Has Disney really gone downhill?

[holula]

The only Indian food that I could find on a DCL menu was Sanjay's Murgh Makhani-Butter Chicken on the Pixar Day at Sea menu. I do wish that they would add more!

Recently I’ve seen an Indian buffet in Cabanas one day per cruise. It was much better than normal Cabanas fare.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

I kept an open mind when we sailed on the Wish. We had a great time despite all the negative reviews I’d read on here coming true.

It was still a vacation after all. Now that we’re off the ship we have fun making fun of the ship. It’s all about the memories good and bad.

I was super nervous about sailing on the Wish bc of the negative reviews. We’ve only sailed once before, on the Dream, and absolutely loved it. I kept telling my husband that I was afraid that we made a mistake for sailing on her, instead of the Dream.

We ended up having a great time on the Wish. Like any vacation, there were good and bad experiences but we simply just enjoyed our time away from home.

 

[EVMac7]

Yeah, I've heard about that. I asked my servers on my most recent cruise about the food that the staff eats and they all told me that it wasn't very good, though.

The only Indian food that I could find on a DCL menu was Sanjay's Murgh Makhani-Butter Chicken on the Pixar Day at Sea menu. I do wish that they would add more!

I requested the Indian food on Embarkation night on the 13 night EBTA last month. It is in addition to the normal main entree choice so I would ask what was available / being served that evening & if the choice that night was not to my liking could still order a main from the normal menu & try both.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Here is the thing and I really have been honing in on this post pandemic:

Everyone’s opinions are based off their experiences. Every single person to family will have a different experience.

I don’t try to be negative, but sometimes things go south and I do my best to describe it in the best way possible.

As someone getting ready to go in their first Disney cruise (and the only one in her travel party who has never been on a cruise ever), I appreciate the opinions and experiences good bad and indifferent because you can learn something rom them and I recognize it will be totally different for me!

 

[auntlynne]

Here is the thing and I really have been honing in on this post pandemic:

Everyone’s opinions are based off their experiences. Every single person to family will have a different experience.

I don’t try to be negative, but sometimes things go south and I do my best to describe it in the best way possible.

As someone getting ready to go in their first Disney cruise (and the only one in her travel party who has never been on a cruise ever), I appreciate the opinions and experiences good bad and indifferent because you can learn something rom them and I recognize it will be totally different for me!

So glad you are choosing to go in with an open mind. Even those who cruise a lot can have different experiences on the same ship on different sailings.

I think that inherent in built-up expectations, it is easier to be annoyed at little pesky things. I think I usually have something that bothers me. But never significant - nor lasting.

I knew essentially nothing my first cruise. So I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything. We were just enjoying ourselves. Off the top of my head, really only one cruise that I thought was meh. All due to a lack of activity offerings on a Transatlantic. I did one the next year and they upped their game. So, my meh cruise didn’t turn me off.

Sounds like you will be having a great cruise.

 

[auntlynne]

Recently I’ve seen an Indian buffet in Cabanas one day per cruise. It was much better than normal Cabanas fare.

Okay, this is from my actual Disney cruise experience. (Not that I ever ate it): there was a little section (4 burners) of Indian food - entree and sides - in Cabanas lunch.

 

[Kwami]

Okay, this is from my actual Disney cruise experience. (Not that I ever ate it): there was a little section (4 burners) of Indian food - entree and sides - in Cabanas lunch.

Yeah, Cabanas had Indian Day on the NYC to San Juan repositioning cruise last year, too. It was OK. As usual for DCL food, there was pretty much no spice and the flavor wasn't very bold.

 

[byanks7]

So many threads complain that service is bad, food is bad, ship is over crowded, no more dinner cabanas. We spent a small fortune for a western Caribbean on the fantasy mid June. This would be our 4th Disney cruise and I am starting to regret it. I cannot imagine being stuck on a boat for 7 days if it isn’t anything but awesome. Add the late dinner seating we can’t move to earlier and sargassum, and I would cancel if I could. Ugh.

