From WDW to DL With Love - January 06, 2011 part 5

[sak0526]

What kind of lack did you notice (honest question). I hung out by the never-crowded Goofy pool and saw characters up there all the time.... never a wait. Got some great pics with Mickey.

Shoshie, have to agree with you on this one. At the family pool i saw many characters and sometimes they had to figure out how to entertain themselves as no one was approaching them. And as you know, DD was in entertainment and so she was one working with the characters and she led the people from the line to the character and she mentioned she'd never seen such short lines. I know she had to work but it seemed to me she was doing this a lot - maybe because i missed her so much but still....

and i have to disagree with the other post - not only did Christian know me, but Clayton, the captain, many of those handing out wipes at restaurants (they spoke to me at other places, not just being polite at the restaurants). I think they weren't well planned for pins or for maybe planing entertainment at odd times, but i think cancelling cruises is a bit drastic. just my opinion. but one cruise - wow.

 

[granmaz]

I booked the Panama 2011 cruise on December 30, 2010, so didn't get a chance to meet the fellow disboarders before the cruise.
I actually asked the hypnotist Ricky Kalmon for a private session because I needed to "lower my expectations"(about Wonder). [He declined stating he didn't do private sessions.] I was very disappointed with the Panama cruise/cruise staff. Another passenger called the staff "disengaged." I just felt like I was interrupting the cruise staff's vacation. I had 4 other cruises booked on Wonder and I canceled them all. Between the pin disaster and the lack of character photo opportunities...... On a 15 day cruise not one cruise staff member knew my name, except cruise director Christian. Christian knew it only because of a complaint I made to him personally. We were in three Mexican ports, but never had an opportunity for a photo with any of the characters in Mexican costumes until the last sea day?!?!?!?!?
Seeing the canal was amazing, but I could have done that on any cruise ship.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with your observations there. Disengaged. That is it. Interrupting the cruise staff's vacation. Yes, at times it did feel like that. I saw Characters everywhere, so can't agree on the lack of photo opportunities though as that is something we don't bother with it might have been different if we were actually wanting a photo with them.

Our friend onboard went to see the Captain and that Tom guy from DCL early in the cruise to mention the crew's attitude and a couple of other things. She is not a moaner at all, but wanted to do the right thing and mention how she was seeing things and then forget about it. She saw them on Day 3. The following morning we could hardly get to breakfast with all the CM's stopping and talking to us(not because they knew we were friends with her because they didn't). A group of officers coming down the stairs were all smiley and chatty to us above and beyond. It was so obviously different we soon realised they must have been told about their attitudes and told to try harder.

The only crew who knew and used our names were our servers and room hosts, but from that time on we had a good experience with crew even though in general it was nothing like we had experienced on our previous 6 DCL cruises.

Looking forward to being back on the Magic in September. Hopefully the new crew members will be well trained by then and they won't have started pulling the best ones out for the next new ship.

 

[granmaz]

I booked the Panama 2011 cruise on December 30, 2010, so didn't get a chance to meet the fellow disboarders before the cruise.
I actually asked the hypnotist Ricky Kalmon for a private session because I needed to "lower my expectations"(about Wonder). [He declined stating he didn't do private sessions.] I was very disappointed with the Panama cruise/cruise staff. Another passenger called the staff "disengaged." I just felt like I was interrupting the cruise staff's vacation. I had 4 other cruises booked on Wonder and I canceled them all. Between the pin disaster and the lack of character photo opportunities...... On a 15 day cruise not one cruise staff member knew my name, except cruise director Christian. Christian knew it only because of a complaint I made to him personally. We were in three Mexican ports, but never had an opportunity for a photo with any of the characters in Mexican costumes until the last sea day?!?!?!?!?
Seeing the canal was amazing, but I could have done that on any cruise ship.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with your observations there. Disengaged. That is it. Interrupting the cruise staff's vacation. Yes, at times it did feel like that. I saw Characters everywhere, so can't agree on the lack of photo opportunities though as that is something we don't bother with it might have been different if we were actually wanting a photo with them.

