Just back from WBPC Repo, great time but...

[JanDave]

I thought the same as dclpluto regarding Brett.

The assistant cruise director was Scott. We saw him multiple times each day. We seldom saw Peter, the cruise director, other than at the Walt Disney Theater.

For those of you who were on the 2015 wbpc cruise, this year there was no officer/crew who went into the pool, other than Brett. Last year, Captain Tom, CD Clayton, etc. were in the pool at least twice, if I remember correctly.

 

[JanMW]

I thought the same as dclpluto regarding Brett.

The assistant cruise director was Scott. We saw him multiple times each day. We seldom saw Peter, the cruise director, other than at the Walt Disney Theater.

For those of you who were on the 2015 wbpc cruise, this year there was no officer/crew who went into the pool, other than Brett. Last year, Captain Tom, CD Clayton, etc. were in the pool at least twice, if I remember correctly.

Ah yes, officer's in the pool. Another missing thing I forgot to add to my list. I was thinking that the poor entertainment offerings this year might be attributed to Peter. I am not sure if he directly is in charge of entertainment or if the booking is done shoreside. All I know is that Peter is BORING.
Last Nov I went to all of the Good morning cruise shows and all he basically did was read the navigator to us. This year, I didn't go to any. I caught one on the TV in the room and he was still just going over the navigator. He did do some interviews but it was still hard to watch. It would be interesting to know if the cruise director books all the entertainment or not.

 

[Shanti]

I have also noticed a decline in service and wondered if the automatic gratuity had anything to do with that. Seems like we all work better if we are given incentive. Some of us not so much if the reward is automatic.

The gratuity is optional, and can be removed or increased if the guest so wishes, so its not so automatic.

 

[rkwier]

I love this because it shows how the same cruise can be both appealing and unappealing depending on one's perspective. The wbpc was on DH's must do list and we had a truly wonderful experience. Here is just a quick list of our experience in no particular order.

Yes, there were delays in boarding and extra precautions taken regarding food service, but frankly I would rather have the ship scrubbed top to bottom if it means less chance of illness. We have been on another cruise line where that kind of wait is actually the norm, so I will cut DCL some slack here. We did receive water and snacks while we waited, and we also got to know people that we talked to throughout the cruise.

Loved, loved, loved having the adult open houses in the youth areas. We made flubber - so fun!

Talks by Captain Puckett about the canal were extremely interesting. Much more so that I actually expected. Also enjoyed the narration throughout transitioning through the locks.

Also would have loved and kind of expected to have Stacia Martin onboard to do animation. The crew member did an ok job, just not quite the caliber that I would have expected on such a special itinerary.

Agreed evening onboard entertainment was lacking. We only went to the movie and Dreams because it is our all-time favorite. However, there were more movies than we could make time for.

Loved Captain Gus and the way he said "Mickey Tune" whenever he blew the horn. We actually enjoyed Peter as CD and saw him on several occasions throughout the cruise.

Characters seemed to be "out and about" more throughout the cruise. We saw a crocodile swim towards the ship when Captain Hook was on deck four. He jumped up and ran the other way - perfect!

We ate breakfast in Parrot Cay almost everday, so no lunch there was not an issue for us. We did have lunch in Triton's a couple of times and it was outstanding. We skipped a semi-formal night and ate dinner up at BBB because our rotation was Parrot Cay. We were pleasantly surprised that it was a full dinner menu and not just the buffet.

Our service team - Noel, Buyani and Geffrey - were outstanding. We had special dining needs at our table and they went out of their way to make sure that they were taken care of.

Brunch in Palo - I think that actually came from Heaven lol.

Lack of quick service food options on Deck 9. This was our 10th cruise and I am really "over" the food.

In general, the ship seemed in need of TLC. The railing of our verandah was worn down to bare wood. We put it to the fact that dry dock is scheduled for later this year, but it was definitely not up to par with Disney standards.

All in all, we had a fantastic time and I would definitely recommend it. Have I mentioned that we made flubber???

