Magic Christmas Cruise 2010 (Dec 18th - 29th) **** PART III ****

[kehonuamemano]

Just did my DCL online survey.

They didn't send me an email with the online survey this cruise. Does anyone know where I can find it? Or should I call DCL? I have a lot more to say then what would fit on that comment card.

 

[pennymike]

OH! I've been meaning to mention this positive note: We were on the disaster of an excursion on Guadeloupe (supposedly "snorkling at Cousteau Reserve from a glass bottom boat"). It was SO extremely unorganized and poorly run, (right down to them NOT having snorkling equipment and claiming it was NOT part of the excursion. Guess they didn't read the TITLE on their tickets??? )
Anyway, knowing that this is a new stop for DCL, we figured they should be informed about how the tour operators work out (or don't!), so we filled out a fairly lengthy feedback form at the excursion desk/Guest Services. We didn't expect anything from it for US....just to let them know for future reference. The excursion desk cast member called and left us messages repeatedly to assure us that they were in the process of contacting the tour operators, even let us know when they were delayed in contacting them due to the company being closed over the Xmas holiday; At the end of it, they got the company to refund 50% of our excursion cost. We hadn't even asked for anything of the sort, so we were VERY impressed by the customer service on this one.
Now THAT'S the "Disney Difference" we were missing in other parts of this cruise, huh?


On a side note.....I've often been a little surprised at the tweens that are 'loose' on the ship, especially when we've had a room on the same deck where their club is. Oh, and ESPECIALLY on these longer itineraries, when they have more time to 'get acquainted'! DH and I are often commenting on the "gangs" congregating on stairways, sprawled out in the middle of the floor right in front of the elevators drawing, writing, eating.... (really???? that's the best place you could find????), discussing (loudly) who's kissed who.... (I can b/c I'm not the parent.....might be more like for them!)
Often wondered if the parents of these kiddos were assuming they were safely monitored IN the clubs at these times, or if they were just comfortable letting them 'loose'... ? Looked like they were all having FUN, just far more unstructured fun than WE were ever allowed to have as kids!

Just a few thoughts
Penny

 

[momssurprise]

I sent a four page letter to DCL by email and snail mail. They have acknowledged receipt and asked if I would prefer my response by email or snail mail. I told them email is fine. I didn't ask for anything so nit sure how they will respond, but if I'm given the chance I will direct them to our comments -- good and bad. It is Disney after all, I think they will figure it out. I did see somewhere that the guy in charge is much more interested in Disney Adventures and DCL has suffered. No clue if this is true.

 

[3PrincessGrandma]

Can anyone tell me who I might contact our dining room server? I really would like to send her a small item from the cruise.

Lois

 

[miatamel]

Yep - saw that one! Wonder how that would compare - a cruise FULL of 7-8-9-10 year old girls! I think that might be too much drama even for me!

We're going! My mom booked for her, me and the girls today! It sold out within hours of it going online Saturday or Monday (whatever day they said) and we were told this morning they were trying to get additional cabins from Celebrity because demand was so high. I kept refreshing the AG page every couple of minutes until hurrah! the reservation page popped up. Just between me typing the info and getting to the payment page (at 102 wpm, I might add) all were gone but one and the suites. But I got the verandah room on Deck 7! I checked again right away and yep, they were all gone again. I noticed tonight they had opened up a few more, but only for 1, 2 or 3 folks.

We were told they (originally) only allotted 150 cabins, so it's not a boatload of squealing girls and their mini-mes. (thanks, lord). I've seen on cruise critic already some people that had already booked this T'giving cruise were aghast at all the children now apparently going to be on board this high-end not necessarily kid oriented cruise line because there are LOTS of activities planned that will take up some venue space, not to mention dining space with the little mini-me chairs. Someone on cc was told not to worry, additional personnel would be onboard it.