Our friend onboard went to see the Captain and that Tom guy from DCL early in the cruise to mention the crew's attitude and a couple of other things. She is not a moaner at all, but wanted to do the right thing and mention how she was seeing things and then forget about it. She saw them on Day 3. The following morning we could hardly get to breakfast with all the CM's stopping and talking to us(not because they knew we were friends with her because they didn't). A group of officers coming down the stairs were all smiley and chatty to us above and beyond. It was so obviously different we soon realised they must have been told about their attitudes and told to try harder.

The only crew who knew and used our names were our servers and room hosts, but from that time on we had a good experience with crew even though in general it was nothing like we had experienced on our previous 6 DCL cruises.

Looking forward to being back on the Magic in September. Hopefully the new crew members will be well trained by then and they won't have started pulling the best ones out for the next new ship.

 

[LindaBabe]

I really don't want to rub it in, but since someone asked. We spent the afternoon sitting in the hot tub, watching the waves roll by, the pelicans flying over and every once in a while we got to see the dolphins frolic. The best part is we are not on vacation, we were in our front yard (we like to pretend the beach and the Atlantic Ocean in front of our home belongs to us.)

Oh, You are Wicked - just WICKED!

I booked the Panama 2011 cruise on December 30, 2010, so didn't get a chance to meet the fellow disboarders before the cruise.
. . . Between the pin disaster and the lack of character photo opportunities......

I had complaints, but lack of characters weren't among them! I have literally dozens of character photos and Dimples filled her autograph book!

Wish I was there again RIGHT NOW!

 

[dolphingirl47]

What kind of lack did you notice (honest question). I hung out by the never-crowded Goofy pool and saw characters up there all the time.... never a wait. Got some great pics with Mickey.

I agree with the lack of characters. It is true enough that characters seem to pop up at the strangest places. I had never experienced this on my previous cruises and finding Pluto in the gym and Rainforest Room and Daisy just wandering about and joining us for a group photo after the Champagne Girls tasting gave me a real buzz.

It was the formal photo opportunities with the characters that were lacking in my opinion. My favourite character Stitch was only out for professional photos once - in the middle of late dinner. So I missed him. He was out at the Deck 9 Gazebo a couple of times, but never with a photographer. It seemed to be the same characters in the same costumes all over again. I suppose I have been spoiled last year. On the Med cruise, the classic characters had loads of special costumes. On the WBTA, they were wearing their Med and Baltic cruise costumes. The amount of character photo opportunities was much bigger. On the WBTA we had loads of special characters like The Queen of Hearts, The White Rabbit, Pinocchio, The Beast, Jimminy Cricket, Woody and Jessie that cannot be seen all the time. Even on my only previous cruise on the Wonder, which was a 4 night cruise, we had some special characters like the Genie. So for a special cruise, I thought as well that they were lacking in the character department.

Corinna

 

[TxMermaid1]

Shoshie, have to agree with you on this one. At the family pool i saw many characters and sometimes they had to figure out how to entertain themselves as no one was approaching them. And as you know, DD was in entertainment and so she was one working with the characters and she led the people from the line to the character and she mentioned she'd never seen such short lines. I know she had to work but it seemed to me she was doing this a lot - maybe because i missed her so much but still....

and i have to disagree with the other post - not only did Christian know me, but Clayton, the captain, many of those handing out wipes at restaurants (they spoke to me at other places, not just being polite at the restaurants). I think they weren't well planned for pins or for maybe planing entertainment at odd times, but i think cancelling cruises is a bit drastic. just my opinion. but one cruise - wow.

I agree.. My grandkids and I got so many pics with characters and we waited til the 2nd week to start taking pics because the lines were so much shorter. I don't see where they had any lack of characters. Seems like there was one out at any given time. I saw them just wondering around the ship! Daisy even put on a pink boa and tiara and joined us in our group champaign girl pics! OMGosh what more could you ask of these characters?
Seems many of the staff new me and my name. They spoke every time I saw them. I know many were new but I think they were trying.
Yes the pin lines were a bit ridiculous. Hopefully they learned something about that. We will see on the TA cruise in May.
I still think all in all the Panama Canal trip was a good trip. I think it was still better than any other cruise-line would have been.
I couldn't wait to book my next Disney cruise and I am going on the Eastbound Transatlantic cruise in May.... I don't even want to go on any other cruise-lines!

