Disney 7-day Eastern Caribbean

[LPinCT]

I just returned late last night from a family trip on the Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean 7-day cruise and wanted to post some pros and cons about our trip.

We stayed on deck 8, in a family stateroom with veranda. The space was very adequate for me, husband, and two boys (age 9 and 13). The views were beautiful. Dining room food was good-to excellent; service was beyond excellent; and room-service was poor to mediocre.

The trip was during the week of January 8-15, 2005, and for those of you who never sailed a cruise before, the Disney Magic was quite rocky. We experienced seas of 8-15 feet each day on average. We could tollerate it just fine, because we are boaters and have sea-legs already. My sister and her children, on the other hand, experienced severe sea sickness quite a lot of the time.

My mother reserved the Roy O. Disney suite...the second most expensive suite on the ship. It was absolutely gorgeous, however, it must be said that the suite is set up like this: two bedrooms (each with their own baths); one was a master-suite type room with a beautiful king-size bed and jacuzzi tub with separate glass-enclosed shower. The other was twin-bed pull-down bunks, accomodating two to four people, with a less glamerous bathroom having a basic sink, toilet, and shower/tub insert. Mom complained that all the beautiful wood paneling was extremely noisy...apparently it creaked and squeaked continually in reacting to the rocking of the ship. They had trouble sleeping because of this. Some of the furniture/paneling was dinged or dented. My mother and her guest were also very sensitive to sea-sickness, and unfortunately, vowed not to sail Disney again.

All in all, we (my own family) had a good time. But it was hard to thoroughly enjoy ourselves when my other relatives were having such trouble adapting to sea-living. For some reason, the stabilizers on the ship didn't appear to work correctly, because my family wasn't the only ones complaining about the ship's movement.

Oh! One more thing...the smells. Yes, smells. Apparently, here and there throughout the ship you could catch a whiff of septic odor...something that perhaps Disney should look into??? I understand that we weren't the only ones who experienced these noxious whiffs of stench.

So plan carefully, expect movement, and do know that the staff all throughout the Disney Cruise Line were incredibly gracious and accomodating. I never in my life have experienced such wonderful and helpful service people other than at Disney...including the cruise ship. They should be commended, because they work incredibly hard and I'm certain it can't be easy to do.

 

[nay nay]

Despite the fact that friends who had previously taken the Disney Cruise had told us we wouldn't feel any movement at all on board the ship, let me tell you, this cruise was very rocky - and I was glad that I opted to get the scopalomine patch! There were many sick adults with green children (which I had heard was rare), and the boat definitely creaked a lot due to the high waves. My husband snagged a few extra pillows and tried to "soundproof" the bed for himself. Light sleepers might like earplugs!

I do have one other comment: The Disney spa workers are unbelieveably honest folk. After a massage, I accidentally left an expensive piece of jewelry on a chair in the dressing area, and I didn't realize it until several hours later. Certain that it was lost forever, I decided to call and at least inquire. Not only did Annie tell me that she had it, but she practically RAN downstairs to bring it to me before my husband would notice that it was missing! And, to top that off, she wouldn't even take a tip! Amazing!

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

LP,
Thanks for posting your report and I’m sorry to hear your mother and your friends had a rough time on their vacation, but it was good to hear that the service seemed to meet everyone’s standards.

I’ve been on four sailings on the Magic, in various sea conditions. I think 12 ft seas are about the limit at which the movement becomes noticeable (to me anyway). It seems like every foot above 12 translates directly into ship movement. I think most cruises don’t encounter seas over 12 feet for any length of time, so most people have a relatively calm voyage. But, the ocean is known for waves and everyone should be prepared (at least mentally) for them. I personally enjoy some movement (with limits of course) but on three of our four cruises, we never felt any movement the entire seven days. The Magic is by far the largest cruise ship I’ve ever been on, and easily the most stable. I can’t speak as to how the other mega ships ride, but my guess would be the bigger the ship, the better the ride.

Many people ask “What is the best time of year to sail to avoid bad weather?”. The best answer is “You can have excellent or poor weather anytime” but a rule of thumb is the summer has calmer seas, but more storms. In the winter there are fewer storms, but the “calm seas” waves are larger. It also seems that the Eastern route would have larger waves, but the largest waves we’ve encountered (20+ Ft) where on the Western. So I think your advice of “Expect Movement” is right on.