I don't care--I don't get the AG love, but it's a Nana/granddaughters thing and I get to tag along--for free!! (I just hope they don't make me do all that AG crap with them. Just saying)

But, listen, I'll be kind of glad to have something else to compare DCL with now. The more I read here, the more I am disgusted with how much we paid.

 

[Fyrmedic654]

.. T


I finally decided to give a somewhat review of our 11 days aboard the Magic. Please forgive me if there are typos since I am actually doing it from my Droid. I had done it twice on the laptop but I guess after the band of storms we had go through earlier the cable company is experiencing outages.

Ok a little background to start....my husband is a firefighter /Paramedic and I am an OB nurse. We have two kids...a daughter 3 and a son who turned 1 yesterday. We are by no means filthy rich.... I say this because its something thata lot of people seemed to think since we were able to do this cruise. The truth is we wanted to do something special because for the past two Christmases I had severe health issues and we wanted to celebrate since those are behind us right now. Ok there's a little background.......so here we go...........

We arrived in PC the day before and stayed at the Residence Inn which we thought was a very nice hotel. We wanted to participate in some of the DIS meets at other hotels that night but it was impossible to do with small kids so we got some dinner and just hung out in the room for the night. Finally the day we had waited for was here so we headed to porr bright and early and turned all our bags minus carry ons to the porters. The weather was awful as everyone knows but thankfully we got in the terminal quickly. We even made friends along the way! Skypixy and her family became smiling faces we loved seeing for the next 11 days! We checked in with no issues and boarded fairly quickly but not bef our daughter shared some snacks with a lovely lady who I later found out were "thegales". We would of loved to get to know you guys better and others on here but the series of unfortunate events that followed kind of paved the way for most of our extra time on the ship. We got to our stateroom which we honestly thought was great! We had a verandah family stateroom on floor 7 and while smaller than what we are used too it was great for us. I could definitely see how 4 grown adults would have space issues but for our family it worked great. Upon getting there we found two of the gifts we preordered one of which was just a card to pick up the item from Mickeys Mates. Ok so onw missing....no biggie since the girl who delivererd them was right outside our door. My husband stuck his head out and asked her about it. She replied that she was still delivering and that we would get it soon. Still no biggie....we went about our business in getting aquainted with our new home for the next 11 days. We got through the muster drill them decided to go back to rest since we had late dining. Our bags started arriving right away so when my piece of luggage didn't arrive we just figured it would come later. So dinner time arrived and thats when panic began to set in. Guest Services assured us it happens all the time and that we would definitely have by bag by Sunday. I do take fault in not packing mixed pieces of luggage so that if one got lost would have some options left in other bags but being a first I thought organized and separate pieces for each of us was the way to do it. So after dinner we just relaxed until our son dropped some juice all over the bed. DH called housekeeping and I get that it was the first night and they were busy so all we needed was them to give us the linens and we would change it ourselves. The guy got there quickly and I answered. He shoved two sheets at me and said he forgot the mattress pad and blanket so he would go get them and would be right back. Still not a big deal to me....just thought the guy was a little cranky...lol. An hour passed and still no return. So we called housekeeping and got told someone would be right up. Another hour passed and while my husband was down at Guest Services to describe my bag to them he asked them if he could just be given the linens. The CM told him we were on vacation and would not want him to do that so he got HK on the line and were assured by the time my husband got back to the room our linens would be there. Another hour passed and were so tired at that point that we ended up sleeping on the bed with a sheet. Luckily our daughter had the bedding she needed and our son laid with us. It was taken care of by our room hostess the next day.