I LOVE DISNEY CRUISE LINES!!!

 

[valbob89]

I agree with the lack of characters. It is true enough that characters seem to pop up at the strangest places. I had never experienced this on my previous cruises and finding Pluto in the gym and Rainforest Room and Daisy just wandering about and joining us for a group photo after the Champagne Girls tasting gave me a real buzz.

It was the formal photo opportunities with the characters that were lacking in my opinion. My favourite character Stitch was only out for professional photos once - in the middle of late dinner. So I missed him. He was out at the Deck 9 Gazebo a couple of times, but never with a photographer. It seemed to be the same characters in the same costumes all over again. I suppose I have been spoiled last year. On the Med cruise, the classic characters had loads of special costumes. On the WBTA, they were wearing their Med and Baltic cruise costumes. The amount of character photo opportunities was much bigger. On the WBTA we had loads of special characters like The Queen of Hearts, The White Rabbit, Pinocchio, The Beast, Jimminy Cricket, Woody and Jessie that cannot be seen all the time. Even on my only previous cruise on the Wonder, which was a 4 night cruise, we had some special characters like the Genie. So for a special cruise, I thought as well that they were lacking in the character department.

Corinna

I agree the crew tried very hard. The issue is that on other cruises they didn't have to 'try' it just was. I think a number of issues could be the reason for this, new home port, new cruise ports, new cruise lengths, new work teams. On top of that, a new captain was coming. That is a lot for workers to deal with. The officers seemed, I don't know, maybe tired is the best word I can think of.

You can't help but compare one cruise to another. On the WBTA Shutters was great. The staff and options available seemed much better then on the PC cruise. I know they are not Disney owned nor are their employees Disney but I thought it interesting that they were so different. We really missed the ability to download, select specific shots and have pictures printed from your camera. A couple of times we took pictures of people we didn't know but thought they would really appreciate having them, i.e. a child on his dad's shoulders in his full child's lifeboat drill outfit and another time a couple in their basket going down the hill in Madeira. We had the pictures printed and gave them to the people. They were thrilled. We also printed a couple pictures each day of the cruise and posted them on our door. We were disappointed when we found they didn't have this option on the Wonder.

We are booked on the Wonder in October, Halloween, hope all will be back to the old DCL. By the way, that thread is so quiet. Are any of you on that cruise?
val

 

[Happy Goofy]

We got tons of pictures with the characters on the PC but like someone said on the EBTA there were a lot of characters - even some of the lesser known ones.
I feel too on the PC there was a lack of the "Disney Magic". Even with that said I still love Disney and can't wait to take cruise 6- Hopefully it will be with some of you to Hawaii. I hopw we will know by March 10th

 

[valbob89]

We got tons of pictures with the characters on the PC but like someone said on the EBTA there were a lot of characters - even some of the lesser known ones.
I feel too on the PC there was a lack of the "Disney Magic". Even with that said I still love Disney and can't wait to take cruise 6- Hopefully it will be with some of you to Hawaii. I hopw we will know by March 10th

What happens on March 10? Is that when they are suppose to announce the rest of the 2012 schedule? A manager in reservations had told me not until end of April beginning of May but I don't know if he knew what he was talking about.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I agree the crew tried very hard. The issue is that on other cruises they didn't have to 'try' it just was. I think a number of issues could be the reason for this, new home port, new cruise ports, new cruise lengths, new work teams. On top of that, a new captain was coming. That is a lot for workers to deal with. The officers seemed, I don't know, maybe tired is the best word I can think of.

You can't help but compare one cruise to another. On the WBTA Shutters was great. The staff and options available seemed much better then on the PC cruise. I know they are not Disney owned nor are their employees Disney but I thought it interesting that they were so different. We really missed the ability to download, select specific shots and have pictures printed from your camera. A couple of times we took pictures of people we didn't know but thought they would really appreciate having them, i.e. a child on his dad's shoulders in his full child's lifeboat drill outfit and another time a couple in their basket going down the hill in Madeira. We had the pictures printed and gave them to the people. They were thrilled. We also printed a couple pictures each day of the cruise and posted them on our door. We were disappointed when we found they didn't have this option on the Wonder.

