Disappointed!

[CVICU Nurse]

My family and I just returned from a cruise on the Disney Fantasy, March 25-April 1, 2017. We splurged on this Disney cruise because all it had to offer for our girls, ages 11 and 16. Prior to booking, I read up on the adult only areas and dining so that my husband and I could have some time to relax. In my reading, I was excited to lean of the adult only areas and how well they were marked and monitored. However, this was not the case. There were children all over the adult only areas- walking through, staying and participating in the adult only games, etc., and parents allowing this. Without my knowledge, my husband booked a placeholder for a future Disney cruise. I am seriously considering cancelling it and placing it towards a cruise with another line.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

That's too bad. My experience has been that if a child is lingering too long in an adult area, a CM will tell the child (or parents if the parents are present) that they need to leave. Did you ask a CM to address the issue?

 

[wilkeliza]

My family and I just returned from a cruise on the Disney Fantasy, March 25-April 1, 2017. We splurged on this Disney cruise because all it had to offer for our girls, ages 11 and 16. Prior to booking, I read up on the adult only areas and dining so that my husband and I could have some time to relax. In my reading, I was excited to lean of the adult only areas and how well they were marked and monitored. However, this was not the case. There were children all over the adult only areas- walking through, staying and participating in the adult only games, etc., and parents allowing this. Without my knowledge, my husband booked a placeholder for a future Disney cruise. I am seriously considering cancelling it and placing it towards a cruise with another line.

I'm confused are you talking of the lounges during the day time? The only time the District is adults only is in the evening ( I believe 8pm to last call). On the Dream class cruises children do walk through the pool area due to bad design but they aren't suppose to be able to get in the pools or use the lounge chairs. Satellite falls is suppose to be no children and always has been in my experience.

It may be worth writing to DCL customer relations and voicing your displeasure and I hope you pointed out your displeasure on the comment cards.

 

[MUN]

My family and I just returned from a cruise on the Disney Fantasy, March 25-April 1, 2017. We splurged on this Disney cruise because all it had to offer for our girls, ages 11 and 16. Prior to booking, I read up on the adult only areas and dining so that my husband and I could have some time to relax. In my reading, I was excited to lean of the adult only areas and how well they were marked and monitored. However, this was not the case. There were children all over the adult only areas- walking through, staying and participating in the adult only games, etc., and parents allowing this. Without my knowledge, my husband booked a placeholder for a future Disney cruise. I am seriously considering cancelling it and placing it towards a cruise with another line.

Who was your captain and cruise director?

 

[KSHowards]

That's sad that you had a bad experience. On my experience we had the occasional kid walk through and to get access to the elevators or what not. But we never had any kid participate. We plan on booking a retainer on our next cruise. We love Disney Fantasy! Sorry!

 

[bcwife76]

We were on the Fantasy in January and spent a good deal of time at Satellite Falls and hardly saw any children anywhere near. We were also able to enjoy adult only dining and the bars at night without any children. I'm sorry you had a less than stellar experience

 

[elvispursley]

We've cruised the Fantasy with our kids and last time we were right next to the forward elevators. Unfortunately, this places us right up next to the salon and the adult pool and we have to have our children walk through the adult area. I agree that it is a poor design, but our kids have never lingered anywhere where it's been adults-only, only walked through. The bars/Destricts do allow children until certain hours (although I do believe that their is one bar that doesn't allow them at all?? I want to say Skyline did not allow our kids to sit down at all, but I can't remember what time of day that happened). Did you speak to anyone about this? That's too bad you had this experience. I'd try it again and see if going at a different time of year makes a difference? All though I know people who've cruised during the peak summer months who have not had that experience, so not sure why this happened

 

[Trera]

Satellite falls, serenity bay, skyline bar, adult pool.................all areas that we love to visit kid free!!

 

[Dug720]

Just as a kinda side note, nothing prevents families with kids from walking down the hall to midship elevators to go up. You're still walking the same distance. Concierge is the only group I can give a slight pass to walking through because they would have to go to another deck. (I have seen a family that did that though. Respected the heck out of those parents.)