So Sunday afternoon still no bag and after a lengthly conversation with GS we were told they would send me up a formal dress and give a small credit that got me two tshirts in the gift shop for the inconvience. I was ok with this at that point because at least they were trying right? The kids were having a blast so the rest would work out. The Oceaneers club was the highlight for us because they treated both our kids so well. Of course the younger one was not left there but every time they came in contact with him they called him by name and played with him. Our daughter never wanted to leave there.....we would all have to coherce her to come out.....LOL! I thought the wave phones were great too! Service was a bit shotty at first but it seemed to work itself out. So off to formal night we went....it may sound silly but I was so uncomfortable with being in someone elses clothes and not the things I intended on wearing. Its true that you never fully realize a situation until you experience it yourself and I hated the experience of lost luggage so far. We had a blinking light waiting when we got our room.....the message stating they found my bag and it would meet us in St.Marteen. Yay I could finally breathe a little. The followong morning our FE extender stocking was stolen. I think of everything that happened or was to come I was bothered most about that. I couldnt believe someone would be that cold hearted to take something like that. It held great sentimental value to my husband and yes we both questioned using it in the first place but we truly didn't think anyone would be that mean. Boy were we wrong. For the rest of the cruise we used the giftbag my one and only toiletry bag from GS came in. To everyone participating in the FE the gifts were neautiful and really brightened our days. Our kids loved it. So after all of this we stopped by GS to see what we had to do in order to get my bag the following day. After the deer in headlights look from a GS supervisor she walked away only to come back and say we have not found your bag. We are still waiting to hear back from contacting the terminal. At this point the snowball effect kicked on.....the missing gift we had yet to receive,.the linen situation, the theft which I know was not in their control but it added to the frustration once we found out we were kind of getting the runaround. My husband continued to talk to the supervisor as over GS looked on. Linda the gift lady came out to abuse me that she must of delivered the gift to the wrong room but since no one returned it they did not have anymore onboard since it a preordered gift. Ok so I ask for a refund which she had no problem with until the supervisor popped up and said that refunds are not easy to do without having shore approval. I was so mad at this point I asked if anything period can be done on the ship without shore approval and that it seemed easy for them to charge our staterooms for things withour shore approval. For anyone that knows me they would tell you I am not a confrontational person but at this point I was beyond frustrated and DH was fuming. Linda did not find the supervisors answer appropriate either and asked for the chance to fix the situation. I told her if she had another toy to substitute I would gladly pay the difference or an even exchange. Off to dinner we went still irritated and not really knowing what to do since th supervisor told us my bag was now a closed matter since it never happens and that I must of left my bag at home since it turned up nowhere on the ship. First off these are the same people that told us it happens all the time and secondly why in the world would someone leave all their belongings at home. Trust me it wouldnt be worth the trouble. About halfway through our dinner a CM from GS who we had not dealt with directly asked if she could sit down and see if there was anything she could do to help. She was almost in tears for the way we had been treated and said that it definitey wasn't the best they could do in her mind. Shedid some extra investigated only to hit wlls but directed my husband to work up the chain. I don't want to mention by name but in our opinioon she should of been one of the people with an upper management position. My husband spoke with "Tomas" who was a manager of something or other. We thought maybe he would have answers or some sort of conpromise. The first thing out of his mouth was "Well we have been in two ports.why haven't you gone out and replaced everything we lost"? Needless to day we were shocked at that point. To be continued..........

 

[Fyrmedic654]

e After that questioned my husband looked at him and walked out of his office. He seriously stood there and made us feel awful that we didn't use money we set aside for other things to fix their error.From that meeting we met with Captain John who called every person who we had dealth with to inform them that it was by no means a closed issue. However at that point I faced the fact that I would remain without my things for the rest of the trip. We got a phonecall from GS to give us another 200 OBC and that their hands were tied. Also we should file it under the travel insurance. To finish up the bag stoet we stopped by lost and found in the terminal last Wednesday and there it was the red bag they swore didn't exist. Not the disney expectation I had. I will say though Linda and our friend from GS did go above and beyond for the kids on Pirate Night and Christmas Eve. It showed us at least someone cared.

