Just Back With a Few Random Thoughts

[CamColt]

(My apologies! This got a lot longer than I had thought.)

I have just returned from Back to Back cruises on the Dream (8/17-8/24) and I wanted to share a few random thoughts. My family consists of myself, DH, and 2 DSs (18 & 21) and this was our 20th and 21st Disney Cruises (DS's 17th and 18th)

First, I will start with we had an amazing time! I even rebooked on board for next summer, despite saying I wasn't going to when I saw the opening day pricing a few months ago. I drank the Kool Aid and DCL just sucked me back in.

The transition between cruises went smoothly. We timed it and we were in the terminal for exactly 1 hour and 4 minutes. This was fine with us as we kept busy catching up on things at home, since we had Wifi again.

STATEROOM-
This was our 3rd (and 4th) cruises in 8022, which we really like. The obstructed verandah is minimally obstructed. The lifeboat station is in the theater which is a nice plus on hot days. Our Stateroom Hostess was a sweetheart. I probably saw her more than I have ever seen any other host and she was very friendly (not in our way though). Every time I saw her she would ask if I had any requests, almost looking for things to do for us.

FOOD-
Dining was very good as usual. We got our requested server and table for 4. We enjoyed everything we had, with 1 meal being a little less liked than the others. Our servers were great about getting us off menu items (Caesar Salads) and appetizers from other restaurants. My only complaint here was we got the excellent speech. Right as our desserts were brought out we had to sit and listen to that for about 5 minutes. On the 2nd cruise when she started I politely said, we've got you covered, we will take care of you and she stopped. DCL really needs to have them stop this.

We did Palo brunch and dinner. Both were awesome but brunch remains my favorite for the variety of menu items.

We enjoyed multiple breakfasts and lunches at Cabanas. Everything was very good except on our last morning the eggs were extremely watery, almost not cooked. I was a little shook upon embarkation when there was no diet coke at the fountain (I'm an addict) but upon some searching I found it is only at some fountains now. The cruise was saved!

ENTERTAINMENT-
Beauty and the Beast was absolutely amazing! Do not miss this! We almost did (see the bad, below) and I'm so glad we didn't. We didn't see Believe as we have seen it in the past.

Adult Entertainment was very good. Rod Minger, Club Host did a great job! We witnessed DCL history on the 8/20 cruise when for the first time a Club Host did an actual performance. He did a 37 minute stand up comedy routine which was hilarious! Doing a 3/4 night as opposed to a 7 night there was definitely less of a variety of entertainment but we still enjoyed what we had. We had our first experience with Silent DJ and that was a lot of fun. Our least favorite game/show is the 80s Music Challenge but a lot of people seem to love it.

We did 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s, music trivia which was fun too. Make note, Rod starts right on time and does not mess around. We have been on cruises in the past where we were rushing to dinner because trivia ran late but it did not this time. He zipped right through it.

1820 Society was a mixed bag. On the 3 night cruise there were just a handful of kids who didn't always show up. DS was in the room before or with us each night. Every cruise that he was on while in the Vibe he was always out later than us. The 4 night had a better, larger group and DS was back to staying out to all hours.

PORTS-
Castaway Cay was amazing as always. We made our first visit to Serenity Bay in 9 years, and were very happy with the lunch there (loved the steak!). A hint we have learned over the years is not to head back to the ship if it rains. DH and I took cover and waited it out. It passed and it then it seemed like we were the only ones left on the island.

Nassau is Nassau. Our first visit we went to Atlantis for about an hour of gambling then to Margaritaville for a few drinks. We took the Ferry back to the ship which we had quite a bit of a wait for, and it did not look like the safest ride. In fact the discussion among passengers was who gets saved if we go down. On our second visit we were just making a quick visit to Dunkin Donuts for wifi when we were approached by a local. Knowing the usual routine we just said no thank you, but he pushed...but not in an obnoxious way, he was actually quite funny. When we told him where we were headed he "yelled" at us not to go there...he would even give us his wifi password and we didn't have to buy anything if we went to his restaurant/bar. After a minute of him persuading us we went and figured we would get a drink there. It certainly wasn't the Ritz but it was a true Bahamian experience. The people could not have been nicer and it seemed like this guy was a hard worker, really trying make his place succeed. He even told us we make his bar look good. Glad we could help. If you are looking for a quick drink and some wifi (that worked really well, BTW) I highly recommend Frozen Paradise.

THE BAD-
Now for the bad, which really, wasn't BAD but if I needed to complain about some things, these are what I'd come up with.

