Just Back From 10/30 The Good/The Not So Good (The Stack!)

[SweetSpot]

We just returned from our 3rd Magic Eastern cruise, this time in a cat 3. and thought I would post the good and the bad since I really enjoyed reading others posted recently:

The Good:

Room 8534, midship cat. 3. From the time we checked in we were treated really well. Our last two cruises we were in a cat. 4 and were treated great also but this time the little extras were nice. We didn’t need to wait in line (didn’t stop us from being at the port at 10:15) and went to one place to get the kids signed up and make reservations. The concierge, Ana, Christelle and Thierry were excellent. Ana was always there to make sure our trip was perfect. We had an issue with the Stack that they dealt with and we asked to change Brunch time and it was handled immediately. Everyday we found treats and weather for the next day in our room and on the last day a beautiful lithograph that we will frame. The room itself was very big with two full baths and real size showers. The little things like the robes, slippers, toothbrushes, real hair dryer, scale, mini toothpaste, separate conditioner and shampoo were nice touches as was being able to order a hot breakfast. My kids ordered videos every day to watch with their late night room service. The concierge sail away party was very nice also. There was even alcohol in the Bahama Mamas! We felt spoiled.

The counselors at the Lab were great. Kerry from England is one of the neatest people I’ve met on the ship. She did many things during the week to make it a really special cruise. I will miss her next year if she isn’t there.

The entertainment staff make the shows so much fun because they seem to love what they do. Doug from the USA and James from England were great to get to know. I miss She She who is still onboard but in entertainment behind the scenes but the girl taking her place from England (never got her name) was wonderful.

Our Servers made us want to go to dinner even if we weren’t that hungry. Silvio was the best we’ve had and a great guy to get to know. Milan and Jemma at Palo were also excellent as was the food at Palo. Although I doubt we would ever take the time to do Palo at night again Brunch was great especially because of the people we were seated next to.

St. Maartens day is on of our favorites because everyone else gets off the ship. It’s so nice spending the day enjoying the empty ship.

Danielle who was filling in for Donna making future reservations was great. Last year when Donna was gone we had trouble getting through to the person filling in this year I dropped the form in the box and Danielle took care of everything.

The Shutter’s photographers were the hardest workers on the ship yet took the best pictures and were there to help in anyway.

The not so good about the cruise:

I can’t say anything good about the Stack other than the counselors there did try their best. DCL makes a mistake having 13 - 17 in the same club with little structure or supervision. My children are very open with me and told me everything that was being said up there and I don’t think it is appropriate. We were unfortunate to have 17 yr old girls on the ship who liked shocking my son with sex talk (his is 14 and fairly naïve) and how they planned on “doing” my DH. I heard these complaints from other kids who didn’t go back which leads to bored kids causing trouble around the ship. There needs to be a separate club for 13 - 15 year olds. The age difference and maturity levels of between teens varies too much to lump them together. It is a Disney ship and I expect a more clean cut environment for my kids.

The new check in procedure. We were pulled out of line and told that we had to go to a table and pull out and separate our own docs in an order that was given to us on an envelope and then we could get in line. We were one of the first in the building and the line was empty it made no sense to us especially after we realize that only some people were being told this. I don’t know if this is the way it is or if we were just one of the unlucky ones being pulled from line.

The people at Guest Services have never been a friendly bunch. All three cruises it was as if we were bothering them when we asked them a question. Every now and then we found a nice CM but there were a couple we avoided.

The word excellent! I never want to hear the word again. I think they believe they are brain washing you to check it off on the comment card but the reverse is true. A CM we were speaking with agreed with us and suggested that the comment cards be changed to have very good, excellent and then exceptional or magical as the best. Apparently people don’t like using the word excellent yet it means so much on the comment cards so they drill the guest with the words. We teased Silvio all week with the word (and he teased us right back). Things seem less excellent when it is used everywhere about everything all week.

All in all it was a magical week filled with many surprises. We all had a great time and can’t wait to get back on the ship.

 

[Luv2Dream]

Thanks for taking the time to comment on your trip. Especially enjoyed the pros AND the cons.

 

[taeja71]

Sorry to hear that your son was exposed to not so Disney clean princesses. I agree about the comment cards. I think they believe they are brain washing you to check it off on the comment card but the reverse is true. [b/] Even though I loved our trip, I don't think it was excellent. But being a Disney trip for the kids, it was great.