Ok onto our experience with the Tween group. There were a few scenarios where I thought what the hell just happened. One being Pirate Night...our daughter was dancing and having a great time when this boy no more than ten came up to her and took her sword right from her hands. My husband and I were like WTH? There was not a parent in sight so my husband went and got her a new one. The following day after lunch in Lumieres I caught the elevator to go to the kids club. There was a teenage girl and younger boy in it already. My hands were full so I asked them if they could hit floor 5. The girl point blank looked at me and said "F off" and both left the elevator after hitting the button for every floor only to make funny faces as the door closed. Another WTH moment and realized what proud parents they must have. The elevators were an issue in themselves. Having a stroller most times meant we were limited to using them and that came with people young and old shoving us out of the way after we waited 30 minutes or so or having the doors simply closed in our faces. I think my husbands favorite story from the ship was when we took the kids to see Tangled. There was a family of adults blocking off the seats around them because there was too many kids. I mean seriously is a Disney Cruise let alone a brand new Disney Cartoon for you if you can't tolerate kids????????? Tangled was great even with the complaining. We did not do any excursions but I did bring my daughter for the princess special mani/pedi with pixie dust at the spa. Total great experience until the girl couldnt figure out why the polish would not stay on my daughters fingernails. She thought maybe there was something wrong with the sealant or topcoat she used so she re-did it. By the time she finished again once again she even said it looked awful. Her toenails and pixiedust were great so I was happy with just credited the fingernail portion back since we didnt have all day to keep re-doing it. The girl said she was taking the whole thing off since the service was not completed to her standands. I left a nice tip since she spent the time to try and fix it. I never gave it a second thought until we got the final bill and the whole amount was on there. Even something as simple as tgis could not go easy for us. We called the spa and waited for a response back. Nothing. Discussed it with GS who magically got the Spa Manager on the phone who told her under no circumstances does the spa refund. They will keep doing something all day until it works but she refused to refund. At this point I really didn't care....i will just not use the spa if we cruise Disney again. I was told my GS that the spa is a vendor and that meant they could do nothing either. Whether it was true or not who knows.

Overall would I go on this trip again? Yes....the joy in our kids faces helped with the behind the svenes things they knew nothing about. Would I recommend DCL to a friend? Yes....but would also caution them that everything magical is not Disney. Did we have a good time overall? Yes we did...we ended up spending way too much time trying to fix thins we had no control over and it took away from meeting a lot of the board people and I.regret that. Did I think the cruise was worth the price we paid? I am still out on that one....our CC ended up being charged 4x the amount of our final bill which is a battle I am gladly letting the credit card company handle.
I really did not mean to sound like a complainer in this post. I just thought as a first time cruising family we should share our experience. We found the food ok....mainly because our sons gluten allergy and husbands allergy was not handled the way we were told.at booking but we worked with it despite chaos and confusion. Our tablemates were great though. I was glad to see LeiLani and family and also happy to meet Skypixy and family. Their humor helped alot with the luggafe situation. I look forward to keeping in contact with them! We also thought the ship was beautiful and really could not of asked for more with the characters interactions with our kids. This experience didn't ruin DCL for us completely as it did have some magical moments.

Christie

Again sorry for babbling so much.

 

[Fyrmedic654]

So many typos.....gosh darn touchpad lol. Forgive me....i am sure every one will figure out main details lol.

 

[itutorfortravel]

We're going! My mom booked for her, me and the girls today! It sold out within hours of it going online Saturday or Monday (whatever day they said) and we were told this morning they were trying to get additional cabins from Celebrity because demand was so high. I kept refreshing the AG page every couple of minutes until hurrah! the reservation page popped up. Just between me typing the info and getting to the payment page (at 102 wpm, I might add) all were gone but one and the suites. But I got the verandah room on Deck 7! I checked again right away and yep, they were all gone again. I noticed tonight they had opened up a few more, but only for 1, 2 or 3 folks.

