Losing the Magic?

[ruadisneyfan2]

The most surprising thing - and feel free to flame me - the lack of dress code. I cannot believe the number of people in shorts, tank tops, and flip flops in the main dining rooms. There were so many, that those of us that did dress appropriately looked out of place, rather than the other way around. DH and I kept saying, "Wow, and this is suppose to be the more formal ship." Really? No way. Not on our cruise. The Palo manager literally called us 3 times to remind us of the dress code - maybe they should shift the focus to enforcing it in the main dining rooms.

No flames from me. I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, some people have an attitude that rules don't apply to them simply because they paid for their cruise.
Either have a dress code or don't, but don't have one and not enforce it.

 

[Silverfox97]

No flames from me. I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, some people have an attitude that rules don't apply to them simply because they paid for their cruise.
Either have a dress code or don't, but don't have one and not enforce it.

 

[lck33]

We took our first cruise on the magic in November and 2009 and will be cruising again this thanksgiving on the Magic and can't wait. It is a beautiful ship. The cruise is excellent as well as the staff. After all it is Disney. As far as wear and tear.... we didn't see that. We were too busy immersed in the whole cruising experience to notice anything else.

 

[Elangen]

Just off the Magic Jan 3-8th - 3rd cruise; our 1st 2 were on the Wonder.

When I walked onto the ship, I was overcome with the beauty of the ship - to me, it looked more elegant that the Wonder (although the Wonder is beautiful, too). Lumiere's is beautiful, Beat Street is neat (I personally like the look better than Route 66). Everything looked good.

Now, a few things - I didn't notice things falling apart, the Walt Theater seemed fine to us. There was no leaks, nothing like that. We did notice a slight sewage smell the 1st day at port, BUT, they use a very strong deoderizer to cover it up (it works, but it is strong). Plus, the stateroom hostess kept the doors to the bathrooms closed. Over all, no big deal. Now, there was grout missing in our shower in between some of the tiles. It would be quick to caulk it up. Our table in the stateroom was broken, and stuck in the up position, but that really didn't affect us.

This was our "budget" cruise - we booked an 11C GTY for ~$1500 for 3 of us. We were put into 2628, a cat 9C. WOW - noisy. WOW. I was surprised that they would put a family with a small child in such a noisy room. On the 1st Castaway Cay day, they were chipping paint with some high pressure water device and it was SO LOUD. That kind of stuff should've been done in dry dock, not during DD's nap. DH did mention it to Guest Services, and they assured us it wouldn't happen again, and it did not.

There were a lot of new cast members in the Asst. Server positions, and they were not wearing "Earning my Ears." I knew that at least 3 were new (including ours), because I heard them talking about it. MOST cast members were teriffic - truly.

Palo has changed. There is a new chef, and he has changed some of the dishes and has new rules. It was definitely not as good as it was on the Wonder in August. A little disappointing.

Errors in the Navigators. Unbelievable. I can't believe that Disney, who prides themselves on attention to detail, was asleep at the wheel on that one. It wasn't one or two, it was a few every day.

The most surprising thing - and feel free to flame me - the lack of dress code. I cannot believe the number of people in shorts, tank tops, and flip flops in the main dining rooms. There were so many, that those of us that did dress appropriately looked out of place, rather than the other way around. DH and I kept saying, "Wow, and this is suppose to be the more formal ship." Really? No way. Not on our cruise. The Palo manager literally called us 3 times to remind us of the dress code - maybe they should shift the focus to enforcing it in the main dining rooms.

Overall, it was a great cruise. To us, the Magic didn't look worn and tired (although the sign on the Deck 7 aft overlook door fell off when the door slammed closed from the wind - the double-sided tape gave out!). She looked beautiful. In fact, DH and I talk about how we just prefer the elegance of the Wonder/Magic to the massiveness of the Dream/Fantasy. (Not a fan of how the Dream looks head on or from the back AT ALL - looks nice from the side). Service was great - it has been better, but it wasn't bad. The carpet looked fine. They were continuing to work on the ship - painting the anchor, lights, etc. We are going to be back on the Magic in Oct and are really looking forward to it!!

Totally agree!

I thought she looked beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised because of all I had heard here.

