jodifla
WDW lover since 1972
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
- Messages
- 11,605
This was our second Disney cruise, and my 10th cruise overall. Overall, we had a terrific vacation, and rebooked onboard. Its a beautiful ship, and my DS just loved being on Mickeys boat.
I know theres a lot of Disney vs. Every Other Cruise lLne on these boards, but my opinion is that DCL complements the other lines. Theres good and bad, pros and cons on all of them: So heres what I really think of the whole experience, weighing in our past cruises, too.
The good things:
The ship: Its classy, and very well kept. Fresh-water pools are a terrific touch.
The room: DCL has the best designed rooms afloat, I think. All the space is so well used, and the bathrooms are genius. The theming is great. Love having a bath tub when you have small kids. We were very comfortable in our category six room.
The food: The food has come a long way since we sailed in September 2004. All our meals were flavorful and well-prepared. The wraps, fruit and veggies by the Mickey pool are great.
Castaway Cay: As everyone has said, a beautiful island, with many Disney touches and Disney theming.
The disappointments:
The ship service was good, but not great: Frankly, Ive had better service on other cruises. Our dining servers were good, but to me seemed most concerned about the bottom line, which for them is how wed fill out our survey card. Our stateroom attendant was one of the most indifferent Ive had on any cruise. We got off to a bad start when there was no ice or even glasses in our room when we sailed. We had to call TWICE to get them. And at one point later in the cruise, I was heading down the hall, and she handed me my ice bucket to take to my room. Our DVC magnet was stolen from our door, and when I asked if I could get another one, she told me to go check with the DVC staff onboard. Any other cruise Ive been on, and she would have asked herself. This isnt deal breaker stuff, but its not top notch, either.
The ship was really, really crowded at night: The public areas, like the atrium, just seemed jam-packed in the evening, much more so than other ships weve been on. We retreated to our room for the quiet.
Some evenings, there wasnt much for adults to do: Particularly the Pirates Night. Everything else on the ship closes for this party, which goes on too long. Its fine if you want to go there, but if you dont, the rest of the ship is pretty much shut down. Sessions was nice, but underused and the piano player wasnt often there. There was never anybody in the disco when we passed by.
Oceaneers club was an absolute zoo some nights: My son didnt want to stay there some evenings because it was literally a madhouse, just jammed with kids. He begged to go back to the room so he could lie down. The staff was great, though. I singled out them in the comment cards. There was lots of free time in the clubs, and I think my DS may have been more engaged if they were doing activities in there. Also, since they didn't like down until 10 p.m. (kinda late for 3 & 4 year olds) he really preferred to go back to the room so he could lie down.
The dining options: Topsiders is pretty small for a buffet area. I really like the Windjammer Cafés on RCL. These get better each time I sail RCL.
Mixed: Palos brunch was superb, dinner was just OK, partly because the dining rooms are so much better now. It took forever to get served at Palo at dinner.
Adding these all up, I'll be looking around to see if perhaps the Freedom of the Seas or one of the Princess boats will be a good fit for us for our next cruise, particularly if I can get a mini-suite for the price of our category six we have booked now. I like the idea of the freestyle dining on Princess, as well as their freshwater pools.
And the new RCI boats look amazing. I'll eagerly be reading their trip reports to see if its the right fit for our family, or if Disney remains the best, in spite of the high prices. In-room sitting would be another benefit for us, since DS likes to go to bed early after he's been swimming all day.
Hope this helps people who are weighing all their options...
I know theres a lot of Disney vs. Every Other Cruise lLne on these boards, but my opinion is that DCL complements the other lines. Theres good and bad, pros and cons on all of them: So heres what I really think of the whole experience, weighing in our past cruises, too.
The good things:
The ship: Its classy, and very well kept. Fresh-water pools are a terrific touch.
The room: DCL has the best designed rooms afloat, I think. All the space is so well used, and the bathrooms are genius. The theming is great. Love having a bath tub when you have small kids. We were very comfortable in our category six room.
The food: The food has come a long way since we sailed in September 2004. All our meals were flavorful and well-prepared. The wraps, fruit and veggies by the Mickey pool are great.
Castaway Cay: As everyone has said, a beautiful island, with many Disney touches and Disney theming.
The disappointments:
The ship service was good, but not great: Frankly, Ive had better service on other cruises. Our dining servers were good, but to me seemed most concerned about the bottom line, which for them is how wed fill out our survey card. Our stateroom attendant was one of the most indifferent Ive had on any cruise. We got off to a bad start when there was no ice or even glasses in our room when we sailed. We had to call TWICE to get them. And at one point later in the cruise, I was heading down the hall, and she handed me my ice bucket to take to my room. Our DVC magnet was stolen from our door, and when I asked if I could get another one, she told me to go check with the DVC staff onboard. Any other cruise Ive been on, and she would have asked herself. This isnt deal breaker stuff, but its not top notch, either.
The ship was really, really crowded at night: The public areas, like the atrium, just seemed jam-packed in the evening, much more so than other ships weve been on. We retreated to our room for the quiet.
Some evenings, there wasnt much for adults to do: Particularly the Pirates Night. Everything else on the ship closes for this party, which goes on too long. Its fine if you want to go there, but if you dont, the rest of the ship is pretty much shut down. Sessions was nice, but underused and the piano player wasnt often there. There was never anybody in the disco when we passed by.
Oceaneers club was an absolute zoo some nights: My son didnt want to stay there some evenings because it was literally a madhouse, just jammed with kids. He begged to go back to the room so he could lie down. The staff was great, though. I singled out them in the comment cards. There was lots of free time in the clubs, and I think my DS may have been more engaged if they were doing activities in there. Also, since they didn't like down until 10 p.m. (kinda late for 3 & 4 year olds) he really preferred to go back to the room so he could lie down.
The dining options: Topsiders is pretty small for a buffet area. I really like the Windjammer Cafés on RCL. These get better each time I sail RCL.
Mixed: Palos brunch was superb, dinner was just OK, partly because the dining rooms are so much better now. It took forever to get served at Palo at dinner.
Adding these all up, I'll be looking around to see if perhaps the Freedom of the Seas or one of the Princess boats will be a good fit for us for our next cruise, particularly if I can get a mini-suite for the price of our category six we have booked now. I like the idea of the freestyle dining on Princess, as well as their freshwater pools.
And the new RCI boats look amazing. I'll eagerly be reading their trip reports to see if its the right fit for our family, or if Disney remains the best, in spite of the high prices. In-room sitting would be another benefit for us, since DS likes to go to bed early after he's been swimming all day.
Hope this helps people who are weighing all their options...