Glad to hear that the rest of your trip was enjoyable!

 

[dwkwootton]

I'm not surprised by your comments about The Stack. When my kids were that age it was called Common Grounds and they told me things that shocked even me and they chose not to go back. Worked out great for us but not everyone wants to spend every minute with their teenagers. Your suggestion of splitting the teen group into a younger and an older sounds like a good idea. Some of the parents might be surprised by some of what's going on and that the ship being Disney does not guarantee wholesome (geez I hope that is the politically correct word here) behavior by the teen group.

 

[SeaSpray]

Thanks for your review. We recently cruised on the Magic with our two teens sons, ages 16 and 13. My DS16 enjoyed the Stack, but DS13 didn't like it at all. He went the first couple of days, played a couple of games of chess, then never went back. I agree, Disney needs to separate the older teens from the younger teens. I know they have a couple of separate activities, but that's not enough. The younger teens need their own space where they won't be intimidated by or subject to the discussions of the older teens.

 

[jlawall]

Thx so much for your updates, especially about SheShe who I saw briefly this summer!!!

 

[SandraLee]

I'm coming up on my 3rd DCL cruise and my kids are still under 12. I am pretty sure when they are older, I'll be moving to an RCCL ship. I don't know if this is because I like the groupings better, or I'll just be ready to try something else.

Thanks for the great reviews.

 

[CheapMom]

Thanks for your post. Sorry about your experience with the stack. Yes there is a MIGHTY difference between 13 YO boys and 17 YO girls. Perhaps they need to have some re-grouping and more structured stuff for the younger ones and perhaps a bit more supervision all around.
Can you imagine if that was a 17 YO boy exposing a 13 YO girl to sexual language/harrasment. People would be outraged.

 

[mmouse37]

Thank you for your honest report....you should definately write DCL a letter and tell them what happened in the Stack. They should definately look into it and address the problem of having 13-17 year olds together. Sounds like those girls were trash. My DD always loved the club when it was Common Grounds and will see how she likes it as a 16 year old in Aloft on the Wonder this January. She is also very open and will tell me what is going on in there.

I think the Cruise Staffer from England you were referring to is Karen. We have sailed with her a few times and she is great....

Here is a pic from 60's theme night....is this the CM one you are thinking of? She usually has blond hair but has a wig on for 60's night..

http://community.webshots.com/photo/118565870/118569754pRfYJI

And this another one of her from British Pub night

http://community.webshots.com/photo/197639313/197640050CRxggl


MJ

 

[kcashner]

Great comments.....my 13 year old Loves The Stack, but after 2 Magic cruises in that group, I can tell you that it totally depends on the kids. I would encourage all travellers to report any Stack problems to the counsellors immediately. They will deal with it quickly and efficiently and not make your kid feel like the "bad guy."

The young man who was using inappropriate language and hassling my 13 year old was called out on it and warned that any sort or retaliation against my daughter would not be tolerated. DD was given a signal that she could give to a counsellor if there was any more trouble.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

See I dont mind shairing the club older teens, well I am actually in the middle now anyways. But think about HS. I am 15 and share the same cafeteria, hallways and even in some classes with kids as old as 18. Yes maybe school is different but its HS and teachers only can do so much supervison and a lot dont have time to supervise everything. A lot of parents dont realize the older teens maybe talking about somthing parents would say is inappropriate. Well more likely then not your 13 year old might know more then you think. I thinks the clubs are fine IMHO
Matt

 

[SweetSpot]

kcashner: I agree it does depend on the kids on the ship that week. Unfortunately a few kids ruined the cruise for so many other kids.


Donalds_best_pal: I understand your opinion and having spent a lot of time in our schools I am well aware that there are 13 yr olds that are sexually active. My 14 yr old is a freshman in a school with 3,100 kids. He is exposed to a lot everyday but he is very naive and the kids took advantage of that and made it a game. We were very lucky that a few kids took it upon themselves to watch out for him but the girls took every chance they could to harrass my son. They touched him, held an initiation, asked him things completely inappropriate and made repeated remarks about my DH and what they planned on doing with him sexually. Completely inappropriate! We got to the point we were afraid they would trick him and then report that he had done something to them.

