Just returned from Mexico Riviera.
This is my 4th Disney cruise
2004 western Caribbean with 1 child
2005 Mexican Riviera with 3 children
2007 transatlantic back to Florida with 3 children and pregnant
and this one with 4 children
This was by far the worst experience I have ever had. I can't say it was all related to the cruise line though. I think we had such an amazing time on TA crossing and the weather and seas were perfect that I thought this would be a dream trip. We live in LA so a drive to dock, have a weeks vacation and then come home. I came home depressed, frustrated and not relaxed.
First off let me say we have stayed in cat 1 and cat 2 on last 3 cruises and that has always been a great perk and very much worth it. On this trip I felt neglected and not very taken care of, bookings were not done correctly, tickets were not delivered, special treats were not delivered daily, nothing really spectacular about the service, this was a complete departure from Transatlantic crossing where we were treated amazing (we were in Roy suite so maybe that made a difference.
Our dining room staff had such heavy accents that it was very difficult to understand them, had I not been on Disney Cruise before I probably wouldn't have known what was going on. I felt horrible for the 3 groups of friends who were traveling with us for the first time. They probably couldn't imagine why we would want to do a Disney cruise. They were hard workers but very difficult to understand.
This part was the worst, 3 of my kids ages 4-7 refused to go in kids club they hated it and said it was boring. On TA crossing, I couldn't get my 6 year old out and my twins were begging to go in because they weren't quite 3 and were in nursery and were so looking forward to this cruise so they could go on this one and go in kids club. My son actually worked super hard to be potty trained so he go to the kids club. I have no idea what this was all about but the other 3 families we were traveling with had same problem. It was NUTS!!!!.
We were on early dining because kids need to eat at 6 and the dinners were longer then usual and we would wind up missing stuff going on at 7:15 until Showtime, such as pictures and pre show activities. Then at 8:30 if you didn't do the show there was absolutely nothing going on. It made us crazy.
On the last night the kids wanted to do the family dance party and they had it in promenade lounge with a bad singer(why not studio sea with dj?) Everyone so disappointed.
Till we meet again was at 10:15Pm (what young kids who would be interested could stay up this late?)
The lines for everything were horrible, characters(they would only have 1 or 2 at a time) they should have had more out at 1 time (on TA crossing they would have 4-5 characters out at a time), pirate buffet was impossible to get to and the kids were to exhausted by then to do anything.
They should really take into consideration that almost everyone traveling on a west coast cruise is from east or west coast meaning things must start a little earlier. Unlike Caribbean where you are moving in different direction and you can stay up later. I know this was a huge complaint on TA to Europe because you kept losing time. Our crossing it was the best because we gained an hour every night.
We did Nikki Beach Club in Cabo (we did same excursion in 2005) upon arriving they told us that we were not allowed to use cabanas or be loud at pool. EXCUSE ME but if I have 4 kids and we are going to a beach pool excursion I expect to be able to use Cabana at pool and my kids can be loud (not obnoxious but have fun) after a lot of complaining they allowed us to use pool cabana. This should be noted on description of excursion.
The one good thing that I know people have complained about was weather. We had warm days out of LA and at sea and calm seas. Which are 2 great things but not controlled by Disney.
My personal belief is that the crew was short staffed or something was going on behind the scenes because this is not the Disney way.
A few other tidbits that were a little scary:
My friend reported that her daughter was never given wristband upon entering kids club
We witnessed a counselor being mean to parents as well as children
there were 2 incidents reported of kids in swim diapers in pool and nothing was ever done
A girl on Mickey slide gashed her face and required stiches (no Disney people that I saw were ever present at pool- this was really weird because on TA crossing they hovered over pool.
So many first timers came up to me and said what a wonderful time they had and I looked at them and said the TA was so much better, maybe because I was comparing to previous trips but would love to hear if anyone else was on this trip and had any weird experiences.
I also think that because of the ages of my kids that 7 days is just not enough time to really relax because 14 days was really perfect. For us.
