Just returned from 7-night Eastern

[Wachsdds]

I also just came off of the Magic president's week cruise and had a great trip with my wife and four kids 8 years to 9 months of age. This is our 6th DCL cruise. It again was fantastic. As far as Palo goes the food is exceptional. The jacket is strongly recommended for dinner but will not prohibit you from dining if you don't have one; However, I have dined on a prior cruise without one and I did feel inappropriately dressed for the occasion. As far as brunch, a polo style shirt and khaki pants are fine but no shorts or t-shirts.

As far as the crowd. The Magic holds about 2700 passengers of which there are 800-900 children on the cruise. In six cruises, I have seen the ship always with 2600 to 2700 passengers no matter what time of year or vacation schedule. The teenagers I saw happened to be well behaved and seemed to be having a real good time. As far as passengers from Boston and NY, I think VesTrace is being way out of line. I grew up in Maryland and California and moved to Westchester County, New York 16 years ago. The people from the northeast, I actually find to be the friendliest outgoing people. This not to say that people outside the Northeast are not friendly. By the way, I watched as a father and son cut in front of my wife and 8 month old daughter on the ice cream line and guess what they were not from either coast they were from Illinois! I find that rudeness of people has little to do with the location that they are from and much more to do with the parents, period. Over all we like vacationing with Disney because the guests are usually well mannered. The family is the center of the fun and not drinking, partying and gambling like on other ships.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Well, I am truly sorry to hear about the sound from pipes etc in your cabin. If the ship was full (and almost always is) you wouldn't be able to change to another cabin. However I still would have made an official complaint. If you don't tell them how can they check it out to see if the sound is normal to them or a problem they need to fix.

Now, as for the rest of your review. I'm am trying to chalk it up to your lack of sleep.

As a born and raised native New Yorker (NYC) I find your generalization of an entire region of this county to be extremely offensive.

Nothing personal but y'all need to work on your manners as well.

Well I wasn't born and raised in New York, for me it was Pittsburgh. DH is from Queens though. Anyway, I just agree with this sentiment.

Oh, by the way.

"threating a young oriental boy"

Carpets are Oriental. Human Beings are Asian. Guess what us big city folk lack in politeness, we make up for by being well educated.

My ears (well in this case eyes) nearly bleed whenever I hear (see) someone say Oriental instead of Asian.

Oh...sorry. Well educated...I guess my MBA from the University of Auburn doesn't count?

Hmmm this explains why you feel the way you do about New Yorkers and Bostonians (Bostonites??!??!)

The term Oriental can be considered pejorative.
You really should use something more specific and less offensive otherwise you are going to have people all over you -- especially on message boards.

 

[VesTrace]

Well I wasn't born and raised in New York, for me it was Pittsburgh. DH is from Queens though. Anyway, I just agree with this sentiment.

My ears (well in this case eyes) nearly bleed whenever I hear (see) someone say Oriental instead of Asian.


Hmmm this explains why you feel the way you do about New Yorkers and Bostonians (Bostonites??!??!)

I would take offense to that......however, considering you call yourself Miss Jasmine, your a Gator fan, and you have over 18,000 post on a Disney forum.....no offense taken.

Alright.....I should have said Asian.....didn't think it was a big deal but I'm not Asian so my bad. And I love you folks up there in the Northeast! There, hopefully that settles it.

 

[lillygator]

If you wear a non polo type collar shirt no jacket required. Polo shirts require a jacket. This was per PJ the Palo manager whom we heard ask a gentleman to either change his polo shirt or go get a jacket.

how long ago was this?
We dined with several cruisers for dinner and the men had on polo style shirts with no jackets.

 

[pop5]

Rude people are everywhere!! I am in the south and encounter rude people everyday.Life goes on , dont let it ruin such an expensive vacaton.

 

[VesTrace]

Rude people are everywhere!! I am in the south and encounter rude people everyday.Life goes on , dont let it ruin such an expensive vacaton.

