Just back from Wonder - observations, suggestions & concerns (very long)

[MrsPete]

Shutters: I agree completely -- the present system is wasteful. I also wonder how many pictures "walk out" of Shutters (and, of course, those of us who are honest are paying for those pictures along with our own). I would love to see an in-room digital viewing system.

Late seating: I understand you were frustrated with late seating, but I don't think families should automatically be granted early seating. I think the present system (first to reserve a room gets first choice on dining options) is the most equitable idea. Those of us with a strong preference should think ahead and book early.

Character interaction: Perhaps this varies. We saw characters constantly! The signs in the lobby alerted us to planned times, but we ran into characters out on deck and in the hallways several times.

 

[lbgraves]

I learned very early in our cruise that you had to show up early for the character pictures. I called the PALS number each night after the kids were in bed & wrote down every single character schedule for the next day. I then went thru & decided which ones we would attend. I wrote down the other events for the day & we were all set the next morning. The best day for this for us was Monday. I got in line for the princesses at 10:30 for the 11 am signing and was the 3rd family with DD. DH took turns walking each kid around the atrium while we waited. By 11:20 we had gotten Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Stitch, then Suzie & Pearla, then Dopey. Since it was our first Disney vacation, I made this a priority & at first DH was a little irritated with my planning. After we started getting the pictures back & seeing the kids light up with the characters he didn't mind.

 

[Tiger926]

I too was trying to "work" the schedule - believe me, as a teacher I am a master organizer. Unfortunately with a baby, this just isn't possible, especially since I had to be in the theatre to watch the show, but according to the schedule, I was supposed to be in the Atrium getting my photo taken with Mickey and Minnie?? Also, since most characters only stay out for 15-20 mins. there just isn't enough time. I still think that they need to work on this as having a character schedule is fine and dandy, but when hundreds of people are vying for the same characters and they are only available for a few minutes, it makes for a most distressing situation. I went on the cruise to experience a bunch of things, and standing in line all day to see characters is not the way that I want to spend my cruise!

Tiger

 

[westjones]

I don't remember this from my last cruise. There is a phone number to call to hear the schedule of character appearances for the next day? Is it in the navigator?

There was a board in the lobby with a list, but it was for that day only (not the next day). We missed Stitch on the last cruise and my DD was disappointed (until the last night for the final farewell, then we were able to get her to see him).

DJ

 

[herrbeeb]

tiger296, let me add my thanks for a well written and thoughtful post. i agree that the food is good but not great but perhaps i am a snob because i have been exposed to reaaly great food. in any case i don't cruise for the food and i am happy if it is adequate and plentiful and, most importantly, i am not preparing or serving or cleaning up.

i am also disturbed by the tipping situation. we have been very lucky in our servers and hosts/hostesses through 3 cruises (this will be our 4th). i don't like feeling obliged to tip a certain amount and after several conversations with dcl employees it is clear that the tips comprise the bulk of their compensation. considering the cost of a disney cruise it is unsettling that disney expects us to pay their employees' salaries.

that being said. we do enjoy dcl so much that my family rejected the notion of another cruise line despite the enormous savings that would ensue.

 

[PRaffen]

Originally posted by Cuzisayso2
I too just returned from the Wonder and would agree with your observations. In regards to the Head Server...I did not want to tip this person, but felt as though I HAD too. Our Head server reminded me of a slimy used car salesperson (no offense to you honest used car salesmen!). And our room host, did his job but did not go out of his way to do anything extra.

I'm already a bit concerned about the tipping issue for our upcoming cruise. JMHO but if someone doesn't do their job and, therefore, I don't feel a tip was earned I refuse to feel like I must tip. Sorry you were made to feel this way.

And kudos to you, Tiger, for not giving the tip to your head waiter after his attitude.

 

[amtmommy]

I must say I do agree with most of the comments of the original poster. We came back from the 4/17 eastern. We almost didn't tip our head server. We were seated with a nice family with a 6yr old girl, (the same age as our daughter). My DD is a bit shy, our table mates daughter wasn't, she was a very engaging little girl. The head server always fawned over her and as an after thoght said hello to our DD.

Also the servers were just ok, no magic tricks or napkin tricks that I had read about. This is an area I think the servers need to be all on the same page. When you are sitting next to a table that is having all this stuff done and your kids are wondering why they aren't being treated to the same "show" it's hard to explain. I think if we are essentialy being told what to tip and we are all given the same dollar amounts than we as customers should expect some consistancy in service. The dining room staff does get the largest amount of your tips so that is the area that should be the most consistant.

