Maiden Voyage Issues - They will be resolved!!!

[KevinNYC]

Maiden Voyage issues are exciting to voyagers but also a serious test for the crew and planned services.
Every new vessel or operation has to have a "shake down" for a few cruises to locate the kinks and resolve them. Maybe even more than just a few early cruises.
We have been on over 13 DCL cruises and already booked our BTB Dream Cruises for mid 2012. We purposely chose to forego an earlier Dream cruise to give DCL time to get the kinks out of the system. We initially did the same with the Magic and then the Wonder and have been more than pleased with each cruise.
Who better to identify any early problems and resolve them than Disney?
Yes, some initial voyagers expected perfection and some were disappointed. No one can deliver perfection on day one - out of the box - even DCL.
But, we forget that despite all the training, preparation and anticipation that things do go astray at the beginning.
Believe it or not, opening day at Disneyland and later at the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT in WDW were plagued with some mishaps and some design missteps. But, those were addressed and corrected as time went on and we enjoyed the parks and return as often as we can.
So, perhaps the Dream dinner service, pool, merchandise lines and other issues detracted from an otherwise spectacular cruise adventure for some. The best thing I can say is that I have the belief that the DCL will listen to complaints and suggestions and address them.
All it takes is a little bit of faith, trust and pixey dust. (now, who said that first?)
Also, remember that all cruise lines probably have maiden voyage issues.
Remember the Titanic???
DCL will continue to be, in my opinion, the best cruise line ever!!!

 

[bbn1122]

I agree with you totally!!!

Dreaming of my August cruise....

 

[CruznLexi]

My husband used to work for RCI and will not let me cruise on any ship until it has been in service for at least 6 months. Too many issues and crew not trained plus why pay the big bucks for a not so great experience.

 

[kcashner]

OP has it right!

We were on the MV of the Magic. It was not only the MV of a ship, but of a cruise line...and it had LOTS of problems. Seriously, WAY more issues than anything on the Dream!

We cruised again 17 months later, and ALL the issues had been resolved.

Cruising on the MV gives you certain bragging rights and souvenirs, but it also means that you deal with what isn't quite perfect yet. DCL WILL get there, and I suspect it will happen quickly.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Very true! I remember reading about how horrible "Dedication Day" at DLR was. 101 degrees and no working water fountains, plus more than twice the expected guests!

 

[DindelsPA]

And remember, even DCL cannot control the biggest variable..the guests!!! If you think about it, your fellow passengers can influence your cruise a whole lot more than waiting in a few extra lines IMHO.

 

[tinkrbell929]

woo hooo couldnt have said it better myself!!

 

[lindaso]

We sail on the Dream in 3 weeks and I will not get stressed by all the negativity. If you wanna sail on something brand new, you gotta take the new with the bad!! In our case, Feb. break is the only time we can go away due to work, school and sports and we wanted the Dream. I have told my family that we have to go with the flow, use some of the crowd-avoidance strategies we implement at WDW and make our own good time!!

Our 1st trip on the Magic we had a horrible wait staff and that was years into Magic sailings so there are no guarantees.

For everyone sailing in February...don't stress, have a great time!!!!

 

[katml14]

OP- this is so true. I don't understand why everyone gets so stressed out about the negative feedback. If you go on a cruise within 6 months of the maiden voyage, I think you have to expect that there will be some kinks that need to be worked out. And yes, we are all paying a significant amount of money to go on these cruises, but if you are so worried about the slow/bad/subpar service just WAIT a couple of months and it will get better!

 

[cmash95]

we are sailing the dream in june and we get five days for less than what some paid for the MV. I would never sail a ship much sooner than six months out. Like the others say, I don't want to spend a boatload of money to get sub par service. I thought that disney said that they weren't going to have new crew members onboard the dream for at least 6 months. Iguess they couldnt get enough of the existing staff to tranfer.

 

[cindy18]

We sail on the Dream in 3 weeks and I will not get stressed by all the negativity. If you wanna sail on something brand new, you gotta take the new with the bad!! In our case, Feb. break is the only time we can go away due to work, school and sports and we wanted the Dream. I have told my family that we have to go with the flow, use some of the crowd-avoidance strategies we implement at WDW and make our own good time!!

Our 1st trip on the Magic we had a horrible wait staff and that was years into Magic sailings so there are no guarantees.

For everyone sailing in February...don't stress, have a great time!!!!

Thanks for these positive thoughts! We are on the 2/20 Dream, and we are a large group. It's our 4th cruise but most of the people in the group will be cruising, not just on Disney but in general, for the very first time. We rave about DCL, so I had been getting a little anxious that things wouldn't get sufficiently amazing for them. I'm going to try hard to tune out the negativity and focus on how beautiful the ship looks and how much fun we're going to have.