 

[dclpluto]

Ah yes, officer's in the pool. Another missing thing I forgot to add to my list. I was thinking that the poor entertainment offerings this year might be attributed to Peter. I am not sure if he directly is in charge of entertainment or if the booking is done shoreside. All I know is that Peter is BORING.
Last Nov I went to all of the Good morning cruise shows and all he basically did was read the navigator to us. This year, I didn't go to any. I caught one on the TV in the room and he was still just going over the navigator. He did do some interviews but it was still hard to watch. It would be interesting to know if the cruise director books all the entertainment or not.

I will guess that the Walt Disney theatre is done by shoreside so Peter is not to be blamed for the entertainment in Walt Disney theatre. But yes Peter is boring.

 

[Krissy22222]

I think the cd does have input on at least the movies shown, because on a previous PC cruise, we were dismayed by the amount of marvel movies shown, and brought it to the attention of assistant cd Leslie, who joked with us that we could blame Clayton (the CD for that cruise) who had made the schedule.

 

[Judyat]

We enjoyed Peter as our CD and saw him often. He was always around to greet us especially evenings after whatever was at the Walt Disney theater. He was often around for afternoon events at well. We don't remember his assistant or anyone else really but Peter always had a friendly smile and we enjoyed ourselves. Our servers were wonderful. Our head server often asked for input. We had none since we thoroughly all enjoyed our time there. Our room host Glen was the best. He always had a welcoming smile and we enjoyed talking to him. He left the best towel animals each night. Pirate night he did a big one with the Mickey blanket of a pirate with 2 gold pieces of chocolate for eyes. It was always fun to see what greeted us when we returned to our stateroom at night. Palo brunch was wonderful as usual. Capt Puckett was great. Enjoyed all his lectures on the PC. Capt Gus was great and informative. Never got tired of hearing the Mickey whistle.
The majority of people on board had been on this trip before. Something like 1200 of the 1900 had done it before. We sat with folks from Utah who had done the PC 2 years ago and they were signed up for next year's as well.
All in all it was a wonderful cruise and we enjoyed every day of it!

 

[RedSox68]

I have also noticed a decline in service and wondered if the automatic gratuity had anything to do with that. Seems like we all work better if we are given incentive. Some of us not so much if the reward is automatic.

I have always been against the automatic gratuities! I think it takes the incentive away for them to "perform" at their best. On our last cruise, I noticed it in our serving team -- seemed totally uninterested in keeping drinks refreshed or stopping by to see if we need anything else. They should always remember though that people can remove their gratuities if they are not happy -- so they should still be trying to do their best!

 

[canyoncam]

I have always been against the automatic gratuities! I think it takes the incentive away for them to "perform" at their best. On our last cruise, I noticed it in our serving team -- seemed totally uninterested in keeping drinks refreshed or stopping by to see if we need anything else. They should always remember though that people can remove their gratuities if they are not happy -- so they should still be trying to do their best!

But I think a lot of cruisers do not know they can reduce or even completely remove them. And many people even though they know it feel too guilty to that (I don't know why if the service is awful that should be fine, just the way some feel) So they do wind up getting more with the automatically added gratuities than before.

 

[RedSox68]

But I think a lot of cruisers do not know they can reduce or even completely remove them. And many people even though they know it feel too guilty to that (I don't know why if the service is awful that should be fine, just the way some feel) So they do wind up getting more with the automatically added gratuities than before.

We've only completely removed our gratuities from our account once on 16 cruises -- on the NCL Pride of America. Service from end to end (bartenders to serving staff to room stewards) was abysmal. We checked into our room at 3 p.m. and it was filthy. We didn't feel anyone on that ship deserved any type of gratuity. We handed cash to the servers in one specialty restaurant because they were amazing -- but that was it.

 

[SillyInventor]

Just of the Wonder. We sailed the WBPC and 5n San Diego to Vancouver.
It was our first PC and second ever cruise after the Magic to Greece and Turkey 2 years ago.

