Great product...not for us...

[kileybeth]

Also we didn't let it ruin our cruise. We still had a fabulous time. The secret to life is low expectations. So if we had known there would be a lack of adult only areas and known that there would be less adult orientated activities at night then other cruise lines we might have been better prepared. We are really glad we got to try DCL. We just won't be booking with them again.

Thanks for your honest comments, It IS all about expectations isn't it?

We have only cruised 2x.

Once with our 4 children on a 7nite western DCL cruise last fall. We had a fabulous time, had late dining(we generally eat late at home) and (if I must say so myself) exceptionally well behaved children (perhaps it is because they are used to eating out so much at home?)We had a full ship and over 1000 children, I honestly never noticed all that much "bad, loud" behavior but I'm sure it was there. I generally just blame the parent tho, they probably act that way at home too ya know?

This cruise, it was just my DH and myself. Our cabin up on Deck7 forward was awesome and quiet and beautifully maintained and had it not been? I would have called Guest Services immediately. Our room steward kept wanting to leave us extra stuff and fix things that were perfectly fine already (she thought our couch wasn't comfortable enough and needed to be traded out)! She was awesome! We are used to 4* hotels so we usually have some high expectations.

This cruise with less then 400 kiddos on board, I honestly felt like I never saw the kids that much at all. We used all the adult areas, avoided Deck 5 except for shows/movies in BV Theater and enjoyed some fabulous down time. We are not big "get involved" people though so maybe that is why we didn't feel like we needed more entertainment. The first week was by far the best and we were so busy with our PORTS and enjoying our table mates the second week it seemed to fly by.

Also, not having to be personally responsible for my own kids may have helped me to zone others kids out a bit easier. I am not truly a "kid" person believe it or not, I love my own but do not ask me to watch anyone elses! My DH and I say we excel at raising low maintenance children. and others don't seem to program their kids that way!

Wanted to say thank you for introducing us to John and Kathy as well. We enjoyed meeting them and actually know a lot of mutual Delawareans! And not to be forgotten? I loved all your evening wear!

We will book all your future DCL cruises as I am to afraid to book another line as I have come to expect the "Disney Difference" and found it on this cruise as well. Happy cruising wherever it may take you!

 

[ickletarakins]

Everyone we ever talked to said you will never see the kids even on a 7 day with 1200 kids. Swore up and down. There were only 400 kids, so a lot less than a typical DCL cruise. However, I have to say that was not the case for us. We don't have kids. We are not used to being surrounded by kids. All of our friends kids apparentally are are super well behaved. We do not hate children. In fact at our wedding last year we had about 30 kids under the age of 4. However, we saw many ill behaved children on the cruise. Talking to some people this may have been due to our location on the ship. We were on deck 6, so the rooms are bigger so more families. Kids running up and down the hall at all hours of the night, Slamming doors, screaming, knocking people over, running up and down the stairs, hitting all the buttons in the elevator with the parent standing right there, eating chicken fingers in the pool, tantrums in the shops, talking through the shows/movies (in my ear since they aren't in their seat but standing against my seat), kicking my seat through the entire show/movie etc. Apparently since we are on a Disney ship we are supposed to ignore the screaming baby at the 10:30 movie. Some of this may have been due to the expectations being built up by both DCL advertising and people's previous reviews. We expect that sort of behaviour at WDW, so I can sort of filter out the tantrums, but it's generally for shorter durations (3-4 days). After 14 days of crying kids, I had my fill.

Eesh. That's EXACTLY what we're worried about, and we're going on a cruise that will surely have many more children--a mid/late May 3-day Bahamas. The only children I have had the "pleasure" of being around for an extended period of time are my 3-year old niece and 6-month-old nephew...my niece is a BRAT but she's my niece, so...

I'm glad there were some great things about your cruise. The coffee info worries me a bit, too, though...we are HEAVY coffee drinkers. Sigh.

 

[NancyIL]

On the cruises that we've been on there are little to no kids. That is because we tend to do long cruises (14-18 days) on cruise lines that don't attract a lot of families. We don't cruise in the summer when the kids are out of school. By going with late dining basically there are none. I'm sure if I went on any cruise with 400 kids on any cruise line I would see the same sort of behavior. Probably 90-95% of the kids were well behaved, but that still leaves 20-40 kids...Of course you are going to notice those 20-40 not the other 380.

That being said. Other cruise lines often have an issue with unruly adults which can be just as annoying and I saw very few of those on DCL.

Thanks for your review. I feel the same way about DCL and hordes of kids.

My DH and I were on a Celebrity 14-night Transatlantic cruise in September. I never saw any kids onboard, although I heard there were a few. It was a wonderful cruise.

