Just Back...and I really wanted to drink the DCL Kool-Aid

[KashasMom]

We are doing a Fantasy Very Merrytime cruise this coming November. Son is 6.
At age 7 we have- Summer '17 UK/Iceland MSC cruise (DCL was almost double the price for similar itinerary). I booked the Wonder for 7night Mexican Riviera 10/17. In your opinion, even taking into consideration the refurbishments, do you recommend the Oasis for that age? I keep going back and forth.

We did the Very Merrytime cruise in 2015 - early December - and really enjoyed it. The decorations are wonderful. I think you'll enjoy that. Have you cruised Disney before? I haven't been on the Wonder so don't feel too comfortable recommending it or not. Some people love the small ships - I'm just not one of them. If you haven't cruised Disney can you wait until your Fantasy cruise to decide about the Wonder? You might also consider the itinerary - if the Mexican Riviera is something you'd like to do, maybe don't cancel?

As far as the Oasis - my daughter (then 6) loved it. She loved the pools/splash area, the rock climbing wall, the Aqua Show, Ice Skating Show, and Cats. (The pools on Disney are horrible.) She also enjoyed the different dining venues. She even asked if we could go back on "that ship" - which she hasn't ever asked about ANY ship! I have to admit I was not a fan of the Oasis. I do like the big ships, but this was just TOO big. I have never been on a ship where there were long lines for breakfast buffet. I didn't like the Promenade - a bunch of stores that did seem like a mall. Central Park was weird...trees on a ship? And I really didn't like the feeling of being disconnected from the sea/ocean, which had been my worry before the cruise (NCL's waterfront does a great job of keeping you connected!). I don't think I'd go back on the Oasis (or Allure, etc.) but my daughter would!

 

[KashasMom]

For me, it's the service. Royal Caribbean has some ships I actually prefer more than DCL, but the service is not even comparable. No, I won't sail DCL every time but when I do it's because of the service.

In regards to dining room food, it's basically gone downhill across the board. My mind was set after my lest week cruise on DCL last year that we just won't do the MDR every night. The requirement it takes for time just isn't worth it. The food is not that much better than cabanas to give up our entire evening.

I've just never had that wow service on DCL that people talk about. Service was good but not insanely so. In fact, it was the only cruise line where our waiter told us 5 nights out of 7 (possibly would have been 6 but we skipped the dining room one night) that we had to rate him "excellent" on the comment cards. By the 3rd time I was so aggravated I didn't even want to go to the dining room. Would have loved Cabanas to have a dinner buffet option then!!

 

[KashasMom]

What super good deal out of NYC? Lol. I agree with you on the boring itinerarys. We got a good discount on the Iceland cruise. I booked the wbta for next year. There is no way Im going over a year without a cruise, but I cant find anything on dcl that interests me. Everything is the same old thing. I was bored to death on our last Caribbean cruise. Ive pretty much decided its time to give another cruise line a try. I need some new ports, and new ship. We'll continue to sail dcl, but only when the price and itinerary are right for us.

Haha, maybe I should have said good deal "for Disney"! The Caribbean is especially rough if you don't want to sit on a beach all day! Have you tried Southern Caribbean or Bermuda? And Alaska is fantastic!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

it was the only cruise line where our waiter told us 5 nights out of 7 (possibly would have been 6 but we skipped the dining room one night) that we had to rate him "excellent" on the comment cards. By the 3rd time I was so aggravated I didn't even want to go to the dining room

I know that speech is coming. The first time they start it, I let them have their say. Then I tell them, "OK, you've given your speech, now, if I hear it again, there will be no excellent rating given". And if they continue to push the issue on a subsequent night, I then escalate to the head server. Only had to do that once. The server stopped.

 

[Love2Cruz]

I had a little vibration on the Dream last time, but that was a corner aft stateroom, so I expected it as I like to sail aft cabins due to their larger balconies....but not enough to bother me.
I loved the Dream, CC and the experience. I agree the food did not awe me...except for the stone crabs at Cabanna's for lunch. I didn't think their dinners were great, but the venues were.
All in all, I enjoyed myself enough to go again, and have booked two more cruises on the Dream. I would love to try the Fantasy, if they ever come down in price, or if I can grab a last minute special...maybe one day.

 

[tomjude]

Not sure why anyone else's reasons as to why they love DCL would help u. If you didn't love, you didn't love. To each his own. We've done concierge every DCL we have done and it is fantastic! We love the dinner that isn't rushed in MDR, have done all the Palo and Remy meals without hair in the food and have loved every minute, except the facial at thespa which was ridiculously proced and ws modest at best (one and only mistake for ME). Perhaps try a diff line and then compare and choose what works best for your family?