 

[cruisenewbie2004]

Apparently someone misinformed you that having stabilizers means "no movement." They were wrong and unfortunately set a poor expectation for you. Stabilizers reduce movement, they do not eliminate it. Disney would be in the same state as any other cruise line. Blaming a cruise line for bad seas is like blaming them for bad weather.

I am constantly amazed at the people who post expecting the ship to simply not move. It is a boat. On an ocean.

 

[Skywalker]

Well, I do agree that the rocking on this boat was extremely noticeable and just about constant. Having only sailed once before, I can at least say that one was nothing like this. Maybe just rough seas but just about everyone I saw was wearing one of those patches! I bumped into my share of walls while walking too.

As for the smells - you know you are completely correct and I had forgotten about that. It was escpecially noticeable in that atrium/lobby area - and it was putrid. My husband nearly gagged everytime we went to that area.

I understand the rockiness can vary, but was the smell unique to our cruise or is this a common problem. Anyone know?

 

[musicdude]

We were on the same cruise and did'nt think it was severely rough at all(we were on deck 8 also). We did see many happy go lucky kids jumping around in the Mickey pool turning the water yellow, but none of these kids seemed to be green. We had nothing but exceptional service from everyone including room service, which our seven year old son just loved and was treated with the respect of a grown up when he called it everyday. We really focused on having fun on this trip no matter what mother nature dished out. We were so wiped out each night from all the possible activities available to us we could have slept through a huricaine if need be. Only disapointment was the canceled excursions on Castaway Cay, because we had reservations for para-sailing. So we went and flew kites in the afternoon instead with the kids. The wind was perfect for that, they had the kites out as far as the string would allow and watching dad chase down the kite that got away was priceless for the kids and mom both. Para-sailing? What para-sailing?

 

[Gabbypick]

I was also on that cruise - Yes the seas were rocky - but it didn't spoil my trip at all. I expect rocking on a ship, and after experiencing a smaller boat in rocky weather this was a pleasure. I am still on a high from the vacation. I had the most amazing time. Disney definitly lived up to its expectations and carried out that extra 1% with everything. I would recommend this cruise line to everyone. I can't wait to go back.

 

[clori]

I was also on the same ship. I'm prone to motion sickness so it was no surprise to me that I needed to take my bonine which I brought with me. Once taken I was fine. My 4 year old was one of those green children. She has occasionally gotten motion sickness in the past yet can ride the tea cups over and over. The problem was she didn't tell me when she first started feeling whoozy but once she did the dramamine solved that. She felt tired after taking dramamine but still enjoyed her activities (which may also have caused the drowsiness). Dh felt movement but never felt sick. I've also been on a smaller ship during hurricane weather in which the bonine didn't work nearly as well. I agree that all the services we used were excellent which include house keeping, waitstaff, room service, kids club and flounders. I don't recall any strange odors. I cant wait to go back when the baby is older.

 

[rachelp]

We were also on this sailing. While we did have a good time on the cruise, I can't say we were "blown away" as other people seemed to be. We were actually a bit disappointed by the shows - we had expected "Disney Theatre" quality shows every evening. While 2 of the shows were on that level, I found the others to be lacking - and the "comedian/impressionist" to be absolutely awful.

We were also very disappointed with our servers. They did not go above and beyond on any level (even telling my DS that the kids' brownie had nuts in it - which he can't have due to allergies, rather than checking with the chef. We found out from the maitre'd afterwards - it did not.) They also couldn't even anticipate our beverage requests for dinner - even though we ordered the same thing every night!

While our older daughter (8) did like the kids club and went often - our 4 year old twins were not impressed and only went 3 times during the whole cruise. Once they found out that if they asked for you - you'd get paged - they decided they didn't want to stay. We heard other similar discussions between parents in kids in the kids club lobby. Hence, we really didn't get a lot of time to ourselves. We decided we'd have done better on another cruise line that we could have convinced grandparents to go on and traded off babysitting.

One last note - maybe we should have learned this through research somewhere, but we didn't - our cabins (2) were on the end of the boat on the second level - and whenever the ship docked or pulled away - it sounded like an earthquake in our cabin! The noise was deafening, the room shook, and it lasted about 1/2 an hour each time - often during sleeping hours. Just to forewarn anyone with a cabin in that area.

Anyways, different strokes for different folks - just sharing our thoughts.

