Disney Blasphemy! The good, the great, and the not so great on our recent Fantasy Cruise.

[lorimay]

At Goofy's kitchen in Disneyland Resort. Saw a small child walk up the the chocolat pudding bowl and grab the spoon. He licked it and was getting ready to put back in the bowl before I grabbed it.

Just so gross

 

[BCV23]

In the concierge lounge at the GF, I saw a grown man use tongs to eat cut fruit and then he placed the tongs back in the bowl. I told a concierge who whipped the bowl off the table. Unbelievable.

 

[goofy4prez]

Hey all, I just wanted to say thank you for all of you who understood where I was coming from and understood it was only my opinion and not an attack on Disney. It was also nice to see those who didn't quite see the same way as I did remain civil and add a quality different point of view. As I said, I am a huge Disney fan and will continue to be a huge Disney fan. I have been on the DIS for over 11 years and have met several members here on the DIS in WDW and I hope to meet many more in the future. If there is a Disney website, I'm on it. If there is a Disney FB site (even the DIS one), I'm on it. If there is a Disney publication, it's probably sitting on an end table in my family room. LOL... My 1/2 bath in my house is Disney themed, my patio out back in the garden area is Disney themed. Geez, I'm even typing this in my Disney lounging clothes.

I'm sure I will book a future cruise with Disney, but this time my expectations will be more in check and when I do or if I experience a server as I had I will be certain to talk to someone sooner than day three. Disney by no means is perfect, but then again, neither are any of us and certainly, I'm far from perfect. I guess in short, while I love WDW I'm just ok with my Disney Cruise experience. I pay good money to stay in the Deluxe Resorts, I enjoy the Signature Restaurants, I almost always stay Concierge in the resorts, and I even paid to add 3 more FP+ per day with my recent visit. All of these things while expensive, I found value in them for me and am willing to pay. Others certainly won't. Some find DCL well worth the cost, I'm still up in the air on this one. I guess that's what floats our boats (Pun intended), we are all different; that is actually a good thing. Next year as I said in my initial post, I will be doing a Silversea cruise to Alaska and a land excursion to Denali. After that, perhaps I'll do that Mediterranean cruise with Disney. I'm willing to try something a second time and give them a second chance. (except Le'Cellier, LOL). I even gave ABC Commissary a third try a couple of months ago......... It was not bad. Again, thanks, everyone. I completely enjoyed reading each and every response on this thread.

 

[mmmears]

Thanks for sharing a balanced review of your cruise. I like DCL but I know it's not perfect and I don't think the food is amazing. Enjoy your Silversea cruise to Alaska - I have heard from friends that their cruises are fantastic and very luxurious. Like Le Cellier, I think that DCL gets talked up so much online that it's easy to have expectations far above the reality of the product.

 

[LeeLeeK]

Ugh. I'm so sorry. I suspect you had the same servers we had on the Fantasy last fall. It was a disaster and we were NOT happy. We had multiple food allergies at our table, which I get can be a hassle. They were repeatedly ignored, and I was brought something that clearly had my allergen in it and when I refused it I was told to just scrape it off and eat already. Unlike you I did make formal complaint at guest relations, and I DID alter the tips. Our room steward who was awesome made out like a bandit though

They told you to scrape off the poison on your plate and eat already?!!!!! There aren't even words for that behavior. I really hope I am not making a mistake in taking this cruise....

 

[Lisa F]

I know she (for now) is doing shorter cruises, but Beauty and the Beast on the Dream totally blew me away. IMHO it completely rivaled - and in some ways surpassed - the Broadway production!

Frozen is coming to the Fantasy - I forget when, maybe October? but it gets great reviews too as a newer shower. In addition to Aladdin which is great to have two headliners on one ship.

 

[cgolf]

Reminds me of all those internet blogs saying "tell your server on the first night you want to eat curry and they'll have it specially prepared for you the next day" or "order the black truffle pasta every night--your server will go get it for you from the other restaurant's kitchen"--makes you wonder if maybe some of the bad service is from all the online "tips" encouraging people to use up all their server's time and effort on custom projects.

I know when I asked for Gluten free curry one night, I ended up getting a plate every night with a different protein and seasonings along with what I ordered. This was 4 or 5 years ago, but I was told and believe it, because I got some every night, that one of the chefs enjoyed making a dish from their home country. I would guess if a 1/4 of the dining room asked it might be different.

As far as service, we have had great to awful service on DCL and on other lines we havve had mostly positive experiences so far. On Celebrity we did have issues with one of our dining teams, different teams each night, but overall the food was and service was superb. It was one of the first few sailings on a new ship and they were using maps to make sure they seated us at the right table lol.

One thing we noticed was that the entertainment staff was much more friendly and talkative on the classics vs the Dream class. We followed the team from the Magic to the Fantasy, couple months later and the difference was amazing. The head entertainment staff was super talkative and interacted with everyone on the Magic. On the Fantasy, she was super focused on the task at hand, and as she was cleaning up her and her helper were talking about where they needed to run to next pretty much ignoring the guests. One of our servers on the fantasy also mentioned how the dining rooms weren't efficiently set up for them and they had more tables, so they couldn't deliver a personal experience like on the classics. It really seems that they over schedule staff on the Dream class.

 

[SeaNana]

We’ve been on 11 Disney cruises, with three more scheduled. The inaugural Fantasy Cruise was hectic for MDR and we continue to be less thrilled than on the Magic, our favorite ship. The tables on the Fantasy are very close and there are now just the main server and the assistant. Initially there were two assistants and beverages were there before we asked. One drink person is just not enough. If possible, try sailing on one of the smaller ships. Our adult children prefer the activities on the bigger ones, but there is a more intimate feel on the smaller ships.