We were told they (originally) only allotted 150 cabins, so it's not a boatload of squealing girls and their mini-mes. (thanks, lord). I've seen on cruise critic already some people that had already booked this T'giving cruise were aghast at all the children now apparently going to be on board this high-end not necessarily kid oriented cruise line because there are LOTS of activities planned that will take up some venue space, not to mention dining space with the little mini-me chairs. Someone on cc was told not to worry, additional personnel would be onboard it.

I don't care--I don't get the AG love, but it's a Nana/granddaughters thing and I get to tag along--for free!! (I just hope they don't make me do all that AG crap with them. Just saying)

But, listen, I'll be kind of glad to have something else to compare DCL with now. The more I read here, the more I am disgusted with how much we paid.

You are so lucky to be going on the AG cruise! We got our new AG catalog this week and when I saw that I wanted so badly to book it. As a family we've only done DCL, but this last cruise wasn't as magical as the others, and DH has wanted to try Celebrity so I was seriously considering booking it. However, when I read that you have to put 1/2 down upfront and that the cancellation penalties start right away (starting at 25%), I had to forgo it. My DD LOVES AG and would have jumped for joy at going and I have heard Celebrity is top-notch so I think it would have been great, but I can't gamble with losing a minimum of $1000 in the event we would need to cancel. But it will be a fantastic cruise and I know you will have the time of your life. I hope you will come back to the DIS boards and share your experience.

 

[itutorfortravel]

e After that questioned my husband looked at him and walked out of his office. He seriously stood there and made us feel awful that we didn't use money we set aside for other things to fix their error.From that meeting we met with Captain John who called every person who we had dealth with to inform them that it was by no means a closed issue. However at that point I faced the fact that I would remain without my things for the rest of the trip. We got a phonecall from GS to give us another 200 OBC and that their hands were tied. Also we should file it under the travel insurance. To finish up the bag stoet we stopped by lost and found in the terminal last Wednesday and there it was the red bag they swore didn't exist. Not the disney expectation I had. I will say though Linda and our friend from GS did go above and beyond for the kids on Pirate Night and Christmas Eve. It showed us at least someone cared.

Ok onto our experience with the Tween group. There were a few scenarios where I thought what the hell just happened. One being Pirate Night...our daughter was dancing and having a great time when this boy no more than ten came up to her and took her sword right from her hands. My husband and I were like WTH? There was not a parent in sight so my husband went and got her a new one. The following day after lunch in Lumieres I caught the elevator to go to the kids club. There was a teenage girl and younger boy in it already. My hands were full so I asked them if they could hit floor 5. The girl point blank looked at me and said "F off" and both left the elevator after hitting the button for every floor only to make funny faces as the door closed. Another WTH moment and realized what proud parents they must have. The elevators were an issue in themselves. Having a stroller most times meant we were limited to using them and that came with people young and old shoving us out of the way after we waited 30 minutes or so or having the doors simply closed in our faces. I think my husbands favorite story from the ship was when we took the kids to see Tangled. There was a family of adults blocking off the seats around them because there was too many kids. I mean seriously is a Disney Cruise let alone a brand new Disney Cartoon for you if you can't tolerate kids????????? Tangled was great even with the complaining. We did not do any excursions but I did bring my daughter for the princess special mani/pedi with pixie dust at the spa. Total great experience until the girl couldnt figure out why the polish would not stay on my daughters fingernails. She thought maybe there was something wrong with the sealant or topcoat she used so she re-did it. By the time she finished again once again she even said it looked awful. Her toenails and pixiedust were great so I was happy with just credited the fingernail portion back since we didnt have all day to keep re-doing it. The girl said she was taking the whole thing off since the service was not completed to her standands. I left a nice tip since she spent the time to try and fix it. I never gave it a second thought until we got the final bill and the whole amount was on there. Even something as simple as tgis could not go easy for us. We called the spa and waited for a response back. Nothing. Discussed it with GS who magically got the Spa Manager on the phone who told her under no circumstances does the spa refund. They will keep doing something all day until it works but she refused to refund. At this point I really didn't care....i will just not use the spa if we cruise Disney again. I was told my GS that the spa is a vendor and that meant they could do nothing either. Whether it was true or not who knows.