 

[Ofinn]

Haha, maybe I should have said good deal "for Disney"! The Caribbean is especially rough if you don't want to sit on a beach all day! Have you tried Southern Caribbean or Bermuda? And Alaska is fantastic!

We did the Southern. We have pretty much done all the Dcl caribbean cruises. Would love to do Panama. They raised the prices next year. I dont find it to be that great a value anymore. Others may disagree. I love the caribbean. I just need some different ports. Ive been looking at other cruise lines that go to Central America, some different ports in the Caribean like Turks, Dominican Republic, Aruba etc. We havent done Alaska yet. Its on the radar. Probably wont do Alaska on DCL.

 

[CScott095]

Yes, we've cruised before and loved it. Hoped that DCL would be our new home away from home...It just wasn't a good experience.

I so hope you do not give up on DCL. We just came home from our 4th cruise and booked our 5th while we were on board. Our favorite ship is the Magic, which we've been on 3 times, and the Wonder, which we've sailed once. I don't feel any need to be on the other ships, which equates to more people. We started cruising Disney when our daughter was 8 or 9. She has always loved being on the ships and does not feel bored between the clubs, the movies, the activities, and the food! I've never felt the need to go to Palo so I can't speak to that experience, but I love The Cove for some adult relaxing.

I won't pick other cruise lines for now because I love how comfortable I feel with my daughter taking off on her own and making new friends. I love the fact that everything is designed for children, with just enough to entertain me too. I love Castaway Cay and how easy everything is and even though I don't drink soda, I don't have to worry about it if I do. I love the onboard app and I now love the familiarity and that some of the staff remembers us! I do shed tears when I leave the Magic and count down the days until I return "home". I so hope you find this experience because it's Magical!

 

[wcw57]

its interesting how, when you say you're not crazy for DCL, people encourage you to try it again because THEY love it. If you said you thought Walmart was just OK, there might be some disagreement, but nobody would encourage to shop there based on their experience. The Kool-Aid factor is not to be ignored when there are discussions of value, service, etc etc.
That being said, loved my DCL time....except for our servers

 

[Jennifer777]

I also wonder if it's not so much DCL, but just that cruising might not be your thing. You may just be more of a parks person. I also think that these message boards, because they are filled with people who LOVE cruising and LOVE DCL, that sometimes we rave about it so much that it can give those who haven't cruised before too high of expectations. I love DCL and love cruising for many reasons and to me, it's the perfect vacation but I know people who would hate it. Rather than trying DCL again right away, if you're still interested in cruising maybe try another, less expensive cruise line so you have something to compare it to. You may discover DCL really did do it best and is worth the extra money or you may confirm that it's just not worth it to you. I know one of the things that swayed my opinion of DCL was my poor experience on another line. After that, everything DCL did, from the food to the service to the oh-so-comfortable bed impressed me. I was blown away on my first cruise but I went in with fairly low expectations. Our last cruise though was pretty disappointing and if it had been our first, we probably wouldn't have sailed DCL again so maybe your experience was a fluke too?

 

[dhardawa]

This scares me. We've cruised a lot and love it, but our October trip will be our first DCL cruise. My kids are 9 and 16 and I am struggling to figure out what makes DCL so much better than other cruise lines.

 

[tch121]

I was not thrilled with my first cruise on DCL in 2006. I think I built it up so much that I set the bar high. I didn't cruise again with DCL until 2011, and I fell in love. I think I had zero expectations that time around. I've got number 6, booked for 11/10, Galveston Western Carribean on the Wonder and number 7, Alaska on the Wonder in August 2017. We love the Wonder, smaller and less crowded, and I'm really excited to see the dry dock changes!

 

[Ofinn]

I also wonder if it's not so much DCL, but just that cruising might not be your thing. You may just be more of a parks person. I also think that these message boards, because they are filled with people who LOVE cruising and LOVE DCL, that sometimes we rave about it so much that it can give those who haven't cruised before too high of expectations. I love DCL and love cruising for many reasons and to me, it's the perfect vacation but I know people who would hate it. Rather than trying DCL again right away, if you're still interested in cruising maybe try another, less expensive cruise line so you have something to compare it to. You may discover DCL really did do it best and is worth the extra money or you may confirm that it's just not worth it to you. I know one of the things that swayed my opinion of DCL was my poor experience on another line. After that, everything DCL did, from the food to the service to the oh-so-comfortable bed impressed me. I was blown away on my first cruise but I went in with fairly low expectations. Our last cruise though was pretty disappointing and if it had been our first, we probably wouldn't have sailed DCL again so maybe your experience was a fluke too?