We are booked on the Wonder in October, Halloween, hope all will be back to the old DCL. By the way, that thread is so quiet. Are any of you on that cruise?
val

We will be back on the Wonder on October 2nd and I can give you a run down when I get back.

On the whole we had a wonderful cruise. We got to know a number of the crew and by the end of the cruise, we felt as at home on the Wonder than we do on the Magic.

The character photo opportunities were a bit of a disappointment as I said, but I thought there was a better selection of other photo opportunities. My all time favourite photo of Graham and me was taken on the Wonder on Pirate Night. When the photographer set the shot up, I thought it would turn out horrible, but I literally felt weak at the knees when I saw the result.

We got tons of pictures with the characters on the PC but like someone said on the EBTA there were a lot of characters - even some of the lesser known ones.
I feel too on the PC there was a lack of the "Disney Magic". Even with that said I still love Disney and can't wait to take cruise 6- Hopefully it will be with some of you to Hawaii. I hopw we will know by March 10th

We keep our fingers crossed for a cruise via Hawaii as well. We are hoping to be on the spring cruise. I wish they would hurry up and release the rest of the 2012 itineraries.

Corinna

 

[valbob89]

We will be back on the Wonder on October 2nd and I can give you a run down when I get back.

My all time favourite photo of Graham and me was taken on the Wonder on Pirate Night. When the photographer set the shot up, I thought it would turn out horrible, but I literally felt weak at the knees when I saw the result.


Corinna

Corinna, look forward to hearing all about your 10-2-11 trip. Just knowing the schedule will be a great help. Sorry your not with us on the Halloween cruise.

Will you be posting the picture of you and Graham that you love on smugmug?

Still haven't received the pins? How long should it take? I have the customs receipt and USPS receipt if we end up needing to trace the package.

Val

 

[dolphingirl47]

Corinna, look forward to hearing all about your 10-2-11 trip. Just knowing the schedule will be a great help. Sorry your not with us on the Halloween cruise.

Will you be posting the picture of you and Graham that you love on smugmug?

Still haven't received the pins? How long should it take? I have the customs receipt and USPS receipt if we end up needing to trace the package.

Val

No sign of the pins yet. Normally it takes about a week to 10 days. I am not at work tomorrow, but I am hoping that the pins are waiting for me when I get to the office on Tuesday. I sent a package each to the two girls of my best friend who lives in Ohio. Both were sent Thursday of last week at the same time. The first package already got there on Monday, the second one yesterday.

I am not part of Smugmug, but I will eventually post this on my trip report. I am working on the crossing day at the moment. I temporarily suffered from writer's block, but I feel inspired again at the moment.

Corinna

 

[valbob89]

No sign of the pins yet. Normally it takes about a week to 10 days. I am not at work tomorrow, but I am hoping that the pins are waiting for me when I get to the office on Tuesday. I sent a package each to the two girls of my best friend who lives in Ohio. Both were sent Thursday of last week at the same time. The first package already got there on Monday, the second one yesterday.

Corinna

The package was sent 2-22-11 Great Britain and Northern Ireland- First-Class Mail Int'l Parcel 6.40 oz. custon form # LC003254707US
to: Corinna Ball
c/o Emirates
Riverside Court
Bollin Walk
Wilmslow SK9 1DL
UK

If it isn't there on Tuesday, let me know if you want me to talk with the post office.

 

[KayR]

The package was sent 2-22-11 Great Britain and Northern Ireland- First-Class Mail Int'l Parcel 6.40 oz. custon form # LC003254707US
to: Corinna Ball
c/o Emirates
Riverside Court
Bollin Walk
Wilmslow SK9 1DL
UK

If it isn't there on Tuesday, let me know if you want me to talk with the post office.