Overall would I go on this trip again? Yes....the joy in our kids faces helped with the behind the svenes things they knew nothing about. Would I recommend DCL to a friend? Yes....but would also caution them that everything magical is not Disney. Did we have a good time overall? Yes we did...we ended up spending way too much time trying to fix thins we had no control over and it took away from meeting a lot of the board people and I.regret that. Did I think the cruise was worth the price we paid? I am still out on that one....our CC ended up being charged 4x the amount of our final bill which is a battle I am gladly letting the credit card company handle.
I really did not mean to sound like a complainer in this post. I just thought as a first time cruising family we should share our experience. We found the food ok....mainly because our sons gluten allergy and husbands allergy was not handled the way we were told.at booking but we worked with it despite chaos and confusion. Our tablemates were great though. I was glad to see LeiLani and family and also happy to meet Skypixy and family. Their humor helped alot with the luggafe situation. I look forward to keeping in contact with them! We also thought the ship was beautiful and really could not of asked for more with the characters interactions with our kids. This experience didn't ruin DCL for us completely as it did have some magical moments.

Christie

Again sorry for babbling so much.

I am so sorry to hear of the troubles you had. It sounds like a lot of people had issues on this cruise. Aside from my DH getting sick, our cruise was overall good. Another family we know from our hometown was on the cruise and being with them and their kids and all the DIS group activities made it a wonderful time, but had it just been the 3 of us not knowing anyone I wouldn't have rated it as being over the top special. There just wasn't that Disney magic that I've felt on our other cruises. I'd like to believe that it was an exception to the rule. We want to try one of the new ships but we're going to wait to hear some reviews before we decide for sure.

 

[Liz Arjay]

So many typos.....gosh darn touchpad lol. Forgive me....i am sure every one will figure out main details lol.

Sorry about your travel hassles, but hope that those memories will fade while memories of your kids' happiness will grow!

One of my husband's bags didn't arrive until late the first night, after late dinner, and we were starting to panic. It does really screw things up to be out a bag.

Liz

 

[HFC1969]

.. T


I am actually doing it from my Droid. .........

Im impressed... you typed alot on a smart phone.. I would have definately needed a keyboard..

I do agree with one of you last statements.... the for our made the trip...

You can't get that on RCCL or any of the others...

 

[mndisfam]

I never post (as DW does this for us), but wanted to thank all of the many new friends we met through this board and on-board. So many interesting personalities from all over the USA/world. Wished we could have raised a few more pints together!

All the best in 2011.....

 

[miatamel]

Since my FE suitcase is still sitting on the dining room table and The German's patience is wearing thin, and I might just need it for the AG cruise next November, thought I would go thru it this fine morning. Having so much fun!! Okay, I want to say that I have touched and looked at every single thing and enjoyed every piece of candy, eraser, pencil and all the goodies we received. That being said, I want to acknowledge just a few in particular...

The three that have absolutely made my eyes pop out of my head:

The little booklet thingie from the brown paper bags. Oh. My. Goodness. Besides the cleverness of it all, I have listened to the "alternative" Christmas CD--love it--and have enjoyed many times over the Disney Vault CD. I didn't have any Disney music and I have sat in my kitchen and just cried like a baby. Yes, I am clearly insane.

And that wonderful little makeup bag (I call it) done by jenedpey. I don't know how she managed that one, but gosh I love it!

And Melissa--tinksmischief-oh my! Mad skillz on the tie dye there, girlfriend. ADORE my bandana. And your talent. Let the girls try to pry that one out of my cold, dead hands!!

I don't know who to credit for that amazing little embroidered ornament with the candy cane thru it. Also one of my faves. So much time and thought and I adore it.