She stated in her first post that she has cruised before on other cruise lines and loved it. She also stated that in her second post. Just because someone does not love DCL doesn't mean they don't love cruising.
I'm not sure how many times op has to state that. I guess some people can't wrap their brains around the fact that some people don't find the value in DCL like they do.

 

[DCLSailing]

I too was on-board last week and actually just down the hall from where you mentioned your room was. In over a dozen Disney Cruises, and our 3rd on the Fantasy, this was by far the noisiest. There were nights we were simply astonished at the noise and we could tell it was kids running around in their rooms. It was the first experience of that magnitude I've ever been a part of. Port Days on the other hand were absolutely silent and our room was delightful.

Having said that, we cruise only with Disney (at this point) for the service and accommodations. And while we had a few issues, noise included, I felt that they took great care of us. I also think that the Fantasy is a bit different than the others. I've had better food quality and better service on both the Dream and the Magic. Both of which are different circumstances entirely. Even the port on check in day felt busier than on our cruises on the Magic and Dream. The Magic being smaller and the Dream being shorter duration.

However, despite a few bumps in the road, I'm still sailing only Disney in the near term. I love the ships, the service and I'm vested as Platinum. Our servers gave us a bit of a hard time as we love to eat at Cabanas for dinner, but I told them once to let it go and all was well after that.

From the folks that answer the phones taking your reservation, to the staff on-board to the lost and found folks after the fact, it is quite an amazing experience! I would definitely recommend giving them another try!

 

[Jennifer777]

She stated in her first post that she has cruised before on other cruise lines and loved it. She also stated that in her second post. Just because someone does not love DCL doesn't mean they don't love cruising.
I'm not sure how many times op has to state that. I guess some people can't wrap their brains around the fact that some people don't find the value in DCL like they do.

I'm sorry if I upset you. I somehow missed her follow up reply to the earlier question about previous cruises and for some reason, didn't catch that she had cruised before in her first post. It's not that I can't wrap my brain around the fact that some people don't find the value in DCL like I do, obviously value is subjective. However, the OP made a comment in one of her final paragraphs that she left the ship thinking she could have stayed at Poly with hopper passes and when you leave the ship thinking about what you could have done at the parks with all that money, to me, seemed to indicate she may have preferred the park experience. Maybe not, but that's what caught my eye and where my well-intended comments came from.

 

[Ofinn]

I'm sorry if I upset you. I somehow missed her follow up reply to the earlier question about previous cruises and for some reason, didn't catch that she had cruised before in her first post. It's not that I can't wrap my brain around the fact that some people don't find the value in DCL like I do, obviously value is subjective. However, the OP made a comment in one of her final paragraphs that she left the ship thinking she could have stayed at Poly with hopper passes and when you leave the ship thinking about what you could have done at the parks with all that money, to me, seemed to indicate she may have preferred the park experience. Maybe not, but that's what caught my eye and where my well-intended comments came from.

I wasn't upset by it. Sorry it came off that way. You were just the second person to bring that up so I though I should point out again that she is not a new cruiser. I've only cruised DCL. I find the value in DCL on some cruises, and some I don't. I like getting another person's perspective, because at some point once you've cruised DCL a lot you start running out of cruises you find value in. I think that is why so many of us platinum cruisers are looking at alternatives.

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

There were calm seas, but MAJOR vibration all night and MAJOR noise from the cabinetry in the room. There were points when I thought the ceiling was going to fall in.

Odd that you had such a problem with 8668. We have stayed in 8658 on both of our Fantasy cruises and haven't had a problem. There was occasional vibration, but nothing on the scale you're talking about.

 

[disneymommy1979]

There were calm seas, but MAJOR vibration all night and MAJOR noise from the cabinetry in the room. There were points when I thought the ceiling was going to fall in.

We also stayed in this room and heard noise from the bathroom area all night long......the kids still slept, but I was up every few hours from it. We still booked another cruise, but not that room!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

This scares me. We've cruised a lot and love it, but our October trip will be our first DCL cruise. My kids are 9 and 16 and I am struggling to figure out what makes DCL so much better than other cruise lines.

think its been posted here in various different forms.........The Disney Magic and pixie dust are all those things with the Disney touch is so special, add o that the classic vessels, , well built, designed and maintained, the excellent service, food and Disney only entertainment put the DCL cruises head and shoulders above the others. The Disney magic and pixie dust can only be found on DCL cruises. it brings ou the child in all of us just walking onboard.

AKK

 

[21stamps]

Also, a note towards RC...we sailed the Liberty of the Seas and it is an amazing ship. Alot of the benefits of Allure/Oasis but a tad smaller (not much) and sailing out of Galveston you can find some really good deals. Here is a little video I made from out February trip if interested.

Finally had time to watch your video. I had a smile on my face the entire time! Thanks for sharing!!!