Disappointed with the direction DCL is heading.

[truck1]

The CM's remembering people, I think some do and some don't. I think however, that when they take our picture for "security" purposes, it is also used to identify us, especially returning cruisers to the staff. I would think that CM's may remember faces at times. Our Palo server remembered us from our first cruise. We did not have him as a server on the first cruise, but he remembered our group in the back room at Palo. Maybe he was helped by the computer info, it seemed genuine, I don't really care if it wasn't, tbh.

Disney is losing me because they are seeming to care more about the little things. What seems stupid and trivial, really does add up. For instance, we have had the same couple cleaning our offices for almost 4 years now. They are employed by a third party contractor, but have been assigned to our building. I guess we are the only office that gave them a Christmas Card and invited them to our party. They said this was so nice of us. Their actual employer did not do anything for them. A card. An invite. Small things. Big impact.

Going a few more trips this summer and we will see. I am guessing another cruise line is going to start getting my money. I may go back to Disney, but the luster has certainly worn off.

I know that most cms remember people. Ive talked to wait staff, that remembered me from cruises 10 years ago. In all of the DCL trips weve been on, I have yet to repeat any cms with 1 exception, as far as wait staff, or stateroom host/hostess, but have seen them in the passageways etc. For example when my wife and I got married on the Magic, in 2010 the next cruise we did was the Fantasy Maiden, and the stateroom host we had on the Magic was working the Fantasy. We made a point to go find her and she remembered us almost 2 years later.

I do agree that Disney as a whole is starting to nickel and dime us. For example, the generic mugs that you can by that either says all 4 ships names, or DCL, instead of 1 mug for each ship so you had to get on all 4 ships to complete the collection. Same thing in the parks and resorts. Look at My Magic. Weve had nothing but problems with it, and each time Disney "fixes it " for us, they make it worse. Why was it rolled out in less then great shape.? Ill take great over perfect, but this was ridiculous.
The attitudes of some of the cms both in the parks and on the ships. It used to be if someone didn't know an answer, they found it. Now they make it up. Ive caught a few cms in outright lies and called them out on it. Ive seen a few cms on the ship that treated my family like we didn't exist, and said something about it to gs. Never heard back. No apology from the manager of the area, or any real person. Did get a card that says we take all comments seriously in the mail. 3 months later. Don't get me wrong I'm not looking for DCL to say heres an obc or free cruise, but a simple phone call saying we are sorry the incident occurred, and it has been corrected would have been nice. Matter of fact that's in Lee Cockerells book on customer service that the parks sell.

 

[AquaDame]

I've sailed on the Jewel of the Seas and very much enjoyed it. I love the Solarium; we were on a Canada New England trip and the enclosed pool was wonderful in the chilly fall weather. It's indoors, but feels so open and bright.

I 'laminate' my luggage tags with clear packing tape. It makes the tag more water-resistant and unlikely to tear.

Honestly I cannot WAIT to see the Solarium! I think I will like that too! <3 Laminating the tags with tape is a great idea, I am definitely going to steal that one...!

I bought some of these...

http://www.cruisecritic.com/store/product.cfm?ID=46

I am going to as well if we decide to go again! I didn't realize about the tags until just the other night, too late to order anything really.

We are a week off of the Island Princess and a partial crossing of the Panama Canal, and it was wonderful! It filled my desire to see more and learn more about the area. However, I think the speakers on Princess, there were 2 besides the Cruise director, were much inferior compared to Capt Kenneth Puckett who does the lectures on Disney. Richard, the cruise director was excellent in doing his presentation on the history of cruising, from the 1950s through the present. I think he spoke fairly about Royal Caribbean, Disney and all of the lines under the Carnaval Corporation as well as others I was not familiar with.

Princess does give you chocolates on your pillow, but no towel animal, RCCL gives you a towel animal, no chocolate, Disney gives you both.

We thought the food was excellent! We have the same opinion regarding DCL and RCCL, maybe somethings are not up to excellent, but overall, yes! One perk I especially liked was, both DH and I got 240 free internet minutes. I prefer minutes to however DCL sells the Internet. We are platinum on Princess, 5 cruises behind us or 50 sea nights. Another perk is a lovely spread every evening for platinum, elite (15 cruises or150 nights or concierge). During the offering time, a drink is offered at $5. Delicious margaritas!

The guest laundry room had a "locker room" smell, so we sent our laundry out. Never experienced that particular problem on Princess befor even, but RCCL does not even offer self laundry rooms.

We brought 2 bottles of wine aboard, lots of water, no problems.