We took our 4th Disney Cruise in May, it was a 7 night eastern cruise. I will give my opinion on the state of Disney cruising. The service was exceptional, the food was fantastic! The entire 7 days was one positive experience after another, truly a vacation of a lifetime.
Our group is a highly critical group, and yet, had nothing to complain about! The cruise was awesome.
Its up to you, but if you do go, be prepared to be well taken care of

 

[darnheather]

I finally understand what happened for myself. Having to wait so far to cruise again and having an 8 week vacation cancelled, I built up in my mind the three cruises I did take. I thought over them and dreamed about them and probably made them 5x better than they actually had been.

So of course I had let-down when I finally sailed. Every tiny thing that was "bad" or "wrong" bummed me out. Soup salty one night? The food is horrible! Line long for Mickey? I can't possibly see the characters! I'm trying really hard to go into my upcoming cruise with a completely open mind.

My daughter on the other hand said it was the best cruise ever. She has a very bad memory in general and no doubt had many other things to think upon since our last cruise.

In the end, could have things gotten worse? Absolutely. The staffing has obviously been an issue and rolling out a new ship didn't help with that. However, overall things are probably pretty much the same.

 

[squirk]

Took me awhile to figure out this one.

My bad. I’ve watched so many YouTube videos, the content has merged into my memory. It’s on Royal Caribbean’s new menus. Each night, they list a vegetarian and an Indian food entree.

That said, over the years, I have read numerous reports on this forum of people commenting to their waiters about Indian food and then having it during the cruise.

I had read here about some people asking if there was Indian food being served in the crew’s mess (i.e., for the benefit of all the CMs who come from India), and getting a curry dish brought to their table.

So, I tried asking myself, and I indeed got a vegetarian curry dish brought to me.

It was … OK. I don’t think it was from the crew’s mess because it was way too mild in terms of spice. Like it was made for the bland American palate.

But it was still OK, and a nice break from the same-ol’, same-ol’ on the standard AP menu.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

So glad you are choosing to go in with an open mind. Even those who cruise a lot can have different experiences on the same ship on different sailings.

I think that inherent in built-up expectations, it is easier to be annoyed at little pesky things. I think I usually have something that bothers me. But never significant - nor lasting.

I knew essentially nothing my first cruise. So I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything. We were just enjoying ourselves. Off the top of my head, really only one cruise that I thought was meh. All due to a lack of activity offerings on a Transatlantic. I did one the next year and they upped their game. So, my meh cruise didn’t turn me off.

Sounds like you will be having a great cruise.

Exactly my feeling.

I was talking to someone yesterday who has had their good and bad experiences on various cruise lines, who had similar experiences to me for other places (and I also convinced to look into other places). But I think going in with an open mind is exactly what you have to do. Also recognizing others may not have the same experience and opinions as you goes a long way. Im not going to lie when I say I was disappointed with these boards (not the mods however mods are as always fantastic and deserve the world imho) in 2021 after my trip reports. I got some not so nice things on my TRs and in DMs and i was shocked. Its nice to see others have started understanding that we will all have different opinions based on our experiences, and it has gotten better.

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

Exactly my feeling.

I was talking to someone yesterday who has had their good and bad experiences on various cruise lines, who had similar experiences to me for other places (and I also convinced to look into other places). But I think going in with an open mind is exactly what you have to do. Also recognizing others may not have the same experience and opinions as you goes a long way. Im not going to lie when I say I was disappointed with these boards (not the mods however mods are as always fantastic and deserve the world imho) in 2021 after my trip reports. I got some ont so nice things on my TRs and in DMs and i was shocked. Its nice to see others have started understanding that we will all have different opinions based on our experiences, and it has gotten better.

