I miss DCL. Give me your memories

TiggerBouncy

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 4, 2013
I'm sorry, but I just gotta say.... I really, really miss the ships. I am not saying they should be running. They are being responsible, and there is no way I would probably take a cruise even if they were sailing. But, I still miss them very much.

I need to hear some good stories. Your favorite memories, that kinda thing.

Mine are not very complex. My first Disney cruise (I have been on others) was the Fantasy's 3rd cruise (and first eastern). Everything about it was magical to me, but I think my favorite memories were
* Air - our Cabin Hostess. She was so amazing and sweet and made us feel like the most important people in her world.
* Our waiter (I can not remember his name). He asked how our day was every day, gave us suggestions and asked what he could do to help - even if it was not dining related. We ran into him on a shore excursion and I have pictures of us with him on the beach.
* Not my first cruise, but we went on a SWDAS cruise the first season they opened. I was stopped and questioned by some imperial agents about rebel activities. I loved it!
* I love that Pepe has his own cabin!
* Standing on the bow of the ship in the morning on a sea day and feeling the breeze against my face.

This.... This right here is what I my favorite thing.

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Tell me yours. What do you love about DCL? Whats something that happened to you that you remember? Tell me a story. Tell me what makes you smile. Or tell me about your kids smiles. Or your wife / husband / SO.
 
Just having lunch on embarkation day. CM comes over and starts teaching us how to fold napkins into flowers. Just kindness. ❤ I don't have little kids either. 2 adults, two young adults. Too many stories. I miss DCL too. As do my twenty somethings. Praying all will be better soon. The view is from the sandbar off Castaway Cay. You can see the ship in the distance. Storm rolling in. We got a bit nervous, but our crew and captain on the excursion weren't. And they were right! The storm missed us!

storm on the bar-denoise-denoise.jpg
 
It's a little thing, but I've found it's the little things that really make DCL special. We came back to our cabin on one of the first days of our Eastbound Transatlantic. The charging cord to my phone was wrapped up nicely and tied off with a cable organizer cord. I had not done this, neither had anyone I was traveling with. We realized our stateroom host had gone to the trouble to roll up a charging cord to make it look neater! I knew right away we were kindred spirits. I had never seen these little velcro cords before and after the trip I found almost the exact cords and now use them all the time.

Our cord was not in the way. In fact our stateroom is generally really clean and organized. I can only guess our stateroom host noticed our general tendency to organization and took the extra time to make it that much more slick looking.

When I think of DCL I of course think of the music in the hallways, and meeting Mickey, but more often then not I think of the special dish a server surprised us with one night, or the kind message we got from a cast member in our Fish. I miss that the most.
 


Sorry, this is going to be on the long side, and I've told this story on these forums before, but this is my absolute favorite Disney story;
My wife convinced me to go on a cruise. It was definitely not my idea, but she rarely is so excited about trips, so why not give it a go? We got on the ship (Wonder, Alaska cruise) and the kids were moping around the pool before we go to the room. It was at that point I instituted a rule; you could not be bored, you could not say "I don't want to". You could say "I would rather", and then we would do that, no matter what it was. This is a FANTASTIC rule! SERIOUSLY have that laminated and carry it everywhere you go. It absolutely saved the trip.

Now let me just give you a little background; my son was 10, daughter 8, and they DID NOT get along! This turned out to be not such a big deal on the cruise as there was so much to do and my son LOVED the Oceaneer's lab. we would drop him off and then have to drag him out hours later, every day. My daughter - oh boy. That was another story. She is borderline Aspergers and had A LOT of trouble making friends, we know now, largely because she had a lot of trouble communicating - it was really frustrating even for us. She was not quite old enough for the Oceaneer's Lab, and didn't like the Oceaneer's Club. They allowed us to leave her in the Oceaneer's Lab with my son, but, as I said, she did not get along with her brother, so that wasn't much better. My wife and I split our time so we could do things with her and keep her entertained, but it wasn't her favorite vacation by a long shot.

Until the magician.

We, as a family, went to one of the stage shows. One other little quirk my daughter had - she HAD to sit in the front row. Had to, not negotiable. So we are sitting in the front row and they bring out the magician to do a preview of his show for the next night. My kids loved it. That's it, we are going to the magic show.