We had fixed dining time. There's an excellent spread of food in the Horizon court buffet, and it may have been opened 24 hours, if not, close to it.

We knew there had been nuro virus on the ship on the cruise before us. Boarding was delayed, and while in Cartegena Columbia they did another scrub down. We were asked to prepare our rooms by putting things away. As far as we were concerned, sanitation was good, we used the Purell stations. There was a slight disinfectant smell when we came in after the excursion.

Cold water and wet wash cloths were given to us before boarding after the on shore excursions.

I do prefer the size and depth of swimming pools on Princess and RCCL over DCL. I do regularly use the pools to do knee exercises.

Princess has excellent movie viewing opportunities, in main theater and under the stars. They pop fresh popcorn for your enjoyment under the stars for free, and provide blankets in case of chilly or windy nights. I saw Peanuts Movie, A Walk in the Woods, and Trainwreck. Tom saw Martian, all on big screens. Also there were varied movies on TV, notably Cinderella and Frozen! There were plenty more offered, also the Champion College Football game and some NFL Playoffs, all under the stars.

Folks mostly were surprised I like Disney, but mostly because, "aren't there a lot of children?" This was definitely an older bunch of people. However, there were babies and children aboard who seemed happy! One 9 month old girl was a joy the whole time on the Sloth Sanctuary excursion, and it was 5 hours, including a boat ride down bayous!

I will continue to book trips based on itinerary, price and companions. I have not seen DCL do anything that causes me to feel they are slacking or driving me away. We will go on another Princess cruise, transatlantic westward in 2017. We really like the itinerary, a stop in the Azores, for instance, and we already have friends going with us!

Bobbi

The only internet option I see is unlimited for either $20 for one device or $30 for two.... I would like a cheaper smaller one also. I don't want to feel like I need to 'get my moneys worth' but I do want to check my email from time to time as I don't do well switching entirely off. Something ALWAYS comes up at home that I should deal with...

Interesting about the laundry, isn't it? Definitely something I took for granted! We bought some Woolite to do some in the room backpacking style since a load for us would cost an arm and a leg. Is my husband the only one that can easily go through two or three outfits a day when it is muggy out..?

Thank you for typing out all those thoughts! Certainly more brain fodder for us!

 

[NurseDave]

I don't know if we are jumping ship, but we're certainly not stuck to Disney any more. We're sailing on Norwegian in the end of March. I know there will be some things I'll miss for sure, but we'll see when you add up those things if it comes to a package that we'd pay the Disney cost difference for.

 

[Hundredacre]

Last disney cruise for a while is this march. We have booked with celebrity and ncl in the coming year. Wanted to do royal Caribbean instead of celebrity but it didnt work with our schedule. Looking really forward to it. No apprehension at all. Never thought we'd feel that way. But our last cruise with dcl in december was just not worth it. For the first time after many years we felt like we were getting ripped off. Feeling really liberated moving on. And we still have young kids. They are excited too.

 

[Savikins]

An older one - the Jewel of the Seas since that is what they use on their Southern itineraries! If we make it to the ship I will absolutely tell you what we find. Currently we are supposed to have a layover at JFK Saturday morning - right in the middle of a possible blizzard. Jetblue still says we are a go for it so far!

I hope you have a great cruise! Unfortunately, my first cruise was on the Jewel of the Seas on a 4 day to Cozumel from Tampa. I absolutely hated it, it almost turned me off from cruising forever. There was really nothing to do onboard other than drink and gamble, and I was too young to drink. The crew was just meh. The Solarium was pretty, but I don't like swimming in pools, so it was just a pretty place to walk through. The shower in the cabin made me really claustrophobic, and I don't know how anyone that's larger than me (5'3 105 lbs) could possibly fit. My boyfriend banged up his elbows a bunch in the shower. The locker room in the spa for both men and women was always crowded with people trying to use the showers in there.

 

[Corwin]

...So if I am sailing with my husband and he books a room in his name with me added on, then I book a room for the following cruise with him added on, they wouldn't allow it? Or do they refuse to link them in some way..?

I'm pretty sure they now only allow one OBB offer (for a maximum of two staterooms on the same sailing) per stateroom, not per passenger. So unless you and your husband are in different staterooms, you can't get the OBB benefits for more than one sailing.

 

[Flossbolna]

I'm pretty sure they now only allow one OBB offer (for a maximum of two staterooms on the same sailing) per stateroom, not per passenger. So unless you and your husband are in different staterooms, you can't get the OBB benefits for more than one sailing.

