cruisingsoon
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2006
We just got back from the Disney Magic Eastern Cruise. I have been on the Carnival Cruise line years ago and had remembered it very fondly. This cruise however was not at all as my Husband and I had hoped. We are frequent Disney World visitors and have always been blown away by our experiences there, so we were expecting the best--especially since the cost was over double the amount we ever spent staying at the Disney resorts (all expenses included).
Here goes, in no particular order.
We stayed in a category 4 suite, which had such terrible creeky noises all night long (almost every night of our cruise) that my 3 year old son woke up time and time again afraid of the "big noise". That was fun. It was a nice size though for a cruise, and our room host was AMAZING.
The food was average--at best, and that is being very generous. I was expecting much better food. The breakfast is horrible, imagine (old?) Krispy Kreme donuts everyday with all of the glaze sliding off, a selection of not good pastries AT ALL, powdered scramble eggs (yes you could have gotten an omlete but that is not the point), bacon cooked in a deep fryer, toast that was never even warm... Lunch was okay, dinner was not great again. There was no real taste to the food. It was like they were afraid to use seasonings and fresh herbs, etc. Very bland. Dessert was never outstanding. We missed Palo, but had no choice since we had no safe place for my son.
Which brings me to the children's club. I personally stayed with my son every day we went to the club since the program for the 3-4 year olds was poor. Often the 3-7 year olds were running (and I mean RUNNING) around in the same room often out of control--not great for a small 3 year old who still got hurt a couple of times with me watching out for him. The crafts are great if you have a pushy kid who will fight to get at the small table and get adequate supplies for himself (often with the bigger kids there too)--no one is really helping any of them. The play dough table is down right horrible--I saw kids getting shoved in order to steal a bit of play dough from them... Also, for the parents who think their kids of this age had such a great time there, I saw so many of them crying (and being ignored), getting shoved, looking like they were in shock, etc. for long periods of time. There was very VERY few happy little ones. If many of the parents had stayed behind to watch, they would never have felt comfortable to leave them. At least I would hope not. In "the closet" room at one point I counted 48 3-4 year olds, there were 2 councelors, one of which left the room constantly. The other one was over at a computer for almost 30 minutes. Kids were left to fend for themselves. On occassion they would do a group activity but to me it was too little. I would expect closer interaction, supervision for my 3 year old. I did hear that the kids programs for the 8+ group are wonderful.
We went to the shows at night which were nice, but actually I feel that the shows in the parks have better or at least as good of performers.
We went to the movie theater, nice, but the camp kids were all there taking up the last several rows of the theater and were very noisy.
The spa was okay, my husband and I used it, but were not wowed by it either. The gym was nice, although I think it is very bad that they were charging even more for spinning classes, etc. You would think + $9,000 for a week stay would include adequate resources for that. Very bad.
The excursions were wonderful though, no complaints at all.
The seas were rough for our trip and MANY MANY MANY people were sick on the boat. Some kid threw up in the pool and it was closed for the day. I saw 2 kids throwing up in trash cans, an adult throwing up over board, my husband spent a whole day crippled throwing up in the room. My son complained constantly of being "dizzy". I was sick too but fought through it. Even servers were sick and missed work. A lady I talked to on the bus said her 11 year old daughter spent most of the trip in bed sick. I know the seas are not Disney's fault, but it can happen.
I wish we had opted for a week long stay at the resorts instead. There was absolutely no comparison in our mind.
Here goes, in no particular order.
We stayed in a category 4 suite, which had such terrible creeky noises all night long (almost every night of our cruise) that my 3 year old son woke up time and time again afraid of the "big noise". That was fun. It was a nice size though for a cruise, and our room host was AMAZING.
The food was average--at best, and that is being very generous. I was expecting much better food. The breakfast is horrible, imagine (old?) Krispy Kreme donuts everyday with all of the glaze sliding off, a selection of not good pastries AT ALL, powdered scramble eggs (yes you could have gotten an omlete but that is not the point), bacon cooked in a deep fryer, toast that was never even warm... Lunch was okay, dinner was not great again. There was no real taste to the food. It was like they were afraid to use seasonings and fresh herbs, etc. Very bland. Dessert was never outstanding. We missed Palo, but had no choice since we had no safe place for my son.
Which brings me to the children's club. I personally stayed with my son every day we went to the club since the program for the 3-4 year olds was poor. Often the 3-7 year olds were running (and I mean RUNNING) around in the same room often out of control--not great for a small 3 year old who still got hurt a couple of times with me watching out for him. The crafts are great if you have a pushy kid who will fight to get at the small table and get adequate supplies for himself (often with the bigger kids there too)--no one is really helping any of them. The play dough table is down right horrible--I saw kids getting shoved in order to steal a bit of play dough from them... Also, for the parents who think their kids of this age had such a great time there, I saw so many of them crying (and being ignored), getting shoved, looking like they were in shock, etc. for long periods of time. There was very VERY few happy little ones. If many of the parents had stayed behind to watch, they would never have felt comfortable to leave them. At least I would hope not. In "the closet" room at one point I counted 48 3-4 year olds, there were 2 councelors, one of which left the room constantly. The other one was over at a computer for almost 30 minutes. Kids were left to fend for themselves. On occassion they would do a group activity but to me it was too little. I would expect closer interaction, supervision for my 3 year old. I did hear that the kids programs for the 8+ group are wonderful.
We went to the shows at night which were nice, but actually I feel that the shows in the parks have better or at least as good of performers.
We went to the movie theater, nice, but the camp kids were all there taking up the last several rows of the theater and were very noisy.
The spa was okay, my husband and I used it, but were not wowed by it either. The gym was nice, although I think it is very bad that they were charging even more for spinning classes, etc. You would think + $9,000 for a week stay would include adequate resources for that. Very bad.
The excursions were wonderful though, no complaints at all.
The seas were rough for our trip and MANY MANY MANY people were sick on the boat. Some kid threw up in the pool and it was closed for the day. I saw 2 kids throwing up in trash cans, an adult throwing up over board, my husband spent a whole day crippled throwing up in the room. My son complained constantly of being "dizzy". I was sick too but fought through it. Even servers were sick and missed work. A lady I talked to on the bus said her 11 year old daughter spent most of the trip in bed sick. I know the seas are not Disney's fault, but it can happen.
I wish we had opted for a week long stay at the resorts instead. There was absolutely no comparison in our mind.
. The last cruise I went on was for 4 nights on RCCI and I was so sea sick that I'm afraid to take a 7 night cruise. My family loves Disney World, but we are dreaming of taking a 3 night cruise (we had to cancel this years trip). I hope we won't be dissapointed if we go in 2007- 