The start was bad with the long wait, lost luggage (not ours) and extremely late departure from Miami. The ship is in need of a good paint job. Both our verandahs (deck 7) showed rust. Movies were an overkill of Marvel action heroes, which we have zero interest in. This new Captain Americe movie was a main course in the WDT and shown several times again in the BVT. Come on! Mark and Rodi were nice in Wavebands, late night after several cocktails, but they didn't fit the WDT. Twice the Beatles was just too much, we skipped the second show, which left us more time for other things. Yes, my Scuba diving was cancelled, due to a medical emergency, which made us too late in Puerto Valarte, which was very disappointing. MDR was slow and last day breakfast was embarrasing: we were at out table 6:30 and our breakfast arrived 7:15.

That said, we had an amazing cruise, that I would do again without questioning. We saw Captain Guus several times, he was really nice to talk too. CD Peter was all around every day, I really like his relaxed style compared to overactive Brent on the Magic. Brett was funny, but I can't take him for more than 2 hours a day. We were close with several entertainment staff, bartenders, cleaning staf, the Sunshine duo, photographers, guest services an other CMs. we felt very special every time we were greeted so chearfully. Characters were all around and lovely to take pictures, we had 2 Palo group brunches, 1 brunch for two and 1 diner (and additonally 1 brunch and diner on the 5n tomVancouver) and were pampered by Alex and Sal. We had great moments. Our stateroom host was Ana from the Philipines and she was perfect and nice. The crew had a hard time serving and cleaning in the first week, but they managed. The captain Pucket lectures exceeded my expectations, they were very informative and he had some great stories. The passage of the Canal was amazing and having so many seadays was super relaxing. We had a nice bunch of people from the cruise fb-group and we met a lot of new friends, many of whom we will see again on next year's EBTA on the Magic. The weather was nice until the corner after leaving Cabo San Lucas, when it got cold, but still calm. We had some rocking from San Diego to Vancouver.

In other words: yes, several things could have been better, but we chose to have an amazing cruise and we did.

Addtionally: after the Noro-thing and deep clean the ship was cleaner than clean for 14 days. We spent a day at Disneyland and yuk! That is gross compared to a DCL ship.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Just of the Wonder. We sailed the WBPC and 5n San Diego to Vancouver.
It was our first PC and second ever cruise after the Magic to Greece and Turkey 2 years ago.

The start was bad with the long wait, lost luggage (not ours) and extremely late departure from Miami. The ship is in need of a good paint job. Both our verandahs (deck 7) showed rust. Movies were an overkill of Marvel action heroes, which we have zero interest in. This new Captain Americe movie was a main course in the WDT and shown several times again in the BVT. Come on! Mark and Rodi were nice in Wavebands, late night after several cocktails, but they didn't fit the WDT. Twice the Beatles was just too much, we skipped the second show, which left us more time for other things. Yes, my Scuba diving was cancelled, due to a medical emergency, which made us too late in Puerto Valarte, which was very disappointing. MDR was slow and last day breakfast was embarrasing: we were at out table 6:30 and our breakfast arrived 7:15.

That said, we had an amazing cruise, that I would do again without questioning. We saw Captain Guus several times, he was really nice to talk too. CD Peter was all around every day, I really like his relaxed style compared to overactive Brent on the Magic. Brett was funny, but I can't take him for more than 2 hours a day. We were close with several entertainment staff, bartenders, cleaning staf, the Sunshine duo, photographers, guest services an other CMs. we felt very special every time we were greeted so chearfully. Characters were all around and lovely to take pictures, we had 2 Palo group brunches, 1 brunch for two and 1 diner (and additonally 1 brunch and diner on the 5n tomVancouver) and were pampered by Alex and Sal. We had great moments. Our stateroom host was Ana from the Philipines and she was perfect and nice. The crew had a hard time serving and cleaning in the first week, but they managed. The captain Pucket lectures exceeded my expectations, they were very informative and he had some great stories. The passage of the Canal was amazing and having so many seadays was super relaxing. We had a nice bunch of people from the cruise fb-group and we met a lot of new friends, many of whom we will see again on next year's EBTA on the Magic. The weather was nice until the corner after leaving Cabo San Lucas, when it got cold, but still calm. We had some rocking from San Diego to Vancouver.