1, The timing of B&TB, which may have been my fault for not paying attention. First cruise I never looked at a time for either day as I planned to do it on the 2nd cruise. When we got to the 2nd cruise on embarkation day it showed at 6:00, which IMO is not enough time to enjoy sail away, then clean up for the show and dinner. I figured we would see it on the 2nd night, assuming the timing would be like it always has been with 2 shows. It turns out there was 1 show at 7:15 and it ran until 8:30. We had dinner at 8:15. I almost gave up on seeing it but I caught part of an announcement where the Cruise Director noted for late diners not to fret as the servers are aware. Now, we are the type of people that don't want to show up late and inconvenience anyone so we weren’t sure what to do. After much debate we gave our kids our order (they weren't going to the show) so they arrived to dinner on time and put in our orders for us. It all worked out fine in the end, so I can’t really say it was that bad, but like I said, we almost didn't go to the show because of the timing, and I know now I would have really regretted that. Having a show that overlaps dinner time just seemed odd.

2, There was some work being done on the towel bins up near Satellite Falls. Of course I know maintenance needs to be done and it is always ongoing, but they did this in the height of the afternoon on Nassau day, which is probably one of the most crowded times up there. At first it wasn’t too bad as it was covered and the workers were inside the tarp, however at the end they had to do some sanding, which was very loud. The workers were also wearing masks for the dust so even though we were outside I had to wonder how much dust was flying around there that we were breathing in. Again, this wasn’t the end of the world horrible but I just think they could have planned a better time for this project.

So, overall we had an amazing time with very little to complain about. We hated to leave and can't wait to go back. We have already started our countdown for next year! If you have made it this far and have any questions feel free to ask.

 

[southerngirl528]

Wow, thanks CamColt! Nice TR! And yes, I read it straight through to the end! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip(s)!

 

[hcox31]

I was on the dream 8/20-24. We had near perfect weather

 

[CamColt]

Wow, thanks CamColt! Nice TR! And yes, I read it straight through to the end! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip(s)!

Thanks! We really did!

I was on the dream 8/20-24. We had near perfect weather

Yes! Beside the rain in the morning in Nassau and the maybe 3 drops I felt at CC, neither of which affected us, it was great! It was also one of the smoothest cruises we have had. I don't think I felt the boat rock once. I would have actually liked a little more rocking.

 

[NZMUM]

Great report, thank you. We will be on the Dream for the first time at the end of next year (making an effort to do a grand slam) The information about the shows is very helpful - although who knows if they will still be doing the double ups.
I am surprised your server gave you the excellence speech. Our server, who we request on the Fantasy just says - excellence, you know the drill . And to start saying it for the 2nd part of your b2b makes me wonder if it is just automatic with most servers, no thinking involved.

 

[CamColt]

Great report, thank you. We will be on the Dream for the first time at the end of next year (making an effort to do a grand slam) The information about the shows is very helpful - although who knows if they will still be doing the double ups.
I am surprised your server gave you the excellence speech. Our server, who we request on the Fantasy just says - excellence, you know the drill . And to start saying it for the 2nd part of your b2b makes me wonder if it is just automatic with most servers, no thinking involved.

I do think this server is very accustomed to her spiels. On the first night of the 2nd cruise we were in the same restaurant we were in 2 nights earlier and she gave us her whole recommendation spiel again. Not one of us ordered seafood once (we don't eat it) and yet every night we would get, "if you are a seafood lover I recommend..." We just let her go.

 

[EeyoreJMH]

This was a great read, @CamColt! Thanks for sharing!

We go on our first B2B on the Dream in a couple of weeks, so this just added to the excitement

 

[Shanti]

My only complaint here was we got the excellent speech. Right as our desserts were brought out we had to sit and listen to that for about 5 minutes. On the 2nd cruise when she started I politely said, we've got you covered, we will take care of you and she stopped. DCL really needs to have them stop this.

Agreed. Disney has to know about this pervasive problem, and why they don't crack down on it is beyond me.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Agreed. Disney has to know about this pervasive problem, and why they don't crack down on it is beyond me.

Like CamColt, we like to nip that little problem in the bud. If we start getting "the" speech early in the cruise, I will let them have their say once. Then I say, "OK, you've said what you have to say. Now, if I hear the speech again, it may impact the marks I give." That seems to work. Only once did we have a server give us the speech on embarkation night, and then start it again on the second night. All I did when he started was raise my eyebrow quizzically, and tilt my head a bit to the side at him. He stopped mid sentence, smiled, and went to get our drinks.

 

[CamColt]

The comment card at the end asks if you have felt pressured to give excellent ratings. I left that blank. I don't want to put yes because I feel like the rating wont count or like I'm reporting the servers, who usually we do adore. It seems DCL is aware of the issue so I'm not sure why they don't just tell them not to do it. I know on 1 cruise a while back I was so annoyed I didn't even do the comment card, and I would have given them excellent had they not said said anything.

 

[Lori74]

Royal Caribbean does it as well, it's not exclusive to Disney asking for excellent marks. Now that i mention it, GM gave us the same speech as well when we bought our car... and my husband works in the food service business and if they don't receive excellent then no bonuses for them. It's a shame to use these tools this way imo. Businesses could learn so much and make weaknesses better if things were more honest than just an excellent rating. So many opportunities lost this way. Anyway, thank you so much for your review! Very well done! ... i mean excellent!!