 

[justmestace]

Its interesting to read your comments. I have done DCL before my DD was born and after and haven't experienced the misbehaving children that you saw. When I do see kids misbehaving I usually give them a look or tell them to knock it off (like when they are kicking the back of my chair) but in a nice way.

I've had this happen numerous times on DCL. One in particular, we were on the 11 Night Southern several years ago. A little girl was first kicking the back of my seat (in the Walt Disney Theater) and then she stood and had her hands on the back of my seat, thus pulling my hair.
I'd turned and looked at the mom a few times, and then once I said to the little girl "Honey, please stop, that hurts" and WHAMMO!!! Mommy turned on me like a rabid dog. Her final words to me were "This is a DISNEY cruise!"
Oh...well then....that explains it....it's OKAY for kids to misbehave, because it's Disney. Hmmmmmm.........

We've also had to put up with kids at the late dinner seating, running circles around our table while NO ONE....not the parents, not the servers...said a word.
Admittedly, this also happened on the first night of a cruise I was on, a different cruise line. We had assigned seating, and the table behind us was full of kids. They fed the kids first and then let them run wild. I was trying to drink hot coffee with kids slamming the back of my chair.
The Head Server obviously saw what was going on, and the next morning there was a note in our room, with our new table number. Granted, I thought they should have made the little offenders move, but to be fair, we were a party of four, and they had several tables with 10 to 12 all seated near eachother. Easier to move us than them, and at least I ate the rest of the week in peace.

But also, on this other line.....and it was during the Christmas holiday....they told us the ship was full and there were tons of kids, but unless I went near the kids pool or their own facilities, I never saw them. No running in the halls, no sitting half the night in the stairwells, like they do on Disney, no blocking the stairs during the day, and no playing in the elevators. All I can imagine is that Disney doesn't do enough to either keep these kids interested and busy, or they just don't do enough to control them, or have the parents control them.

 

[Dicecatt]

We have four kids, but my husband and I just returned from the 11 day Med cruise without kids, so I really want "no kid" time when we vacation without them. I can't stand it when kids are allowed to run wild while parents take a "we are on vacation" attitude and let them do whatever. Weirdly, although I know there were more kids on the Med than there was on the TA, we didn't see too much bad behavior...in fact, nothing really sticks out at all. Really cute kids, actually. The only annoying ones I saw was when we encountered Disney port adventures out...we were on a private tour in Pompeii and saw no less than 5 screetching kids. I have kids ages 5, 11, 11, and 15, and I would NOT have brought my 5 year old on a 9 hour tour of Naples...how would anyone have enjoyed that??? So I really don't "get" when people drag their toddlers to museums and such. It isn't giving them culture, it is giving everyone else around them a headache.

We were on deck 6, but aft, and it was very quiet. We barely saw any kids on our end at all. Dinner, no problems! The adults were more annoying...like the guy that wasn't on a team while we were playing The Wheel and kept shouting out answers while his embarrassed wife kept telling him to shut it. Or the people I encountered on our flights that clearly were just released from cells at the mental institution that morning (actually, straight off what must have been a truly miserable Princess cruise).

Everyone encounters different experiences, and what you experienced would have annoyed me greatly My kids better be behaved and aware of how their actions affect others around them OR ELSE

I also think that part of what you experienced was due to the kids being bored...too much free time. My motto is to keep my kids busy and therefore out of trouble, lol. The Med was packed with activities and ports...and all the kids we saw in hallways, on elevators, at dinner...behaved. Even smiled at us, and I fell in love with one little baby girl that lit up like a Christmas tree every time I spoke to her.

 

[KrisannB]

That being said. Other cruise lines often have an issue with unruly adults which can be just as annoying and I saw very few of those on DCL.

This is the first time on Disney (5th cruise for us) that we actually encountered unrulley "adults" - and I use that term loosely as they were maybe in their early 20's and informing us all that they would have to pee in the tub if not let in first - and some other information that was way too much - they of course were very drunk - everyone is just different - I would rather see kids (who I will correct) than adults who are drunk that I cannot correct.

And as for the kid in adult only pool - always tell someone - I have had several kids kicked out of the pool before - and do not regret it at all.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise but sorry everything was not magical for you. Have fun at WDW!

Krisann

 

[ladyvet]

We are Disney cruise fans, but we have also cruised with Royal Caribbean and Carnival.

I wonder if the type of cruise (Transatlantic and long) made a difference? I have never done one like that, and I don't think I want to. That's a long time with a lot of sea days. Seems like kids and adults might get a little punchy.

I am fortunate to have good kids (now ages 12 and 14). We are looking forward to our Baltic cruise in July.