I agree with the survey, after being told how important they are you are given very little room to fill out any well thought out critisism, so you may not bother.

My biggest complaint with the charecters were the "Picture Only" apperances, we waiting in very long lines for Donald, Mickey and Minnie and my daughter had her autograph book in hand and once we get to the front we were told it was only for a picture. These instances aren't noted in the charecter appearance listings so we had no way to know if it was worth it to go to for an autograph.

As far as early - late dining, even if we didn't have kids I would still want early dining, we don't eat at 8:30 and wouldn't want to be penelized for not having young children.


Let's face it, these trips aren't cheap, when you make your travel arangements and put it all together they can be pricey, I don't think it is wrong to have very high levels of expectations. I heard so much about the servers the dining room experince I was definately dissapointed. The food was what I expected and was better than I can cook, but the service was just ok.

When I suggested that all servers should be able to do the same "shtich" I had my head chewed off. But let's face it they wouldn't promote someone to cabin steward who didn't know how to do some towel animals. Not everyone wants a magic show or card tricks or funny hats and I do respect that, but when you are a cruise line catering to families as well as adults I think they need to know that when young kids see someone else being treated with a little extra "magic" they are dissapointed, as are the parents.


Rant over

 

[budwmn]

What do people consider booking early vs. booking late? We've booked 4 Disney cruises -- all 9 months to a year ahead of time and have never been able to get early seating. We're a family of three, so it's not as if we're a big difficult group to seat.

On our last cruise, we tried to move to early seating upon boarding the ship. No luck.

How far in advance do you need to book these cruises to get your choice of seating, anyway?

 

[Muushka]

Thank you for all of the great opinions and information. I appreciate hearing the bad and the good. I believe it helps people to not have such high expetations.

I enjoyed reading it.

 

[WDWLVR]

I think the original plan for Shutters was to have it digitally based and have screens you could see your selections on.

I would love it if they could upgrade so you could see your pictures on your room tv. I'd also love it if you could view your account via the tv like they do in some hotels.

We have been blessed for the most part with really great servers, but in the one case where we didn't feel a server was up to par he didn't get a very good tip.

 

[JJsmama]

Originally posted by Grumbo
Interesting read

I'm glad you enjoyed (well most of it anyway) your cruise and to ensure your early dining book early. You'll have no problem getting it then, and if not go and put yourself on the wait list and see the staff as soon as you arrive onboard. They are very helpful.
Cheers,
Grumbo

I don't know/ We booked almost a year in advance and couldn't get early dinner seating.

 

[ruttie]

I have low blood sugar also and had no problem getting my them switched once i produced a letter from my dr. My dr simply faxed the letter to disney and we were moved..

 

[Grumbo]

"Almost a year" if the cruise is a very popular one, will not get you early dining. Heck if you didn't get in within the first two hours of the repositioning cruises you weren't going to get early dining either

Sorry, but for medical reasons and, you have a letter to that affect, then definitely you should be given priority. Otherwise we're all equal and you book early, go on a wait list or try to get it changed when you get onboard.

This is one of the "Perks" of booking early. To me early is over a year out.

Good luck though in getting the dining rotation and times you want

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[lillygator]

thanks for your post.....

we just got back and I have to agree with the tipping situation. Our head server we only saw once and then the last night she came over and was obviously pushing for a tip. I did not care for that at all. Our server Alit was awesome.....our assistant server.....I don't even know her name, she was awful....forgot our drinks on the first night and then called in sick the second night and the third night was back and was trying to over compensate for her prior performance.
We gave our tips on the third night and took money out of the assistant servers and put in the servers - as he had to do our drink orders as well the night before.
On our last morning....the asst server was no where to be seen.....Alit said her contract was up and she was going home. I thought that was strange for a contract to be up mid cruise??

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

Great point on the survey! I'm not very concise and I had a lot of comments (all positive) and I definitely didn't feel like I was given the opportunity to report great service from a couple CMs in particular.

Sorry to hear about the issues with your servers. Our servers (Stephanie, Das & Rodrigo) were truly one of the highlights of our cruise.

My concern was that we didn't tip enough. We tipped everyone a little over the recommended amounts.

I was impressed that our servers were as pleasant and helpful the morning we disembarked as they had been throughout the cruise!

 

[sters]

I'm just jumping into the fray here.... Yes, some childless groups who prefer early seating should have it, by all means, but some preference should be given to providing early seating to those with infants. Both the parents and babies are tired and need to rest. Also, many who book the late seating are those people who would prefer to dine without the ambience of a cranky baby.