Dawn and Paige--am listening to my cruise CD at this very second. Great, great choices! Yay you!!

Joann--I don't think I ever commented to you personally about your ornament. Wow--you did how many of those??! And worked? And took care of family?? You are officially my new hero. Thank you so much--I appreciate every single stitch.

Pam St. John--well, honey, I adored you before and then I get that amazing clever little photo album??! If I didn't like you so much, I wouldn't like you!! It was cuter than a babies bottom and can't wait to put some pics of the girls in there.

Leilani, you couldn't have made me any happier than you did with that chapstick. I'm addicted to the stuff and now I have some that's personalized with our cruise? Win, win!! And just the sheer volume of things you personalized and gave--seems like every day we had more goodies from you and your family. Thank you for all of them.

Sweet, sweet, beautiful Lisa--StLucieLady--gosh, where on earth did you come up with that personlized cruise dry erase board? With special little magnet thingies?! It's great--and so very useful for our scatter brained household.

The white tote bag with the Mickey heads--saw them all over the ship! I know I used mine during the cruise!! sooo great!

Also loved loved the luggage tags (espcially since TSA lost my fave one on the trip going so was glad to get these!), the little first aid kid, ALL my magnets, now on our drink frig.

Really, really loved everything and it was so much fun participating. Y'all made what turned out to be an ordinary cruise into an extraordinary one.

Who loves ya, baby? I DO!!

 

[cquick]

.from that meeting we met with captain john who called every person who we had dealth with to inform them that it was by no means a closed issue. i'm glad you talked to the captain, but these issues should not have happened in the first place!however at that point i faced the fact that i would remain without my things for the rest of the trip.
Ok onto our experience with the tween group. There were a few scenarios where i thought what the hell just happened. One being pirate night...our daughter was dancing and having a great time when this boy no more than ten came up to her and took her sword right from her hands. My husband and i were like wth? There was not a parent in sight so my husband went and got her a new one. The following day after lunch in lumieres i caught the elevator to go to the kids club. There was a teenage girl and younger boy in it already. My hands were full so i asked them if they could hit floor 5. The girl point blank looked at me and said "f off" and both left the elevator after hitting the button for every floor only to make funny faces as the door closed. Another wth moment and realized what proud parents they must have.
i am amazed at the trouble you had with teenagers! I guess we were just lucky not to come across the ones you met! I sure wish the parents of these kids were around, but i guess they assume they are alright on the ship alone.
the elevators were an issue in themselves. Having a stroller most times meant we were limited to using them and that came with people young and old shoving us out of the way after we waited 30 minutes or so or having the doors simply closed in our faces. we had some unsually rude elevator experiences too, especially since we are pushing a wheelchair. I don't know how many times able bodied people would run to the elevator before us, knowing that we couldn't get there! And never once did anyone on a full elevator get off and say, oh, i can walk the one floor i have to go!

overall would i go on this trip again? Yes....the joy in our kids faces helped with the behind the svenes things they knew nothing about. Would i recommend dcl to a friend? Yes....but would also caution them that everything magical is not disney. T on that one..
I really did not mean to sound like a complainer in this post.

Christie

dear christie, i think you are very forgiving of dcl. We have gone on 14 cruises and all together have never had the problems you had on one! I hope you write the cruise line, as well as putting your thoughts on the disboards.

 

[cquick]

the three that have absolutely made my eyes pop out of my head:

The little booklet thingie from the brown paper bags. me too! oh. My. Goodness. Besides the cleverness of it all, i have listened to the "alternative" christmas cd--love it--and have enjoyed many times over the disney vault cd. I didn't have any disney music and i have sat in my kitchen and just cried like a baby. Yes, i am clearly insane.

And that wonderful little makeup bag (i call it) done by jenedpey. I don't know how she managed that one, but gosh i love it! Mee too!

