Just back-5 things I loved-5 things I'd change...

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by disneylover5
I loved the "When You Wish Upon a Star" horn. It brought tears to my eyes each time.

Phew...I'm glad I'm not the only one! My husband laughs at me.

 

[disneylover5]

Maybe we should start a link for WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR.

If you go to the Thread: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=326949
which is Booked Your Cruise Add your Name
and click on Unoffcial Cruise List you will hear the horn....I was so surprised!!

 

[trishy]

Likes:
Too many to mention

Changes:
1. Castaway Cay - have blocks of chairs assigned to each stateroom - # of chairs corresponds to # of people in stateroom. This will prevent the "mad rush" and chaos on Fri. a.m.
2. NO Unsupervised Kids running through the ship at all hours. If a kid is "loose", impose a monetary fine to the offending parent.
3. (Goes along with #2) NO signout privileges for children 12 and under - make the parents watch them. Isn't DCL a "family" vacation anyway?
4. Make Hercules disappear. It was just okay the 1st time around. I think a new show is in high demand.
5. Free sodas along with a soda fountain on Deck 9. Or at least lower the mug cost to $10 per person for a 7 day cruise.

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by mamagoggle
I'd like them to add a CM to the Goofy pool area to enforce the "no jumping" rule. The pool is much too small to have kids jumping in all the time. I had to really watch my kids to keep them from being hurt. Other parents were not as diligent about making sure their children followed the rules and I think a CM would have been more effective.

I would like them to post one at the Mickey pool too to enforce the no non-potty trained kids in the pool! I know some people will lie and say they are potty trained anyway but they can at least attemp to enforce that rule a little better!

 

[thedisneymom]

That was our families favorite show! It was hilarious!Hades was the great. I hope they never change it!

 

[jlawall]

Any recent cruisers want to add to this?

 

[callahanjulie10]

LOVE:

1- the excitment of boarding the ship- seeing the wonderful atrium and being welcomed by name!
2- actaully getting reservations for High Tea & Brunch- gotta love those crablegs!
3- the awesome staterooms- you don't have to spend huge $$ tog et a great room!
4- All the little almost unnoticable things that just make DCL a cut above- they didin't forget a thing! Every detail is amazing. I still find new things I hadn't noticed in previous cruises- amazing. There are always crew working on keeping the Magic in tiptop shape.
5- How my family and I always long to return to cruise on DCL. I had never thought that I would want to do something again and again when there is so much out in the world to see and experience BUT on our 1st cruise- seeing my DD so totally happy and my DH so peaceful- I decided then and there that this was the way of vacationing for our family.

Need to Improve on:

1- More times available for High Tea & Brunch!
2- Need to change shows, childrens activites, shows, merchandise, and menus on a yearly basis
3- wish that tips were included in prices- charge suggested tips on initial price so I can prepay them! then if I wanted to add more I could but it wouldn't seem like such a chunk on the last day of our cruise!
4- Not really for me since there are only 3 of us- but offer some kind of deal for passengers that have 3 or more children. That is such a drawback for friends who would love to go but can't due to the large pricetag.
5- Bump me up to the Walt or Roy suite- ok- this is a little selfish but hey- a girl has to dream!!

Come to think about it- I really miss the Mickey hands that they used to give out at the sail away party! I want those back!!!

 

[dclwdwlover]

I love EVERYTHING ON THE CRUISE, but my preferences for additions/changes would be:
1) Play the "When I Wish Upon A Star" horn more
2) Larger selection of food @ mid-night buffet
3) Skip Freeport (keeps being bumped longer) & have day @ sea
4) More time/days @ Castaway Cay
5) Louder flushing noise - makes us crack up
6) Shop of cruise items in terminal sounds like great idea

 

[dianthus]

Here's a few things on my DCL wishlist:

1- I would love to see DCL offer some type of "tween" programming on board ( for 12-13 yr. olds.) Most 12 yr. olds don't want to go to the lab anymore & skip programming because it's boring & they don't want to be with the little ones.
They are too young to go to Common Grounds as the 16, 17 & 18 yr. olds are in there. Most 13 yr. olds don't feel comfortable with the older teenagers too. They miss the opportunity to meet new friends if they skip the programming, which is half the fun. A few activities just for this group on the 7 day would be well received by the kids & their parents too.

Maybe this would help stop the roaming & running in the halls!

2- Create a coffee bar ( maybe offer it at the Ice Cream place- Scoops(/), or the Bar on Deck 10- Signals(/)) Offer lattes, mochachinos or just better coffee. Nescafe doesn't cut it for me...Having Dunkin' Donuts coffee, or Starbucks on board would make the DCL just perfect!!

3- Enforce the dress code in the dining rooms- no shorts or T's- men seem to be the biggest offenders. They have alternative dining, if people do not want to get dressed- room service, or Topsiders buffet. How hard is it to put on a decent pair of khakis & a nice golf shirt for dinner? The dining rooms are too elegant for less than theme park casual. The Head Waiters should be the ones enforcing the dress code as people walk in to dinner. They don't it.

4- Assign CMS to the pool areas to enforce the chair saving issue. After 45 minutes of an unattended chair, the CM should clear the towel & move their stuff to a bag- if & insert the stuff in a "To be claimed" box - overseen by a CM. Too many people, too little chairs... This would discourage people from staking their spot & going to do other things not even in the Deck 9 area, coming back hours later...

5- Knowing your dining rotation ahead of time would make Palo's ressies easier once you board. I bet it would go faster too.

