clue about the restrictions onboard. My expectations are likewise not expecting anything like my previous cruises but do think there could be a few different things in stock (partly by necessity but hopefully something for CC members too).

I feel like a lot of the people booking are new cruisers and really don't seem to get what a cruise is so will definitely be disappointed as they are comparing to the parks. I'm expecting very different to a normal cruise and anything similar would be a bonus. I do think that Disney rushed announcing these and didn't think it through very well but then I feel like a lot of the cruise companies may have done this. Can't wait to see the reports next week

 

[lanejudy]

(I’d love the characters wearing masks for the absurdity of it)

The characters in the parks have not worn masks for the past year, so I'd be surprised if they do on the cruise.

 

[Karin1984]

I think I read somewhere that characters will never wear masks because that is not in canon. In the world they live in, Corona doesnt exist.

In Disneyland Paris a new show opened, the dancers have masks.
In the parks you never get close enough to characters to make masks necessary.