 

[quickcat]

That's too bad. Sorry that it wrecked your cruise. Hopefully your next cruise on a different line will be a better experience for you.

 

[Dug720]

I'm confused are you talking of the lounges during the day time? The only time the District is adults only is in the evening ( I believe 8pm to last call). On the Dream class cruises children do walk through the pool area due to bad design but they aren't suppose to be able to get in the pools or use the lounge chairs. Satellite falls is suppose to be no children and always has been in my experience.

It may be worth writing to DCL customer relations and voicing your displeasure and I hope you pointed out your displeasure on the comment cards.

A couple of years ago when I was on the Fantasy, there were a couple of adult-only craft sessions in the pub and at least at the first one, there was a mother who insisted that her little one "just HAS to make coasters" and "it's our mommy-daughter time" and while the CMs did ask if anyone minded, no one seemed to want to be "the bad guy". I positioned myself as far away as possible and left pretty quickly - and didn't bother with a lot of the other adult-only daytime activities.

 

[wilkeliza]

A couple of years ago when I was on the Fantasy, there were a couple of adult-only craft sessions in the pub and at least at the first one, there was a mother who insisted that her little one "just HAS to make coasters" and "it's our mommy-daughter time" and while the CMs did ask if anyone minded, no one seemed to want to be "the bad guy". I positioned myself as far away as possible and left pretty quickly - and didn't bother with a lot of the other adult-only daytime activities.

I honestly didn't even realize there was adult-only daytime activities outside a few food and beverage seminars. I was always too busy reading in the sun for most of the day time activities though (that or in the spa)

 

[kiford]

There were children all over the adult only areas- walking through, staying and participating in the adult only games, etc., and parents allowing this.

That's really too bad. While we do see kids walking through the adult only pool area on the Fantasy and Dream, they've been pretty good about enforcing the 18+ standard on all of our cruises. There was one time that a woman kept bringing her daughter into the Cove Cafe (she was probably 14-ish) to get a coffee but then they left. If they had stayed, I would have complained; I was still annoyed because I saw no reason the girl could not have waited out in the non-adult-only area for 5 minutes but it wasn't too bad. We avoid the lounges until the adult only time (after 9 pm?). We're often not at all conscious of a lot of kids because we stick to the adult only areas. Sounds like you had a somewhat lax staff on your cruise. It's definitely not been our experience and we've many times seen kids being asked to leave or to prove that they're over 18.

 

[Dug720]

I honestly didn't even realize there was adult-only daytime activities outside a few food and beverage seminars. I was always too busy reading in the sun for most of the day time activities though (that or in the spa)

There were a few - a couple of craft times, some cooking things, and I think there was a guest lecturer but whatever the topic was didn't interest me.

 

[MickeyD]

I enjoy the adult only areas and have never had issues with kids staying more than a brief second. We had one lady bring in her 10-12 year old (I am guessing) to the adult only Art of the...(forget what it is called, but where they cook for you) and they were politely told it was adult only and when she insisted, the CM told her that there were plenty of activities for their child and that this was adult exclusive. Very polite, but firm. I did notice this is the OP first (and only) post, it bothers me when people hop on board (no pun intended) just to bash DCL for one thing that probably could have been rectified had they been a little proactive. Not to say that the OP wasn't proactive, but from the limited information, it seems they never approached a CM to complain. JMHO

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I agree with the OP that disney employees do not force children out of the adult areas or activities and that I t is incredibly annoying. We always walk up a level instead of walking our kids through the adult pool area. And on our last cruise we dropped our kids at the kids club to attend an adult only drawing session only to find that there were quite a few kids there. The cm did notice the kids at the beginning and said this is an adult only drawing session and NONE OF THE KIDS LEFT! We were really stunned. The cm did not force them to leave and this really disappointed us.