So we get there early, because, front row, and my kids, especially my daughter, are super excited. The show starts and the magician asks for a couple of kids for volunteers. My daughter, who normally, even to this day, will not so much as tell the McDonalds guy her order, is out of her seat jumping up and down trying to get his attention so she can be in the show. My wife and I are beside ourselves - this is NOT the same kid we brought on board days before. Well, you guessed it, he calls her on stage, along with a quiet boy about her same age. He's doing a trick with a rope, and I'm sure he just thought he'd get a laugh with these two unrelated kids, but no. My daughter is jumping around, laughing, dancing, barely listening to the magician as he tried to set up the trick - it was HYSTERICAL! This of course cracks up the boy, which just added to it. Credit to the magician (and my undying gratitude), he pulls of the trick and my daughter is an absolute star...as in, everywhere we went, including getting on the plane in Seattle after the cruise, people would come up to us and tell us how much THEY enjoyed seeing her in the magic show, S-T-A-R.

That show, that one magic show, changed our lives - no kidding. I won't say my daughter came out of her shell and was suddenly a social butterfly, that did not happen. But that one show opened our eyes to a side of our daughter we had not seen and it gave my wife and I hope that she COULD. I can't tell you how much we agonized about that in the years before the cruise. We thought she couldn't make friends, but she can, and does. it's priceless - there's no other word for it.
 
  1. Castaway Cay. Everything about it.
  2. I loved the Golden Mickeys. It was my favorite show of the whole trip. I'm usually not big on Broadway style shows, but I loved this one. The first night we had a comedian — the name is escaping me. But he was hilarious. (Is the Golden Mickeys still on the Wonder? I know from reading TR's that it's on the Fantasy)
  3. I can't remember their names, but our servers were awesome. They got to know us well, but they also weren't pushy. They knew what we liked and didn't like, would talk about our day, but they gave us space to enjoy our meal. It was a perfect balance.
  4. Walking on the top decks when there's nothing but the ocean. Especially towards the front of the ship by the basketball courts. It's my favorite spot to just walk and it's so peaceful, particularly in the early mornings and late evening when the sun is coming up and going down.
  5. Walking into the lobby announcing our name has always stuck out. It really makes your start to vacation official.

We've been trying to get back to DCL, but cruise fares (and now COVID) have made it harder. But when we do go back, it'll be worth it even more!
 
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Never be sorry for your feelings or emotions :) They are yours and they are valid :)

The just perfect feeling that you do not HAVE to do anything on a ship. You can sit on deck and watch the sea go by and that's it. That's a good way of spending your vacation. You can do a lot of things, but if you do not feel like it and just sit and read a book, it's fine. All is fine on a ship :)

And specific things, Tangled the Musical, Sorcerer Mickey in Animators Palate. The drawings in Animators Palate. Getting to know CMs. Listening to the piano player in a bar.
 
@Lumpy1106 's story made me think of one of my own. I might have told it before. It was our first and only cruise, to Alaska. My son, 7 at the time, is not on the spectrum but he does have issues with emotional regulation and can have a hard time handling disappointment. Well, one time due to some other activity we did and misreading the character schedule, we missed a time when Spiderman was going to be in the kid's club. My son was bereft, sobbing in my arms. Then who should walk by, but Cinderella! I think she recognized him, because she had done story time with the kids in the club the day before. She said, "what's wrong, my little prince?" and she gave him a big hug and boy, that cheered him right up! And I just thought, that's not something that could ever happen, spontaneously like that, in the parks. I was sold on DCL right then and there. Oh, and he did see Spiderman later at a character meet, so all was not lost!
 
I've only been on one cruise - June 2019 - 8 days on the Fantasy...but my favorite things were:

1. Walking around the deck at 6AM and watching the sun rise.
2. Palo - so much yummy food...and the best waiter, Diogo (I think he was from Portugal).
3. Meeting all the characters with my son (who was 4 at the time). In one funny moment, my husband spoke the way Donald Duck does and cracked everyone up.
 
I have to ask, was the magician Danny Buckler?
Hmm...I don't remember a British accent. He did a trick with a rope he had tied around the kids, then he did another trick where he drew a face on a piece of paper and made the face talk. We have the drawing he did. No idea how he did it - don't want to know either. It seems like I had seen both tricks on TV before we went on the cruise.
 