It didn't ruin my vacation. We had a great time! One of my daughters cried for hours Saturday night. And, yes I know there are rude people in the south. I've lived here all my life.
But considering the amount I spent to get six people on that cruise (two deluxe veranda cabins).... Next time we'll go when there are no holidays.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

whomever told ya that DCL was strict on dress code, or that the food was great hasn't traveled much.....Glad you had an overall good experience!

I don't think that's quite fair. I've traveled quite a bit but I'm a slightly picky eater. I'm not a foody but I thought the food on DCL was wonderful. Everyone has different tastes you know.

 

[DCL Repeaters]

how long ago was this?
We dined with several cruisers for dinner and the men had on polo style shirts with no jackets.

This was just last month on the Magic. Maybe it depends on the manager, but PJ was sticking to the rules on the particular night we dined at Palo.

 

[Wachsdds]

PJ was on vacation on last week's eastern cruise. So I think the dress code was a little relaxed.

 

[Maxwell]

Most of the information I received from this forum was accurate....but there were a few exceptions.....
1) They were not strict about my 4 year old moving up to the 5 to 7 year olds. I was told by a few folks here that DCL was very strict with the age requirments. We had absolutly no issues with the move.
2) They are not strict regarding dress code. I still wore a jacket but there were folks wearing what I consider casual even at Palo (pants and golf shirt).
3) The food was not that great. Most was good to very good. Palo was the exception...it was great and the Brunch was even better. Sasha was excellent at Palo....much better than our Brunch server.

Lessons Learned....If we do a Disney Cruise again,
1) I will not schedule any excursions. The kids had a better time on the boat since the crowds (see number 2) were gone (5 kids in the Micky pool at St. Maarten and even fewer at St. Thomas).
2) I will never schedule a cruise or Disney World during the Winter Break for the Northeast. Wow....I felt like we were stuck in NY or Boston. Nothing personal.....but y'all need to relax a little. I can't count how many times someone broke in line, knocked my daughter(s) over at least twice without even saying excuse me, loud cursing teenagers (actually heard a few verbally abusing and threating a young oriental boy when a elevator door opened), and countless uncontrolled young kids running around.
3) I will not stay in room 6622. There was a mechanical noise, similar to a pump, about every 10 to 15 minutes (all day and night). VERY annoying for the first few days! At one point my four year old screamed...."I wish I didn't have ears!". I didn't complain....I guess I should have but figured there was nothing they could do about it.

Overall a good experience. Would have been much better during a.....less crowed time!
Thanks for all the valuable info!

From Boston here and I don't believe y'all is a word?

 

[VesTrace]

From Boston here and I don't believe y'all is a word?

See...you Yankees don't even know what y'all means! Let me guess....y'all don't have sweet tea either?

 

[Maxwell]

See...you Yankees don't even know what y'all means! Let me guess....y'all don't have sweet tea either?

Sorry but we are Red Sox fans. Any Red Sox fans know what sweet tea is?

 

[Mom24Princesses]

As far as the crowd. The Magic holds about 2700 passengers of which there are 800-900 children on the cruise.

Believe it or not Presidents week sailings aren't as crowded as Spring Break time or summer sailings (except late August). Not all schools are off the week of Presidents week holiday. The only time you will find it less crowded is during non school breaks, and these differ a lot now.

DH and I are both teachers and must cruise/vacation at peek times. Before we planned our first cruise I priced Prez Week, Spring Break and summer weeks. Spring break was the cheapest. School systems have SBs all over March and April. While not everyone gets a winter break at Prez week, enough are doing so that it raises the price for that one week. If your SB is not tied to Easter weekend it will be less $, BUT NOT LESS CROWDED. On our 06 SB cruise Brent mentioned several times that we had over 1000 children on-board.