 

[Bree]

I agree that it is very poor design of the ship. We had a forward room on the Fantasy two weeks ago and the only time my daughter cut through the adult area to get to our room was when she was with me. I spent plenty of time in the adult pool area and never had an issue with kids lingering there or being noisy when they cut through. The adult lounge & bar areas are open to everyone during certain hours of the day. I think the cut off time was 9pm.

My only suggestion is to sail off season to cut down on the amount of kids on the cruise that might invade the adult only space.

 

[Pens Fan]

It's been kind of hit or miss in our experience for CM's enforcing the adult only policies. I've witnessed them asking children to leave bars on several occasions, especially Skyline (that seems to be a draw for kids). I've also seen them hanging out in the adult pool areas and only be asked to leave if they stayed there for quite a while (like say 30 minutes or so). A couple of years ago I went to one of the Disney Innovations adult only talks. My son's dream is to be a Disney imagineer and would have loved to have gone. He was only 17 at that time so I went alone, while he and my husband did something else. Much to my surprise when I walked into O'Gills there were kids everywhere, some very young. No CM said a word about it being only for adults, though it was clearly listed as such in the Navigator. I texted my son and told him that he might as well come on down, but he said no. He would have felt weird.

Disney doesn't like to tell people no. Sometimes I think it takes another guest complaining for them to enforce the rules completely. I'm not that cruiser, though. The child would have to be really disruptive for me to say anything. Others are more comfortable speaking up.

OP, sorry you had a less than stellar experience.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

My family and I just returned from a cruise on the Disney Fantasy, March 25-April 1, 2017. We splurged on this Disney cruise because all it had to offer for our girls, ages 11 and 16. Prior to booking, I read up on the adult only areas and dining so that my husband and I could have some time to relax. In my reading, I was excited to lean of the adult only areas and how well they were marked and monitored. However, this was not the case. There were children all over the adult only areas- walking through, staying and participating in the adult only games, etc., and parents allowing this. Without my knowledge, my husband booked a placeholder for a future Disney cruise. I am seriously considering cancelling it and placing it towards a cruise with another line.

My first thought is, did you say anything to any CM while on the ship? If you didn't, then you need to accept some responsibility in your disappointment.

As a restaurant owner I have to say this is one of the most frustrating parts of my job. It's maddening how many people will only let me know about a disappointment days after it occurred. At that point, little to nothing can be done to recover a situation. I beg of everyone reading this, if you are not satisfied with something, ask to speak with the manager or supervisor and share your experience. We will do anything within reason to rectify a situation. Just speak calmly and with respect and you will get it taken care of. If you yell or cuss, trust me, you'll get nothing. My years working as a Disney Operations Manager taught me this.

I'm now stepping off my soapbox and resuming normal programming.

 

[CVICU Nurse]

We were on the Fantasy and the adult only areas were supposed to the adult pools, then The deck (12 Forward)with The Currents bar, Meridian 12 aft, and O'Gills unless there was an activity going on. I did say something during our 18+ Trivia in O'G

I enjoy the adult only areas and have never had issues with kids staying more than a brief second. We had one lady bring in her 10-12 year old (I am guessing) to the adult only Art of the...(forget what it is called, but where they cook for you) and they were politely told it was adult only and when she insisted, the CM told her that there were plenty of activities for their child and that this was adult exclusive. Very polite, but firm. I did notice this is the OP first (and only) post, it bothers me when people hop on board (no pun intended) just to bash DCL for one thing that probably could have been rectified had they been a little proactive. Not to say that the OP wasn't proactive, but from the limited information, it seems they never approached a CM to complain. JMHO

Yes, this is my first post on here as I left my 16 yo daughter post on behalf of the family prior to the cruise. My husband and I were proactive and did tell crew members when we were in adult only areas/ activities and they did nothing. In the activities they stated that those under 18 were not allowed to participate, but of course they did. Not bashing Disney, as for the most part the cruise was great- service, food, activities. Just saying for the amount spent on this vacation, I wish the rules were enforced by the CM and those other parents. Like others have stated, I required my children to go up or down a floor to avoid adult only areas, as it is not that much longer of a distance.