My 12 yr old (who is very mature and not a bit naive) was allowed to go to the Stack and possibly keep an eye out for my 14 yr old. The first thing said to him when he got up there was asking how far he had gone with a girl. He left and wouldn't go back. I talked to other kids who had similar experiences and wouldn't go to the Stack. This left them riding elevators, sitting on stairs and roaming the ship.

We did tell the counselors and the concierge. They took it seriously and handled it as best they could but it continued and my son was restricted to his times at the Stack.

Middle school age children should not be in an barely supervised place with high school seniors. The maturity levels are too different. We pay a premium price for Disney and the pixie dust that comes with the brand. We choose not to cruise on RCCL or other line because we want our children to have a wholesome vacation. This vacation was far from wholesome and while DCL can do nothing about the type of teens allowed on the ship they can lessen the chance that these type of situations occur buy separating the ages.

 

[tvguy]

Maybe they need to hold back the 13 year olds with the 11 and 12 year olds, keep all the middle schoolers together. The 14 year olds should be fine with 17 year olds, since 14, 15, 16, & 17 years are all lumped together in high school.
Yes, it really is a factor of the kids and how they were raised, but a little additional supervision in the Stack would help.

 

[mhb]

I really think they need to be more supervised. Seems to me that the activities they had planned for that group was not planned out well. Most things started very late in the evening.

 

[christinou]

This is it, I am never cruising in a CAT 3 and above, if there is a scale in the suite.....
That would be way to scary...

 

[SweetSpot]

I agree, they need more activities but I know that has got to be really hard to do. Even more than 2 computers and another place where they could play Playstation would help. They could only play on the big tv and only if the others didn't want to watch something. If your going to give them the space give them something to do. Bored kids will find something to do to amuse themselves and that's not always a good thing.

I did forget the other thing that so many others complained about on the ship. The music in Rockin' Bar D was way too loud. One woman next to us said leaned over and said to me "I know they think we're old but we're not hard of hearing." No one was dancing because the band wasn't that great and you needed to be there to get seats for the cabaret show that followed. It was too loud to have any type of conversation. It would have been great to listen to music and talk to my DH and newly met friends.

MJ: Yes that's her, Karen. I thought that was her name but didn't want to post wrong. I remembered her from last year and was happy to see her there. She was great, especially at 70's night. I missed She She but Karen was a perfect replacement.

 

[SweetSpot]

christinou: LOL! I was thrilled to see it there. I don't go anywhere for more than a night without my scale. Having a scale in the room proved I wasn't crazy... although my DH wouldn't agree. The only problem with a scale in the room is trying to get it balanced on a rocking ship. That in it's self is an adventure.

 

[marie2004]

I did not like the band Seabreeze, they were too loud and did not impress me at all, the choice of music was more for the 20+ age group. I loved the Charles Marshall band two year ago, that man can sing, and dance, I do believe that the girl in the band is the same as the one in Seabreeze.
My son was in the 10-12 year old group and felt they treated them like babies, the 8-9 and 10-12 were grouped all together most of the time. He was upset they didn't have much free time to play games on the computer.

 

[SweetSpot]

Maybe that is why she was so familiar to me. We saw The Charles Marshall band 2 years ago and they were good. Last year it was Junction 21 but I was sure that it was Sea Breeze because so many in the band were familiar. I know the male lead was in Junction 21 last year. I heard a lot of people saying they didn't like the band. I didn't think they were bad it was just their choice of music and the volume that wasn't great.

 

[goofysgirl]

We were also on this cruise, and I have to agree with the Stack comments. I have a 16 year old Senior and a 14 year old Freshman both girls. They went to the Stack together and hung very tightly together. They were disappointed in the "make out sessions that some of the kids had, and would not stay for the dances because in their words---it was just gross how those kids were groping each other. I agree that there should be 2 distinct age groups here, but my 16 year old would not fit in with the older group either, as she is not into public affection and would never "fall in love in 7 days"

One night I called the Stack at their request as they told me the conselors were sitting around and not playing the game they were supposed to be doing. It seems they enjoy it when the kids click up and hook up then they have far less to do.

They need to structure this group more with activities, and if the kids choose not to do the activities, let them be the ones roaming the ship looking for something to do or a place to make out, and let the kids who want to participate do just that!