Thanks for the report. I am always interested in hearing other people's comments, and it reminds me to make sure my kids are under control!

Beth

 

[tampabrat22]

I love Disney and had looked forward to our first Disney cruise for years, after sailing this past Oct on the Wonder, I'm not sure if we will cruise with DCL again. There were good things and bad things, but I think I prefer to keep my Disney and cruise vacations seperate.

I do have to agree about the kids...our normal cruiseline of choice is Carnival (yeah I know, the horror right?) and we always cruise in the Fall with a group of family/friends. In over 7 seven cruises I may have seen 2 kids that were out of hand, but on our Disney cruise the kids were wild! There were kids running, screaming, and bouncing everywhere, lol! I have no problem with kids, I have my own, plus we normally have about 10-14 kids in our group ranging in ages from infant to teen so I've seen the best of the best when it comes to meltdowns and bad behaviors. I just think because there are so many more children on board everything is really amplified, know what I mean? Its hard to explain, but basically our whole cruise felt like we were at a playground or a daycare, not that thats bad, I'm just saying there were a lot of kids everywhere and it is very noticeable.

 

[JenGC]

I've had this happen numerous times on DCL. One in particular, we were on the 11 Night Southern several years ago. A little girl was first kicking the back of my seat (in the Walt Disney Theater) and then she stood and had her hands on the back of my seat, thus pulling my hair.
I'd turned and looked at the mom a few times, and then once I said to the little girl "Honey, please stop, that hurts" and WHAMMO!!! Mommy turned on me like a rabid dog. Her final words to me were "This is a DISNEY cruise!"
Oh...well then....that explains it....it's OKAY for kids to misbehave, because it's Disney. Hmmmmmm.........

You have got to be kidding me! This is what I fear. I love kids, but love WELL BEHAVED kids. I don't understand how parents can let their kids run wild. Even when my daughter was toddler stage, she was not allowed to throw a fit in a store. When she was older, I would hear a child throwing a fit and say "see how that sounds? That is why I would never let you act like that." and she agreed. But I am on a 4 day cruise so I am hoping this will alleviate this problem but not sure how.

 

[Tarabra]

I agree that it may have been the length of the cruise that caused some of the unruly behavior. We did one 7 day cruise when my daughter was 20 months and now have done 4 day cruises since. 7 days is a lot to keep the kiddies entertained, let alone 14. That being said, we did 5 DCL cruises prior to having kids and always commented on how you never really noticed the kids. Spent most of the time at the adult pool, actually quite a bit at the Goofy pool on deck 10 back when they had a steel drum band to listen to. I'm sure you probably had some chilly days so deck 10 was out, but it kept down on the kids. We also did late seating and they seemed to put adults only at a table and we always had Lumiere first which seemed like a very small amount of kids. We have many pics of us totally alone on the decks while the kids were at dinners or shows. We also always commented that the kids we did encounter were well behaved. Once we had the kids with us, we were put into more situations w/ kids of course, but still haven't noticed any that were too out of control. I'm also the type that will tell a child to stop if splashing, pushing, talking, etc. We did notice on a cruise a few years ago that kids were running up and down the halls on the last night. Quite annoying. Disney needs to get a handle on that. I didn't notice it the last time though.

FTR...I'm not a big Disney fan, but I am a fan of the cruise and the customer service. I'd rather do the cruise than the parks. Sorry you were disappointed. Maybe a shorter cruise might work better next time. I know you said there won't be a next time, but I say give it another try!!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

We have four kids, but my husband and I just returned from the 11 day Med cruise without kids, so I really want "no kid" time when we vacation without them. I can't stand it when kids are allowed to run wild while parents take a "we are on vacation" attitude and let them do whatever.

Yeah, we feel the same way....We were on the Magic last December, trying to give our 2- and 4-year old time in the Mickey Pool only having to dodge kids JUMPING on us and our children as their parents sat there drinking beer on the sidelines not saying a word to them.

I love kids but rude kids with no manners are typically the fault of the parent. No respect for others.

 

[skiingfast]

Things that were lackluster/terrible:

Breakfast service. Most of the time they didn't check back with us on refills and only got pastries 50% of the time. Since these are the same people that serve dinner and are amazing, this has to be due to Disney's tipping policy.
The coffee in the dining room/drink station is undrinkable and we drink the free stuff at work, this caused us to spend a lot more money on the specialty coffee than we would on other cruise lines where we never do. Also espresso is not available for free (is on some other lines) so this increased our bill.
.

MJ,
Would you please explain whata you mean about the tipping policy affecting the service?


Also do you think the coffee was actualy different, or the specialty drinks just changed the flavor?

Thanks