It is per household per stateroom. So if two people sailing in one stateroom live at different addresses, they can both get one onboard booking.

 

[iambrink]

It is per household per stateroom. So if two people sailing in one stateroom live at different addresses, they can both get one onboard booking.

Yes, this is correct. we just did this in December. I took two friends on a cruise and we were all able to book a placeholder...

 

[TCARON]

We will become Gold members in a week, Fantasy January 30th sailing, and still love cruising Disney, but.... We are now looking for alternatives.
My wife and I are deeply attached to everything Disney with DVC, annual passes, etc. but the "magic" is beginning to fade just a bit and is being noticed by a lot of people, i.e. patrons. Disney has become a rite of passage for many families, which has increased the parks and changed the way that Disney conducts their business. More and more I am reminding myself that they are a business and it is not a good feeling! In this reminded was very rare.

When people on the Disboards complain about something I remind myself that these are loyal fans who were attracted to everything Disney. Any dents or dings in that perception of perfection, which Disney promotes, then we have a right and a duty to remind the company to keep to their roots.

Oh well. Snow, please go away!

 

[Corwin]

Our family became Castaway Club Gold members on our last cruise earlier this month, and we agree that the magic seems to have faded a bit. We'd previously cruised on all four DCL ships, and always had a great time. On this most recent cruise on the Wonder, however, while nothing overtly went wrong, we noticed a lot of little things that we'd never seen before, all of which added up to a diminished experience for us this time.

Some examples:

• Our server started talking politics toward the end of the cruise. While the discussion was somewhat interesting at first, we started to feel trapped as we listened to him going on at length regarding the upcoming Philippine presidential election.
• Both our server and head server went on at length about what a hardship it was being separated from their families. While we certainly were sympathetic (and I have personal experience with this myself as a Navy submarine veteran), it started to make dinner somewhat of a downer. I don't know if this intended to elicit our sympathy and higher tips, or if they were just opening up personally to us, but the end effect was a bit unpleasant. (Though it did result in me increasing their tips.)
  
• Our Palo server actually interjected himself into our conversation at dinner, cutting off my mother and correcting some misstatement she had made...at length. The eavesdropping and interruption in that case surprised all of us at the table, and is not something I've ever seen before at a high-end restaurant. It was completely unprofessional.
• The barista at Cove Cafe spent more time talking to another cast member than making my latte, and I heard far more than I cared to regarding her scheduled cabin inspection that was unexpectedly cancelled, and what she planned to do on her day off, and whether it was a good idea or not to go on an excursion with her ex-boyfriend.
• The cruise director this time just wasn't any fun. She came off as a phony.

At first these things were not particularly bothersome, and it was actually somewhat amusing to learn more about the cast members' personal lives. As time went on, however, it started to get a bit annoying, especially when you go back to what were paying for this experience.

In addition, the pressure to give only "excellent" ratings to our servers continued to get ever more intense. If DCL wants to get truly honest ratings, then the surveys need to be anonymous. Our server again went on at length about how important the survey was and how important it was that we only gave excellent ratings. The pressure and guilt trip on this point were over the top, and has gotten much more noticeable with each cruise we have taken.

We were also more acutely aware of the downside of a cruise, including the hassle of boarding and getting your luggage on the first day, the need to unpack everything (and later repack everything) because of the tight quarters, the requirement to put out luggage on the last night, and the need to get up early on the last morning to vacate the cabin in a timely manner. I don't know what the answer is here, but all of this combines to make a cruise perhaps more of a bother than it's worth.

Last but not least, prices continue to go up and up...and up...on DCL. I'm really starting to come to the conclusion that the benefits of a DCL cruise are not worth the exorbitant prices.

All in all, my wife and I are both getting a bit tired of cruising, at least for now. We have another cruise scheduled for next year with my extended family that we are already committed to, but we'll see after that if we feel like doing any more.

In the meantime, we are also looking at alternatives, starting with a trip to Hawaii later this year.

 

[phinz]

I think it depends on how much you cruise. We have CM's that remember us because we cruise a lot. They don't remember our names or what cruise we were on, but they do remember us. I'm the same way. I come in contact with a lot of people in my job. I can't always remember their name, but I know they're familiar and I do acknowledge them.

I've specifically had cast members ask about things that wouldn't be in a database but were mentioned during conversation on a previous cruise. Things like, "How was your trip to San Francisco?" etc.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Both our server and head server went on at length about what a hardship it was being separated from their families.