 

[lorimay]

I honestly think that if the servers knows you're a Castaway member, you have heard the spiel before, especially 21 cruises in.
We always listen, but really, when your dessert is in front of you, they need to walk away........

 

[CamColt]

Royal Caribbean does it as well, it's not exclusive to Disney asking for excellent marks. Now that i mention it, GM gave us the same speech as well when we bought our car... and my husband works in the food service business and if they don't receive excellent then no bonuses for them. It's a shame to use these tools this way imo. Businesses could learn so much and make weaknesses better if things were more honest than just an excellent rating. So many opportunities lost this way. Anyway, thank you so much for your review! Very well done! ... i mean excellent!!

 

[DIS_MIKE]

I enjoyed reading your b2b experiences. I have my third cruise on the Dream coming up and I’m really going to take notice when it comes to the excellent spiel. I’m all for telling a guest to fill out the comment cards and give feedback but to pressure you to give only excellent ratings is just not right. I recall on the second cruise the server was really grinding us about it which I found annoying but at the time I didn’t realize this was a thing with most cruisers. We’ll see how it goes this time I suppose.

 

[bigAWL]

I don't see the "excellent pressure" as the fault of the servers or as something for Disney to crack down on. If Disney doesn't want them to talk to the guests about this, then they should adjust their policy to find other ways to reward truly excellent performance. Asking guests about the quality of the food, and then somehow applying that rating to the servers, isn't really the best way to gauge customer satisfaction in my opinion.

I will say, with the servers I've had, I rarely feel any sort of pressure about the rating. I usually get a sort of explanation of how the survey questions about meals (whether experienced in the MDR, Cabanas, or the other food venues) are reflected on them and their performance. They may add that if there is anything that would cause us to give less than an excellent rating, they ask that we tell them about it so they may have a chance to put it right. I have always appreciated that, no matter how many times I hear it, because I know the vast majority of cruisers have no idea.

 

[ktate82]

We have heard the speech a few times, but it has mostly been low key (this will be our 8th DCL cruise). If they start to get pushy with it, I just stop them politely and say, we have done this before, it's ok, and they have stopped.

 

[hcox31]

Thanks! We really did!


Yes! Beside the rain in the morning in Nassau and the maybe 3 drops I felt at CC, neither of which affected us, it was great! It was also one of the smoothest cruises we have had. I don't think I felt the boat rock once. I would have actually liked a little more rocking.

I forgot about the Nassau rain. We didn't get off the ship, but my parents did and they mentioned the downpour going from ship to shore. My mom had an umbrella and no one else did apparently. lol.

And yes, it was really really smooth. You wouldn't even know you were on a ship. Smoothest cruise we've been on to date.

 

[MomOTwins]

I 100% agree. We got the speech repeatedly on our first cruise, and it made me uncomfortable because frankly, I just did not feel that the service was very good. We just did not fill out the survey. On the second cruise, we never got the speech at all, and my impression of the server was that he WAS excellent. Makes me wonder if I had a better impression of our waiter on the second trip because he was not constantly pestering me for positive feedback and just letting me enjoy my dinner...

I thought the BATB 7:15 show time was ridiculous too. We had early dining so it was just not an option for us because we weren't done in time to get to the theater before it started. It was on our pirate night, so the kids wanted to go do pirate-y activities and meet and greets that were scheduled at the same time. What DCL is thinking with this new time is beyond me!!!

I would freak out if there was no diet coke--glad you found it in the end!

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Loved your report! Not at all too long. So many helpful and interesting things that you told us.

I agree DCL misses an opportunity by insisting on Excellent marks or else, but since that is the case, it is helpful for first time cruisers at least to be told that. Normally, in other surveys, I rarely give full marks across an entire survey since there is always something that can be improved, but since I knew that our DCL servers would be penalized if I did that, I had no problem giving them Excellent marks across because they were Excellent, and if there were any actual problems, I would have recorded those. Still DCL loses a chance to see places they could improve.

Good tip about CC and the rain. Loved the info on the Trivia sessions too. I have to do more of those next time.

 

[CamColt]

I don't see the "excellent pressure" as the fault of the servers or as something for Disney to crack down on. If Disney doesn't want them to talk to the guests about this, then they should adjust their policy to find other ways to reward truly excellent performance. Asking guests about the quality of the food, and then somehow applying that rating to the servers, isn't really the best way to gauge customer satisfaction in my opinion.

I totally agree with this! The quality of food should not reflect on the servers. They should be rated on their service. And I don't think the way things are being done, DCL is getting an accurate assessment. However since Disney chooses to work it this way, and they are aware of "the excellent speech", so much that they ask if you got it, they should be discouraging it.