 

[lodgelady]

....and cried when we left the ship!

5 things we LOVED:

1) Our wonderful service team in the dining room, Adrian and Michael. Served us with style, grace and lots of humor.

2) The beauty of the ship and very well designed stateroom with split bath. A great balance of elegance and whimsy throughout the ship.

3) Castaway Cay!!!!!


4)Palo was excellent in every way for dinner.

5) Debarkation was so smooth and easy it made a sad time stress free.



5 things I would change:

1) The family pool was not very fun and always packed. The Mickey pool is great , but always jammed full of the youngest kids. My 11 year old would have loved a fun slide and stuff for families with older kids to play on together too.

2) Why do they have the big tropical deck party which starts at 10 pm on the night before everyone must be up for u.s immigration at 6 AM??????? Change this to a night before a day at sea.

3) Imbarkation day was no fun for me as I had to stand in one line after another to get our business done. Palos ressie situation was just insulting after a long journey and waiting on long lines all day. Go to the kids club, unpack the bags etc. So Much Work!!!I want to be on vacation from the time my foot hits that gangway!

4) I ended up having to change my Palo brunch ressies anyway because of the Character breakfast which we didn't find out about being assigned to until dinner. Can we know all of the info up front so it can be done from home?????

5) Another Castaway Cay day please!!!!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by dianthus
4- Assign CMS to the pool areas to enforce the chair saving issue. After 45 minutes of an unattended chair, the CM should clear the towel & move their stuff to a bag- if & insert the stuff in a "To be claimed" box - overseen by a CM. Too many people, too little chairs... This would discourage people from staking their spot & going to do other things not even in the Deck 9 area, coming back hours later...

I AGREE!

5- Knowing your dining rotation ahead of time would make Palo's ressies easier once you board. I bet it would go faster too.

Your dining rotation is listed on your Key to the World card, which you get as soon as you register in Port. You can have a 'game plan' for reservations before you go through the ears.

 

[dclwdwlover]

Thought of a few things I REALLY miss or would like to see again:

1) The original lighted vests that the servers wore @ Animator's Palate. Not the faded, dull ones that don't light up anymore

2) Along that line - the original palates with the painters brush tips that lit up so beautifully (altho I saw them auctioned off last cruise)

3) The Disney Magic cruise history book that was given out the first year

4) Improv on the Wonder like we saw on the Magic

 

[Auntie Bon]

Things I liked:

1. The adult pool - so nice for the single person
2. Baggage retrieval on disembarkation was excellant! When will the other lines catch on to this?
3. Dueling pianos - those guys were great!
4. Theater showing movies, although only showing them once or twice made it difficult to see all that I wanted
5. Not having drinks shoved down you throat.

Things I would change:
1. Charging for popcorn in the theater. How much could it cost to give a small bag of popcorn?
2. Charging for lemonade if ordered through room service, but free at Topsiders
3. Ice machine accessible to guests. We never had ice in the room unless we hunted down our steward and asked for it.
4. Check in line. Not sure why the Disney single queue system is good enough for the parks but not used at embarkation
5. A place for the kids to hang while Mom and Dad checked everyone in. Seems like a lot of kids where running around the terminal screaming and just being wild.

 

[jackdis]

After reading all this, I am even more excited than I already was! Thanks, everyone!!!

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by dclwdwlover
Louder flushing noise - makes us crack up

........

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by jackdis
After reading all this, I am even more excited than I already was! Thanks, everyone!!!

Congratulations on your first post, Jackdis!

 

[jackdis]

Thanks! I have learned so much from this great site and I finally got the courage to contribute!! I'm sorry to ask, but where can I get the counter? I remember seeing it, but can't find the thread again. Thanks!!

 

[PeachyK]

Things I loved, there are too many to mention but here goes.

1. The way you never realized how many people were actually on the ship, until I was in the water in Castaway Cay and looked out over the beach, "Where did all of these people come from?"
2. The cleanliness and maintenance, there was someone working unobtrusively every single place we went. The room stewards were in the halls constantly, do those guys sleep?
3. Disney schedules something for everyone, what to you like to do? bingo, music, quiet, dancing, family fun they have it all.
4. Debarkation, unbelievable after sailing on two different cruise lines years ago, we just walked off the ship.
5. The rooms, Castaway Cay, meeting fellow Dis-ers!

Things I would change...
1. Pools, my biggest dissapointment lies here. Need much larger pool area for little and big kids, adults got the biggest area, which for a family based cruise just didn't make sense to me.
2. The ressie scramble, even knowing all I did from this board it was still stressful and frustrating, I feel sorry for those clueless souls still trying to get a hair braiding appt.
3. The kids navigators gave them the week layout, I wish adults could have some idea which events, classes, shows would be repeated in the week. It was really tough choosing between two and wondering if you'd get another chance at something later in the week.
4. Enforcing the dress code. I was faced with the situation of dining in Lumiere's on my last night a table over from some guy that walked in the side door barefoot. I could accept others interpretations of semi-formal, resort casual and even formal. But barefeet! yuk!
5. More time on Castaway Cay, if you throw in parasailing or snorkeling you barely have time for a Konk Cooker! (Thankfully, I was able to manage a few but it wasn't easy

Sorry these are so long, I tend to ramble on and on and on...

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by jackdis
I'm sorry to ask, but where can I get the counter? I remember seeing it, but can't find the thread again. Thanks!!

Here is link for the countdowns.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=367834

 

[jackdis]

Thanks...let's see if this works!