I completely understand what the OP was referring to about Northeast crowds people / manners - Yes he was generalizing and not everyone in that area is like that. I live there and am not like that, however I do understand because I have taken cruises out of NY / NJ where we wished we hadn't. Not because of the cruise line directly but because of a lot of the people on-board

It doesn't matter where you go, or where people are from, there can be rude, poor-mannered, selfish people anywhere. If you are in a minority, at a given time, you may feel like it is what makes those around you different from yourself that explains their rude behavior, not realizing that the difference you notice has little to do with the behavior.

HOWEVER - forgive me for saying this BUT, we have been at WDW when people speaking a language other than English (possibly from another country) pushed, shoved, broke in line, blocked the view of small children, etc.

I say forgive the insult you felt. I have forgiven the ones directed to my area of the county posted by many in this thread and smiled a a few. Going both ways.

 

[Keggy]

Count me in as another person who feels like it is nails on a chalboard to here the word oriental describe a person and not a peice of furniture...

 

[kaysmommie]

From Boston here and I don't believe y'all is a word?

I agree Y'all is not proper english, it's a slang term . The kids at DD school say " ain't" all the time, which is not a word either.

See...you Yankees don't even know what y'all means! Let me guess....y'all don't have sweet tea either?

That is rude!! When I do encounter ignorant people in TN and they call me a Yankee, I just call them a redneck . Most people in the South don't like us " Yankees from the North" and I think it's just so ignorant. Last I checked the civil war was over. People like you make me want to move back to NJ. BTW Sweet tea causes rotten teeth.

 

[MGM94]

I agree Y'all is not proper english, it's a slang term . The kids at DD school say " ain't" all the time, which is not a word either.



That is rude!! When I do encounter ignorant people in TN and they call me a Yankee, I just call them a redneck . Most people in the South don't like us " Yankees from the North" and I think it's just so ignorant. Last I checked the civil war was over. People like you make me want to move back to NJ. BTW Sweet tea causes rotten teeth.

>>>Last I checked the civil war was over. <<<

And we won! LOL!

 

[MarkRG]

Play nice kids, just a reminder to refresh yourselves on the DIS Board Basics.

 

[mndisfam]

Forgetting all the other stuff the OP said, I am wondering if there is ever times when the cruise feels "less crowded."? I hate to even use that word, bcs even when its clearly full, and the pools are packed, there are always lovely quiet places available.

Because of the age of my kids, we can only travel during school breaks, etc. Its always full, of course. Is Sept and any other month on the boat noticeable less crowded bcs kids are in school then? I was under the impression the ship is always full...

Crowds never bother us too much, but we are waaaay flexible and I usually get a daytime pool drink! Something I can't usually do normally.

Would you go so far to say that traveling while school is in has so many fewer groups of kids that it feels more adult...

And chalk something up new for me from learning from the DIsboards. I consider myself educated and well read, but I didn't know oriental was considered perjorative!! The different things you learn and hear from the Disboards are wonderful...What would we all do without the internet? and the boards?

Anyway, someone let me know about cruising during school times...might not tell the kids and sneak away with dear hubby...

 

[bellelinus]

Play nice kids, just a reminder to refresh yourselves on the DIS Board Basics.

Personally, I find the general tone of many posts in this thread to be depressing and not in the spirit of the Dis . . . can't threads be locked when they don't meet Dis guidelines?

 

[Wachsdds]

Oh...sorry. Well educated...I guess my MBA from the University of Auburn doesn't count? How about your education? "Oriental" is used as a term to describe cultures, countries, peoples and goods from the Orient OR Asia. And I was not trying to offend anyone one with the New York "Winter Holiday" commit. I've traveled and worked with many great individuals in NYC, Syracuse, Buffalo, Albany, and Boston. I'm just saying that next time I'd probably choose an alternate week.

Unfortunately, MBA didn't help in understanding english language or the use of the dictionary. The term oriental is reserved for description of objects while the term asian is used to describe people. I think you need to use this as an educational experience so that you may not offend others in the future. I also probably wouldn't get into an educational background war since there are always people with higher levels of degree then yourself and people that hold no degrees at all that are pretty sharp. Just remember that Bill Gates dropped out and never graduated college.