And melissa--tinksmischief-oh my! Mad skillz on the tie dye there, girlfriend. Adore my bandana. And your talent. Let the girls try to pry that one out of my cold, dead hands!!

I don't know who to credit for that amazing little embroidered ornament with the candy cane thru it. Also one of my faves. So much time and thought and i adore it.
Joann--i don't think i ever commented to you personally about your ornament. Wow--you did how many of those??! And worked? And took care of family?? You are officially my new hero. Thank you so much--i appreciate every single stitch and don't forget the crossstitched bookmark! I have used it every day!

leilani, you couldn't have made me any happier than you did with that chapstick. I'm addicted to the stuff and now i have some that's personalized with our cruise? Win, win!! And just the sheer volume of things you personalized and gave--seems like every day we had more goodies from you and your family. Thank you for all of them.
The white tote bag with the mickey heads--saw them all over the ship! I know i used mine during the cruise!! Sooo great! i am carrying that one on the dream cruise tomorrow!!!!

!!

i want to add the first aid kit, i cut myself shaving and used the bandaids the same day it came!

And the yankee candle air freshener! I might just have to copy that one on a future cruise!

 

[cquick]

.. T
upon getting there we found two of the gifts we preordered one of which was just a card to pick up the item from mickeys mates. Ok so onw missing....no biggie since the girl who delivererd them was right outside our door. i have never preordered gifts, this makes me decide not to do it, for sure! so after dinner we just relaxed until our son dropped some juice all over the bed. Dh called housekeeping and i get that it was the first night and they were busy so all we needed was them to give us the linens and we would change it ourselves. i don't care how busy they are, the bed should have been changed, no matter how late!the guy got there quickly and i answered. what is going on with guest services??????
I have been on 14 disneycruises, and never had a \fe stolen!!! This amazes me!!!! tlinda the gift lady came out to abuse me that she must of delivered the gift to the wrong room but since no one returned it they did not have anymore onboard since it a preordered gift. she should have immediately gone to the gift shop to make up a new gift for you! That';s the best way to lose business.....write a letter!my husband spoke with "tomas" who was a manager of something or other. We thought maybe he would have answers or some sort of conpromise. The first thing out of his mouth was "well we have been in two ports.why haven't you gone out and replaced everything we lost"? remind me not to talk to tomas!!!!!needless to day we were shocked at that point. ....

i am so sorry you had such trouble.......

 

[cquick]

Wow, that is slow. I never dined at Topsiders and now glad I didn't. I don't like the chaotic atmosphere. IT'S NOT CHAOTIC AT THE EVENING MEAL. WE LIKE TO GO TO TOPSIDERS SOMETIMES AT DINNER TO GET THE SALAD BAR INSTEAD OF GOING TO THE DINING ROOM. WE NEVER HAVE HAD A WAIT.

Our main dining servers were really great - Cornwall and Danielo. WE HAD DANIELO A COUPLE CRUISES AGO! I WISH WE HAD REQUESTED HIM THIS TIME....OUR SERVERS WERE NOT TOO GOOD!

!

What online survey? I need one of those!

 

[cquick]

I had to substitute items on almost half of our FEs since I was not able to complete 64 cross stitched bookmarks of the "MAGIC". I am still making them and would like to mail one to anyone that received my substitute FE. Please PM me if you would like a bookmark.

Lois

AS YOU KNOW......I LOVE LOVE LOVE MY BOOKMARK! I'LL USE IT TILL IT FALLS APART.....

 

[momssurprise]

Christie,

I'm so sorry for all the incidents on the cruise. We were right down the hall
(7086) from you and wanted to cry every time we went by your stateroom and saw the note about your Patriots stocking. I told my DD that DCL should go stateroom by stateroom to find it.

And all the other incidents? I feel like a big ole woosie for whining about our experience!

I hope DCL tries to partially make up for their shoddy customer service by offering you a big ole discount on a future cruise. I have heard they sometimes do this.

Wendy