I don't know about all the errors in the navigators, but I will say a couple of times we were told by a CM that an event would occur, only to show up and it was some other time, or was listed differently in the Nav. In particular, we missed the princess gathering because the CM who ended the line to Belle the day before told us it would happen "tomorrow at 3pm" when in fact it happened at 8:30 am. While we were sleeping.

And I am happy to hear you say that about the dress code. I was annoyed that I packed all these nicer clothes, only to see people schlepping about. Either I wouldnt have worried about it, or I would have liked to see it enforced a bit.

We really enjoyed our meal at Palo, and our server was wonderful. So, nothing to compare it to, but I dont want people to think its not worth it. And yes, we got three phone calls reminding us of the dress code too!

 

[biff423]

Ditto on the Navigator Errors. On our sea day they had the kids activities listed in Scuttles Cove instead of Oceaneer Club and there were several other small mistakes. I thought it very odd for an organization that usually thinks of every small detail.

And ditto on the dress code. We saw the same thing on our NYE cruise on the Magic. Come on people - its not like you have to wear tuxes and evening gowns every night. Just follow the guidelines. Showing your kids the proper way to dress for fine dining will be a good lesson.

But the rest of the boat look fabulous and seemed in better shape than when we last sailed on the Magic in 2008. We could tell that there had been updates and everything looked clean.

 

[kcashner]

I spent over 5 weeks on the Magic in 2010. Yes, there were issues that needed to be handled in dry dock, but that is usual.

My suggestion--if there is a stateroom issue, tell your host. If there is something like the broken railing on the balcony mentioned above, tell GS. And, for a really quick response, have a little chat with the Captain at one of the officer receptions. It's amazing how fast something happens after that. Of course, some repairs have to wait for a port stop, and some can only be done in Port Canaveral. We were once moved to a different cabin after 2 solid days of an attempted repair. I finally said that they needed to REPLACE the offending piece, not keep doing ineffective repairs and get these guys out of my cabin. They told me it couldn't be replaced till Port Canaveral, but they did offer me a different cabin.

 

[luvmyprincess]

I finally said that they needed to REPLACE the offending piece, not keep doing ineffective repairs and get these guys out of my cabin. They told me it couldn't be replaced till Port Canaveral, but they did offer me a different cabin.

Gotta ask ...... what was the offending piece, and what does " these guys" refer to ???

 

[kcashner]

The issue was that once the sofa had been flipped to a bed, it couldn't be returned to the sofa again. The room host couldn't do it, so they sent up a couple of maintenance people. They got it back, but the next day the same thing happened. It took 2 hours the first day, and obviously wasn't corrected. The second day, after having 2 repair men in my cabin for 3 hours, I had a chat with GS. We couldn't use the "living room" portion of the cabin at all with them there, couldn't shower, etc. Seemed to me that a replacement sofa/bed would have been the answer. They did offer to do the move to the new cabin for us; I just packed up our stuff myself.

My stateroom host seemed very upset--I kept assuring her that I'd told them it wasn't her fault, and did tip her for the time we were in "her" cabin. Really, it's not HER issue that maintenance can't fix something.

 

[luvmyprincess]

Wow ... that is a real hassle !

Kind of like having contractors working in your house, and taking their sweet time finishing the job !!

Glad they had an available room to move you to !

 

[woody73]

We were on the WBTA right before drydock. Our cabin had frequent plumbing problems. When we called guest relations, they said our whole section was having problems and they're working on it.

One problem, unrelated to the ship's condition, was the TV movie schedule. Movies were not shown when listed.

Woody

 

[lori123]

The most surprising thing - and feel free to flame me - the lack of dress code. I cannot believe the number of people in shorts, tank tops, and flip flops in the main dining rooms. There were so many, that those of us that did dress appropriately looked out of place, rather than the other way around. DH and I kept saying, "Wow, and this is suppose to be the more formal ship." Really? No way. Not on our cruise. The Palo manager literally called us 3 times to remind us of the dress code - maybe they should shift the focus to enforcing it in the main dining rooms.

No flames here - but I do have a question....
I actually posted a question last week asking what shoes to pack. I was told that flip flops were acceptable in the dining room (obviously not for formal night) - that just not to wear shorts, tanks or swimsuits. I was trying to avoid bringing brown shoes to go with the boys khaki pants since we are already bringing black dress shoes, tennis shoes and flops. Thoughts???