In other words: yes, several things could have been better, but we chose to have an amazing cruise and we did.

Addtionally: after the Noro-thing and deep clean the ship was cleaner than clean for 14 days. We spent a day at Disneyland and yuk! That is gross compared to a DCL ship.

That is great I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise. We really enjoyed our Panama Canal cruise on the Wonder a few years ago. I just wanted to say that I would've loved to see Captain America premier on the cruise and have seen all the Marvel movies so I don't really actually consider that a bad thing but to each his own!

 

[canyoncam]

That is great I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise. We really enjoyed our Panama Canal cruise on the Wonder a few years ago. I just wanted to say that I would've loved to see Captain America premier on the cruise and have seen all the Marvel movies so I don't really actually consider that a bad thing but to each his own!

Just what I was going to say. I do not care for Marvel and did not watch it. But it was premiering that week on land so of course it was in the WD theater. And my table mates saw it repeatedly in the BV theater as they love Marvrl and loved the new film. They said the BV was full each showing. So many people were pleased.

 

[turtle27]

We did the Oct 2015 EBPC, I have felt for the past few cruises that DCL is going downward. This is just my opinion and experience. I loved the EBPC, it really was an epic cruise with a great bunch of people! But, our dinner staff were just not good. It took way to long for them to serve us/keep up with drinks, etc. I blame this more on DCL than on them, I think they were given too many tables. I would have been so happy had they had Parrot Cay open longer for breakfast, I thought breakfast was way too short, lunch buffets too, especially as I am not a fan of the food on the pool deck. Others were not amused either, as room service typically had a long wait. I feel like DCL keeps raising the price and keeps lowering standards. Don't charge me for a special experience and deliver bleh. Still, from the other cruise lines i have sailed with, DCL still beats them. But, it is getting harder to justify with the price.

 

[jujubiee4]

Yup I agree. Recently got back from the 5n San Diego to Vancouver. This cruise was just ok. The value just wasnt there for me. Our stateroom
host was horrible . SEVERAL times we came back to room and it wasnt done. Out of 10 cruises this was a first. MDR slow slow slow. I really do
wonder if it just with the ship Wonder. I canceled PC cruise for Aug because i had a feeling it might not be up to par.

On top of that the day we disembarked i started not to feel well. It did not really hit full force until ride home from airport. (thank god).
4 days later is the first time im able to keep anything down besides sips of water.

Can't say it was Noro because so far no one else in family is ill. The last night before port i saw vomit in the hallway from animators palate (anyone
else see that?). Also i took the elevator up to our room and there was a little girl throwing up. I guess i could have caught whatever that was.
That will teach me next time to take the stairs

 

[Hundredacre]

Ah yes, officer's in the pool. Another missing thing I forgot to add to my list. I was thinking that the poor entertainment offerings this year might be attributed to Peter. I am not sure if he directly is in charge of entertainment or if the booking is done shoreside. All I know is that Peter is BORING.
Last Nov I went to all of the Good morning cruise shows and all he basically did was read the navigator to us. This year, I didn't go to any. I caught one on the TV in the room and he was still just going over the navigator. He did do some interviews but it was still hard to watch. It would be interesting to know if the cruise director books all the entertainment or not.

Peter is very boring, a bit snotty.

 

[Siliobear]

I'm booked on the Aug EBPC and was bummed to read all the bad reviews. I convinced my sister to join me on DCL instead of sailing on Princess (mainly because I'm a DVC member and it's not costing me any cash, just points I needed to spend before they expired). I had sold her on the outstanding service and entertainment aboard DCL. It sounds like some of the issues were related to the Noro virus outbreak beforehand but since the Wonder is headed to dry dock immediately after our sailing, I'm not too optimistic ours will be much better. Guess it's a good thing to lower my expectations now rather than be disappointed. Here's wishing for some Pixie dust when we sail. Since it'll be her first time, I think she'll still enjoy the magic and "wonder" of DCL. Even for a Silver level cruiser like me, I didn't know about the character breakfast and galley tour. Already looking forward to the Palo brunch!