This is my 4th Disney cruise
2004 western Caribbean with 1 child
2005 Mexican Riviera with 3 children
2007 transatlantic back to Florida with 3 children and pregnant
and this one with 4 children
This was by far the worst experience I have ever had. I can't say it was all related to the cruise line though. I think we had such an amazing time on TA crossing and the weather and seas were perfect that I thought this would be a dream trip. We live in LA so a drive to dock, have a weeks vacation and then come home. I came home depressed, frustrated and not relaxed.
First off let me say we have stayed in cat 1 and cat 2 on last 3 cruises and that has always been a great perk and very much worth it. On this trip I felt neglected and not very taken care of, bookings were not done correctly, tickets were not delivered, special treats were not delivered daily, nothing really spectacular about the service, this was a complete departure from Transatlantic crossing where we were treated amazing (we were in Roy suite so maybe that made a difference.
Our dining room staff had such heavy accents that it was very difficult to understand them, had I not been on Disney Cruise before I probably wouldn't have known what was going on. I felt horrible for the 3 groups of friends who were traveling with us for the first time. They probably couldn't imagine why we would want to do a Disney cruise. They were hard workers but very difficult to understand.
This part was the worst, 3 of my kids ages 4-7 refused to go in kids club they hated it and said it was boring. On TA crossing, I couldn't get my 6 year old out and my twins were begging to go in because they weren't quite 3 and were in nursery and were so looking forward to this cruise so they could go on this one and go in kids club. My son actually worked super hard to be potty trained so he go to the kids club. I have no idea what this was all about but the other 3 families we were traveling with had same problem. It was NUTS!!!!.
We were on early dining because kids need to eat at 6 and the dinners were longer then usual and we would wind up missing stuff going on at 7:15 until Showtime, such as pictures and pre show activities. Then at 8:30 if you didn't do the show there was absolutely nothing going on. It made us crazy.
On the last night the kids wanted to do the family dance party and they had it in promenade lounge with a bad singer(why not studio sea with dj?) Everyone so disappointed.
Till we meet again was at 10:15Pm (what young kids who would be interested could stay up this late?)
The lines for everything were horrible, characters(they would only have 1 or 2 at a time) they should have had more out at 1 time (on TA crossing they would have 4-5 characters out at a time), pirate buffet was impossible to get to and the kids were to exhausted by then to do anything.
They should really take into consideration that almost everyone traveling on a west coast cruise is from east or west coast meaning things must start a little earlier. Unlike Caribbean where you are moving in different direction and you can stay up later. I know this was a huge complaint on TA to Europe because you kept losing time. Our crossing it was the best because we gained an hour every night.
We did Nikki Beach Club in Cabo (we did same excursion in 2005) upon arriving they told us that we were not allowed to use cabanas or be loud at pool. EXCUSE ME but if I have 4 kids and we are going to a beach pool excursion I expect to be able to use Cabana at pool and my kids can be loud (not obnoxious but have fun) after a lot of complaining they allowed us to use pool cabana. This should be noted on description of excursion.
The one good thing that I know people have complained about was weather. We had warm days out of LA and at sea and calm seas. Which are 2 great things but not controlled by Disney.
My personal belief is that the crew was short staffed or something was going on behind the scenes because this is not the Disney way.
A few other tidbits that were a little scary:
My friend reported that her daughter was never given wristband upon entering kids club
We witnessed a counselor being mean to parents as well as children
there were 2 incidents reported of kids in swim diapers in pool and nothing was ever done
A girl on Mickey slide gashed her face and required stiches (no Disney people that I saw were ever present at pool- this was really weird because on TA crossing they hovered over pool.
So many first timers came up to me and said what a wonderful time they had and I looked at them and said the TA was so much better, maybe because I was comparing to previous trips but would love to hear if anyone else was on this trip and had any weird experiences.
I also think that because of the ages of my kids that 7 days is just not enough time to really relax because 14 days was really perfect. For us.
).