I think all my cruises have been like that. If it wasn't our dinner server, it was someone working in the Cove or in a gift shop. There always seems to be a few overly chatty workers. I started feeling guilty for being on a cruise once when hearing about the conditions in which they live and the long hours, etc. Working on a cruise ship is like a glorified sweat shop. I felt like I was living in a caste system.

The cruise director this time just wasn't any fun. She came off as a phony

Leslie? She was on my first cruise and I had no idea that cruise directors could be fun until we cruised again and had Jimmy.

 

[Hundredacre]

Our family became Castaway Club Gold members on our last cruise earlier this month, and we agree that the magic seems to have faded a bit. We'd previously cruised on all four DCL ships, and always had a great time. On this most recent cruise on the Wonder, however, while nothing overtly went wrong, we noticed a lot of little things that we'd never seen before, all of which added up to a diminished experience for us this time.

Some examples:

• Our server started talking politics toward the end of the cruise. While the discussion was somewhat interesting at first, we started to feel trapped as we listened to him going on at length regarding the upcoming Philippine presidential election.
• Both our server and head server went on at length about what a hardship it was being separated from their families. While we certainly were sympathetic (and I have personal experience with this myself as a Navy submarine veteran), it started to make dinner somewhat of a downer. I don't know if this intended to elicit our sympathy and higher tips, or if they were just opening up personally to us, but the end effect was a bit unpleasant. (Though it did result in me increasing their tips.)
  
• Our Palo server actually interjected himself into our conversation at dinner, cutting off my mother and correcting some misstatement she had made...at length. The eavesdropping and interruption in that case surprised all of us at the table, and is not something I've ever seen before at a high-end restaurant. It was completely unprofessional.
• The barista at Cove Cafe spent more time talking to another cast member than making my latte, and I heard far more than I cared to regarding her scheduled cabin inspection that was unexpectedly cancelled, and what she planned to do on her day off, and whether it was a good idea or not to go on an excursion with her ex-boyfriend.
• The cruise director this time just wasn't any fun. She came off as a phony.

At first these things were not particularly bothersome, and it was actually somewhat amusing to learn more about the cast members' personal lives. As time went on, however, it started to get a bit annoying, especially when you go back to what were paying for this experience.

In addition, the pressure to give only "excellent" ratings to our servers continued to get ever more intense. If DCL wants to get truly honest ratings, then the surveys need to be anonymous. Our server again went on at length about how important the survey was and how important it was that we only gave excellent ratings. The pressure and guilt trip on this point were over the top, and has gotten much more noticeable with each cruise we have taken.

We were also more acutely aware of the downside of a cruise, including the hassle of boarding and getting your luggage on the first day, the need to unpack everything (and later repack everything) because of the tight quarters, the requirement to put out luggage on the last night, and the need to get up early on the last morning to vacate the cabin in a timely manner. I don't know what the answer is here, but all of this combines to make a cruise perhaps more of a bother than it's worth.

Last but not least, prices continue to go up and up...and up...on DCL. I'm really starting to come to the conclusion that the benefits of a DCL cruise are not worth the exorbitant prices.

All in all, my wife and I are both getting a bit tired of cruising, at least for now. We have another cruise scheduled for next year with my extended family that we are already committed to, but we'll see after that if we feel like doing any more.

In the meantime, we are also looking at alternatives, starting with a trip to Hawaii later this year.

I think all my cruises have been like that. If it wasn't our dinner server, it was someone working in the Cove or in a gift shop. There always seems to be a few overly chatty workers. I started feeling guilty for being on a cruise once when hearing about the conditions in which they live and the long hours, etc. Working on a cruise ship is like a glorified sweat shop. I felt like I was living in a caste system.

Leslie? She was on my first cruise and I had no idea that cruise directors could be fun until we cruised again and had Jimmy.

To an extent I think it is human nature to try to make as much money as you can. You can't let it get to you. I like to counter with my own experience, "when I was starting out I had a job doing manual labor working from 10am to 2am many days out of the week. It was very hard work but the money was great." They look at me surprised but it is true. I think employees who try to make customers feel guilty do it because it works. They have figured out they make more money doing it. The fact is they are lucky to have the jobs and they know it. I don't think you should ever feel guilty about doing something that gives someone else a job. Most places besides the us are awful for someone with nothing trying to get ahead. For the most part there is no such thing as an extra part time job in places like europe or Indonesia.