I've only been on two cruises and the most memorable part of both of them were the amazing servers.

The first one was on the Fantasy back in 2014. It was my family and my cousins making it a total of 9 of us. It was my first cruise ever so of course it left a lasting impression, but now, other cruise can't compare to the Disney experience. The best part of our cruise was our waiter, Simoun. A large portion of the crew were Filipino and so is my family. We all got along right away and my parents would just have some full on conversations with him that would last longer than necessary. Throughout the cruise, we were saying how much we missed Filipino food and Simoun would say that sometimes, the kitchen would cook some for the crew. On one of our last dinners of the cruise, he surprised us with a plate of kaldareta for the whole table and we were so grateful and excited because apparently, we can't live without Filipino food for a week lol. After disembarking, we headed to the airport where we actually ran into Simoun who was flying back home to the Philippines. And now we're all facebook friends.

The second one was on the Wonder in 2018. It as just my family with my sister's bf, her 2yo daughter, and my now fiance. I forgot the name of our servers on this cruise but they were some of the sweetest ladies ever, especially to my niece. My niece has always been very social and way too talkative for a 2yo. She was always staying up until midnight dancing to the live music playing in the Promenade Lounge or in the Atrium. During dinners, she was having conversations with our servers, whether you could understand her or not. They would always cut her food, danced with her, and they braided the mardi gras beads into a little crown for her. You could tell how much my niece loved them because she was really sad to say goodbye to them.

We're hoping to be on our third sailing in March 2021 as that's where we're planning our wedding. It's booked and invitations are already out so we're hoping there's some positive news in the next 8 months. We're even thinking about opting out of the included dinner at Palo because we enjoy the servers too much to miss out on. We would rather have dinner with all of our family and friends with servers who will be with us the length of the cruise rather than someone we'll only have for one night.
 
Hmm...I don't remember a British accent. He did a trick with a rope he had tied around the kids, then he did another trick where he drew a face on a piece of paper and made the face talk. We have the drawing he did. No idea how he did it - don't want to know either. It seems like I had seen both tricks on TV before we went on the cruise.

I was curious because we saw a similar experience happen on DCL with Danny Buckler a few years ago. He included a child in his act that appeared to struggle with social interactions. The child gave him a run for his money, but instead of getting frustrated or choosing to embarrass the child he worked the entire act about how the child was behaving. It was amazing! It stands out even now. I didn't know the child or their family, but they way he was let the audience including me impressed, and left the child the star of the cruise.

Kudos to Disney Cruise Line for hiring such class acts. One of so many reasons I keep going back.
 
Your favorite memories, that kinda thing.
First view of the Magic on on our first cruise, ever 2008.
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Then, walking up the gangway, I grabbed my husband's arm and said "WE'RE GOING ON A SHIP!!!!!!!!" More than love at first sight, cruising had me hooked just getting on the ship.

The Flying Dutchman at Castaway Cay:
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If I were not upon the sea:

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Chicken Parmesan at Palo:
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Welcome Aboard!:
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For starters.....
 
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For me, it would have to be the friendships we have developed with our table mates. On our first Panama Canal cruise several years ago, we met a couple from Wales (we're from Nebraska) and have become good friends with them. They came to visit us and we went over over to see them in Wales a couple years ago.

We are also cruising again with another couple we met two years ago on next year's WBPC cruise, assuming it doesn't get cancelled.
 
Leisurely Late Seating dinner. My then 16 year old son showing off his magic tricks to our servers after dinner. Other servers coming over to watch or show off their magic tricks. Within a couple of days we had a circle of servers and guests around our table as my son and the servers tried to "one up" each other. I apologized to the servers for slowing their cleanup so they could go to bed, but they seemed more interested in the 'show" than finishing their work. Rarely out out of the dining room before 11 pm
Then head out to the sports deck in front of the wind screen, and hang out there until midnight with the kids, wind in your face, pitch black with lights of the islands in the distance.
 
Taking our grandchildren on their first ever cruise and being invited to meet all of the characters that come out for the Til We Meet Again show privately. So special and I will never forget it.
 
@PrincessShmoo, how do you keep your photos so organized? I take so many and can never find them. PM me if you don’t mind so I don’t hijack this thread. Thanks!
 

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