Ugh. I’m so sorry to hear that people said negative things to you about your TR. I found all the TRs so helpful when I was planning my first couple cruises, and I know how much work must go into them. I can’t believe people would be anything other than appreciative. Even if you have a different perspective, there’s no reason to post it on someone’s TR. It’s literally a personal account of an experience. And it’s helpful, even if we might enjoy different things!

 

[Kwami]

I had read here about some people asking if there was Indian food being served in the crew’s mess (i.e., for the benefit of all the CMs who come from India), and getting a curry dish brought to their table.

So, I tried asking myself, and I indeed got a vegetarian curry dish brought to me.

It was … OK. I don’t think it was from the crew’s mess because it was way too mild in terms of spice. Like it was made for the bland American palate.

But it was still OK, and a nice break from the same-ol’, same-ol’ on the standard AP menu.

I wouldn't be surprised if the crew mess had bland food without much spice. When I asked my Filipino server about getting some food from the crew mess, he said that it wasn't very good and that it wasn't spicy at all.

 

[Scubadaddy32]

My wife and I went on our 1st Cruise ever in Feb. on the Wish. Neither of us were sure that we would enjoy a cruise because we are both super active people. We are vets of WDW and are what you would call "park people". To our great surprise, we had a fantastic time on the Wish and have already rescheduled a Christmas Cruise on the Wish in Dec. We didn't have any issues whatsoever. The food was better than expected, some better than others, but it's all you can eat, so order a few things and see what you like the best, it's a cruise! The buffet was fantastic, all you can eat chilled Jonas Crab and boiled shrimp, Chicken Tikka, lamb chops, mac and cheese, chicken tenders, salads, fruit, desserts of all types... If you don't like something on your plate just don't eat it, walk back up and try something else. We are from Houston, which has more restaurants than any other city in the country and is the most culturally diverse city in the country as well. So, I'd say we are well aware of good food. We also understand that food is subjective as people have different taste. We also are not very tribal in our reviews, we all know how tribalistic some DisBoard folks are when it comes to their resorts and their restaurants at Disney. So I'm sure a lot of the reviews are the same when it comes to the Cruise Ships as well. They have their favorite cruise ship and nothing will ever compare in their minds. lol We thought the service was fantastic, but we also believe in treating everyone with respect, especially those who are serving us. The entire crew was very accommodating to all of our needs, so I'm not sure what in the world anyone could complain about when every reasonable and pleasant request on the guest part is met with a pleasant yes!? I'd guess that most people that are complaining are likely predisposed to complaining, passive aggressive and didn't ask for accommodation or in some cases, believe the world should revolve around them rather than the sun! lol
Here is a news flash, my experience in 50+ years in life and business, tells me that most people can't actually be trusted to tell the entire story (the whole truth) when it comes to their negative experiences. Add in that people in todays society love to play the victim role on websites and rarely if ever admit their out of control or unreasonable behavior in their approach or that they were just being dogmatically demanding of others. lol

 

[whatlevelisthis]

I've only cruised once on Disney (on the Disney Magic in Europe in 2022), so I can't speak to how it's changed over time. But I can compare it to Princess and Royal Caribbean. IMO, Disney is good, but could do better for the money.

Would I prefer to cruise with Disney? Absolutely.

Is Disney worth the extra cost over other lines? Here's where I have some trouble. Absolutely you can't get the Disney experience anywhere else. But, Disney charges anywhere from 50% to 3x more than mainstream lines, but in my one experience, compared to Princess/Royal Caribbean:

1. DCL food quality was a little bit better. Options in the evening are too limited though.
2. The service quality was about the same. Our servers were nice, but were slow.
3. The shows are much better.
4. The cabin was little bit bigger, but more dated.
5. Free soda was a plus.
6. The ship was slightly less crowded.
7. Booking through the website, online check-in, and Disney IT in general, are buggy. The mobile app is ok though.
8. Embarkation was a total disaster and gave a terrible first impression.