 

[Divslp]

Just off the Fantasy, and have to admit it wasn't as magical as when I first cruised with DCL. The last time I cruised, they used to replenish the h20 products every night. This time, it was only replenished two times the whole cruise and that's only when I made it apparent that I needed it.
Our main and assistant servers weren't all that impressive this time either. They seemed like they had no clue how to deal with our dietary needs even when it was explained, and I even felt like I was an annoyance to them with our restrictions based on their nonverbal communication cues. This is in comparison to our last cruise where the server clearly gave us our food options each night and seemed to know what he was doing, and he never seemed annoyed by our restrictions. Service was slow and drinks not refilled for a long time time after emptied many nights. Our server this time gave the "excellent rating" speech each of the last two nights which was irritating. We filled out the rating card accordingly. Though, the head server was great, very friendly, engaging and always checking on us.. so we tipped him extra for his efforts.

 

[Jeff Spencer]

We've got a b2b Cal Coast and Alaska cruise coming up in May, after which we'll be platinum. We do love Disney cruises but too have noticed the value for what we pay has slipped pretty significantly. Wife and I took our adult kids and their spouses on a 7 night Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean (Freedom of the Seas) out of Port Canaveral and we really enjoyed it. The ship was beautiful, the food was very good, our dining room servers and room steward were excellent. The entertainment was not as good but the cruise cost was right at 55% of a comparable Disney cruise. We'll definitely be cruising Royal Caribbean again.

 

[wcw57]

I think all my cruises have been like that. If it wasn't our dinner server, it was someone working in the Cove or in a gift shop. There always seems to be a few overly chatty workers. I started feeling guilty for being on a cruise once when hearing about the conditions in which they live and the long hours, etc. Working on a cruise ship is like a glorified sweat shop. I felt like I was living in a caste system.
.

PUH-LEEEEESE...

while, i admit, it is sad to be away from family, nobody forced them to take the job. My father, on the other hand, was away from his family for 4 years without choice and was shot at (WWII). This, in all likelihood, is a ploy for $$$$$$.
I once had a waitress at red robin (near hershey park....where tourists gather and don't bother to tip because they'll never be there again, it seems) tell our family, at great length and detail, how her son fell off a motorcycle and was damaged and might graduate high school, etc etc etc. Maybe it was true, maybe not.
We were going to tip anyhow but all she did was annoy us by slowing down service and tugging at my cynical heart. I didn't tell her about the tragic deaths in our family in hopes of scoring extra onion rings (the fries are unlimited)....
my point being, when the sad stories start, grab that salt shaker and take out an extra grain.

 

[kamik86]

They're a business? It's like the Zoo Tycoon game: if you fill the park you can raise the rates. If you raise it too high, you'll have empty rooms. So they want to get as many $ as they can, which means as high of rates as possible without empty rooms. Since they don't have more ships that's "easy" for them to do right now.

This is very true.

But just like how in those games if you go to the area where the people make comments when the park is starting to empty out you will see alot of "X isn't a good value" thoughts. In real life those thoughts end up on message boards here. Now at some point if this continue disney probably will hit the point where they no longer have full rooms and they will do something about it yes, but that doesn't mean people don't have the right to complain as they decide to go another way.

 

[gometros]

Leslie? She was on my first cruise and I had no idea that cruise directors could be fun until we cruised again and had Jimmy.

I have to agree. We've had Leslie on two Fantasy cruises and we ran into her often and she always had time for us.

 

[insureman]

I've specifically had cast members ask about things that wouldn't be in a database but were mentioned during conversation on a previous cruise. Things like, "How was your trip to San Francisco?" etc.

OK. That's creepy!

 

[mcd2745]

We were also more acutely aware of the downside of a cruise, including the hassle of boarding and getting your luggage on the first day, the need to unpack everything (and later repack everything) because of the tight quarters, the requirement to put out luggage on the last night, and the need to get up early on the last morning to vacate the cabin in a timely manner. I don't know what the answer is here, but all of this combines to make a cruise perhaps more of a bother than it's worth.

It's not unique to DCL, but I know how you feel here. I've always been bothered with how cruises - no matter how great they have been - end. It's just a tough way to end an otherwise wonderful vacation. Ideally, you'd like to take full advantage of your last night as much as possible, but you have to pack (mostly) everything up and say goodbye to it by 10pm. Then, the last morning is just a hectic, rushed experience. Unfortunately, there's no real solution to it I guess. Personally, I'd gladly not be able to board at the start of the cruise so early (I'd have no problem waiting until say... 4pm) if it allowed for a much more leisurely debarkation on the other end where you don't have to be off so early. However, I don't think it's feasible logistically.