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No flames here - but I do have a question....
I actually posted a question last week asking what shoes to pack. I was told that flip flops were acceptable in the dining room (obviously not for formal night) - that just not to wear shorts, tanks or swimsuits. I was trying to avoid bringing brown shoes to go with the boys khaki pants since we are already bringing black dress shoes, tennis shoes and flops. Thoughts???

Well, yes, I do bring all of that on the Magic. Sneakers for casual time, movies etc. Flipflops or crocs for wearing to the beach & pool. Brown casual shoes (sperry topsiders or similar) for casual dining nights and black shoes for formal and semi formal nights. We all bring 4 pr shoes.

For our Dream cruises 3/4 nts b2b, I wonder if they'll have a formal night. If not, we'll leave home the suits & black shoes. Still we'll have 2 garment bags for 4 of us. They'll just be lighter.

 

[crazymadness1990]

Palo has changed. There is a new chef, and he has changed some of the dishes and has new rules. It was definitely not as good as it was on the Wonder in August. A little disappointing.

What's different about Palo?

 

[abacab]

We were on the WBTA right before drydock. Our cabin had frequent plumbing problems. When we called guest relations, they said our whole section was having problems and they're working on it.

Woody

Just curious: what section of the ship was having the plumbing problems? (A particular deck? Fore/aft? Port/starboard?)

 

[denas]

I hope our cruise will be everything it is supposed to be on Jan 29th!! We saved for this cruise for awhile and are treating our in-laws to an anniversary cruise. It will be their first time on Disney (after probably cruising every other line including more than 20 on RCCL). It will be my SILs first cruise. We have been braggin about how wonderful they will find it compared to RCCL in terms of service and are now hearing so many reports, that I am concerned!!

Also, I fail to understand people who won't follow dress guidelines!!! My kids have been taught that there are dress requirements for many things - church, scouts, school, fancy dinners, etc. We don't show up for church in t-shirts or to an evening wedding in hjeans because it shows a lack of respect for the host and others around us. We are military and for over 20 years have grown accustomed to seeing a dress guideline on invitations (unless it is something that has a standard dress requirement like monthly gatherings).

If you don't want to follow the guidelines, there are so many other options - either on the cruise or with another cruiseline that doesn't have any formal requirements. I just think it is sad to teach your children that guidelines just don't apply to them - these same people will wonder why their kids ignore thier curfews in a few years....that guideline is just not important!!!That is part of life!! And I hate the excuse that "I can't take the stuff becuase of airlines" If you can afford a cruise, you can afford $25 to bring the clothes. I have fit everything for our family of 5 into 2 rolling duffles and will only bring 1 carry-on (plus the kids each have a small backpack.) There is just no reason to not pack appropriately for the events you plan to participate in.

 

[5boyz]

We spent 14 days on the Magic last month (WBTA), we did not experience any sewage odors in our stateroom. We were on Deck 5 forward. I did hear of a group that did but they found that the issue and fixed it.

As far as a state of disrepair goes, we did not experience it . After our fifth cruise, we saw the cast cleaning and taking care of issues as always.

Hi I am going on the magic in a few weeks and I am on deck 5 forward rm 5505, how did you like that location? thanks!

 

[Silverfox97]

No flames here - but I do have a question....
I actually posted a question last week asking what shoes to pack. I was told that flip flops were acceptable in the dining room (obviously not for formal night) - that just not to wear shorts, tanks or swimsuits. I was trying to avoid bringing brown shoes to go with the boys khaki pants since we are already bringing black dress shoes, tennis shoes and flops. Thoughts???

No flip flops at main dining time. My DH has nice Cole Haan leather flip flops and wouldn't wear them in the dining rooms. If I were you, I'd go with sneakers over flip flops if you are trying to minimize packing. I will tell you, between the 3 of us, we bring a lot of shoes...........

What's different about Palo?