Now, DCL can get away with charging more and can still fill up their ships. But, I'd advise DCL to think a little more about what they want their customers to feel: Do they want customers to feel like their money was well spent on a terrific vacation? Or that DCL is taking advantage of the Disney name to provide only a slightly better than average cruise?

Hopefully now that Bob Iger is back he'll instill more customer centricity throughout all Disney entities.

 

[squirk]

I wouldn't be surprised if the crew mess had bland food without much spice. When I asked my Filipino server about getting some food from the crew mess, he said that it wasn't very good and that it wasn't spicy at all.

Interesting. I would have expected that food to be a little more authentic and distinctive, given that you were (literally) catering to people who know what the real stuff is supposed to taste like vs. the Disney-fied stuff.

I will still ask for the curry again, but next time, I will also ask if they can amp it up a little.

 

[Kwami]

Interesting. I would have expected that food to be a little more authentic and distinctive, given that you were (literally) catering to people who know what the real stuff is supposed to taste like vs. the Disney-fied stuff.

I will still ask for the curry again, but next time, I will also ask if they can amp it up a little.

Sure, but it's mass produced and it's for the crew. It's probably about as good as what you'd get at any workplace cafeteria.

 

[squirk]

Sure, but it's mass produced and it's for the crew. It's probably about as good as what you'd get at any workplace cafeteria.

I hear you. But mass-produced doesn’t have to mean “bland”. You can still produce in large quantities even if you add more spice to the recipe.

I just figured (perhaps incorrectly) that a multicultural crew would have more adventurous palates, or at least wouldn’t need authentic flavors “watered down” like Disney seems to do for American guests.

 

[auntlynne]

Interesting. I would have expected that food to be a little more authentic and distinctive, given that you were (literally) catering to people who know what the real stuff is supposed to taste like vs. the Disney-fied stuff.

I will still ask for the curry again, but next time, I will also ask if they can amp it up a little.

Sure, but it's mass produced and it's for the crew. It's probably about as good as what you'd get at any workplace cafeteria.

I assumed the curry they will serve you in the MDR was actually made for the guests - not just what was served to the crew. Just a blanket assumption.

A fellow cruiser said he was given the list of the daily curries for the cruise.

As to the spice level, I am surprised - if the guest gets the same food served the crew.

Even for my wimpy palate, most food is under-seasoned.

From my early days of cruising, I don’t remember Disney having an Indian entree daily in the buffet. When I started cruising with Princess in 2012, I noticed they did acknowledge their guests’ being from various Asian countries (on their buffets).

 

[Kwami]

I assumed the curry they will serve you in the MDR was actually made for the guests - not just what was served to the crew. Just a blanket assumption.

A fellow cruiser said he was given the list of the daily curries for the cruise.

As to the spice level, I am surprised - if the guest gets the same food served the crew.

Even for my wimpy palate, most food is under-seasoned.

From my early days of cruising, I don’t remember Disney having an Indian entree daily in the buffet. When I started cruising with Princess in 2012, I noticed they did acknowledge their guests’ being from various Asian countries (on their buffets).

Like I said, I'm basing what I write on what one server told me when I inquired about getting some of the crew food brought out to us. But, you're basing what you write on absolutely nothing.

I seriously doubt that there's "crew food that's actually for the crew" and then "crew food that's really meant for guests who know to ask about all of the secret off-menu food".

Disney doesn't have Indian entrees daily in the buffet. They sometimes have "Indian Day" for lunch where some of the available options are Indian. They have a different theme every day.

I don't know if they have Indian available for the crew every day. Quite possibly, yes. The one server that I was talking to implied that they always have some kind of adobo available for the Filipino crew members. So, I guess they could always have an Indian curry, too. But, like I said, it's going to be mass produced for crew members, not for guests. Disney isn't going to spend a lot of money to make very flavorful crew food.

I think we should also stop with this idea that Americans don't like flavor and that other people somehow have more adventurous tastes. It's just nonsense. You'll find plenty of variety anywhere.