That should have been there within approx 7 days. Unless there is an unusual hold up in customs or something. Normally it takes 1st class mail a day to get delivered in the UK, so a few days for it to transit there. 7 days is usually enough time for delivery. (I regularly send packages to family in the UK and they can get there is 4 days). Its a pretty direct route from the bay area.

Corinna. Is there an usual situation in the UK (like when there was all the snow) or could it have been caught in your company's mail room?


--Kay

 

[dolphingirl47]

The package was sent 2-22-11 Great Britain and Northern Ireland- First-Class Mail Int'l Parcel 6.40 oz. custon form # LC003254707US
to: Corinna Ball
c/o Emirates
Riverside Court
Bollin Walk
Wilmslow SK9 1DL
UK

If it isn't there on Tuesday, let me know if you want me to talk with the post office.

I will keep you posted. I have just set up email notification for Track and Trace, but it looks like the package was only scanned on acceptance. There is really no need to be concerned as yet as the postal service round here is utterly useless. Things will get to me eventually, but recently packages from the USA seem to be taking their time.

That should have been there within approx 7 days. Unless there is an unusual hold up in customs or something. Normally it takes 1st class mail a day to get delivered in the UK, so a few days for it to transit there. 7 days is usually enough time for delivery. (I regularly send packages to family in the UK and they can get there is 4 days). Its a pretty direct route from the bay area.

Corinna. Is there an usual situation in the UK (like when there was all the snow) or could it have been caught in your company's mail room?

-Kay

-Kay

--Kay

I know for sure that it is not stuck in the mail room. The ladies in sales who deal with our mail are always getting excited when I get packages and the packages don't even make it to the mail room. I get an email or a phone call to come and collect my package and then I have to open it so that they can have a look at the latest treasures before I am allowed to take it upstairs.

Postal service around here is a bit on the slow side. I had a package that was sent 1st class from about 30 miles away and that took 3 days to get to me. So this is nothing out of the ordinary.

Corinna

 

[LindaBabe]

Can't WAIT to read your trippie, Corinna! I loved your last years trans atlantic report!

 

[valbob89]

For those on a DCL Mexican Riveria cruise, here are links to the Navigators from a recent cruise.


sunday link
monday link
tuesday link
wed link
thursday link
friday link
saturday link[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

 

[dolphingirl47]

Can't WAIT to read your trippie, Corinna! I loved your last years trans atlantic report!

I really need to add a link for the trip report into my signature. It is still a work in progress, but I just posted a mega installment for the crossing day. The trip report can be found here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2643170

For those on a DCL Mexican Riveria cruise, here are links to the Navigators from a recent cruise.


sunday link
monday link
tuesday link
wed link
thursday link
friday link
saturday link

[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

Thanks for sharing. It is strange to have the safety drill and the sail away party on the first sea day rather than on the embarkation day. I am really hoping that they only did this because of the Superbowl and that this is not a permanent arrangement.

Corinna

 

[valbob89]

I really need to add a link for the trip report into my signature. It is still a work in progress, but I just posted a mega installment for the crossing day. The trip report can be found here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2643170

[/QUOTE]

Thanks for sharing. It is strange to have the safety drill and the sail away party on the first sea day rather than on the embarkation day. I am really hoping that they only did this because of the Superbowl and that this is not a permanent arrangement.

Corinna[/QUOTE]

I got the navigator links from the 2-6-11 DISboard thread (I posted a thank you already). They mentioned a change from the normal schedule due to the Superbowl, I guessed they were referring to the lifeboat drill and sail away party. Seems very strange to me. Sort of like our sail away party hours before we sailed away only stranger.

They seemed to really enjoy their cruise but mentioned some of the same issues we identified. They spoke of cold and poor quality food, more then we did I think, and the service of the dining room crew (that surprised me). A couple mentioned never getting drinks with meals their entire trip (why didn't they say something???) and the servers fighting among themselves. I guess they are still having adjustment pains.

Val

 

[dolphingirl47]

Val, The pins were waiting for me when I got into the office today. I really like them and I also loved the added little surprise. The Mickey pin is currently on my work jacket and looks rather nice on there.

Thanks so much to you and everybody who was involved in this.

Corinna