Well, first off, DH ADORES the quattro frommagio pizza (appetizer). They changed the crust, made it bigger, and changed the sauce, and it was not as good. My calamari was also not as good. For entrees, I asked for the lobster ravoli with a few sea scallops (previously, I was always offered to order 1/2 orders of the entrees, which I had done just in Aug). He told me no, new chef, new rules and the presentation couldn't be sacraficed. OK. Fine. So, I ordered the sea scallop entree, and a half portion of the lobster ravoli (which was OK according to "the chef" because "pasta is pasta no matter how much you order."). It was fine, although not as flavorful as it was in Aug (where I ordered 1/2 lobster ravoli, and 1/2 pumpkin gnocchi). Now, DH loved the beef tenderloin with gargonzola sauce. They didn't ask him how he liked his steak prepared, and it was very overdone. The potatoes that came with it had ZERO flavor. He ate the steak, left the potatoes (we are not complainers, so we didn't complain, send it back, etc. We were simply happy to be there.) For dessert, DH had the sweet pizza, which was delicious, and I ordered my most favorite dessert in the world, tiaramisu. OMG - how caould they screw it up? Well, they did. No lady fingers; instead, the plopped some vanilla ice cream (or presumably gelato) with some cream around it with a topper of cocoa. What?? Are you kidding me? The tiaramisu at our Super Target is better than that. The tiaramisu at Lumiere's/Triton's is better, and last time, Palo's put it to shame.

Had we not just been there in August, it might have been a little different, but an overcooked steak is an overcooked steak, and bad tiaramisu is bad tiaramisu, no matter how you look at it.

I have a trip report posted from our Aug trip, and I will be writing another one, so you will be able to see the difference in pictures.

 

[Dicecatt]

The only flip flops I feel are acceptable are some women's flip flops...and the ones I am talking about need a better name. For example, I have some gold, wedge shoes with jeweled accents that are technically flip flops since the top goes through the toes...but they are very dressy and look great with cutely painted nails and a dress! They have a tall heel and I would never wear them to the beach or the pool. My girls also have some really dressy sandal/flip flops that are not appropriate for the pool, but look awesome with Princess dresses or tutu skirts.

Might be a double standard, but I do believe flip flops on boys or men aren't nice enough for the dining room. Unless those have jewels too .

 

[lori123]

Also, I fail to understand people who won't follow dress guidelines!!! My kids have been taught that there are dress requirements for many things - church, scouts, school, fancy dinners, etc. We don't show up for church in t-shirts or to an evening wedding in hjeans because it shows a lack of respect for the host and others around us. We are military and for over 20 years have grown accustomed to seeing a dress guideline on invitations (unless it is something that has a standard dress requirement like monthly gatherings).

If you don't want to follow the guidelines, there are so many other options - either on the cruise or with another cruiseline that doesn't have any formal requirements. I just think it is sad to teach your children that guidelines just don't apply to them - these same people will wonder why their kids ignore thier curfews in a few years....that guideline is just not important!!!That is part of life!! And I hate the excuse that "I can't take the stuff becuase of airlines" If you can afford a cruise, you can afford $25 to bring the clothes. I have fit everything for our family of 5 into 2 rolling duffles and will only bring 1 carry-on (plus the kids each have a small backpack.) There is just no reason to not pack appropriately for the events you plan to participate in.

Well - to be fair - the "guidelines" don't say anything about jeans and flip flops - how are people supposed to know? Social norms are different all over.

I am actually a big time "rule girl" (as my friends call me - LOL) But there are so many unwritten "rules" to know it seems. I read the DCL dress code and would never go against it, but it makes no mention of jeans or footwear. I think people need to be aware that some of us have never cruised before and wouldn't know the "rules" that are not written out on the DCL info. While I wouldn't wear flip flops and jeans to a wedding - that is perfectly acceptable at our church, or a dinner out to a simple restaurant.

When I posted a question earlier about what shoes to pack - that led to people saying three pairs and mentioned flip flops in the dining room. So, I asked if that was "ok" and not one person said no flip flops.

 

[mndisfam]

Don't want to start a flame wear at all about the dress code - but we are on the opposite side of the spectrum. We are a VERY casual family. I actually warned my fellow DIS cruisers about this ahead of time...not to judge us. For us, coming from MN for a tropical cruise - a big part is underdressing - like skirts with bare legs, open toed sandals. Tommy Bahama/Ricky Ricardo for the guys

Anyway, we could totally care less if we can't partake in an event - we are fine not being included if we chose not to dress.

We just got off the Xmas cruise, and except for formal night - it was the most casually dressed cruise when had been on! Wow - people really stopped dressing up on this cruise.

Of course, part of it might be, you have to pay $25 a way for yr first bag. It was $100 bucks each way for just four bags under 50 lbs - trust me - we tried to pack light!