Just back last night from Magic and AKL

[Samsma]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know we're back, and we did have a good time. A little close quarters (cat 6) for the four of us. (Kids fight like cats and dogs).

Particulars:

Weather was great!
Check in was easy, boarding easy. (got on board at 12:00)
Room was nice (6608) Location good - mid ship, starboard, more toward back than front.

A little rocking motion, not too bad.

St. Martin - could have done without

St. Thomas - absolutely beautiful, friendly, clean. Got a rainbow on arrival.

Servers - nothing special, I was jealous of the attention the other servers were giving the children at their tables, and even expressed this when pressed about how the service was. Hard to get refills, ketchup, son had a hair in his food, and the plate was just kind of jerked away with no acknowledgement of problem. Daughter fell asleep on the first night, no offer of makeshift chairs/bed I had heard about. Just disappointing after hearing about so much fun at dinner. We just quit going and went to Topsiders.

Palo - high tea - nothing great, except meeting some of my fellow dis'ers - thedisneymom, callahanjulie10 who also shared our dining room table, and Stewblue. Very nice ladies! We laughed and joked like old friends!

Palo Brunch - MMMMM- very very good - our server was Ellie - excellent and very friendly.

Topsiders - more enjoyable for us than dining room. One very nice server - Preshawna from So. Africa - that Sadie took up with immediately. Very very good. She should be in the main dining room.

Our stateroom host - Alexandro - excellent - always a new towel animal - very good with the kids and I don't know how he made MY room look neat, but he did.

Kids clubs were good, but my little one didn't really enjoy being in a strange place away from mommy too much. She did go enough to let us go to brunch, sit in the adult hot tub, and take a long nap one day, so it was okay. I spent a lot of time with her in the club, and the staff is very good, and a lot of the kids were truly satisfied being there. I was very impressed with the attention one little girl got who had special needs. She was happy and well attended.

We didn't get much into the night life, but did enjoy Finding Nemo one night, and Disney Dreams. Who wants to be a Mouseketeer (sp) was fun too.

All in all, a good time - but I think maybe my expectations were a little high. I probably will spend my future vacations at WDW for the money, but it was great to see new places. I'd do it over, but not again.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Sorry to hear you didn't have fun or attentive servers in the main dining rotation. If you don't mind me asking:

1 - Who were your main dining servers?
2 - How many of the 7 dinners did you do in the main dining rooms?
3 - Did you do the character breakfast?
4 - Did anyone wonder where you were when you were eating at Topsiders every night?

 

[Samsma]

I really don't want to name names, but lets just say it was pretty good service for Denny's, not the special attention I expected from Disney. As for the Assistant Server, I will say I believe she was brand new, and still learning, and she did speak very low so we didn't have much interaction from her at all. Friendly enough, but not great.

I didn't complain to anyone, but I did let the server know after he just kept pressing for an excellent rating, that it just wasn't what I thought it should be. We went to first night at Animator's, did the character breakfast on Sun. skipped formal night on Sunday (Parrot Cay), went to Lumieres on Monday, skipped Animators on Tues. and did Parrot Cay on Wednesday. Skipped the rest of the week, and didn't go to main breakfast on Sat. Just sent my tips via the head waiter. (And yes, I did tip $5 or $6 more than recommended), but I had budgeted more so I gave the additional I was going to tip to our friend at Topsiders.

I just think the great servers I had always heard about would have made a big difference in this cruise. These servers, I would bet, didn't even know our kids names. Hope you do better!

 

[WDWLVR]

Sorry to hear that your servers were not up to your expectations. A great serving team really helps. We've only had a bad server once (out of 5 cruises) but in that case the Asst. Server more than made up for him. On our most recent cruise the serving team was the best we've ever had. Always smiling, joking, and they took such special care of the little ones at the next table (we had only adults with us). They earned their tips!

 

[midnitemist]

Our first cruise the servers were great. But on our second cruise our servers were not that great. They were friendly enough but just didnt go that extra mile, like I saw the other waiters do at other tables. We did complain, they got a little better but not like our first cruise. This will be our third and I hope we get a great server team. Except for this one problem, we love Disney.