 

[cmesq61]

We were on the same cruise, also on deck 2 aft. I was extremely disappointed by the unbelievable noise in that cabin. I have cruised many other lines in various categories and have never had such noise. I don't mind the constant hum/rumble of the engines, but the unbelievable vibrations & grinding noises at 5 AM, which seemed to be when the ship was positioning for docking, was awful. We had a guarantee, which I understood meant I would not get a cabin worse than what I had originally booked. That was simply not the case. People in most other Category 9 cabins did not get such terrible noise. Cabins such as the one my family was in should be less money, period. I really feel gipped by the cabin.

Service--awesome. Very polite and attentive servers and cabin steward. They certainly remmbered our drink preferences in the evening. Food was great. Very clean ship. I noticed the antiseptic smells was not bothered by them--I figured that was good they were trying to keep everything vlean.

Very rocky. I was sick one day, as was each of my children, but we all repsonded well to bonine/dramamine dependng on age.

MY kids were not impressed with the Oceaneers Lab, either. They seemed to find other things to do. They did not care for the family pool as it was too crowded.

The coffee bar was a very nice touch. Really enjoyed that.

Tendering at St. Thomas was not fun. i know that can't be predicted ahead of time, but if i knew tendering was involved i would not choose that cruise.

More standing in lines than I remember from other cruise lines. maybe that is a global change in the cruise industry as I had not cruised in some time. just seemed evrything was a line. Stand in line for 2 hours to get on, stand in line to tender, stand in line to take shore excursions, stand in line to get into dinner, and of course, huge line to get off the ship and then onto the bus for the airport.

 

[zeldacruiser]

...and of course, huge line to get off the ship and then onto the bus for the airport.

For anyone who doesn't have to make an early flight, try to be the last one off the ship. We've done that twice, and it works great! On our way to breakfast, we passed a huge line of people waiting to get off the ship. By the time we were done eating, we strolled right off, and our bags were easy to find, since they were in a little pile all by themselves.

 

[getoutthere]

For those of you who had the deck 2 cabins that were noisy during docking, what cabin #'s did you have? Thanks

 

[Gabbypick]

For anyone who doesn't have to make an early flight, try to be the last one off the ship. We've done that twice, and it works great! On our way to breakfast, we passed a huge line of people waiting to get off the ship. By the time we were done eating, we strolled right off, and our bags were easy to find, since they were in a little pile all by themselves.

Yeah we didn't get off the ship until 8:45 and we got right off. So if you can wait I would suggest that as well.

 

[jennat]

I have noticed the smell you were talking about on several ships...The Caribbean Princess last year and a RCL one. I wonder if it is a constant battle these ships face. Just a thought. It is a bad smell, I agree!

 

[rachelp]

We were in cabins 2643 and 2645. I will add that our cabin stewardess Anastasia was wonderful - she gave us the best service on the ship.

 

[dizneetravelagent]

For those of you who had the deck 2 cabins that were noisy during docking, what cabin #'s did you have? Thanks

We were in room#2524 in the forward section....directly above the cargo door and directly below the disco......my only complaint about my entire vacation was the noise level at very inconvenient times....every night and every morning that we docked. The noisy rooms should be offered at significantly reduced fares.

Penny

 

[nay nay]

Ours was silent. 2048. Great window. Try to stay away from the aft areas.

 

[newfamilyman]

I'm sorry if this isn't the best place to raise this isssue, but I'm new to the boards. As someone who suffers from being seasick but who is going on a cruise in August, I am curious for recommendations on the different options for treatment for my family and I; my stepdaughter will be four, and my son, just one. Thanks.

 

[rachelp]

In my opinion - there is no question - get a prescription for the "patch" which you stick behind your ears. This was the first time I wore one and the first time in 9 cruises I haven't gotten seasick. Only downside is "drymouth" - but small price to pay...seasick "pressure point band" never worked for me. We saw some people had cut the "patch" in half for kids - but I'd check with the pediatrician first. We gave our 8 year old half a dramamine tablet one night (split ahead of time with a splitter - hard to split). Our 4 year old twins never noticed a thing. Hope this helps!

 

[cruisenewbie2004]

you never, EVER give a prescription medicine to a child without dr approval. And besides that, you NEVER cut in half time release medications. They are formulated and layered to release slowly.

Would you give your kid half a vicodin because an adult dosage is one pill? Of course not. Medications are not to be fooled around with.